2015 - Page 2 of 4 - SG Wealth Builder

Stock Investing: Ascott

October 9, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 821 Views 0 Comments

CapitaLand Limited’s wholly owned serviced residence business unit, The Ascott Limited (Ascott), has made its first foray into the popular destinations of Cebu, the Philippines and Pattaya, Thailand by securing five new contracts to manage 875 apartment units.

With 14 management contracts signed in Southeast Asia this year, Ascott has added over 2,700 serviced residence units in the region; more than triple the number of units added in the same region for the whole of 2014.

Mr Lee Chee Koon, Ascott’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “We have ramped up our expansion in Southeast Asia as we see strong growth potential in the long-term. With more than 13,000 apartment units in 73 properties across eight countries in Southeast Asia, over 30% of Ascott’s global footprint is now concentrated in this fast-growing region. Southeast Asia is shaping up to be one of the most vibrant and attractive markets for foreign investors – with a young population driving domestic demand, growing export figures and various economic policies in place to attract foreign capital. The upcoming ASEAN Economic Community will not only boost economic integration in the region, it will also transform Southeast Asia into an economic powerhouse with a population of more than 600 million.”

Career management

Online Hiring in Banking and Finance Sector Remains Slow in South East Asia

October 7, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 792 Views 0 Comments

Below is data released by Monster Employment Index, which provide insights on the job market for banking and finance. At the moment, the market doesn’t look good for job-seekers wishing to enter the financial sector, especially in global wealth hub like Singapore.

Launched in May 2015, with data collected since January 2011, the Monster Employment Index is a broad and comprehensive monthly analysis of online job posting activity conducted by Monster India. Based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large, representative selection of online career outlets, including Monster.com, the Monster Employment Index presents a snapshot of employer online recruitment activity nationwide.

Southeast Asia, October 5, 2015 – As economic conditions continue to falter, online recruitment activities across Southeast Asia’s Banking and Finance sectors are registering weak growths.

This is according to the latest Monster Employment Index (MEI), a monthly gauge of online job hiring activity by Monster.com, which records the industries and occupations that show the highest and lowest growth in recruitment activity in Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines.

Among the three markets surveyed, Singapore exhibited the weakest year-over-year growth in the BFSI sector, at -13% between August 2014 and August 2015. This is a further dip from July’s -9%.

Gold; silver

Future-proof your wealth

October 6, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 931 Views 0 Comments

Many investors and financial professionals struggle to make sense of gold and silver bullion as a form of wealth-building asset. After all, precious metals do not offer dividends like stocks, nor do they provide investors with interests like bonds. In addition, unlike real estate, they do not allow investors to establish steady stream of passive income through rental collections. So what is exactly the basis for wealth builders to buy physical gold and silver? The answer is simple: risk management and future-proofing your wealth.

When you invest in stocks, there is a possibility of losing your capital invested. Of course, the potential rewards can be much higher than owning gold and silver when the management of the companies deliver on earning expectations. Conversely, if the companies are poorly managed and consistently making losses, your stock prices may also plummet. The frightening thing about investing in stocks is that whenever the stock market crashes, novice investors who put all their life savings into stocks watch in horror as their retirement funds evaporated overnight.

I feel sad whenever I read investors committing suicide as a result of losing all their life savings after dabbling in the stock market. They certainly don’t deserve this and something should be done to educate investors the perils of the stock market.

Money management; personal finance

Time is money

October 2, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 784 Views 0 Comments

After almost two months of waiting, my new car finally arrived last Friday. I was pretty excited because it is my family’s first new car. Previously, I had owned two pre-owned Japanese cars – my first car was Toyota Vios and subsequently, Nissan Latio. So after driving for 5 years, naturally my next car is another Japanese brand, this time its Honda City.

As a wealth builder, I am fully aware that car is a form of liability, this is especially so in Singapore, a city state that discourages car ownership. Given that the cost of a Certificate of Entitlement (COE) is so high, it would seem like an unwise decision to purchase a new car at this moment. As a matter of fact, I bought my car at $105,000 and took a three year loan. Forking out so much money is not matter to be taken lightly and for sure it was not an impulse buy. My wife and I had been planning to buy a car for the past one year because my pre-owned car’s COE was about to end in 1.5 year time.

