[Post 121]Event and Convention: FSM Invest Expo 2020 part 1(New Cheapest brokerage in Singapore:IFAST GLOBAL?!)

I know that this is probably a super...rrr late review, but I finally had the time to wrote about it after my exam,so...here we go!

Personally, I had never been to FSM INVEST EXPO as I had only signed up for my FSM brokerage account in 2019. So this was my first time attending FSM INVEST EXPO.

There wasn't any schedule that I was adhering to throughout the event, so it was more like "own time own target"

As usual, conventions like this were always full of people!

Layout of the event area

Schedule of the event

1) Near the stage

2)Nikko AM booth(promoting disruptive innovation Fund)


3) stock pitch

4)Game booth(LASSO THE BULLS & AVOID THE BEARS!)

5)  UOB offering tea(who doesn't like free stuff?!)

6) Shroeder offering free churros

7)Yes,i love free stuff too!

 8)And lastly,the Stage area

And of course, I did not win the lucky draw...

So that was roughly how was the event like for me, in my opinion, I think it should be held over two days instead of one like AFA as this will allow more talks to be held.

Onto the brochure!

First, of course, the most exciting news that I have encountered in FSM Invest Expo 2020...

Cheapest brokerage in Singapore!

Yes, indeed, its 8 dollars per trade on the mobile device, but is it trustable? or is there any hidden catch?

So what is IFAST GLOBAL? (P.S not sponsored by them)

• iFAST Global Markets ("iGM"), a division of 'FAST Financial Pte Ltd, was launched with the main objective of providing consumers with complete commission transparency in insurance and investment products. Our team of Investment Advisers are dedicated to the vision of providing transparent, ethical, and suitable advice to benefit investors by reducing commission bias which may be unknown to consumers. 
• As an advocate of full transparency in insurance and investment commissions, we will only recommend only product that we understand and believe in

IFast Financial Pie Ltd (Singapore) Licenses: 

• Capital Markets Services Licence and Financial Advisers Licence issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) 
• Central Provident Fund Investment Scheme (CPFIS)-registered Investment Administrator 
• CDP Depository Agent 
• a Trading Member of SGX-ST and Clearing Member of CDP 

What investment products do they offer?(Source)

UNIT TRUSTS 

• Funds invest in a diversified range of assets. A fund's diversified portfolio means risks can be better spread over the assets In the fund.* 

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 

• Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are EID investment funds that are listed and traded on a stock exchange.* 

BONDS 

• A bond is a debt security. It is a form of borrowing_ Governments and companies issue bonds to raise funds. When you invest in bonds, you are lending money to the issuer for a fixed period of time 

STOCKS 

• A company offers its shares to investors to raise money. The company may need such funds for reasons such as to grow its business, acquire new assets, or remain solvent.

DISCRETIONARY PORTFOLIOS 

• DPMS is a service by iFAST that helps investors invest via a discretionary managed portfolio.* 

INSURANCE

• Insurance is meant to protect you, youth family, and things you care about. The insurance you buy depends not only on what you want to protect but also what you can afford.* 

And finally, is there any hidden catch?

source

Yes, of course, there is a hidden catch. For the first 100k, there is a 0.28%p.a

So if u had invested with 10,000(below 100k), the charges would be $28(0.28%) annually

Assuming you are trading in SGX stock, you need to trade at least 7 times per year to breakeven when comparing with the normal FSM fees of 10 dollars per trade(Notes:All figures are estimated)

IFast GLOBAL

• Buy transaction fees: $8
• Sell transaction fees: $8
• Annual fee $28
• trade time: 7 times
• total cost: ((8+8)*7 time) + 28 =$120 

• Buy transaction fees: $8
• Sell transaction fees: $8
• Annual fee $28
• trade time: 8 times
• total cost: ((8+8)*7 time) + 28 =$156

FSM, STANDARD CHARTED, OR DBS CASH UPFRONT

• Buy transaction fees: $10
• Sell transaction fees: $10
• Annual fee: $0
• trade time: 7 times
• total cost: ((10+10)*7 time) + 0=$120

• Buy transaction fees: $10
• Sell transaction fees: $10
• Annual fee: $0
• trade time: 8 times
• total cost: ((10+10)*8 time) + 0=$160

Conclusion: In my opinion, it is definitely the brokerage you want to get if you are trading frequently in SGX stock. Unfortunately compared to another brokerage in the US such as Robinhood $0 USD per transaction, or even SAXO 4.99 USD per transaction, Singapore brokerage fees definitely still have a long way to go to hit below 5 dollars or even 0 dollar

That's all for this post, will continue with more brochures update from FSM Invest Expo 2020 in the next few post!:)

part 2 here...

[Post 120] TipforThought:To diversify or not? that's the question

Credits to GrandpaLemon from investing note for his wise words

credits

Financial experts are keen to tell you to diversify your hard-earned money into a variety of assets such as stocks, bonds and real estate to get the best returns while hedging our risks but there is a powerful counter view.

A short quote from Warren Buffett in 2008 (similar to his 1998 comments):

"If you are a professional and have confidence, then I would advocate lots of concentration. For everyone else, if it’s not your game, participate in total diversification. If it’s your game, diversification doesn’t make sense. It’s crazy to put money in your twentieth choice rather than your first choice.

