*Official* Shiny Things club

[Shiny Things]

Thanks for sending the link, made me curious so I went to understand more. Personally I am on incomeshield enhanced advantage so I went to see if there's any comparison charts between the 2, and voila!

https://www.income.com.sg/forms/brochure/enhanced-incomeshield-printed-brochure.aspx?ext=.pdf

Yes true that medishield life allows you to claim 35%.
However the integrated shield plan allows me to claim 65% plus other factors. And I know how much medical bills can pile up and 30% diff is huge for me. So far I can afford the integrated plan premium so I will continue.
Perhaps one day when I couldn't then I might just *cry* and get used to fans.

I should stop here. Don't want to further hijack shiny's thread.

This is great, cheers mate, it's really useful information.

I might revise my opinion on the enhanced shield plans, then. Need to get an idea of how much they cost, so that I can understand whether they're good value or not, but I think I might change my position to "get it if you can easily afford it".

In Australia, people above a certain income level are encouraged (through extra taxes) to get private health insurance in order to reduce the load on the public system, and it's honestly a pretty good idea.

Just curious. Why does yahoo finance and google finance show different values for the 52 week high/low of VWRD?
https://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=VWRD.L&ql=1
http://www.google.com/finance?cid=650012194937865

Am i looking at the wrong codes?

This is a known bug in Yahoo Finance - it confuses the USD- and GBP-denominated share classes of LSE ETFs that are listed in multiple currencies. The Google numbers look right.

If anyone has a mate at Yahoo, can you yell at them about this? It's a really dumb bug.

Does anyone know where i can find the long term correlation value of spy and sti index?

If I was at work I'd hit up one of the guys with a Bloomberg and get this for you, but I'm on vacation so it's a bit tricky. A couple of things you'll want to think about, though:

* Do you mean SPY or the S&P 500 index? One's a stock, the other's an index; if you're comparing it to the STI index you'll probably want to use the S&P 500 index, so you're comparing apples to apples.
* Price return or total return? Both of those indices exclude dividends.
* Which currency? Do you want to convert the SPX index levels to SGD, the STI levels to USD, or just leave them in their own currencies (in which case you'll have a confounding variable from the USDSGD FX rate)?

 

[sgdividends]

Hi Shiny,

Enjoy your vacation !

I should have been more specific .
Snp500 index to sti index
Not including dividends,just price
In their own currency . USd and SGD

 

[SpeedingBullet]

i'll have access to bbg next week, hopefully can pull the data for u if i remember haha.

Anyone wants anymore stuff from bbg?

 

[sgdividends]

i'll have access to bbg next week, hopefully can pull the data for u if i remember haha.

Anyone wants anymore stuff from bbg?

Thanks Speedingbullet!

 

[Shiny Things]

Hi Shiny,

Enjoy your vacation !

I should have been more specific .
Snp500 index to sti index
Not including dividends,just price
In their own currency . USd and SGD

Sure - if SpeedingBullet isn't on it already, I'll hop on this next week.

And to everyone out there, merry christmas, happy holidays, or whatever your greeting of choice is!

 

[doody_]

I agree with starfish about medishield life.
My friend had an accident and his little finger was ripped off( sort of) and he went to a public one and he had to wait for 1 month for a particular doctor who specialised in this little finger...fed up he went to private and he did it next day with that particular doctor.

It's all about the money cruel as it sounds . can't imagine waiting for a month to do the surgery...I mean won't the bone set?

I'm not an agent. Other insurance , yes its unnecessary if one has no dependent , else term is the way

Best to get private medical insurance. When **** hits the fan, do you want to wait in line at the government hospital? Your friend's example is the kind of thing I would like to avoid if possible.

Money isn't everything but it's great for quite a lot of things...

 

[wondrdoggie]

Hey shiny,

Got a question for you... What do you think of allocating a small % say 20% to reits as part of my bond allocation? Say if I was supposed to buy 1m worth of bonds, but I buy 200k of reits and 800k bonds.

Reason I am asking is because this idea was suggested to me by an analyst from my bank since recently the bond market has been rocked by defaults and falling prices. Reits on the other hand is less volatile and they have to distribute.

I have been mulling over this because I know reits are vulnerable to interest rates as many are highly leveraged. So my concern is that while they may distribute dividends, their prices may drop too much.

Any insights? Much appreciated!

