SG Wealth Builder

The Silver Bull Market: Investing in the Other Gold

May 12, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1715 Views 1 Comment

In The Silver Bull Market: Investing in the Other Gold, Shayne McGuire examines the vital investment considerations about silver alongside the significant drivers of the metal’s bull market. Although silver moves closely with gold in financial markets, it differs from its sister metal in that more than half of demand is derived from multiple industrial processes.

While its significant reliance on film photography has ended, today silver’s industrial demand is driven by technological progress (brazing alloys and solders, smart phones, tablets, plasma panels and new applications like silk-screened circuit paths and radio frequency ID tags); photovoltaics (solar panels); and new medical applications (silver is both biocidal and highly conductive).

Though Warren Buffett disdains gold for its lack of utility, he regards silver differently: in the late 1990s, he purchased 130 million ounces, one-fifth of global production at the time. After outperforming virtually all other investment classes for more than a decade, gold is being reincorporated into the financial system as an asset deserving a position, large or small, in mainstream diversified portfolios. Leaving aside the metal’s rediscovered diversification benefits (it tends to go in the opposite direction when stocks go down sharply), gold has risen as a viable investment alternative in today’s environment of unhinged global government spending and monetary expansion.

Retirement

CPF adjustments

May 9, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 2010 Views 0 Comments

Below is a government press release announcing the changes in the CPF Minimum Sum and Medisave Minimum Sum. The increase in the CPF MS represented a 6.5% increase and the Medisave MS represented a 5.1% increase from 2012. Note that both rates are much higher than the core inflation rates in Singapore 2012.

Whilst I understand that the adjustments are necessary to help Singaporeans meet their retirement and healthcare needs, I question the need to peg the adjustments at a rate higher than the inflation rate.

Why is there a need to set aside so much money in our CPF Retirement and Medisave accounts? Does it really help and benefit Singaporeans? If so, why set so many restrictions for medical claims from our Medisave accounts?

The money in our Medisave Account belongs to us, so why restrict us from using it for medical costs? Obviously I am concerned as I am in my early thirties and at the rate it is going, the Minimum Sums could be half a million by the time I retire. I really hate to think that after slogging for decades, I cannot even touch or smell my hard-earned CPF monies.

CPF Minimum Sum
CPF members who turn 55 between 1 July 2013 and 30 June 2014 will need to set aside a Minimum Sum (MS) of $148,000 in their Retirement Account (RA).

Gold; portfolio management

Good time to buy physical gold?

May 8, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1476 Views 0 Comments

SG Wealth Builder is pleased to conduct another interview with BullionStar Singapore on gold investments.

Recently, gold prices has dipped quite a lot. In your view, do you think its only a correction or the start of a bear trend for bullion?

Many relate the slump in prices due to the recovering US economy and news that the Feds are easing on their QE programs. Other factors include China, being a net importer of gold, not performing as well economically as expected and Cyprus selling its gold reserves to clear its debts.

However, as investors are dumping “paper” gold in the market, we are experiencing a completely opposite environment here in the physical precious metals market. People are rushing in to buy physical precious metals to take advantage of the low prices right now to the extent that the mints/refineries are not producing enough to meet demands.

We are looking at a 6-8 weeks lead time upon ordering and premiums are increasing because of the rise in demand. With such heavy buying in the physical market, it will only be a matter of time when the investors and traders become bullish again and start to push the price of gold up.

Book review; investment

The Value Investors: Lessons from the World’s Top Fund Managers

May 6, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1551 Views 1 Comment

When I was approached to do a book review on “The Value Investors: Lessons from the World’s Top Fund Managers” last year, I was quite hesitant because I don’t believe in fund managements. As a self-style investor, I prefer a more hands on approach to investing. Even if I lose my monies, at least I learnt some lessons out of my investment mistakes. However, when I chanced upon a review by another fellow blogger, I changed my mind.

