Should I invest in Gold?

"Should I invest in gold?" I think that is the question that is ringing in any investor's mind. Gold has broke the USD$1100 barrier when I am writing this and some people are predicting that gold will reach the price of USD$2000.

Recently I read this book "Guide to investing in Gold and Silver" and inside it puts a strong case for investing in Precious metals, mainly gold and silver. Why I said it is strong because it uses history to tell us that precious metals should feature in most people's portfolio. In this book it also shows us that there are cycles but these cycles is a derivative of certain numbers that we need to work to get it. I strongly urge everyone who is concern about their financial future to read this book.

There are many ways to invest in Gold and Silver and the bank that has such investing facilities available is UOB, based on my current research. You can either open a savings account that is counted in grams or ounce depending on which precious metal you are investing, or own certificates, bullion coins or gold bars. Each will have its pros and cons. You may visit UOB website to have a look and figure out which investment tools will fit your need.

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Dealing with Retrenchment

Dealing with retrenchment is something out of most people's mind during a boom time. As such most recent graduates would not have any idea how to deal with retrenchment.

Do you know how to deal with retrenchment? Do you know that the preparation for a possible retrenchment is done during the boom time? For instance, controlling your budget and preparation for emergency funds.

Retrenchment is going to be very common now given the short span of boom and bust cycle, as such it would be good to equip yourself with the knowledge of dealing with retrenchment.

For more information on how to deal with retrenchment, please click here.

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Dirty Tricks of Bad Real Estate Agents

Dirty tricks by bad real estate agents is something all of us should know since in our lifetime, we are expected to deal with properties at least once. So here are some of these tricks. Readers do take note of it when engaging real estate agents

Refusing to Co-Broke Property

Co-broking occurs when there are two property agents involved in a single transaction. In a co-broke transaction, the commission have to be shared out between the two agents. Some agents who refuse to share the commission would refuse to meet up or follow up clients from other agents. As such, the seller would not have the full exposure to the market.

Overpromise

Some agents promise that he has a ready buyer who can come up with high price, so that the property seller would appoint them as their agent. Such would force the seller to sell at a lower price than expected because once they realise the agent is lying, it might be too late.

Working for more than one company

Some agents may work for several company, so as to get as much client listing as possible. And because different companies have different payment structures, an agent might close the deal under the structure that is favorable.

Hijacking

Hijacking refers to an agent going behind the back of another agent and engage directly to the clients, promising better deals and urging them to sign with him instead. Such act is deemed unethical, and property buyers and sellers should try to avoid, as you never know you might need the help of these other agents.

For more information on property investment, please click here.

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Credit Bureau and Credit Counselling

Credit Bureau of Singapore recently announced that many Singaporeans are falling back on their credit card debts. The most 'dangerous' group are those in the age of 30-45.

This age group is not surprising as this is the age group where most people are taking on a lot of debt like mortgage loans. Thus it is important that one manage debt carefully or they may overstretch themselves. Do note that you need to manage your loans carefully because it may affect your credit history. It is well understood that banks will disburse loans to you based on your credit history. If you have a bad credit history, banks will be quite unwilling to disburse loan to you unless a higher interest can be charged or your financial situation will be greatly scrutinized which can be troublesome and uncomfortable.

If you feel that you are falling behind on your payments, you should start controlling your 'outflow'. Do note take on more debt but instead pay down your loans as soon as you have the cash. The interest rate charged on credit cards is 24% per annum and 18% for credit line. These are very high interest rates, as such these loans should be cleared first before you take on more.

If you feel very stretched, approach the bank or the Credit Counselling Center in Singapore (CCS) for help. Banks are generally more willing to help you with your loans than you thought.

Below are the contact details for CCS:

Tel: 1800 CALL CCS (1800 2255 227)
Please ensure to dial 1800 before
2255 227.

Address: #12-01 Maxwell House
20 Maxwell Road
Singapore 069113

Email: enquiry@ccs.org.sg

Opening Hours: Mondays–Fridays, 9am–6pm

Website: http://www.ccs.org.sg

Want to know more about good credit management? Please click here.
Want to know how to better use your credit cards? Please click here.

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CPF Life - Buying Annuities

CPF Life was recently introduced to Singaporeans and will be launched in September this year. Basically, it is an annuity with a component for you to bequest certain amounts to your beneficiaries. From a myriad of 12 types of annuities offered by CPF board down to 4 annuities. It is to make the choice of soon to be retired Singaporeans easier.

CPF members turning age 55 from 2013, with at least $40,000 savings in their Retirement Account, will be automatically enrolled into the scheme. Members who have less than $40,000 can opt-in from 55, if they wish to do so.

As this is a new scheme being introduced not the full four plans would be offered. It will greatly depend on your age when you join the scheme.

When buying annuities, one have to take note that because it is a fixed amount per month, your purchasing power would greatly depend on the inflation rate. If inflation rate is high, your purchasing power would be greatly reduced. This is exacerbated by the fact that Singapore inflation is usually imported inflation as Singapore is a price taker in the world. As such, you need to calculate how much you need per month for a comfortable lifestyle and add an additional buffer for inflation. There is no general guideline on how much the buffer should be, from what I know. It would greatly depend on your comfort level.