There were a few factors that prompted me to buy our new car. Firstly, my pre-owned Nissan Latio had been giving me a lot of problems lately.

Gold; silver

Sell gold and silver bullion in Singapore

October 1, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 0 Views 0 Comments

Many investors deem gold and silver bullion as “bad investment” because they don’t yield interests and furthermore incur storage costs. Even the famous Warren Buffett expressed a disdain for gold but it should be noted that the world class investor bought 129,710,000 ounces of silver through Berkshire in the 1990s. In this regard, I don’t deny that gold and silver are a form of bad investment. Because they are never meant to be an investment tool in the first place.

Gold and silver are actually money and have been used as money historically. From a wealth builder’s point of view, gold and silver are meant to hedge money portfolio during time of volatility, high inflation and financial crisis.

Another concern of precious metals is its level of liquidity. This is indeed the case in Singapore where there are not many precious metal dealers willing to buy back gold and silver which are not sold by them. For example, as far as I understand, UOB does not buy back gold bars and coins not sold by them. This is where BullionStar comes in and address the gap in the industry.

Sell Gold & Silver to BullionStar

Sell orders for bullion products are placed on this page.

Money management; personal finance; relationship

CPF Retirement Planning

September 29, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1056 Views 0 Comments

One of the financial mistakes made by Singaporeans is that we always procrastinate retirement planning until its too late. Money issues may dominate your golden years and affect your quality of life if you are not careful with financial planning in your early years.

As a wealth builder, I tend to make this mistake as well but I always force myself to think about what kind of lifestyle I want when I am in my golden years. To do so, mindset needs to be changed. This is because our needs and wants change with time. It may not be realistic to project your future income and expenses based on current situation.

The major reason for so much frustrations among Singaporeans on the CPF Minimum Sum is because most of us depend solely on the amount as the main source of retirement fund, which may not be sufficient given the rising cost of living in Singapore. You need to start investing early and develop sources of passive income, while constantly upgrading your skill and knowledge to achieve better salaries from your day job.

Indeed, you need to have discipline and adopt a long term view when it comes to retirement planning, especially if you have just embarked your working life.

Money management; personal finance; Investment

Profit Mastery Seminar

September 24, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1057 Views 0 Comments

To succeed in your personal finance journey, you need to acquire the right knowledge in the various form of wealth building strategies. One of the ways is to achieve this is through reading. However, reading is a very passive form of learning because you are merely downloading information. There is lack of interaction and exchange of ideas which would otherwise, result in a better decision-making outcome.

That is why I believe that attending seminars would help to broaden a wealth builder’s perspective. Make no mistake, I am not advocating you to sign up for those investment seminars that attempt to hard sell you their so-called secret money making formulas. Neither do I believe that you pay thousands of dollars to attend a wealth building or internet marketing seminar.

However, I do think that there are many affordable yet credible money seminars in the market that offer investors the opportunity to learn and at the same time, network with successful investors. One of them is the Profit Mastery Seminar conducted by Wealth Directions.

The local company is celebrating their 5th year anniversary the best way they know how. That is to share their knowledge about financial planning and investment. During this one day event, they have lined up a few speakers that will talk about:

1) Getting the right investment mind set

2) Key to good retirement planning

3) Market outlook and many more

Similar to past event, Wealth Directions is keeping the cost low to encourage more participants to join.

Money management; personal finance; Investment

CPF Special Account

September 19, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 815 Views 1 Comment

For the longest time, there were several investment bloggers who had been talking up the merits of topping up CPF Special Account (CPF-SA) with cash or CPF Ordinary Account (CPF-OA). They gushed and purred about how parking those extra $7000 into CPF-SA can earn risk-free 4-6% of return. Apparently, many readers were so impressed that they were pretty sure that these two fellows had uncovered the sure-win secret formula to wealth building. One of the readers almost kissed the foot of one of the bloggers.

Finally, today SG Wealth Builder came across one fellow blogger who had the guts to stick out his neck and pointed out 6 Reasons not to Voluntary Top Up your CPF Special Account with cash or CPF Ordinary Account.

