Articles
Why Most Needs Can Be Covered By Term Insurance?
Mark is a good friend of mine. Some years back he had the opportunity of his life time to build his dream house on a piece of land given to him by his grandfather and he had a budget of $1 million. After many months of construction and renovation, it was finally...
When Markets Fall Because of an Epidemic: Stay Put, Stay Healthy
This article is adapted from an email to MoneyOwl clients on 28 January 2020. I usually write to our investing clients once a month after the month end, but the jitters surrounding the spread of the coronavirus spurred me to do so earlier. At the start of the week on...
To Do Well In Your Investments, Ignore Market Outlooks
A year ago, at about this time, market watchers were generally pessimistic about 2019. After all, just a month ago on Christmas Eve of 2018, markets (represented by MSCI World Index) fell by 11.76% as fears of an impending trade war between China and US grew. We...
Giving Your Child a Financial Head Start – CNY Edition
Happy 2020 and what a busy start to the year it has been! This article is for parents who are interested in imbuing their children with financial wisdom. Just as we are getting into the swing of things, i.e., getting balance in our work-life, recovering from the mini...
Why We Have No Strategic Allocation to Gold
"All that glitters is not gold; Often have you heard that told: Many a man his life hath sold But my outside to behold: Gilded tombs do worms enfold." - The Merchant of Venice Gold recently hit a 7-year high with the recent talk of military conflict between the US and...
We have no 2020 outlook
A very happy new year! At this time of the year, fund managers like to do a review of markets in the past year and a forecast or outlook for the coming year. Occasionally, a few would compare – usually when they are right – the market in review versus their initial...
2019 Market Review
A lot can happen in a year. Looking back at how 2018 ended, it was hard to be extremely bullish headed into 2019, yet as it turns out, extreme bullishness is what gripped both stock and bond market investors over the course of the year. The US stock market fell almost...
Optimising Your CPF with a Personal Touch (Pt. 2)
In our earlier article (click here to refer), we looked at the projected CPF savings of a new joiner to the workforce with plans to get his own place after 5 years. In this article, we will look at a middle-aged profile looking at upgrading their property. Profile 2:...
Are you ready for the year-end shopping spree? A Financial Checklist!
As the year comes to a close, we are bombarded by 11.11, 12.12, Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. We see them all over the Internet, via mobile notifications or even decals splashed across the MRT stations, there is no running away that the advertisers are out for...
Optimising Your CPF with a Personal Touch (Pt. 1)
The 2019 Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index which was published in October 2019 scored Singapore’s pension system (proxied by the CPF) a B, the highest rating accorded to an Asian country. The B score was also given to Scandinavian countries like Finland, Norway,...
12th November CIO Letter
Dear Client, From CEO/CIO: Happiness on 28th October, SRS tax savings and other musings Does what happen in the stock market every day make you happy or sad? If so, every year, you should be happiest on the 28th of October. Because 28th October is historically the...
Retirement Sum Scheme payouts pays up to age 90 instead of age 95 now
From next year, CPF members who are receiving payouts or will start to receive payouts under the Retirement Sum Scheme (RSS) may see an increase in their payout amount of up to $50. As part of the change, all extra interest earned from age 55 till start of payouts...
