Johor Food trail (1)

Soon Soon Heng Bak Kut Teh Restoran (顺顺兴肉骨茶)

It is opposite KSL City Mall.

 Total Bill: RM 74 for two pax

H1 2014 Investment Performance Report

A Goal-based Approach Investing Strategy

Uncle8888 has adopted a Goal-based Approach investing strategy by setting for himself a 10-year progressive Goal Targets to be achieved for each year from 2012 to 2021.

Our investing journey is not Horse Race or Rat Race where we compete against others. It is our investment Marathon Race where we set our own pace and compete against ourselves to win our own race.

Year 3: H1 2014 Result

Achieved 21.3% against 25% of 2021 Goal Targets.

(Too much cash rotting in the bank as war chest)

Investment Portfolio XIRR

Track, Measure and Visualize!


Without doing it; how to revise investing strategies and to improve year-on-year investing performance?

 
Investment Portfolio's XIRR includes all investable cash plus the current stocks value at market closing price as on 30 Jun 2014.


Since one year ago: +2.9%
Since 1 Nov 2008: +6.1%
Since 1 Jan 2003: +10.4%
Since 1 Jan 2000: +9.5%



Riding the market cycles of Bull and Bear

You can see the downside of not doing market timing. It is just riding up and down and not going anywhere!

Liquidity and Permanency

We have to maintain Liquidity of Capital (War Chest) for the Next Bear and Permanency of staying Invested for the next Bull since we can never be able to effectively time the market.

After taken back 100% of his Investing Capital and some profits off the table for his War Chest; it is going to be like Year 2000 restart; except this time Uncle8888 is armed with Master Degree in Stock Market and going for his PhD. in Stock Market.

It is going to be more exciting in the next Bear!

This time, regular readers will be able to watch "Full Time" actions on how investing lessons for PhD course are conducted here.

In the last two courses, readers could only watch "Half Time" actions since Uncle8888 has only started to blog in 2006.

 

When will Mr Bear come?

Retirement Income for Life

The model:
 

Tap 1: Survival Money

The cash flow from Tap 1 doesn't depend on stock market condition.

Current: 64.5%   vs. Target: 67%

Still Work In Progress ...

CDP sees highest 12-month surge in new accounts

By R sivanithy

 

RETAIL investor interest in the stock market is growing. In the past 12 months, more than 68,000 new Central Depository (CDP) Accounts have been opened, the highest 12-month addition ever and one which brings the total number of CDP acounts to 1.6 million.

At a press briefing last week on Singapore Exchange's ongoing retail initiatives, SGX's senior vice-president for retail investors, Lynn Gaspar, said that about half of all CDP accounts or a record-high 844,000 actually held some shares.

"Subscription to SGX's My Gateway's e-newsletter over the past 12 months has risen 21 per cent to 187,000 and the increase in unique visitors to our website has been 45 per cent over the same period," she said.

However, she added that, notwithstanding the increase in interest, the proportion of Singaporeans who invested in the stock market is still low when compared with other markets.

"Only about 8-10 per cent of the population is in stocks, compared with 20-25 per cent in Hong Kong and 15-20 per cent in Australia," said Ms Gaspar. "If you assume the potential retail investor population to be about three million people, only about one third has some direct involvement in stocks while 62 per cent has never been in the market. Of these people, about 400,000 are interested in getting into the market. Based on a survey we conducted in 2012, we found that the barriers to entry for these people are they don't know how to start, don't know where to start and don't have the time or money."

The exchange believes it is important that the retail public gain awareness of how to invest in stocks.
"Singaporeans are today concerned with whether they have enough savings for retirement" said Ms Gaspar. "I believe the question should really be: how can I make my savings work harder for me? 

The key lies in starting early and having a diversified portfolio, including investing in shares over the long term."

To help interested but inexperiened retail players gain some insights into the stock market, SGX has partnered local firm TradeHero, which offers a mobile market trading application that can be downloaded onto phones.

The exchange is also offering up to $198,000 in prize money in its StockWhiz contest which is open to Singapore residents aged 18 years and above, the aim of which is to allow the public to learn to trade with virtual money.

"TradeHero allows investors to trade using real-time prices," said Ms Gaspar. "We feel this is a great chance for the public to gain risk-free experience on how to trade."

 

The Biggest Mistake Retail Investors Make - Trust but Verify??? (2)

Read? The Biggest Mistake Retail Investors Make - Trust but Verify???


For stocks we trust we verify them by their yield.

Did you say NO?

High Dividend Yield Stocks? - Part 8 (Re-posted)

Read? High Dividend Yield Stocks? - Part 8

Always remember this!

Dividend Yield and Dividend Payout Ratio is NOT mutually exclusive.

You should be looking at BOTH at the same time.

