August 27th, 2010 | Published in Health, Insurance | Add a comment
Recently I have met a client, a female who is concerned about payout in event of being diagnosed with cancer, which is the benefit under critical illness portion of her insurance policy. Being a head nurse and her husband, a doctor, radiologist to be exact, they are quite familiar with the medical terms in the small print. After consultation with them, I decided on a post.
August 26th, 2010 | Published in Life, Singapore | Add a comment
I went to the Invest Fair 2010 at Marina Bay Sands last Saturday. The event was jointly organised by ShareInvestor and The Business Times. My purpose there is feel the atmosphere, find out what people are after and just get a little exposure to this side of financial product sales.
As I walked in, was approached constantly by promoters speaking to me about what they are promoting. Not surprising, considering this is a free event and the exhibitors and participants paid the organizers to have a booth there. Main aim is to do promotion and sales.
August 19th, 2010 | Published in Financial Knowledge, Investment Advice | Add a comment
What Are High-Yield Bonds?
High-yield bonds, otherwise known as “junk bonds”, are issued by organizations that do not qualify for “investment- grade” ratings by one of the leading credit rating agencies – Moody’s, Standard & Poor and Fitch Ratings.
Credit rating agencies evaluate issuers and assign ratings based on their opinions of the issuer’s ability to pay interest and principal as scheduled. From the table of credit rating definitions, bonds rated Baa or BBB and above are considered investment-grade securities. Bonds rated Ba or BB and below are high-yield bonds, and generally have default rates in a range of 2-8% per year.
These issuers are usually
1) Newer, emerging companies raising money for expansion
2) Older companies which have weak balance sheets and/or weak profits
3) Companies taking on large debts for acquisitions or leveraged buyouts
August 5th, 2010 | Published in Financial Knowledge, Investment Advice | 1 Comment
The world now, more than before, is facing some structural changes with will propel currencies movement. Previously, currencies of the world have been affected by economy, interest rate and investor usage. Now the movements of currencies will be broader in a clearer direction. With Singapore Dollar going to be strong, whole reason why knowing what to do is important.
So what do these currency movements mean for investors’ investments? A lot of investors (sadly a lot of financial advisers, even bankers too) make mistakes when determining where the currency matters and where it does not. For example, you can hear an investor, or financial adviser, saying, “I’m not advising this fund because it is in USD. USD is going to depreciate.” This reasoning is WRONG.
August 1st, 2010 | Published in Arts, Culture, Luxury & Sport, Property, Society, U.S.A. | Add a comment
Will you wish there was a housing crash in Singapore if you can get a 3-bedroom luxury apartment at The Sail over looking Marina Bay Sands for just $3,000 a month? The equivalent was what happened in Miami.
Brandon Klein, a 26-year-old tax accountant, stays at 50 Biscayne Boulevard, one of the luxury holiday condos built during the 2004 to 2008 boom to attract second-home buyers. Housing market has plummeted in end 2008, and with 7,000 unsold condos, almost a third of the 22,079 units in 75 buildings in Miami’s core, it has transformed Miami. With US$2,700 shared among 3 friends, Brandon is living in an apartment with 24 hour concierge, a ‘sick’ view of Downtown and a life he can never imagined. Some areas, previously only middle aged wealthy appear have transformed into dorm like residences. Interestingly, this has infused life into the vacation beach environment.
July 29th, 2010 | Published in Economy, Financial Knowledge | Add a comment
The past 3 months has been a ride for most investors and money managers. With a variety of issues such as Yuan value, China property bubble, European debt crisis, stake holders have been watching each reported data like hawks and volatility shot up.
We have reached a stage where things have settled down a bit. And also arrived at a realization that there is going to be a new normal in the global economy. I do feel that the new normal is a good thing if it eliminates the pattern of peaks and troughs in the economy.
July 29th, 2010 | Published in Economy, Singapore | Add a comment
Singapore’s growth accelerated to a record 18.1 percent pace in the first half of 2010, spurring the currency, putting pressure on policy makers to check inflation with a stronger currency, and putting the island on course to be the fastest-growing economy in the world this year.
The government predicts GDP will rise 13 percent to 15 percent in 2010. Credit Suisse Group AG and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. forecasts for the island’s expansion this year range from 12.7 percent to 16.3 percent among the economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
By comparison, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas and Macquarie and China International Capital Corp estimates for China range from 9.5 percent to 10.1 percent in recent weeks.
July 26th, 2010 | Published in China, Financial Knowledge, Singapore, U.S.A. | Add a comment
China’s shift toward a stronger exchange rate may alter the shape of the world economy’s expansion more than its speed, economists said. The currency move is likely to affect the composition of global gross domestic product rather than the growth rate
Chinese consumers might buy more as the rising yuan boosts their purchasing power, while their counterparts in the U.S. cut back on their spending as the cost of goods imported into America rises. The shift will add 0.1 percentage point to global growth this year and next, leaving the rate at about 4 percent, according to the median of 17 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey of economists.
China’s central bank said June 19 it will increase flexibility in the yuan, marking an end to the crisis policy of pegging to the dollar.
July 9th, 2010 | Published in Managing Wealth, Singapore | 2 Comments
Property is a significant source and store of wealth for affluent individuals around the world, a major allocation for their capital and, in many cases, a source of huge pleasure and enjoyment. It is a long-term investment that offers the potential for income, capital gains and a hedge against inflation. The optimal asset mix for an asset allocation for a wealthy client usually includes real estate properties, specific businesses, various equity and bonds.
June 29th, 2010 | Published in Environment, Society, U.S.A. | Add a comment
We have met the culprit and he is us. It is us that cause the oil spill.
We — both parties — created an awful set of incentives that encouraged our best students to go to Wall Street to create crazy financial instruments instead of to Silicon Valley to create new products that improve people’s lives. We — both parties — created massive tax incentives and cheap money to make home mortgages available to people who really didn’t have the means to sustain them. And we — both parties — sent BP out in the gulf to get us as much oil as possible at the cheapest price. (Of course, we expected them to take care, but when you’re drilling for oil beneath 5,000 feet of water, stuff happens.)