Interview With Jerry Of BfGf Money Blog

I am getting closer to reach a small milestone of 25 interviewees for the "Interview With Peer Investors" series. This being my 24th, one more to go! If you are interested to be my lucky 25th, please feel free to get in touch with me ;-)

My next peer investor is Jerry of BfGf Money Blog, he is also an entrepreneur with his own business (Tuition School). He has a sleek and coolly designed blog focusing on couple finance (hence the blog title, BgGf which stands for Boyfriend, Girlfriend, I assumed).

Without further ado, let's check out Jerry's investing journey thus far below. 

Enjoy!

Q1 : Can you give us a brief introduction about yourself?

A1 : I am a business owner. I run Intellicat Tuition School, a humble neighbourhood tuition centre. I am also a founder of Tutornauts, an online learning platform, (launching in late March 2015…fingers crossed!) In my free time, I will be hitting punching bags (Muay Thai) and grappling with sweaty guys (MMA) to de-stress. I also read and write a lot. 

My Gf and I decided to start the BfGf Money Blog for fun like a kind of couple project. 

Q2 : Are you a full-time or part-time investor at the moment?

A2 : Part-time.

Q3 : When (at what age) did you start investing in shares and who has influenced you the most?

A3 : I started investing at 26 years old, when I was working at my first job. I was inspired by Peter Lynch. I knew I wanted to start businesses so I needed to find other ways to grow my capital other than just relying on a monthly salary. 

Q4 : Do you view yourself as long-term (holding shares in years), short-term investor (holding shares in days/months) or mixture?

A4 : Long term. When I started I am looking to hold 1-3 years. Now, I don’t have time to keep monitoring the companies I invest in. So I am restructuring my portfolio to stocks which I can hold for 10 years or more.

Q5 : What is your basis of selecting the shares to invest (e.g. basing on fundamental analysis, technical analysis or other methods/sources [share a little bit more details if it is the latter])?

A5 : My first few years were a mash up of FA and TA. Of course, my portfolio looked like crap then. Now my selection falls into 2 groups. 

Dividend stocks – I look for resilient companies with sound finances that pay dividends every year. I look for dividends of >4%.

Growth/Value/’ Whatever you want to call it’ stocks – I look for businesses with strong finances, economic moats, and consistent earnings growth annually. I will read up on the management/founders to understand their business philosophy. I am looking for strong brands and dominant players in an industry where there is still plenty of room for growth and capturing of market share. Of course, if I could buy such business at a cheap price it would be better! If I don’t get a cheap price I will still buy it at a ‘fair’ price… and look to buy more of it later on if market presents opportunities. 

Q6 : What is your targeted and achieved annual rate of returns (%) so far? 

A6 : My targeted rate of returns : >17%! Dream Big! My achieved rate of returns : Fluctuating between 9-12% OUCH. Reality Hurts!

Q7 : What is your most recommended online investing resource (site or blog) to share with our readers? 

A7 : I have 3:

1. The Fifth Person - http://fifthperson.com. The guys behind this blog explain investing very simply. They also go into technicalities to show you how to analyse a company. They break investing down into 4 quadrants, making it very easy for you to make stock-picking decisions. 

2. The Motley Fool Sg and US sites: You get a wealth of information there. Reading these sites really helped to accelerate my learning curve!

3. Value Invest Asia - http://www.valueinvestasia.com/. Clean website, easy to read, and a wide coverage of Asian stocks

Q8 : Besides shares, what other investment are you involved in (e.g. Real Estates, Bonds or REITs etc)?

A8 : None

Q9 : What is your Portfolio Distribution like?

A9 : SGX (79%): Keppel Corp, Nam Cheong, Chip Eng Seng, Valuetronics

US Market (21%): Priceline, MasterCard 

I am in the process of restructuring my portfolio. I became over confident early last year and invested heavily in high-risk companies like Chip Eng Seng and Nam Cheong. This year, upon reflection, I have decided to reallocate my holdings. Spread out my bets to mitigate the risk. As an entrepreneur, my risk-appetite is extremely high, so I have to reign myself in constantly and not overstep on my investments.

If all goes well, I will probably will achieve a 50%/50% SGX to US stocks ratio by end of this year. 

Q10 : If the readers what to get in touch with you, how to get hold of you? (Sharing of your website/blog/social media profile etc..)

A10 : Read my blog, http://bfgfmoneyblog.com/, and if you like it, leave a comment. If you hate it, leave a comment too! At least I will know people are reading! Haha!

If you want to share your couple finance story, Email me at the bfgfmoneyblog@gmail.com

I would love to hear how other couples manage their finances

Last but not least, if you are a retail investor and would like to be featured in my "Interview With The Fellow Investors" blog series, please feel free to email me at investopenly@gmail.com.

Also, for the complete list of my interviewees and their posts, check it out here.

Cheers!

10 Important Qualities Of The Rich (As Compared To The Middle Class)

I believed many of us would consider ourselves as middle class (or the sandwiched class), not rich, not poor either. When I am talking about rich here, I am referring to much more than Financial Freedom here, think along the line of Robert Kiyosaki, Li Kar Shing or Warren Buffet etc... (those filthy rich type).

 

Most of us are still loooooooooooong way to go and most of us might not be there int he first place. Having said that, there is no stopping us in learning the common mentality of the rich. At least we get to know why we are not rich yet ;-)

 

Recently, I chanced upon an interesting article in Lifehack site with the title, "10 Differences Between Middle Class And Rich People", I find it quite amazing and can personally relate to many of the points (since I deemed myself as middle class ;-)).