 

[wondrdoggie]

Best to get private medical insurance. When **** hits the fan, do you want to wait in line at the government hospital? Your friend's example is the kind of thing I would like to avoid if possible.

Money isn't everything but it's great for quite a lot of things...

Totally agree with you. When you fall ill, it's hard to have to wait weeks or months to see a specialist or undergo a procedure. I mean, it's your health, not something you want to stinge on. Not to mention the stress you put your family under. So if you can afford it, I suggest you opt for private hospital plan. If cannot, then bo pian.

 

[Perisher]

Hey shiny,

Got a question for you... What do you think of allocating a small % say 20% to reits as part of my bond allocation? Say if I was supposed to buy 1m worth of bonds, but I buy 200k of reits and 800k bonds.

Reason I am asking is because this idea was suggested to me by an analyst from my bank since recently the bond market has been rocked by defaults and falling prices. Reits on the other hand is less volatile and they have to distribute.

I have been mulling over this because I know reits are vulnerable to interest rates as many are highly leveraged. So my concern is that while they may distribute dividends, their prices may drop too much.

Any insights? Much appreciated!

Interest rate rising is not a 1 day event, it's nearly a good 2 years since it was first mentioned once QE was stopped completely. What this means is that companies, not just reits, should be prepared for it. That is, they should do the necessary regarding how they finance their debt/loans/bonds etc.
Of course, there will always be some who are still unprepared for it by taking bets that FED won't dare to raise it.

Most though has prepared for the inevitable and slow measured rise of the rates by the FED which consequently affected rates across the world.
Singapore banks has been raising rates since start of the year and is still raising. This adjustment period is likely to extend well into 2017-18.

So allocating some funds to reits while their prices are falling due to irrational fear and thus over-reaction recently should be a fine decision.

The few Reits to avoid are those who have tenant renewal issues and those with heavy gearing that also happen to have low WALE. It's sort of the same stuff you would watch out for even in a normal climate but at an overall lower price to enter now than a few years back.

Bonds doesn't have as much risk as reits but since price has fallen, a little allocation to a lower risk sector to get higher returns would made this a calculated decision.

My 2cent in the middle of the night.

 

[Shiny Things]

Totally agree with you. When you fall ill, it's hard to have to wait weeks or months to see a specialist or undergo a procedure. I mean, it's your health, not something you want to stinge on. Not to mention the stress you put your family under. So if you can afford it, I suggest you opt for private hospital plan. If cannot, then bo pian.

Yeah, I agree with this; I'm going to change my previous position. If you can afford it, then private health insurance (an enhanced shield plan) is a good idea.

Hey shiny,

Got a question for you... What do you think of allocating a small % say 20% to reits as part of my bond allocation? Say if I was supposed to buy 1m worth of bonds, but I buy 200k of reits and 800k bonds.

Reason I am asking is because this idea was suggested to me by an analyst from my bank since recently the bond market has been rocked by defaults and falling prices. Reits on the other hand is less volatile and they have to distribute.

I'm gonna dispute the premise of what the analyst is saying. The only corner of the bond market that's been rocked-and-rolled is the junk bond market; investment-grade corps have been rangebound for the last six months; govvies have flatlined; and muni bonds are up over the same timeframe.

Also I don't know where he's getting "REITs are less volatile than bonds"; that's just flat wrong. REIT prices move around a lot more than bond prices. I'm gonna be polite and say that analyst might need to go back and take another look at his numbers.

If you're looking for a stable asset in your portfolio, bonds are the only option. REITs are like buying exposure to real estate, and the value swings around just like real estate prices do.

I have been mulling over this because I know reits are vulnerable to interest rates as many are highly leveraged. So my concern is that while they may distribute dividends, their prices may drop too much.

So I used to think this as well, but I looked into it and it turns out it's not true. There's not that much correlation between interest rates and REIT prices - though, that all said, I just don't like REITs very much. I don't think real estate's a particularly terrific asset class compared to equities or bonds - the historic returns are a couple of points lower than bonds and 4-5 points lower than equities - and I don't own any myself (either directly or through REITs).

 

[wondrdoggie]

Thanks Shiny and Perisher!

I wasn't very convinced about replacing, albeit a small portion, of my bond allocation to reits. But checking with some family office managers who manage tens to hundreds of millions, it seems that it's not unheard of. Some of them do use this strategy, which got me thinking especially having been burnt recently by SG bonds. Granted that in the pursuit of higher yield, I made questionable buys of junk bonds.

