Archive

Lau

Financial May-hem

May 15, 2012 by Lau
May is the month for mother’s day so first and foremost, Happy Mom’s Day! On the financial front, May 2012 seems to be an eventful month for the Euro zone. A new French leader has been elected in power who threatens to ratify the financial treaty due to growing dissent from the population because of [...]

in Categories: Market Review and Trends

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5.2% Inflation In March 2012

April 29, 2012 by Lau
Singapore’s inflation rate rose to 5.2 per cent on-year in March 2012, from 4.6 per cent the previous month. MAS has also projected that inflation will likely remain elevated over the next few months, before easing gradually in the second half of this year. In a Labor Day message, someone mentioned that wages should be [...]

in Categories: Investing

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Moving With The Times

April 14, 2012 by Lau
Looks like the pager is going the way of the dodo, extinction. This comes as no surprise as the technology now is to have mobile phones rather than pagers. Reflecting back, a few items have also been phased out of our lives. Walkman and cassette tapes, Laser Discs or Video Compact Discs and the players, [...]

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$900k For HDB

April 12, 2012 by Lau
Looks like 3 HDB units just got sold at the $900k mark and the psychological barrier of $1m is inching closer. Many analyst give their 2 cents to say it is an exception and unique circumstances, rather than the norm, ya da ya da.. Regardless, it looks set that $1m is probably going to be [...]

in Categories: Investing, Property

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$500m Offer of Genting Perpetual Securities

April 12, 2012 by Lau
Integrated resort/casino operator Genting will offer a second issue of perpetual securities worth S$500 million. Its first issue was a S$1.8 billion offering in March. Half of the offering is set aside for retail investors, S$50 million to be offered to directors and employees, and the balance S$200 million to institutional and other investors. There [...]

in Categories: Shares and Derivatives

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Financial Advisory Industry Shake Up

March 29, 2012 by Lau
It seems that the recent speech by the Managing Director of MAS has triggered a strong response from the industry. I guess it is because he mentioned points that will have a significant impact to the industry like raising the entry criteria from the current 4 ‘O’ levels to keep up with current education trends [...]

in Categories: Business

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Boon Or Bane Of Longevity

March 20, 2012 by Lau
I recently came across an article titled “Top 10 Hotspots For Human Longevity” and realized that our sunny island of Singapore is in that top 10 list. I followed up with a google on “Singapore life expectancy”, google amazingly showed the statistics of 81.3 years according to the World bank source in 2009. As I [...]

in Categories: Market Review and Trends

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Simpler CPF Life

March 10, 2012 by Lau
I am often asked about this new scheme by those who are affected by this implementation when doing financial planning for them. It took me quite a while to navigate my way through all the terms and understand the 4 choices. However, after all the effort, eventually I realized that many still did not fully [...]

in Categories: Personal Finance

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1k Income For House

March 6, 2012 by Lau
After the mention of this fact at parliament by our DPM, it has caused quite the uproar from Singaporean netizens. Some interesting comments I came across include: - “If so, I should be owning 5 properties already. How come I have difficulty having even one!” - “I have a friend who earns $1,200 and his [...]

in Categories: Property

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Best Interest Rate Deal

March 3, 2012 by Lau
By now, many would have seen the advertisement of standard chartered bank BonusSaver splashed across the newspapers and internet. They are giving 1.88%p.a. interest, when $500 is spent through mastercard each month. Well, doing some calculation on my own and comparison, it wasn’t a deal that was very attractive to me as I could achieve [...]

in Categories: Savings & Deposits

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Singapore Budget 2012

February 21, 2012 by Lau
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam announced the following initiatives relating to financial planning during the FY2012 Budget Statement in Parliament on 17 February 2012: - Increase in CPF Contribution Rates for Older Workers Lower CPF contribution rates for older workers were introduced to help improve the employability of older workers. Now, [...]

in Categories: Personal Finance

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HDB Jargon

February 16, 2012 by Lau
As I am now house hunting for my own residence, I dived into the housing market and discovered that it had a lingo all of its own. There were so many abbreviations thrown around that I feel HDB should compile a dictionary to help first time home seekers understand what is going own. After hours [...]

in Categories: Property

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When To Start Saving For Retirement?

January 31, 2012 by Lau
Retirement carries a different meaning at different ages. For the young adult starting to work in their 20s, retirement is something that probably does not carry much meaning. Something their parents are transiting into and has nothing to do with them. First and foremost on their minds will be landing that dream career, falling in [...]

in Categories: Personal Finance

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Roar Of The Dragon Babies!

January 27, 2012 by Lau
The Chinese zodiac dragon year is here once every 12 years. The birth rate this year has a significant impact to the whole country in the years to come. For example, primary school intake has to be expended to accommodate the larger intake, right up to secondary school, National Service and post secondary education. The [...]

in Categories: Market Review and Trends

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CapitaMalls Asia Bonds On Offer

January 4, 2012 by Lau
CapitaMalls Asia is offering up to S$400 million of 10-year callable step-up bonds. DBS is the sole bookrunner and lead manager. The issue has an initial offering of S$100 million for retail investors and S$100 million under a placement for institutional investors. Another S$200 million may be issued in event of excess demand. The bonds [...]

in Categories: Shares and Derivatives

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Happy New Year

December 29, 2011 by Lau
It is nearing the end of the year. December has always been my most favorite month of the year. It is the month people seem to be a lot happier, kinder, more generous and overall nicer. Even the taxi fare hikes, MRT train breakdowns and recurrence of flooding, are finding it hard to dampen the [...]

in Categories: Personal Development

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Retirement Woes

December 21, 2011 by Lau
According to a recent survey by Aviva, the Consumer Attitudes to Savings (CAS) study, it showed an increasing concern over prospects for retirement. About half felt that they will not have enough money when they retire to provide for an adequate standard of living and will have to work beyond the normal retirement age to [...]

in Categories: Personal Finance

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This Is Home, Singapore

December 9, 2011 by Lau
Back to Singapore after a 2 week break and it seems that a lot has changed in such a short time! Increase in Comfort taxi fares Comment: Not that I am blaming the fare increase, inflation is so high, I think it is only fair. However, the way it is implemented those not make sense. [...]

in Categories: Market Review and Trends

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