SG Wealth Builder

Investing in SingTel

February 4, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 0 Views 0 Comments

Nowadays, I am extremely fed up with M1 network services. No matter where I go, the 3G network coverage is terribly poor for my mobile phone. As a result, sometimes I could not receive messages from my loved ones and friends.

I suspect the drop in the network quality may be because I cancelled M1 4G subscription recently – previously it was offered to me free-of-charge when I renewed my subscription plan but M1 stated that it would charge me $10 extra from January 2015 onward. If not for the fact that I have to pay hefty penalty for cancelling my subscription plan contract, I would have terminated my line long ago.

From the consumer’s point of view, if I am not satisfied with a company’s services or products, I would not invest in their shares. For a knowledge-driven economy, internet data access is critical in Singapore and if M1 is unable to provide reasonable network service level, it don’t deserve any investment merits. Notwithstanding the dividend track records, if M1 is unable to retain customers, its economic moat will only erode over the long run.

The saturated Singapore market and the fierce competition among the three telecommunication companies (SingTel, M1 and Starhub) reinforce the importance of economic moats in this sector.

Gold

Gold Bars traded without spread in Singapore – A world’s first!

February 3, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1266 Views 0 Comments

Below is a press release from BullionStar Pte Ltd, a Singapore registered bullion dealer offering GST exempted precious metals for savings and investment. The Singaporean government exempted precious metals in 2012 with the objective of making Singapore a trading, transit and storage hub of precious metals.

Gold Bars with No Spread!

Today, BullionStar launches a unique new opportunity to buy and sell physical 100 gram gold bars without any spread between the buy and sell price! The BullionStar 100 gram gold bar is the world’s first physical 100 gram gold bar to be traded with no spread.

The gold bars are minted by the Swiss LBMA accredited refinery Argor-Heraeus for BullionStar with the text “Money since 4000 B.C.” on reverse indicating that gold has been money for some 6000 years.

When you buy 10 or more of these gold bars there’s no spread between the buy and sell price whatsoever. For purchases of less than 10 bars, there’s a small spread of 0.6 % which is still significantly less than normal for 100 gram bars.

BullionStar Mint – Gold Bars with No Spread – 100 gram

The gold bars are minted by the renowned Swiss refinery Argor-Heraeus and comes sealed in a tamper-proof Certicard blister package.

Investments

Singapore investors set to lose $70 million

February 2, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 801 Views 0 Comments

According to today’s Property Guru’s news article, 400 Singapore investors are suing Ecohouse for investment losses of up to $70 million. Apparently, the company had an office in Suntec Tower and managed to attract many first time retail investors hoping to make money from overseas property investments. Investors were sold investment schemes that promised to deliver “20% in 12-months on its S$46,000 social housing property investments”.

To put things into perspective, many of these Singapore investors are not your typical mom-and-pop types of investors who are uneducated and ignorant. Most of the victims are middle-class people with high incomes seeking to enhance their wealth through schemes that promise high returns within a short time frame. Usually the scheme involves pooling of investors funds and the money is typically managed solely by the operator. The first principle that investors should always bear in mind is that if something is too good to be true, it is! Retail investors should first of all check whether these schemes are regulated, instead of just focusing on the rate of returns.

Ecohouse managed to sell more than 1000 of their investment schemes in Singapore and other South East Asian countries in 2012 and 2013. That was the period when the property market was in blistering red hot form in Singapore and also coincided with the slew of cooling measures implemented by the government.

Insurance coverage; medical shield; financial planning; personal finance

Traded Life Insurance Policies in Singapore

January 30, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1107 Views 4 Comments

Singaporeans love to buy and sell properties and cars, and the secondary markets have been vibrant for these two big-ticket items. To source for the best deals, Singaporeans can conveniently log on to online websites like iProperty and SG Car Mart. But how about insurance policies? In US and UK, the secondary markets for traded life and endowment insurances are pretty robust. However, in Singapore, the market for traded life and endowment policies is still pretty nascent.

Traded life insurances exist because the existing policy holder decides to liquidate his life or endowment policies due to financial problems or when the insured person experiences a decline in life expectancy and hope to cash in on his insurance.