If you have not read the article, I would urge you to read it (at least once) because it is one of the most well-balanced investment article I have come across with regard to CPF matters. The author described the approach of topping up your CPF-SA as “dangerous” and cautioned Singaporeans to consider carefully before doing it. As a wealth builder, I fully agreed it!

I shall not list down all the 6 reasons written by the blogger but fundamentally, his points on cash-flow and business opportunity costs were exactly what I had in mind whenever I came across bloggers espousing the merits of voluntary topping up CPF-SA.

Money management; personal finance

The Wealth Dragon Way: The Why, the When & the How to Become Infinitely Wealthy

September 18, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 843 Views 0 Comments

SG Wealth Builder is excited to be given the opportunity to review the book “The Wealth Dragon Way: The Why, the When & the How to Become Infinitely Wealthy“ (April 2015; Paperback; ISBN: 978-1-119-07783-1). The authors of this work, John Lee and Vincent Wong, reveal intimate stories from their past, right up to the present day.

I like many of the key money principles defined in the book because they are aligned to my philosophies as well. I agree with the authors that money solves the problem that not having money creates. In life, we cannot deny the fact that money plays an important role in our society and in many cases, can help to solve many of our daily problems.

The current haze situation in Singapore drives home the importance of what money can do for you. If you have infants or elderly at home, would you not spare some cash to buy air purifiers so that your loved ones can have better quality of life? Conversely, if you are financially struggling and have been living from pay check to pay check, would you not feel guilty for not doing anything for your loved ones?

Having money certainly gives you choices, to either do good or to keep the money for your children.

Gold; silver

Buying gold and silver from BullionStar

September 14, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 945 Views 0 Comments

SG Wealth Builder was alerted to an article written by fellow finance blogger on “Precious Metals: The warning signs are already here”. Personally, I like that article because it provides me value-added information on the latest updates on precious metals. The blogger highlighted that there is currently a tight supply of bullion even though the spot prices for gold and silver are falling. He also cited several notable reputable precious metal dealers to buy from, such as BullionStar. The challenge now is finding trustworthy dealers who have inventory to sell bullion to investors because of the huge demand.

As a wealth builder in Singapore, whilst I have been tracking the prices of gold and silver for quite some time, I did not really note down the price premiums for the gold bars that I bought like what the blogger did. This is because I have always been confident on the long term prospects of both gold and silver, as such, I don’t see the point of monitoring the price premiums. Nonetheless, I was really impressed by the blogger’s research and I must say he really knows what is considered the “normal price premium” for different products.

In his post, he wrote “Today spot silver is at $14.65, but American Eagles are selling for $29.16.

Stocks

Morningstar: Changes in Chinese Equity Market

September 8, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 884 Views 0 Comments

Morningstar Asia Limited, a subsidiary of independent investment research firm Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), has published a research report, “Change is Afoot in China,” which examines changes in the Chinese equity market and the indices and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track the market. Authored by Morningstar’s global manager research team, the report investigates:

 How index providers are changing the way they ”define” China;
 How some of these definitional changes may affect investors;
 Factors investors should be mindful of when evaluating Chinese equity ETFs; and
 How benchmark changes might affect investors in Chinese equity ETFs.

“Change is afoot in a number of respects from economics to demographics to the very definition of ‘China’ and investors need to be prepared as they consider an investment in Chinese equity ETFs,” Jackie Choy, ETF Strategist for Morningstar Investment Managament Asia, said. “Our research report can help investors navigate these changes and make better informed investment decisions.”

Key highlights of the research report include:
 Major index providers, including MSCI, FTSE Russell, and Standard & Poor’s, are considering adding China A-Shares, which are companies listed onshore either on the Shanghai or Shenzhen stock exchanges, to their global benchmarks. MSCI announced that it will include overseas-listed companies such as Alibaba and Baidu in the MSCI China Index in November 2015.

Gold

Importance of trust and reputation in the bullion industry

September 7, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 985 Views 0 Comments

For many years, there were reported cases of Singapore wealth builders fallen prey and lost huge chunk of their wealth to various gold scams. This is not surprising as many bullion dealers set up shops following the implementation of GST exemption of investment grade physical precious metals in 2012. To avoid being ripped off by dishonest bullion dealers, always buy from reputable and trustworthy bullion brokers. Don’t ever go for the ones that offer the lowest premiums because good things don’t come cheap, and cheap things don’t certainly come good.