 

I am re-producing the 10 differences here as quick summary:

 

1. The middle class live comfortably, the rich embrace being uncomfortable

2. The middle class live above their means, the rich live below

3. The middle class climb the corporate ladder, the rich own the ladder

4. The middle class are friends with everyone, the rich choose wisely

5. The middle class work to earn, the rich work to learn

6. The middle class have things, the rich have money

7. The middle class focus on saving, the rich focus on earning

8. The middle class are emotional with money, the rich are logical

9. The middle class underestimate their potential, the rich set huge goals

10. The middle class believe in hard work, the rich believe in leverage

 

There are more explanation given in the original article, click here is you are interested to read further.

 

So do you know why you are not getting RICH yet? ;-)

 

Cheers! 

2015 Stock Picks by The Edge Singapore - What Do You Think?

I am not an hardcore reader of The Edge Singapore but 2 days ago I grab the latest copy of the weekly magazine because its Cover Story, "10 Stocks for the year of goat" caught my eyes (and the cartoon too). Of course, I am not saying that we should follow blindly on the recommendation and chiong, but I will use this as a source to dig further. 

The Edge Singapore did the similar recommendation last year (2014) and out of the 10 recommended stocks, 8 of them have positive changes (with the exception of Lyxor UCITS ETF MSCI Europe and ST Engineering). Their average return (with dividends reinvested) is 24.1% (higher than the ST Index of 15.1%).

Here is the Top 10 Stocks In 2015 from The Edge Singapore, I've re-produced the key indicators as well as the reason why they like it and the potential risks:

 

1. Ascendas India Trust (CY6U.SI) :
Estimated PB Ratio : 1.5 
Dividend Yield (%) : 5.5
Last Traded Price : $0.935
Industry : REIT - Diversified
Why The Edge Like It : India is reforming, rupee is stabilising
Potential Risks : Risk-free rates might rise
 

2. China Aviation Oil Singapore Corp (G92.SI) :

Estimated PE Ratio : 7.8 
Dividend Yield (%) : 2.8
Last Traded Price : $0.74
Industry : Oil And Gas
Why The Edge Like It :International growth, low expectations
Potential Risks : Chinese policy changes, corporate governance

3. Guocoleisure (B16.SI) :

Estimated PE Ratio : 19.4
Dividend Yield (%) : 2.2
Last Traded Price : $0.95
Industry : Lodging
Why The Edge Like It :Rejuvenation and expansion plan could boost earnings
Potential Risks : Need to execute well

4. Mapletree Logistics Trust (M44U.SI) :

Estimated PB Ratio : 1.3
Dividend Yield (%) : 6.1
Last Traded Price : $1.23
Industry : REIT - Industrial
Why The Edge Like It :Play on global trade upcycle
Potential Risks : Risk-free rates might rise

5. Sembcorp Industries (U86.SI) :

Estimated PE Ratio : 9.8 
Dividend Yield (%) : 1.2
Last Traded Price : $4.24
Industry : Conglomerates
Why The Edge Like It : Play on oil price recovery, continued regional investment
Potential Risks : Oil prices could fall further

6. Sheng Siong Group (OV8.SI) :

Estimated PE Ratio : 22.7
Dividend Yield (%) : 4.0
Last Traded Price : $0.74
Industry : Grocery Stores
Why The Edge Like It : Boost from 24-hour operations, new stores
Potential Risks : Stock isn't cheap

7. SIA Engineering Co (S59.SI) :

Estimated PE Ratio : 24.6
Dividend Yield (%) : 4.5
Last Traded Price : $4.23
Industry : Air Service - Other
Why The Edge Like It : Potential rebound from depressed levels on travel and trade
Potential Risks : Structural issues from efficient planes and engines

8. Singapore Exchange (S68.SI) :

Estimated PE Ratio : 25.7
Dividend Yield (%) : 3.4
Last Traded Price : $8.20
Industry : Asset Management
Why The Edge Like It : Play on market volatility
Potential Risks : Stock isn't cheap

9. Singapore Telecommunications (Z74.SI) :

Estimated PE Ratio : 17.4
Dividend Yield (%) : 4.1
Last Traded Price : $4.30
Industry : Infocomm Technology
Why The Edge Like It : Regional associates doing well
Potential Risks : Tough to outperform because of weight in the index

10. Starburst Holdings (40D.SI) :

Estimated PE Ratio : 10.41
Dividend Yield (%) : NA
Last Traded Price : $0.585
Industry : NA
Why The Edge Like It : Higher defence spending in the region
Potential Risks : Stock has already risen strongly

Personally, I will be focusing on REITS and dividend income, hence, will dig further on counter #1, #3, #9 and #10. As for the rest, I am of the view that they are either too expensive now or too low in their dividend yields.

I believed many of your are vested in some of the above stock(s), what do you think about their recommendation?

Cheers!

 

Disclaimer : This post is just for sharing and not should not be view as recommendation to buy or sell any of the above-mentioned stocks. Always DYODD.

Market News In 2 Minutes @ 25th February 2015

As stock investors (even though a small one), it is important to keep abreast with the latest financial and market news. Since I am in it, I thought it might be worthwhile to share it out with my readers too.

Hence, I started this "Market News In 2 Minutes" series.

Following are the "Market News In 2 Minutes" for today :

1. Pan Asian Holdings (5EW) - Has agreed to sell a property located at No. 2 Tractor Road for $8.3 million. The group views this as a timely opportunity to dispose of the property since it is underutilised. Post disposal, the group intends to purchase another property that will be suitable for its operations and in the meantime, it will be in search of a rental property to temporarily house its operations. The proceeds from the disposal would be used for working capital purposes. (source : Shares Investment)

Cheers!

Is Your Investing Journey As Exciting As The Kingsmen - Secret Service (movie)?

