SG Wealth Builder

Three ways to become rich in Singapore

January 27, 2012 sgwealthbuilder 808 Views 2 Comments

What are the three ways to become rich in Singapore?

Many of us will agree that the cost of living is very high in Singapore. This is especially so during the last few years when the rate of inflation increased rapidly. In spite of the global economic downturn, unemployment rate remains low in Singapore.

But most Singaporeans struggle with the rising costs, as their salaries remain stagnant. Henceforth, most of us are concerned whether we would make enough money to retire comfortably in our twilight years.

Recently, me and my good friend were lamenting the rising cost of living in Singapore and pointed out that the same bowl of $2.00 noodle sold in the hawker stall now costs $2.50 or more. That would represent a 20% increase in prices and we were left wondering how an average salaried Singaporean can cope with this sort of inflation.

We came to the conclusion that to beat the inflation and get out of the rat race, we need to be rich. And there are mainly three ways to get rich [This is a premium article. The rest of the content is blocked and can be accessible by SG Wealth Builder Members only.

personal finance

Investment Principles

January 23, 2012 sgwealthbuilder 885 Views 0 Comments

For the past few days I have been doing spring cleaning and happened to flip through my investment notebook. I went through some of the interesting lessons learnt during the period 2007-2009.

The collapse of the Lehman Brothers really change the investment world forever and the old strategy of holding stocks for the long-term for capital appreciation may no longer works.

In view of this, we need to equip ourselves with well-planned strategies to protect and grow our wealth. In 2009, I had made three guiding principles for investment.

Invest in myself
Many people, myself included, tends to chase the money and invest in everything under sun (stocks, ETF, property,gold, unit trust, etc). Everything, except themselves. We may not realize that our knowledge, ability and skills are the most precious assets that enable us to make critical judgement calls to generate income through jobs, sales, investment and business activities.

Henceforth, most of us tend to neglect investments on acquiring new knowledge or skills. I had told myself that I must acquire or gain new mastery of knowledge in niche areas like precious metals and real estate investment trusts.

Invest in health
As cliche as it might sound, health is really wealth, this is especially so in an expensive society like Singapore.

Entrepreneurship

ACE Startups

January 19, 2012 sgwealthbuilder 832 Views 0 Comments

For startups, resources is important. To this end, the Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE) announced on 19 Jan 2012 it will be providing funding, networks and mentorship to 500 startups in an effort to promote entrepreneurship in Singapore.

Under this new programme called Ace Startups, Singaporeans and permanent residents who are first time entrepreneurs can receive up to $50,000 in a one-off grant for their startups. One interesting aspect of Ace Startups is that applicants older than 26 years old are eligible for this funding.

The grant will be disbursed in a co-matching basis – 70% provided by ACE Startups and the remaining to be committed by the applicants. Approval process takes about 6 weeks and applications will be evaluated by a panel team of venture capitalists, angel investors and entrepreneurs.

The aim of this fund, estimated to be $25 million, is expected to help startups become sustainable businesses. While this support for startups is heartening, it is far more important to have a feasible business plan and workable idea. After all, the funding will not be sustainable if the startups consistently burn cash and have insufficient income.

Property investment; Singapore market;

My Investment Notebook

January 12, 2012 sgwealthbuilder 797 Views 0 Comments

I started my investment journey more than 10 years ago when I was serving my National Service. Back then, I had bought 2 lots of Unisteel using my brother’s account and I remember I had invested about SGD2000. It was a small amount of money by any measure but I found it memorable because this investment kick-started my wealth building journey and led me to create my first investment notebook.

Unisteel was a listed company that specialized in producing fasteners and screws for computer hard-disk drives. By and large, it was a successful investment as the stock price increased consistently throughout the years. I sold my shares in Unisteel before it was de-listed and had went on to invest several other shares in the SGX.

Although my experiences with Unisteel was a positive one, I had my ups and downs with other stocks. Nonetheless, these battles had provided me valuable investment experiences.