The Multi-Baggers of SGX

Read? The Multi-Baggers of SGX

Where are the Blue chips?

In theory, it is much harder for retail investors to find blue chips multi-baggers.

In practice, it is still possible; but it is just mentally too stressful to carry ourselves through the market cycles of Greed and Fear.

Even at their lowest in 2009; Uncle8888's Kep Corp and Semb Corp were well above 100% mark!

 



While many of us are waiting patiently for the next market crash to do a big one; but how many of us have put in place mental strategies or exercises to see ourselves through the future market cycles of Greed and Fear!

You have?

The Biggest Mistake Retail Investors Make - Trust but Verify???

Read? How to become rich in stocks??? (5)

The idea of these two rotten durians came from attending stock market view and company profiling organised for retail investors by an association. Branded Speakers. No Play Play!



Trust but verify.

Of course, verified okay. Hoot!

Down leh!

Trust but verify.  Verification confirmed. Hoot and average down!

Down again!

Hmmm...
 
Trust but verify.  Couldn't find anything wrong. Hoot and average down!


Down again!

Where and how to verify?

Trust. Trust. Trust!

Property speculators have lost their money!

Your Account Size Really Matters!

Let be realistic about investing and rate of compounding investment return.

See for yourself the number of years you will need to reach your first million dollars from your initial capital size!

Your Account Size Really Matters!

Then you decide your investing strategy. 

Go for growth-dividend or dividend-income stocks?

No free lunch to reach your first million dollars!

Wall Street dips after Fed's Bullard talks about rates

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended slightly lower on Thursday after the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis said interest-rate increases should come sooner rather than later.

Six of the 10 S&P 500 sectors were in negative territory. The S&P financial index (.SPSY) slipped 0.3 percent and ranked among those leading the market's decline.

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, in an interview with Fox Business Network, reiterated his belief that raising rates by the end of the first quarter of 2015 would be appropriate.

He said the U.S. jobless rate will fall below 6 percent and inflation looks likely to rise back to 2 percent later this year, putting the economy closer to normal than most realize. Bullard is a non-voting member of the Federal Open Markets Committee, the Fed's policy-making panel.

The Fed had hinted after its meeting this month about a slightly faster pace of interest-rate increases starting next year, but suggested rates in the long run would be lower than it had indicated previously.

What Investors Can Learn About Keppel Corporation from Its Latest Deal

Read? What Investors Can Learn About Keppel Corporation from Its Latest Deal


What does this mean for Keppel?

There are current worries amongst investors that Keppel Corporation’s offshore arm, Keppel Offshore & Marine, is facing increasing competition from Chinese shipyards. However, what the company has demonstrated here is that it is always looking to outdo its last achievement and has its eyes fixed on the road ahead.

The contract also highlights the beauty of Keppel Offshore & Marine’s employees and their ability to constantly seek new revenue streams for the overall corporation. This is also evident in the way Keppel Corporation has transformed itself from a business that had only a lone shipyard; today, it’s into real estate, finance, telecommunications, offshore oil & gas, and infrastructure.

This Farmer Is the Greatest Investor You’ve Never Heard of: What You Can Learn from Him

Read?

This Farmer Is the Greatest Investor You’ve Never Heard of: What You Can Learn from Him

There was once a farmer named Mr. Womack who may be one of the greatest investors you have never heard of. Let me tell you his story.

People first came to know about Womack back in 1978 when John Train, a money manager, wrote an article for Fortune magazine. In his 60 years of investing, Womack never had a loss on balance. His investing technique was straight-forward. Wrote John Train:

“When during a bear market he would read in the papers that the market was down to new lows and the experts were predicting that it was sure to drop another 200 points in the Dow, the farmer would look through a S&P Stock Guide and select around 30 stocks that had fallen in price below $10—solid, profit making, unheard of companies (pecan growers, home furnishings, etc.) and paid dividends. He would come to Houston and buy a $25,000 “package” of them.

And then, one, two, three or four years later, when the stock market was bubbling and the prophets were talking about the Dow hitting 1500, he would come to town and sell his whole package. It was as simple as that.”

Being a farmer, Womack likened buying shares to buying pigs. The cheaper he could buy the pigs when the pork market was down, the higher his profits would be when the market recovered. Warren Buffett would be very proud of Womack; the former has a famous quote that goes, “A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful”.
 
During the most recent financial crisis between 2007 and 2009, “solid, profit-making” blue-chip companies with competitive advantages such as SIA Engineering Company (SGX: S59), Singapore Exchange (SGX: S68), and Keppel Corporation (SGX: BN4) could be bought for as low as $1, $3, and $2 respectively. Five years on since 2009, all the companies have recovered from their troughs to deliver returns of between 100% and 450%, excluding dividends.

