Travel Hack: Promo Coupon Code to Thailand on SQ

This is rather unexpected and interesting find on the internet. Looking for a short getaway and on a premiium airline where it is presumably safer than most and yet have full flight service and entertainment? Look no where to Thailand on SIA. I guess the deal is while stocks last or end of promotional period.

Promocode: BKK170 (Roundtrip to Bangkok-All in)

Conditions: Book by 30 Sep 2017, minimum of 1 passenger, minimum stay of 2 days to maximum stay of 14 days, no cancellation no refunds and no itinerary change

Some outbound restrictions are involved:

Outbound travel period

Sun 01 Oct 2017 to Wed 15 Nov 2017

          Thu 28 Dec 2017 to Sun 31 Dec 2017

Validity: as long as the flight is completed by 14 Jan 2018

*A small perk though, if you have miles to spare, the flight could be cashless for you.

You can earn miles on this flight but no miles upgrade though.

Valid outbound flight: Valid on SQ976/SQ978/SQ982 only                               

Valid inbound flight: Valid on SQ973/SQ975/SQ981 only

Investments, Deals, Value & Perception and a new project

It is really been a while since I last wrote something on my blog but it takes really quite a bit of effort in building something like that. Then also, I have been rather ambitious to seek value buys, budgeting, thinking of value before putting my money into something.

Then it really then occur to me to note down something that I can look back many years later. That in searching for the most value investment out there, there is this very strong perception of "value". What is considered value to one doesn't mean it is to another but in all, Singaporeans love free stuff and considers that value. I've personally seen people who display that they are entitled to free stuffs without asking.

Typically we live in a no-free lunch world today, what is your gain is another person's loss. The loss may not be quantifiable in terms of monetary but rather in time, effort and energy. So while we are lucky enough to be able to not worry about things our forefathers did. Let's just stay grateful and be graceful whenever we have the luxury to obtain certain privileges beyond the common man.

I was just typically looking at some of the singapore stocks to add value to missus and my retirement portfolio and they looked typically like any other commoners out there - Singtel, Singapore O&G, Comfort Delgro (Not now actually) and Raffles Medical. Then it really struck me that all of us are really different, which is why the market shows efficiency while it is inefficient. That in my opinion means opportunity. I'm no Warren Buffet, neither can I eat a buffet at my current age anymore (all rights that was rather cold)

I've been looking for value for some time now and it is really difficult to find these investments out there that you want to keep for a really really long time. Fintech and coins were somthing I was looking at for the longest time but with the recent hiatus, I'm staying put for a short while but I do think that coins are the typical high risk, high returns kind of profile which I am willing to expose some risk to take on such investments.

After all, our little one is almost out in 2018 and its our first and precious little baby. Done the sum and the budgeting, oh boy....some money is going down the drain and it's probably deficit for a short term.

Speaking of which, I really like to find a good deal which is why I'm probably going to diverse the blog into a promotion/deal finder together with investments information. The deals are probably going to be more finance related, offering more channels to do reading and researching which I personally love to do to find a good "value" buy.

Speaking of which, I was rather satisfied I got into some of Singapore O&G at the recent low of 0.45 (with a yield of about 3-4% p.a.) I'm happy with this new addition to what I call Missus and the PS Asset Management which is relevant for our retirement planning. Life is never that simple, we've been through a great deal and are hopeful  that things will pick up before end of this year and I will continue to run PS management without any outflows.

As I also mentioned earlier, it is almost another ambition of mine to manage what i call the children fund (i.e. education fund and well I'm quite a sucker for these kind of stuff and so I came up with a name LN Foundation based on our incoming first born initials) but I had to hold that off for the moment.

I read online about Rosthchild Family (their shrewd management of their family funds) and their history as well as the famous bankrupted Vanderbilt (3 generations of wealth and it is gone) That kind of sparked me to want to be able to do this specialty fund for the next generations so that the basic necessities of life such as education and shelter is provided for and the opportunities that lies ahead of them will be their own to grasp.

Stay tuned for more. I just had a bit of a research done on Private Integrated Shield Plans and I probably will touch a bit on that.

A revisit to ETF Reits

As it turns out, I'm revisiting the other two ETF reits that were launched earlier this  year. Quite a number of people were rather yield starved and with that bullish USD interest rate hike that was like a guaranteed bomb. I blame the media for setting off such rumours, the central bank will never act on just pure speculation but rather more than data and in today's world, even more data that they can ever get. A big economy like the USA is something that most people watches although that has slowly diminished after successful propaganda by the emergence of our Chinese neighbours. Don't get me wrong, it is kind of good that they are getting their act together, it is just that there's much more skeptism more than ever since anything and everything can be fake. Profits over anything else some people say so I say stay alert.

Well, back to the point here. I was trying to look for yield related stuffs that could add on to the portfolio and when I did a quick filter away from reits, there isn't much that is available on the SGX that is sizeable (i.e. blue chip enough) and so to diversify that reits risk thingy, I went into the details and tried to see if I could mimick the fund portfolio. As it turns out, it might be too much of a challenge.

