October 2013 - SG Wealth Builder

Money management; personal finance; relationship

Lending money

October 31, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1 Views 2 Comments

Lending money is always a sensitive topic for all. Last month, I completed my two weeks of National Service reservist training. I met the bunk mate who tried to borrow money from me several times. Initially, it was a bit awkward for both of us as I had refused to lending money to him. But after a while, after realizing that he did not have any ill feeling towards me, I had a good chat with him.

I found out that he left his previous contract job and was jobless for almost half a year. He tried to look for office jobs but to no avail. He holds a N-Level certificate and his previous job skill was obsoleted. My advice to him was to take on part-time jobs, working either as shop assistant or cashier. At least that would bring food to the table and allowed him to sustain day-to-day activities.

But to my surprise, he declined my suggestion because he wanted to be focused in looking for a permanent office job. At the back of mind, I thought that since he already had money problems and had no income, it was financial suicide to carry on like this. The more he dragged, the harder it would be difficult for him to find a job.

Book review; investment

The Warren Buffett Way (New Third Edition)

October 27, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 762 Views 0 Comments

Over one million copies sold in cloth and paper formats of the two previous editions, a New York Times bestselling book, The Warren Buffett Way, is now completely revised to cater for the new generation of investors. With additional chapters on the important distinctions between investment and trading; and the examination of Buffett’s most successful disciples, the third edition focuses on the timeless principles and strategies behind Buffett’s extraordinary investment success.

The Warren Buffett Way, + Website, 3^rd Edition is bundled with a companion website, www.thewarrenbuffettway.com, an interactive resource which offers an array of information to facilitate investors with putting Buffett’s approach in practice. It also comes with two supplemental materials which are a workbook, The Warren Buffett Way Workbook, and software, The Warren Buffett Video Course; each sold separately.

Author Robert G. Hagstrom’s authoritative and detailed interpretation of Buffett’s investment methods in The Warren Buffett Way, + Website, 3^rd Edition provides essential insights into the psychological challenges of managing a Warren Buffett portfolio as well as the role of patience in long-term investing.

The suggested retail price of the The Warren Buffett Way, + Website, 3^rd Edition (hardcover) is US$29.95; e-book (oBook, ePub, Adobe PDF and MobiPocket) is US$19.99; and The Warren Buffett Way Workbook and The Warren Buffett Video Course are priced at US$39.95 respectively.

Self improvement

Gambling

October 14, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 932 Views 2 Comments

Recently, I watched a video clip in YouTube featuring one of Singapore best known local celebrities, Lee Nanxing, who related his journey of conversion to Christianity after struggling with gambling problem. He recounted that when he reached his career pinnacle in the nineties, he unwittingly offended the Mediacorp top management and was being “frozen” by the media company for almost two years.

During that low period, Lee Nanxing was still paid his salary but he was constantly worried about his future as an artiste. As a result, he decided to venture into business and opened a pub with a few partners. Business suffered due to mismanagement and also because Lee Nanxing was too busy with a few projects in China. When he returned to Singapore, he was shocked to find the company in a financial mess. As he was the major shareholder, all the creditors pestered him for settlement.

Saddled with huge debts, Lee Nanxing tried to salvage his company unsuccessfully. Eventually, he decided to try his luck at gambling but that turned out to be one of the most fatal mistakes that he made in his life. He thought that with his few tricks that he picked up in the popular drama “The Unbeatables”, he could make quick money and paid off the company debts.

Stocks

Blumont Group

October 9, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 956 Views 0 Comments

The recent trading halt of Blumont Group had raised a number of eyebrow among Singaporean investors. Many local investors thought that investing in the stock market is akin to gambling, which is untrue. When it comes to investment, many Singaporeans don’t even know the difference between risk and uncertainty. In salient, risk in stock investments can be managed through the proper technique.

However, when it comes to gambling, you will not be able to predict the outcome and win consistently. Because of the lack of knowledge and self-awareness, most wealth builders tend to speculate in the stock market, resulting in the tip based investment culture in Singapore. The recent case of SGX suspending the trading of Blumont Group vindicated my thoughts.

Blumont Group, which was previously involved in the packaging, property and investment sectors, started investing last year in a number of companies in sectors such as iron ore, coal, gold, uranium and copper. On 4 Oct, Blumont was one of three companies suspended by the Singapore Exchange after their share prices plummeted by 40 to 60%. A Singapore broking house had also recently declared its shares as “designated securities.” That means investors cannot short-sell them, and purchases via the broking house must be paid for upfront with cash.

Career management

Optimizing energy levels

October 9, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 967 Views 0 Comments

Whether you are a full-time investor, entrepreneur or employee, there are bound to be times when you suffer from some off-days which inevitably affects your productivity. This is perfectly normal as we are human beings and not robots that are built with high level of performance reliability. However, successful people tend to have a knack of optimizing their energy levels for better performance.