We will never know how low any share can reach during a market crash. But neither did Womack know when a share would peak or reach its bottom – he was just happy enough to “buy or sell in the bottom or top range of its fluctuations”.

You may ask how does one have the mental fortitude to buy companies during a market crash? Mental fortitude can be cultivated by developing in-depth knowledge about a company’s business fundamentals and its management. If the market price is too low in relation to the growth potential of the company, then the business may be a good buy.

So, the next time a financial meltdown occurs (it will, the only question is when), do remember Mr. Womack’s story.

 Read? In Theory. In Practice: Kep Corp

In practice:
 
Here got one little known farmer who is looking towards to sell a few pigs.  Not sure will Mr Market quotes him an attractive price for him to sell?

The 400% Man

 Good case study.

Less Analyzing. More Investing - Createwealth8888

Read? The 400% Man

Rule-Breaker's Rules Money pros who know him say none of Allan Mecham's investing tactics are astonishingly difficult -- but for various reasons, most investors don't use them. Ignore the economy . Where is the economy going next quarter? Where is the S&P headed? Mecham says he ignores those issues; instead, he looks for stable, defensive businesses that can thrive whenever bad times come.  

Don't diversify . Most mutual funds own dozens or even hundreds of stocks (regulations usually require them to own at least 15). But to outperform with a big portfolio, a manager has to outsmart the market simultaneously on a raft of securities. Smaller funds and private-investment funds, which are not under the same requirements, can rely on just six or eight stocks.  

Don't sweat the spreadsheets . Many Wall Street analysts build elaborate financial analyses to calculate a company's earnings growth and other patterns. But some say it's more productive to use that time trying to understand a company and its industry -- the management, the competition, the customers and so on.  

Think decades, not quarters . Shareholders and managers tend to focus on companies' announcements of quarterly or annual earnings, and whether they beat or miss analysts' estimates. But some managers -- including one Warren Buffett -- say it's more useful to try to figure out where a company will be in a decade or more.  

Don't just do something. Stand there! One of the toughest things for investors to do is to sit still and do nothing -- especially when nervous clients demand that they respond to short-term fluctuations in the market. But most of the time, say a few contrarians, inactivity is the right longer-term move. It's about "keeping emotions from corroding the decision process," says Mecham.


Methods work. Mind doesn't - Createwealth8888 

 

Maersk Drilling Orders First 20,000 PSI Blow Out Preventers, Rig Orders Planned

 

Read? Keppel to build new differentiated drillship to its proprietary design

 

Mr Chow Yew Yuen, Chief Operating Officer and CEO-Designate, Keppel O&M, commented, "As with all our market established proprietary designs, our new CAN DO drillship design was developed in close consultation with customers, major oil companies and vendors. The newly developed design is capable of handling next generation 20K psi blowout preventers.

 

CW8888: 

 

Since Keppel has long-term partnership with Maersk Drilling, may be got chance to sell their CAN DO drillship to Maersk.

 

 

By Joseph R. Fonseca

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

 

Maersk Drilling logo

Maersk Drilling has ordered four Blow Out Preventers (BOPs) and two risers from GE Oil and Gas to be used in the Project 20K™ agreement with BP. The BOPs and risers are intended to be delivered and deployed on two Maersk Drilling 20K™ Rigs by year-end 2018. The order includes options for provision of further BOPs. The order is subject to BP and Maersk Drilling taking the final investment decision on a 20K™ Rig contract.

BP and Maersk Drilling announced in February 2013 a joint study agreement to develop conceptual engineering designs for a new breed of advanced technology drilling rigs that will be critical to unlocking the next frontier of deepwater oil and gas resources. Called 20K™ Rigs, the BP-Maersk Drilling agreement will result in developing deepwater drilling rigs that can safely and efficiently operate in high-pressure and high-temperature reservoirs up to 20,000 pounds per square inch and 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Gary Jones, Vice President of BP’s Global Wells Organization, says “This is a key milestone in progression of BP’s delivery of Project 20K™ technologies and supports our industry relationships toward the delivery of standard industry solutions”.

In order to have the BOPs developed, qualified, tested and commissioned to enable delivery of the 20K™ Rigs as early as 2018, the order has been placed with GE Oil and Gas now. Going forward, Maersk Drilling will engage in talks with various ship yards regarding the potential construction of a series of 20K™ Rigs.


“GE Oil & Gas is proud to join with BP and Maersk Drilling in developing new 20kpsi drilling system technologies to meet new ultra-deepwater production goals,” says Andrew Way, president of GE Oil & Gas - Drilling & Surface. “By drawing upon the combined expertise of GE’s technology portfolio and operational excellence, we are excited to provide one of the most advanced drilling systems the industry has to offer.”

For Maersk Drilling, the order is another milestone in realization of the drilling contractor’s deepwater ambitions.

