Category: Personal Finance Series

Being Micro (Understanding your Portfolio)

On By RistrettzIn Deals, Finance, Personal Finance Series, Promotion, Random, Wealth & HealthLeave a comment

When discussing the portfolio of Financial Planning, it is common to waive it off if you have no interest in it or talk about investments only. Like any broken recorder, the basis of Finance Literacy is fundamental however you dislike it.

Let me put it on a storyboard – As a child or if you have a child, you would want them to learn skills from a young age. (NO! I am not talking about enrichment). Here I am talking about pure survival skills like swimming, psychomotor skills, being literate, learning to drive when you are older, learning simple skills like dealing with disappointment, etc.

Similarly, financial planning is no exception to life skills. Imagining a pyramid, the top layer is not investments but insurance. Meaning risk transfer. Now, skip the boring part of insurance planning. There are a few alternatives to cheaper insurance coverage.

One of them is actually SNACK by Income. Yes, Income Insurance.

Don’t miss out now because there’s a good deal going on at the moment.

The Promotion

Here’s $50 for you to start your investment journey!

All you need to do is:
1. Download the SNACK by Income app (https://income.sg/dl-snack)
2. Enter my referral code “PAU4055” and tap on SIGN UP
3. Complete your SNACK account creation with MyInfo
4. Start SNACK Investment and ensure that you have boosted Investment! (Refer to steps 1-4 here: https://income.sg/si-start)

Get your complimentary $50 investment credits in your portfolio the following week!

Technically, it can be termed as an ILP (Investment Linked Plan) and honestly I am not a big fan of it. But you can exclude the investment option if you don’t wish to. However, for a start, you probably should do the investment portion until you get the signup rewards.

The Limit

I use the personal accident, critical illness and life insurance portion to supplement my current insurance. In any case, there is a maximum that one can be insured and it starts from $0

Life – $200,000 coverage

Accident – $ 100,000 coverage

Critical Illness – $200,000

How it Works

How this micro insurance work is that:

  1. You need to set your lifestyle activities for different classes of insurance coverage and investment (if any). For each activity that is fulfilled, a new policy will be created and added to your total coverage. In this step, you can also set a daily cap so that you don’t spend more than $0.30 (for example) per day.
    • Food & Drinks
    • Transport
    • Retail
    • Groceries
    • Entertainment
    • Utilities
    • Petrol
    • Steps
  2. Then you set your activity source. These are the ones that measure your activities such as step or visa credit card if you spend on certain categories.
    • Apple Health
    • Burpple
    • EZ-link
    • Fitbit
    • Garmin
    • Visa
  3. Then set your weekly cap – This is for the investment cap. Up to one to decide
    • You will need to have your investment objective assessed such as CKA – Customer Knowledge Assessment
    • Risk Profile.

There you go and your SNACK account will be set up for you. That said, you can redeem the fund units anytime and can stop using the insurance app anytime you want.

I get that it takes a while to get used to it but you need some time to get used to it as it is pretty automated.

If there are some brands which interest you, you can also spend and get additional coverage from them as well. Once in a while, they will run some promotional campaigns and you can get additional investment credits. So far, luck has been on my side, I have collected more than a couple of hundred in investment funds terms. Like any insurance, this is pretty efficient for an ILP since I investment directly into a fund I am comfortable with.

Disclaimer

If you decide to sign up with SNACK, do remember to use my referral code: https://income.sg/dl-snack and my referral code PAU4055.

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes for other services at Referral and Recommendations

These pictures were taken off the Endowus website for reference.

Endowus Performance Review – Dec 2022

On By RistrettzIn Performance, Personal Finance Series, Robo AdvisorsLeave a comment

The time has come for the December review. I have changed the way I present as a totality. For example, my cash solutions, ESG, Pimco Income Funds, Dimension funds, CPF Funds and S&P 500 funds. To date it is still down overall but again because I am with a robo-advisor, I don’t expect to take any action on this.

Thank you to those who have used my referral code. If you wish to venture out and build your financial goals, please visit my referral code page thank you in advance.

