Official Shiny Things thread—Part III

[streetfighter]

Good points, thanks

I wouldn’t. I personally feel the Singapore sti moves more like an emerging market fund, do u really need more of it ? Paste the sti graph over eimi and they r so similar.

Emerging markets have catastrophic risk adjusted returns so becareful adding any more along with terrible risk adjusted returns of the sti. If not for currency risk, I would have likely reduced my expose to just 20 percent.

Lastly, I’m always wary of any etf with poor liquidity. VWRA appears to b quite new. Takes years to have adequate liquidity.

 

[hahaman111]

Any thoughts of using tiger broker? while cheap, it is still a china company.

 

[cassowary18]

Any thoughts of using tiger broker? while cheap, it is still a china company.

Does seem cheap for SGX but I'm sticking with FSMOne RSP

 

[streetfighter]

For me customer service more important & having local support. cheap broker fee only important if you are trading everyday. That is why i don't use IB.

Any thoughts of using tiger broker? while cheap, it is still a china company.

 

[Listopad]

What’s the suggested % for EIMI Etf in a portfolio ? Suggested cap %?

 

[BBCWatcher]

For me customer service more important & having local support.

So if I call DBS and speak with a customer service assistant sitting in Manila, use a Web platform running on Amazon Web Services (AWS) developed primarily by developers in Bangalore, (pay a much higher commission to) buy funds traded in London, and have no U.S. government or other government insurance coverage, that's "local support"?

 

[decibel.]

So if I call DBS and speak with a customer service assistant sitting in Manila, use a Web platform running on Amazon Web Services (AWS) developed primarily by developers in Bangalore, (pay a much higher commission to) buy funds traded in London, and have no U.S. government or other government insurance coverage, that's "local support"?

More like local presence remote support.

Sent from HUAWEI VOG-L29 using GAGT

 

[MichealScott]

Any thoughts of using tiger broker? while cheap, it is still a china company.

Still waiting to see if it is reliable..no min. fees is instead a game changer for me.

 

[BBCWatcher]

More like local presence remote support.

OK, so Interactive Brokers happens to have an office in Singapore.

How’s this supposed to work, though? Do you camp outside of Maybank Kim Eng’s office, holding a sign and protesting because they charged you $120 in excess commissions that you don’t think they should have charged? (Until you’re hauled off.) Yes, they’ve got a local office (unless they close it this weekend — the local office isn’t actually guaranteed in any way), and so does IB. What does this do for you?

 

[beefjerky]

OK, so Interactive Brokers happens to have an office in Singapore.

How’s this supposed to work, though? Do you camp outside of Maybank Kim Eng’s office, holding a sign and protesting because they charged you $120 in excess commissions that you don’t think they should have charged? (Until you’re hauled off.) Yes, they’ve got a local office (unless they close it this weekend — the local office isn’t actually guaranteed in any way), and so does IB. What does this do for you?

I would say a touch point reduces the worry. In the event IB goes down, or uncontactable, you know that at least there is a physical office you can ask your questions. No doubt there have been times IB website becomes laggy, glitches (recently when oil prices went to negative) etc.

 

[megdang]

I would say a touch point reduces the worry. In the event IB goes down, or uncontactable, you know that at least there is a physical office you can ask your questions. No doubt there have been times IB website becomes laggy, glitches (recently when oil prices went to negative) etc.

So do you think, if they have physical office and when things happened, you come and ask and they will answer you?

What if they don't answer you, what will you do if there is/isn't physical office?

 

[little pupsky]

i think lots of sg folks would love to ship out to any western countries in a heartbeat, even in the midst of george floyd's induced lootings.

Wow, I wonder where you get that anecdotal sentiment from. You certainly don’t speak for me. This George Floyd episode only made me even more thankful I’m living here in Singapore and not have to worry about blatant discrimination and random racist attacks daily. When I was younger, I used to dream of retiring in an ang moh country like the US. But as I got older and witnessed my fair share of racism (whether directly or indirectly), no thanks. And I say this as someone who can in fact retire elsewhere but I’ll choose Singapore anytime, that is of course provided Singapore doesn’t go to the dogs in the hands of incompetent governments.

 

[chrisloh65]

Well said indeed!

It is unfortunate that the few ang mo worshipers keep thinking that others also worship the ang mo like them.

Wow, I wonder where you get that anecdotal sentiment from. You certainly don’t speak for me. This George Floyd episode only made me even more thankful I’m living here in Singapore and not have to worry about blatant discrimination and random racist attacks daily. When I was younger, I used to dream of retiring in an ang moh country like the US. But as I got older and witnessed my fair share of racism (whether directly or indirectly), no thanks. And I say this as someone who can in fact retire elsewhere but I’ll choose Singapore anytime, that is of course provided Singapore doesn’t go to the dogs in the hands of incompetent governments.

 

[888888888888]

yep same sentiment, i would prefer to be a first class citizen in my own country at the moment. slightly nervy about travelling to any us or european nations.

aussieland is spoiled for bright and perfectly sunny weather.
even though sg's humidity is tough to live by, its not easier living in 300 days of cloudy weather.

 

[sgte85]

VGS and IWDA

Hi ST and BBC,


I'm a Singaporean and Australian PR living in Singapore currently. I currently have 1/3 of my assets in AUD cash that I'm hesitant to fully convert back to SGD because of the low exchange rates.