“Maersk Drilling has an ambition of becoming a significant player in the ultra-deepwater market and to grow in what we call technically and operationally challenging areas. Our agreement with BP on Project 20K™ fits perfectly into this strategy, and with the order of the Blow Out Preventers, we are passing a key milestone in the development of a truly purpose built 20K™ Rig. This project has been a unique opportunity to work closely with BP and co-create a new rig design that is safe and efficient and technologically best-in-class. The intention and our expectation is to see a 20K™ Rig contract realized next year,” says Claus V. Hemmingsen, CEO in Maersk Drilling and member of the Executive Board of the Maersk Group.

A jointly staffed engineering team located in Houston with back-office support from Maersk Drilling’s headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, has been working on the engineering studies required to select the design of the 20K™ Rig, riser and blowout prevention systems. BP has estimated the application of this technology across its own global portfolio alone could potentially access an additional 10-20 billion barrels of resources.

Facts about Project 20K™BP announced the launch of Project 20K™ in February 2012, setting out its intention to develop technologies over the next decade in four key areas: well designs and completions; drilling rigs, riser and blowout prevention equipment; subsea production systems; and well intervention and containment. 20K™ is a trade mark of BP plc.
 

Exclude losses in S-chips!!!

Just For Laugh ...


Excluding the losses in S-chips, Uncle8888's investing power sibei tokong!


 

Singapore to Require Banks to Hold Liquid Assets for Crises

 

By Sanat Vallikappen | Bloomberg



Banks in Singapore will soon be required to keep certain amounts of easy-to-sell assets on hand in the country to support themselves in times of stress.

The new liquidity framework applies to lenders with a “significant retail presence” in the country and covers all currencies, Lim Hng Kiang, the deputy chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, or MAS, said in a speech last night. Banks will also need to hold liquid Singapore dollar assets separately to manage their liabilities in the local currency.

The so-called liquidity coverage ratio is part of an overhaul of banking standards by the Group of 20 nations in response to the financial crisis that followed Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s 2008 collapse. MAS’s proposal comes six months after it warned that rising global interest rates could weigh on household and corporate debt and pose risks for banks.

The requirement for overseas currency exposures “is going to be a huge challenge for banks in Singapore, which is a major foreign-exchange center and where the local economy is not the lion’s share of the business,” Jim Antos, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd., said by phone today. “It may be fine for banks in Ohio because there’s no foreign exposure, but not in Singapore.”

Under the global rules formulated by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, banks must have enough assets on their books that they can sell to survive a 30-day funding squeeze. The regulations, which allow assets ranging from cash and central bank reserves to government bonds and some corporate debt, are set to be phased in from next year.

Foreign Banks

Foreign banks will need a Singapore dollar liquidity coverage ratio of 100 percent, Lim said, meaning they would have to hold enough high-quality, liquid assets to match net cash outflows during a month of stress. He didn’t specify a deadline for meeting the requirement.

The coverage for other currencies will be 50 percent as their head offices are probably subject to similar ratios, he said. Citigroup Inc. (C), HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc (STAN) are among foreign banks operating in the country.

For such firms, “while MAS recognizes that there may be cost efficiencies in managing liquidity centrally at the group level, there can be significant obstacles to the free movement of liquidity across borders during a stress scenario,” said Lim, who is also the minister for trade and industry.

Local Banks

MAS will consider a bank as having a significant retail presence if its share of resident customer deposits exceeds 3 percent, and if it has more than 150,000 depositors with balances of as much as S$250,000 ($200,000).

For the country’s three local banks -- DBS Group Holdings Ltd. (DBS), Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. (OCBC) and United Overseas Bank Ltd. (UOB) -- the requirement for a 100 percent Singapore dollar liquidity coverage ratio will be set for the start of 2015, Lim said. Coverage for other currencies is set at 60 percent from 2015, increasing to 100 percent by 2019, he said.

OCBC already complies with the liquidity framework for 2015 and DBS is “comfortable” with the requirements as they’re in line with Basel III rules, the banks said in separate statements.

Keppel Shipyard's conditional contract with Golar LNG

 
Singapore, 25 June 2014 - With reference to the announcement dated 24 June 2014 by Golar LNG Limited (Golar LNG) on the launch of the offering of its common stock, we wish to confirm that Keppel Shipyard Ltd (Keppel Shipyard), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd, has signed a conditional contract with Golar Hilli Corporation, a subsidiary of Golar LNG, to perform the world’s first-of-its-type conversion of an existing Moss LNG carrier, the Hilli, into a Floating Liquefaction Vessel (FLNGV).

This contract will become effective upon the fulfilment of several conditions precedent, including the receipt by Keppel Shipyard of the initial milestone payment.

We will make a further announcement when the contract becomes effective.