Portfolio Summary

Again, like many other months when I look at my portfolio, I look at it as long-term growth. I am quite positive about US equities. My Ultra cash portfolio isn’t doing too great. In hindsight, I repeat that I do regret my decision because I thought I can take my liquidity out within 3 months but no. Now, I have to do it at a loss. This really sucks because Endowus did a boo-boo by saying that it can be a short-term cash-fund holding. Now, I am becoming a long-term investor and had to find cash for my large purchases that were coming up. I am still miffed about it but I’m not taking it out at a loss. It doesn’t mean that Fixed Income will stay down all the time. In fact, I might add on more Fixed Income related funds or investments going forward.

Like any other period, I still trust Endowus and I would actually recommend them to anyone I know for the investment concept. (Maybe not the cash solutions and also review them on a more frequent basis – In case they lose their goals or focus for any reason) I know that my investments will be safe with them. I’m happy with them for the investment part of things. I also learned that different people/companies have different expertise.

Lower Investment amount (This is quite important for new investors)

Whatever it is, they have been quite reasonable about everything. Another plus point is that they have also given me a lot of comfort in the way they allow investors to reduce their initial investing sum. A minimum sum should not be the way to invest. Overall, I feel that I take more pride in knowing who is holding my money and how they do it.

Lowering the bar also allows people who are younger to start early in this long-term process. The other point is what many people are talking about which is the fees. They are probably the only ones in the market to rebate trailer fees. I like that bold big move as compared to the other advisors. I will slowly shift my funds over to them. Everyone is different so, you have to try them out first before you decide.

There’s something else which I like about them and that is how they use the power of retail investors to put money into institutional class funds. These funds are accessible only to people with the money and volume to purchase. Yet, they are now available to retail investors.

Total Portfolio

I decided to scrap away all those segmented accounts with different goals and look at the portfolio as a whole instead.

I don’t really have a strategy. But for now, I will move more into the Fixed Income space with my spare cash.

I’m do think that once we see some flattening of inflation, S&P 500 should start to see some bull legs.

As you can see, the all-time record is that I am now down -3.77%, which is rather disappointing considering that I have a relatively balanced portfolio. The bulk of the unrealised loss is actually from my cash funds. If you look at YTD performance, it is down -5.89%, which is rather in line with the current markets but I do expect better considering I had a good entry-level during the start of the covid investing when the markets were pushed down in a synthetic way in 2020.

The reason for Endowus

Like a broken recorder, why do I like using them for now:

  • Endowus is the first and only robo-advisor to be approved by the CPF board.
  • 100% trailer fees back to the consumer, not the fund management fee. This is really one of a kind I’ve seen so far.
  • They do have a decent team who makes sense when introducing their platform in my personal opinion.
  • I believe all retail investors should try them out because of how they are trying to disrupt investing and make investing work for everyone.

Thank you all in advance for using my referral code.

The last point is to do your own diligence. What works for me may not work for you. Investing in traditional portfolios is about risk management. My Cash Funds are bleeding. That was a super bad call by Endowus.

Disclaimer

If you decide to sign up with Endowus, do remember to use my referral code: https://endowus.com/invite?code=EDZ8M

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes for other services at Referral and Recommendations

These pictures were taken off the Endowus website for reference.

Endowus Performance Review – Nov 2022

On By RistrettzIn Performance, Personal Finance Series, Robo AdvisorsLeave a comment

After a short break and some self-sustained recovery, I think it is time to get back to updating the portfolios. During this period when I was down, I was not really monitoring the markets. In fact, I set my RSP up over these 8 – 9  months that I was missing in action. Partly, it was due to work and also self-discovery wellness. In my last post, I discussed being away and not being able to do anything to your portfolio and again I was away. I find that robots suit my style of investing. In good times and in bad times because I am just not in the right frame of mind to manage my portfolio. Not anyone can just buy in when the market is down. You need to understand your own investment appetite.

Thank you to those who have used my referral code. If you wish to venture out and build your financial goals, please do visit my referral code page thank you in advance.

Portfolio Summary

The whole portfolio has taken a big hit this year in 2022 and there’s nothing much to shout about but I look at it as long-term growth. I am quite positive about US equities. My Ultra cash portfolio isn’t doing too great. In hindsight, I repeat that I do regret my decision because I thought I can take my liquidity out within 3 months but no. Now, I have to do it at a loss. This really sucks because Endowus did a boo-boo by saying that it can be a short-term cash-fund holding. Now, I am becoming a long-term investor and had to find cash for my large purchases that were coming up. I am still miffed about it but I’m not taking it out at a loss. It doesn’t mean that Fixed Income will stay down all the time.

