SG Wealth Builder

Choosing the best mortgage loan

December 3, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1350 Views 0 Comments

The soaring SIBOR rates have created much havoc for many home owners as banks started to adjust upward their mortgage interest rates. I am one of those affected as my bank increased the interest by $200 per annual. More carnage is expected for the market as the Federal Reserve is expected to hike interest rates in a couple of weeks. Thankfully, my loan amount is not too big, so the impact of the upcoming Federal Reserve interest rate hike will be minimal. For many home owners, it is prudent to choose the best mortgage loan.

Incidentally, the lock-in period for my mortgage loan will end next month, so I am looking at refinancing or repricing my outstanding mortgage loan. Lets take a look at the important factors when choosing the best mortgage loan packages in the market. You won’t want to get ripped off by the banks.

My first consideration for a mortgage loan is actually the lock-in period. I am looking at 2-3 years of lock-in period because I aim to pay off my housing debt by then using my CPF savings. For the uninitiated, the term “lock-in” is a clause which restricts you from switching to another loan package.

Gold; currency

Rising US Dollar and Its Impact on Gold

December 2, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1400 Views 0 Comments

Gold is often denominated and traded in US dollars, so a weak dollar will cause gold to be less expensive to buy. In addition, when US dollars devalue, investors will seek an alternative safe haven, such as gold, to store value. Loosely speaking, gold’s value is often correlated to the strength of the dollar. However, with the introduction of quantitative easing by the US government since 2008, I have always been puzzled that global inflation has not shot through the roof and purchasing power of the US dollar has not been diminished a single bit. In BullionStar’s website, I found my answer.

BullionStar explained that 80% of the global trade is still conducted in US dollars as businessmen still trust the stability of US government. In my opinion, a lot of credit must go to President Obama, who took over from his predecessor, George Bush, during the Great Financial Recession in 2009. Under Obama’s leadership, he helped to steer United States out of economic recession and in 2015, his hard work finally paid off. United States’ economy is finally showing sign of recovery and unemployment rate decreases substantially since last year. As a result. the value of US dollar rise for the past few months.

Money management; personal finance

What does being an accredited investor mean in Singapore

December 1, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 2008 Views 3 Comments

In the course of my blog adventure, I am privileged to meet people who shared with me their financial insights unselfishly. From them, I gleaned some knowledge on Singapore’s finance sector from the perspective of a retail investor. One of the important lessons I learned is what does being an accredited investor really means in Singapore.

Before you skip this article, take note that being an accredited investor is NOT about taking financial courses to qualify for investing in risky products. It’s about how much money you have in your bank and your earning income bracket.

Under Securities and Futures Act Paragraph 4A, an accredited investor means[This is a premium article. The rest of the content is blocked and can be accessible by SG Wealth Builder Members only. To read the full content, please sign up as member.]

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Stocks

Stock Investing: Is Tat Hong a fallen angel?

November 29, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1949 Views 1 Comment

It has been sometimes since I reviewed the performance of Tat Hong and I was shocked to find out that the stock had plummeted to almost a five year low. The stock is currently trading at $0.52, barely above the $0.49 recorded in September 2015.

For a company that prides itself as the largest crane company in Asia Pacific and seventh worldwide, its recent stock price indicates that all is not well for Tat Hong.

In the 2015 annual report, the revenue declined 11% to S$608.6 million whilst operating profit (excluding impairment charges) remained flat at S$35.7 million comparable to the net profit achieved in FY2014. Profit after tax and minority interests (PATMI) dipped 85% to S$4.9 million due to non-cash goodwill and asset impairment charges of S$30.8 million taken by the Group’s Australian subsidiaries. One reason for Tat Hong’s terrible performance could be that its business is too concentrated in Australia and Singapore markets, which together accounted for 60% of the Group’s business. Thus, any headwind in these markets can spell big trouble for the company.

Perhaps another tell-tale signs that a company is not doing well is that it is selling its assets. In 2015, Tat Hong disposed its properties in Australia, equipment as well as selling off several “non-core subsidiaries”, Hup Hin Transport and Tat Hong Flo-Line, and an associate, Kian Ho Bearings.

Self improvement

The mystery of life

November 25, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1634 Views 0 Comments

It’s that time of the year for self reflections again. Since 2013, year end reflections took on a whole new dimension for me with the passing on of Dad. It is strange that when he was alive, I never realized my love for him and that he was so important to me.

Dad had been an influential figure in my life and his abrupt death in early 2013 had a profound impact on me. Perhaps the mystery of life is that you would only cherish something after you lost it. Human beings tend to take things for granted, especially when it comes to interpersonal relationships.

