*Official* Shiny Things club - Part 2

[tan175777]

Hi there, I was originally using Vickers for sg trades, but it seems that right now the consensus is that scb is better. If that is the case, do i just link my CDP account to scb and start buying sg stocks? Since the stocks are kept in my cdp account.

 

[kehyi4]

Hi there, I was originally using Vickers for sg trades, but it seems that right now the consensus is that scb is better. If that is the case, do i just link my CDP account to scb and start buying sg stocks? Since the stocks are kept in my cdp account.

SCB does not use CDP

If you decide to use SCB, you'll need to manage your SCB and CDP shares separately, or transfer your CDP shares into SCB (it'll cost $10.70 per counter btw, charged by CDP, so don't blame SCB)

 

[hwckhs]

Hi there, I was originally using Vickers for sg trades, but it seems that right now the consensus is that scb is better. If that is the case, do i just link my CDP account to scb and start buying sg stocks? Since the stocks are kept in my cdp account.

Fees for SGX trades:

SCB (Custodian-based): 0.20% with min $10. https://www.dbs.com.sg/vickers/en/accounts/types-of-account/cash-upfront-account

DBSV (CDP based): 0.12% with min $10. https://www.dbs.com.sg/vickers/en/accounts/types-of-account/cash-upfront-account

IMO, DBSV wins - lower fees and no custodian risk.

 

[JuniorLion]

Fees for SGX trades:

SCB (Custodian-based): 0.20% with min $10. https://www.dbs.com.sg/vickers/en/accounts/types-of-account/cash-upfront-account

DBSV (CDP based): 0.12% with min $10. https://www.dbs.com.sg/vickers/en/accounts/types-of-account/cash-upfront-account

IMO, DBSV wins - lower fees and no custodian risk.

Only for buying.

If you sell (after T+3), then DBSV is min $25.

 

[Investnewbie82]

Hi ST,

I read that you recommended storing excess USD in SDIA. I have some USD, waiting to be deployed as things unravel. USD is getting stronger though, so I'm wondering if you think it's best to buy the bond fund and and sell as and when I want to use the funds? Rather than stay in cash. Anything else I should look out for?

Thanks!

 

[limster]

Only for buying.

If you sell (after T+3), then DBSV is min $25.

and no min comms (and 0.18%) for SCB after you hit $200k AUM is a big winner for me. I hold many counters and its easy to rebalance with no min comm, can buy 100 shares of a $1 share/REIT and another 100 shares of a $2 share/REIT to rebalance, no problem....

 

[hwckhs]

Only for buying.

If you sell (after T+3), then DBSV is min $25.

For selling, DBSV charges 0.28% with min $25. However, if one follows ST's strategy, he/she buys all the time during the accumulation phase, and only sells once in a long while to rebalance. When you need to draw from the portfolio (eg. during retirement) or if you need to liquidate a big chunk of it, you can transfer the shares to a lower fees broker at that time. You can transfer shares between CDP and custodian, and between customdians, for a fee.

@limster is right that having "no minimum" is nice if you qualify for SCB priority banking.

I think there is no single right answer, the lowest-fees broker varies from person to person, and it may not be a good idea to just follow "general consensus". My suggestion to @tan175777 is to evaluate your trading pattern (number of buy and sell trades), trade size and portfolio size (if you qualify for SCB's "no mininum"). Understand the various brokers' fee structure and calculate on your own to determine which is the best for you.

 

[JuniorLion]

For selling, DBSV charges 0.28% with min $25. However, if one follows ST's strategy, he/she buys all the time during the accumulation phase, and only sells once in a long while to rebalance. When you need to draw from the portfolio (eg. during retirement) or if you need to liquidate a big chunk of it, you can transfer the shares to a lower fees broker at that time. You can transfer shares between CDP and custodian, and between customdians, for a fee.

@limster is right that having "no minimum" is nice if you qualify for SCB priority banking.

I think there is no single right answer, the lowest-fees broker varies from person to person, and it may not be a good idea to just follow "general consensus". My suggestion to @tan175777 is to evaluate your trading pattern (number of buy and sell trades), trade size and portfolio size (if you qualify for SCB's "no mininum"). Understand the various brokers' fee structure and calculate on your own to determine which is the best for you.

I'm an ST-fan, so I'm into index investing. Seldom buy individual stocks listed on SGX anymore.

 

[smart alex]

I think tmr IWDA price will drop further

 

[smart alex]

Only for buying.

If you sell (after T+3), then DBSV is min $25.

for IWDA selling is free right?