Developing trust is critical in the bullion industry. To this end, BullionStar has recently reported a good FY2015 report. Revenue grew 43.8% as compared to FY2014. This growth was remarkable given that it took place in the wake of falling precious metal prices. Asian demand had been strong as investors took the opportunity to accumulate bullion to their portfolios at a bargain. So clearly, BullionStar’s CEO, Mr Torgny’s bet on Singapore being Asia’s gold hub had paid off.

In terms of financial strength, BullionStar had been profitable since FY2014 and FY2015. The company also has no outstanding long term debts to financial institutions. Going forward, the company foresee that FY2016 will deliver even better results with a slew several features going to be rolled out that would allow international customers to trade with BullionStar.

Retirement

Singaporeans should not depend solely on their CPF savings for their retirement

September 6, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 881 Views 0 Comments

Singaporeans who thought that they can depend squarely on their CPF savings for their retirement need to adjust their mentality. Given today’s high cost of living, that amount of savings would probably last you a couple of years. So, before you and your partner knew it, there might be a need to press the panic button during your twilight years. Also, in today’s society where Singaporeans must compete with cheap foreign talents, all of us must not take things for granted and assume that we would be gainfully employed until the age of 67.

In fact, you are probably just one step away from financial disaster if you are hospitalized in ICU. The medical costs would probably wipe out all your hard-earned savings in your Medisave if you didn’t make a proper retirement plan. Clearly, Singaporeans need to establish alternative pathways to accumulate and build wealth so that we don’t have to suffer the pain of “money no enough” in retirement age.

Firstly, the purpose of this article is not to question nor criticize the merits of CPF. The aim is to highlight to fellow Singaporeans the importance of taking charge their personal finances and empower their future. Far too many young Singaporeans ignore the importance of retirement planning in their prime age and also tend to regard their CPF savings as their sole ultimate saving plan.

Stocks

SATS to join STI

September 3, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1124 Views 0 Comments

Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), Singapore Exchange (SGX) and FTSE Russell announced on 3 September 2015 that UOL Group, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings and SATS will replace Jardine Matheson Holdings, Jardine Strategic Holdings and Olam International as constituents of the Straits Times Index (STI) following the conclusion of the semi-annual review.

The STI is widely followed by investors as the benchmark for the Singapore market and is used as the basis for a range of financial products including Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), futures, warrants and other derivatives.

SATS Ltd provides gateway services and food solutions in Singapore, Japan, and internationally. The company’s gateway services comprise airfreight, baggage, ramp handling, passenger, aviation security, cargo, warehousing, perishables and cruise handling, and terminal management services, as well as ground handling and in-flight catering services.

Its food solutions include airline catering, food distribution and logistics, and industrial catering services, as well as chilled and frozen food manufacturing, and linen and laundry services.

The company also provides apron, flight operation and load control, aviation security, aircraft interior and exterior cleaning, and cruise center operation and management services. It serves airline, hospitality, healthcare, food, and airfreight and logistics industries, as well as the government.

On 17 August 2015, SATS Ltd.

Gold

My gold journey with BullionStar

August 27, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1128 Views 0 Comments

BullionStar announces their 3rd Year Anniversary celebration! Time really flies and it seems like yesterday when I forged a working relationship with BullionStar to promote understanding of gold bullion among Singapore readers. Since then, the company has grew from strength to strength and has became a leading bullion dealer in Singapore. It never fails to amaze that the company has managed to achieve this incredible feat within such a short period of time. In this regard, I am proud and honored to be part of their journey, even though I am not their staff.

Even though the gold and silver price premiums of BullionStar are not the lowest you can find in Singapore, what differentiates it from the rest of its competitors is its reputation and content authority on precious metal. The founder of the company, Torgny Persson has a strong conviction in gold as a form of wealth building and firmly believes that Singapore is the most ideal country to invest in gold bullion.