Throughout the years, I had kept a little blue notebook to capture down my various “victories” and “defeats”. To me, investing in stock is like being engaged in a war. You have to prepare and research well; devise strategies and tactics to win the battle. Of course, choosing the right generals (stocks) is crucial as well.

Uncategorized

Funding options

January 10, 2012 sgwealthbuilder 693 Views 0 Comments

I was doing some research on funding options for entrepreneurs in Singapore and decided to blog down some of my newly-acquired knowledge. We have often heard about angel investors, venture capitalists, seed funding and incubators. Many question and wonder the roles, involvement and motives of these various categories of investors with regards to the development of enterprises. Hope this article can bring some form of clarity.

Basically there are two ways an entrepreneur can obtain funding: either through debt financing or equity financing. Debt financing is usually secured against certain assets and the creditor has the power or rights to demand repayment of any money owed, should the company be forced to close down. On the other hand, an equity capital involves the exchange of shares in the company for funds. The equity investors bear the risk of losing their investment should the company failed or benefit through participation in profits. Below are some common form of equity financing:

Angel investors
Angel investors are private investors who are wealthy individuals looking to park their excess wealth into new ventures. They usually provide capital for commercial start-ups, in exchange for equity or convertible debt and they typically invest between $25,000 to $500,000.

Stocks

Wrap fee for CPF Investment Scheme

January 3, 2012 sgwealthbuilder 669 Views 0 Comments

From 1st July 2012, the CPF Board will subject wrap fee charged for CPF Investment Scheme to a maximum of 1% per annum.

A wrap fee is an ongoing fee charged by financial advisors for providing bundled services such as advisory, brokerage and administrative fees. It is typically levied monthly or quarterly by liquidating a small portion of the investment. Currently, CPF members who maintain wrap accounts for their CPF Investment accounts are charged up to 1.5% annually by their advisors.

Since 2006, CPF board has been progressively implementing new measures to lower the cost of investment and enhance the quality of funds under CPF Investment Scheme. This new measure should bring cheers to retail investors as high costs may potentially erode investment returns over the long term.

Such development is in the right direction and will go a long way to encourage more Singaporean to invest responsibly using their CPF funds.

Under the CPF Investment Scheme, you may invest in CPF-approved unit trusts, bonds, endowment policies and gold products, after setting aside $20,000 in your Ordinary Account. If you wished to invest using your CPF Special Account, you need to set aside $40,000.

But before you start to invest your CPF monies, it is important to examine your risk tolerance and your financial situation.

Entrepreneurship

Guidelines for Writing a Business Plan

January 1, 2012 sgwealthbuilder 911 Views 0 Comments

Before you take the leap into the path of entrepreneurship, it is essential that you done the homework and write a business plan. As cliché as it might sound, if you fail to plan, plan to fail.

Having a good business plan will provide you a clear business objective and an organized way of looking at all the important aspects of your business. Most importantly, it will provide you a crystallized view on whether your business idea can be successfully implemented.

A well written business plan will also come in handy, when you are looking for funding from potential investors (venture capitalists or angel investors). Key elements of it should focus on:

Stating/defining the problem
Your plan must define the problem which your business is addressing and not just stating your business idea. Nobody will be interested in a business idea if it is not solving a problem and is impractical. The plan has to be precise and easy to understand for layman (nobody likes to read a long-winded business plan filled with technical jargon, especially bankers and venture capitalists). Focus on how and why your business can deliver and solve the problem.

Market size and industry trend
Define the estimated market size and industry trends, dynamics and customer landscape.

Uncategorized

Investment 2011: A Volatile Year for the Stock Market

December 30, 2011 sgwealthbuilder 1 Views 0 Comments

On the last trading day of the year, the local stock market, STI, ended with a drop of 1%(-26pts). Volume was low,with 437 million shares traded. The anemic action showed that investors were staying on the sidelines on what was typically the lowest volume sessions of the year. This could be because many brokers were still away for the Christmas and New Year holidays. It could also be due to the fact that most investors are trading cautiously nowadays and adopted wait-and-see investment positions for the coming year. After all, 2011 had been such a incredibly volatile year and most investors can’t wait for it to be over.