Diversity lies in the location: Singapore, Hongkong, China, Australia with the scope to add on more countries according to the fund manager.(Exposes some FX risks)

Diversity in the types of holdings: Office, retails, industrial, others and more diversified real estates (Exposes to certain sectors that are cyclical in nature)

Lower fees as compared to a fund, as it is structured as an ETF (Exchange Traded Funds), it's annual management fees are also lesser than usual. (Cheaper but more passively managed)

Yield: approximately 4-5% p.a. nett for all the trouble, perhaps even using different brokers and also different FX rates. Believe it or not, institutions get a better Forex rate just because they have the size to do so and sometimes, the fees on the allocation can be rather cheaper than a retail. It's pretty much how you value it. Some people prefer total control, counting the pennies (every cents counts) while some delegate with a little bit of fees paid that is reasonable to them.

NIKKO AM - Straits Trading Asia Ex Japan ETF (Check that out here: Nikko AM reit ETF) and Philips SGX APAC dividend Leaders reit ETF (Check that one here: Poems reit ETF)

Pretty much in similar context jus that with Philips, the majority holdings will be Australian reits (about 60%) while Nikko AM will be the majority with Singapore reits (about 60%)

Always do your due dilligence, after all everyone has different risk levels. After all, this is all about learning from one another and hopefully over time, the financial literacy increases while the naysayers and the keyboard warriors decreases.

The need for an Emergency Fund?

So, the last few weeks I saw and discussed with many others about the need for an emergency fund, the purpose of an emergency fund and the reason for an emergency fund. I can't say more that I am a pro-believer of an emergency fund. Yes, the nay-sayers are out there thinking about the every single penny that is without a higher interest cost. After all, everyone is programmed differently and we react differently in the response of what we termed as a "decision".

How much one's emergency fund really depends, a fresh graduate (For example who make three grand a month) may not have much disposable income after netting off parents' allowances, school loan if any and daily expenses. A typical planner would say probably three to six months worth of cash fund to tide through any sudden surge in expenses. I'll say that is rather quite a decent sum to begin with. How then should the emergency funds look like for someone who is in his 30s, 40s and 50s? A $9k emergency fund ten years down the road does not reflect an emergency fund 20 years down the road. People change, society change, lives change and money value changes certainly. I can't speak for everyone but I do see that almost everyone's spending pattern increases when they get a promotion, get married, buying a house, buying a car, having children, family members becomes sick, friends who are retrenched, friends who fall into financial debt and many more. We are not the person we were at ten years old so neither will we be at twenty years old.

Against others who says there isn't a need for such funds, perhaps the only uncertain thing in life is to know that no one ever knows what or when something is going to hit us hard and fast until probably we have to come facing it on our own. It is probably then too late to realise so. If there isn't a need or purpose to think of that in such a manner, at least think of it as paying/investing in yourself first before other things. Away with the thoughts of "Spend first save the rest or Save first and spend the rest" There isn't really a one size fit all theory. Afterall, how many of us are blessed to have people taking care of our education, exposures, overseas trips, trend and fashion purchases when we were still young and not understand the meaning behind financial planning.

To pay/invest in yourself, perhaps there is that profession certificate that you are aiming for or even to build those first $100K before age 30 or 25. Even before you dwell into that, put that emergency funds aside because there will be a time where there will be a use for it and it could prove to be extremely useful when the time comes.

So, I hear folks who tells me bonds, equities, funds are liquid and they can easily get funds out when they need them. I'll probably say no because emergency funds are defined as emergency funds and you got to understand the reason why it is called that. It should be as liquid as cash on hand, cash in bank and at most in Fixed Deposits that can be pre-terminated early.

Bond price, equity prices, fund prices will rise and fall. In times of recession, the true sellers outweighs all buyers and it is a false sense of security on the understanding of liquidity. In times where there is immediate use of the cash on hand. Emergency funds gives that comfort and security in doing so and I find there there is no better way at this moment unless there are disruptions that change the way we may be able to do these.

The types of China Shares

Ever wondered what kind of investments are there available no the China and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges? Well, you could simply goggle them and you will probably find the answers but ask yourself again in 2 months time and most likely you will be doing the same again without putting it right in your memory block. Unless, you have an interest for China equity market that story might be different but if you are in it for the quick kill then it probably doesn't really matter much from this post down.

A shares -  Securities in China market refers to stocks that trade on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges.

B shares - Similarly, B shares are the same as A shares but their shares trade in USD. These stocks, known as “B shares”, and most likely used to raise capital overseas. B shares also allowed foreign investors to invest in the market without the restrictions.

H shares - Securities trade on the Hang Seng Index rather than on the mainland China and they are priced in HKD

Red chips - State-owned Chinese companies incorporated outside the mainland China and traded in Hong Kong.

P-chips - Nonstate-owned Chinese companies incorporated outside the mainland China and most often in certain foreign jurisdictions and traded in Hong Kong.

N-shares Chinese companies incorporated outside the mainland, most often in certain foreign jurisdictions, and U.S.-listed on the NYSE or Nasdaq (ADRs of H-shares or P-chips)