Like any other period, I trust Endowus and I would actually recommend them to anyone I know for the investment concept. (Maybe not the cash solutions) I know that my investments will be safe with them. I’m happy with them for the investment part of things. I also learned that different people/companies have different expertise.

Lower Investment amount

Whatever it is, they have been quite reasonable about everything. Another plus point is that they have also given me a lot of comfort in the way they allow investors to reduce their initial investing sum. A minimum sum should not be the way to invest. Overall, I feel that I take more pride in knowing who is holding my money and how they do it.

Lowering the bar also allows people who are younger to start early in this long-term process. The other point is what many people are talking about which is the fees. They are probably the only ones in the market to rebate trailer fees. I like that bold big move as compared to the other advisors. I will slowly shift my funds over to them. Everyone is different so, you have to try them out first before you decide.

There’s something else which I like about them and that is how they use the power of retail investors to put money into institutional class funds. These funds are accessible only to people with the money and volume to purchase. Yet, they are now available to retail investors.

Total Portfolio

I decided to scrap away all those segmented accounts with different goals and look at the portfolio as a whole instead.

I hope can recover some of the losses but as a function of market-related money market funds, I think it will take longer than i expect.

I hope that I will be able to add more funds to the S&P 500 if it dips over the next few months.

As you can see, the all-time record is that I am now down -4%, which is rather disappointing considering that I have a relatively balanced portfolio. The bulk of the unrealised loss is actually from my cash funds. (Sad to say that FI instruments are still doing that badly) which is why it is true that no one has the crystal ball and we have to diversify. If you look at YTD performance, it is down -6%, which is rather in line with the current markets but I do expect better considering I had a good entry-level during the start of the covid investing when the markets were pushed down in a synthetic way in 2020.

I’m still looking forward to the day when S&P 500 goes up the roof and I see my portfolio doubling.

The reason for Endowus

Like a broken recorder, the pros once more:

  • Endowus is the first and only robo-advisor to be approved by the CPF board.
  • 100% trailer fees back to the consumer, not the fund management fee. This is really one of a kind I’ve seen so far.
  • They do have a decent team who makes sense when introducing their platform in my personal opinion.
  • I believe all retail investors should try them out because of how they are trying to disrupt investing and make investing work for everyone.

Thank you all in advance for using my referral code.

The last point is to do your own diligence. What works for me may not work for you. Investing in traditional portfolios is about risk management. My Cash Funds are bleeding. That was a super bad call by Endowus.

Disclaimer

If you decide to sign up with Endowus, do remember to use my referral code: https://endowus.com/invite?code=EDZ8M

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes for other services at Referral and Recommendations

These pictures were taken off the Endowus website for reference.

Broker for Second Life Items/Electronics

On By RistrettzIn Personal Finance Series, RandomLeave a comment

Ever used Carousel or Gumtree to purchase or sell your items. To be very honest, Carousel has been a great game changer to date. Though I really doubt the way they can make money and how it is possible to raise so many funds. Users stand to benefit from setting up stores. However, their systems have been breached twice and they ought to make some security improvements to protect consumer interests.

In a way to recycle and reuse items, in a way to help the world and not generate waste. There is a Chinese saying that says do not do or give anything to anyone if you do not want them to do the same to you. So, I really dislike it when someone tries to dump their stuff on me in the context of good faith. (It just means they want to declutter but yet want to be a good saint)

Some items that I have at home are rarely used and they have been bought new (6 months to 1 year) bar fridge, toaster, baby items, etc..) and I think they can be put to good use. Though I can’t stand the bargaining and “quick sale”, These products find a second lease on life.