Due to the relative small market size, STI’s performance has always been affected by global stock market’s condition. As a result, there were much volatlity this year caused by the Europe debt crisis, upheaval in the Middle East (Arab Spring), a devastating Japanese earthquake and a struggling United States economy (high unemployment). Stock markets throughout the world were battered by negative news weeks after weeks and investors were made to seek safety in other forms od investments such as dividend stocks, blue chips, gold and Treasuries.

As we look back 2011, most of the problems seemed to be contained or resolved.

Stocks

Investment article: What you may not know about stocks?

December 28, 2011 sgwealthbuilder 1037 Views 0 Comments

Below is an investment article by Jeff Augen, extracted from my favorite blog “CreateWealth8888″, dated 4 Feb 2011. I like the blog because many of the articles are sensible, informative and educational. Hope readers can benefit from the article:

” Most investors who buy a stock believe that they are investing in a company. That view, while technically correct, is also misleading. A stock investment is really nothing more than a bet on the direction that money will take as it flows through the financial markets. A stock can rise only if market forces align to aggressively drive up the bid price causing new money to flow into the stock.

Many different factors are involved including economic news, announcements from other companies in the same industry, political events, the actions of large institutional investors, analysts’ forecast, and a variety of global economic forces such as changes to currency exchange rates and interest rates. the long-term performance of a stock represents nothing more than the compound effect of these forces over time.

It is important to recognize that the financial markets are zero sum game with competition at all levels. the stock market competes for money against the bond and currency markets; industries compete for money with each other; and money flows between stocks within a particular industry.

Entrepreneurship

Starting up a business in Singapore

December 28, 2011 sgwealthbuilder 809 Views 0 Comments

Being an entrepreneur is not easy and not everyone can be a successful founder. However, the process of starting up a business in Singapore has been made less painful with the various business-friendly policies in this city state. Each type of structure comes with different structure. It may be useful to check out ACRA website.

To help aspiring entrepreneurs up to speed on Singapore laws, regulations, taxes and government assistance schemes, Enterprise One (a government agency tasked to promote local enterprise) has prepared a simple checklist:

1) Sign up for EnterpriseOne Digest, a monthly newsletter tracking the latest updates on the laws and regulations. You can log on to Enterprise One website to sign up.

2) Ensure your business premises (office, shop, factory) can be used to carry out your business. For example, applicants who wish to use their HDB residential flats for home office are required to seek prior approval from HDB.

3) Apply for all licenses and permits needed.

4) Familiarize yourself with various tax incentives and Government assistance schemes.

5) Register your business with Central Provident Fund (CPF) before hiring your first worker.

6) Register your business with Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) and comply with post-registration requirements.

Entrepreneurship

Business Proposals for Funding

December 28, 2011 sgwealthbuilder 655 Views 0 Comments

One of the major obstacles faced by entrepreneurs is the lack of available funding in Singapore to help them kick-start or sustain their business ideas. Even if there are government schemes to provide grants or funds to assist business owners, many of them are clueless on how to obtain these grants.

In many cases, investors and entrepreneurs found themselves having to navigate through layers of bureaucratic red tapes and micromanagement when seeking grants. That is probably why entrepreneurs are more attracted to venture capitalists and angel investors for business opportunities.

In the early stage of a business, funding is needed to nurture the seed into viable business model. But beyond cash, founders should ask themselves serious questions whether they are willing to cede control in exchange for the money. But assuming they are willing to do so, then he should know how to pitch to investors and position his business in a strategic manner.

To obtain that all-important pot of gold, there are several fundamentals that business owners need to highlight or observe in their business proposals:

1) Financial factors: Track records speak a lot and obviously no one likes to invest in a sinking ship. In your plan, you have to be honest and state the financial health of your company.

Entrepreneurship

Online Karang Guni

December 24, 2011 sgwealthbuilder 927 Views 0 Comments

In Singapore, “Karang Guni” is a Malay phrase for gunny sack, which was used in the past to hold stacks of newspaper. It is often used to refer to those who work in the rag-and-bone trade, visiting residents door-to-door to collect old newspapers and clothing to sell.