I have gained much insights on gold and silver from my conversations with Torgny and through the years, my perspective on wealth management has been broaden. Like many Singapore investors, I used to think that investing is all about buying and holding stocks.

Trading

Why automated trading stop losses are not always ideal (especially now)

August 25, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 692 Views 0 Comments

Below is a guest post from Cynthia Siantar who is the co-founder of Call Levels, a Singapore fintech that provides free real time financial monitoring and notification service.

I’m sure we all agree that last night and this morning was a total bloodbath in the markets. But one group of people got it worse than others and who are they?

Those that had their automated trading stop losses triggered prematurely (see below), crystalised their losses, only to see the markets rebounded sharply soon after (ouch!). Not to mention there will always be that group that slept through the turmoil and wake up massively poorer. Don’t laugh, they might be someone you know.

And this is the reason why institutional investors and traders still choose to leave Call Levels: Call me when the price reaches this level with salespeople despite having the ability to set their own stop losses. They want peace of mind. When the markets go into panic mode, and none of your technical indicators make sense anymore, they want to be aware when certain price points are HIT but they don’t necessary want to execute that trade.

Inline image 2

As my co-founder, Daniel not-so-fondly recalls that one night many years back, he had at least 20 salespeople calling to update him because almost all his Call Levels were triggered.

Entrepreneurship

My favorite personal finance blogger

August 24, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 786 Views 1 Comment

It was a pleasant surprise to see my favorite personal finance blogger, HYOM back in action after more than a year. For the uninitiated, HYOM stands for Help Your Own Money. HYOM started his investment blog at the same time as me (in 2010) and I have always respected his work. In fact, I am one of his biggest fans and enjoy reading his articles. However, after he suffered from retrenchment in 2011, he begun to blog less often. Since then, the local investment blogging fraternity had taken a different dimension altogether. Sadly, the scene is now crowded with many bloggers who cannot match HYOM’s writing standard. Nonetheless, in his maiden article for 2015, HYOM touched on a very interesting subject that resonates deeply in my heart and that is, entrepreneurship in Singapore.

HYOM’s post was triggered by an article from a former high flying civil servant, Mr Devadas Krishnada who commented that Singaporeans are too risk averse and lamented that this is bad for Singapore’s future growth. Devadas’ frustration stemmed from a recent recruiting experience in which an applicant demanded more money in exchange for the risk in joining a SME like his. While I can relate to Devadas’ pain point of recruiting a local talent to support his company’s business expansion, I agree with HYOM’s that Devadas’ arguments are not well balanced.

Gold

Last Chance for Gold Investors

August 23, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 736 Views 0 Comments

Dow Jones plunged 2 percent on 20 August and seemingly continued its slide on 21 August as uncertainty over the Fed’s timing on interest rate hike and global growth weighed on investors’ confidence in the financial markets. Weak data on China’s growth also dealt another mighty blow to investors and heightened fear on the world number two economy. Given the volatility in the stock market, it is no surprise that investors turn to gold.

Widely seen as a safe haven, investors drove gold price up 7% from a 5-year low in 5 August. This development is a reverse on the recent bearish sentiment on precious metal. According to World Gold Council, demand on gold dropped 12% on a 6 year low in 2Q 2015. The gold market also faced weakness from jewellery buyers in China and India. However, it should be noted that the 2nd half of the year would be more encouraging given the anticipated responses from investors in view of the recent price correction.

Investors seeking wealth protection should diversify their assets and allocate a certain portion of their wealth in gold and silver. The current window is a good opportunity for wealth builders to adopt buy gold on the cheap and preserve wealth.

Retirement

CPF Retirement Planning Roadshows

August 19, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 860 Views 0 Comments

According to a HSBC survey conducted in 2013, more than 50% Singaporeans felt that they are not planning adequately for their retirement. The study also revealed that poor health and not having enough money to spend in their later stage of lives are among Singaporeans’ greatest fears. The results of the survey are not surprising, given our aging population and high cost of living. If you are not careful with your personal finances in your twenties or thirties, chances are, you might not have a positive retirement lifestyle.

To prepare for retirement, the first thing we must ask ourselves is how much is needed in order for you to feel comfortable in retirement. The amount of money is subjective and varies across individuals but the rule of thumb is that the retirement fund should include your dependents’ needs, traveling, medical and other unforeseen expenses.