Yesterday, finally got the chance to watch the long-awaited spy movie, Kingsmen - Secret Service. Directed by Matthew Vaughn (whom last brought us X-men : First Class in 2011) and starring Colin Firth, Taron Egerton and Samuel L. Jackson. It has all the right ingredients and perfect delivery for a spy movie (think along the line of James Bond but funnier). Intelligent plot, suave and nicely choreographed fighting sequence, explosions and funny punchlines, you have it all. Of course, sterling performance from the main characters (especially Colin Firth) cannot be discounted.

 

To me, it is one of the most entertaining (and full of surprises) spy movie that I've watched in the recent years. I totally immersed myself in that 2 hours plus movie experience. I heard the sequel is already in the pipeline ;-) 

 

Some of the good stuff that I like about Kingsmen - Secret Service :

 

1. Clever plot with ample unexpected twists

2. Bold in its delivery, two key scenes worth mentioning are a. crazy massacre in the church b. mass heads explosion in atomic bomb style (coupled with the beautiful symphony music at the background) is quite fun to watch.

3. The spy gadgets (even though we have seen many of them in the James Bond movies but some of the spy gadgets here is cooler as it allows you to control how lethal you want it to be e.g. stun gun vs real gun effect, cool right?)   

 

Don't worry, I am not having an identity crisis yet and I still remember this is a personal finance blog (and not a movie review blog) ;-). Just can't stop myself in relating good movie to investing.

 

Let's get back to the title of this post "Is your investing journey as exciting as the Kingsmen - Secret Service?", maybe I should answer this question myself first : with my not-so-deep investing experience, I would say that my journey so far is anything but exciting. Probably the only moment that I felt most excited was when I received the first dividend cheque in my mailbox. It could be due to the meagre size of my portfolio and/or low in action so far, but I am generally happy with my investment journey thus far. What about you?

 

Come and think of it, excitement might not be the correct sentiment that we want to get out from investment journey ;-)

 

Have you watched Kingsmen - Secret Service? If yes, what is your view? If no, maybe you should take sometime off from your work or investment schedule and give it a shot. Need more convincing? Check out the trailer below:

 

 

Cheers!

 

Market News In 2 Minutes @ 24th February 2015

As stock investors (even though a small one), it is important to keep abreast with the latest financial and market news. Since I am in it, I thought it might be worthwhile to share it out with my readers too.

Hence, I started this "Market News In 2 Minutes" series.

Following are the "Market News In 2 Minutes" for today :

1. Singapore’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) (an indicator for inflation) fell 0.4 percent year-on-year in January. This followed the 0.1 percent contraction in the previous month of December. The contraction of CPI in January was mainly attributed to sharper price declines in direct oil-related items as well as growth moderation in lower food and services inflation. The Monetary Authority of Singapore has forecasted that inflation would be in the range of -0.5 to 0.5 percent this year while core inflation would be between 0.5 and 1.5 percent.  (source : Shares Investment)

2. Asian Pay Television Trust (S7OU) - Its revenue gained 4 percent to $81.8 million for the fourth quarter ended 31 December 2014, underpinned mainly by higher contribution from basic cable television. However, a 23 percent expansion in total operating expenses in particular to a 37.1 percent gain in depreciation and amortisation expenses, led earnings to fall 21.6 percent to $16.3 million. For the full year, revenue surged 72.2 percent while net profit advanced in excess of 100 percent to $114.3 million. The trust has declared a distribution per unit of $0.0213 for the quarter, bringing total distribution for the year to $0.0825 that is in line with the trust’s guidance. (source : Shares Investment)

 

3. Rex International Holding (5WH) - Completed the acquisition of the remaining share capital of Parex Resources (Trinidad) for US$1.5 million. The target company owns a 63.8 percent working interest in the Cory Moruga Block in Trinidad & Tobago. Post acquisition, Rex International will have an 83.8 percent indirect interest in the Cory Moruga Block. The acquisition was funded with proceeds from a share placement in 17 September 2014. (source : Shares Investment)

Cheers!

Singapore Budget 2015 - I Am Not Too Excited About It!

A couple of hours ago, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Tharman Shanmugaratnam has just delivered the highly anticipated Budget 2015. Deemed the most generous Budget in the recent years (since the Global Financial Crisis),  With a proposed overall deficit of S$6.7 billion.

Something new, something old and something for everybody (hopefully)! Personally, I was not overly excited by this year's Budget, in fact, my company surprised me more (pleasantly) in this year's 开工红包 (red packet) ;-)

Anyway, thought it is good idea to share some of the key measures of this year's Budget here : 

1. SkillsFuture Credit: 

My view : I like this innovative measure as personally I am for lifelong learning. Although not all citizens might make full use of this benefits but it will still be something for those who are keen to learn new skills/knowledge.

2. CPF Changes - Increase of Salary Ceiling, Contribution Rate and Interest Rate: 

My view : Some employees/employers might not happy with the raise of salary ceiling as it would means lesser take-home pay (and more employer contribution to employee's CPF). Personally, I will be affected but am happy lock more fund in my CPF for retirement. As for the raise interest rates for older workers, it is a great improvement.

3. Enhanced GST Voucher Scheme:

My view : Just a marginal improvement so not much excitement here. 

4. Personal Income Tax and Service and Conservancy Rebates: 

My view : Find the the Personal Income Tax rebate of 50% is very generous but thought it will be even better if the cap can be raised to say $1,500 or $2,000. Well, beggar cannot be chooser ;-) As for the Service and Conservancy Rebates, as I am staying in 5-Rm HDB and hence adversely affected by this change ;-(

5. Raise of Personal Income Tax Rates for top earners :

My view : To strike a balance, someone has to give more (to ensure that the other can get more)! So, thought this is a logical measure.   

