Regarding bonds..

[Ax]

Just a question.. in the intelligent investor.. it is mentioned that bonds could be considered as a part of our portfolio...

however it seems that the yield of our SG government bonds is pretty low.. is it then still worthwhile to consider bonds as part of our investment portfolio?

[serenecsc]

To add on to AX questions on Bonds, I also bought Schroder Asian Bond Fund S$ for more than 7 years but has been making losses. Should I consider to sell them?

[Dennis Ng]

Just a question.. in the intelligent investor.. it is mentioned that bonds could be considered as a part of our portfolio...

however it seems that the yield of our SG government bonds is pretty low.. is it then still worthwhile to consider bonds as part of our investment portfolio?

Hi Ax,
I don't really agree with Benjamin Graham on this. For instance, I personally do NOT own any bonds, throughout my 18 years of investing.

if I want safety of Capital, instead of buying Government Bonds, I rather invest into UK Traded Endowment, which has Capital Guarantee in the form of its Cash Value, the annual returns is 4% to 8%, for a short time frame of about 5 years, much higher than the 2% you get from Singapore bonds currently. A 10 year Singapore government bond now only gives about 2% interests.

If you want to find out more about UK Traded Endowment on a no-obligation basis, just email to me at dennis@tradedendowment.com your name and mobile number and I'll get one of my staff to follow up with you, to explain A to Z of UK Traded Endowment to you on a no-obligation basis.

[Dennis Ng]

To add on to AX questions on Bonds, I also bought Schroder Asian Bond Fund S$ for more than 7 years but has been making losses. Should I consider to sell them?

Hi serenecsc,
One option is to hold on and hope the price goes up and you break-even.

Another option is to cut loss, get some money back, invest the money in other investments, eg. Stocks, UK Traded Endowment, make money on those, which also helps you to cover the losses you suffered so far.

[findleowong]

To add on to AX questions on Bonds, I also bought Schroder Asian Bond Fund S$ for more than 7 years but has been making losses. Should I consider to sell them?

Hi Serenecsc,

This bond has been performing badly for the past 3 to 5 years.
But you still get the interest base on the numbers units you are holding base on what have written on the factsheet.

Other bond funds are returning positive returns compare to Schroder Asian Bond base on the comparison past years results.

However, the fund house have advocated is to dollar cost average down & invests a fix amount on a monthly basis.

If you are still keen to invest in bond fund, you should sell the one you are holding right now & switch over to a better one.

Cheers

[findleowong]

Just a question.. in the intelligent investor.. it is mentioned that bonds could be considered as a part of our portfolio...

however it seems that the yield of our SG government bonds is pretty low.. is it then still worthwhile to consider bonds as part of our investment portfolio?

Hi Ax,

It really depends & different strategy can be applied on the asset allocation. Different people have different risk appetite.

What I have on my asset allocation might not be suitable for you.
If are those type of investor who can only afford take little risk, you should have your money park in bonds or others.

And, Bond is only meant for wealth preservation.

If you could elaborate more on your objective & needs, I’m sure we will come up with something.


Cheers

[Ax]

Hi all,

thanks for the advices..

actually i'm kind of asking for my mum.. cos she's near to age 50... what ben graham said din really make sense in our local context.. that's why i am asking for advices...

she's been putting money in fixed deposit yearly.. i think its really pointless cos inflation is so high right.. and bank interest rates is so low..

Dennis, I know about the traded endowment.. but my mum hasnt hear of it before... so might have to talk to her about this ..

last sunday we went to the bank to collect her fixed d which has matured. the lady at OCBC introduced her some endowment policy for 10 yrs which i think is more complicated than primary school maths IMHO.... i discouraged her from taking up that policy..

[Dennis Ng]

Hi all,

thanks for the advices..

actually i'm kind of asking for my mum.. cos she's near to age 50... what ben graham said din really make sense in our local context.. that's why i am asking for advices...

she's been putting money in fixed deposit yearly.. i think its really pointless cos inflation is so high right.. and bank interest rates is so low..

Dennis, I know about the traded endowment.. but my mum hasnt hear of it before... so might have to talk to her about this ..

last sunday we went to the bank to collect her fixed d which has matured. the lady at OCBC introduced her some endowment policy for 10 yrs which i think is more complicated than primary school maths IMHO.... i discouraged her from taking up that policy..

Hi Ax,
there are UK Traded Endowment policies 4 years, much shorter, and the returns much higher than Singapore Endowment plans. Not sure why anyone wants to put money into Singapore Endowment plans with returns of less than 3% and time period of 10 years or more. Guess it's due to their being Financially illiterate.

[Lion]

Hi all Sifus,

I'm pretty new in investing so pardon my ignorance.