On looking back, one of Dad’s important words of advice to me was to manage and improve my temper. When I was young, I didn’t enjoy a good relationship with my mother and often argued with her over trivial matters. Because of this, Dad always chastened me over my foul temper. Indeed, since young, emotion management had always been a challenge for me. Sometimes when I see red, I would lose my head, much to my regrets later. Apparently, this Achilles Heel has spilled over to my job and thus affected my progression.

This year, I achieved quite a lot in my job and had collected a few awards along the way.

Insurance coverage; medical shield; financial planning; personal finance

Shortchanging your health insurance may cost your life in Singapore

November 20, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 2007 Views 2 Comments

Two weeks ago, I upgraded my whole family’s health insurances to Integrated Shield Plan (Private Hospital) to provide maximum coverage for medical expenses. As I also opted for the rider to cover the deductible and co-insurance portions, the amount of cash forked out was about $1,100 per annum after Medisave deduction.

The decision to upgrade our health insurances came about after a health scare that occurred to my colleague and my brother’s daughter who suffered a broken leg a couple of months ago. These incidents certainly really drove home the importance of buying health insurances when in the pink of health. With the kick-in of Medishield Life with effect 1 November 2015, you are still eligible for Medishield Life even if you have pre-existing illnesses or health problems at the point of applying for Medishield Life. However, do note that if your pre-existing conditions are very serious, you may need to pay additional premiums.

Personally, I am glad that the government has finally decided to provide coverage to Singaporeans born with pre-existing illnesses. This is the right thing to do, especially for new-born babies born with defects or chronic health problems. The Medishield Life will also offer protection for life to Singaporeans and Permanent Residents, so we need not worry about not having medical expenses coverage when we are old.

Gold

The strong demand for gold

November 19, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1952 Views 0 Comments

As the year end festive season approaches, gold demand from China and India consumers pick up as expected. This is because the Chinese and Indian consumers are traditionally known to buying gold jewelleries and bullion during festive seasons. In the latest report from World Gold Council, the Indian demand was up by 15% to 211 tonnes, while China’s demand increased by 4% to 188 tonnes in Q3 2015. The bullish outlook for gold underlies the strength of the demand of gold bars and coins.

To be a successful wealth builder, one must always adopt a contrarian approach and buy on price dips. This is applicable regardless of any form of financial instruments. For gold and silver bullion, this is no different. In Q3 2015, the outflow of ETF led to a price dip for gold, thus resulting in increased consumer demand. This is because global investors saw the gap and capitalized on buying opportunity. The investment demand saw a spike in this quarter, up 27% to 230 tonnes. In particular, the Western market saw a surge of estimated 33%. The increased in demand was probably triggered by the Greek debt crisis and uncertainties in Europe arising from the standoff between Ukraine and Russia.

Self improvement

Japan business trip

November 11, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1365 Views 0 Comments

I just came back from a Japan business trip and thought that it is timely to blog down some of my thoughts arising from the experience. This is the 6th time that I visited Japan and previously they were all business trips that lasted only a week. What made this trip quite memorable was that I had the chance to visit several interesting places at Tokyo with my colleague.

The first place that we visited in Japan was Daibai to see the giant Gundam robot at Gundam Front Tokyo. I am not a big fan of Gundam but nevertheless was infected by my colleague’s enthusiasm. The place is really unique as there is a Gundam museum with hundreds of Gundam robot figurines and a movie theatre playing Gundam shows.

Beyond the fanfare of Japanese anime and manga culture, I think it is important to recognize the Japanese’s culture of innovation. After all, the Japanese have created so many timeless icons such as Godzilla, Doraemon, Gundam and Dragonball. To develop such a culture is not easy and requires a nation to constantly dream big and think out of the box. In this respect, Japan is way ahead of Singapore.

Just think about it, what icons have Singapore generated over the decades that managed to capture the imagination of the world?

Stocks

Sleep-walking to investment losses

November 7, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1407 Views 0 Comments

Recently, one of my friends had a massive paper loss made on one of the local stocks. Apparently, the stock had risen substantially within the past one year but he got greedy and decided to hold on to it. Eventually, the stock had its run and plummeted to a new low. Unable to cash out, my friend has become a “long term investor”. I have seen far too many investors making the classic mistake of not setting a stop-loss or gain level. As a result, they always sell off a winning stock too early or hold on to a losing stock for far too long. To mitigate this, investors should always monitor their stock investment. Below is a press-release from Call Levels, a free alert system meant for financial tracking.