6. Raise of Petrol Duty and Road Tax Rebate as well as Reduction of Foreign Domestic Worker (FDW) Levy:

My view : Personally not benefited from all the above (as I got no car nor maid) but guess will benefits others (especially those with kids/seniors at home) 

(Images source: MOF (Ministry Of Finance, Singapore))

Note : The above are just some key highlights and not the complete list of Budget 2015! 

Are you happy/excited about this year's budget? 

Cheers!

Market News In 2 Minutes @ 23rd February 2015

As stock investors (even though a small one), it is important to keep abreast with the latest financial and market news. Since I am in it, I thought it might be worthwhile to share it out with my readers too.

Hence, I started this "Market News In 2 Minutes" series.

Following are the "Market News In 2 Minutes" for today :

1. Libra Group (5TR) - Via its subsidiary, Kin Xin Engineering, obtained a registration from the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) pertaining to an upgrade of the company’s BCA grading from category L5 to L6 for workhead ME15 (integrated building services). The L6 category which will expire on 1 May 2017, would enable Kin Xin to tender for an unlimited amount of government projects under the approval of BCA. (source : Shares Investment)

Cheers!

Weekend Sharing : Recap Of My blog after 11 months

Today is the 4th day of Chinese New Year (Year Of Goat) and am back to Singapore to get ready for work tomorrow. Hope my readers have a great CNY celebration thus far, if no, fret not, you still have 11 more days to catch-up ;-)

During the 3 days short trip back to my hometown, besides enjoying the reunion steamboat with the siblings and relatives, giving out Ang Pao, the additional pleasant surprise is to accidentally meet with some old secondary school-mates (pun intended) that never been in contact for more than 20 years. Luckily, my appearance didn't change as much (or so I think), as one of my old schoolmate still can recognize me and shouted my full-name from across the table at the Starbucks. When we are getting older with memory starting to get fading away, it is important to get rekindle with our past and relive the fond memories once more.    

Talking about the past, before I've forgotten, maybe it is a good idea to recap how did my blog do after its 11 months of existence (11 months and 3 days to be exact). 

1. Have written 537 posts (including this one) i.e. about 48 blog posts per month (including "2-minutes news" blog series).

2. Attracted 156,402 pageviews as at today (including my own views, it works out to be around 14,200 pageviews per month).

3. Attracted a total of 1,126 comments (it works out to be around 2 comments per post, including my response).

4. Interviewed 23 peer retail investors via my "Interview With Fellow Investors" Blog Series. For details of the interviews, click here.

5. Incorporated a few ads and affiliate links/posts in my blog. On average, the earning so far is about $100 per month, check out this post for the breakdown of my earning.

6. 24 subscribers to my mailing list (if you are interested to receive my daily posts in your inbox, just fill-up your email account on the top-right panel. 

Basing on the above-mentioned progress, I am looking at the following targets in 2015 :

1. To cross 1,000 Posts

2. To attract 500,000 Pageviews (this is a bit of a stretched target, will see how it goes)

3. To interview more than 30 retail investors (it is getting harder to get new investors to join in the fun but will continue to try/poke).

4. Earning from my blog (to maintain the $100 per months average in 2015)

6. To cross 100 subscribers 

How do you do in your blogging journey? 

Cheers!

What Would Be Your Formation Of Your Financial Vehicles Team (In Soccer Sense)?

Being a fan of the world's most beautiful sports aka Soccer, watching the game (especially when my favourite team is playing) can really boost my heart pressure quite a fair bit. For those who like the game will know what I am talking about ;-)

 

As my favourite team went through to the sixth round of FA Cup early this morning, just like to attribute this post to them. You see, soccer is a game of teamwork, the manager need to ensure a balanced team in all positions (strikers, midfielders and defenders). Of course, formation of the team is also an important consideration in the game plan. 

 

In this post, I intend to stretch my imagination quite a bit here. The thought I had in mind is : what if our personal financial journey consists of a group of financial vehicles which mimicking the players of a soccer team and you are the manager? Let's called it Financial Vehicles United (FVU) and each of the player/position represents a type of financial vehicle that you are currently holding, what would be your formation/game plan like that brought you to your current financial status?

 

In case you are still clueless about the game, each soccer team has 11 players (assuming no one was red-carded) on the field and they could be playing on any of the following position :

 

A. The Soccer Positions :

Goal Keeper (Number : 1) - Your last line of defence.

 

Defenders (Number : usually 3 or 4) - Your line of defence against the opponent's attack.

 

Midfielders (Number : usually 3 or 4) - Your versatile players that bridging the defenders and strikers. 

 

Strikers (Number : ranging from 1 to 3) - Your attacking force. Usually the players who score the goals     

 

B. The Financial Vehicles Equivalent:

Example of vehicles that I am talking about are :

1. Savings (including fixed deposits)

2. Emergency Fund

3. Job (full-time, part-time or freelance)

4. Property (for staying)

5. Property (for investment)

6. Stocks/Equities (including ETFs and REITs)

7. Unit Trusts

8. Bonds

9. Commodities

10. Forex Investment

11. Business (online or offline)

12. Insurance (Health)

13. Insurance (Life/Investment-linked)

 

So what do I meant by mimicking the players/position as your financial vehicles? Depending on whether you are an aggressive or conservative "manager", your formation varied.

