*Official* Shiny Things club - Part 2

[d5dude]

As long as "Obamacare" remains intact -- or the Democrats gain power and improve it -- elder immigrants can get insured. Prior to "Obamacare" the medical situation was really dreadful for elder immigrants, among others.

Let's suppose you're a 70 year old male Singaporean, you're not U.S. Medicare eligible, but you're married to a U.S. citizen or U.S. permanent resident and go live with your spouse in Miami. You can obtain an "Obamacare" medical insurance policy via Healthcare.gov (the U.S. federal exchange), and there are no preexisting condition exclusions....

....But it is not cheap. The lowest cost plan, assuming you don't qualify for tax subsidies (your income is "too high"), is US$780/month (2019). There's a US$7,900 annual deductible, so you pay that amount first for your medical care. And you're limited to a "network" of medical providers (doctors, hospitals, clinics, etc.) -- you cannot obtain care from every provider.

....But it is excellent. Above the deductible, and within the network, the coverage is very, very comprehensive. Virtually all acute care is covered without any additional expense for the amount above the annual deductible, including prescription drugs and even emergency care outside the United States.

Once you've clocked 5 years of U.S. residence, and if your spouse is U.S. Medicare eligible, you should be able to enroll in Medicare. That'll be more affordable than the exchange policy, and if it's a "Medicare Advantage" plan it should provide still comprehensive coverage (without a provider network) but with much lower out-of-pocket costs.

Where you can really rapidly run down assets is with long-term care, which is also quite expensive in the United States. You can usually get LTC insurance, but it too is rather expensive.

Anyway, there are solutions available if you can get past the significant immigration restrictions, but as always (with every retirement destination) you have to do some careful research and budgeting.

780 USD a month is 13k sgd premium a year, and its the lowest cost plan. Some more got 7.9k USD deductible.

My integrated shield plan fully covered my 3 day stay in B1 ward and it only cost me a few hundred dollars premium a year.

 

[Ilovemathstutor]

but the american ecosystem breeds innovation and thought leadership.
the people here on the other hand are mostly... but they blame the gov for their failures.

no?

 

[BBCWatcher]

780 USD a month is 13k sgd premium a year, and its the lowest cost plan. Some more got 7.9k USD deductible.

For Miami — premiums vary based on where you live — for a 70 year old nonsmoking male who is not Medicare eligible and who doesn’t qualify for premium subsidies (available with moderate or lower income).

My integrated shield plan fully covered my 3 day stay in B1 ward and it only cost me a few hundred dollars premium a year.

Yes, and there’s no question medical care in Singapore is less expensive. But the U.S. medical insurance is much more comprehensive above the deductible. There are no preexisting condition exclusions (a huge difference), and practically everything you can imagine is covered, such as prescription drugs for however long you need them. At 100% (no copays above the US$7,900 deductible). It even includes decent travel medical insurance because your emergency medical bills are covered (both inside and outside the U.S.), although you might still want medical evacuation/medical repatriation insurance. Elderly Singaporean travelers have great difficulty obtaining decent or better travel medical insurance once they reach a certain age.

So there are some dispensations. And quite often the U.S. exchange policies are only for the first 5 years of U.S. residence. If your spouse is U.S. Medicare eligible — the typical pattern — then as a foreign retiree you’d be able to join Medicare at age 65+ and once you hit 5 years of residence. The highest Medicare Part B premium in 2019 is US$460.50 per month, but most people pay US$135.50. With that you can sign up for a Medicare Advantage plan with prescription drug coverage, and then you’ve got very good coverage without the big deductible. (Medicare Advantage means you agree to restrict yourself to a particular network of medical providers in exchange for lower insurance costs — particularly for prescription drugs — and excellent, comprehensive coverage within the network. These plans are quite popular.)

Anyway, it can be done. Obviously lots of retirees in the U.S. manage.

 

[edwardhjt]

Erm guys. Trying to use Investment Moats Stock tracking spreadsheet (since my own simple version of tracking my transactions is getting more messy and abysmal).

Does ES3 have a google stock quote? Cos i can't find it.
Yahoo finance and Bloomberg there are tickers, but just can't find the google one.

EDIT: Hah nevermind, there's yahoo option inside the spreadsheet. Didn't see ...

I'm using the same excel as a base, I've cut down quite a few things because it quite overkill for simple portfolio buy/hold investors like ours here. I think one thing that is often overlooked is that you have to keep track of your numbers.

