Financial Reviews

Prime Minister Lee unveiled quite a few proposed changes to the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Scheme during his national day rally speech and the changes have been debated in Parliament recently. Quite a few changes have been proposed to address the ageing population the country is facing. Top of the list are measures to encourage re-employment of older workers, followed by increases in the CPF interest rates and lastly, and most controversial, measures to make savings last for life expectancy. While official statistics show that more people are living till an older age, the cold hard facts do nothing to address the perceptions that these statistics do not apply to the individual. The common view on the ground is still that the government has once again moved the goalposts and made our money out of reach; everytime one moves near the markers where we can lay our hands on OUR money, the criteria is moved so that the marker moves that slightly further out of reach... Will people ever live

Never before have I been so keen to take up a promotion I received via email. Within 30 minutes of receiving the POSB MySavings Account emailer, I was drawn to the flexibility and higher interest rates being offered and submitted my application online for an account. What exactly is it about MySavings Account that is so attractive? For a huge bulk of us, POSB/DBS had remained our main bank because of the legacy of POSB being a people's bank. That implies that much of our cash is lying in standard savings account earning measly 0.25% p.a. interest. MySavings Account actually offers a way out by dangling special interest rates as high as 1.5% per annum, 6 times higher. $50 - $290 : 0.45% $300 - $790 : 1.00% $800 - $1,490 : 1.20% $1,500 - $3,000: 1.50% What's more is that there is flexibility to increase or decrease the monthly savings amount and even amend the monthly savings date anytime. I went for the 2nd tier amount in order to enjoy the 1% interest rate but

Fidelity Multi Asset Navigator Fund offers not only exposure to bonds, equities and cash, but also property and commodities to improve diversification and enhance performance. Consequently, this mutual fund is able to tap into an array of opportunities globally to which many other funds do not otherwise have access. Such a more diversified asset mix is suppose to reduce the overall risk of the portfolio without forgoing returns. An added draw of the fund is that the asset mix changes accordin to the stages of the global economic cycle. Investors need not perform fund swtiching and are able to hold onto the same fund throughout the cycle, potentially reducing the hassle and costs of investing. The major asset allocation of this mutual fund is reviewed on a monthly basis but the fund manager is free to change the asset allocation on other days if circumstances dictate and rebalance the positions daily in order to manage cash flows. The fund is expected to achieve asset reallocation gradu

Make money online. Internet business opportunity. Autopilot income. Affiliate programs. Home based business opportunities. High yield investment products. Ultimate secrets. Proven systems. Internet millionaire... A simple search on the internet will turn up tonnes of websites that purport to be able to show you how easy it is to make money off the internet with minimum effort. Majority of them will claim to have enjoyed success and are already enjoying the fruits of their "investment" and will be willing to share their secrets of success with you for a small fee. Behind all these claims is the reality that making money online is not as easy as it seems. The advent of online advertising channels such as Google Adsense, Adbrite, etc. has definitely made making money online much more feasible but it is still not so simple as sitting down and writing an ebook for sale, making use of Adwords to drive traffic to your website, etc. The core reason making money online succeeds is hig

From the first of next month, Singaporeans turning 55 years old will have to leave $99,600 in their CPF accounts under the Minimum Sum scheme. The amount is $5,000 more than the current minimum sum of $94,600 and will will apply to CPF members who turn 55 between 1 July 2007 and 30 June 2008. Those who set aside the $99,600 fully in cash will receive a monthly payout of $790 from age 62 for about 20 years. Likewise, the Medisave Minimum Sum will also be increased with the new amount being $28,500, up by $500. At the same time, the Medisave contribution ceiling will also be raised by $500 to $33,500. As usual, many people will complain about the increase in CPF minimum sum since it is their money that has been "locked up". However, if we look deeper into the higher minimum sum, the raise in minimum sum will likely have effect on 2 different distinct groups of people, the low income and middle income groups. High income earners can be effectively exclude from any analysis since

Many people had put forward that investors who invest in mutual funds should seek out those that are low cost so that they are not unnecessarily paying for the services of poor performing fund managers. With such an argument, these same people are touting that investing into index funds will be one of the best option available since they are typically low cost. Is such an investment style justified? After reviewing through the various options, I see that there is no point to deny competent fund managers an equitable renumeration if they are able to deliver value to my investments. The aim of investing via mutual funds is that risks are diversified and the services of professionals are engaged to manage the funds. Many people expressed dissatisfaction with management fees charged because the funds had not performed up to expectations. This is a justified complaint since no one is willing to be shortchanged when they are paying good money in anticipation of proper returns. But the truth