Usually the cash value would be low if the policy holder surrender the policy to the insurer, so a better option would be to sell to another individual at a higher price as offered by the insurer. Throughout the transaction, no new policy is created and only the existing policy bought by the original policy holder is used.

An important thing to note is that if you purchased a traded life policy or traded endowment policy, you are required to pay the premiums until the policy matures or the person whose life is insured dies.

Forex; Trading

New asset classes added to stock market ‘s alarm clock, Call Levels

January 29, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1140 Views 1 Comment

Local start-up Call Levels has created a mobile app that simplifies trading and investing by focusing on a single primary need – the need for investors to be alerted when their selected assets hit pre-set price levels.

The start-up’s co-founder, Daniel Chia, who was a sovereign wealth and hedge fund portfolio manager for the past eight years, created the app after realising that the complexity of existing finance and trading apps put off users who needed them most.

“It’s for part-time investors, businessmen who watch currency moves and even finance professionals themselves” says Daniel. “Call Levels keeps things simple for anyone with an interest in the markets by focusing on only doing one thing well – free, reliable, real-time price alerts.”

The app allows users to select their assets to track, set price levels with a responsive slider, and then receive push notifications when the asset prices hit the desired levels. Users can also notify friends, brokers and bankers when the Call Levels hit by adding their contact details to the app.

Call Level app users will get the most updated information reliably across multiple trading markets and stocks, with a system algorithm that scans the market every minute. Leveraging on Agile development methodology, Call Levels team and 2359 Media built the app within two months, with a system that notifies users within seconds, ensuring critical information reaches users in a timely manner.

Stocks

Investing in Telco stocks to pay your phone bills

January 28, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 0 Views 0 Comments

Below article is adapted from SGX website and permission was sought to publish it.

According to a year-end BCG report, there are currently almost 7 billion mobile phone subscriptions globally, or one for every person on Earth.

Last year, listed mobile phone providers – Singtel, Starhub and M1 averaged a 10.1% total return and have generated a 1.7% return in the year thus far.

These stocks all distributed dividends last year, which might have helped offset mobile phone subscription plans. For instance, an investment of S$7,320 in Singtel shares last year would have generated enough dividend income to pay the minimum annual fee of Singtel’s Combo 1 plan.

According to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), there are currently almost 7 billion mobile phone subscriptions globally, or one for every person on Earth. The recent report BCG noted several factors are fuelling subscription growth, including greater access, increasingly sophisticated mobile-device functionality, fast-rising device sales, an ever-increasing range of devices and device types, and sharply falling prices. Another factor that was noted included more reliable data connections that enable increasingly data-intensive activities – moreover approximately 60% of the world’s population is covered by 3G connectivity.

Singapore’s three listed mobile providers are Singtel, Starhub and M1.

Stocks

mm2 Asia

January 27, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 812 Views 0 Comments

Local movie producer and distributor, mm2 Asia Ltd has launched the Red Carpet Club, a programme targeted exclusively at shareholders and investors of the Group.

Up to 200 movie tickets of the preview screening on 16 February 2015 to be given away to shareholders ·

The cast of the movie will be present ·

Preview screening is the first of many perks that mm2 Asia is launching as part of its mm2 Red Carpet Club for shareholders ·

To be eligible for ticket entitlement, investors will need to be listed as a shareholder of mm2 Asia with a minimum holding of 1,000 shares as at 5.00 pm on 30 January 2015

Newly-listed local movie producer and distributor, mm2 Asia Ltd. (“mm2 Asia” and together with its subsidiaries, the “Group”), today announced an exclusive treat for its shareholders. The Group will be giving away up to 200 tickets to its shareholders for the preview screening of the highly anticipated “Ah Boys to Men 3: Frogmen” on 16 February, a movie that is co-produced by the Group.

This preview for mm2 Asia’s shareholders will be ahead of the movie’s premiere on the big screens on 19 February.