Once you establish your desired retirement nest egg, develop the financial roadmap to achieve this goal. For example if you need $2 million to retire, work out the monthly or annual savings you need to set aside. Besides the cash components, acquire income generating assets and passive income investments to support your retirement fund.

A common mistake made by Singaporeans is that we often fail to future-proof our financial planning.

Career management

Money no enough for digital marketing talents

August 18, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 898 Views 0 Comments

Agencies and organisations in Singapore are not fulfilling the needs of marketing, digital and creative talent in terms of remuneration and professional development, a new study by specialist recruiter font talent has found.

font’s Market Pulse 2014/15, which surveyed 500 respondents across Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore, found numerous disconnects between what employers claim to be providing for employees, and what talent are actually receiving.

Money is the number one consideration for marketing talent in Singapore looking for new roles (81%), yet just 54% of professionals feel they have been fairly remunerated in the past year. Worryingly, just 35% of employers said they offer competitive base salaries above the market average, and only half offer incentives and bonus programmes. However, bonuses appear to be paid adequately, with 22% of talent receiving a bonus between both $3,000-$4,999 and $5,000-$6,999.

In Singapore, the top median annual salaries were found in Digital, Design and Production roles, followed by Creative and Creative Services, while the lowest was in Media (Media Planning, Digital Ad Sales, etc.)

When comparing in-house and agency wages, agencies came out on top with a median annual salary of $58,800, compared with $43,200 in-house. From a benefits perspective, in-house respondents reported more healthcare, company paid training and car park allowances, while agencies offered more flexible working hours, travel allowances, and phone allowances.

Gold

Gold demand falls in Q2 2015 as reduced consumer appetite in Asia outweighs increased buying in some western markets

August 16, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 624 Views 0 Comments

Below is an update on gold trend from World Gold Council. Notwithstanding the recent gold’s price drop and declining demand, gold investors should take a contrarian approach and seize this opportunity to buy gold. In Singapore, you can purchase gold and silver bullion from BullionStar, one of the leading bullion dealers.

The World Gold Council’s Gold Demand Trends report for Q2 2015 shows total demand was 915 tonnes (t), a fall of 12% compared to the same period last year, due mainly to a decline in demand from consumers in India and China. However, demand in Europe and the US grew, driven by a mixture of increasingly confident jewellery buyers and strong demand for bars and coins. Looking ahead, there are encouraging signs moving into what are traditionally the busiest quarters for gold buying in India and China.

Alistair Hewitt, Head of Market Intelligence at the World Gold Council, said:

“It’s been a challenging market for gold this quarter, particularly in Asia, on the back of falls in India and China. The reverse is true for western jewellery markets, as increased economic confidence led to continued growth in consumer demand. It is fair to say that investment demand for the quarter remained muted given the continuing recovery in the US economy and booming stock markets in India and China during the quarter.

Property investment; Singapore market;

The Ins and Outs of Mortgages in Singapore

August 13, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1021 Views 0 Comments

There is much to consider when the time comes to take out a housing loan in Singapore. Though it may seem intimidating and confusing at first, understanding the terms that you are dealing with will help, you get a head start on making your decision. Tools like the mortgage calculators offered by Property Guru can help you plan out payments and what fits best into your budget, but it’s best to start by learning about some aspects of mortgages in Singapore that may be unfamiliar. You’ll want to learn a little bit about how the SIBOR affects interest, the different types of rates that are offered on home loans, and how this factors into why refinancing is common in Singapore. Here’s a bit of an introduction to these concepts to start you on the way to your home loan.

Getting a Grip on the SIBOR
To put it simply, the SIBOR, which stands for Singapore Interbank Offered Rate, is the reference by which banks in Singapore determine interest rates on loans. Experts indicate that the SIBOR is predicted to rise to 2 percent by the end of 2016. You’re probably wondering what this means to you. Basically, the SIBOR will help you determine the initial interest you will be paying on your bank’s home loan, and can in turn help you decide on whether or not a fixed rate home loan or a floating rate home loan is the best choice for you.