It does sound like I am ranting a little but I get a teeny weeny bit irritated with the bargaining and the emotional plea of budget. I think many people lack flair and being fair. This is a second-hand platform and not a brand-new store. Don’t think NEW, think about the condition and electronics are meant to be lasting at least 3-5 years. To also be fair, I do know of some people who don’t take care of their stuff. It could be that they can’t be bothered or just pure negligence (I don’t know – It doesn’t get you anywhere if you say you don’t know)

These images are obtained from the carousell website

Be respectful to yourself, and don’t take others for granted. When others help you, don’t treat them as a help desk. Personally, I prefer the DIY route because customer service is negligible in the current world. Very few companies out there focus on customer service B2C.

It just came to my mind when I got a message that someone wanted to purchase something from me and that there is no such thing as no demand.

a. If the product is not sought after by anyone. Sell it at a discounted price – There will be takers eventually because everyone has a reservation price regardless of how low it is. It means that 99% of people actually know that they have to open their wallets to get something.

b. If the item is a branded/well-known item, you don’t need to discount it too much. Why?

  • If you sell it way too low, people actually think that it is a fake product (What’s the catch? That’s how Singaporeans are)
  • Brand products typically sell. Singaporeans know the good stuff.

c. If the seller has a reservation price that is higher than the buyer then you got to wait before you get rid of your stuff.

These are simple economics, subtract the communication portion which I really dislike a lot. There are a lot of lowballers and people who don’t respect. Just because they are behind a digital app, doesn’t mean that one can do that.

Meanwhile, good luck with decluttering.

This post came about because Christmas is coming (Wastage is coming) and the Chinese Lunar New Year is around the corner and it pays to plan in advance.

Please do check out my referral store to see if any stuff works for you to get your free cash. These keep the light on this blog active and I thank you in advance.

Interest Rate Series (DBS Multiplier) [2.5 out of 5 Burger Patties]

On By RistrettzIn Interest Rate Series, Interest Rates, Personal Finance Series, RandomLeave a comment

As on 4 November 2022

On 4 November 2022, 3 working days after OCBC rolled out their new interest rate on their flagship 360 accounts, DBS followed up with an email that the DBS Multiplier has increased from 3.5% to 4.1%. The balance cap amount is also increased to S$100,000

The Multiplier account has always been proportioned by the transaction amount.

below S$2,000

S$2,000 to below S$2,500

S$2,500 to below S$5,000

S$5,000 to below S$15,000

S$15,000 to below S$30,000

Above S$30,000

The next layer of categories to fulfil will be the number of categories. They are known to be:

1. Salary/Dividends/SGFinDex

The Salary portion has to be a GIRO transaction with code “SAL” or “PAY”, which seems pretty strict given that there are increasing numbers of the next generation in the ‘gig economy’

For dividend crediting, these eligible dividend has to be from CDP, DBS Vickers Securities, DBS Online Equity Trading, DBS Unit Trusts, DBS Online Funds Investing and Invest-Saver (Promotion their own eco-system)

Connecting and sharing financial information from SGFinDex to NAV Planner (I would think one needs to do this on a monthly basis

2. Credit Card Spend

For the monthly card spend, it has to be on any DBS credit card and has to be eligible spending. Eligible will be the usual suspects and it will be very much dependent on the MCC codes.

3. Home Loan Installment

Home Loan financing has to be from DBS or POSB (New or Refinancing). The eligible amount will be from the monthly home loan instalment amount.

4. Insurance

Similar to my previous post on insurance and investment in these high-yield accounts. These are usually valid for a limited period and interest rates are always subject to changes. Further, only selected insurance are eligible.

5. Investment

Nothing much to comment on here. This section will be pretty hard for most people to fulfil.

Additional option: The PayLah! Retail Spend. Honestly, don’t seem like a good deal to me.

The ideal interest rate will be between 0.9% to 2,5%. Frankly, nothing much has changed though and I don’t think it is even worth announcing via their communication channels. I feel like there wasn’t even much thought placed into it. I just felt like it isn’t any effort to compete with these changes. With the most recent 0.75 bps increase by the US Feds, this is not anything competitive and not quite worth looking into for now.

For more information, check the link here: DBS Multiplier Calculator

Conclusion

Nothing worth looking at for now. Till next time.

Interest Rate Series (OCBC 360) [4 out of 5 Burger Patties]

On By RistrettzIn Interest Rate Series, Interest Rates, Personal Finance Series, Promotion, RandomLeave a comment

As on 3 November 2022

The week has been intercepted by headline interest rate hike news and OCBC 360 certainly did take out their competition with a banging headline. As of the 1st of November 2022, the entire suite of the OCBC 260 flagship account will revise its interest rate across the board.