Thanks to the Dennis's seminars, I have bought into a property and its current rental is able to pay off the loan. I didn't use all the available funds to pay it off. Thus I would like to enquire and learn more on Wealth Preservation from fellow sifus here.
When it comes to Wealth Preservation, besides UK Traded Endownments and Bonds, are there any other low risks investments?
I have already bought quite a sum of UK Traded Endownments but would prefer not to put all my eggs in one basket.
I agree that Singapore Bonds are really not attractive compared to Australia Bonds that pays 6+%, tenure about 5 years. The only danger is the exchange risks for the next 5 years and currently the Aussie rate is quite high.
Thus will it be a more safer option to put the money in Australia Fixed Deposit @ a interest of 5.5% p.a with no lock in at this current market sentiments?
Recently the bank did offer a couple of investment products such as Unit Trusts (ex: Blackrock, First Dividind Advantage...etc). But after reading outlook reports from a few financial companies, it seems like its not a right time to be investing into these funds now.

Any advise is deeply appreciated.
Thanks and have a nice day.

[Dennis Ng]

Hi Lion,

Australian fixed deposits can be considered, but please bear in the mind the exchange rate risks, Australian dollar is not trading at very high level against S$, while UK Sterling pounds is at historical low, good news is it stabilise above S$2 and does NOT fall further, unlike US$.

I don't think you're putting all your eggs into UK Traded Endowment, since you have other investments.

Based on Upside/Downside analysis, which is better at current moment, Australian Dollar or UK Sterling Pounds?

Cheers!

Dennis Ng

Hi all Sifus,

I'm pretty new in investing so pardon my ignorance.

Thanks to the Dennis's seminars, I have bought into a property and its current rental is able to pay off the loan. I didn't use all the available funds to pay it off. Thus I would like to enquire and learn more on Wealth Preservation from fellow sifus here.
When it comes to Wealth Preservation, besides UK Traded Endownments and Bonds, are there any other low risks investments?
I have already bought quite a sum of UK Traded Endownments but would prefer not to put all my eggs in one basket.
I agree that Singapore Bonds are really not attractive compared to Australia Bonds that pays 6+%, tenure about 5 years. The only danger is the exchange risks for the next 5 years and currently the Aussie rate is quite high.
Thus will it be a more safer option to put the money in Australia Fixed Deposit @ a interest of 5.5% p.a with no lock in at this current market sentiments?
Recently the bank did offer a couple of investment products such as Unit Trusts (ex: Blackrock, First Dividind Advantage...etc). But after reading outlook reports from a few financial companies, it seems like its not a right time to be investing into these funds now.

Any advise is deeply appreciated.
Thanks and have a nice day.

[Lion]

Thank you Sir !

[serenecsc]

Can anyone share and advise?
Is it a right time to buy land banking for Canada?

[Dennis Ng]

Can anyone share and advise?
Is it a right time to buy land banking for Canada?

Begin with your end (Objective) in mind. Why are you considering to invest into Land Banking?

For me, I have about 7% invested into Land Banking and half of those are in Canada.

I invest in Land Banking simply to put my eggs into different baskets. No one can predict the future.

But what I like about Canada is that it is a very resource rich country, its currency, economy and government fiscal position is one of the strongest in the world today. In fact, if you were to ask me which few currencies have the strongest fundamentals, I would say Australia, China, Canada, Singapore and Switzerland (in alphabetical order only).

Real Investors are always prepared to be wrong, and we plan in such a way that even if we are wrong 6 out of 10 times, we will still get Richer. The No. 1 question we ask ourselves is :"What if I'm wrong, will I be financially ok?"

If Seminar Graduates do NOT learn and apply what I teach, then it is really a waste of time and money for them to attend my seminars.

If they do learn and apply, they would probably find that they will get Richer and Richer, just as I've personally experienced once I practise what I teach in the last few years (after I figured some of these things out after learning from several multi-millionaires).

I have to say that many of the things I now teach is NOT 100% from any multi-millionaire sifus I learned from, but it is based on me combining what I learned from each of them, including the over 500 books I read and the many seminars I attended in last 11 years...but still I acknowledge all these multi-millionaires as my sifus, as each of them did teach me something.

[Jasper]

Can anyone share and advise?
Is it a right time to buy land banking for Canada?

Hi Serene,
just to share my view.

Question is r u comfortable to park your money in Land banking for 6years before you exit? Maybe shorter pending on project.

For me, no! 6 years too long! Therefore I have dropped Land banking after I have attended Walton presentation session.
But I am not saying Land banking is bad, I do have friends gain handsome profit >15%/year from Land banking.

Regards, Jasper

[serenecsc]

Can anyone share and advise?
Is it a right time to buy land banking for Canada?

Hi Serene,
just to share my view.

Question is r u comfortable to park your money in Land banking for 6years before you exit? Maybe shorter pending on project.

For me, no! 6 years too long! Therefore I have dropped Land banking after I have attended Walton presentation session.
But I am not saying Land banking is bad, I do have friends gain handsome profit >15%/year from Land banking.

Regards, Jasper

Thank you Dennis and Jasper for your valuable input.
serene