The aforementioned contract is not expected to have any material impact on the earnings per share and net tangible asset per share of Keppel Corporation Limited for the current financial year.

- End –

Keep your itchy hands off your CPF Investment Account!!! (2)

Read? Keep your itchy hands off your CPF Investment Account!!!


Of course, I am different!

CPF investment grade stocks hor.

Some more collecting dividends of more than 2.5% yield. 

How to lose money over long term?

You tell me how?

Durians bao jiak. Right?

Mortgagee sales touch quarterly high in Q2

[SINGAPORE] The number of properties up for auction by mortgagees (or lenders) as well as their share of the number of properties going under the hammer has hit a quarterly high in Q2.

Auctioneers say this reflects the difficulty that financially stretched borrowers face in securing buyers for their properties since the implementation of the total debt servicing ratio (TDSR) framework a year ago. Because of this, financial institutions have had to repossess more properties and put them up for auction.

The trend is expected to gain momentum as the rising supply of non-landed private homes will make it harder for mortgagors (or borrowers) to find buyers and thus dispose of their properties themselves - resulting in more properties ending up as mortgagee sales.

Furthermore, the reduced inflow of expats into Singapore is shrinking the pool of potential tenants, hitting rental incomes and hurting owners' ability to service their loans.

Figures from Colliers International show that this quarter, 42 mortgagee sale properties have been put up for auction - almost double the 22 in Q1 this year. In Q2 2013, the figure was just six properties.

The latest figure is the highest since Q3 2009, when 63 mortgagee sale properties landed on the auction block. The first-half tally of 64 was double the 32 for the whole of last year - and also a big jump from 24 in 2012 and 39 in 2011.

In H1 this year, the number of properties put up for auction by owners was 192, down from 226 in the same year-ago period.

As a result, while the owner sales' share of properties put up for auction has dropped from 93.4 per cent in full-year 2013 to 75 per cent in H1 2014, the mortgagee sales' share has risen from 6.6 per cent to 25 per cent. On a quarterly basis, the mortagee sale share has doubled from 16.7 per cent in Q1 this year to 33.9 per cent in Q2 - the highest level since the 35.5 per cent share in Q1 2008 during the global crisis.

Colliers' analysis took into account information as at June 19 from auction lists for the major houses for the month of June. While DTZ conducted its auction last Thursday, Colliers, Knight Frank and JLL will conduct theirs this week.

JLL's analysis shows that for January-May this year, 13 properties (both owner and mortgagee sales) were sold for a total of nearly $26.2 million at auction. Of this, the mortgagee sales accounted for nine properties which fetched $12.8 million.

For the whole of last year, 21 properties amounting to $99.6 million were sold at auction, of which 10 properties totalling $12.6 million involved mortgagee sales.

Typically, financial institutions provide some leeway to borrowers who are experiencing difficulty servicing their mortgages by giving them the first crack at finding a buyer as owner sales tend to fetch a higher price compared with a mortgagee sale which is often seen as distressed. However, the implementation of TDSR has made it difficult for potential buyers to obtain credit.

"More buyers have also chosen to stay on the sidelines with a view that prices will start to ease," noted JLL's head of auction and sales, Mok Sze Sze.

As a result, said Colliers' deputy managing director Grace Ng, banks have little choice but to respossess such properties - resulting in the increase in mortgagee sale properties surfacing at auctions.

She added that due to exuberance at private housing launches in the past few years, many buyers bought uncompleted properties "off plan" with the non-savvy ending up with units that have undesirable orientation or layout. Such owners now face difficulty finding buyers and tenants.

While the majority of mortgagee properties ending up on the auction block are residential, there are also signs of an increase in strata industrial units, notes Ms Mok.

Going by Colliers' analysis, nearly 63 per cent of the mortgagee sale properties that have been put up for auction in the first six months are residential properties, followed by a 17.2 per cent share each for industrial and retail properties.

Colliers' auction tomorrow will feature a mortgagee sale property at Turquoise condo in Sentosa Cove. The 2,777-sq-ft four-plus-one bedroom unit previously surfaced at an auction on April 30. It was withdrawn without bids at the opening price of $5 million.

Another mortgagee property to be featured at the same auction is a third-floor unit at the freehold Stevens Court. The 2,863-sq-ft unit has five bedrooms. JLL's auction on Thursday will feature mortgagee sale units at VisionCrest Residence, Residences@Killiney, The Floravale in Westwood Avenue and a shop unit at 116 Yio Chu Kang Road. At Knight Frank's auction today, a mortagee sale of a two-bedder at Dover Parkview is expected to go under the hammer.

Sharon Lee, head of auctions at the firm, advises those having problems servicing loans to be realistic. Given the buyer's market today, one has to be aware that potential buyers would be anticipating price corrections - instead of sticking to the last transacted price in the project some time ago, she said.