As of their online quote, “The OCBC 360 Account has six bonus interest categories – Salary, Save, Spend, Wealth (Insure), Wealth (Invest) and Grow. By tapping on just three of these categories – Salary, Save and Spend – customers will be able to earn interest of 4.65% p.a. on the first S$100,000 in their bank account.”

Prior to this due to the interest rate environment, the first S$100,000 could get you 1.85% p.a. The biggest update is that for their spending options, you can use the OCBC 365 credit card, OCBC Titanium Rewards credit card, OCBC 90°N Visa card and OCBC 90°N Mastercard.

There are a total of 6 categories:

Salary, Save, Spend, Insure, Invest and Grow.

The basic of the high-yield account is to fulfil the following – Salary, Saving (Keeping the average daily balance by $500 increment monthly) and spending S4500 to the above-mentioned OCBC credit card each month. Quite simply put, by fulfilling these three options, your interest yield is 4.65% p.a. for up to $100,000. (technically 4.64962903% p.a.)

Over 365 days, the interest earned is S$4,649.63

Salary

You need to credit at least S$1,800 of your salary to fulfil the Salary Category. That is if your HR allows that or if you are not employed in another rival or financial institution.

Save

You need to have an incremental S$500 in your monthly balance. However, if this is your transaction account then it might be an issue. But as long as it is an incremental (Average daily balance)

Spend

You need to spend S$500 on selected OCBC credit cards. You can use the OCBC 365 credit card, OCBC Titanium Rewards credit card, OCBC 90°N Visa card and OCBC 90°N Mastercard.

Insure & Invest

Forget about the insurance and Investment portion, there’s probably no way around those.

Grow

For the Grow category, if you have an additional S$100,000 to keep the average daily balance of S$200,000, the first S$100,000 will get an additional 2.40% p.a. while your remaining S$100,000 remain at the 0.05% p.a.

To illustrate, the interest over this S$200,000 will be S$7,099.60 hence the yield for this amount will be 3.55% p.a. (technically 3.54980161% p.a.

To calculate your interest amount, use the link to calculate the expected interest on your saving amount here: Calculate your Interest Amount

Conclusion

This is very interesting indeed. Because competitors will drastically make these changes as well. The interest rate hike might be a good and bad thing. However, take note that these rates are never confirmed or fixed. They follow the current market conditions. By taking on investments or insurance, these interest rates might change fast and furious. Overall, valiant effort and quite good timing as well. In the next few weeks, we might see revisions to compete with this increase in interest rate.

Sweet Sweet Singapore Saving Bonds (November 2022)

On By RistrettzIn Personal Finance SeriesLeave a comment

By now, many of you would have known that the SSB for November hit an all-time high from all the blog posts. However, only those of you who know know. Those who don’t, have no idea at all. In this period of the internet world, word of mouth can actually be less efficient.

Year 1 (3.26%) vs 10 Year Avg (3.47%) for the tranche of SBNOV22 GX22110A 

Indeed, that is pretty sweet but someone else’s gain is someone else’s loss. The mortgage rate for floating homeowners might be a shitty time to come. I’m not sure but perhaps there may be some level of concerns in the Singapore private markets soon? Especially for those who rode a tight line to take to upgrade and stretch out their finances. That’s a discussion for another article.

Meanwhile, what is probably better than the SSB, is the Singapore Treasury bonds. The ones that come in every two weeks will be the 6 monthly Treasury bond if you do not wish to lock in the rates for 10 years. (It doesn’t mean SSB will be illiquid. It just means the rate will stay constant for 10 years)

Treasury bills – 6 months for the previous tranch was offered for SGD 4.6 billion,

Non-Competitive Applications: SGD 1.8 billion

Total Amount Applied: SGD 10.9 billion

Subscription: 2.38x

Cut-off Yield: 4.19% p.a.