Karang Guni can be a lucrative and highly profitable business in Singapore, with reported stories of Karang Guni men becoming millionaires from their rag-and-bone businesses. Yet most Singaporeans shunned this trade because they considered it unglamorous.

However, not many realized that Karang Guni is [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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Entrepreneurship

Funding opportunites for start-up enterprises

December 23, 2011 sgwealthbuilder 731 Views 0 Comments

Innovative and small-medium enterprises (SMEs) have a key role in spurring Singapore’s economic growth. Many of them are developing capabilities to create a competitive edge but very often, they lack funding to sustain. SPRING Singapore, a government agency set up to cater to the growth of local companies, has various funding schemes to help them grow faster.

1) Angel Investors Tax Deduction Scheme is a tax incentive for business angles to invest in local start-ups

2) Business Angel Funds co-invests with business angels in local early-stage companies with innovative products/or services for up to $1.5million

3) Incubator Development Fund co-funds incubators and venture accelerators to mentor and develop local start-ups.

4) Spring Start-up Enterprise Development Scheme co-invests with third party investors in local innovative start-ups for up to $1.5million.

5) Technology Enterprise Commercialization Scheme co-funds early stage companies to develop and commercialize innovative technology ideas.

6) Young Entrepreneurs Scheme for Start-ups co-funds youths under 26 to set up their first businesses for up to $50,000.

There are several factors that enterprises should highlight in their business proposals to Spring Singapore, namely financial factors, strategic factors, economic factors, risks factors and management factors. I would further elaborate the details in my next posting.

Uncategorized

2011 In Review

December 22, 2011 sgwealthbuilder 836 Views 0 Comments

The year 2011 is coming to an end. On reflection, I realized that I had deviated a lot from my resolution set earlier in the year and found that my savings is depleting fast. This is in part due to the fact that I got married, bought my 1st resale HDB flat, bought my 1st pre-owned car, sold my car and then bought my 2nd pre-owned car. All of these took a toll on my savings and affects my financial planning. My only consolation now is I am still holding on to my job. Not sure what 2012 may bring.

Magically Yours

personal finance

Investment Resolutions

January 1, 2011 sgwealthbuilder 840 Views 0 Comments

It is the start of the new year and I have made some investment resolutions. Through the years, I realized that failures are part and parcel in our wealth building journey. In life, you will encounter obstacles and you will make mistakes. How you emerge from these experiences will define your financial destiny.

Generally, the successful investors are those who are resilient and learn from their mistakes. To start off the year, I decided to lay down a few markers to achieve this year:

Firstly, I have decided to set aside a small amount of cash every month to invest in stocks. My objective is to beat the inflation that has been eroding the cash value in my bank account. In order to reduce the costs, I have decided to purchase stock through POEMS online rather than call up my broker.

Secondly, I have decided to shift my focus from value stocks to defensive stocks that pay dividends regularly. Defensive companies are those whose future earnings are able to withstand and economic downturn. Typically, they would have relatively low business and financial risks. Examples are Suntec Reit and Singtel.

I believe 2011 would be a boom year for Singapore’s stock market.

Gold; silver

UOB Gold Saving Account

December 18, 2010 sgwealthbuilder 1086 Views 0 Comments

I sold off my holdings in my UOB Gold Saving Account during the 1st week of December and made 5% return on my investments. It was quite a decent profit considering the fact that I held the investment for only 3 weeks.

Nowadays you will not be able to get this amount of profit even if you put your money in a fixed deposit account. The best thing about UOB Gold Saving Account is the liquidity: you can sell off your investment anytime you want and make quick profits!

Gold Savings Accounts (GSA)/Silver Savings Accounts (SSA) can be opened at any UOB branch in Singapore from Mondays to Fridays during banking hours. You may choose to have a passbook or receive statements of accounts in respect of your GSA or SSA.