"Remember kids, the only difference between Science and screwing around is writing it down." Adam Savage

 

[duckmite]

Hello

Just wanted to ask:

What does the hive mind think of ethical ETFs?

https://www.moneyobserver.com/ethical-etfs-theres-never-been-better-time-to-put-your-money-where-your-morals-are

 

[Sourbear]

Hi BBCW/ST,

Can you advise how we can minimise income tax? From what I have read, the main strategies are SA topups and SRS contribution, but the SRS route is not something that is really recommended due to the uncertainties around withdrawal tax rates and limited options for investing SRS monies?

 

[FrostWurm]

Hello

Just wanted to ask:

What does the hive mind think of ethical ETFs?

https://www.moneyobserver.com/ethical-etfs-theres-never-been-better-time-to-put-your-money-where-your-morals-are

Ethical people seldom get rich

nah i'm kidding

 

[decibel.]

Is it worthwhile to direct invest in London stock exchange shares?

Sent from Samsung SM-G920I using GAGT

 

[revhappy]

Is it worthwhile to direct invest in London stock exchange shares?

Sent from Samsung SM-G920I using GAGT

Ofcourse. LSE has some global behemoths listed. Check out with Limster.

 

[Johnpierpontmorgan]

Like I've been saying, the fed has trapped itself one box and resorting to qe4 soon. There's only so much the fed can cut this time at 2% current levels. 90% of the bonds purchase on the fed balance sheet still exist after ten years of so called "recovery". This is debt monetisation at its best..

July rate cut is almost priced in by the market at 100% probabillity and a market selloff will begin if fed doesn't appease investors. A cut this year is a certainty, either ecb first or the fed first.

What other safe fixed income/ bonds/ deposit options available that can return more than 2 %? Currently I am still using the citi maxigain but sibor will trend lower after the fed cut rates. Ssb will also follow right?

Would like to hear any recommendations

 

[smoothtalker]

I saw scb has this new FX converter. Anyone knows how this live FX works? Is it no fee but charge a spread? Or is it as good as IB. https://www.sc.com/sg/investment/livefx/

 

[Shiny Things]

What other safe fixed income/ bonds/ deposit options available that can return more than 2 %? Currently I am still using the citi maxigain but sibor will trend lower after the fed cut rates. Ssb will also follow right?

So hold on, your market view is that the Fed will launch QE4 soon, right? In that case you should buy long-dated USD treasuries, or even 30-year zero-coupon STRIPS - those will gain the most if the Fed restarts purchasing bonds.

(Incidentally I disagree with this view. The US economy is pretty healthy, though inflation's a bit on the low side; I can't see any reason for substantial cuts, and especially not for the 50bp cut that some enthusiastic people are pricing in.)

Is it worthwhile to direct invest in London stock exchange shares?

Not really, for the same reason it's not particularly worthwhile investing in single stocks at all: you probably don't have any advantage over anyone else in the market. There are zillions of analysts covering Shell and Barclays and NatWest... They probably know a lot more than you.

Also, buying LSE shares directly comes with the additional hit of 0.5% stamp duty on every purchase. Not great!

What does the hive mind think of ethical ETFs?

Overpriced and underperforming buzzword marketing. Don't bother.

In this case, do you think it is still the best recommendation for bonds, if you do not know which country you will retire in?

Alternatively, what are the best bonds if you are going to retire in the UK>?

These questions have two very different answers.

If you don't know which country you'll retire in, then a global corporate bond ETF is a good bet, one with exposure to USD and euros and yen and pounds... etc etc. CORP (listed in London) is a good pick in this case.

If you're going to retire in the UK (though I'd encourage you to reconsider that plan, the weather in the UK sucks), you'll want to focus on GBP-denominated corporate bonds. SLXX (again listed in London) is the pick here.

Yes, I like this answer better, not an outright rejection on a benign overweighting. I reckon you also have small bets on sector specific ETF and even individual stocks, right?

You're not going to give up until you get our blessing to overweight REITs, are you?

Look, if you want to go hard on SG-REITs, I'm not going to stop you, but I remain completely unconvinced that SG-REITs are a better long-term investment than the stock market at large.

Hello I'm a small time investor with monthly investment on
280 Es3 and 140 MBH

Previously on MBKE, since it's discontinued now. Isn't it Phillips plan is better ? As I'm buying 2 counters ( $6 1-2 counters ) and they offer ES3 and MBH . The only down side is they charge 1% dividend handling fee. Which I think it's minimal.

POSB IS is better. The Phillips minimum fee of $6 is huge if you're only investing a couple hundred dollars a month, and you should never ever ever use a broker that charges dividend handling fees. There's no reason to ever charge them, and you shouldn't patronize brokers that do.