Life and Travelling

On By RistrettzIn Personal Finance Series, Random, Wealth & HealthLeave a comment

Now that we are all living with the pandemic aka living with covid, travelling is on the cards for many people and there’s pent-up demand. For a moment, while I was searching for travel next year, everything settled down and the restrictions for other countries started to ease. It became quite an overload of information. No doubt reading and watching travel logs do inspire the places to visit in the future. Suddenly, it seems like there isn’t much time to visit all the places

It felt as though travelling is such a luxury all over again and very much preparation seemed like a hassle. Have I been living like a hermit for a while now? I’m not too sure. One thing I am sure of is that many people are looking forward to their travels. I just want to say that do remember to get your travel insurance and be safe from any form of sickness.

Another query that I had in my mind is that I wonder how many of those shops or places that were once of interest, survived the pandemic and managed to carry their business. Maybe I’m just overthinking it but I’m just generally more risk-averse since there are kids and old folks. I’m worried about the health of young and old all the time. In recent months, I’ve also been wondering if I need to do something to make sure that my own health is being taken care of.

Having time to think and ponder indeed is a luxury. Once it has been taken away from me, I learned to treasure time more. Been less diligent to apply for jobs this week since I ran most of my errands this week. I scheduled time to relax and also a couple of appointments in the next three weeks.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed on the recent interview and it does seem promising. Again, nothing’s confirmed till they call me up for an offer. Once that is done, I think I can then peacefully make some purchases that I have been putting off over the last few months. Then hopefully, preparing the next year for a full-on work and family schedule.

Whether there’s a recession or a market boom, I should ready myself for it. I’ll also probably take some time to put a good year’s resolution and rate them once the year has passed. Till then.

The cheapest brokerage in Town currently

On By RistrettzIn Personal Finance SeriesLeave a comment

Webull has been around in Singapore for some time now and is the cheapest brokerage firm to use at the moment because it is Free to trade with them. No commission fees and zero platform fees. Of course, normal fees still apply (such as GST, clearing fee, individual country’s fees and other miscellaneous fees) – Usually, quite a small amount.

There have been a number of brokerages to date and all of them are funded by big names. Most likely to get people on board.

Only the last three days to get the promotion so better quickly sign up now.

Who is Webull

Webull Securities (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. is regulated by MAS and holds a Capital Markets Services (CMS) Licence to operate here.

In terms of its background, Webull was founded by ex-Alibaba employee Wang Anquan, and its parent company is Fumi Technology – a Chinese holding company with financial backing from Xiaomi, Shunwei Capital, and other private equity investors in China

Welcome Offer

As part of their sign-up offer, you can now get up to USD 130 worth of Tesla shares when you register and trade with Webull.

Keep in mind that the welcome offers change periodically, so be sure to check for their latest promotion before you sign up. (I believe this will end by 14 October 2022 so fastest fingers first)

Now, you have to do the following:

  1. Register for a Webull account first here: Webull sign-up link You will receive a 1-month level 2 US Market Data Subscription
  2. You need to make initial funding of SGD 2000 and execute 1 stock or ETF buy Trade on the USD Market within 30 days. You will receive USD 100 of Tesla fractional shares
  3. If you execute at least 1 option buy trade on the USD market within the same 30 days, you get an additional USD 30 of Tesla fractional shares.

Why Webull

More of a reason to use Webull is their ability to do fractional trading at a minimum about of USD 5. Fractional trading is fractional share is a portion of an equity stock that is less than one full share. As I have always preached about starting to invest early. This is probably the fastest and easiest way to do so by trading in small sums if you are not so confident or if you do not have a lot to start with.

Of course, you still need to do your own diligence but if you have a strategy to collect certain counters, you can certainly do so at a lower quantum now.

Additional Perks

A little additional perk is that you can now open and grab your GRAB Vouchers (S$10) once you sign up. I believe this is probably an additional bonus perk just for signing up.

To sign up, please use my referral code here at Webull sign-up link.

It is just to keep lights running for my blog and domain if you like reading content from me. Do comment below on any stuff or topic that you would like to know more about and I will try my best to bring it to you.

Thank you in advance!

Please note that this is affiliate marketing and I do get a referral from recommending this product. However, I have used this and I quite like their platform which is easy to use. So this is a quick and easy way to make about SGD 140 – USD 190 just simply taking about 30 mins or an hour to do the following steps.