Aug 18 2010
Obsessive gambling is a compulsion that can break up families.
For those who gamble, be careful – very careful.
Do not let what you work hard for disappear from you in the blink of an eye.
Local businessman loses $26m at RWS casino over 3 days (Today)
Jul 22 2010
Kishore M and his company Commerz Capital International Pte Ltd (“CCIPL”) has drawn a reprimand from MAS for:
Kishore conducts training seminars in the areas of forex, CFDs and stock trading, property investments and internet marketing.
I think those people in the business of training need to be really careful about stating their credentials accurately.
You can refer to the MAS statement here:
MAS Reprimands Commerz Capital International Pte Ltd and MR Mansinghani Kishore Mirchumal
Kishore mentioned that he is currently appealing MAS’s decision.
Jul 08 2010
The technical glitch that affected DBS and POSB on Monday shows how much most of us have become reliant on banking services.
Or to put it more accurately, how much the banks and us have become reliant on technology.
Since technology can never be 100% failsafe, it makes sense that we are able to access more than one bank for our banking needs.
Personally, I also hold a UOB atm card as I find it so much more convenient. While the reach is not as extensive as POSB atms, they can be found in most central areas like MRT stations and shopping centers. And most of the time, the queue (if they is any) is shorter.
Of course, if you are going to have multiple bank savings accounts, make sure your average balance does not fall below the stipulate amount in order not to incur any necessary fees.
Jul 05 2010
CPF Board is organising a contest whereby 3 iPads and 50 vouchers worth $55 can be won in their lucky draws.
The lucky draws will be held monthly from July to December 2010, held in conjunction with CPF’s 55th Anniversary. To take part, just visit the website here to post your retirement wish.
Terms and Conditions
1. The lucky draw period is from 26 June 2010 to 31 December 2010.
2. There are ten $55 shopping vouchers each month for the monthly draws for July to November 2010, and three Apple iPads (16GB, 3G/Wi-fi, without data plan) for the grand draw for December 2010.
3. Participants may submit multiple entries. To qualify for the lucky draw, participants must be Singapore citizens or Singapore permanent residents. CPF Board staff are not eligible for the lucky draw.
4. The lucky draw winners will be selected randomly. A participant can win a maximum of one $55 voucher in the monthly draws for July to November 2010, and one iPad in the grand draw for December 2010.
5. The monthly draws will be conducted within one week after the end of each month. Lucky draw results will be published at the CPF website. Winners will be notified by the CPF Board via email after each of the five monthly draws and the grand draw.
6. Winners of the shopping vouchers will receive their prizes via mail within a month after the results are announced. Winners of the iPads will be informed to collect their prizes in person at the Board’s premises at Robinson Road.
7. The CPF Board reserves the right to use the winners’ names, photographs and retirement wishes in its publicity or promotional materials, if they had agreed to such usage at the point of submitting their entries.
8. In case of any participant’s misconduct, fraud or abuse, the CPF Board reserves the right to disqualify the entries of the participant. Entries generated via script, macro or other automated means will also be disqualified. The CPF Board also reserves the right to disqualify any participant/entry without having to enter into any correspondence on the decision.
9. The CPF Board reserves the right to make any changes to the My Golden Egg lucky draw rules at any time without prior notification, and reserves the right to replace any prize with another of equivalent value without notice.
10. The CPF Board reserves the right to, in their discretion, cancel, vary or suspend the My Golden Egg promotion should technical bugs or other causes beyond the Board’s control affect the administration, security or proper operation of the lucky draw.
11. The CPF Board is not required to enter into any correspondence regarding the administration of the lucky draw, and its decision on any matter is final.
Jun 30 2010
When it comes to investing, investors always have many questions running through their minds and all these questions vary from person to person. Mr David Gerald, President and CEO of SIAS covered the topic Investment Risks Highlights and 3 Important Dimensions of Investing at a previous My Money seminar.
Even before making any investments, we will typically need to decide how much money to spend or save and then whether to keep spare cash in a fixed deposit or to invest it.
David spoke about triangulating with three dimensions before making any investments:
There are plenty to questions to ask within these three dimensions including: How safe are the investments? How often should I review my investments?, etc
Not using these three dimensions might lead to sub-optimal results:
I would say the most important dimension is to know yourself as the other two functions can be outsourced if you do not know them.
Knowing yourself is a very important aspect of any investment, your own liquidity needs, financial objectives, risk appetite, risk budget, financial health as well as any other potential financial issues.
Knowing the difference between your risk appetite (how much risk you want to take) and your risk budget (how much risk you can actually take) is absolutely essential.
If you are engaging a financial adviser, then the “ Financial Needs Analysis” is a process to help investors understand their financial situation and needs. Your needs usually changes at different stages of life, hence the FNA should be reviewed periodically.
Three general factors can be used to categorize investment products:
Try to choose investments with a medium to long term view in mind.
David talked about two products that are more common – Unit trusts and structured deposits.
Features of unit trusts include the following:
Investing in unit trusts can get slightly tricky. Fluctuation of the values of the unit trusts depends on the risk of the underlying assets. The more risky the underlying assets the higher the fluctuation. Returns are also not guaranteed. Should investors feel jittery about market outlook or need money and too many investors redeem their investments, fund performance can be affected. Funds can also close down if their asset under management is too low.
Structured deposits usually provides higher returns than fixed deposits to investors due to embedded options. The high returns are generated from the premiums paid to investors for undertaking the risks of some events where they usually have certain market views when purchasing structured deposits. Several risks of structured deposits include:
When it comes to investing, caveat emptor (Let the buyer beware)!
Overall, it’s a pretty interesting and humorous presentation so I would encourage you to have a look.
