Official Shiny Things thread—Part III

[crystalnox]

Just following the allocation

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I don’t think there’s a need to follow your allocation to a tee. Got to keep in mind other costs incurred as well. Reallocating 3 IWDA won’t make much of an impact.

 

[hwckhs]

My May rebalancing consist of:
Selling 550 shares of ES3
Selling 3 shares of IWDA
Buying 2900 shares of MBH

With decline in stocks prices, I was expecting you to sell MBH to buy ES3 &/ IWDA. I wonder why you had to do the reverse instead... If you don't mind, when was the previous rebalancing before this, and how much are you investing each month?

 

[zoneguard]

Just following the allocation

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It pays to be lazy, use this tool.
Rationale:

However, deciding how frequently and aggressively to rebalance is a trade-off: tighter adherence to your target allocation requires higher expenditures in transaction costs, taxable gains, and effort. Sometimes, you end up selling assets only to buy them again at a higher price.

More explanation at this place

The second article also mentioned a Google Sheet version of the tool.

 

[flowerpalms]

With decline in stocks prices, I was expecting you to sell MBH to buy ES3 &/ IWDA. I wonder why you had to do the reverse instead... If you don't mind, when was the previous rebalancing before this, and how much are you investing each month?

I started in Aug last year
And this month is my first time rebalancing. As i have not reach the 5 months yet to do so in Nov 2019.i have increased my investing amount since the first time so currently doing $2726.73

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[thisislife]

i want to sell a stock, i waiting for so long for someone to buy my stocks...*yawn*

 

[deltawing445]

Hi Gurus, I am 27 this year and I need some advice in managing my investments towards a 3-fund portfolio. I have the following portfolio by market value now:

1. REITs (Retail+Office) - 61%
2. ES3 STI ETF - 11%
3. SG Equities - 12%
4. A35 bond ETF - 4%
5. Others (Robo, special investment) - 12%

I have also been investing $500 each into ES3 STI ETF and Stashaway monthly. I am also able to invest S$3000 into IWDA every quarter moving forward.

I would like to move into a 3-fund portfolio but I am wondering how best to go about it considering I have been "double-investing" in STI ETF itself and its large components separately.

 

[peripheral]

I did it in Aug 2019, but sorry to say I can't find the paperwork
I remember following the instructions in the post below though, and quite sure I had to go down to SCB branch to get the share transfer form.
https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/...ny-things-club-4866757-499.html#post110302760

Attempted to transfer IWDA from SCB to IBKR in Apr 2020.

Was subsequently told by both SCB and IBKR that the transfer is not possible, because SCB can only perform the transfer using local UK CREST, whereas IBKR has a mandate to receive all iShares holdings through Euroclear only. To be exact, IBKR can receive GBP holdings using CREST, but iShares holdings cannot be performed through CREST.

Since SCB cannot use anything other than CREST, and IBKR cannot receive iShares through any other means other than Euroclear, the transaction was declined. The transaction was done using the Share Transfer form located on SC Trading Online, and also put in a request to receive positions on IBKR through International Asset Transfer (similar to the instructions in the quote above).

Since there have been successful transfers reported (Sep 2017, Aug 2019 as far as I'm aware), it sounds like something may have changed in settlement instructions for SCB or IBKR.

@those who succeeded - any chance you could assist to ask how the transfer was made, and whether it was using CREST or Euroclear? Also if this method can still be continued moving forward?

@Shiny and other friendly advisors here - caveat is that starting out with SCB and then transferring to IBKR may no longer be feasible.

 

[Wishdom]

My May rebalancing consist of:
Selling 550 shares of ES3
Selling 3 shares of IWDA
Buying 2900 shares of MBH

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It's just ~$3000.
Couldn't you just vary your next contribution?

What you did seemed extremely foolish.

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[flowerpalms]

It's just ~$3000.
Couldn't you just vary your next contribution?

What you did seemed extremely foolish.

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Pai seh hor cannot

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[Kaypohji]

Reits have higher dividends yields than sti

But sti is more diversified

No need to "diversify" across so many providers. Just focus on CPF then global exposure. The way you do it, I can imagine when work gets busier it's really tough to keep track of all these performance. Besides if you want REITs might as well go for STI.

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[hkchew03]

Just following the allocation

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That is call follow without thinking...

 

[hkchew03]

With decline in stocks prices, I was expecting you to sell MBH to buy ES3 &/ IWDA. I wonder why you had to do the reverse instead... If you don't mind, when was the previous rebalancing before this, and how much are you investing each month?

If intention is to capitalise equity drop to gain more return then it makes sense, but since you are in Shiny thread, then that is ignored. Rebalancing month should be May and Nov or Dec if i rmb correctly.

But I still think its pretty dumb to rebalance that 3 IWDA shares. spending a few dollars of comm and FX just to balance 230SGD.

 

[vkohww]

Question on USD conversion

Hi everyone,

Being stalking this thread for awhile & is attempting to start out on index fund investing.

One question I have is about converting SGD to USD in a cost efficient manner.

Currently I use SCB (have priority banking) to do all my trading & have a small portfolio already. I have some USD in the bank so currently I'm drawing that down to go towards monthly investing in VWRA. I invest around SGD3 ,000 a month currently & may consider increasing to SGD5 ,000 as needed.

