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Sgbluechip

My quality of life

March 4, 2012 by Sgbluechip
I met up recently with an old friend overseas. It has been a long 3 years since I met him and every time we chat about old times, I learnt something about life and relish knowing my old self. People essentially change over time; the current self is vastly different from the old self a [...]

in Categories: Personal Development

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Market Updates For Feb 2012 and Portfolio Adjustments

February 8, 2012 by Sgbluechip
1)Local market STI increased approximately 11% year to date, 17% from Oct 2011 lows. There were similar returns across regional markets. US markets increase at a lower rate, roughly about 7% YTD. 2)The reasons contributing to the buoyant stock markets have little to do with market fundamentals. It is the consequent of central banks printing [...]

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Why I worry about retirement

October 23, 2011 by Sgbluechip
Many close friends who read my blog often label me as a salty man. This has a negative connotation because in Hokkien context, it is “kiam” or scrooge in western terms. However, when I explained my rationale to them, suddenly they realize they either be prepared to work past 55 or be better off being [...]

in Categories: Personal Finance

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Update on Historical Volatility of SPH and STI ETF

September 18, 2011 by Sgbluechip
With regards to my earlier post on volatility, yes the calculation was a bit off but it has no material impact on my comparision. But anyhow, for folks interested in the volatility of SPH and STI, I have taken monthly returns from 2008 Jan to 2011 Sept. Calculation was based on excel. The results are [...]

in Categories: Shares and Derivatives

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A little comparison with a single stock and unit trust

June 26, 2011 by Sgbluechip
Most of my friends who bought Unit Trust didn’t really make money. I personally considered that a weird phenomenon as most of them held their holdings for more than 3 years and are still in the red. Compared to me, most of my holdings are held in single undiversified companies that gave me decent returns. [...]

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Hyflux Preference Shares

April 17, 2011 by Sgbluechip
This post is slightly overdue as interested parties would most likely subscribed to it. Currently I see a lot of interest in it with books closed for subscription closed that very morning when it was launched in my workplace. In fact I did carry around the Hyflux advertisements and ask some of my aunties in [...]

in Categories: Shares and Derivatives

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Patriotic to own a Beemer

March 28, 2011 by Sgbluechip
One of my classmates bought a BMW recently. I know she earns about $10,000 a month and technically speaking, she is buying a car that cost roughly twice her annual salary. There is nothing wrong to enjoy the finer things in life though it means she is also patriotic as well. Why patriotic? < ?xml:namespace [...]

in Categories: Personal Finance

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What is the stock market to you?

March 20, 2011 by Sgbluechip
My colleague thinks it is just an electronic platform to buy and sell shares. < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> Some believe it is a gambling table. Perhaps that’s why Genting is often the most traded stocks. Another might think it is a place to park retirement funds in blue chips for [...]

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BUY CALL FROM SBC

March 15, 2011 by Sgbluechip
Be greedy when others are fearful, be fearful when others are greedy. I sense fear now. What are you waiting for? Honestly, the last time I see such a scenario was during the Lehman Crisis in 2008. The selldown back then was even more earth shattering than this. The last time STI went below 3000 [...]

in Categories: Market Review and Trends

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Property thoughts

January 15, 2011 by Sgbluechip
I must admit I caught the property fever for the past year. I have been actively looking, together with property agents for a completed property for rental income. Why not? My current portfolio yields about $2,500 monthly without any spectacular leveraging. I was considering to liquidate a portion of it, take advantage of the current [...]

in Categories: Property

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Why I wil not hold US stocks in the near term

December 26, 2010 by Sgbluechip
Current S&P 500 PE Ratio: 22.95 < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Mean: 16.38 Median: 15.76 Min: 4.78 (Dec 1920) Max: 44.20 (Dec 1999) Looks expensive to me now. If stocks were to revert to mean, either earnings go up 40% or stocks go down 40%. Let’s just take the middle path [...]

in Categories: Market Review and Trends

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Investing in Singapore listed ETFs

December 25, 2010 by Sgbluechip
ETFs is the acronym for exchange traded funds, which are basket of stocks traded over the exchange. Having invested nearly 0.5M in stocks I must agree that ETFs are not exciting products for people looking at supernormal returns. However, holding ETFs means sleeping better at night since I will probably not be losing my entire [...]

in Categories: Shares and Derivatives

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Why HDB prices will go up after new measures

September 11, 2010 by Sgbluechip
As I sit at my rocking chair (old man already), I look at the measures and decide that I can never ever afford my HDB flat. The current measures make owning HDB more difficult: HDB buyers with pte property and are willing to cash out (sell) their pte property can afford a high COV and [...]

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Measures to curb property speculation finally revealed

August 31, 2010 by Sgbluechip
Today’s papers reported that measures are rolled out with immediate effect to curb property speculation. In layman terms, they are: (1) Sellers to pay stamp duty again if they resell the property within 3 years of purchase. (A $1m property attracts $24,600 of stamp duty.) (2) For buyers who have outstanding loans with banks or [...]

in Categories: Investing

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Analysis of Macquarie International Infrastructure Fund (MIIF)

March 15, 2010 by Sgbluechip
Macquarie International Infrastructure Fund Ltd (MIIF) is a mutual fund company that has been formed to own, operate and invest in a diversified group of infrastructure businesses around the world. It offers investors an opportunity to invest in the Macquarie Bank Group’s first listed infrastructure fund in the Asian region and to participate in the [...]

in Categories: Shares and Derivatives

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Analysis of SP Ausnet Part 1

February 4, 2010 by Sgbluechip
Background of SP Ausnet (Source: http://www.sp-ausnet.com.au and http://www.singaporepower.com.sg/ SP Ausnet is a subsidiary of Singapore Power (with a 51% controlling stake) and its operations are managed by staff of Singapore Power in Australia. Singapore Power is a leading energy utility company in the Asia Pacific. With assets of S$26.3 billion at end March 2009, it [...]

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Portfolio Updates

January 26, 2010 by Sgbluechip
My portfolio of invested amount went up slightly to breach the $400k mark last week when I took the opportunity to invest as STI fell. If you have read my post here, you would have realised that I need to invest $66k annually from 2010 and acheive return of 7.1% compounded yield before I can [...]

in Categories: Investing

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Is GDP a good measurement of life quality?

December 1, 2009 by Sgbluechip
Consider the following (excerpted) statement by Robert Kennedy in 1968 …And if the Gross National Product includes all this, there is much that it does not comprehend. It does not allow for the health of our families, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It is indifferent to the decency of [...]

in Categories: Featured, Personal Finance

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