Apparently this book is an investment-biography book which features interviews of twelve value-investing legends from around the world, learning how their personal background, culture, and life experiences have shaped their investment mindset and strategy. These men, who became strong advocates of the approach despite considerable age and cultural differences, include: Mark Mobius, Irving Kahn, William Browne, Teng Ngiek Lian, V-Nee Yeh, Shuhei Abe and many more.

The book’s focus is on the investment techniques and approach of value investing. The content is engaging and unravels how these investors, each of whom has a unique value perspective, have consistently beaten the stock market over the years. The book attempts to answer some pressing questions such as “Do these value-investing legends share a trait that allows this to happen?”,

Stocks

Singapore Dividend Stocks: Making Passive Income

May 3, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1753 Views 0 Comments

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

One of the best ways to diversify a dividend growth portfolio is investing internationally. Singapore is an excellent country in which investors can look for the companies that have a stable earnings and long history of dividend growth. There are several reasons behind it such as: Singapore’s companies have benefits of easy access to the world’s second largest economy, China, as well as many other growing economies in Southeast Asia, region, such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

DBS Group Holding Ltd (SGX: D05) –

DBS Group Holding Limited is an investment holding company in Singapore. The company operates through its main subsidiary DBS Bank Ltd. This bank is engages in the provision of retail, small and medium-sized enterprise, corporate and investment banking services. The company’s institutional banking provides to its institutional clients the financial services and products.

Money management; personal finance

Why I don’t believe in financial advisors

April 30, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 2180 Views 6 Comments

My impression of financial advisors has never been good. Generally, if you managed to pass a few MAS exam papers after graduating from the university, you can work in the banks or financial institutes as financial consultants, advisors or planners.

Most of these so-called financial advisors are nothing more than salesperson interested in selling you only unit trusts and expensive insurance policies. Typically, they would first calculate your retirement needs and then systematically work on your fear of having insufficient monies in your twilight years. Once they managed to convince you that you are under insured or inadequately invested, they will then hard sell you expensive financial products.

All these years, I have witnessed too many of such sales tactics. Although I will not say these tactics are unethical, what I want to point out is that too often, these financial advisors don’t add value to consumers. Instead of addressing the needs of customers, many financial advisors sold financial products in order to earn higher commissions.

Focus on value-add, not sales
Most of the financial advisors in Singapore don’t receive fixed salaries and draw their incomes based purely on commission fees. This means that they have to sell expensive financial products to clients in order to survive.

Property investment; Singapore market; private housing prices

Property investments in Singapore

April 27, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1782 Views 1 Comment

Today, The Straits Times published that a record 18,400 new homes is expected to be completed in Singapore this year. This figure surpassed the previous high of 14,600 units built in 1997, according to Urban Redevelopment Authority data. Will the avalanche of new homes cool property investment in Singapore?

Coupled with the slew of policy measures implemented by Singapore government in recent years, the red hot property market seems to cool down a bit. Although the number of transactions for resale and sub-sale transactions dropped in the last few months, private home prices still remain high. Analysts expected private home prices to post a moderate rise of about 3 – 4 per cent this year.

Investing in Singapore properties
Every market has its cycles. Gold, silver and equities have their rises and falls throughout history. Property is no exception. The current property market has been on an incredible bull run since the United States banking crisis in 2008. Hot money resulting from the Quantitative Easings had entered Asia countries and caused housing bubbles to be formed.

In HDB Singapore, prices for landed and non-landed homes have rocketed to unprecedented levels. Medium cash-over-valuation (COV) for resale HDB is now $30,000 and there were reported cases of Bishan flats being sold for a million dollars.

Career management

The most important skill you must possess

April 25, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1917 Views 1 Comment

In one of my previous posts, I mentioned the importance of sales and emphasized the need to master the art of selling. Most of us would dismiss that the ability to sell is only for salesmen and marketing executives. But I beg to differ and I think that there is no difference between working for money or making money.