Stocks

k1 Ventures reward shareholders with dividends again

January 26, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 979 Views 1 Comment

In my previous post, I wrote that k1 Ventures might reward shareholders with dividends due to the divestment of China Auto Grand for $32 million. True enough, in today’s announcement, the management of k1 Ventures declared tax exempt one tier interim dividend of 1.5 cents per share. The dividend will be paid to shareholders on 12 February 2015 but the counter will go ex-dividend on 29 January 2015. Even though I am not vested in this counter, I feel happy for those who had invested in this counter.

In the current financial report, k1 Ventures classified the divestment of Helm, the long haul transport leasing business, as “discontinued”. This move effectively made k1 Ventures asset-lite because the heavy burden of long term debts was removed. Currently, the Group did not have any borrowing and is focused on managing the current portfolio of assets. In a way, it is a good move that k1 Ventures is not making any new investments because this will enable them to focus and maximize value on the proceeds from any realization of assets and to return the same to shareholders.

On the balance sheet, the Group has a net current asset of $84.3 millions. The shareholders’ funds decreased from $256.5 million at 30 June 2014 to $236.5 million at 31 December 2014.

Forex; Trading

How to avoid fatal investment mistakes

January 22, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 845 Views 0 Comments

One of the most fatal mistakes made by investors is not setting price levels when entering and exiting an investment instrument. This approach is akin to expecting zero risk and turmoil in the market, something which I deem foolish and naive. Perhaps one of the most recent shocks in the financial system is the sudden overnight surge in the Swiss franc after the Swiss National Bank removed the cap on it’s currency appreciation against the ailing Euro in mid-Jan 2015.

So is there a way to mitigate this risk? For sure there is. Technology has changed the way we live our lives and how we invest. We can never win technology, and therefore should always strive to leverage on technology to create and manage our wealth. Local start-up Call Levels has created a mobile app that simplifies trading and investing by focusing on a single primary need – the need for investors to be alerted when their selected assets hit pre-set price levels. Call Levels is a simple mobile-based market alert application that allows users to track and set alerts for foreign currencies, stocks (to be out in 2015) and commodities of their choosing. It will also provide snapshots for quick market analysis based on the customised alerts tracked by users.

Stocks

Investing in Dividend Stocks

January 21, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1027 Views 3 Comments

When it comes to stock picking, one of the key criteria in evaluating the performance of the managers is how they deploy or handle cash flow within the business. For example, they may choose to use cash to reduce company’s debts, acquire other companies, buy-back shares or reward shareholders with dividends. Most investors, especially minority shareholders, would prefer the company to pay out dividends because it means a form of passive income for them. My favorite stock is k1 Ventures, one of the largest venture capitalists listed in SGX.

I have been tracking k1 Ventures for more than 10 years and had invested in the stock over the years. k1 Ventures is an investment holding company invested in diverse sectors such as finance, transportation, education and oil and gas. Those who are vested in this counter would know that this is an excellent stock which had paid out huge dividends over the years. Since FY05, it had consistently paid out dividends and if you had bought the share then and hold on to them till now, you would have an incredible yield of about 70%! Now, how many stocks in SGX are capable of giving this sort of dividends nowadays? Currently, I am not vested in this counter but am still tracking the company’s development for future investment opportunities.

Stocks

Stock investments: Investment Moats

January 19, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 885 Views 0 Comments

Dear Gerald,

I remember seeing one of your blogs around end of December which listed your stock holding as at end 2014. I was just going through your blog again but I couldn’t find that anymore. Could you please let me know if that was deleted or it’s still there just that I missed it.

Cheers!

Cindy

I received the above email from one of my readers recently. In view of the historic highs recorded by the US stock market, I have sold off all my stocks since last year and re-position my fund to upgrade to a new and bigger house. I feel that given the current stock market climate, the risk premium is not worth my investment dollars as it is so hard to identify good companies worth investing for the long term and trading at reasonable price. However, I still believe the stock market present many opportunities to build wealth, and therefore, I take this “lull period” to polish my knowledge on how to become a better stock investor.

When I started out investing in stocks, I do not treat the stocks as if I owned the businesses. On hindsight, that was probably why I had a few hits and misses here and there.