 

[Shiny Things]

If I have an account with a base currency of SGD and transfer GBP into it, I assume I am paying to convert that

No. The "base currency" of your account is just an accounting setting, and it affects the currency your fees are charged in. It doesn't affect what you can hold.

If you have an account with SGD base currency, you can hold GBP, USD, SGD, whatever you like in that account.

Secondly, when I am at the buy screen on the client portal, I cannot see ay figure for NBBO, in order to figure out my buying price. Do you know where I can find this through the client portal (or somewhere else)?

The client portal is for account administration, not trading. Use the mobile app, or the Trader Workstation desktop app, to execute your trades.

Hi ST,

I read that you recommended storing excess USD in SDIA. I have some USD, waiting to be deployed as things unravel.

Your assumption is that things are going to continue to unravel. How do you know you're right? And how will you know when you're wrong?

USD is getting stronger though, so I'm wondering if you think it's best to buy the bond fund and and sell as and when I want to use the funds?

"What to invest in while you're waiting to deploy cash" is completely independent from whether I think the dollar's strengthening or weakening. Just use SDIA, unless the amount you're holding is small enough that the brokerage costs will eat up the excess interest.

I think tmr IWDA price will drop further

Hey mate - I'll be honest with you, your speculation about the price of IWDA is not helpful. It's just noise in this thread. Take it to SSI, please.

 

[BBCWatcher]

The client portal is for account administration, not trading.

You can also trade from IB's Web site. Just go to the "WebTrader" section. To get there, follow these steps:

1. Go to IB's main Web site. Look for the "LOG IN" button at the top right.

2. Click on the LOG IN button's down arrow/triangle.

3. Click on WebTrader.

The current link to WebTrader is here, but it's possible that'll change.

I'd hate to see anybody unable to achieve their long-term saving and investing goals because they're uncomfortable with a particular user interface. You've got at least three user interface choices with IB. If you prefer WebTrader over the others, great, fine, no problem. Use whichever user interface you prefer. All of them work for typical (and even atypical) long-term investing.

I know ST doesn't like WebTrader because currency buys/sells in WebTrader mean there will be an extra currency line added to your account statements, and people then ask "annoying," repetitious questions about what that line means (Answer: nothing, ignore it!) But WebTrader is also IB's easiest, most convenient UI to navigate. The mobile application is next, and TWS is the most complex.

 

[BBCWatcher]

Too troublesome & too much costs (if buy SDIA). Might as well use DBS or SCB & can put USD in 12M FD yielding 3% pa now with 0 cost.

There's almost always a cost to liberate those U.S. dollars. One recent exception is DBS's "USA Remit."

I won't bother with US FDIC guarantee (overseas & probably have problem claiming)

No, absolutely no trouble "claiming." There's no claim to make; it's all handled automatically. The typical pattern is that U.S. federal marshals swoop in (with FDIC accountants) on a Friday afternoon, close the failed bank, and you're then the customer of an acquiring bank on Monday morning. If/as applicable, your debit/ATM card still works over the weekend. Moreover, if by some chance you happen to be a customer of the acquiring bank already, the FDIC makes sure that your total deposit insurance isn't reduced for at least the first 6 months.

This is absolutely ironclad U.S. government insurance, well proven since the 1930s. It works for everyone, as long as you respect the generous limit (US$250,000, more if you work with the bank to title accounts correctly).(*) It works even better than the SDIC for Singapore dollars. It's really quite remarkable.

I can personally attest to how this works. I held a CD at a U.S. bank that failed, and I kept every penny, with no action required. The federal marshals closed the bank on a random Friday afternoon. The acquiring bank converted the CD (and accrued interest to that point) to an ordinary savings account. (Some acquiring banks will continue CDs to term, with onward interest, but they're not required to do that.) On Monday morning, or at any time, I could decide whether I wanted to keep that new savings account or shift the funds elsewhere (to a more attractive CD), or some of both. Absolutely nothing was required. No claim form, no phone call, no nothing -- all automatic, all insured throughout. Even online banking continued to work, statements kept coming (new bank, new logo). Smooth as butter.

unless you have no faith in Singapore Gov & MAS & the banks they regulate.

It doesn't require any "faith": foreign currency deposits in Singapore are completely uninsured! There is no SDIC, no MAS, no government, no nothing. You're on your own, and the government tells you that.

So you can get 3% U.S. federal government insured (CD Bank), 3% U.S. state insured (example), or you can (maybe) get 3% completely uninsured, and with a "liberation fee" possible at the end.

Your choice, but I think it's pretty dumb not to take one of the first deals on the table.