In order to excel in your trade, you must be able to sell your ideas and thoughts. If you cannot articulate well and make your colleagues buy-in your thoughts and proposals, it is difficult to progress in your career, no matter how technically competent you are. This is because if you do not know how to sell yourself, your colleagues will have no idea how good you are and very likely, you will be passed by for promotions.

Sales is King
Last week, my wife and myself went to buy groceries at Sheng Siong hypermart and saw a big crowd outside the store. We went forward and saw a man demonstrating the usefulness of a micro-fiber cloth. It was actually a simple cloth used to wipe table and kitchen top. But he managed to illustrate how stain-free it can be from dark substances like soy sauce and even showed that it can also be used to wipe mirror and sofa seats.

Gold

Gold Investment:BullionStar at a Glance

April 23, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 2053 Views 1 Comment

The following article is an advertorial from BullionStar. It is for information only and readers must not miscontrue it as an offer or inducement to buy. SG Web Reviews will not be responsible for any losses made by readers as a result of any investments made by readers based on this article.

Physical Metal
The bullion you buy from BullionStar is just that – your bullion. BullionStar only offers fully allocated bullion. No paper promises, no unallocated accounts, no risky Ponzi schemes. The bullion you buy from BullionStar is YOUR bullion.

Your Metals – Your choice
BullionStar offers you a wide range of quality bullion from renowned mints and refineries. You are always in full control of your assets with BullionStar.

– Buy or sell various bars and coins at competitive rates and spreads.

– Have your bullion shipped, picked up or stored in “My Vault”.
– Trade fully allocated Vault Grams in Gold, Silver and Platinum for a low spread online.

– Control your stored bullion in My Vault online where you can buy, sell or request delivery of your physically stored bullion at all times.

We are proud of our versatile, easy-to-use online trading platform. You can place orders 24/7 to trade the bullion you need when the price and conditions are right for you.

Self improvement

Are you prepared to be rich in Singapore?

April 18, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1988 Views 0 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, I read an article about the life of a serial entrepreneur. He was lucky enough to sell off his online business more than a decade ago during the dotcom crisis and managed to land a huge windfall from the transaction. Overnight, he became a multi-millionaire and could afford not to work for the rest of his life. But he chose to become a salaried employee and stay on to manage his business for the board of directors. The reason was because he was passionate about his work and loved what he was doing very much.

Are you ready to be rich?
Many people thought that being rich can make you happy. But according to the article, being rich can only make you happy up to a certain point. Beyond this point, more money doesn’t make you happier. After a certain time, you become numb from the lavish spending and derive no joy in material well being.

In fact, being suddenly rich can even make you lose sight of your dreams and ambitions. After all, if you have more than enough money not to work a single day for the rest of your life, what is your next goal?

Stocks

Stock Investments Insights: Sold off my k1 Ventures shares

April 18, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1771 Views 3 Comments

Today, I sold off my k1 Ventures shares at $0.162. Taking into account the various dividend pay outs in the last three years and after deducting off the commission fees, the annual return rate is average 3.33%. I made about S$1000 profit. Actually all along, I had never considered my holding in k1 Ventures as a form of “investment”. This is because back in 2010, I had wanted to pull out a portion of my CPF Ordinary Account (CPF-OA) monies and parked it under a stable stock before my HDB flat purchase. The intent was to sell off the stock at a later date and slowly build up an emergency fund. Well after three years, k1 Ventures delivered and I got back my CPF OA funds.

Dividend Stock
My decision to sell off k1 Ventures is not because of the stock performance. In fact, it has always delivered consistent good corporate results because it is well managed by a team of experienced management. Since 2005, it has been giving out dividends and returning capital reductions to its investors. I stand corrected, but any investors who bought this stock in 2005 would have gotten back their principle capital.

Money management; personal finance

Loan shark harassment scams in Singapore

April 14, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1692 Views 0 Comments

A few days ago, Mediacorp Channel 8 reported that a number of Singaporeans were tricked by con artists into paying ten of thousands dollars. Apparently the scammers sent text messages to the victims and claimed that they owed loan sharks a sum of money and if they don’t pay up, they threatened to harass them.

