Where And What To Invest If You Have 100k?

[random_username 0]

After yesterday... i think 100k in the bank as FD is the best..

Yesterday gold drop along with dow jo, signalling a unexpected freefall..All asian currency drop against the dollar.

all this pointing to fact that foreign investor are pulling out their funds from safe heaven and asia to "help" dow jo..

Good luck on the ride!

sorry, i don't get what you are trying to say. the closing prices today for your deposit are still in your favour, no? did you have a target price/value in mind when you started out? tia!

Edited August 5, 2011 by random_username

[godloveyou 0]

After yesterday... i think 100k in the bank as FD is the best..

Yesterday gold drop along with dow jo, signalling a unexpected freefall..All asian currency drop against the dollar.

all this pointing to fact that foreign investor are pulling out their funds from safe heaven and asia to "help" dow jo..

Good luck on the ride!

http://www.goldprice.org/spot-gold.html

Gold was at SGD52/g a yr ago, now SGD65/g. If bought at that time for 220gm.

Now = 220-(0.12x12) = 218.56g

Gain = (65-52) x 218.5 = 2,840.5

Principal= 220x52=11,440

yield (pa)=2840.5/11440 = 24.82%

Why not??? FD offers ~2% pa

Edited August 5, 2011 by godloveyou

[random_username 0]

http://www.goldprice.org/spot-gold.html

Gold was at SGD52/g a yr ago, now SGD65/g. If bought at that time for 220gm.

Now = 220-(0.12x12) = 218.56g

Gain = (65-52) x 218.5 = 2,840.5

Principal= 220x52=11,440

yield (pa)=2840.5/11440 = 24.82%

Why not??? FD offers ~2% pa

he/she posted he/she bought this june at 60.22. in any case, closing now will attract additional account closure fee of $30 (account open less than 6 months) and gst on the fees (see link happyhouse88 provided) how do these change the result calculated? thanks!

Edited August 5, 2011 by random_username

[HappyHouse88 0]

duplicate...

So invest if you have a strong heart..

Edited August 6, 2011 by HappyHouse88

[HappyHouse88 0]

hi maybe i shld have elaborate on why i think it's better to stay in fd.

Actually i made quite a decent return since i placed the gold.. and actually i am currently still holding on to the 220g which rosed to 65.24 today.

So total is 220 x $5 = $1100 profit! minus ~ $100 admin fee.. It's a huge return for mere 13k.

However, during the crash of the dj, gold actually went down. And that's "scary". i remember reading somewhere that when the mkt crash like in 2008. Gold wont be spared too. It may just go down together with stock..And also to note that gold is priced in USD. If USD goes down, the increase in gold price may not give you a positive up on gold investment made in SGD. And if you observed the chart actually gold lower in june that in jan this year, in terms of SGD because QE1/QE2 which depreciate the USD. In turbulence time like now, it better just keep cash and wait for the mkt to calm down. Any investment you do now, is speculation/gamble in a sense.

So invest if you have a strong heart..

In any case, most of the article written is on gold going beyond USD1800 per oz. But it does not include what is the exchange rate btw usd:sgd. So suppose usd/sgd drop below 1:1 , then really USD1800 may not make any great investment..

Currently at sgd2040 per oz ( 1: 1.22 usd), it's actually quite high to buy in.

[vios07 0]

so is it time to buy gold, silver, unit trust now or wait?

[godloveyou 0]

US long term debt rating downgraded from AAA to AA+ by S&P

US loses AAA rating due to political risk and rising debt burden

• Last Friday (5 August) after the US market close, Standard & Poor's, one of the three major credit rating agencies, downgraded the US long-term sovereign credit rating by one notch from AAA to AA+.

• S&P's outlook on the US long-term rating is also negative which means that there is a possibility of a further downgrade to

"AA" within the next 24 months.

• However, the short-term US debt rating was unchanged at A-1+.

The writing was already on the wall of an impending S&P downgrade when the 2 August deal between US lawmakers could only reduce the US budget deficit (over a decade) by at most US$ 2.4trn, well short of the US$ 4trn S&P was looking for in order to affirm US long term rating of AAA. However, the timing of the downgrade could not have come at a worse time when the global equity markets suffered one of the worst weeks amidst global growth worries and festering Euro area sovereign debt crisis that is now threatening Spain and Italy.

•Our assessment is that market will be nervous in the coming days, trying to quantify the damage of the downgrade.

Both equities and FX markets will be choppy. Israel market was down 7% yesterday, while NZ equity down more than 3% as of writing. Nikkei down 1%.

•Key areas to watch include haircut in the $4trn repo market, and possible bail-out in money market funds and possible liquidity disruption. So far, they look manageable, but indirect effects are always difficult to quantify. Meanwhile, foreign central banks have so far affirmed their support for US treasuries.