I'm investing into STI, IWDA for equities and I was wondering if I should convert the AUD to USD and purchase IWDA, or just use the AUD to purchase VGS instead to fulfill the IWDA/international index part of my equities.



I plan to live in Singapore though and don't think that I'll retire in AU - def keen to know what's your take on this?


Thanks heaps!

 

[BBCWatcher]

This George Floyd episode only made me even more thankful I’m living here in Singapore and not have to worry about blatant discrimination and random racist attacks daily.

Bearing in mind that I live in Singapore by choice, and I like living in Singapore, there are many people in Singapore who do have to worry about blatant discrimination. (Physical violence less often than in most or practically all other countries.) One example: our LGBTQ friends, neighbors, colleagues, children, parents, etc. There are myriad rights that exist elsewhere — marriage, adoption, even the legal right to be intimate with another consenting adult — that don’t exist in Singapore. I hope that changes, quickly. We’re way, way behind the curve in this respect, and it’s this nation’s ongoing loss.

As another example, Singapore has an immigration policy that explicitly and deliberately (blatantly if you prefer) discriminates against individuals and families based on race. A citizen of Malaysia who is ethnically Chinese has a tremendously higher chance of being allowed into Singapore on a path to eventual citizenship than an equally talented and otherwise identically situated individual who is a citizen of Belgium and ethnically Indian, for example. Official government policy, executed with precision, is to maintain stability in Singapore’s ethnic composition. I disagree with this policy, and it’s certainly racial discrimination.

If you’re an aspiring journalist looking to practice and perfect your craft, Singapore isn’t the first country you think of as welcoming and protecting robust public discourse. It can be a tough place to be an artist, or a comedian, or a communist, or an athlete, or a conscientious objector. I think it’s a very tough place (among developed countries anyway) to be disabled.

We’ve all got a lot of work to do in the human race to improve, here in Singapore and elsewhere. Generally I’m long-term optimistic, though.

I'm a Singaporean and Australian PR living in Singapore currently. I currently have 1/3 of my assets in AUD cash that I'm hesitant to fully convert back to SGD because of the low exchange rates.

I'm investing into STI, IWDA for equities and I was wondering if I should convert the AUD to USD and purchase IWDA, or just use the AUD to purchase VGS instead to fulfill the IWDA/international index part of my equities.

I plan to live in Singapore though and don't think that I'll retire in AU - def keen to know what's your take on this?

I’d keep buying IWDA, mostly just to keep things simpler. VGS is practically portfolio identical in every respect except that it doesn’t include Australian listed stocks. (I believe IWDA does.) While you might not want to overweight Australian listed stocks, there’s no sense underweighting them either. VGS is distributing while IWDA is accumulating, so I think IWDA wins there. Your cost of fund transfer and currency conversion is rock bottom low via Interactive Brokers (which can accept AUD domestically in Australia), so no problem there.

You might want to keep some AUD on hand for now simply because that is your “Plan B” even if you don’t intend to use it. (Maybe there’s a decent AUD bond fund there?) But I don’t think VGS adds any value.

 

[swan02]

I know you didn’t ask me but I’m the right person to ask as I was at the same exact situation as you.

1. Be extremely careful handling AUD. It’s a risk on asset period without the glorious upside of stocks. In other words, don’t hold it.
2. If you are Australian tax domiciled, it’s ok to buy via a cheap tax platform such as selfwealth n u r entitled to franking credits.
3. U can invest in RateSetter in Australia even as a non Aussie tax domiciled but u can’t have your aud in high savings online accounts.
4. U can still be aussie tax domiciled even living in Singapore. So becareful how u arrange your financial affairs.
5. if u r certain not aussie tax domiciled. Then focus on iwda. As it has been repeated upteen times, it does not matter what currency the etf is denominated in. a piece
Of gold is no any diff whether it’s in aud or usd.
6. to help you decide whether to keep aud or not. I can give u a simple observation. Holding to aud is equivalent to at least 20 percent of iwda while the rest of money converted into sgd. This was how I solved my aud exposure issue and it worked beautifully without the cost of hedging. Frankly the risk aud is between 20 to 50 percent of holding to iwda. So it’s up to u to decide.
7. U can buy etf such as AAA from betashares from ASX to store your cash.

Hi ST and BBC,


I'm a Singaporean and Australian PR living in Singapore currently. I currently have 1/3 of my assets in AUD cash that I'm hesitant to fully convert back to SGD because of the low exchange rates.


I'm investing into STI, IWDA for equities and I was wondering if I should convert the AUD to USD and purchase IWDA, or just use the AUD to purchase VGS instead to fulfill the IWDA/international index part of my equities.



I plan to live in Singapore though and don't think that I'll retire in AU - def keen to know what's your take on this?


Thanks heaps!

 

[ycyc78]

Any idea how to use SRS to buy IWDA? If not, what to do with SRS? Thanks.

 

[highsulphur]

Any idea how to use SRS to buy IWDA? If not, what to do with SRS? Thanks.

You can't.

I buy es3 with it

 

[sgte85]

Thanks for the advice and insight BBC and swan, it'll definitely prove invaluable in deciding on my next move and I have a far clearer picture now.