Several of the victims were gullible enough to fall prey into their tricks even though they did not owed loan sharks any debts. This is because they thought that their identification cards might have been manipulated and used by strangers or tenants to borrow money from loan sharks illegally. Three days later, the culprits were caught by the police and hauled to the court.

Greed and Fear
This is not the first case of Singaporeans losing their hard-earned monies to con artists, who usually play on our greed and fear. One of the tactics most commonly used is to focus on many Singaporeans’ desire to become rich quick in Singapore. Not too long ago, many greedy Singaporeans lost several millions after investing in dubious gold buy-back schemes. The root cause for their investment losses is mainly because of their lack of understanding of gold.

Property investment; Singapore market;

What Should Property Investors do with their Money Today?

April 13, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1625 Views 0 Comments

In this article, guest blogger Gerald Tay, CREI Academy, is sharing his views on what property investors should do with their money today.

I want to share some personal thoughts and investment decisions based on the 2013Q1 URA PPI flash estimate and what it means for the property market.

The 2013Q1 estimate of 213.1 represents a 0.5% quarter-on-quarter increase, which is a moderation from the 1.8% q-o-q pace we saw in 2012Q4, but suggests that the market prices are still rising, albeit slightly, despite 7 rounds of government cooling measures.

Today, we’re at the record peak of the property cycle since 1965. It does not take a lot of common sense to tell us we need to tread extremely carefully, especially in current uncertain economic climate.

My personal predictions (I personally hate to invest on predictions), if you may, is that there might be further price increase in all segments of the property market. The residential market is still being supported by local first-time buyers (though we don’t know for long yet), while the commercial and industrial sector have continued hot money flows resulting from the severe cooling measures on the residential sector.

However, this does not mean property investors should simply rush out to buy that new launch property today and hope to cash out in the next few years.

Stocks

Build your investment portfolio with Singapore dividend stocks

April 12, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1685 Views 0 Comments

Dividends are very important for all investors because they provide a non-market-dependent form of return. A company that has the ability to pay consistently high dividend is a well-managed business. In Singapore, investors are putting their money into high dividend stock Singapore to get high yield from their investment. Here I am sharing some dividend stock Singapore with high yield, which investor should consider.

City Spring Infrastructure Trust (SGX: A7RU) –

City Spring Infrastructure Trust is a publicly owned infrastructure business trust, based in Singapore. It was established with the principal objective of investing in infrastructure assets. It provides unit holders with long-term, regular and predictable distributions and potential capital growth. Its investments are made through acquisitions across the globe. City Spring Infrastructure Trust was incorporated in 2007.

The trust has a market capitalization of 729.07 M, EPS is 0.01, P/E ratio is 39.80 and dividend yield is 6.83 percent at the annual dividend payout of $0.01.

Gold

Interview with BullionStar Singapore

April 10, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 2719 Views 5 Comments

Today, SG Wealth Builder is honoured to have an interview with Zane Lim, Regional Manager of Operations for BullionStar.

BullionStar is a physical precious metals trading company in specializing in online sales in Singapore. Its office is located at Marina Bay Financial Center Tower Two.

Zane, its a pleasure to meet you. Can you tell us more about your company’s background, business model and history?

BullionStar was formed by people with vast experience in the precious metals industry. The founders of BullionStar own and operate several precious metals companies worldwide. One of the founders of BullionStar, Mr. Torgny Persson, has established several bullion dealers in Europe previously. The Swedish company Liberty Silver AB was established by Mr. Persson in 2008 whereas Estonian Liberty Silver OÜ was established in 2011. Another founder of BullionStar, Mr. Joakim Andersson, is also the managing director of Bullion International Ltd which is a service provider for bullion dealers and information companies in the precious metals industry. The founders are supporting the Austrian School of Economics, hence BullionStar is built on a strong ideological belief that precious metals is the best unit of account and the purest form of money.