Entrepreneurship

Successful entrepreneurs

January 10, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 963 Views 1 Comment

In my journey as a personal finance blogger, I have the privileges to meet up with great aspiring entrepreneurs. I learned a lot from these successful entrepreneurs because they have been unselfish in sharing with me their views and their thoughts on successful entrepreneurship. In fact, yesterday, I met up with the founder of icompareloan, one of the best websites for comparing mortgage loans in Singapore. Below are some of the traits I think commonly found in great entrepreneurs.

1. They note down their ideas (just like my Investment Notebook). If there is an ah-ha moment, they would quickly note it down and revisit the idea again.

2.They think through their ideas over and over again to see if they can be successful. Sometimes their ideas might have been implemented by others. But if they are able to develop a better and more cost-effective way of doing it, then they stand a higher chance of winning.

3. They do their homework and spend tonnes of effort on researching. After all, no generals would like to fight a losing battle.

4. They can sell their ideas effectively. In business, if you cannot sell, you are finished. To make money, you must know sales tactics.

personal finance

SG Wealth Builder’s Journey

January 4, 2015 sgwealthbuilder 1166 Views 2 Comments

As we enter 2015 and bid 2014 farewell, many of us are making new year resolutions to improve on areas which we would like to improve in the coming year. SG Wealth Builder is certainly no exception.

There were several ups and downs for me last year but overall, I think 2014 had been pretty good for me. There were also some lessons learned in my life journey which I hope to pen down in this blog, so as to remind myself not to repeat the same mistake again.

Family

This year, there will be a new addition to my family! My second child is expected to arrive in late April this year. To welcome this bundle of joy, for the past few months, I had been busy making arrangements for his arrival. My wife and I initially were planning to hire a domestic helper because we fear that she may not be able to cope with my daughter and baby son.

However, after several months of discussion, we decided not to go for it because of the concern that the maid would create more headaches and issues for us to manage. We had heard and read so many horror stories of maids mishandling baby kids and children in Singapore.

Property investment; Singapore market;

Smart and Stupid Property Investors

December 26, 2014 sgwealthbuilder 0 Views 3 Comments

During my in-camp reservist training a few months ago, I had a conversation with one of my army buddies regarding his matrimonial home in Clementi. He purchased the HDB flat with his wife and funded it with HDB concessionary loan about four years ago. I asked him why he didn’t look around and source for mortgage loans with lower interest rates instead. His reply to me was, “Why go for the hassle? Out of sight, out of mind!”

His response might sound cocky to many people but to me, he is just being stupid and careless with his money. Given the low interest rates for mortgage loans, he had effectively lost about $5000 in terms of higher interest incurred in the past four years. This amount of money could had been put to better use instead of giving to government agency (HDB). For example, he could have used the money to invest in himself and take up courses to upgrade his knowledge. He could also use the money for holiday trips to relax himself and enhance his well being. Instead, he chose to waste the money.

My friend is a teacher and hold the position of department head in his school.

personal finance

How to start your investment journey

December 22, 2014 sgwealthbuilder 1109 Views 3 Comments

Hi SG Wealth Builder,

I am Ryan and I am currently still schooling. I have read your articles on your blog and I am very inspired by your investment journey. I would like to get advice from you on how to make my first step. I want to create an income source and at the same time, learn and gain experience in investing. As I don’t come from a very well to do family, I always face struggle when it comes to money issues, for instance school fees. I have saved up to about 1k plus dollars and would like to know how can I start learning and make my first move. Please give me advice.Thank you,

Ryan

I received the email from one of my readers a couple of weeks ago and made some editorial amendments to the original content. It took me quite a while to craft out this article due to my recent massive pay cut in my day job. I was in a really distraught mode and was not quite in the right frame of mind to blog.

Nevertheless, I felt obliged to response to this young man because I can relate to his motivation to invest.

Gold

BullionStar explained the difference between spot price and price premium

December 19, 2014 sgwealthbuilder 1178 Views 0 Comments

Below is an article from BullionStar, a bullion dealer based in Singapore where you can buy and store gold and silver at competitive prices. BullionStar was established in 2012 after Singapore government exempted investment grade precious metals from the goods and services tax (GST). Just like BullionStar, one of 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.