I just wonder after I deplete my USD balance in the SCB account, what is the most cost efficient way to continue to convert SGD to USD? I read about IBKR being the cheapest but I prefer to consolidate all my owning within 1 platform (being SCB). So if I use IBKR, it will just be for converting SGD to USD.

Assuming monthly fee of USD10 on IBKR & USD10 landing fee into SCB if I convert S$3 to 5K monthly, does it make sense to just do the conversion with SCB anyway?

Appreciate your thoughts.

 

[Tiger9119]

Hi everyone,

Being stalking this thread for awhile & is attempting to start out on index fund investing.

One question I have is about converting SGD to USD in a cost efficient manner.

Currently I use SCB (have priority banking) to do all my trading & have a small portfolio already. I have some USD in the bank so currently I'm drawing that down to go towards monthly investing in VWRA. I invest around SGD3 ,000 a month currently & may consider increasing to SGD5 ,000 as needed.

I just wonder after I deplete my USD balance in the SCB account, what is the most cost efficient way to continue to convert SGD to USD? I read about IBKR being the cheapest but I prefer to consolidate all my owning within 1 platform (being SCB). So if I use IBKR, it will just be for converting SGD to USD.

Assuming monthly fee of USD10 on IBKR & USD10 landing fee into SCB if I convert S$3 to 5K monthly, does it make sense to just do the conversion with SCB anyway?

Appreciate your thoughts.

Recently I remitted USD into SC SG, I was charged SGD10 plus USD18 (could be intermediary bank fee?). SC has LiveFX for currency exchange but the rate is not as good as IBKR. If you are Gold Member of SC LiveFX, you get better spread but still not as good as IBKR.

 

[vkohww]

Recently I remitted USD into SC SG, I was charged SGD10 plus USD18 (could be intermediary bank fee?). SC has LiveFX for currency exchange but the rate is not as good as IBKR. If you are Gold Member of SC LiveFX, you get better spread but still not as good as IBKR.

Thanks for your advice.

Just a quick illustration to confirm if my understanding is correct.

If I convert S$3,000 to USD, the rate from XE is 1.419 while SCB Live FX is 1.425.

The loss in USD if I convert at SCB rate vs IBKR rate is c. USD 9. But if I convert with IBRK, I will need to pay USD10 to IBKR (monthly fee), USD 18 + SGD 10 landing fee to SCB when I transfer over to SCB. Net net IBKR will be SGD10 + USD 18 worse off in my situation.

Am I missing anything in the illustration above?

Sorry for long post.

 

[Tiger9119]

Thanks for your advice.

Just a quick illustration to confirm if my understanding is correct.

If I convert S$3,000 to USD, the rate from XE is 1.419 while SCB Live FX is 1.425.

The loss in USD if I convert at SCB rate vs IBKR rate is c. USD 9. But if I convert with IBRK, I will need to pay USD10 to IBKR (monthly fee), USD 18 + SGD 10 landing fee to SCB when I transfer over to SCB. Net net IBKR will be SGD10 + USD 18 worse off in my situation.

Am I missing anything in the illustration above?

Sorry for long post.

Your calculation should be correct. If, only if, you can get better exchange rate from money changer as compared to SCB Live FX, you may want to consider to open USD high account with SCB, no fall below fee, no fee for depositing USD into USD high account. From SCB high account, you can transfer to USD trading account.

 

[vkohww]

Your calculation should be correct. If, only if, you can get better exchange rate from money changer as compared to SCB Live FX, you may want to consider to open USD high account with SCB, no fall below fee, no fee for depositing USD into USD high account. From SCB high account, you can transfer to USD trading account.

I see. That could be an option depending on whether I want to queue at the money changer & then the bank counter.

Thanks so much for your advice!

 

[kram62]

I see. That could be an option depending on whether I want to queue at the money changer & then the bank counter.

Thanks so much for your advice!

Yeah, your time is also worth something, plus the costs of going to and come back from money changer. Then to the bank to deposit...

In your case, just enjoy the convenience of online conversion through livefx. Even if the rate is not perfect, it's not worth the round trip through ibkr (which also requires more of your time to execute).

(note: this is assuming one can't or don't wish to move most of their investment business to IBKR. For people already on IBKR, their rate is short of unbeatable)

 

[chekseng80]

Not sure anyone read the Vanguard's paper published last year on international equity and home bias. Basically the conclusion is adding more than 50-60% of international equity increases the portfolio volatility. Since other considerations such as taxes, implementation cost are not really of SG investor's concern, Shiny's recommendation of 50-50 between equities is indeed a good one.

 

[crystalnox]

Not sure anyone read the Vanguard's paper published last year on international equity and home bias. Basically the conclusion is adding more than 50-60% of international equity increases the portfolio volatility. Since other considerations such as taxes, implementation cost are not really of SG investor's concern, Shiny's recommendation of 50-50 between equities is indeed a good one.

This one? https://www.vanguard.com/pdf/ISGGEB.pdf
It's assuming your home is in the US where volatility has been low, no data regarding how SG's volatility compares to the global market index.

Edit: In fact if you look at Figure 1a here: https://www.nbim.no/contentassets/7...industry-effects-in-global-equity-returns.pdf
Singapore's volatility is higher than most of the developed world.