 

For example, following are my current fictitious formation :

 

FINANCIAL VEHICLES UNITED (FVU)
 THE FORMATION:

 

(GOAL KEEPER)

Savings

 

(DEFENDERS)

Job      

Emergency Fund 

Property (For Staying)

Insurance (Health)

 

(MIDFIELDERS)

Insurance (Life/Investment-linked)

 

(STRIKERS)

Stocks





 

My Game Plan Sheet :

My current game plan (personal financial journey) is quite defensive in nature. As you can see, I need some reinforcement in the "midfielders" and "strikers" departments. Am looking into more variety of stocks and possibly businesses (online) to strengthen my strikers/midfielders position.

 

What is your game plan?

 

This is just my "thinking out loud" post, so it might or might not make sense to you... just read it with a pinch of salt! lol 

 

Cheers!

Market News In 2 Minutes @ 17th February 2015

As stock investors (even though a small one), it is important to keep abreast with the latest financial and market news. Since I am in it, I thought it might be worthwhile to share it out with my readers too.

Hence, I started this "Market News In 2 Minutes" series.

Following are the "Market News In 2 Minutes" for today :

1. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (BS6) - Has secured new shipbuilding orders from JHW Engineering & Contracting, for the construction of two 27,500 cubic metre liquefied natural gas carriers. The vessels are worth a combined US$135 million and are scheduled to be delivered in 2017. (source : Shares Investment)

Cheers!

Interview With Jimmy Of My Creative Invest

Woohoo! Finally gotten my 23rd interviewee for the "Interview With Peer Investors" series. With an average of 2 interviews per month (phew, time flies, my blog already existed for almost 11 months now), I really wanted to thank all the participants (some already become friends) in agreeing to join me for the fun. I truly believed that it is a win-win proposition.

 

My next interviewee is Jimmy of My Creative Invest. He is a few years my junior but definitely has more investing experience than me. Without further ado, let's take a look at Jimmy's investing journey thus far.  

Enjoy!

Q1 : Can you give us a brief introduction about yourself?
Q1 : At this time of writing (Feb 2015), I am a 42 years old male, married with 2 beautiful daughters.

Q2 : Are you a full-time or part-time investor at the moment?
A2 : part-time investor or a hobby to me. Kinda like investment and earning money heehee

Q3 : When (at what age) did you start investing in shares and who has influenced you the most?
A3 : I am not new to investing. In fact I have been investing throughout my life. My mum introduced stock investing to me. She still do stock investing sometimes buying at ridiculous time during bear market and penny stocks. Sometimes I would give her my puzzled look with her buy calls haha. But overall she did better than me, collecting dividends and win some tikams. I first started mine when I was doing my NS dabbling with IPOs and buying stocks etc. Now I still do.

Q4 : Do you view yourself as long-term (holding shares in years), short-term investor (holding shares in days/months) or mixture?
A4 : I used to be a short-term investor banking in capital appreciation of stocks. Now I hoped to be a long term dividend investor

Q5 : What is your basis of selecting the shares to invest (e.g. basing on fundamental analysis, technical analysis or other methods/sources [share a little bit more details if it is the latter])?
A5 : I select my stocks based on high dividend yield, low PE, low PBR, low debt and high ROE. But sometimes its really difficult to find a stock which satisfied all my criteria. So will have to close one-eye on some of the criteria. Basically going for high dividend stock 6% and above.

Q6 : What is your targeted and achieved annual rate of returns (%) so far?
A6 : 6% and above

Q7 : What is your most recommended online investing resource (site or blog) to share with our readers?
A7 : These are some of most active and wise bloggers who never fail to entertain me and give me investment ideas :)
http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.com/ - a investor living a frugal life
http://foreverfinancialfreedom.blogspot.com/ - a young daddy with an impressive portfolio
http://gotmoneygothoney.blogspot.com/ - a young man with a good start
http://createwealth8888.blogspot.com/ - a uncle who achieved financial freedom with his cheeky and sometimes very chim posts eg pillow concept, freehold stocks etc
http://www.investmentmoats.com/ - a very detailed and thoughtful investor
http://sginvnote.blogspot.sg/ - a investor named Richard :)
http://sreitsysteminvestor.blogspot.com/ - a very detailed and REIT focused investor
http://passiveincomefarmer.blogspot.com/ - a modern dividend farmer
http://ladyyoucanbefree.com/ - a rich lady investor
http://singaporemanofleisure.blogspot.com/ - our joker and outspoken Jared
http://diyvalueinvesting.blogspot.com/ - a investor
http://boringinvestor.blogspot.sg/ - a dog lover cum investor, describe stocks as dogs and puppies ... kidding and many more others

Q8 : Besides shares, what other investment are you involved in (e.g. Real Estates, Bonds or REITs etc)?
A8 : I have Asian bond unit trust, a rental property and a fully top-up CPF SA account to take advantage of the almost risk free 4% interest rate

Q9 : What is your current Shares Investment portfolio size ?
A9 : Now my portfolio is still at the growing stage. I have 12 stocks and hope to collect upto 30 or 40 high dividend stocks

Q10 : If the readers what to get in touch with you, how to get hold of you? (Sharing of your website/blog/social media profile etc..)
A10 : Visit me @ http://mycreativeinvest.blogspot.sg/ or like me at https://www.facebook.com/mycreativeinvest

Last but not least, if you are a retail investor and would like to be featured in my "Interview With The Fellow Investors" blog series, please feel free to email me at investopenly@gmail.com.

Also, for the complete list of my interviewees and their posts, check it out here.

Cheers!

Market News In 2 Minutes @ 16th February 2015

As stock investors (even though a small one), it is important to keep abreast with the latest financial and market news. Since I am in it, I thought it might be worthwhile to share it out with my readers too.

Hence, I started this "Market News In 2 Minutes" series.

