Thanks to the stronger US currency, the money in my Standard Chartered USD trading account has grown by 2.1% in less than 3 months. This work out to an exchange rate of SG$1.363. I heard that other banks have a even better rate but I'm not complaining since it is a free account.
I know that the greenback is gaining in strength and I intentionally parked part of my war chest into it but the better than expected returns surprised me. Although I talked about having a war chest, it is not exactly 按兵不动. Once I feel that the USD has reached its peak, I will transfer the money to POEMS money market fund or maybe to another currency whose value has dropped sharply.
Do you also have plans for your war chest while waiting for the opportunity to come?
Hi Derek, it is nice to know that someone feels the same way about USD.
I do something similar. I bought royalty trust funds in USD, which is pretty generous in dividends.
I also bought dividend shares in HKD, collecting dividends and waiting for currency appreciation, since HKD is pegged to USD
Hi Marcus,
Thanks for the info. This is the first time I’m hearing about royalty trust fund and I didn’t know HKD is pegged to USD. I wonder if they are any currency that is inversely proportional to USD. When USD reaches it’s peak, I can transfer over to that currency.
Hi Derek
Smart move!!!
Now our Derek going to forex play :)
Hi B,
Thanks. I wasn’t expecting much but I can now see why Forex trading is a different beast altogether.
Hi Derek,
I have a small position in USD. My position in USD comes from a pref shares from HSBC that pays me good dividends every quarterly. Like you, I’m pleasantly surprised that my US portfolio is doing well. Wouldn’t call that my war chest too, because they are already at war!
Hi LP,
Thanks for sharing. I’m beginning to see a link between HK related derivatives and USD.
Is yours a full blown war already? Mine can only be considered a skirmish.
Hi Derek,
Ya, fully in for my usd positions. I’ve no intention to add in more Sgd and convert to usd. The dividends I received is in usd so periodically I’ll buy more of the pref shares to manually compound the returns.
Hi Derek,
Yup, full blown war already..and not intending to convert sgd to usd. I collect dividends in USD and periodically I’ll reinvest the dividends back into the same pref shares, so that it can compound itself. Other than that, as mentioned, no intention to deposit sgd and convert to usd.
HKD is pegged to USD. If they unpeg it, I think you’ll see a HKD rising in value even more – that’s the theory floating around in recent times.