Product Price Premium
Precious metals and bullion products in physical form often have a higher price than the spot-price. The spot-price is the price for which someone can buy certificates or futures on the commodity exchange. It is however mathematically impossible, based on the paper market volume traded, for these so called paper metal products to be fully backed by physical precious metals.

For customers of BullionStar, they can check the price premium by clicking on a specific product in the product overview to reach the product details page where price per gram, price per troy oz, the premium above the spot price and the spread between the buy and sell price are listed.

Price

Premium for Precious Metals
There are two components in the price premium for physical gold and silver.

Gold

How to invest in gold in Singapore

December 15, 2014 sgwealthbuilder 986 Views 0 Comments

I would like to know how to buy gold and invest for my future? Thank you – Ridhwan

There are many ways to invest in gold. Typically, you may buy gold jewellery, invest in gold mining stocks, ETF or gold derivatives. But personally, I prefer to invest in gold bullion, such as coins and bars. This is because in Singapore, the government has removed GST for investment precious metal (IPM). Last year, in one of my articles, I touched on Singapore’s exemption on the investment precious metal (IPM).

Singapore’s regulatory framework for gold

Basically, with effect from 1 Oct 2012, the importation and supply of IPM in Singapore are exempt from GST. The supply of IPM which is exported continues to be zero-rated. However, only precious metals in the form of a bar, ingot, wafer and coin which meet certain criteria can qualify as IPM.

To provide certainty, precious metal coins that qualify as IPM are prescribed in the GST Act. Precious metals which do not meet the criteria cannot qualify as IPM and the supply of non-IPM continues to be taxable. Examples of non-IPM are jewellery, scrap precious metals, numismatic coins and precious metals which are refined by refiners who are not on the “Good Delivery” list of the London Bullion Market Association or the London Platinum and Palladium Market.

salaries

Ruthless paycut

December 12, 2014 sgwealthbuilder 883 Views 9 Comments

Last week, my colleagues had a briefing session conducted by HR Director who announced that our variable specialist allowances would be removed with effect 1 January 2015.When he made the announcement and solicited for our feedback, there was at least 5 minutes of silence. Everyone was too shell-shocked to react.

Since last year, there were lingering rumors that HR was hatching some plans to adjust our variable specialist allowances but we thought that the most drastic move that they would resort would be to incorporate the variable component into our basic pay. We never expect in our wildest dream that they would remove all our allowances. For many of us, the amount is a huge amount and make up at least 30% of our pay. So obviously we were very unhappy. The only consolation news was that the organization would remove the allowances in three years phases, so that affected staff would have time to adjust their personal finances.

This variable adjustable component was indicated in our salary contracts but the HR director insisted that the term “variable” means that the amount can be zero as well, subjected to individual performance and market condition. When he made that kind of statement, all my trust in the organization immediately flushed down the drain.

Book review; Property investment; Singapore market; housing prices

Achieving financial freedom in Singapore

December 6, 2014 sgwealthbuilder 832 Views 0 Comments

Dear SG Wealth Builder,

Sorry to message you out of the blue (you may consider to publish my email but kindly oblique my name and email). I am 37 as of this year and I am a civil servant (which means I cannot do part time jobs or start a business) who have difficulty achieving financial stability.

The only good thing now is that I am not in debt (finally), apart from the $10,000 medical bills incurred recently (I have a exclusion for heart) which I am paying $300 per month interest free.

I tried reading all your posts from day 1 and more or less understand your objectives and purpose of the blog.

I am a person whom is very keen on being financially free in time to come and hope I can do it via investment. (one of the ways if i choose not to leave this current employment).

However, being an engineering student from polytechnic, I find it hard to kick-start my investment journey and often feel lost. Are you able to recommend me some books or what kind of topic I can look for before I can understand how this whole investment thing come about and how can I start doing it as time is definitely not on my side as I am approaching 40?