•In all, the short-term price action will be higher yields -- especially at the longer-end. Longer-term, credit downgrade will steepen the yield curve, especially with QE3 in the radar screen.

•Keep watch on Moody's and Fitch, which could change the equation dramatically.

Not merely economics, it was politics

S&P explained that the recent (2 August) fiscal consolidation plan (of at least US$2.1trn in savings over ten years) by the US Congress and the Administration fell short of their expectations of what "would be necessary to stabilize the government's medium-term dynamics." In addition, the recent political brinkmanship that was played out before the US managed to secure a last-minute deal to increase the debt ceiling limit to avert a default, has put serious doubt that US lawmakers can work towards "a broader fiscal consolidation plan that stabilizes the debt dynamics any time soon." S&P cited that the battle over the debt ceiling showed that the US policy making was becoming 'less stable, less effective and less predictable than it has previously believed'.

The $2trn debate... But?

The US Treasury Department which was given the S&P report before the official release claimed that the analysis done by S&P had overestimated discretionary spending by US$ 2trn. S&P acknowledged its calculation error but still released the report after a few hours of delay as they explained that the overestimation does not alter the fact the US debt to GDP ratio would continue to increase over the next ten years.

Capital Weightings... What has changed?

The US Federal Reserve subsequently issued a joint press release on the same day (with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency), that "for risk-based capital purposes, the risk weights for Treasury securities and other securities issued or guaranteed by the US government, government agencies, and government-sponsored entities will not change." The statement also noted that "the treatment of Treasuries and other

securities issued or guaranteed by the US government, government agencies, and government-sponsored entities under other federal banking agency regulations …will also be unaffected."

After S&P, all eyes will be on Moody's and Fitch ratings

After the US government debt deal was signed into law on 2 August, the other two major rating agencies, Moody's and Fitch

Ratings affirmed US triple A rating but pointed that more was needed to reduce the ballooning US budget deficit.

Moody's affirmed the US AAA rating but put its sovereign debt on negative outlook which makes it possible to downgrade within the next 12 to 18 months. As part of the debt ceiling deal, another USD 1.5trn worth of deficit reduction, including from entitlement and tax reform, is need to be agreed upon by the newly created Joint Selection Committee on Deficit Reduction by

23 November.

If this committee fails to agree on a deficit reduction plan of between USD 1.2-1.5trn by 23 November, we believe that would be a clear opportunity for Moody's to join S&P for a US downgrade although an earlier move ahead of November cannot be ruled out. We also cannot rule out another S&P downgrade in November should the new committee continue the political

antics that plagued the debt ceiling limit crisis of 2 August.

Meanwhile, Fitch did not rule out putting US debt on negative outlook as well when it concludes its review of the United States at the end of August, so that is something to watch out for.

Impact of the downgrade on US treasuries?

To assess the effects of a US sovereign rating downgrade on its US Treasuries (UST) is not that straight forward. To begin with, the US was never downgraded ever since it was given it AAA rating status since 1941. More importantly, the greenback is both the reserve currency of the world, as well as the asset of last resort. Essentially, while negative for US assets market, if there is any major meltdown, adding on the problems in the European space, and the lack of alternatives, US treasuries could well be the eventual beneficiary.

The risk aversion environment the global economy is in right now adds to the complication, and that there is no substitute (or even near substitute) that is as broad and deep as the UST markets (estimated to be more than US$35trn as at end March 2011, according to Securities Industry And Financial Markets Association or SIFMA). Last Thursday price action clearly indicated this, when US DJI fell more than 500 points, USD actually appreciated on safe haven flows, and US 2-yr yields traded lower.

How will financial markets pan out over the next few days?

For now, we hypothesized that a US rating downgrade to AA could lead to a kneejerk spike up in UST yields but the subsequent flee to safe haven assets could press the UST yields back lower again, and the brunt of the downgrade would actually be borne by a sharp correction in equity markets, industrial commodity prices, and risk-related FX (such as EUR and AUD).

There will not be an immediate or even medium term UST sell-off due to a lack of similar substitutes for funds to move into. Central banks (ex Fed Reserve) should be increasing their pace of passive diversification away from UST holdings and gold (and hence gold prices) could be a clear winner in this diversification process (Gold futures at record high of US$ 1695/ounce this morning, 8 August).

Other safe haven assets could also likely to continue to see inflows including JPY and CHF (at a record low of 0.7593 against the USD this morning, 8 August). And countries whose debt remains at the coveted AAA status could see increased demand and these countries include UK, France, Germany, Australia, and even Asian economies like Hong Kong and Singapore.