Precious metals have been used as money for thousands of years.

Uncategorized

New law slams deceptive showflats

April 9, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1713 Views 0 Comments

The following is an article courtesy of PropertyGuru

In a bid to ensure transparency, Parliament recently amended the Housing Developers Act enforcing strict regulations on marketing and information disclosure.

With the new laws, developers can no longer portray showflats that look larger than the end product through the use of glass panels instead of higher ceilings or brick walls, reported news portal Asiaone.

Furthermore, transaction prices reported should reflect all forms of rebates and discounts, including stamp duty refunds and furniture vouchers.

Errant developers could be fined up to S$100,000, and have their showflats inspected and if needed closed down, by the Government.

Senior Minister of State (National Development) Lee Yi Shyan, said the Bill will safeguard the interest of home-buyers and also enhance professionalism within the residential property industry.

“A home is, in most cases, the single largest investment in one’s lifetime. It is only right that home-buyers are provided with the appropriate tools and legal safeguards to make informed decisions,” he said.

Shabnam Muzammil, Senior Journalist at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact her about this or other stories email shabnam@allproperty.com.sg

Career management

Losing your job in Singapore

April 8, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 2031 Views 1 Comment

Recently, Lucasfilm announced that it is laying off games staff in Singapore. As business cycles become shorter and shorter, retrenchments is becoming more frequent in Singapore nowadays. Of course you can also be fired by your boss due to poor performances or for other personal reasons. Whatever the reasons, losing your job can be a traumatic experience, especially in Singapore where your social status is often linked to your job.

SG Wealth Builder has always encouraged readers to build up 3-6 months of income as emergency fund. This will help to cushion the impact of the sudden loss of job. Besides this fund, below are several ideas that may help:

1) Cut down all unncessary spending by deciding what are the “needs” and “wants”. Be prepared to adjust your lifestyle and reduce the frequent fine dinings.

2) If you anticipated that it could be a long time before you can secure a new job, do consider making more drastic changes, such as selling your car. However, if the proceeds from selling your car are likely to be insufficient to cover your car loan, check with the bank what are the available options.

3) Re-prioritise your financial goals. If you are the sole breadwinner and is saving up for your children educaton or building up your retirement nest, you may want to consider applying student loans for your kids and putting your monthly savings plan on hold.

Stocks

SGX Stocks to Grow Your Money

April 7, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1768 Views 0 Comments

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

Dividend investing is a great way to increase your income and make money in Singapore. In this article we will talk about dividend investing and how to become rich in Singapore. In Singapore investors are continuously putting their money in the top Singapore dividend stocks that have the highest indicative dividend yields and also fast growing stock. If you are thinking to invest in Singapore dividend stocks then here are some of the stocks, you should consider.

AVAGO Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: AVGO)

AVAGO technologies (NASDAQ: AVGO) is a Singaporean company that provides the semiconductor, development, and supply devices with a focus on III-V based products. The company holds more than 5,000 patents and sells over 6,500 products to OEM customers in the Wireless and Wired communications, industrials and automotive electronics and consumer target markets.

Blog updates

SG Wealth Builder is part of Singapore Memory Project

April 3, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1676 Views 0 Comments

I am pleased to inform readers that SG Wealth Builder has been invited by National Library Board (NLB) to be part Singapore Memory Project (SMP). This is indeed an honour and a form of recognition for SG Wealth Builder.

SMP is a national initiative to collect, preserve and provide access to Singapore’s knowledge materials. Spearheaded by NLB, the SMP aims to build a national collection of content in diverse formats, to preserve them in digital form and make them available for discovery and research.

A home for my memories
By pledging my blog to SMP, I affirmed that every memory matters. In doing so, I think I have found a home for my memories and expression of thoughts.