Book review; Property investment; Singapore market; housing prices

Secret formula to win the property game

November 29, 2014 sgwealthbuilder 811 Views 0 Comments

For the past two months, I was really busy with my day-job as I was tasked to be one of the course instructors for my organization. Being an instructor was really challenging because of the need to be the subject matter expert. Mastery of classroom techniques is definitely important because you have to speak confidently and at the same time, capture the participants’ attentions. And of course, there was the need to develop the course materials, which was really a chore. But to our surprise, the course turned out really well and there were a lot of engagements between the participants and the instructors. In the end, my team really enjoyed the process because we helped each other to answer the queries.Knowing what you don’t know
During that busy period, I read the e-book “No B.S. Guide to Property Investment – Dirty Truths and Profitable Secrets to Building Wealth through Properties” for the second time during the MRT rides to work. Property Soul gave it to me and I had written a book review for her in my previous article.The reason why I re-read the book was because I believe that to be a successful wealth builder in property investments, you must acquire the right knowledge.

Property investment; Singapore market; private housing prices

Property Investment Insights

November 17, 2014 sgwealthbuilder 984 Views 0 Comments

A few months ago, Mediacorp Channel 8 broadcasted a programme about a Singapore lady who got the shock of her life when the CPF Board froze her CPF account which she is using to service her outstanding HDB loan.Apparently she is 54 years old this year and she mistakenly thought that her CPF monies was frozen because it would be transferred to the Retirement Account (RA). But actually what happened was that she had reached her CPF Withdrawal Limit and thus, she was not allowed to use further CPF savings to pay the remaining home loan in cash. Her plight is not surprising to me because I believe many Singaporeans are not aware of how this CPF rule works and how it would affect them when they reached their fifties.

According to Moneysense, if you applied for HDB Concessionary Loan to repay the loan for your properties in Singapore, there will be a cap to the amount of CPF savings you can use. This limit is called the CPF Valuation Limit and the amount is the lower of the purchase price or valuation at the time of purchase. For example: if you bought the property for $300,000 and its valuation is $330,000, the Valuation Limit will be $300,000.

Money management; personal finance; relationship

My financial journey

November 14, 2014 sgwealthbuilder 1337 Views 9 Comments

$250.That was the total amount of savings in my bank accounts when I just started working in 2005. On looking back, it was really a “touch and go” financial situation for me. I had depleted all my life savings because I had stopped receiving allowances from my parents when I was studying for a full time degree at NUS.

I did not want to burden my parents because my late father’s business was not doing well and my mom was a full time housewife. Our household income wasn’t that ideal back then partially also due to my father’s stroke condition.

So I had to supplement my savings with part-time jobs like giving tuition during the school holidays.So if you ask me what is it like to be poor, I can fully empathize. After all, I have went through this dark journey before and I am thankful that I had emerged from that challenging period to become a stronger person.

For those who are born rich, social mobility may be a strange word to them, however I do not blame them because they do not know what is it like to worry for money. For the rich and wealthy, Singapore is like a playground where they can indulge in expensive toys like fast cars, yachts and lavish landed properties.

Forex; Trading

Guest Posting: 5 Forex trading metrics you’re probably not tracking but should be

November 12, 2014 sgwealthbuilder 781 Views 0 Comments

Guest post by CMC Markets Singapore

Whether you’re a newbie or seasoned veteran in the forex arena, there are several common metrics that we all know we should be tracking. Such as support and resistance levels, pay-off ratios or lows and of course, profits and losses. There are many more but let’s look at 5 lesser tracked but equally critical metrics that could change the game for you:

1) Hold duration

Do you hold your long positions for a few days or are you comfortable with intraday trades? How long you hold a trade can reveal your appetite for risk. Short-term traders will exit at the first sign of a dip while traders who keep their position for more than a day jump in with a fairly good idea of what to expect from a pair. Then, there are position traders who may hold on to a currency for months or even years.

Keeping a journal of your holding duration will help you to understand your risk profile. This information can then be used to frame a suitable trading strategy that sits well with your risk level, earning goals and trading style.
2) Hold duration part 2 – Hold durations of wins vs.

Stocks

What is Return on Invested Capital?