Following are the "Market News In 2 Minutes" for today :

1. REITS : Religare Health Trust (RF1U) - Its revenue jumped 26.9 percent to $34.1 million for the third quarter ended 31 December 2014, bolstered by higher hospital income in the two operating hospitals. Despite the higher total expenses, net profit surged 53.5 percent to $11.6 million due to $1.5 million fair value gain on financial derivatives. For the nine months, revenue grew 23.8 percent to $100.7 million, however, net profit sank 10.8 percent to $27 million as the growth in total expenses outpaced revenue growth.

Cheers!

My Motto In Life : Keep Going And Keep Smiling

Maybe it is due to the festive mood, for the past 2 months or so, I really laid back to the max in the market and there is no action at my end except some monitoring of the counters in my watch-list. Guess I will be back only after CNY. 

Chinese New Year (CNY) 2015 is just around the corner, 3 more days to go, to be exact. I believed many of us who are celebrating the Lunar New Year are still busy doing our last bit of spring cleaning, festive decoration and food/cookies preparation etc... As usual, will be away from Singapore and back to my hometown for a couple of days (from next Tuesday onward), hence, would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone here an early Happy And Prosperous Lunar New Year:

新年快乐；万事如意！ 

Talking about CNY, I guess the most joyful moment is the gathering with siblings and family members at the reunion dinner/lunch, food is secondary but the moment together is priceless. Talking about priceless, I think besides focusing on building our wealth or achieving financial freedom (the holy grail for most retail investors), it is equally important to maintain a positive mindset. Regardless of where we are heading, there bound to be challenges and road-blocks in front of us, we just need to maintain our positiveness and cross them one by one. 

My motto in life is : Keep Going And Keep Smiling! 

(Sequel to my motto : we can't control other's action but we can always control our reaction)

What's yours?

Cheers!

Interesting Infographic About Blogging And How Much Can A Successful Blog Earn?

To me, my blog is not only a platform to share my view, story or anything come to mind, in regards to stock investing, it is also an avenue for me to test water on how feasible is it for us to create an extra stream of "passive" income out of it. I am still learning and constantly in the fine-tuning mode. So, pardon me if it looks kind of crowded at times. 

The question I hope to answer is : how real is this potential, especially for unknown bloggers like me? (bearing in mind that not everyone can be, or want to be like Xia Xue).

Throughout my 11 months tenure since the existence of this blog, following are the monetization model that I've applied and their outcome :

1. Advertisements through banner placement/in-text ads : negligible i.e. haven't reach the minimum withdrawal amount yet.

2. Affiliate Marketing through ad banner/review posts : $1,000 - accumulative. I am quite surprise that this is the most performing model for me. I guess luck plays a major part here. 

3. Sponsored Posts : $100 - accumulative. It is hard to come by nowadays, only did 1 sponsored post thus far.

On average, it is about $100 per month. Of course, there is no guarantee that it is sustainable in the long run but it answered my initial self-doubt of earning some real "passive" income via online (the reason I put the word passive inside the quotation mark is because it is not really passive like earning interest/dividend without the need to do anything, Some level of commitment is required to research and blog about it). 

Recently, I chanced upon a cool Infographic by Ignite Spot, entitled Blogconomy. Thought some of you folks might be interested to know too. Some of the pertinent questions answered by this beautiful infographic are :

1. What are the types of blogger?

2. Average earning of blogger (in US)

3. Top 10 blogs with the highest earning (in US)  

4. Tips and tricks of monetizing your blog and many more...

Personally, I consider myself an hobbyist blogger and work towards becoming a part-time professional blogger. What about you?

Cheers!

Market News In 2 Minutes @ 12nd February 2015

As stock investors (even though a small one), it is important to keep abreast with the latest financial and market news. Since I am in it, I thought it might be worthwhile to share it out with my readers too.

Hence, I started this "Market News In 2 Minutes" series.

Following are the "Market News In 2 Minutes" for today :

1. Swiber Holdings (AK3) - Has secured a contract worth US$310 million ($422 million), the second-largest in its history, from a national oil company in South Asia. The project lifts the firm's order book to US$1.6 billion, is expected to be completed in March 2017.  (Source : The Edge Singapore)

2. Genting Singapore (G13) - Has officially broken ground for Resorts World Jeju (RWJ), its much-touted $1.8 billion integrated resort in Jeju, South Korea. It is slated for progressive opening beginning 2017 and will be fully completed by 2019. (Source : The Edge Singapore)

Cheers!

Market News In 2 Minutes @ 12nd February 2015

As stock investors (even though a small one), it is important to keep abreast with the latest financial and market news. Since I am in it, I thought it might be worthwhile to share it out with my readers too.

Hence, I started this "Market News In 2 Minutes" series.

Following are the "Market News In 2 Minutes" for today :

1. REITS : Lippo Malls Indonesia Retail Trust (D5IU) - Posted a 5.7 percent gain in net property income to $32.9 million for the fourth quarter ended 31 December 2014, on the back of higher gross rental income that was helped by positive rental reversions. Subsequently, total unitholders’ distribution gained 27.4 percent to $17.6 million. For the full year, net property income sank 12.1 percent to $126 million mainly due to translation losses that has caused revenue to take a hit, while total unitholders’ distribution fell 6.9 percent to $68 million. The trust has declared a distribution per unit of $0.0071. (Source : Shares Investment)

2. Sembcorp Industries (U96) - Proposed the acquisition of a 60 percent stake in Green Infra, a renewable energy company in India with a portfolio consisting of wind and solar energy generating sources, for INR10.6 billion (approximately $227 million). This acquisition marks Sembcorp’s entry into India’s renewable energy market, and is aligned with the company’s strategy towards growing its renewable energy business. The transaction is expected to conclude by the end of the month. (Source : Shares Investment)

3. SMJ International Holdings (40B) - Has been awarded three contracts worth $1.3 million for the supply and installation of carpets for the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), the Defence Science and Technology Agency, and Mediacorp. Apart from the contract for A*Star which has commenced earlier this year, the other two contracts are expected to commence during the mid of 2015. (Source : Shares Investment)

Cheers!

