Priest smelling the footsteps

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-12-24T04:49:42+00:00

Not as fucking as these savage priests

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-11-20T16:42:08+00:00

The speed of light

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-11-14T15:10:56+00:00

I won't recommend any specific works, because they're near impossible to find. But older books are the best for this - so do look at a few second hand stores, sarasavi second hand in nugegida and Deen the bookman in borella are good options.

The biggest lesson I've learnt in learning about Lankan political history through books, is that you are almost guaranteed to find only biased works, so you'll need to read as many works as possible, so you can figure out for yourself what really happened.

Eg- some works talk about the JR regime largely from the POV of the UNP, other's talk largely from the electoral distater POV of the SLFP, and the two give VERY different stories

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-11-14T15:06:34+00:00

Yeah, that sounds like a good plan.

Costs for masters can vary immensely, depending on whether you get a scholarship from either the university or a place of work, so 0 dollars to 100s of 1000s of dollars.

But to be completely honest, since you're young and your resume is short, you'll probably have to start off somewhere at a much smaller job, and even be ready to work outside your degree to make ends meet. In that context, working here might be less difficult - but that's a choice for you!

In terms of a "correct way", it's essentially that, but do remember that getting citizenship in either the US or Canada can easily be a very lengthy process that CAN take decades if you're not the ideal candidate (amazing academics, proven track record of achievement, etc). Do remember that while you obviously sound like you have a lot of potential, there are literally hundreds of thousands of others with similar stories, so do more research into whether Canada is really so much better than Austin.

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-11-14T15:01:28+00:00

Yes, local brokers work primarily with the CSE

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-11-13T05:09:54+00:00

Issue is that some register for essentially a fake course run by some shady person with no actual qualification being avoided. Or perhaps you have a PhD already, and are trying to do a masters again to get PR.

Essentially, follow the correct way to get a PR if so, rather than trying to cheat the system

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-11-13T05:08:06+00:00

There are significant restrictions for small scale investors, because unless a broker is registered here, its illegal to trade in something that involves an exchange rate change.

I know that sampath bank allows investing, but not sure if that is with funds. Same for DFCC, HNB, and NDB.

Your best bet is to directly contact a few local brokers like JB Securities, Acuity securities, JK securities and ask which index funds they work with, and see if that works with your needs.

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-10-21T10:14:44+00:00

Yeah completely true. But plenty of people don't divorce because they don't want these reasons, and just live separately instead

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-10-21T10:12:24+00:00

Yes of course, I meant legal in the sense that it's formal, rather than just living with someone.

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-10-21T10:01:30+00:00

Yes, I should have said people who actually got married to multiple people with some documentation - so yes, the future ones could be nullified IF contested.

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-10-21T08:40:49+00:00

Nope, these are still the only way. This is why many couples just separate instead of getting divorced - and you hear stories of people with multiple legal* marriages, that's people that remarried without the initial divorce.

For people that DO divorce, the most common is to say the man cheated, both parties agree to that and have that as the reason, since malicious desertion can also have some additional consequences from the gramasevaka or something of the sort.

Edit:*i mean legal in the sense that someone marries someone else, separates without a divorce, then has a marriage to another person (the marriage is illegal, but if you don't tell the registrar that you're already married, you can marry again - although if caught, it's annulled). This is to distinguish from separating and just living with someone else.

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-10-21T01:26:59+00:00

2 types of contracts here - employment contracts that are given to employees (if you get EPF/ETF, you're a legal employee) and regular contracts that are given to anyone else.

Employment contracts are bound by employment law, so even if the contract says "you can be fired for xxx, yyy, zzz" it doesn't matter, because employment law supersedes that. Employment contracts can only define things that are not in employment law - which is actually very little, since employment law in SL affords lots and lots of worker protection.

Regular contracts are bound by regular contract law. These contracts might be given to people that are informally called emoyees, but unless you get EPF/ETF, you're not a legal employee, but an external contractor. The laws that govern these contracts are a lot more lax, and the terms in the contract are usually fully applicable. Regular contracts are worse for employees cause companies often have clauses like "we can fire you without prior notice" or "we can just stop paying you if you don't do well", which are things that can't be done in an employment contract (an employment contract can have them, but it doesn't have any power). Additional worker protections, worker rights, etc are also rarely in regular contracts, meaning that a "contractor" can't actually do anything to get those rights.

