Newbie trying to invest.

ec_2008

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Hi all,

I am a newbie in the stock market. I wanted to start on some investments. I am not ready for trading yet. So I am only looking for stocks which can earn me dividend. Therefore i will do long term investment like holding the stock for 3-5 years at least. Hope that experts here can give me some advises on how to start.

Please don't laugh at me as the capital that I intended to invest is very little. About $1000 SGD at the moment. But i will continue to invest about $500 SGD monthly.

Right now, I have some questions to ask.

1. May i know is it suitable for dividend stock investment
at the moment? Main reason is because of the 10 year
cycle. I know it's coming soon but don't know when and what
will trigger it. Another reason is because most of the stocks price
are already quite high.

2. May anyone tell me how to read and where to find a company's annual report? Things to take note of when reading the report.

3. Saw in the forum that ETF are popular among investor. May I
know how many type of ETF are there in Singapore?

4. For stocks and ETF that pay dividends, may i know are they paid out quarterly or yearly?

5. Which software(popular and user friendly) to download to see
the chart of the price?

Hope that the experts here may be able to guide me along the way. Thanks in advance!
 

Wood41

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Go SSI .
The 'smart ones' will recommend SSB or other chim chim / overseas/ fixed to invest only.

Some here would no no to SGX stocks.
 

ec_2008

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Go SSI .
The 'smart ones' will recommend SSB or other chim chim / overseas/ fixed to invest only.

Some here would no no to SGX stocks.

Hi wood41, May I know what's SSI and chim chin that u just mentioned?

Yes, I had been thinking of the singapore saving bond too but the interest rate is very low. Just slightly over 2% per annum(capital guarantee). I think it's quite easy to get a 5% dividends stock in the market(capital no guarantee).

So you don't recommend sg stocks?
 

Perisher

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Hi wood41, May I know what's SSI and chim chin that u just mentioned?

Yes, I had been thinking of the singapore saving bond too but the interest rate is very low. Just slightly over 2% per annum(capital guarantee). I think it's quite easy to get a 5% dividends stock in the market(capital no guarantee).

So you don't recommend sg stocks?

Chim as in complex, hokkien term I think..
SSI as in this forum, stock shares and indices...
 

TabascoSauce

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1. dividend stocks doesnt mean it is safe. they are still subjected to market risk and firm specific risk (aka share price drop). understand wat u buy - what would make the price go down and what would make it go up.

2. 1k is abit too little. commission will eat into ur returns. suggest to accumulate abit more. I started with 3k. u can also consider regular investing plan like ocbc bcip or posb investsaver which are more suitable for smaller amount regular investment.

3. r u the kind that's okay spending one whole day reading financial reports before committing ur money? yes, then learn how to analyse financial results. no, then stick to ETF - but still need to know the basics. either case, keep abreast of the macro economic environment.

4. mkt moves in cycle, but there's no such thing as 10 year cycle. jus ppl trying to find pattern that dont exist.

5. app jus apply brokerage acc from any of the major banks. use their app. im using iocbc. not bad.

6. no ilp, endowment, managed funds.

7. before making ur money grow, learn how to protect it first. get death insurance (suggest term), hospitalisation plan first. next, can also consider CI and accident plan.
 

ec_2008

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1. dividend stocks doesnt mean it is safe. they are still subjected to market risk and firm specific risk (aka share price drop). understand wat u buy - what would make the price go down and what would make it go up.

2. 1k is abit too little. commission will eat into ur returns. suggest to accumulate abit more. I started with 3k. u can also consider regular investing plan like ocbc bcip or posb investsaver which are more suitable for smaller amount regular investment.

3. r u the kind that's okay spending one whole day reading financial reports before committing ur money? yes, then learn how to analyse financial results. no, then stick to ETF - but still need to know the basics. either case, keep abreast of the macro economic environment.

4. mkt moves in cycle, but there's no such thing as 10 year cycle. jus ppl trying to find pattern that dont exist.

5. app jus apply brokerage acc from any of the major banks. use their app. im using iocbc. not bad.

6. no ilp, endowment, managed funds.

7. before making ur money grow, learn how to protect it first. get death insurance (suggest term), hospitalisation plan first. next, can also consider CI and accident plan.

Hi TabascoSauce,

1. Yes I knew that dividend stocks are also subject to market movement. Therefore I had mentioned in my first post whether now still a good time to buy in some dividend stocks as most stocks are in their high price now.

2. Ok. I shall save for a few more months. May i ask do we have to pay for commission when we buy in stocks? Or is it subject to when we sell only? Also can you tell me how much is the commission per transaction(eg only buy in $500 worth per time)?

As you mentioned regular investing plan through bank, do we also had to buy in even when the market is in downtrend?