Call Levels, a real-time financial monitoring and alert service designed to help traders monitor financial assets price movements easily on mobile, today announced that it has closed its pre-series A led by 500 Startups. The fintech startup also raised capital from a consortium of angel investors who are veterans in financial markets and tech industry, such as Timothy Teo (ex-GIC and JP Morgan), Gracelyn Ho (ex-Morgan Stanley) and Koh Boon Hwee.

Stocks

Stock Investing: Ascott REIT’s 3Q 2015 Report

November 1, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1251 Views 0 Comments

Below is a press release from The Ascott Limited, a wholly owned serviced residence unit of CapitaLand, one of the companies which I deeply admire. Ascott has been expanding aggressively lately in the South-east Asia region on the back of the soon-to-be-established ASEAN Economic Community.

Ascott Residence Trust’s (Ascott Reit) revenue for 3Q 2015 rose 21% over 3Q 2014 to reach S$113.2 million. This came on the back of its acquisitions in 2014 and 2015, as well as stronger operating performance from existing properties. Revenue per available unit (RevPAU) for 3Q 2015 grew 10% to S$141 compared to the same period in 2014. Gross profit increased 13% to S$55.2 million.

Ascott Reit’s 3Q 2015 Unitholders’ distribution of S$32.0 million included a one-off item of approximately S$1.2 million relating to the interest cost incurred on the S$250 million perpetual securities issued in June 2015 for the period prior to utilisation of the proceeds in 3Q 2015 to partially fund Ascott Reit’s acquisitions in Australia and the United States of America. Distribution per unit (DPU) for 3Q 2015 is 2.07 cents. Excluding the one-off item, the adjusted DPU would be 2.15 cents, which is 2% higher than 3Q 2014 DPU of 2.11 cents.

Gold; portfolio management

Monetary Authority of Singapore finally regulates gold buy-back schemes

October 30, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 2360 Views 0 Comments

In perhaps one of the most overdue regulatory safeguards for Singapore investors, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) finally announced that precious metal buy-back arrangements will be regulated either as debentures or investment funds, depending on their features. This announcement was made after its consultation paper published on 21 July 2014.

This move to regulate the precious buy-back schemes is a result of the spate of gold ponzi schemes offered by Genneva Gold, The Gold Guarantee and Suisse International in Singapore. Seduced by the so called guaranteed payouts of 20% or incredibly high buy-back prices, many unwitting investors were sold on these gold buy-back schemes. Many of these victims didn’t realize that they were actually walking into traps devised by cheats.

In the aftermath, many victims sought to enlist the help of the authorities to claim back their investments but were shocked to find out that these financial instruments were not regulated at all. There were even reports that some victims sank more than hundred of thousands of dollars of their hard-earned savings into these gold-back schemes. Some even pooled money with their families to join these schemes.

The reason why many Singapore investors were conned was because many of them were attracted to buying gold when it reached its peak during the period 2010 to 2011.

Money management; personal finance; relationship

Lack of monetary wealth led to Kovan double murders?

October 28, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1936 Views 0 Comments

The recent high-profile trial of former police officer over the Kovan double murders has shaken Singapore. To many, it is unbelievable that such violent murder case could have taken place in a city known for being one of the safest places on earth. Even more shocking is that the accused is a former police officer. I believe that this should be the first case of police officer being accused of murder in Singapore history and it really makes a huge dent in the public confidence of our law enforcers.

As the trial is still on going, I will reserve my judgement on the accused and assume that he is innocent. However, the matter of fact is that the accused had financial difficulties and was facing bankruptcy at the time of the murders. Apparently, he raked up bad debts after his divorce in 2005 and was unable to pay his car and mortgage loans. He also did not declare to his superior that he was financially embarrassed, thus he was taken off front-line duties as an internal investigation was launched against him.

Driven to desperation, the accused then devised a plan to steal from the victim, who had made a police report a few months ago over a theft from his safe deposit box.

Stocks

Stock Investing: Ascott Strengthens Its Investment Moat

October 26, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1564 Views 0 Comments

CapitaLand’s wholly owned serviced residence business unit, The Ascott Limited (Ascott), has extended its global footprint to the fast-developing market of Cambodia by securing a contract to manage its first serviced residence in the country. Somerset Norodom will open in Cambodia’s capital and economic hub of Phnom Penh in 2018. The property will add another 105 apartment units to Ascott’s Southeast Asian portfolio, bringing its total in the region to over 13,000 units in 74 properties across nine countries. The expansion comes hot on the heels of the company securing five properties in Cebu, the Philippines and Pattaya, Thailand early this month.