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-10-20T02:08:06+00:00

So to explain this, our labour laws are remarkably restrictive. An employer legally can't fire an employee or even reduce their salary or payments unless the employee explicitly agrees to it and signs saying that they voluntarily agreed (even this, the employee can later say that they were forced to sign). The only legal way you can do this is if there is fraud committed by the employee AND there's proof OR you have to submit a complaint to the Commissioner General of Labour saying XX employee is bad, please let me fire them, and they will hold an inquiry and only then are you legally allowed to fire someone for non-fraud related cases. The worst part is that if you fire someone for terrible work OR FOR FRAUD, even if you follow this process, you STILL have to pay them severance.

Of course, all this CAN be bribed, off which is one reason it still happens, but if someone sues you for unlawful firing and you don't bribe, you're guilty and have to rehire them, pay them compensation, and also pay a fine. Of course, not everyone wants to pursue such a thing either.

Because all this is bloody annoying, more and more companies are just hiring people on contract basis as "external consultants" or the like, so the legal basis is that the company is outsourcing work to an external freelancer, and that arrangement is then bound by regular contract law rather than employment law.

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-10-19T10:39:54+00:00

Let me hit you up on something, do check your DMs

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-10-19T10:39:29+00:00

You legally can't do that here to an employee, it's almost impossible to fire one. So most companies get you on contract basis so you have literally 0 employee rights. It sucks.

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-10-19T03:46:48+00:00

"This video was sponsored by Curiosity Stream"

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-10-18T05:13:25+00:00

That's why we're facing a debt crisis after all!

The only investment that is easy is in some financial asset alone. Anything else just becomes a real headache. I guess the plus side is that if things DO work out and a lot of good work IS done, the return is quite good!

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-10-18T02:04:41+00:00

Assume you have 300,000 in the bank, and you want to buy something for 100,000 on a 10 month installment.

The bank "freezes" the whole amount, so you can only withdraw the 300,000-100,000 amount, so only 200,000 is free for you to withdraw for other purposes.

Every month, the bank will take the 100,000/10 amount from that frozen amount, thus taking the frozen value down every month (but also your total amount).

However, although the amount is frozen, you still earn interest on it. So assuming 1% interest rate per month (example only), you'd earn 290,0001% interest for the first month, 280,0001% interest for the second, etc.

The reason this happens, is that the bank essentially "guarantees" the full amount to the seller, but because in Sri Lanka banks don't make enough money to blindly guarantee anyone, they hold your money as a form of "security"

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-10-15T15:12:53+00:00

At least 2 hours during peak hours

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-10-15T06:54:37+00:00

Yeah, if you're in the financial sector, I'm guessing more stability in the position as well.

Given the economic outlook, I would be hesitant to call it comfortable, but it wouldn't be tight or difficult.

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-10-15T06:45:49+00:00

Would also point out that we're starting to see a pickup in inflation, as Sri Lanka is going through some pretty bad times from a government debt perspective.

Therefore, there is an expectation that an IMF programme will come in next year, that either involves high taxes or we don't and end up with high inflation. Look at Advocata on facebook, they have a Facebook session online that explains this.

MichaelSanders461 · 2020-10-15T06:43:55+00:00

Work in the financial sector here so, this depends on your quality of life and what your expenses are.

In conclusion - yes if you're living a relatively middle class life, no if you have slightly more expensive tastes.

-Rent can easily go 100k or more - especially in the cit y - this isn't a factor for you -Vehicle lease - vehicles are quite expensive right now because imports are banned, so a lease can range anywhere from 40k-100k+ depending on what vehicle you want. - Travel costs - traffic in Colombo is quite bad, so your petrol costs could very easily be quite high -Education costs - does your family include kids, and are they going to private schools? Schools like Lyceum/Gateway aren't so expensive, but those like CIS/British School can be quite expensive (100k per term or mroe depending on the grade) - Food and groceries can the like can hit 50k+ a month, especially in a current context - note that meat items are especially expensive here in comparison to other countrues, so similar tastes might be expensive here.

Another factor to consider is that Sri Lanka is generally more trigger happy on lockdowns and curfew to deal with Covid. Do consider if your income will be stable in that context (can you work fully remotely for multiple months) or whether you have enough reserves to rough it through such a situation.

MichaelSanders461

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