Career management

My Career Low

August 8, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 947 Views 2 Comments

This year marks the 10th year anniversary of my working life. It seems not so long ago that I stepped out of the university, fresh and ready to take on the world. I was driven, curious and hungry for success back then. Yet now, I feel like a spent force, jaded and weary of my journey. So many things have happened to me for the past 10 years, both good and bad, and they have inevitably shaped my character and thoughts.

I like my current job because of the opportunity to make significant impact in the industry I am working in. Yet, I came to realize that there is another side of the job equation that cannot be decoupled, and that is human relationships. Having the soft skills to deal with day-to-day issues are important in career success and unfortunately, this is not taught in school. Through the years, I came to realize that successful people are those with strong Emotional Quotient (EQ) and they tend to get ahead than those who are smarter or technically stronger. And this is the area which I fare the worst – the ability to manage my emotions.

For the past few years, I have lost my temper in office on a number of occasions and my bosses had noticed my outbursts.

Stocks

CapitaLand to boost digital efforts with technology stalwarts as members of its newly formed Technology Council

August 7, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 930 Views 0 Comments

Below is a press release from Capitaland, one of the companies that I respect the most because of its foray in China over the years. The Singapore listed giant recent move into the use of technology to boost its real estate business would definitely help to give the company competitive edge in China. It is interesting to note whether such trend would take place in Singapore.

CapitaLand Limited has formed a new Technology Council consisting of high-calibre digital visionaries to boost its digital efforts to drive its real estate business. The council members are notable venture capitalists Foo Jixun, Managing Partner of GGV Capital and David Su, Managing Partner of Matrix Partners China, both of whom have strong tech focus and a keen eye for the next tech game-changers; as well as Gabriel Lim, CEO of the Media Development Authority of Singapore, the agency key to Singapore’s Smart Nation vision in mapping innovative infocomm media solutions. Together, the council provides strategic critique of CapitaLand’s operations and insights to the digital universe.

Mr Lim Ming Yan, President & Group CEO of CapitaLand Limited, said: “CapitaLand’s technology drive is part of the Group’s efforts to sharpen our customer-centric focus to develop real estate of the future – integrated and interconnected smart communities through smart buildings as well as seamless online and offline customer experiences.

Stocks

The sky is falling for Singapore shares investors

August 4, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 993 Views 0 Comments

Many Singapore investors would be happy to see the back of July as it capped an awful month for the stock market. A total of $37.4 billion was wiped out and the combined value declined sharply by 3.9 per cent. I also saw an article in a local finance blog where one reader wrote how depressed he was to see his hard earned money evaporated away because of the market correction.

To put things into perspective, I have always advocated readers to only invest in monies that you can really afford to lose. If you have only $30,000 hard cash, you don’t invest all of it in shares. That’s pretty stupid and risky. The worse case is concentrating all your investments on a couple of shares when you are just learning how to invest. Obviously, such an approach is akin to asking for trouble. A market rout would have wiped out all your monies.

The mayhem in the China stock market is not surprising, given that it had surged to record highs for so many years. A correction is inevitable and would of course inflict mighty pains on many investors. Such is the growing pains of an emerging market. On this note, investors worldwide should be cautious of this development because the fallout from the China market, coupled with the Greece debt crisis and the potential adjustment in interest rates, can affect investors’ confidence drastically and induce unstoppable financial crisis.

Gold

BullionStar explained the merits of fractional gold coins

August 3, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1170 Views 0 Comments

Below is an article from BullionStar, a bullion dealer based in Singapore which exempted investment grade precious metals from the goods and services tax (GST). Just like BullionStar, one of the the goals of SG Wealth Builder is to educate Singaporeans on the merits of owning gold and silver bullion as a means of wealth preservation.

Often, customers come into our shops and ask for the gold coin with the lowest premium. In this case, our answer is always the Royal Canadian Mint 1 oz Gold Maple Leaf. The Gold Maple Leaf offers not just the best value for money, but you also buy into a brand that is globally recognized for high manufacturing quality.

Why then, do we offer fractional coins in the form of fractional gold maples, kangaroos, pandas and lunar series and why do people purchase them even though the premiums are higher? Today’s editorial will discuss the different reasons people who buy gold buy fractionals.