November 9, 2014 sgwealthbuilder 857 Views 0 Comments

This article was written by Willie Keng and was first published in Value Invest Asia on 17 July 2014.

In a previous article, Stanley explained the Return on Equity (ROE). While the ROE focuses on the equity component of a company’s capital investments, the Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) measures return earned on investments funded by equity and debt.
It shows how much profit a company generates for every dollar of investments it makes in the business. ROIC is expressed as a percentage and shown in the formula below:

Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) = After-tax Operating Income / (Book Value of Invested Capital)

where Invested Capital = Fixed Assets + Current Assets – Current Liabilities – Cash

We can calculate the ROIC using an example from Banyan Tree Holdings’ (SGX: B58) financial statement:

Annual Report (SGD ’000)	Fiscal Year 2012
Property, Plant and Equipment	729,558
Current Assets	349,304
Current Liabilities	231,875
Cash	120,824
Invested Capital	726,163

	Fiscal Year 2013
Operating Income	51,641
Tax Rate	42%*
After-Tax Operating Income	29,951

Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)	4.1%

*The high tax rate was due to the different geographic segments the company operates in

Based on the calculations above, we note that Banyan Tree generated an ROIC of 4.1% for FY2013.

Stocks

The REIT Association of Singapore

November 7, 2014 sgwealthbuilder 779 Views 0 Comments

As a financial blogger, I received a lot of media invitations from various financial institutes, banks and companies. Most of the times, I declined the invitations because of work commitments. Recently, I was invited to attend the official launch of REIT Association of Singapore (REITAS) on 17 November 2014. I would like to attend this event to find out more about the role of this association but as usual, I am unable to attend because of work schedule conflicts.

It seems to me that the association consists of big players from Keppel, Mapletree, Capitaland, Frasers and ARA Asset Management and their key thrusts are to engage Monetary Authority of Singapore on regulatory issues and to promote the understanding of REITs.

This is a good development because as the industry matures, the association can help to look into areas that can be improved, especially on the structure of REITs. For example, in my previous article on REITs, I don’t understand why is there a need for external manager for REITs. Such requirement only incur more costs which would be eventually passed down to investors.

Most retail investors claim they know about the REIT they invested in but I suspected they are none the wiser than me on the business model.

Stocks

SPH in panic mode and invested $30 million in CoSine Holdings Pte Ltd

November 4, 2014 sgwealthbuilder 864 Views 0 Comments

In October 2014, when SPH announced a decline of 6.8% in advertising revenues from newspaper and magazine, it was a sign of things to come. After all, the media giant derived the bulk of its income from advertisements and with the proliferation of cheaper and more effective online marketing platforms, they are beginning to feel the heat. In fact, social media and online blogs like SG Wealth Builder are giving SPH a run for their money. This is because with online blogs and websites, clients can market their products and services to the international market. In today’s context, the motivation for companies to advertise in Singapore newspapers and magazines is becoming less appealing due to the limited market reach.

Indeed, SPH might have seen this coming many years ago when it invested $18 million in ShareInvestor Holding Pte Ltd. Given the high internet penetration rate in Singapore, it made sense for SPH to make its foray into the digital media and establish revenue from its online media arm. Other notable online investments by SPH included Sgcarmart (bought for $60 million in 2013) and Hardwarezone ($7.1 million in 2006). Apart from these mega acquisitions, SPH had been relatively slow in acquiring new online start-ups.

Gold; Bitcoins

BullionStar: The first company in Singapore to pay salaries in Gold & Silver!

October 31, 2014 sgwealthbuilder 786 Views 0 Comments

Below is a press release from BullionStar, a Singapore online bullion company where you can buy gold and silver at competitive prices. I have met the CEO, Mr Torgny Persson before and my impression is that he is a man with conviction in precious metals. His company is one of the first few bullion companies in Singapore to allow trading of gold in bitcoins. And now, BullionStar is the first company in Singapore to pay employees in gold and silver.

Starting this month, employees of BullionStar Pte Ltd can choose to have their salary paid in Gold or Silver bullion.