"The receding tide of globalisation has far-reaching consequences for the global economy and financial markets. Low inflation, high economic growth and a rising share of profit in the global economy have powered financial markets over the past three decades, producing long-term bull markets for bonds and stocks. All three trends could be reversed in the coming decades; both bonds and stocks could be heading for protracted bear markets." - Andy Xie

Still a good time to invest in stocks ?

So Andy Xie is a great analyst and I admire his bluntness (controversial view, I know!), but he's also kind of a permabear. He's successfully predicted about twelve out of the last three recessions. I don't think he's a good voice to follow.

I saw scb has this new FX converter. Anyone knows how this live FX works? Is it no fee but charge a spread? Or is it as good as IB.

So just looking at the screenshots on the site, it looks better than most banks but considerably worse than IBKR. 40-ish pips on USDSGD is great for a bank, but it doesn't compare to IBKR's 1-2 pips.

 

[Investnewbie82]

Hi,

I've read that in the stock yield enhancement program for IB, one of the issues could be tax on dividends paid out is regarded as income tax instead if dividend tax. Do we have to file/deal with this tax differently? Or does IB do it for us automatically as usual?

Thanks!

 

[Ilovemathstutor]

whoever thinks QE4 is coming... needs to speak to a mental health professional.

 

[hwckhs]

I saw scb has this new FX converter. Anyone knows how this live FX works? Is it no fee but charge a spread? Or is it as good as IB. https://www.sc.com/sg/investment/livefx/

So just looking at the screenshots on the site, it looks better than most banks but considerably worse than IBKR. 40-ish pips on USDSGD is great for a bank, but it doesn't compare to IBKR's 1-2 pips.

The screenshot (USD/SGD: 1.3548/1.3577) is photoshop'ed and false advertising.

What I am currently seeing in SC Mobile app USD/SGD: 1.3438/1.3654

By comparison, IBKR USD/SGD: 1.35465/1.35466

 

[pmstudent]

You're not going to give up until you get our blessing to overweight REITs, are you?

Look, if you want to go hard on SG-REITs, I'm not going to stop you, but I remain completely unconvinced that SG-REITs are a better long-term investment than the stock market at large.

Hi ST, I am sorry if you are annoyed,I certainly don't mean to.
I am not a REIT defender, but just a very fact based and logical person. I can't help but to challenge the view that overweighting REIT is bad, which goes against everything that I have researched. That's all. You can ignore it.

 

[limster]

The screenshot (USD/SGD: 1.3548/1.3577) is photoshop'ed and false advertising.

What I am currently seeing in SC Mobile app USD/SGD: 1.3438/1.3654

By comparison, IBKR USD/SGD: 1.35465/1.35466

This is what I'm seeing now 7.39pm:
If I want to buy US$1000
SCB charges me S$1,364.88
IBKR charges me S$1,354.06 +$2 = S$1,356.06

Premium is: 0.65%

I just changed some US$ in SCB as its back to 0.65% premium

 

[limster]

Ofcourse. LSE has some global behemoths listed. Check out with Limster.

I 100% agree but this is the wrong thread. He is free to read through the European stocks thread for investing ideas.

 

[888888888888]

Like I've been saying, the fed has trapped itself one box and resorting to qe4 soon. There's only so much the fed can cut this time at 2% current levels. 90% of the bonds purchase on the fed balance sheet still exist after ten years of so called "recovery". This is debt monetisation at its best..

July rate cut is almost priced in by the market at 100% probabillity and a market selloff will begin if fed doesn't appease investors. A cut this year is a certainty, either ecb first or the fed first.

What other safe fixed income/ bonds/ deposit options available that can return more than 2 %? Currently I am still using the citi maxigain but sibor will trend lower after the fed cut rates. Ssb will also follow right?

Would like to hear any recommendations

Powell left open the possibility of a 50 Basis Points rate cut; whilst the july meeting could really just be 25bp. If the former,
then the Fed is starting to believe a recession is imminent, and all that (get ahead of bond pricing or fear of disappointing mkts expectations).

Not to mention, any cuts can be negated by trade tariffs, ongoing trade wars, less capex spending and revenue contraction.

 

[Shiny Things]

Hi,

I've read that in the stock yield enhancement program for IB, one of the issues could be tax on dividends paid out is regarded as income tax instead if dividend tax. Do we have to file/deal with this tax differently? Or does IB do it for us automatically as usual?

Thanks!

I'm going to defer to BBCW on this: BBCW, do you have any idea what the tax treatment would/should be on payments in lieu of dividends on borrowed stock? Assume a US-listed equity and a Singapore-resident owner.