Charlie [Munger] and I operated mostly with five positions. 

If I were running $50, $100, $200 million, I would have 80 percent in five positions, with 25 percent for the largest."

And then a longer excerpt from the book about Charlie Munger's style:

In the book Damn Right!, Buffett told Munger’s biographer Janet Lowe that Munger initially followed the fundamentals of value investment established by Graham, but was always far more concentrated than other traditional value investors like Walter Schloss: 

Charlie’s portfolio was concentrated in very few securities and therefore his record was much more volatile but it was based on the same discount-from-value approach. He was willing to accept greater peaks and valleys of performance, and he happens to be a fellow whose whole psyche goes toward concentration, with results shown.  

Munger defines “very few securities” as “no more than three:”  

Yet, as Mr Buffett once observed, such diversification can put an investor into an unenviable "low hazard, low return situation".

Adopting Mr Buffett's approach goes against the grain of the mainstream investment strategy pioneered by Nobel laureate Harry Markowitz, who showed that diversification could reduce risk when assets are combined whose prices move in an inverse relationship with one another.

But Mr Buffett is no ordinary investor and, unlike Mr Markowitz, who is an academic, he has walked the talk, turning his company Berkshire Hathaway into one of the world's richest investment firms by taking big stakes in companies that consistently outperform the stock market by big margins.

Mr Buffett is also by no means the only exception to the rule. If we look at the portfolios of many other rich and famous investors such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates, we will find that they are also mostly concentrated on a few investments.

Going back to the past 100 years, another good example would have been the great British economist John Maynard Keynes who was able to make a remarkable comeback by refocusing his attention on individual companies and taking huge wagers on them after losing a big fortune during the 1929 Wall Street stock market crash.

As Keynes later explained: "As time goes on, I get more and more convinced that the right method in investment is to put large sums into enterprises which one thinks one knows something about and in the management of which one thoroughly believes."

Still, even though Mr Buffett and Keynes are big proponents of a concentrated portfolio strategy, one has to approach this strategy with caution.

That is because while the strategy gives seasoned investors an excellent opportunity to maximise their long-term returns through a deliberate selection of stocks, investors who lack the skill to select suitable stocks can lose their shirts if they are not careful.

So when should we turn to diversification as an investment strategy?

As one gets older and more risk-averse, preserving whatever they have already squirrelled away is far more important than amassing more riches - and this is where adopting a diversified portfolio to try to preserve wealth becomes an over-riding priority.

Another great investment guru, Mr Jack Bogle, the founder of the giant fund manager Vanguard, sums up this sentiment best when he observes that the average investor doesn't want to spend his life consumed with investing - and indeed, he should not spend his life consumed with investing.

That is why a sound diversification strategy works best for those who simply want a decent return without exposing themselves to too much investment risk - or find themselves so obsessed with how their investments are performing that they are oblivious to everything else.

Sure, all of us want to make money on our investments, but as our live phases change, so should our investment habits. How we adjust our investment approach will depend on the phase of life we find ourselves in. 

[Post 119]TipforThought:Useful Singapore Finance Telegram channel

List of Singapore finance telegram channels

Updated: 21/5/2020

To be updated from time to time!Do comment below if you have any idea:)

Discussion channels(stocks and forex)

@investorsexchange  (stocks discussion telegram group)

@DividendInvestment(stocks discussion telegram group)

@FundamentalInvestors(stocks discussion telegram group)

@FinanceCafe(stocks discussion telegram group)

@sgfinancialndependence (stock discussion telegram group) 

@sgstockchat(stocks and forex discussion telegram group)



Discussion channel(crypto)

@CryptoSG: https://t.me/CryptoSG



Personal finance and blogs

@budgetbabes (budget babe telegram channel)

@Dollarandsense(Dollar and sense telegram channel)

@PersonalFinanceSg (Seedly)

@SingaporeFinanceBot(Finance bot)

@Sonicericsg (personal finance blog)

@wokesalaryman (Comics strip of personal finance)

@fipharmarcistsg(personal finance channel of an pharmacist undergraduate)

[Post 118]Zero dollar project updates:carousell,Bitcoin Faucets,Short Link,Online survey

Updates for zero dollar project

1.Carousell
2.Bitcoin faucets
3.Short link
4.Online survey

1.Carousell

My carousell:carousell.com/eric996

Did not keep track due to studies,assume NIL

2.Bitcoin faucets

Current coinpot holding

Bitcoin core: 6786 Satoshi
Bitcoin cash: 19116 bch
Dogecoin: 72.2. doge
Litecoin:  0.00253219 ltc
Dashcoin: 0.00092824 dash

3.Short link

Total earning for short link since last update:$6.58+$9.88=$16.46  (Unfortunately mar-may payout had been held back due to covid-19


4.Online survey

Current online survey on my list...(Bold mean that these survey websites have been verified for payout)

4.1 Toluna
4.2.surveyon
4.3 YouGov
4.4 mobrog
4.5 ipanelonline
4.6 viewfruit
4.7 mysurvey
4.8 millleu(App on google play store)

Survey that payout mobrog,yougov,

The total payout from last project update:$6.25+$6.25+$6.25+$6.25+$25.06=$50.06

Total earnings for lastest update of zero dollar project:$50.06+ +$16.46 =$66.52

That's all for the updates  for my zero dollar project!