Mr Torgny Persson, CEO of BullionStar Pte Ltd says: “Gold and Silver has been used as money throughout centuries and keep its purchasing power over time better than any other asset class. By paying our staff in Gold & Silver, we allow them to save in real money that keeps its value over time. As all our staff already prior to this arrangement save & invest in precious metals, it’s natural for them to embrace the new arrangement.”

The reason why employee Hong Kang welcomes the idea: “I believe in saving in precious metals as I genuinely believe Gold and Silver preserves wealth.

Career management

Unemployment and entrepreneurship in Singapore

October 30, 2014 sgwealthbuilder 791 Views 4 Comments

Hi Gerald, Can you comment on the following: 1) How do people in their 40s find jobs in this day and age? (This being 2014) 2) How do you start a business venture with zero or very little (say about a SGD$1500) capital?

Thank you.

I received the above queries from one of my readers and it coincides with an article I read in Yahoo Singapore recently about underemployment rate of local graduates. To me, this is a timely topic for me to dwell on because in a few more years, I will hit the forties bracket. Sooner or later, I may face the predicament or prospect of being retrenched from my job, so I think it is worthwhile to reflect and examine this issue now before it really impact me big time later on in my life.

To put things into perspective, the Singapore employment landscape has changed over the years. In the 80s and 90s, if you had tertiary qualifications, you would unlikely be fearful of the word “downsize” in your company because back then, there were not so many graduates with 10 – 15 years of working experiences in the job market. But times had changed. Nowadays, the market is glutted with graduates from local and overseas, private and public universities.

Investment; SGX stocks; Equities; Stock trading

SGX launches stock and company information portal StockFacts for investors

October 27, 2014 sgwealthbuilder 988 Views 1 Comment

Singapore Exchange (SGX) launched a new research and company fundamentals portal on its website.

The portal, called SGX StockFacts, has several features, including:

A comprehensive research database, covering stock fundamentals for all SGX-listed companies
Customised search, giving investors flexibility to filter stocks across 20 screening criteria
New proprietary tools, including S&P Capital IQ Alpha Factor Composites, which ranks stocks based on eight investment style classifications
Ability to chart a company’s financials for the last five years
Downloading and printing of company snapshots for easy analysing

Mita Natarajan, Head of Corporate Services, Listings, SGX, said: “SGX has enhanced many aspects of the stock market in recent months. The SGX StockFacts portal, which presents vital research and stock fundamentals on all SGX-listed companies in a user-friendly way, is yet another improvement to add value to investors and companies. It will help investors make more informed investment decisions, raise the visibility of our companies and add vibrancy to the stock market.”

SGX StockFacts is collaboration between SGX and S&P Capital IQ, a business unit of McGraw Hill Financial and a provider of multi-asset class research, data and analytics.

It can be accessed through SGX’s corporate website at www.sgx.com/stockfacts. The url for the press release is http://www.sgx.com/wps/wcm/connect/sgx_en/home/higlights/news_releases/sgx-launches-stock-and-company-information-portal-stockfacts-for-investors.

Money management; personal finance; relationship

A little act of caring creates a seamless ripple

October 23, 2014 sgwealthbuilder 818 Views 3 Comments

The scene was at a supermarket where grandmother and her two grandchildren were shopping for groceries. Her granddaughter saw a lovely strawberry cake and wanted to buy it. However, when checking out the items at the cashier, grandmother realized that there was not enough money to buy the cake. So she promised her granddaughter that she would buy it another time. The little girl was very disappointed but nevertheless, left the shop reluctantly with her grandmother and brother.Just then, a gentleman was standing behind them and saw the situation. He paid for the cake and caught up with them. Gentleman gave the cake to the little girl but grandmother refused to accept it. At that point of time, the gentleman related his story to them.

He recounted that when he was young, his family was poor. On his seventh birthday, he and his mother went to a cake shop but had no money to buy a birthday cake. He was disappointed and refused to leave the shop. Then, a middle-age man who was standing behind them, saw the awkward situation and bought a birthday cake. He then offered the cake to him and wished him a happy birthday.

The mother was so grateful to the man and requested him to note down his address so that one day she could return the money to him.

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