How to manage this amount of....

[LeAllenIsTheKey]

Dear All,

Firstly, thanks in advance for the possible valuable tips you would be providing in this thread.

I am looking for viable solutions to grow a small pot of moolah that has been accumulated through years of frugal living. I don't make much dough, so I try to save even on bread crumbs. Anyway, the crumbs have piled up to almost 100k now and I'm frustrated over not using them quite wisely and creating growth.

There have been some small investments in the past but those are mostly just policies bought through "agent friends" who managed to convince me, which is not entirely difficult since I didn't know that much in the past. Those policies have since matured and the payouts contributed the the current little pot I have.

Now, I'm trying to make wise, informed, calculated decisions on what to do with the little that I have. Please introduce your instruments (doesn't' matter be in just beetter bank interest rates, or investment avenues) and elaborate on how they can be useful.

Like most sgreans, I have low-medium risk appetite but want high/stable returns. But please try not to think I'll give in to greed and set a trap for me, I believe that are lots of wise buddies around here to spot your intent.

 

[Perisher]

If you have been here long enough, I think you roughly have an idea.
Open a SCB account, buy/DCA ES3+A35 ETF in a ratio you are comfortable with.

An ETF is just a counter that tracks a lot of holdings.
ES3 is a 30 stock ETF which holds companies like DBS, Singtel, Keppel etc...
A35 is a bond ETF that holds government related bonds like HDB, LTA etc...

As a general guide, ES3 is more volatile, higher risk, higher reward which averages 8-10%.
A35 is like a bond which pays stable 2%+ returns.

There, you have your simplified investment portfolio, feel free to edit and add on when you understand more.

Ignore any insurance product for investment purposes. Ignore land banking, forex, gold and all other complicated schemes which you don't understand.

As a bonus,
Try looking through the Shiny Things thread too.

 

[Rusty89]

Hi Perisher i have been reading your post about investing in ETF and im a noob in this area.

Wanna seek your advice on some things.

1) Are we able to have more than 1 broker? like SCB for lower commission fees and IB for global ETF.

2) I read somewhere that SCB is custodian account so is it still worth the risk since we dont own the ETF through our cdp.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Perisher]

Hi Perisher i have been reading your post about investing in ETF and im a noob in this area.

Wanna seek your advice on some things.

1) Are we able to have more than 1 broker? like SCB for lower commission fees and IB for global ETF.

2) I read somewhere that SCB is custodian account so is it still worth the risk since we dont own the ETF through our cdp.

Thanks in advance!

1) yes, you can, and you may wish to if you are investing big amounts. IB charges a $10 fee every month if you can't generate $10 worth of trade commission. You need to compare that to SCB's horrible exchange rate and the amount you are exchanging to decide which one works better for you.
I think IB's USD/SGD exchange spreads is super low. As I'm not using, you can ask either archerub or Shiny Things on this, they uses IB.
The answer probably can be found by digging the IB thread too.

2) Every bank uses custodian to hold your overseas shares including DBS, OCBC etc... So the key difference is SCB hold your local shares in custodian. Is that a big issue? Only sg uses CDP, if you look world wide, every bank/broker uses custodian so I don't see much issue with that. The thing most people have issue with is if SCB will fold and run off with your shares, given that it's govern by SG rules/regulations, it's almost impossible to think a bank can just transfer your shares away. CDP also has risk if you put it in a almost impossible scenario... Oh well.

 

[hwmook]

Hi Perisher i have been reading your post about investing in ETF and im a noob in this area.

Wanna seek your advice on some things.

1) Are we able to have more than 1 broker? like SCB for lower commission fees and IB for global ETF.

2) I read somewhere that SCB is custodian account so is it still worth the risk since we dont own the ETF through our cdp.

Thanks in advance!

1) Yes, you can have 10000 brokers. There is nothing to stop you.

2) Only Singapore have a funny thing known as CDP where your shares are held for you by a central custodian so you can use different broker to buy/sell. You own the shares no matter which custodian (SCB's or CDP) hold it for you, the shares does not belong to the custodian so nobody can lay a claim to your shares. Don't worry, its 100% safe.

 

[cripperz]

look at options of setting up a small trading account on brokers where you can have ur own control. Etoro or Zulutrade brokers for instant. Investments always come with risk, what matters is how much u willing to lose before the gains.

Nowadays many platform provides you with performance details of the traders / instruments you invest in.

I share my trade stories on my blog. Not a big time trader, just a retail trader that started with USD200 and planning to diversify as my profit grow by the bits. I dont have high appetite risk. I also do plan to share details of my losses so dont flame me for sharing the site link.

http://blog.cripperz.sg/category/forex/forex-trade-story/

cheers and good luck in your future investments.