In today’s context, being hardworking is not enough to be considered a high performer in the workplace. You need to work smart and not just work hard. To be successful, it is important to harness your energy levels, which can vary across different age groups, environments and personalities. In my opinion, it is possible to manage and optimize our energy levels to bring out the best for work performance. To achieve this, one needs to adopt good habits and internalize them into daily life routine.

For example a professional top currency trader based in Singapore would devise a strategy of monitoring closely the international currency movements he is vested in. To do so, he would have to be disciplined in his daily activities because he couldn’t afford to let slip any unexpected major market fluctuations which may destroy his wealth.

Blog updates

Re-inventing my blog, SG Wealth Builder

October 8, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 870 Views 0 Comments

Yesterday, I made the critical decision to register my blog domain name and got rid of “blogspot.com” from the blog’s domain name. The name of this blog was also changed to SG Wealth Builder. The name change means that I have to re-establish my page ranking in various search engines. It is indeed painful to start all over again but I suppose the only constant in life is change!

As a blogger, I am always challenging myself to improve my blog’s quality and content. Over the years, my blog has evolved from sharing of investment and entrepreneurial ideas to a portal of wealth building opportunities, providing wealth building information to readers. Along the way, I felt that the former blog title does not reflect the current activities in this blog. Therefore, the re-branding of this blog.

There are many people who think that they can make a living from blogging full time. In reality, this is very difficult to achieve. Indeed, you probably can make a few hundreds or thousands here and there from affiliate marketing or sponsorships. But in most months, there might be little or even no income at all. Over the years, I have seen so many local bloggers fizzled out from the scene after only a few months.

Stocks

SATS Ltd: Stable Dividend Stock from Singapore

October 7, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 715 Views 0 Comments

Below is an article from guest blogger, Richard who works as a stock analyst and has 3 years of experience in the stock market. He likes to write articles and hope to share his experiences with investors in Singapore If you would like additional SGX Dividend Stocks data, information or screening tools, please visit website http://sg.dividendinvestor.com, a leading source for in-depth research and analysis for stock investments.

SG Web Reviews does not accept any liability whatsoever for any direct, indirect or consequential losses or damages that may arise from the use of information or opinions in this article. The information and opinions in this publication are not to be considered as an offer to sell or buy any of the securities discussed. Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice.The economy of Singapore has experienced rapid economic development since independence in 1965. Its strong economic performance reflects the success of its open and outward-oriented development strategy. The importance of services to the Singapore economy also grew, as evidenced by the increasing share of the financial and business sectors of the economy. In this article I am sharing about one of the best Singapore dividend stocks which will give you good returns.

Gold; portfolio management

Take advange of gold price’s correction!

October 6, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 718 Views 0 Comments

Physical gold and silver buyers are once again treated with a surprise selloff in the gold and silver paper markets. Amidst high demand for physical bullion, especially in Asia, paper markets still set the price for real physical precious metals. At BullionStar, gold price and the price for physical precious metals are expected to decouple from each other eventually as physical demand continues to increase.

While western speculators are selling off paper gold, physical demand for gold is rising rapidly. In the World Gold Council’s Q2 report, demand for bullion and jewellery increased a whopping 53 % in the second quarter of 2013 compared to one year ago.

To put things into perspective, gold price has been on a bullish run for the past 10 years. The current correction should be seen as a healthy sign as the bull cycle for gold price comes to an end. Wealth builders should seize this opportunity to accumulate more physical gold as the gold price experience a soft landing.

Singapore is viewed by many international investors as the best place to buy and store gold because of its low crime rate and strong jurisdiction laws. However, low crime does not mean no crime.

Money management; personal finance; relationship

Family Wealth Management: Seven Imperatives for Successful Investing in the New World Order

October 6, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 804 Views 0 Comments

Singapore, October 3, 2013 – Mr. Mark Haynes Daniell is the founder and chairman of the Raffles Family Wealth Trust, a Singapore-based strategic advisory boutique focused on strategies for wealthy families and their investments, transactions, and businesses. He is also the founder and chairman of his own family office in Singapore.

Mr. Daniell is a former senior partner at Bain & Company, director of Wasserstein Perella, and president of k1 Ventures, a strategic investment company publicly listed in Singapore. He created and chaired the Private Wealth Management Initiative as part of the Singapore government’s Economic Review Committee in 2002. He is a director of various listed and private companies, including Olam International, Tiryaki Agro, Aquarius Investment Advisors Pte Ltd. (vice chairman), Sacoven PLC (chairman), and a cofounder of Capital Partners of Georgia.