Singapore's inflation hits 2.7% in May

SINGAPORE: The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.7 per cent in May from a year ago, the highest since March 2013, according to figures released by the Department of Statistics on Monday (June 23).

Inflation last month picked up pace from April, when the CPI rose 2.5 per cent on-year following a rise of 1.2 per cent in March.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) attributed the rise to base effects associated with the fluctuations in Certificate of Entitlement (COE) premiums.

Private road transport cost climbed by 8.1 per cent in May, stronger than the 5.7 per cent rise in the preceding month, mainly on account of the low base in May 2013. Petrol pump prices also edged up at a faster pace than in April.

COE premiums were at a low in May 2013 after loan caps were imposed on car buyers.

Premiums for the certificates, which are needed for car ownership, gradually rose as the market adjusted to borrowing restrictions, bumping up the CPI a year on.

"For the whole of last year, inflation in Singapore...actually quite low, mainly due to the car inflation being at the low level. What that means is that...due to the low base (last year), we are likely to see higher inflation coming from cars (this year), and it's not going to be a once-off thing," said UOB economist Francis Tan.

Authorities, however, expect car prices to add negligibly to inflation with the dissipation of the base effect.

Accommodation cost rose by 0.9 per cent compared with 1.1 per cent in April, due to a slower pace of increase in imputed rentals on owner-occupied accommodation, MAS said.

MAS Core Inflation, which excludes the cost of accommodation and private road transport, fell to 2.2 per cent in May from 2.3 per cent in April, due to lower contributions from services and food items.

Prices of retail items like clothing and footwear declined in May. This can be attributed to the start of the Great Singapore Sale.

Authorities say domestic cost pressures, particularly stemming from a tight labour market, are likely to remain the primary source of inflation.

They expect core inflation to stay elevated at 2 to 3 per cent in 2014, with headline inflation projected to ease.

- CNA/cy/ir


Good diagram on core inflation from CEIC:

Father's investing advice to his daughter!

At Tim Sum lunch today at Royal China at Raffles, his daughter asked this question again.




WAIT!

DBS goes big on the affluent

It sees bigger growth opportunities in this segment than the ultra-high net worth group

 

By Siow Li Sen

DBS Bank is making rapid headway into that segment of banking customers who are rich, but not rich enough to own a yacht or a private jet - at least not yet.

For these "affluent" customers, however, ponying up for a Ferrari or some such expensive toy is not an issue.

DBS managing director Koh Kar Siong would know, as he is also the regional head of the bank's "Treasures" and "Treasures Private" wealth-management platforms.

A Treasures Private client (TPC) carries a DBS Insignia card with a credit limit of up to $1 million and would "regularly" blow a quarter of a million bucks on high-end cars, he said.

Such a client would have placed between $1.5 million and $5 million in assets with the bank, which has built a base of more than 10,000 such clients since launching Treasures Private three years ago.

It is today the fastest-growing segment of the group's wealth-management business, Mr Koh told reporters yesterday.

The bank's "Treasures" clients are those who have placed between $350,000 and $1.5 million with the bank, while its private bank division looks after the top tier - clients with more than $5 million.

"There's big room for growth because a lot of these people are now in priority banking," he said.

DBS has homed in on its TPC clients, assigning more than 200 TPC relationship managers to them, because it saw opportunities in this segment - more than in the segment of ultra-high net worth, yacht-owning magnates with at least $30 million to their names.

A 2012 study by international management consulting firm Oliver Wyman found that in Asia-Pacific, these super-rich - with at least US$25 million in assets - jointly hold about US$3 trillion. In contrast, those below this stratosphere - the "poorer" ones with between US$1 million and US$5 million - jointly hold US$5 trillion.

And the best thing? Sixty per cent of this US$5 trillion or so is under-served, or, in bank parlance, "unmanaged".

DBS's strategy to attracting TPCs is to offer them private bank services, and these include access to pre-IPO sales, discretionary portfolio management and other investment services.

These clients also have dedicated luxury airport lounges at Changi, which offer massages, a full suite of banking services and free limousine rides (in Singapore, Jakarta, Surabaya and Taiwan).
Last year, revenues from group wealth management rose 10.3 per cent to almost $1 billion - faster than its growth rate of 9.7 per cent in 2012.

The increase came from strong gains in fee income (from product sales), which rose 30 per cent last year; in contrast, the increase from lending activities or net interest income was only 4 per cent.
The most popular investment products are equities, bonds and funds, and the amount traded has steadily risen. "The ticket size has gone up," said Mr Koh.

TPC made up 18 per cent of group wealth-management revenues last year, up from 3 per cent in 2011; it is projected to hit 25 per cent next year, he said.

