Posts Tagged ‘investment’
HDB new set of rules in short..
Posted by: admin in General, Real Estate on March 8th, 2010
These 2 months we will see a lot of new rules implementing to reduce excessive speculation and exuberance in the property scene.
In a nutshell the changes are:
- HDB allow buyers to take a 2nd concessionary loan from HDB even if they downsize to a smaller flat or move to a flat of the same size. Previously, only upgraders qualified for a second concessionary loan. However the sales proceeds from the sale of a flat, seller can only keep the greater of $25,000 or half of the cash proceeds. The remaining cash and CPF balance has to be used to finance the purchase of the next flat if they take up a HDB concessionary loan.
- MOP increased to three years for all flats bought in the resale market. Currently, the MOP is 2.5 years for buyers who choose to take up an HDB concessionary loan and just 1 year for buyers who either take a commercial bank loan or do not take any loan.
- 3,800 more elderly lessees will now benefit from its lease buyback scheme which has been revised. The scheme allows the elderly to monetise their flats by selling the tail end of the flat’s lease back to HDB.
- HDB will withhold $10,000 of the subsidies for a household made up of 1 Singapore Citizen + 1 PR when they buy a HDB flat. Once the PR converts to citizenship, or when the couple has a Singapore citizen child, the Board will return the withheld subsidy.
- A quota cap for PR households of 8 per cent in each block and 5 per cent within each neighbourhood.
- It will be applied on top of the ethnic integration policy (EIP) but will not apply to Malaysian PRs.
- EIP for Indian/Others limit was raised from 10 per cent and 13 per cent at the neighbourhood and block levels to 12 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.
Fools rush in, or the early birds catches the worm?
Posted by: admin in General, Unit Trust on May 12th, 2009
To quote an article by IFast in Fundsupermart.com,
“However, we have recently seen a change in sentiment and increasing investor risk appetite, and this has benefited most equity funds and even higher-risk fixed income funds.”
There’s certainly a hint of optimism among the investors out there. Being a forward looking individual like myself, the storm will eventually subside as they always do. Unless you’re talking about the end of the world that is..
Is it still safe to be in “safe” funds now?
Posted by: admin in Unit Trust on May 11th, 2009
Have you realized that the Bond Funds prices has been consistently dropping lately?
The Insider understands that Equity and Bonds generally in opposite directions to each other, like a magnet’s South pole and a North pole. The big difference is that the Equity fund is a bigger “magnet” then the Bond fund.
So we see how the Equities, a.k.a. the Stocks, have a BIG influence in how the Bond funds would react.
I took a couple of Bond Funds to compare against a popular Equity Fund, the DWS China Equity Fund in the past 6 months. Do you see the “magnetism” between them?
bonds movement against the equity fund
I don’t think anyone would like to be invested on a fund that is dropping, but channelling 20% of your investment into an Equity Fd for a small start could be rewarding in the long run.
I don’t believe in Unit Trust until I found this..
Posted by: admin in General, Unit Trust on February 17th, 2009
Performance of stocks from year 1925 to 2000
Some of the top reasons I’ve encountered by the people who don’t invest (or re-invest) is that it’s too risky, or it’s not a good time to buy in. There are another group of people who consistently see no “luck” in their investments, always losing the moment they go into that new fund/s.
These people usually have one thing in common - they usually see Unit Trust and its counterparts as a short term investment instrument.
Stretch it to a 10-years period or more and you’ll begin to see the opportunity right up there in the chart, almost regardless of when you come in. This is the most ideal period for accumulating funds for children education funds or retirement/old age funds.
Can’t manage your own investment? Working with a competent adviser with a cool head would be a good idea. Though the volatility nature of this investment can be a roller-coaster issue, one will eventually come out a winner with time on his/her side and sound investment fundamentals. I will discuss more about unit trust investing tactics and strategies in the near future.
View the full chart here (this will appear in a new window).
Have a burning question? Let it out here.