Network for Electronic Transfers, NETS, is owned by DBS, OCBC and UOB and it has just recently announced that transaction levies are going to be upped by between 0.75 and 2 percentage points over 3 months from 1 Jul 2007. This is going to be pegged at between 1.5 and 1.8 per cent of purchases bringing the levy close to credit-card transaction fees which stand at about 2 per cent for Visa transactions and around 3 per cent for American Express. While around 83 per cent of Singaporean residents currently use NETS for purchases in a strong embrace of cashless transactions, many retailers are starting to advise customers to pay cash or pay more for purchases. The levy increase appears to be against the original purpose of NETS, to offer alternative system for cashless payment. While NETS tries to justify that it is facing increasing competition from international card schemes and the increase is necessary to maintain its viability, insisting that NETS transaction fees are still the lowest

FairPrice Plus is a collaboration between NTUC FairPrice Co-operative Limited (NTUC FairPrice) and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (OCBC Bank) with all banking products and services being provided by OCBC Bank unless stated. This collaboration seeks to offers simple banking solutions at all FairPrice supermarkets islandwide. This is a very new player on the banking market but it is worth taking a good look because of various interesting features... The Fairprice Plus Savings Account provides an interest rate of 1% p.a., much higher than that offered by most banks. Futhermore, there is no minimum opening balance, monthly balance requirements and monthly service charge and with this account, there is access to over 770 OCBC and UOB ATMs islandwide!! Being able to earn 1% interest from the first dollar deposited is something that had not been available to many in a long long time. Sounds good so far? There is more to come! The Fairprice Plus credit card offers free membership

There are lots of ways to make money via the Internet and making money online is an easy task which many people have had succeess. From the amatuerish ventures to those who have gained from affiliate marketing/adsense/adbrite/etc in a big way, there is a growing interest in how to harness the internet to generate the multiple streams of income automatically. Getting another income via the Internet is very attractive because it will function 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Even when sleeping, the online business/programme will still be operating and bringing in money. By diversifying and having multiple streams of incomes , a great buffer is created and ensures continued income. Holding a mundane job is not longer necessary as long as sufficient success via website traffic/referrals/sales/etc is achieved and brings in the money automatically. Because of the recent request from some friends to join them under this Emailcashpro affiliate programme, I am starting to seriously look into

It is important to get a reliable online trading platform when doing online trading of shares. As delays in trades performed can potentially lose/gain us a lot of money, always have 1 or 2 backups from which trading can still be performed. Just today, DMG's site went down with the following message... Network Error (tcp_error) A communication error occurred: "" The Web Server may be down, too busy, or experiencing other problems preventing it from responding to requests. You may wish to try again at a later time. For assistance, contact your network support team. The problem is not with my network connection since I can access other sites such as yahoo, google, POEMS, Fundsupermart, DBS Vickers Securities and iOCBC perfectly well. Always cater for contingencies when trading to avoid being unnecessarily penalised for delays in accessing the online trading platform. Be warned, be careful.

Extended warranty is offered on many products these days and while some people found value in them, these plans are rarely a good deal. Retailers are pushing extended warranties because it generates almost pure profit. It is a triple bet that that the product will breakdown, that the damage will be covered by the extended warranty and that the repair costs will be more than the extended warranty's cost. Considering that the value of electronic products depreciate exponentially these days, purchasing extended warranties will more frequently be money down the drain. Where possible, charge your purchase to a credit card that extends the manufacturer's warranty and save the premium of the extended warranty. With the quality of products these days, by the time the gadget breaks down, enough will have been saved to replace the faulty product. If an extended service plan is really percieved to be essential, read the fine print carefully and not rely on the salesperson's assurances

China's Social Security fund, among the country's top investors, has wound down its positions in equities, highlighting concerns the nation's markets are overheated, the Financial Times said Friday. Gao Xiqing, the fund's vice chairman said at banking conference in Beijing that he is worried about the 16-month run up in share prices in China's two bourses which forced the fund to cut stock holdings and reduce risk. "This market seems to be defying gravity. It's got to come down at some point. We can't risk that, especially given the nature of our fund," the paper quoted Gao as saying. "The market is making me nervous." ... In the first three months of the year punters in China opened 4.79 million new accounts, a 56-percent increase from the 3.08 million in the whole of 2006, the official Xinhua news agency reported citing government statistics. Last week the number of new accounts in China's two exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen regi

One of the very frequent questions that are asked when looking for a suitable online unit trust distributor is that whether one should choose Fundsupermart (FSM) or Dollardex. This is a question that I had asked myself before and had no real answer for it. However, my choices of investment platform after a period of holding accounts with both somehow pointed in the direction of Fundsupermart. Why Fundsupermart? Between the 2, Dollardex charges a lower sales charge which immediately translates into cost savings and hence a high investment amount. When it comes to large amounts, such small differences of 1% still constitute a significant sum. Perhaps I have been a small time investor who does not really feel the pinch of the extra amount but more likely, I am more comfortable with Fundsupermart's website and interfaces. Fundsupermart has a nice homepage that is pleasing to my eyes. Its services had been good, having online forums, portfolio tracking, analysis and even a free quarterl