Liquidity

Fractional coins offers the advantage of liquidity. Should one need a sum of money, one can sell a ¼ oz coin for example instead of selling an entire ounce. Now this is especially useful when the price where one bought the coin at is higher than current prices when you are deciding whether or not to sell.

Career management

When Should You Resign?

July 30, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1019 Views 2 Comments Buy SG50 Bullion

Last year, during my reservist in-camp training, I had a chat with one of my platoon mates on when is the right time to resign from a job. He was much older than me and was in his early forties. So obviously, given his wealth of experience, I thought what he said would probably be true.

In our conversation, he shared with me that when your boss starts to load you with many assignments or meaningless tasks, its a sure sign that he is trying to force you out of the company. Clearly, my friend wasn’t happy with his job but I didn’t urge him to be positive because at that point of time, I couldn’t really fathom what he was driving at.

Fast forward to a year later, his point really hit me. On thinking back, I am able to empathize him now as I am now going through the same situation as him then. For the past 6 months, I was loaded with many key projects with pressing deadlines, and also many small trivial tasks that don’t add value to the organization or myself.

On a daily basis, I was chased by colleagues from other divisions for trivial issues that could really be solved if they had bothered to put in some efforts.

Property investment; Singapore market;

Making a Smart Move for Your Mortgage

July 28, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1012 Views 0 Comments

An Information and Networking Luncheon by Property Club Singapore

In the coming months, my mortgage loan will be due for refinancing. Under the loan agreement, I am supposed to be paying interest fees at board rates set by the bank and the interest fees payable are scheduled annually accordingly. The fees payable is of course much lower than the HDB concessionary rate.

However, last month, I received a surprise upward revision in the interest fees, probably due to the soaring SIBOR rates in the market. This triggered me to check the term and conditions in the loan agreement, which stated that the bank actual reserves the rights to revise the fees according to market conditions. In my opinion, this is a fair clause and I am not complaining about the bank practice. But I thought that as an engineer by profession, I should have factored in safety margins in my mortgage loan to cater for such unexpected circumstances.

While the additional amount to be forked out is small because my mortgage loan is not much, many others in Singapore may be starting to feel the heat from the rising SIBOR rates. Aspiring homeowners, upgraders and investors are starting to feel the pain as banks start to adjust the refinancing and repricing packages.

Gold

Gold Spot Price at Five Year Low

July 23, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 826 Views 0 Comments

At USD1098 per ounce, gold price has fallen to a five year low. At the rate it is going, gold price seems on course to drop below the critical support level of USD1000. Many analysts also predict that the correction will last till the year end.

But then again, when it comes to gold, nobody can accurately predict the direction of its price. After all, the world has regarded the precious metal as safe haven and expected its price to escalate in view of the current Greece debt crisis and the recent China stock market rout. But it recent performance has confounded even the ardent gold bugs.

To put things into perspective, the gold rally has lasted for more than ten years already. From 2001, gold’s price rocketed from USD300 per ounce to USD1800 per ounce in 2011, making many gold investors rich. Invariably, an asset bubble is clearly forming. And whether investors like it or not, a massive correction for gold price is looming. So it is unsurprising that gold price is 40% lower than the 2011 peak.

The meltdown in gold price was initiated in 2011 when US economy began to revive following the financial crisis. For the last two years, with the recovery gaining pace and the improving job market, gold price seems destined to decline and had in fact, gradually dropped.

Gold

BullionStar: China’s Stock Market : A short summary of the rout and what lies ahead

July 17, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1163 Views 0 Comments

The almighty Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index has been one of the best performing financial asset, hitting a 7 year peak in the middle of July and having risen by more than 150% in the past 12 months. Shocking then, when it starting plunging and plunging with 30% of it’s market value lost in the following 3 weeks. The sell-off is incredible considering that 80% of the index consist of retail investors and not the traditional huge institutional investors. The high retail investor percentage in the index has been due to the availability of cheap credit made available and the availability of margin lending by brokers.

What happened after the plunge?

In the wake of the plunge, the Chinese government intervened and allowed almost half of the companies trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index to suspend trading of their shares to prevent a further loss in value.