When I started this blog three years ago, I wanted it to be passed down to my future generation for memory sake. I wanted my children to understand my investment insights and the financial lessons gained in my lifetime. Over the years, however, there were requests from guest bloggers to be featured in my blog, so gradually this blog has morphed into something different. Eventually, I hope it becomes a portal that allows readers to have better understanding of Singapore.

My blog, my hobby
My wife always ask me why do I spend so much effort on this blog.

Self improvement

Singaporeans really stupid?

March 19, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1924 Views 2 Comments

If you think that Singapore is a good place to become rich, think again. In my previous post, I wrote that although Singaporeans are considered highly educated, generally most of us are not financially savvy and not as street smart compared to many of our South East Asia counterparts. Inevitably, many critics will dish out statistics showing that over the decades, Singapore has consistently been ranked among the top in terms of ‘O’ and ‘A’ level results and argue that our kids are among the brightest in the world. However, there is a need to know the difference between academic successes and intelligence quotient (IQ).

IQ, EQ and AQ
You might be exam smart and scored high marks for examinations when you were a student. But having achieving academic successes doesn’t automatically guarantee you a good life and is generally not a good indicator of future success.

To succeed in life, you need Intelligence Quotient (IQ), Emotional Quotient (EQ) and Adversity Quotient (AQ). You can see that academic achievements doesn’t feature in any of the three categories. This is because these are not something which you can learn from the text books or in schools. Generally, they are usually innate or hereditary.

personal finance

Pay yourself first

March 15, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1704 Views 1 Comment

In recent years, there were various articles on increasing trend of Singaporeans defaulting on their credit card payments. This is a worrying sign in Singapore. In fact, one of my readers commented that he belongs to the group of credit card payment defaulters and is struggling to settle his mounting bills. I hope he managed to dig his way out of the hole he created for himself, but I suspect it is going to be a long and tough road for him. I believe this is also the case for many young Singaporean adults who just entered the workforce and spend lavishly. In this article, I will share my thoughts on how to pay yourself first.

Financial Discipline
When I just started out working, I always thought that credit card gives consumers a false sense of purchasing power. It was only until when my brother, who works in the credit department of an international bank, pointed out that the key to managing credit card spending is financial discipline. It was then that I corrected my thinking. Having many credit lines or credit cards is not a bad thing in itself. After all, we can make use of the various point rewards, rebates or discounts that credit cards offer.

Money management; personal finance

Money Talks with Spouse

March 14, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1648 Views 0 Comments

Recently, my wife and myself reviewed our financial health and done some financial planning. We reviewed our household incomes, savings, monthly expenses, insurances and our child’s endowment plan.

I always enjoy these money talks with my spouse because during these sessions, we would set realistic goals and aligned our monetary values. This process also forced us to think through areas we did not do well and motivated us to improve further.

Who said money is not important in a relationship?
Many couples tend to underestimate the role of money in a relationship. Some even claimed that a relationship based solely on love is sustainable and that money should never stand in the way of two people who love each other deeply.

In Singapore’s context, I would say this sort of thinking can land a couple in deep trouble, at least financially. The high cost of living in Singaporea means that any relationship without a good financial foundation would likely end in disaster. Personally, I have seen many couples broke up because of money issues.

Many times, the couples were clueless about each other financial health and habits. They fail to realize the powerful impact on a relationship that can be brought about by financial struggles.

Stocks

Singapore Stock Market Highlights

March 13, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1600 Views 1 Comment

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

Singapore stock market came in limelight on 1^st December, 1999. This provides different services related to securities and derivative trading facilities. SGX is a member of the WFE (World Federation of Exchanges) and Asian and Ocean stock exchanges federation.

Measure the stock value

In Singapore several renowned companies are listed on the SGX stock market. These companies are good for the economy and wealth of the city. Times to time market values of these listed companies are changed therefore to track changes of the market values Singapore stock market provides market indices such as:

§ SGX Indices

§ BT Singapore Regional Index

§ Straits Times Index

§ FTSE/ASEAN Indices

§ FTSE ST Catalist Index

§ UOB Catalist Index

§ Prime Partners China Index

§ FTSE SGX

§ Asia Shariah 100 Index

§ SiMSCI, MSCI India

§ A50

§ FTSE Xinhua China.