More TPC-type customers are projected to be knocking on DBS's door too - Mr Koh expects 15 to 20 per cent more in the next few years.

Assets under management from wealth management clients, that is, those with at least $350,000, grew to $109 billion last year, up from $94 billion in 2012.

Track your living expenses??? (2)

Read? Track your living expenses???


The key objective of this tracking exercise is NOT for the purpose of knowing where to reduce living expenses by cutting expenses e.g. no more StarBuck as it is deemed too expensive.

Do we go to StarBuck to lim kopi and leave?

To lim kopi and leave; we better do it at Kopithiam. Right?


The end goal of this tracking exercise to conservatively estimate one Magic Number to know how much is enough for us to reach financial independence stage and get out of rat race when staying employed is an option.


We also want to avoid the unsecured feeling of always NOT enough and for ever accumulating more wealth!


Some of us may have read it somewhere in the Web:

"When we are in heaven, our money will still be in the bank."

"We don't seem to have enough money to spend; but, when we are gone; there's still lots of money not spent.

 

CPF Minimum Sum Scheme

The Minimum Sum Scheme was introduced in January 1987 to help CPF members set aside sufficient savings to support a basic standard of living during retirement. When the scheme was first
started, members were required to set aside a sum of $30,000 in their Retirement Account when they turned 55 years old. 

Look at the above chart; many were not meeting the minimum sum.

It is an old issue. Right?

New lovers of S-REITs: What you may not heard or read in investment blogs???

Just For Thinking ...

For those who are new lovers of S-REITs who have been "seduced" by their attractiveness as regular income stream; this may be an eye-opening comment for you.

Many thanks to real life investing lesson shared by Michael Tan here.

Uncle8888 at first thought that R-REITs are oversea stocks.

1. 
   Michael Tan20 June 2014 21:40:00 GMT+8

    

   I had some similar experience - bought quite heavily in R-REIT, lost more than 60% on paper during 2008. By Feb 2009, I had many sleepless nights looking at my portfolio melting down. Then I made a drastic switch of my entire portfolio from R-REIT to B-REIT on Mar 2009 (super lucky, I must say - the super bottom then). Then by 2010, the portfolio looks better, I switch 50% B-REIT into BlueChip like KeppelCorp, SPH, Singtel, STEng, SembCorp, and etc. Today, the portfolio is looking at a good positive. Now, looking to trim it down slowly while it lasts. R-REIT=> Rubbish Reit, B-REIT => Blue-Chip REIT. Anyway, it was a very painful experience during 2008 and 2009.

   
   

   Reply Delete
    
    
   Read?
    
   Stop Loss???
    
    
    

Help for lower income earners???

Just For Thinking ...


SGX to help lower income earners to start investing with their squeezed out saving?

1. Unit share trading (investing) with low commission brokerage fee of 0.1% with no minimum fee.

2. Conduct free investor education. No product sponsorship for such training.

3. Only those with annual income of less than $XX,XXX are allowed.


CPF to help with better Return on CPF OA



1. First $50,000 : 6%
2. Next $50,000 : 4%
3. After that 2.5%

Track your living expenses???

Read? Retirement Income for Life??? (14) - How much is enough for retirement?


Uncle8888 is doing it simply and Excelly with one dedicated bank account for expenses : GIRO, ATM cash withdrawals, NETS, credit cards and ITR i.e. all cash out flow!


Just once a month of less than 15 - 25 mins of effort to download the monthly statement. Copy and paste into Excel worksheet. 

Add remark column and keying remarks for those non regular expenses that can be reduced or cut during bad times. 

The whole idea here is NOT to sweat the small stuffs in tracking expenses.



Later SMOL will come and call him Excel King. LOL!

Explanation to the above chart:





Monthly family expenses for five members (Me and housewife and 3 children)  is group into $500 different band on X-axis.


As an example only for the purpose of explaining this chart. The number used is not his monthly actual expenses.






Below $2,000 : 1 (It only happened once. Probably, in that month we ate most of the meals at home or caught many fish and crabs enough for that month)

$2,001 to $2,500 : 16 (There are 16 months of such expenses in this band since Jan 2001)


$2,501 to $3,000 : 34 (There are 34 months of such expenses in this band since Jan 2001)



$3,001 to $3,500 : 31 (There are 31 months of expenses in this band since Jan 2001)

.....



and so on

NOW???

Just For Laugh ...

NOW Uncle8888 also made some money to laugh softly to his bank after the doom days in 2008/09.

Dow, S&P 500 at records

NEW YORK: The Dow and S&P 500 edged to fresh records on Friday as the chances rose for GE's acquisition of parts of France's Alstom and fighting in Iraq lifted oil prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 25.62 points (0.15 per cent) to 16,947.08, a new high.

The S&P 500 advanced 3.39 points (0.17 per cent) to 1,962.87, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 8.71 points (0.20 per cent) to 4,368.04.