His new book, Family Wealth Management: Seven Imperatives for Successful Investing in the New World Order (coauthored with Tom McCullough; John Wiley & Sons, August 2013), is a comprehensive guide to family wealth management which integrates all aspects of family and financial wealth strategy, from family vision and philosophy of wealth through asset structuring to serve multiple purposes, addressing state of the art asset allocation models, traditional and alternative assets, specific approaches to management of wealth in turbulent times, the integration of a family business into wealth management plans, careful monitoring of performance against internal goals and external benchmarks, and ending with a long term plan to engage and educate the family to ensure a positive environment is created for the current–and future–management of family wealth.

Trading

Investing: Why you should start young

October 3, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 0 Views 0 Comments

The following is an article on investing by guest blogger, Neo Pok Chow, a 21 year old Singaporean trader and is the creator of http://www.optionssingapore.com/. If you want to have a better financial future, you’re welcome to learn about investing for free on his site.

Young people are often unaware or even clueless about their finances or money matters. Their school doesn’t teach them how to invest. Their parents don’t teach it either. Their peers have no clue. So to be fair, how are they suppose to know about it? This is actually a worrying sign. Ignorance, in this case, is not bliss. Ignoring your finance is foolish.

Young people need to realize that their age and time they have is their biggest attribute. They’re young and they enjoy their life hanging out and playing all around while being shielded by their parents. They fund their expenses using their pocket money and the occasional part time job during holidays. Life is good! They’re having fun! Why should they care?

I’m not saying that young people should not have fun. I’m just saying that it is good to start learning about finance and investing from a young age as it is beneficial down the road.

Stocks

Sheng Siong Group

October 3, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 991 Views 0 Comments

One of my favorite stocks which I am tracking is Sheng Siong Group, a supermarket chain in Singapore. The supermarket industry in Singapore is very competitive, with several big players like NTUC Fairprice and Giant. But Sheng Siong manages to stay very profitable for the past few years and overcome the challenges in the business environment such as increasing inflationary pressures and foreign labour restrictions.

Supermarket is considered a recession proof industry, after all, whether its good or bad economies, retailers still need to buy household groceries. Management of Sheng Siong Group should remain prudent in its expansion plans and consider making more of its outlets 24 hours operations so as to increase revenue.

With effect from 1 Oct 2013, 10 more outlets will also serve customers 24 hours daily. These outlets are located at:1. Bedok Central 209: BLK 209 New Upper Changi Rd #01-631/#02-631
2. Bedok North 115: BLK 115 Bedok North Road #01-319 Singapore 460115
3. Bedok North 539A: BLK 539A Bedok North St 3 #01-477 Singapore 461539
4. Chin Swee 52: BLK 52 Chin Swee Rd #01-25 Singapore 160052
5. Clementi 352: BLK 352 Clementi Ave 2 #01-91/99 Singapore 120352
6. Clementi 720: BLK 720 Clementi West St 2 #01-144 Singapore 120720
7.

Stocks

Haw Par Corp

October 1, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 653 Views 0 Comments

I was reading one of the articles posted in Finance.sg on Haw Par Corp and decided that its timely to provide an update on the company’s performance in Q2 2013. As mentioned in my article in June, Haw Par Corp is a financially strong company. In terms of asset value, it is currently trading at estimate 31% discount. As of 1 Oct 2013, the net asset value is $10.73 but it share price is only $7.40! This is definitely a value stock with good business fundamentals.

Many Singaporeans can probably relate Haw Par Corp as the manufacturer of the famous Tiger Balm but how many investors know that it also owns the famous Underwater World at Sentosa? I like this company because it had been consistently giving out dividends for the past 20 years. The company is cash rich, is financially strong and is trading at below net asset value. However, this counter has risen in value so much for the past two years that it is beyond my entry price, which is $4.00. Looks like I have to wait until the next stock market crash to load up this overlooked stock in SGX.

The original business of manufacturing and distributing through Southeast Asia pharmaceuticals under the Tiger Brand names, the best known of which is ‘Tiger Balm’, was founded at the turn of the century.

Stocks

My Investment Portfolio

October 1, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 835 Views 0 Comments

For the past two years, I have been doing research on local stock market and is now in the midst of constructing an investment portfolio consisting of stocks and bullion.

I had stayed out of the stock market since 2010 because I just don’t see any value in the market for the past three years. Many counters with good business fundamentals are, in my opinion, overvalued. Under this bullish climax, I had resisted the temptation to invest many times because of the lack of margin of safety in many of the local stocks.

As the saying goes, you stand a higher chance identifying value stocks during bear market as compared to a bull market.

Notwithstanding the bullish market, I decided to compile a list of stocks which I would invest in during crisis times. They would become part of my investment portfolio. These are companies with strong cash flow, sustainable revenue and easy-to-understand businesses. Essentially, these are companies which will still be around 10, 20 and 30 years down the road. I am still doing research and will reveal the companies in due time. Nonetheless, I noted that three of the companies (Genting Singapore, Capitaland and Noble Group) are listed in the STI Index.