3. I am ok spending time to read the annual financial report of a company. But I must learn or someone is helpful to tell me what things to take note of in the financial report so that I can invest smartly. I treat every dollar as my soldier and i won't anyhow scarified my soldier.

4. Yes, market moved in cycle. In an uptrend situation, there will be minor downtrend in that cycle. Same with downtrend situation, there will be minor uptrend in that cycle.

Example in a monthly chart showing uptrend, but when you looked at weekly chart, it may tell you a different story.

Everything that has gone up must eventually come down. Same as everything that has went down will eventually go up again. These are the technical adjustment the market must experience.
Be it how many times the market had experience higher high in uptrend or lower low in downtrend, technical adjustment is a must.

5. As per in your point number 2 invest through major bank, is it that we must do regular investment through that bank regardless of market situation?

6. I am most likely not interested in any IPL, endowment and managed fund. I will only look at dividend stocks in 衣,食,住,行 category. The company must be the 龙头股 in each category, so that i knew the company is finanically strong and won't go bankrupt easily in most market technical adjustment. I will avoid tech company as they are not as stable as company in 衣,食,住,行 category.

7. Yes, i do buy some insurance as a protection.
 

unhinged_loon

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2. Ok. I shall save for a few more months. May i ask do we have to pay for commission when we buy in stocks? Or is it subject to when we sell only? Also can you tell me how much is the commission per transaction(eg only buy in $500 worth per time)?

You pay when you buy and when you sell, assuming SG shares. $25 min or 0.275% per transaction, whichever is higher when buying through normal brokers. It can be cheaper for brokerage custodian instead of CDP.

3. I am ok spending time to read the annual financial report of a company. But I must learn or someone is helpful to tell me what things to take note of in the financial report so that I can invest smartly. I treat every dollar as my soldier and i won't anyhow scarified my soldier.

Learn financial accounting first. Otherwise, it is largely a waste of time because you don't know what to look for.

6. I am most likely not interested in any IPL, endowment and managed fund. I will only look at dividend stocks in 衣,食,住,行 category. The company must be the 龙头股 in each category, so that i knew the company is finanically strong and won't go bankrupt easily in most market technical adjustment. I will avoid tech company as they are not as stable as company in 衣,食,住,行 category.

*cough* NOL *cough*
*cough* Noble *cough*

Stock picking is not as easy as simply picking a blue chip.


Look, if you don't even know the brokerage fees, you are very new to the market. It's not as simple as what you read on blogs or watch on youtube.
 

Shiny Things

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Hi all,

I am a newbie in the stock market. I wanted to start on some investments. I am not ready for trading yet. So I am only looking for stocks which can earn me dividend. Therefore i will do long term investment like holding the stock for 3-5 years at least. Hope that experts here can give me some advises on how to start.

Please don't laugh at me as the capital that I intended to invest is very little. About $1000 SGD at the moment. But i will continue to invest about $500 SGD monthly.

Hey, we all had to start somewhere, and this is as good a place as any to start.

Don't get too horny over dividends, though; a really phat dividend yield is often a sign of a stock with some severe underlying problems. And you'll probably find you want to reinvest those dividends—that is, plow them back into the same stock—anyway.

1. May i know is it suitable for dividend stock investment
at the moment? Main reason is because of the 10 year
cycle.

There is no "10-year cycle"; it's a myth. Stock prices go up and down, and people try to ascribe patterns to them.

The best time to start investing is "right now".

2. May anyone tell me how to read and where to find a company's annual report? Things to take note of when reading the report.

Generally, companies will have their latest annual reports on their website (look for the "investor relations" section); sometimes they'll even email it to you. They're also required to file them with the stock exchange, but the SGX's website is a bit of a mess, so that's more of a last resort.

3. Saw in the forum that ETF are popular among investor. May I
know how many type of ETF are there in Singapore?

Not many, but there are two that are worth caring about:
  • Singaporean stock ETFs: an ETF that owns a pile of Singaporean stocks, so you can buy all the big-name Singaporean companies in one transaction;
  • Singaporean bond ETFs: an ETF that owns a pile of Singaporean government bonds, so you can buy a nice, safe (but low-growth) stream of dividends without needing to do all the hunting for individual bonds yourself.

4. For stocks and ETF that pay dividends, may i know are they paid out quarterly or yearly?

Depends on the stock (or ETF); some pay monthly, some pay quarterly, some pay yearly. (Monthly isn't better, though; you get more frequent dividends but they're correspondingly smaller. Lots of crappy unit trusts like to use "monthly dividends!" as their selling point to make you ignore their terrible performance.)