For more information on CPF Life, please click here.

For more information on buying annuities, please click here.

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Managing Finances as Married Couple

Managing Finance as Married Couple might be an issue that most married couple overlooked. Why I said that is because most married couple does not sit down and really work out the finances together. Yes, most of them do work out in the sense of contributing how much to the household expenses and so on but seldom do they sit down and discuss how to build that nest egg together, making investment and purchasing insurance to get a wider coverage.

Couples should really sit down to discuss about investments and insurance. Getting the widest coverage with their pooled money, making investments at the lowest expense through again pooling of investment monies.

Do constantly review your insurance and investment portfolio to see if there is a need to do adjustments especially after major events like having a child or taking on another degree program. Couples can also take advantage of the planning time to bond with each other and understand each other better.

For more information on managing finance as a couple, please click here.

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How to Deal with Recession

How to Deal with Recession is something we should all know. Why I said that is because throughout our lifetime, we would definitely experience at least a few recession. I myself have experienced 3 or at least can feel their impact, the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, the 2000 Internet Bubble and also the recent Sub-prime Crisis.

Here are a few tips on how to save some money.

1) Cash is King

It would be better to go back to your budget planning and see if you have allow yourself to spend on unnecessary things. Why I said that is because as we all know, recessions follows booms. And during booms, because we feel rich, we would tend to pamper ourselves (nothing wrong with that of course, since we work hard). But because of recession, we would need more cash in the hand and how to get that is to revisit our budget.

2) Go for the second best

It is a matter of needs and wants, usually if the second best can give us similar satisfaction and at a lower costs than the very best, it would make sense to purchase the second best since again, cash is king.

3) Go for housebrands

Provisions is a place where we can save quite a bit since it forms a great part of our expenses. At times like this, maybe we do not need to pay so much for the brand thus I would recommend going for housebrands since they are usually cheaper.

Here are some tips at the moment, will post more tips on dealing with recession as and when I come across. We are survivor, we outplay, outwit and outlast the Recession Demon.

For more information on budget planning, please click here.

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Singapore Budget - What is in store for us

Singapore Budget was announced on the 22nd Jan this year. What are the things the average Singaporean can look forward to?

Firstly, there is the doubling of the GST credits. This means that there will be more money in your pocket this year from the government. If you have debts out there, especially credit card or credit line, it might be wise to use it to pay down the debt. If you do not, congratulations, you might take out a bit to pamper yourself and invest the rest, save it for a rainy day.

Secondly, there is the twenty percent rebates on the tax payable subject to a cap of $2000. This will help to put in more money into the pockets of the middle class which forms the majority of the population. (Ain't it true for most countries? Hmmm....) Again, you might want to invest the extra money to build a bigger nest egg for yourself, using compounding interest to your advantage.

Thirdly, employers will try their best to keep Singaporeans in their jobs because of Job Credits, where the employers will get credits from the government. The size of it will depends on the number of Singaporean, paying CPF, in their payrolls. So it makes it 'harder' for Singaporeans to be out of job. But please do not be complacent, try to get yourselves reskilled if possible.

Fourthly, which is recently announced is that transport fares maybe coming down this year without any prospects of fare increase this year (now this is something NEW!! =) ) because of the many rebates and cut in corporate tax from 18% to 17%. The exact fare decrease will be announced at the end of February.

Given all these goodies from the government, it might be time to think through your personal budget and investment plans as more information and of course money flows in.

For more information on planning your budget and making investments, do check out the two webpages here.

Planning your budget and Investments

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Renting Properties

Renting properties is a must for many foreigners coming to Singapore. Recently in the newspapers, it reported a rental scam where a Malaysian couple and a Japanese expatriate was conned by a self-proclaim property manager cum landlord of a terrace house in Serangoon Gardens.

Although Singapore is very safe, it does not mean that there are no conmans here. So it is wise to do your due diligence when looking for a place to rent. Before making any payments, it is wise to make sure that you have checked that you are liasing with the right person and all claims are verified.

Ask around those that have rented a flat here, find out the normal practices and also the rental rates of the surrounding areas. All these must be done if you want to prevent yourself from being a victim of a scam.

For more information on renting properties, please click here.

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Having an "Opportunity" Fund

Having and Opportunity Fund is overlooked by many investors, including savvy investors who have been in the investing world for many years.

So what is an Opportunity Fund? Basically, it is a sum of liquid assets, usually cash or saving deposits. At this time where there is a "fire sale" on the stock market where stocks, especially blue chips are at their lowest (usually 52 weeks lowest), an available pool of cash to take advantage of the low price would position investors to benefit when the economy recovers and looking back at history, we know that the economy will always recover. It's recovery is only a matter of time.

For most investors, this fund should not be similar to the emergency fund that you read about in most financial planning books or newspaper articles. This emergency fund as read should be equivalent to 6-12 mths of monthly expenses,(depending on how risk-averse you are). Once this fund has been set aside, you should then start setting aside another sum for your Opportunity Fund.

Economic or financial crises are part and parcel of life so we might as well prepare ourselves to take advantage of it. For those that are just starting out, it would be better to learn more about the available investment tools.

For more information on financial planning and investment tools, please click here.

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