Wongamania - Second Serving And The Happy Gathering

Thanks to Alvin of Big Fat Purse, managed to catch-up with a few peer financial bloggers for the second serving of Wongamania board game at their prestige office. Click here to see the review of my first game. The best part of such gathering is to meet peers that we used to 'communicate" only through our mutual blogs.

Prior to the game, has a casual chat with the founder (Xeo) of Wongamania game and get to know more about the challenges that he has gone through to bring the first edition of board game to the market. Much to learn from him especially his entrepreneurship spirit. Not only that, he is taking the feedback from the users very seriously and enhanced version of the game (including the online version) is on its way.   

I am honored to meet some of popular peer bloggers during the session e.g.:

1. Jared Seah of Singapore Man of Leisure. - The famous "poker" in our community (no, I am not referring to those gambling kind of poker, I am talking about those who like to poke people online via comment ;-)).  First time meeting him and he is milder in person that I originally thought. I guess we know each other a little bit better now but will still continue to poke each other through our mutual blogs.  

2. Lionel Yeo of Cheerful Egg - I read somewhere that Lionel is deemed the most charming presenter in the recent Financial Bloggers event and after meeting him, I got to agree with the author. He even bring along his equally charming girlfriend for the game, lovely couple. 

3. Kyth Ng of Investment Moats - I visited his blog quite regularly as his posts are usually very well researched and written. 

4. Derek Lim of the popular local financial blogs aggregator, The Finance - He seems to be everywhere in such community gathering, which is a great thing.

Of course, let's not forget some other bloggers whom I've met before e.g. T of My15HWW, SH of SG Young Investment and Christopher Ng of Tree Of Prosperity. Also, honored to meet our one and only lifestyle blogger of the night, Melvin Lee, owner of A Winsome Life as well as Winston Koh (one of my Facebook friend) there.   

It's a fun-filled night with lots of laughter, food, wine and cool entertainment of live band singing by one of Alvin's friend as well as our very own talented singer, Christopher Ng. I've took a couple of photos during the session, can you recognize any of them in the following photos?

Ok, let's come back to the Wongamania game for the closure. Since this is my second round, I think I am quicker in responding to the "economic environment" and playing my opportunity cards better. Hence, I am the humble winner of the first set of the game. But for the second set of the game, I went bankrupt along the way, while Lionel clinched his first win.      

Cheers!

P/S: During our chatting session, there is one particular pioneer blogger (his moniker starts with CW and ends with 4 huat numbers) which many of us hope to meet next (you know who you are, so you know what to do next right?) ;-)

Market News In 2 Minutes @ 11th February 2015

As stock investors (even though a small one), it is important to keep abreast with the latest financial and market news. Since I am in it, I thought it might be worthwhile to share it out with my readers too.

Hence, I started this "Market News In 2 Minutes" series.

Following are the "Market News In 2 Minutes" for today :

1. REITS : Croesus Retail Trust (S6NU) - Posted a 48.8 percent gain in net property income (NPI) to JPY1.2 billion for the second quarter ended 31 December 2014, underpinned mainly by the contributions from three newly acquired properties, namely Luz Omori, Croesus Tachikawa and One’s Mall. Subsequently, income available for distribution was up 22.7 percent to JPY874.8 million. For the six months, NPI grew 11.4 percent to JPY2.3 billion while income available for distribution declined 10.1 percent to JPY1.7 billion mainly as a result of higher finance costs. The trust has declared a distribution per unit of $0.025 in addition to $0.0166 in advance distribution for the half-year period. (Source : Shares Investment)

2. REITS : Far East Hospitality Trust (Q5T) - Its NPI sank 9.2 percent to $27.7 million for the fourth quarter ended 31 December 2014, amid softer hotel rates as a result of weaker corporate business and an increase in hotel room supply. Subsequently, income available for distribution fell 8.8 percent to $22.9 million. For the full year, NPI dipped 1.7 percent to $110 million and income available for distribution slid 3.3 percent to $91.5 million. The trust has declared a distribution per unit of $0.0128 for the quarter. (Source : Shares Investment)

3. REITS : Saizen Trust (T8JU) - Its NPI stood flat at JPY686 million for the second quarter ended 31 December 2014, mainly as a result of a slight dip in average occupancy rate and lower rental reversions. A 24.6 percent decrease in finance costs was negated by lower unrealised foreign exchange gain as net profit was flattish at JPY457.3 million. For the six months, NPI dropped 2.1 percent to JPY1.4 billion and net profit gained 15.5 percent to JPY892.7 million which was helped by divestment gains on properties and fair value gains on financial derivatives. The trust has declared a distribution per unit of $0.031 for the six-month period. (Source : Shares Investment)

Cheers!

Market News In 2 Minutes @ 10th February 2015

As stock investors (even though a small one), it is important to keep abreast with the latest financial and market news. Since I am in it, I thought it might be worthwhile to share it out with my readers too.

Hence, I started this "Market News In 2 Minutes" series.