5. Which software(popular and user friendly) to download to see
the chart of the price?

Yahoo Finance is fine; you don't need separate software.
 

ec_2008

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You pay when you buy and when you sell, assuming SG shares. $25 min or 0.275% per transaction, whichever is higher when buying through normal brokers. It can be cheaper for brokerage custodian instead of CDP.



Learn financial accounting first. Otherwise, it is largely a waste of time because you don't know what to look for.



*cough* NOL *cough*
*cough* Noble *cough*

Stock picking is not as easy as simply picking a blue chip.


Look, if you don't even know the brokerage fees, you are very new to the market. It's not as simple as what you read on blogs or watch on youtube.

Hi unhinged_loon, thanks for pointing out your advises. I will try to read up threads that's related to investment in money mind and Stocks, Shares and Indices section. I found quite a few useful threads and will interact with fellow forum members.
 

ec_2008

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Hey, we all had to start somewhere, and this is as good a place as any to start.

Don't get too horny over dividends, though; a really phat dividend yield is often a sign of a stock with some severe underlying problems. And you'll probably find you want to reinvest those dividends—that is, plow them back into the same stock—anyway.



There is no "10-year cycle"; it's a myth. Stock prices go up and down, and people try to ascribe patterns to them.

The best time to start investing is "right now".



Generally, companies will have their latest annual reports on their website (look for the "investor relations" section); sometimes they'll even email it to you. They're also required to file them with the stock exchange, but the SGX's website is a bit of a mess, so that's more of a last resort.



Not many, but there are two that are worth caring about:
  • Singaporean stock ETFs: an ETF that owns a pile of Singaporean stocks, so you can buy all the big-name Singaporean companies in one transaction;
  • Singaporean bond ETFs: an ETF that owns a pile of Singaporean government bonds, so you can buy a nice, safe (but low-growth) stream of dividends without needing to do all the hunting for individual bonds yourself.



Depends on the stock (or ETF); some pay monthly, some pay quarterly, some pay yearly. (Monthly isn't better, though; you get more frequent dividends but they're correspondingly smaller. Lots of crappy unit trusts like to use "monthly dividends!" as their selling point to make you ignore their terrible performance.)



Yahoo Finance is fine; you don't need separate software.

Hi Shiny Things, thanks for your post in my thread. May i ask the "Singaporean stock ETFs" that you mentioned is it STI ETF? I am planning to invest in this ETF.
 

Pesantkie

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Hi Shiny Things, thanks for your post in my thread. May i ask the "Singaporean stock ETFs" that you mentioned is it STI ETF? I am planning to invest in this ETF.

Yes it is. Either ES3 or G3B. POSB InvestSaver is using G3B.
 

Sadisticnoob

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Hi ts,
I'm also like you just started in Dec last year , also started with a very familiar capital as U (first trade made was 4k shares of tai sin electric @0.38 each )

1.if you're always waiting you will never buy , stock prices always go up and down

2. Annual report are only good for reporting for that financial period , there's usually a time lag between the annual report and the current time , I still use it though . Usually I look at companies that are cash rich and have strong operating cash flows

They do affect share prices though it's not as much as a catalyst (aka event happening )
3. It's not really relevant to me sincE I don't buy in etf

4.you can take a look at sites like dividend seeker to check when the etf / stocks are giving out dividend.

5. I currently use sgx cafe to record my portfolio details

Sent from Asus ASUS_X008D using GAGT
 

ec_2008

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Hi ts,
I'm also like you just started in Dec last year , also started with a very familiar capital as U (first trade made was 4k shares of tai sin electric @0.38 each )

1.if you're always waiting you will never buy , stock prices always go up and down

2. Annual report are only good for reporting for that financial period , there's usually a time lag between the annual report and the current time , I still use it though . Usually I look at companies that are cash rich and have strong operating cash flows

They do affect share prices though it's not as much as a catalyst (aka event happening )
3. It's not really relevant to me sincE I don't buy in etf

4.you can take a look at sites like dividend seeker to check when the etf / stocks are giving out dividend.

5. I currently use sgx cafe to record my portfolio details

Sent from Asus ASUS_X008D using GAGT

Hi Sadisticnoob, thanks for your comments. The Journey in investing is tough but i am not alone. I will continue to learn and read more about how to invest.
 

ec_2008

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Yes it is. Either ES3 or G3B. POSB InvestSaver is using G3B.

Hi Pesantkie, thanks for telling me the code for this ETF. But can't find it in sgx website. Can someone please tell me how to search for this ETF in sgx website? Thanks.
 

badsector

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Hi Pesantkie, thanks for telling me the code for this ETF. But can't find it in sgx website. Can someone please tell me how to search for this ETF in sgx website? Thanks.

goto sgx.com, stock search. type in the code
 
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