Stocks

OSIM FY12 results

March 11, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1729 Views 0 Comments

OSIM announced a set of good results for FY12. I am not vested in this counter but has been keeping a close watch on it. OSIM’s share price has rocketed since three years ago after management cut losses on its US investment losses. Since then, it has never looked back and the latest results showed that they have achieved their third consecutive years of record profit despite tough economic environment.

Record PBT S$115 million +17% , Q4 PBT of S$31 million +28%

Record PAT S$87 million +26% , Q4 PAT S$23million +32%

Record EBITDA S$126 million +13% , Q4 EBITDA S$34 million +20%

Final Dividend of 1 cent per share + Special Dividend of 1 cent per share

Cash & Cash Equivalents and Fixed Income Investments as at 31 December 2012 were S$235 million

Besides the above results, one aspect that I liked about OSIM is that it offers significant opportunities for growth. It has managed to re-invent itself and brand itself as “Asia’s Number 1 brand in well being and healthy lifestyle products”. This means that the OSIM has a lot of leg-room for future growth and business expansion. In fact, its venture into GNC health products and subsequent penetration into China market has helped to boost the company’s coffers.

Money management; personal finance

Singaporeans – Stupid or Smart?

March 9, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1875 Views 6 Comments

There are many ways to become rich in Singapore and investing in gold is one of the way to build your wealth. In Singapore, there is generally low awareness on how to invest in gold. Because of this, there is increasing trend of Singaporeans fallen prey to gold scams.

Recently, the Straits Times published an article stating that 180 investors had inked a petition urging government to take action against Gold Guarantee (TGG). Apparently these investors turned up at Hong Lim Park and signed the petition urging the authorities to expedite investigations into the gold buyback firm. One of the victims even claimed his family lost almost close to one million dollars on TGG. It seems that a lot of Singaporeans had lost huge amount of money after investing in gold buy-back schemes offered by TGG.

Greed or Stupidity?
Readers may remember that last year, I wrote an article “The wrong way to invest” on The Genneva Gold Trading, which also offered similar gold buyback scheme to investors at ridiculous yield rates. Many investors also lost huge sum of money in that fiasco. Prior to that, there was the Minibond case which also involved multi-million dollars investment losses. Sometimes I wondered why some Singaporeans are so stupid to fall for such silly schemes.

Stocks

Financial Overview of Singapore Stocks

March 8, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1661 Views 0 Comments

Below is an article from guest blogger, Richard, from Dividend Investor. Richard works as a stock analyst and has 3 years of experience in the stock market. He likes to write articles and hope to share his experiences with investors in Singapore

If you would like additional SGX Dividend Stocks data, information or screening tools, please visit website http://sg.dividendinvestor.com/, a leading source for in-depth research and analysis for stock investments.

Make Money through stock dividends

A dividend is a premium which a company gives to its shareholders. Generally, a dividend stock pays quarter dividends (4 times in a year) in order for investors participate in the company’s success. In company’s earning the amount of dividend is called payout ratio. This figure measures the part of the earned money which is paid to the shareholders. A fifty percent value which is half of it earns is a good figure. Sometimes the companies could pay 90 percent of its net income due to its business model. These types of businesses do not need much money for increasing. In Singapore there are many investment companies. The investment plans are designed according to investment requirement of the clients.

Buy dividend stocks without Pay Commission

Investors gradually want to buy dividends directly from the companies through dividend reinvestment plans, which are known as DRIPs.

personal finance

Filing of Personal Income Tax

March 4, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1593 Views 0 Comments

It is that time of the year for Singapore taxpayers to file income tax again!

