Comments on: Wing Tai's AGM

Today, I'm the proxy to attend Wing Tai's AGM but then I was about 15 mins late so, it's actually over LOL. Well the AGM is actually held at Raffles City Atrium Convention Centre. Amazingly, the AGM lasted about 10mins according to the chairman. What I can guage from the AGM is that they are very successful in coaxing their shareholders in terms of their needs. Most of them are not young and they seems to be mainly there for the food. Probably 'cos those young ones didn't bother to attend AGM as what I used to do as well.

What I can say is that the chairman is pretty responsive when I ask him questions as he is able to answer my questions almost immediately. Just that he doesn't feel very comfortable answering them. Hence, my conclusion is that either the Chairman and board of directors are very competent so their shareholders gave them 100% trust and thus didn't ask any questions at all, or the shareholders that attended are really there just for the food and they can't be bothered about their investments at all.

My take is that I'm pretty glad that I'm only a proxy and didn't have any shareholdings there. After all, if the crowd is not that concerned, I felt very concerned somehow. In fact, it sort of reminded me about the Eastern Holdings' AGM that I went to the last time round, just that I'm the only one that asked questions and hence, the overall meeting was a bit longer. Now, I'm quite glad that I've already sold all my holdings in Eastern Holdings as of now.

Highlights from Investment Outlook Seminar

After attending the Investment Outlook Seminar conducted by Financial Alliance Pte Ltd on Thurs, I felt that the presenter of seminar is pretty honest and frank about their sharing as well as in their investment strategy. The way they help their clients invest is not just by purely asset allocation but rather based on their research and market analysis in order to protect their client's capital. 

Although they too lost money during the economic downturn, the chart they showed us still has a positive return of 8% p.a. if the investment period is from 2004 to now. It looks pretty positive and consistent, yet slightly better as compared to the index benchmark they shown us. I'm not too sure about why they picked those benchmark but it seems pretty ok to me. I'd attend it again if I had the chance to.

The speaker mentioned that they believe that the current market might be at the beginning of the 4-stage Recovery Model that they shared with us. Which means the market will probably continue to go up for the next 3 - 6 months, according to their sharing. But the more curious part that I've yet to find out is what's next after the Recovery Model? Is it another breakdown, and hence the cycle repeats or is there some Stabilization Model after it?

They also mentioned that there's still worries about the slowing global economy and weaker earnings yet the market is pretty much in a bull run recently, probably due to the need to generate returns currently. Hence, it's more of an technical analysis sort of thing as there's not really any justifiable fundamental analysis to backup the uptrend in the current market situation. Which I think we will need to be more careful of our investments to ensure that there's at least some fundamental backing wherever possible so that we can sleep better at night and stay invested.

The 4 stage of recovery shared is pretty interesting: 

1. 1st stage is the base building toward recovery, which is in a way at the bottom of the market. 
2. 2nd stage is the adjustment from an oversold position, which means the market will correct upward rapidly.
3. 3rd stage is the consolidation period where the market moves sideways.
4. 4th stage is the new upward tend, whereby the market just keeps going up.

Then, I didn't see anymore diagram, so I'm not too sure what's next after that. But I felt that it should be after the market hit the peak then it'll lose balance and collapse again (Just my personal feeling, 'cos since nothing is shown, but from what I saw in the charts, it does look that way, although it's not highlighted.).

Anyway, they too have the disclaimers to tell us not to rely on their analysis and judgment too much, we should consult our adviser before any purchase, etc. So it's still back to... Please exercise independent thinking and not follow blindly. Whatever it is, just make sure that you know what you are doing. :-)

US National Debt Clock

During the MIPA program that I've attend at the beginning of this month, we got to visit this Interesting Site - U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time. It's amazing how the amount of debt gets higher all the time and it keeps me pondering about... What's next? Perhaps the great stock market sale is still in the making. Let's look forward to it :)

Difference Between DBSS and BTO

The main difference between DBSS (Design, Build and Sell Scheme) and BTO (Build to Order) is:

• DBSS are new flats in mature estates developed by private developers, hence are not considered to be subsidized. So 2nd time HDB buyers do not need to pay HDB resale levy if they buy such flats.
• BTO are new flats in new (aka upcoming) estates developed by the HDB, hence they are still considered to be subsidized. So 2nd time HDB buyers will need to pay HDB resale levy if they were to buy such flats.

With this major difference, those HDB home buyers that can afford DBSS may buy through DBSS instead of BTO flats. Another advantage of the DBSS is that it allows family with higher income to purchase a HDB flat as well, instead of just being able to purchase condominiums. The gross household income eligible to buy such flats range from $8 - 10K a month, with up to $12K a month if they are purchasing together with their extended family. (i.e. to be purchased with their parents-in-law's name)

As for BTO, the maximum gross household income is actually $8K a month only.


Download: Knight Frank Research Paper on "An assessment of the
Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS)" to find out more about DBSS and BTO.

POSB Everyday Card - How to Save $ with it?

The new POSB Everyday Card has a auto top up feature that's something like the CitiBank SMRT card. Just that from experience, last time when I use the SMRT card from CitiBank, actually it totally didn't give me any rebate because I spend merely $50 using that feature only. So in the end, after 1 use, I decided to just terminate that card since it's quite pointless anyway, I heard that you need to spend at least $600 to get the 2% rebates. And if I remember correctly, there's some activation fee or something that comes along with it.

Now, with the new POSB Everyday Card, it's truly a money saving card that gives me the same 2% rebates without any condition at all. That's what I love about POSB Everyday Card :)

Fyi, Effectively the 2% rebates is just 2% less $0.25 only. So it's not exactly 2%. But it's definitely worth your time activating the feature because you will save money using that. Most importantly, you won't need to top up your ezlink card ever again. Why not save $ and time at the same time with it? That kills 2 birds with 1 stone :P

I've also come to realised that actually it's better to accumulate the Daily$ till it reaches about $10 - 20. Then use internet banking to offset your bills with it. This way, you get to enjoy all the potential rebates from anything that you ever spend on and yet get to use your Daily$ to offset your bill. But of course, you must do that early 'cos generally, it can only offset your next bill that way.

See also: How to Activate POSB Everyday Card's Ez link feature.