*Official* Shiny Things club - Part 2

[Reds1984]

Thank you for your reply and suggestions. These are very useful advice.

 

[BBCWatcher]

Let's say a Singaporean is going to stay in the U.S. long enough such that he becomes a tax resident.

Even stepping foot in the United States with a H-1B1 visa, as one example, is "long enough."

Does it make sense to set up a Singapore holding company to avoid taxes until he is no longer a U.S. tax resident?

I continue to be amazed that so many people assume that a country that started writing income tax laws more than 150 years ago is stupid.

No, it most probably doesn't make sense to do what you're suggesting. However, what can sometimes make sense for an inbound immigrant to the United States, strictly before stepping foot in the United States, is to sell appreciated assets (which probably aren't well structured for U.S. personhood anyway). Then buy back the assets in U.S. tax appropriate form after arriving in the U.S. This tax optimization approach resets the cost basis in order to avoid possible capital gains tax on the appreciation.

For example, you might be holding appreciated IWDA. You would sell all IWDA before boarding your plane to the U.S., then, after arriving, reinvest the proceeds in, for example, a combination of FZILX and FZROX (Fidelity's ultra low cost U.S. domiciled index mutual funds, which are appropriate holdings for U.S. persons). You should certainly do careful research on whether this approach makes sense for you, but it probably does.

 

[Maeda_Toshiie]

IIRC even CPF interest and investment gains have to be reported to IRS.

 

[isaacsayshi]

Can anyone care to share any explanation why the IWDA in year 2016 from about USD $38 to now in 2018 around USD$54?

the IWDA rise from 2016 to 2018 is much higher during the 2 years period of 2014-2016.

cheers and thanks

 

[lwswilson1988]

Anyone has any idea on how to go about deploying cpf oa fund in excess of the $20k to be locked up into es3/g3b?

What is recommended broker with the lowest sale charge?

 

[kehyi4]

Anyone has any idea on how to go about deploying cpf oa fund in excess of the $20k to be locked up into es3/g3b?

What is recommended broker with the lowest sale charge?

You might find this helpful:

CPF Investment Scheme (CPFIS) – Everything You Need to Know About Investing with CPF

 

[kingboonz]

Anyone has any idea on how to go about deploying cpf oa fund in excess of the $20k to be locked up into es3/g3b?

What is recommended broker with the lowest sale charge?

I heard very few people in IS actually made more money than CPF interest rate

 

[limster]

I heard very few people in IS actually made more money than CPF interest rate

When it comes to investing, facts and figures are better than "I heard from someone."

I buy STI ETF when its under $3 and have been holding since 2009. Every year my dividend yield for STI ETF >3%, so every year I beat the CPF interest rate by simply collecting my dividends.

 

[churnmaster]

Wow! That is a great post! I think the utility of bonds in a portfolio is to make you sleep well at night, during falls like today. My portfolio is down more than 4k today, just one day, but it is comforting to know that I have fixed income in my portfolio that is steady.

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That's quite a big drop. I have been short SIMSCI to hedge my STI ETF long position. The portfolio size almost similar with roughly about 80% STI ETF and 20% Singtel. For ST Index, from around 3600 to 3050, portfolio down about 4% mainly due to Singtel portion. If the market starts consolidating around the current level, will start closing some of the shorts and make the portfolio more net long.

 

[lwswilson1988]

When it comes to investing, facts and figures are better than "I heard from someone."

I buy STI ETF when its under $3 and have been holding since 2009. Every year my dividend yield for STI ETF >3%, so every year I beat the CPF interest rate by simply collecting my dividends.

Hi Limster, would u be able to share the details on how u go abt purchasing the sti etf?
1. Which broker did u use?
2. After u link up the cpfis account with your broker account, would u need to transfer funds from cpf to the cpfis account before u can utilize it for the etf purchase? Or does your broker liaise directly with the bank whom retrieve the fund from cpf directly, after the etf purchase.
Hope to learn something from someone who has done it before. Thank you very much!

 

[Armwrestler]

Iwda below 53 now, should we buy or wait for further dip?