Recently, the government announced several Budget inititatives that aim to improve the lives of Singapore citizens. Most of the Budget goodies are targeted at the lower income group and I suppose most of the less well-off households in Singapore will benefit from the 2013 Budget. As I fell into the middle-income bracket, the only Budget goodies that I may be entitled would be the GST Vouchers and the 30% personal tax rebate.

Difference between Income Tax Relief and Income Tax Rebate
In Singapore, citizens are eligible for various applicable tax relief and rebate. It is important that tax payers understand the difference between tax relief and rebate because it can help tax payers to save thousand of dollars. Essentially, reliefs are deductibles which you can claim on your total income taxable while rebates are offsets on your tax payable.

Obviously given the tier system for Singapore’s personal income tax, the latter would have larger effect on your income tax payable. For example, if a tax payer is claiming the $4500 relief for taking care of his/her parents in 2012, he can only offset $4500 from his total taxable income.

Investments

Stock Investments 2013

February 13, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1496 Views 1 Comment

A Happy & Prosperous Chinese New Year to all bloggers and readers! I would like to thank all my readers for visiting my blog. SG Web Reviews has reached 200,000 pageviews so far. Hope to share more of my views and investment journey in the coming year.

Creating CPF Buffer
So far, 2013 has been good for me. I have sold off all my stocks, except for my CPF Investment Acount, which has risen by 15%. I opened this account and invested a portion of my CPF Ordinary Account before buying my first HDB flat. For the uninitiated, it is HDB’s policy to use up all your CPF monies in Ordinary Account if you intended to purchase a HDB flat. So if you intend to set aside a portion of monies in your Ordinary Account for emergency purposes, the only way is to open a CPF Investment Account and then liquidate your investments after the HDB purchase is completed.

Bull or Bear?
I have always advocated to invest during crises. But the way I see it, 2013 could be the start of the economic recovery for most developed countries. Since 2010, the market has weathered U.S’ fiscal cliff, Europe’s debt issues and China’s slowing economy.

Career management

Job-hopping to career success

February 1, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1599 Views 0 Comments

In my previous article, I wrote that 7 in 10 Singapore workers planned to change jobs in 2013. I suppose many of us harbour thoughts of leaving our present job in search of greener pastures at some point of time. But more often than not, we may not know what we are getting into. In fact, I have many friends who keep job hopping for various reasons. Many of them cited company cultures, prospect, bosses and salaries as push factors.

Job-hopping is okay
Job-hopping is okay, provided it is managed properly. This is because the more you hop, the harder it is to convince your next employer to hire you. After all, the whole hiring process can be costly and time-consuming. No employers relish the prospect of hiring a candidate who would resign within a year. Not to mention the amount of resources spent on training the candidate.

So how long should we stay before moving on to the next company? My take is a minimum stay of two years. One of my ex-bosses shared with me that typically it takes about one year to train a worker up to speed and another year for the person to contribute meaningful to the organization.

Career management

What is it like to be 50 years old and jobless?

January 30, 2013 sgwealthbuilder 1582 Views 7 Comments

Yesterday, the government released a White Paper projecting that Singapore’s population would be 6.9 million by 2030. I suppose this is a hint that the government is going to open the floodgate to import more foreigners in order to meet the population target. After all, going by our nation’s current low birth rate of 1.2%, it is not possible to reach this goal through natural replacement.

The government’s rationale for importing immigrants is because Singapore needs foreign talents to support the economy. Our unemployment rate has been consistantly low for the past few years, hovering about 2-3%. Yet many Singaporeans, especially PMETs, have complained that foreigners compete with them for jobs in recent years. This made me wonder aloud whether the influx of immigrant should be calibrated.

I mean what kind of foreign workers do we really need to import to sustain our economy? I agree that we need foreign nurses and construction workers because they do jobs which Singaporeans do not want to do. But do we really need additional one million nurses or construction workers? Besides foreign labourers, are we really short of talents in Singapore that we have to resort to mass import of immigrants? During market downturn, what is going to happen to these foreigners or PRs?

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