In the longer term, with the US debt being rated lower at AA+, investors will demand a higher interest to hold US debt and we should expect benchmark long term interest rates to increase. We think it may rise by 0.5-1.0 percentage point. According to SIFMA, they estimated it will add 0.7 percentage point to UST yields and that will translate roughly US$100bn of additional funding costs to be borne by the US government.

Watch risk of QE3... and how the US yield curve will shape out?

The other complication is the much talked about QE3 by the Fed. How would it affect US yield curve, amid the downgrade? Quantitative easing (QE) is an unconventional monetary policy tool used by some central banks to stimulate the economy when conventional monetary policy via interest rates has been exhausted. QE is implemented by the central bank's purchase

of financial assets (for example US Treasuries) from banks with newly created money, thereby increasing the excess reserves in the banking system. And it will also keep the UST well demanded and the yields will be pressured lower -- at least the short-end.

Thus, if we have to make a call, it would be lower short-end, while higher yields for longer-dated reflecting the credit downgrade.

Potential liquidity shock?

Higher collateral demands in repo market, and leverage implication

This is one of the channels that we are a little worried, as it could affect global liquidity situation. In the US$4trn repo markets, US Treasuries are the primary form of collateral pledged by borrowers. With the downgrade of the US sovereign rating, it is likely that a larger haircut will be demanded on these securities as lenders will require more UST as collateral for the same amount of cash. Accordingly to various fixed income investors, haircuts for USTs in repos are estimated to be around 2%. Estimation is that haircut could be increased by 1% point to around 3%. Also, the impact of this haircut will reduce leverage by banks as they have to post more collateral than before.

Sell-off by Money Market Mutual Funds?

Reportedly, that S&P has maintained the US short-term debt of at AAA, the $2.6trn money market mutual fund industry should not suffer from extended major sell-out. But, short-term knee jerk reaction should not be a surprise.

Responses from major central banks: Still supportive of US treasuries

One of the key risk is perception of global investors, given that foreigners hold more than 30% of US Treasuries, and 60% of global FX reserves are held in USD. So far, the responses from some of the central banks over the weekend remains supportive of holding US government debt. According to Bank of Korea, it sees no big impact on US rating downgrade while a senior Japan government official noted that there is no change in Japan's trust in US Treasuries and UST remains an attractive investment. Australia also warned against over-reacting to the US downgrade. China, by far was the most vocal of the US government's management of its finances, saying that the US needs to cure its "addiction" to debt. According to Japanese sources, there will be a G7 finance ministers teleconference as early as Monday (8 August) to deliberate on the US downgrade and the European debt situation.

It's all about liquidity and lack of alternatives

Perhaps, one key factor is the lack of alternatives. So far, S&P has given 18 sovereign entities its top ranking, including Australia, Hong Kong, UK, etc. To begin with, S&P has made clear that the difference between AA+ and AAA is only a small degree. By definition, AA means 'a very strong capacity to meet financial commitments', as opposed to AAA of 'extremely strong' to meet financial commitments. Meanwhile, other countries such as France and Germany are still holding onto their AAA rating but remained bogged down by issues in the European space. UK and Switzerland are implicated by the economic growth prospect of Europe as well. Asia is holding well, but liquidity and depth of these markets cannot be compared with the US treasuries.

Key events to look out for this week from the US

There will be several events to watch out for this coming week that may determine the damage inflicted by the S&P downgrade.

• On Monday (8 August), S&P will release the credit ratings for financial entities that are backed by the US government

(including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac).

• On Tuesday (9 August), the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) holds its scheduled meeting and monetary policy decision, the first policy decision right after the downgrade.

• Gauging the appetite for longer dated US sovereign debt, there will be a US$ 32bn 3-year note auction on 10 August, a

US$24bn 10-year note auction on 11 August, and a US$ 16bn 30-year bond auction on 12 August.

Edited August 8, 2011 by godloveyou

[godloveyou 0]

so is it time to buy gold, silver, unit trust now or wait?

HOLD, don't buy anything NOW till eoy. Credit rating down liao, 14.4Trn +2.1Trn = americans seow liao, still want to auction debt in Aug in short/mid/long term....

"Rain" starts

- some expect it to stop within a few hours and go shopping after that.

- some caught in the "rain" without umbrella, wet.

- Some caught in "rain" with umbrella, looking for bigger shelter.

- Some see no "rain", keep shopping, enjoying...don't prepare "reserve"

- Better build up the "reserve" to prepare for choppy waters for the coming 3-4 years.

Look out for news in eurozone countries and usa. France and Germany scare liao.

[kalimantan 6]

I am no expert in gold trading. But i've invest unit trusts since 10 years back. I would say my investment style is still unit trusts, buy regularly each month of about $3500 etc

I do no aim or shoot, hoping to win in short run, but ride out average in long term.

I usually buy a balanced portfolio (like a black box - which contains bonds /equities) with the help of professionals.