 

[Tornesoul]

While you ponder about what to do with ur amount, consider parking them in ocbc 360 or uob one account or esaver

all are savings accounts with higher interest rates (subject to some actions/conditions by you, such as salary crediting, bills etc, u can see the websites) and insured up to 50k by sg govt MAS.

no risk, low but ok IR (highest for savings though)

 

[Perisher]

look at options of setting up a small trading account on brokers where you can have ur own control. Etoro or Zulutrade brokers for instant. Investments always come with risk, what matters is how much u willing to lose before the gains.

Nowadays many platform provides you with performance details of the traders / instruments you invest in.

I share my trade stories on my blog. Not a big time trader, just a retail trader that started with USD200 and planning to diversify as my profit grow by the bits. I dont have high appetite risk. I also do plan to share details of my losses so dont flame me for sharing the site link.

http://blog.cripperz.sg/category/forex/forex-trade-story/

cheers and good luck in your future investments.

Your site is hard to navigate. Full of advertisement... I read through 1 of your post by randomly clicking here and there as I can't really find what is where...

Good to see you can use USD200 to earn some bucks. Didn't see or couldn't pick up what your exact strategy sharing is though. Anyway, don't spam your blog all over the threads here, you will get banned sooner or later...

It's not that trading can't make you $$, yes it can, but it's way harder than long term investing and getting market returns.

 

[cripperz]

Your site is hard to navigate. Full of advertisement... I read through 1 of your post by randomly clicking here and there as I can't really find what is where...

Good to see you can use USD200 to earn some bucks. Didn't see or couldn't pick up what your exact strategy sharing is though. Anyway, don't spam your blog all over the threads here, you will get banned sooner or later...

It's not that trading can't make you $$, yes it can, but it's way harder than long term investing and getting market returns.

Dont think i am spamming. just sharing base on the current topic - that is not spamming - that is reference. That is my first blog post, i will slowly share my signals / trades through MQL5 ...i dont see whats the point sharing signals by graph screenshots when MQL5 provides copy trade through signals you supply.

but anyways.. cheers

 

[Darkzi0n]

take a look at government saving bonds.... not available yet, but something worth taking a look.

 

[dowzkeh]

TS, it is good that you want to increase the returns on your savings - however, based on your postings, you might want to check on those policies you bought from your agent friends.

You might unknowingly have a lot of investment-linked policies, but very few health care insurance (hospitalization etc). You might want to review that, and make sure you are adequately covered before think of investing your money.

 

[chopra]

Read ocbc 360 and uob one threads many times.
You will be enlightened.

 

[prudent76]

If you have been here long enough, I think you roughly have an idea.
Open a SCB account, buy/DCA ES3+A35 ETF in a ratio you are comfortable with.

An ETF is just a counter that tracks a lot of holdings.
ES3 is a 30 stock ETF which holds companies like DBS, Singtel, Keppel etc...
A35 is a bond ETF that holds government related bonds like HDB, LTA etc...

As a general guide, ES3 is more volatile, higher risk, higher reward which averages 8-10%.
A35 is like a bond which pays stable 2%+ returns.

There, you have your simplified investment portfolio, feel free to edit and add on when you understand more.

Ignore any insurance product for investment purposes. Ignore land banking, forex, gold and all other complicated schemes which you don't understand.

As a bonus,
Try looking through the Shiny Things thread too.

Hi Perisher,
Also a newbie at ETF investing. Can I check why you recommend SCB vs a local broker?
Also you mentioned about SCB's horrible exchange rate. If I intend to buy the 2 ETF's that you mentioned, do I need to use foreign currency? I thought they were tradable using SGD?

 

[naro]

Hi Perisher,
Also a newbie at ETF investing. Can I check why you recommend SCB vs a local broker?

Lower fees

 

[hwmook]

Hi Perisher,
Also a newbie at ETF investing. Can I check why you recommend SCB vs a local broker?
Also you mentioned about SCB's horrible exchange rate. If I intend to buy the 2 ETF's that you mentioned, do I need to use foreign currency? I thought they were tradable using SGD?

If you are buying local ETF then no need to care about exchange, he is referring to non-local ETF.

 

[Frozen_Ice]

If you have been here long enough, I think you roughly have an idea.
Open a SCB account, buy/DCA ES3+A35 ETF in a ratio you are comfortable with.

Can I buy this using my CPF OA?

If not, can advise where can I look?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Perisher]

Any bank that allows CPFIS can purchase those 2 counter... DBS, OCBC and UOB can. There should be others.

 

[Frozen_Ice]

Any bank that allows CPFIS can purchase those 2 counter... DBS, OCBC and UOB can. There should be others.

Cool... Thanks for your advice

 

[LeAllenIsTheKey]

Dear all, than you on your generous tips here. I'm currently reading up on the ocbc360 and uobone accounts while considering whether to actually their money into active investments. In the mean time, please also share more about making good use the CPF moolah and SRS etc.

 

[Jazzbie]

First time using SCB to purchase ES3 lots. I will have to transfer funds to my Securities Settlement Account before the purchase? Or will it just debit first before transferring at a later time akin to a credit card account?