So why not allocate money that I would have made to high yield bonds to well established reits which are highly liquid, distribute high dividends, and have transparent pricing (as opposed to bonds in SG which are trade otc and super opaque) etc. it can form part of my fixed income, the same way many people here go for dividend yielding blue chips or reits to build their passive income.

Anyway, my gut feel is that it's probably not a good idea so I thought I throw it out to you guys.

 

[yihao93]

if theres a stock you want, should you penny pinch?
better to get a stock at the higher abit price or just dont get the stock at all?

 

[doody_]

if theres a stock you want, should you penny pinch?
better to get a stock at the higher abit price or just dont get the stock at all?

Don't miss the forest for the trees. If it's a good stock, those pennies won't matter eventually.

 

[Johnpierpontmorgan]

Also I don't know where he's getting "REITs are less volatile than bonds"; that's just flat wrong. REIT prices move around a lot more than bond prices. I'm gonna be polite and say that analyst might need to go back and take another look at his numbers.

If you're looking for a stable asset in your portfolio, bonds are the only option. REITs are like buying exposure to real estate, and the value swings around just like real estate prices do.



So I used to think this as well, but I looked into it and it turns out it's not true. There's not that much correlation between interest rates and REIT prices - though, that all said, I just don't like REITs very much. I don't think real estate's a particularly terrific asset class compared to equities or bonds - the historic returns are a couple of points lower than bonds and 4-5 points lower than equities - and I don't own any myself (either directly or through REITs).

If based on the previous rate hike and property prices, definitely the hike by Greenspan would not much affect property prices as the subprime bubble is already developing. However, I find that bond prices do have a close correlation to property prices if one actually look into a longer timeframe (min 30 yrs- the start of the bond bull market)

 

[Johnpierpontmorgan]

just started on Ben graham intelligent investor.
Amazing read.
The defensive investor approach is almost similar what is being preach here.

 

[Bedokian]

Thanks Shiny and Perisher!

I wasn't very convinced about replacing, albeit a small portion, of my bond allocation to reits. But checking with some family office managers who manage tens to hundreds of millions, it seems that it's not unheard of. Some of them do use this strategy, which got me thinking especially having been burnt recently by SG bonds. Granted that in the pursuit of higher yield, I made questionable buys of junk bonds.

So why not allocate money that I would have made to high yield bonds to well established reits which are highly liquid, distribute high dividends, and have transparent pricing (as opposed to bonds in SG which are trade otc and super opaque) etc. it can form part of my fixed income, the same way many people here go for dividend yielding blue chips or reits to build their passive income.

Anyway, my gut feel is that it's probably not a good idea so I thought I throw it out to you guys.

The key thing here is diversification. REITs are a hybrid of the equity and property asset classes. I am a fan of REITs, but I am limiting their makeup to 35% of my portfolio. It depends on the overall investment strategy adopted.

 

[civicguy]

Shiny. How is the status of your book ?

 

[Tornesoul]

Quick qns, i have a whole life plan in its 19th year. Just found out about it. Wanted to terminate, but guaranteed surrendar value is higher on 20th.

Keep for 1 more year and surrender after?

Is it the norm that a bonus is given out on the 20th year? Hence higher guaranteed + non guaranteed surrender values.

btw would like to ask, is PIAS an independent advisory firm for insurance?

http://www.proinvest.com.sg/

they are a subsidiary of aviva though.
Sent from Sent from where? using GAGT

 

[Tornesoul]

The key thing here is diversification. REITs are a hybrid of the equity and property asset classes. I am a fan of REITs, but I am limiting their makeup to 35% of my portfolio. It depends on the overall investment strategy adopted.

heh. Im struggling with allocation % for my reits. conflicting views on them.

like them in my portfolio alot, but its neither stocks nor bonds. And dosent really fit into index investing,

 

[AffordFreedom]

Hi all,
Would like to prick the gurus' mind on their opinion of the following:
1. Junk bonds have no place in any retirement portfolio. Bonds are advocated for retirees because regardless of the economic situation, high grade corporate/government bonds will continue to churn out payout for the retirees. However, there is no such 'guarantee' for junk bonds. And if higher yields are what investors are after, why not just go for equities of these 'junk' companies?