Investing in UOB Gold Saving Account is relatively straightforward but investors need to be aware of the risk involved. The gold and silver market is volatile and that the investments in gold and silver are not guaranteed by the Bank nor insured under the Deposit Insurance Scheme. So during a financial crisis, there may be a remote possibility of losing all your investments in the gold saving account.

But the most important thing that investors need to note is that the account balances cannot be exchanged for or converted to physical gold or silver or gold certificates.

Uncategorized

India Sourcing Fair (Dec 6-8 2011, Suntec City Int’l Convention & Exhibition Centre))

December 4, 2010 sgwealthbuilder 805 Views 0 Comments

Hot on the heel after the recently held China Sourcing Fair in November 2010 is the India Sourcing Fair. It would be held in Singapore’s Suntec City Int’l Convention and Exhibition Centre from Dec 6 to 8 2011.

You may use this opportunity to diversify your supply base with new manufacturers from India.With various suppliers from different industries, the India Sourcing Fair in Singapore can help to add variety to your product line and differentiate your business. You may also use this chance to target a niche market – the Indian’s market in Singapore. The opportunities are aplenty, it depends on how you strategize and play your game.

The various products on offer are:
1) Home products
2) Gifts and premiums
3) Fashion and accessories
4) Garments and textiles
5) Food and beverage
6) Hardware and building materials
7) Machinery and industrial supplies

For more information, check out http://tradeshow.globalsources.com/TRADESHOW/SINGAPORE-INDIA-SOURCING-FAIR.HTM. Please note that this fair is for trade only and strictly no retail or sample sales. Attendess must be 18 and above.

Gold

UOB Gold Saving Account

November 9, 2010 sgwealthbuilder 1027 Views 0 Comments

Last Wednesday, the Federal Reserve of United States announced its plan to purchase US$600 billion Treasury securities. What this means it that the USA will be printing another $600 billion dollars and flood the international markets with cheap dollars, effectively driving down the value of dollar. This move could have an impact on gold price and UOB Gold/Silver Savings Account.

Now how would that affect you? Plenty. This is because now that banks have cheap access to huge amount of money and will drive down interest rates to virtually zero. So actually your money in the bank is getting negative interest rates due to inflation.

One way to hedge against inflation and earn passive income is investing in precious metals like gold and silver. Throughout history, gold has always been viewed as safe haven, particularly during turbulent times like wars. This is because unlike currency, gold has intrinsic value and is in limited supply. For the longest time, investors have always regarded gold as a safe haven during market uncertainty. Thus, gold prices usually move in opposite direction to the state of economy.

In Singapore, one of the easiest ways to invest in precious metals is by investing in UOB’s gold saving accounts.Based

Uncategorized

Mobile Application Developer

November 8, 2010 sgwealthbuilder 1038 Views 0 Comments

With increasing ownership of smartphones in Singapore, there is a growng number of mobile apps developers seeking a slice of the action. According to iMerlion, there are about 100 developers in Singapore, up from zero 2 year ago. Many of these apps have no real life applications but a lot of them are popular due to their entertainment values.

Many app developers are seduced by the fact that they can earn money while working from home. Apparently, the seduction is strong enough to make several successful executives quit their high-paying full-time jobs. According to The Straits Times, dated 6th November, a Mr Lim Thye Chean actually resigned from his job as chief technology officer with a Malaysian technology firm to start his own app programming company.

Just how lucrative the market is? Well according to the article, you can potential earn $10,000 in a few months if your app is in demand. If you have an unique idea and wants to develop an app, it doesn’t matter if you have a computer science background or not. You just need to spend some time learning the programming code and there you go!

What are you waiting for? Catch the app craze while it lasted!

Uncategorized

Wedding Emcees Website

November 5, 2010 sgwealthbuilder 1093 Views 0 Comments

My partner and me are currently in the midst of preparing for our wedding next year and we are considering whether to engage a professional emcee or seek our friends’ help on our big day. The problem is, I do not have any guy friends who are comfortable being a wedding emcee and we feel that the market rate for a professional wedding emcee is too expensive. I thought that even if an emcee was recommended to me by words of mouth, I would like to know his style, looks and rate in advance before engaging his services. After all, nobody likes to engage a balding fat uncle to be their wedding emcee even if he is very good!