A recent study commissioned by the Life Insurance Association (LIA) has been completed with the conclusion that Singaporeans are grossly underinsured. While the methodology of such studies may stand up to scrutiny, I am always sceptical of studies that had been commissioned by the industry and subsequently arriving at findings that are in favour of the industry. While the research found that the average Singapore adult may be underinsured by as much as $362,000 and LIA has stated that premiums of less than $4 a day to buy a term plan to cover this shortfall is possible, the reality of it is that at $4 a day for a 40-year male non-smoker, the premium of a 25-year term policy, the monthly premium is going to be around $120. An additional outlay of $120 per month is definitely something that will impact the budgeting of 40-year old male with financial commitments for the family. If inflation, lifestyle changes and other variables are catered for, the proposed term policy coverage will be

DollarDEX has just introduced a new fund, the DWS Global Agribusiness Fund. This Fund is theme-based globally and intends to invest from agricultural commodities to consumer products. It invests into promising companies in land and plantation, seed and fertilizer, planting, harvesting, protecting and irrigation, food processing and manufacturing companies, offering investors the opportunity to capture value at various points along the "food chain". Consider the following statistics: There are now 80 million new mouths to feed every year. By 2030, the United Nations estimates that demand for agricultural products will be about 60% higher than today. Developing markets are seeing an increase in annual protein intake of 11% to 15% We now have about half the arable land per person that we had 40 years ago. In 2030, China's meat consumption will be more than double the 1997 levels of 41kg. The DWS Global Agribusiness Fund is basically a play on the fact that it is expected to

"Retirement savings products turned in higher average gains in the fourth quarter of 2006, after strong growth in stock markets worldwide boosted the performance of investment funds. More than 90 per cent of unit trusts and investment-linked insurance products (ILPs) in the CPF Investment Scheme (CPFIS) saw positive absolute returns for the three months to December, according to the latest report by Standard & Poor's (S&P) Fund Services." - Stock advance lifts CPF savings products , 27 Feb 2007, Business Times Singapore It is heartening to read such news in the papers even though I do not invest my CPF monies via the CPFIS after I was not able to better the interest rates offered. Many people will be motivated by such news to actively look for investment products to beef up their retirement funds but past performance is not indicative of future performance and more likely than not, the easy money had already been made after the stock market run-up in recent month

Lion Capital Vietnam Fund will "invest in Authorised Investments which are equities, equity-related instruments (including, without limitation, interests in property funds) and securities in Vietnamese incorporated companies or institutions, as well as in companies or institutions which although not incorporated in Vietnam, have operations in, exposure to, or derive part of their revenue from Vietnam, and the Indo-China Region (which includes, but is not limited to, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar)." Vietnam is presently experiencing a boom in its stock market and many people are getting excited about investing in Vietnam. However, such optimism is perhaps dangerous if our bets are not hedged. Vietnam's stock market is presently still very small and statistically, a small market is inherently volatile and gains in a few good stocks skew the investment numbers. Vietnam is very much just starting to develop and still largely lacks transparency, credible institutions, a functioni

SGAM Global Luxury & Lifestyle Fund is an interesting new product that has just caught my attention. Being the first of its kind open-ended equity fund for the Singapore retail market that invests in premium luxury and lifestyle companies on a global scale, it is unique in the concept. However, no matter how innovative an unit trust is, it is still necessary to evaluate if it is just hype or investing in it is truly a good option. The gap between the rich and the poor has been widening and the rich are getting much richer. This is evident in the emerging markets of China and India where the middle class is growing rapidly and high net worth individuals are also sky rocketing. Luxury goods are a favourite with those who are recently affluent, helping to reaffirm their successes, and impressive growth in sales for luxury goods have already been noted. SGAM Global Luxury & Lifestyle Fund further has the advantage that demand for luxury goods are usually price inelastic and profits

Fundsupermart has just recently launch a cash deposit fund by a Prudential Fund Manager. This Cash Fund operates by consolidating monies from investors and placing them in various fixed deposits with several banks. Through such an approach, the Cash Fund is able to obtain a higher net interest rate. The predecessor to the Cash Fund is the Cash Account and many people had asked if it is sensible to switch over to the Cash Fund which is promising higher returns. I believe that the Cash Fund is worth the efforts but it really depends on the person. Personally, I prefer to keep my existing Cash Account monies as they are and invest fresh funds into the Cash Fund. That way, I will still be able to enjoy the higher interest rates of an almost savings account equivalent and also to gain higher returns for the new injections that are going into the Cash Fund. For people like me who have been investing, the considerations to go for Cash Account or Cash Fund is largely due to personal situations