 

[Purplestars]

Iwda below 53 now, should we buy or wait for further dip?

Same as you, I'm paralyzed with fear. My gut feel is that the selling is not done, and this could be the downtrend to a bear market right after 10 years.

I guess I just have to stick to my plan and buy monthly, although I'm not going to try to maintain my asset allocation anymore

 

[limster]

Hi Limster, would u be able to share the details on how u go abt purchasing the sti etf?
1. Which broker did u use?
2. After u link up the cpfis account with your broker account, would u need to transfer funds from cpf to the cpfis account before u can utilize it for the etf purchase? Or does your broker liaise directly with the bank whom retrieve the fund from cpf directly, after the etf purchase.
Hope to learn something from someone who has done it before. Thank you very much!

Currently i'm using poems. just select CPF as settlement in your poems order page.

If order is filled, the bank will do everything for you. you don't need to transfer anything.

If there are not enough funds in your CPF account, your TR should give you a call to warn you. It happened to me during the last GFC. I was buying so much and the CPF stock limit was not updated when I bought, so I went over the CPF stock limit.

my TR fortunately was proactive and called me to top up cash, so half my order went to CDP, half went to CPFIS (but I only paid one brokerage comm, so that was nice).

 

[revhappy]

Iwda below 53 now, should we buy or wait for further dip?

Stick to your plan. I am reading the Early Retirement Forum and people in their late 50s losing 6 figure and they are consoling each other.

I think here most of us are still very young. So we have a lot of time to ride this.

Here's the thread. Enjoy reading:

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/just-like-2008-a-94387.html

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[ELKYme]

Thanks for the link!

Stick to your plan. I am reading the Early Retirement Forum and people in their late 50s losing 6 figure and they are consoling each other.

I think here most of us are still very young. So we have a lot of time to ride this.

Here's the thread. Enjoy reading:

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/just-like-2008-a-94387.html

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[Lasogette]

I'm going to reject the premise of your question: why do you want to buy tech in the first place? It's already trading at hefty multiples (see above); are you predicting that multiples are going to expand further, or that earnings are going to grow into the multiples?

Thanks Shiny, you just stopped me from doing a really dumb thing after seeing the NASDAQ drop 4% in a day

 

[Wishdom]

Same as you, I'm paralyzed with fear. My gut feel is that the selling is not done, and this could be the downtrend to a bear market right after 10 years.

I guess I just have to stick to my plan and buy monthly, although I'm not going to try to maintain my asset allocation anymore

Isn't now not a great time to buy?

Prices are 1 year cheap. (2017 price point). This is the closest you can get to buying time with money.

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[BBCWatcher]

Isn't now not a great time to buy?

All you can say is that it’s better to buy when the price is lower, if you’re trying to time markets. It’s a greater time, not necessarily the greatest.

But you make a good point. Why do people find it easy to buy more apples at the supermarket when they go on sale, but they do the opposite and sell stocks when they’re on sale? (Are these people raiding their refrigerators and selling their apples when their price at the supermarket is lower? ) It’s the same basic principle. When something is less expensive, how about buying some more and stocking up? Toilet paper, cans of corn, beer, shares of stock, toothpaste.... They’re all the same in this respect.

 

[revhappy]

All you can say is that it’s better to buy when the price is lower, if you’re trying to time markets. It’s a greater time, not necessarily the greatest.

But you make a good point. Why do people find it easy to buy more apples at the supermarket when they go on sale, but they do the opposite and sell stocks when they’re on sale? (Are these people raiding their refrigerators and selling their apples when their price at the supermarket is lower? ) It’s the same basic principle. When something is less expensive, how about buying some more and stocking up? Toilet paper, cans of corn, beer, shares of stock, toothpaste.... They’re all the same in this respect.

People are worried apple prices could fall another 20%. This happened in Japan, literally. When there is deflation, people postpone purchases. So supermarket or stock market is no different.

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[Maeda_Toshiie]

I heard very few people in IS actually made more money than CPF interest rate

If people buy unit trusts and ILPs using their CPF monies, of course they are going to make less money.