I thought that it would be a great online business idea to have a website that promotes a mixture of up-and-coming and popular emcees. Ideally, the website should post their photos, track records, emcee rates and their selling points for users to consider. Of course the website should also contain contact numbers or email for couples to make arrangement with the emcees to discuss the details or to check their dates of availability. You can earn money by either charging commission fee for each successful booking or charge listing fees from the emcees.

Uncategorized

Creating an online pharmacy

November 2, 2010 sgwealthbuilder 1004 Views 0 Comments

Have you ever woke up early on Saturday mornings or having to rush off from office just to purchase some healthcare products from the hospital’s pharmacy for your family members? Don’t you just wish for a 24/7 pharmacy store? With Singapore’s rapidly ageing population, an online pharmacy definitely serves a niche demand for the busy working executives taking care of their elderly parents.

CGH mypharmacy
Enter CGH’s mypharmacy, Singapore’s first online pharmacy store. I have been using mypharmacy for the past 4 months to purchase continence products for my dad and I totally love it! I no longer have to wake up early on Saturday mornings or rush down to the hospital from work.The key reasons why I like mypharmacy:

1) Free delivery for minimum purchase of $100 items
2) You can choose to pay by cash, cheque or credit card
3) Loyalty points for redemption
4) Wide range of products
5) Very transparent shipping policy (you can check out the shipping schedule for the expected date of arrival of your purchase).

Online Business Idea
There is definitely a demand for online pharmacies given Singapore’s greying population. If you are interested, you can focus on selling healthcare products rather than healthcare supplements/medicine.

Investment; SGX stocks; Equities; Stock trading

Best Online Stock Trading System in Singapore: POEMS

November 2, 2010 sgwealthbuilder 916 Views 0 Comments

I started my wealth building journey 20 years ago when I started trading shares through my brother’s account, POEMS. If you are wondering what does POEMS stands for, it is an acronym for Philips Online Electronic Mart System. POEMS is an electronic platform established by Philips Pte Ltd in 1996 for buyers and sellers to trade equities, futures, forex, spot gold, silver and unit trust. POEMS charges commission fees for both buying and selling transactions.

Online Trading
During the late nineties when online trading was still at an infancy stage, many Singaporeans were still very skeptical of trading stocks online. Most people were horrified at the concept of buying stocks without certificates (just think of paying for goods without receipt given to you over the counter). At that time most Singaporeans are also used to rely on their brokers to trade because of tips and advice that stockbrokers can offer. In addition, there is the broker’s fear that their jobs would be on the line once internet trading render their services obsolete.

Due to advancement in technology and the increasing ownership of computers in many Singapore families, a lot of Singaporeans start to realize the advantages of online trading. Furthermore, brokers’ fears that internet trading would spell the end of their careers were unfounded as stockbrokers are still needed to provide value-added expertise views to traders.

Entrepreneurship

How to create a successful online business in eBay

October 31, 2010 sgwealthbuilder 1448 Views 0 Comments

My first blog post! I start this blog with the aim of sharing my insights on how to build wealth through stock investments, gold bullion, property, online business and alternative investments. In today’s topic, I will touch on how to make money from the internet world.

One of the most effective ways to build your wealth and become rich is to set up your own online business. With internet connection, you can get started right away with little money and technical expertise. This is because with established online marketplace like eBay, you don’t even need to create your own virtual store.

eBay is an electronic platform for users to buy and sell their products at fixed or auctioned price. I used to view it as a website for people to buy and sell unwanted goods only and did not realise its huge business potential from an entrepreneur’s perspective.

Why eBay?
Founded in 1995, eBay empowers people to explore business opportunities and enble e-commerce innovation to fluorish. Home-based online business owners can virtually sell any product or services through eBay without having to set up their own websites and hence, allows them to save huge costs, time and resources.

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