General Electric shares added 0.2 per cent to $26.98 after the French government said it favored the company's proposal to take over Alstom's energy assets for $16.8 billion over a rival bid by Germany's Siemens and Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

As part of the deal, France will take a dominant 20 per cent stake in Alstom by buying two-thirds of the shares owned by French group Bouygues.

Meanwhile, US oil prices moved to a fresh nine-month high of $107.26 a barrel as the battle against Sunni extremists showed no signs of abating. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's leading Shiite cleric, called on people to unite to fight the insurgents.

Used-car company CarMax surged 16.5 per cent higher as it reported record quarterly sales and earnings for the first quarter that easily topped expectations. Total unit sales rose nearly 10 per cent.
Other companies to see gains included Dow components Caterpillar (+2.0 per cent) and Johnson & Johnson (+1.4 per cent), Wells Fargo (+1.7 per cent) and American Airlines (+3.5 per cent).
Shire Pharmaceuticals, which is based in Dublin but listed in London and New York, rejected a $46 billion takeover proposal from US company AbbVie. Shire said the bid "fundamentally undervalued" the company and objected to AbbVie's plan to relocate its headquarters in Britain for tax purposes.
Shire climbed 16.3 per cent, while AbbVie dropped 1.4 per cent.
Software company Oracle fell 4.0 per cent as fiscal fourth-quarter earnings came in at 92 cents per share, three cents less than expected. Analysts said the company's weak performance in cloud computing software was particularly disappointing.
Gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson slumped 8.7 per cent as the company's outlook for fiscal 2015 sales of $585-600 million lagged analyst estimates for $621.9 million.

Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury held steady at 2.62 per cent, the same level as Thursday. The yield on the 30-year bond, slipped to 3.45 per cent from 3.46 per cent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.

- AFP/ec

Follow the right person? - Re-visit

Read?  Follow the right person?



You came.


You read.


But, do you believe it?

Number of rich in Singapore on the rise

SINGAPORE: The number of high net worth individuals (HNWI) in Singapore grew by 4.5 per cent last year to about 105,000, lagging the global growth rate of 15 per cent amid a tapering in the city-state’s home prices.

This is according to latest figures from the annual World Wealth Report, released by Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management on Wednesday night in the US (June 19, Thursday morning, Singapore time). The report defines HNWI as someone with US$1 million or more in investable assets.
Capgemini and RBC said in a statement that improving economic and equity market performance helped add 1.76 million people to the global HNWI population in 2013, while the investable wealth of HNWIs grew by nearly 14 per cent to reach a record high of US$52.62 trillion.

The United States, Japan, Germany and China together accounted for nearly 60 per cent of the world's HNWI. North America's HNWI population expanded by 16 per cent to 4.33 million, while the Asia-Pacific region's grew by 17 per cent to reach 4.32 million.

Looking ahead, global HNWI wealth is forecast to reach a new high of US$64.3 trillion by 2016, representing 22 per cent growth from 2013 levels and approximately US$12 trillion in new wealth, Capgemini and RBC said.

- CNA/cy

Stop Loss???

Uncle8888 likes this quote for stop loss ....


Do or do not. There is no try - Master Yoda









Mistakes made near the Bull may not be the same mistakes near Bear bottom.

In Theory. In Practice: Kep Corp

Just For Thinking ...

Read? How To Get Super Investing Returns

Companies such as Jardine Matheson (SGX: J36), Dairy Farm (SGXL D01) and Keppel Corporation (SGX: BN4) can by no stretch of the imagination be described as a Microsoft. But over the last decade or so, they have, nevertheless, delivered outstanding returns.

The secret to super investing returns is therefore time, patience and continually compounding the dividends that you receive year after year after year. It is really that simple because investing is not hard.



In Practice: Real people, Real Super Investing Returns is here!

















 

Read? 3 Important Words You Should Remember When Investing

In investing, a good mantra to remember, in my opinion, is this: “Keep it simple.” We do not need to know everything about every company; we just need to know what we are good at and stick to it.

For example, Keppel Corp (SGX: BN4) might be an overly complex company for some with its disparate business segments. Its businesses deal with offshore & marine (it builds vessels and oil rigs), infrastructure (it has logistics operations, warehouses, and even rents out data centre capacity amongst other activities), and real estate (it develops and owns many different types of properties). If you have trouble understanding Keppel Corp, there’s no need to force yourself to understand it even if everyone around you is constantly harping about the company. There are always plenty of other fishes in the ocean.

Foolish Summary

When learning about investing, you do not need to be thrown off when you come across something you cannot understand or had happened to talk to someone who was throwing out jargon after jargon. All you need to do is to remember this three simple words: “Keep it simple”. Simple is often all you need in investing.