Mr Lee Chee Koon, Ascott’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are bullish about the growth potential of the Southeast Asian markets. The establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community in a few months’ time bodes well for Ascott, as it will further boost the competitiveness and connectivity of the region, and increase business activities and foreign direct investments in the markets.

Gold; silver

BullionStar explains the difference between ETF Gold and physical Gold

October 24, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1466 Views 0 Comments

Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) is a form of passive fund comprising of a basket of securities listed and traded on the stock exchange. To put it simply, ETF combines the best of shares and unit trust, thereby enabling investors to achieve diversification in single transaction with minimum investment. However, ETF Gold is a little bit different and requires a different approach as compared to owning physical gold and silver.

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.

A Gold Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) attempts to track and ‘mirror’ the price performance of gold bullion by holding gold bars or derivatives and issuing shares backed by their holdings of physical metal or derivatives. A Gold ETF, like GLD, has their shares sold in baskets of 100,000 and is marketed by State Street. As compared to physical Gold, a key difference is in ownership and redemption.

Ownership and Redemption

Even though an ETF like GLD might be “physically backed,” ordinary investors cannot simply go to the ETF marketer or the vaults in which the bullion is claimed to be stored at and redeem their bullion.

Money management; personal finance; Investment

Will you still love me tomorrow?

October 23, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1411 Views 1 Comment

Lately, a few finance bloggers wrote about the cost of raising up a child in Singapore. Some estimated that the cost might be up to $1 million while there were some who felt that $200,000 to $300,000 should be a comfortable range. Whenever I come across such articles, I always have mixed feelings. Whilst it is important to be pragmatic in a high cost society like Singapore, I don’t like this money culture whereby we view things in monetary terms and measure relationships in dollars and cents.

As a father of two kids, I always tell myself that my love for them must be unconditional and I would not expect anything in return from them when I grow old. By the same measure, my wife and I do not see the point of calculating the cost of raising our children. This is because we do not want our children to grow up wondering how much it would cost to support us when we are old and jobless. We feel that it is our mission to take care of ourselves and be financially independent when old.

My girl and boy are our greatest gifts and we would not trade anything in the world in exchange for them.

Stocks

Haw Par stock analysis

October 22, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1529 Views 0 Comments

On 11 August 2015, Haw Par delivered a good set of 2Q 2015 performance. Profits for the period was $115.877 million and the 6 month period was S$129.33 million, representing an increase of 88% and 75% increase compared to 2014 results. On the surface, this might seem like an impressive showing by Haw Par. However, upon closer scrutiny, the profits was actually bolstered by the S$55.8 million gain arising from the partial disposal and reclassification of one of its assets, Hua Han.

In terms of operating cash flow, the 2nd quarter saw a healthy cash flow of $48.3 million due to the investment income of $38.6 million. As I have touched in my previous article on Haw Par, the company has substantial investments, consisting mainly of strategic holdings in United Overseas Bank Limited, UOL Group Limited and United Industrial Corporation Limited. This investment portfolio provides a stable source of funding – through recurring dividend income – and financial strength – at marked-to-market valuations – over the years.

Is Haw Par an undervalued stock and thus merits investment from wealth builders? After all, it is currently trading at $8.240, well below its Net Asset Value of $12.93. However, it should be noted that the company currently holds about S$2 billion worth of shares in UOB, UOL and UIC.

personal finance

Financial time bomb in Singapore households

October 20, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1471 Views 0 Comments

Almost three-quarters of households in Singapore could face financial disaster in the future due to worrying levels of inertia around wills and life protection, a new survey by online matching service findaWEALTHMANAGER.com has revealed.

• 71% of affluent women in Singapore admit that they/their partner do not have an up-to-date will in place that reflects their current wishes
• Almost a further tenth simply do not know if this vital document has been kept up to date – this despite the fact that 38% of women say they take sole responsibility for financial decisions in their household
• Life insurance and income protection levels are also worryingly low, with just 60% of wealthy women confident that they/their partner have adequate provision in place
Almost three-quarters of households could face financial disaster in the future due to worrying levels of inertia around wills and life protection, a new survey by online matching service findaWEALTHMANAGER.com has revealed.

Currently, 71% affluent women in Singapore admit that they/their partner do not have an up-to-date will in place that reflects their present wishes, while a further 9% do not know if this vital document has been kept current.