(*) If you're above the insurance limit (don't do that, but if), the portion of your bank deposit(s) above FDIC or NCUA insurance limits automatically turns into the #1 most senior claim against the failed bank, ahead of all other creditors and stockholders. Also, it doesn't matter what currencies you keep on deposit at a FDIC or NCUA insured institution. Unlike the SDIC, the FDIC and NCUA do not discriminate against foreign currencies. The insurance limit and insurance is U.S. dollar denominated, but any non-U.S. dollar deposits are assessed at fair market value and still insured. Yes, oddly enough the FDIC and NCUA would probably provide better (higher) insurance on Singapore dollar deposits hypothetically held at a U.S. bank or U.S. credit union than the SDIC does.

 

[Wishdom]

My first question would be "why"? Leveraging up to buy more VWRD (or buy moreanything) is inherently a pretty risky thing to do; are you worried that you won't have enough money when you retire?

If you've got a solid reason for doing it, then, yeah, you're basically just looking to take out a margin loan. There's no active derivatives market in VWRD, so you can't leverage up that way.

There's not really such a thing as long-term margin; margin loans are sort of inherently short-term. The interest rates usually get repriced daily. (That said, if there's an options market in the stock, you can synthesise a long-term fixed-rate "margin loan" by doing a synthetic forward.)

Well yes... But not exactly. I ''feel'' like I wish to take more risk while I'm still young. The margin will give me a growth spurt to jump start my first 10 years, thereafter, allowing the portfolio to compound monstrously after.

''If only I could hasten the slow accumulation in the beginning and rush to see compounding effects''

Posted from PCWX using Redmi Note 3

 

[Fcesca]

No. The "base currency" of your account is just an accounting setting, and it affects the currency your fees are charged in. It doesn't affect what you can hold.

If you have an account with SGD base currency, you can hold GBP, USD, SGD, whatever you like in that account.


The client portal is for account administration, not trading. Use the mobile app, or the Trader Workstation desktop app, to execute your trades.

Thanks for the explanation.

I've downloaded the mobile app, however its still unclear to me what the NBBO price is. Is it clear on the buy order screen?

When entering IWDA, there are two options to buy from : IWDA IShares Core Msci World "AEB" or "LSE ETF". What difference does it make buying from the different stock exchanges? Is there one to always opt for?

I'd hate to see anybody unable to achieve their long-term saving and investing goals because they're uncomfortable with a particular user interface. You've got at least three user interface choices with IB. If you prefer WebTrader over the others, great, fine, no problem. Use whichever user interface you prefer. All of them work for typical (and even atypical) long-term investing.

I know ST doesn't like WebTrader because currency buys/sells in WebTrader mean there will be an extra currency line added to your account statements, and people then ask "annoying," repetitious questions about what that line means (Answer: nothing, ignore it!) But WebTrader is also IB's easiest, most convenient UI to navigate. The mobile application is next, and TWS is the most complex.

Thank you. I definitely feel the trader workstation desktop app is a bit confusing. The webtrader is much clearer. I've had a look at the mobile app which seems usable, just need to familiarize myself!

 

[tangent314]

Well yes... But not exactly. I ''feel'' like I wish to take more risk while I'm still young. The margin will give me a growth spurt to jump start my first 10 years, thereafter, allowing the portfolio to compound monstrously after.

''If only I could hasten the slow accumulation in the beginning and rush to see compounding effects''

There's an important concept you will want to grasp first, it's called
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_of_ruin

If you simply long a stock and it drops 50% like in 2007-2008, you still own the stock and can wait for it to recover. If you 2x leverage on that same stock and it drops 50%, you're getting force-sell and lose everything and get nothing even when the market recovers.

 

[Listopad]

if a movement of 2-3% tantamount to a 6 digit sum P/L effects, would it make sense to rebalance more frequently? or should still stick with twice a year rebalancing?

 

[BBCWatcher]

if a movement of 2-3% tantamount to a 6 digit sum P/L effects, would it make sense to rebalance more frequently? or should still stick with twice a year rebalancing?

There's a cost involved in rebalancing (I assume), so no, don't worry about it. For a few fortunate individuals, including Jeff Bezos, 6 figure sums are relatively trivial.

 

[eD1s0n]

I think this has been mentioned before, but not exactly the same as my situation:
If I am already purchasing ES3 and IWDA regularly, does it make sense to participate in my employer's stock purchase plan? There is no discount but it is capital guaranteed.

 

[Wishdom]

I think this has been mentioned before, but not exactly the same as my situation:
If I am already purchasing ES3 and IWDA regularly, does it make sense to participate in my employer's stock purchase plan? There is no discount but it is capital guaranteed.

I am in a similar position; will love to hear any advice regarding this.

Sent from Ilovennp using GAGT