My objective is simple : make enough to make down-payment for property. Then rent out properties in the long run. But one caveats : check with my fengshui master as well before kan-cheong purchase. Sounds stupid right ?

Well, lately market fall, so top up extra to buy more units. Life is so much simpler !

[lotte.world 0]

if i have 100k, i will not invest in full but maybe 10-20% of it only(play safe lol) now in market they are lot of all this diff products around the one i recently bought was something like investing in to biz the risk is so much lower and the returns make sense and can last me long without asking me to keep throwing in money. the ABC co gather all our money to fund existing biz and open new biz in singapore and abroad. and with all this biz we will get our returns from there. and the main thing is that we wanted to earn more so we will refer friends to use the biz like hair saloon, foods , resort, bird nest, lightings, car agent and many more to get our refer fee on top of the payout. at first i wasnt ready to join but what convice me is that the biz is really there where we can see and know how well it is doing and the biz this ABC co is doing suits everyday ppl to use which means that its easy also for us to intro ppl to use them. and apart from that if the biz flop but i think it will be hard to flop due to they having so many biz to cover each other, something like what banker do earn from a basket, we have 80% capital protected with a min interest of 2%. which i feel that is afair deal and yet fund is protected and the payout will come with statments every 3months. 15-25 percent of net profit of all biz under this company will be the payout share among the investors.

i took it to try hopefully the biz will be doing bigger and bigger then i somehow need not work anymore.

and we this investment, i dont even need 100k to invest in papers but all i use is 10k to invest in afew biz and if the ABC co do expend, i will be earning from alot more other trades.

not sure if this is the best investment for me, but i know that for ppl like me i rather play it safe and also do my part as an acting boss to refer friends to use the products

[tanya77 0]

I would suggest you to invest in Real Estate market, it will surely rise in future, hence good profit..

give it a thought..

[dopesk8 0]

Buying physical gold is the upcoming trends.

SG budget 2012 is likely to interest investors is the tax exemption for transactions involving the trade of investment - grade gold, which was broadly welcomed. "Oil, FX and commodities have been major trading areas here. With the dynamism in the gold market over the past few years, it is quite natural to work towards building physical gold trading here." said Kelvin Tay, UBS chief investment strategist for singapore.

Robert Tsang. head of indirect tax services at Deloitte Southeast Asia, noted that precious metals trading had become a substantial business for singapore. "The GST exemption on investment-grade gold should simplify compliance and help cash flow."

To all forumers who is keen to know more about buying physical gold do pm me

[bepgof 20]

Should ask Apple's Tim Cook this question. He is in charge of USD90 billions! cash!

[kenny23 0]

Well I already got my houses sorted out. Being a slightly more conservative investor (not being very high risk) with a long time horizon of 10 or more years. This is what I am doing with my available funds. Invest into blue chip big cap singapore listed stocks that pay good dividends. Diversify across industies. The stocks I would look at pay 6-8% dividends & are sound companies. I dont need the 100k to grow into 200k within a year or so. High returns comes with high risk. But what I would like do is to have the 100k suppliment my income & create a passive income so that i can choose not to work as high or be as stressed in my career. 100k @ 7% dividend yield a year would give u 7000 extra a year. TAXFREE. Accummulate enough & you are on your way to retirement. Dividends are not guaranteed but u can go check out SGX website to see their payment history. Take note if they got a history of issuing rights too. Some companies you can look at are Starhub, Suntec, SPH etc. Some stocks are currently too high for the moment lik Starhub so you need to do a little analysis to see whats a good entry point. Say for eg. when the stock XD meaning if you are holding the stocks you are entitled for the dividends hence as a result investors will sell when a stock XD hence pushing the price down during that time.

Gold is highly speculative & should only be considered for a very small portion. It can take very big swings too (last year it went from 1600-1800 & back down to 1600 too fast) not to mention there is exchange rate risk cuz the index is in usd. when you buy its in SGD but the currency exposure was already factored in when you buy. Gold i would only suggest a very small portion & for occassions like maybe for your new born meant as a gift to pass it to him or her when they grow up etc. I do hold a very small portfolio of gold though.

Unit Trust is the biggest load of bull**** ever. Only benefits the fund managers. The initial sales charge, management fees, performance fees n other fees will be a killer..if you wanna invest into an index u are better off buying ETFs...anything u can think of, theres a ETF on it. Long/short dow or the financials be it 100% or 300%

Edited April 6, 2012 by kenny23

[Druid2012 0]

I would definitely invest my money in real estate. That is, according to me, the safest investment one can make. If I had the money, I would invest in repossessed property. They usually sell for below market value. The other option is to invest in property on auction. Yes, there are also some great properties and great investments.

I am busy with research regarding this and will definitely invest my savings money if everything looks good