Just as worryingly, almost a quarter (23%) of respondents report that they do not have adequate life and income protection insurance in place, with a further 17% not knowing if they have taken sufficient measures to ensure their family’s security.

Gold; silver

Where to store your wealth in Singapore

October 16, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1566 Views 0 Comments

Many critics of gold and silver like to point out that investment guru, Warren Buffett disdained gold for its lack of utility as a form of investment. In my opinion, I find it strange that many people tend to follow what he preached or wrote. Firstly you need to understand that Warren Buffett is one of the richest men on earth and he is definitely not obliged to reveal the details of his wealth to the rest of the world. Nobody can accurately pin down his amount of assets and the various forms of investments he held.

No, I am not saying that Warren Buffett is hiding any things from the public but the matter of fact is that wealth is a personal thing and you don’t reveal something so personal to the public.

One of the greatest fears of the rich is losing their wealth. This is understandable as very few people can take the blow of losing their hard-earned wealth accumulated over years of hard work. It is this fear that drive the rich to seek safe haven to protect their wealth from the risks in the financial system and store their wealth in precious metals. In fact, gold was reincorporated into the financial system only recently by institutional investors in the western world.

Property investment;

HDB: The thin fine line between “Joint Tenancy” and “Tenancy-in-Common”

October 14, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 2640 Views 4 Comments

In Singapore, more than 80% of the residents live in HDB flats. Yet how many are aware of the various HDB regulations and its implications to themselves and their loved ones? Not knowing the rules can potentially land you in financial troubles, but may also cause family disharmony and destroy relationships. One of the most overlooked clause is the Manner of Holding, specifically, “Joint Tenancy” and “Tenancy-in-Common”. Read on if you are a joint owner of a HDB flat and is curious to find out how it can impact you.

When you are buying a HDB flat with your spouse or other family members, you would need to decide on the manner of holding the flat upon the transfer of flat ownership, either through joint tenancy or tenancy-in-common.

Technically, under joint tenancy, all the flat owners have an equal share in the flat. However, in the event of a demise of any joint owner, the right of survivorship applies and his interest in the flat would automatically be passed on to the remaining co-owners. This is regardless of whether the deceased joint owner has left behind a Will.

According to an example quoted from HDB’s website “Mr A, Mrs A (wife) and Mr C (son) own an HDB flat under joint tenancy.

Self improvement

A second chance in life

October 12, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1538 Views 1 Comment

What would you do if you are given a second chance to re-build your life? Would you cherish it and change the way you live your life?

Last week, I received an urgent message from my boss that one of my colleagues was admitted to hospital after having difficulty in talking for 20 minutes. My first reaction was that this could be a symptom of stroke but thankfully it was determined that it was a blood clot as a result of head trauma that he sustained last month during an overseas trip.

On my way home, a lot of things went through my mind. I am in my mid-thirties and being a sole bread-winner with two young kids, what would happen to my dependents if I am down with a severe stroke? It would be good if I had a quick death but what if I survived but became a burden instead to my loved ones? Perhaps many people would dismiss such worrying thoughts as being too pessimistic. However, such an unfortunate tragedy did happen to my father.

Unlike my colleague, my late father was not so fortunate and was not given a second chance. He survived the stroke but permanently lost control of his left side of his body.

Stocks

Stock Investing: Sheng Siong Group

October 11, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1715 Views 0 Comments

In July 2015, one of the stocks I am tracking, Sheng Siong Group, delivered another stellar set of results. The company is one of the largest supermarket chains in Singapore and recently declared an interim dividend of 1.75 cent per share on the back of a 23.1% year-on-year increase in net profit to $13.6 million for the 3 months ended 30 June 2015.

Notably, the revenue increased because of the increased sales from the four new stores. According to Mr Lim Hock Chee, the Group’s Chief Executive Officer, “We are pleased to open four new stores since the start of the year, bringing our total retail area to 426,000 square feet. This represents a 5.4% growth in our retail area, compared with a retail square footage of 404,000 square feet as at December 31, 2014. We remain committed to our store expansion plans, particularly in locations where we do not have a presence, so as to reach out to our customers. At the same time, we will continue to nurture the growth of both our new and old stores, improve the sales mix and work towards reducing input costs by capitalising on our Mandai distribution centre.”

One of the factors I like about Sheng Siong Group is that the balance sheet is pretty strong and that the company had no borrowings as at 30 June 2015 and 31 December 2014 respectively.

Stocks

Stock Investing: Ascott

October 9, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1375 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 1386 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 1654 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 1432 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 156 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 1645 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 1626 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 1396 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 1435 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.

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