Following are the "Market News In 2 Minutes" for today :

1. REITS : Cache Logistics Trust (K2LU) - Proposed the acquisition of three warehouse properties located in Australia for their valuations of AUD70 million (approximately $73.4 million). The trust intends to finance the acquisition through bank borrowings. The properties will be fully leased for a weighted average lease to expiry of 9.7 years with fixed annual escalations of 3 to 3.5 percent. (Source : Shares Investment)

2. Jardine Cycle & Carriage (C07) - Via its subsidiary, Platinum Victory, acquired 8 million shares in Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation (REE), a diversified business group, for US$12.3 million. Post acquisition, JCC’s shareholding in REE will be lifted to 21.6 percent where REE will be an associated company to JCC. The acquisition will be funded by internal resources. (Source : Shares Investment)

3. Singapore Post (S08) - Has acquired an additional 1.8 million shares in the capital of GD Express Carrier (GDEX), an associated company of SingPost that is listed on the main market of Bursa Malaysia, for RM2.4 million (approximately $0.9 million). In addition, the company has also received 72.2 million shares in GDEX from a bonus issue. Post acquisition and bonus issue, SingPost will own 24.2 percent of the enlarged share capital in GDEX. (Source : Shares Investment)

4. Starburst Holdings (40D) - Has been awarded contracts totalling $2.5 million for a project located in the Middle East. Under the contracts, the company’s subsidiary, Starburst Engineering will undertake ballistic protection works for a firearm training facility in the Middle East. The contract is scheduled to commence in February 2015 and complete in September 2015. (Source : Shares Investment)

Cheers!

An Interesting Article On The Origin Of The Ever Important S-11

Yes, I am talking about MONEY, the DOLLAR sign (I think many of us like to call it S-Eleven too)!

Have you ever thought of why the dollar sign is an "S" with one or two line through it and not other character? It is definitely not related to Singapore, not even close! ;-)

Today, I read an interesting article talking about the origin of the dollar sign. I thought since most retail investors here are after this very powerful sign, you folks might be interested to know too. 

Click here to read the article.

Today is Monday, so, just a short filler post... ;-)

Market News In 2 Minutes @ 9th February 2015

As stock investors (even though a small one), it is important to keep abreast with the latest financial and market news. Since I am in it, I thought it might be worthwhile to share it out with my readers too.

Hence, I started this "Market News In 2 Minutes" series.

Following are the "Market News In 2 Minutes" for today :

1. Otto Marine (G4F) - Announced it had secured two long term charter contracts worth up to US$64 million ($86 million) from its Australia oil major client. (source : The Edge Singapore)

2. Cosco Corp (F83) - Announced that its subsidiaries, Cosco (Zhoushan Shipyard Co)  has secured contracts worth a total of about US$160 million ($215 million). (source : The Edge Singapore)

3. Soilbuild Constructon (S7P) - has won a $25.9 million contract to design and construct an eight-storey single-use e-commerce hub at Tampines North. (source : The Edge Singapore)

Cheers!

Our Most Valuable Asset Isn't Money Or Property Or Stocks. It's A _______ !

I like advertisements (be it the full-length TV advertisement, banners on the public transports, graphics/text advertisement on newspapers, magazine, online or offline etc..). Reason? At times, we can find one or two bright sparks which are quite inspiring.

Today, while reading through the Sunday Times, I came across a full-page advertisement by DBS with the header that caught my eye :

Our Most Valuable Asset Isn't Money Or Property Or Stocks.

It's A Spark.

Of course, the Spark here is about the fire deep within us, the one that ignite our dream, our story and our history... Ok ok, this ads is more related to celebrity our National birthday SG50 but I kind of like it and agree with the motto.

As long as we keep our inner fire burning and let it sparks continuously, we already have our most valuable asset!

Hope you folks have a great Sunday and keep the Sparks coming... ;-)

Cheers!  

Weekend Sharing : 15 Powerful Quotes From Value Investing Gurus And My Personal Favourite Is No 10

It's a relaxing Saturday, after went for my haircut (get ready for the Chinese New Year) and got reminded of my resemblance with a famous cartoon character (by the hair stylist), I am back to my desk now and blogging my way...;-)

I like to read, especially like those books with relevant inspiring quotes as pre-sharing before every chapter. Taking Charge With Value Investing (by Brian Nichols) is one such book which I am currently reading. While I am still half-way through the book, I thought some of the Value Investing related quotes quoted in the book are worth sharing here. 

I believed many of you folks are familiar with them (if you are an avid reader yourself) but no harm re-visiting them to keep ourselves on track right? ;-)

1. "Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway" ~~ Warren Buffet

Warren Buffet

2. "I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years" ~~ Warren Buffet

3.  "Whether we're talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down" ~~ Warren Buffet

4. "The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing"  ~~ Phillip Fisher

Phillip Fisher

5. "Although it's easy to forget sometimes, a share is not a lottery ticket... it's part-ownership of a business"  ~~ Peter Lynch

Peter Lynch

6. "Know what you own, and know why you own it"  ~~ Peter Lynch

7. "Everyone has the brainpower to make money in stocks. Not everyone has the stomach. If you are susceptible to selling everything in panic, you ought to avoid stocks and mutual fund altogether"  ~~ Peter Lynch

8. "Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful"  ~~ Warren Buffet

9. "Every once in a while, the market does something so stupid it takes your breath away"  ~~ Jim Cramer

Jim Cramer

10. "The investor's chief problem - and even his worst enemy - is likely to be himself"  ~~ Benjamin Graham 

Benjamin Graham

11. "Much success can be attributed to inactivity. Most investors cannot resist temptation to constantly buy and sell"  ~~ Warren Buffet

12. "The key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them"  ~~ Peter Lynch

13. "A big part of being strong financially is that you know where you are weak and take action to make sure you don't fall prey to the weakness. And we ALL are weak"  ~~ Dave Ramsey

Dave Ramsey

14. "Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing"  ~~ Warren Buffet

15. "An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest"  ~~ Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin

Personally, I like #10 the best, what about you?

Cheers!