Saturday, July 24, 2010

TKL Website [6]

Feedback on TKL website: www.tankinlian.com
a.. How do you come to know about the website?
Via google search for term insurance
b. What information were you looking for?
I was comparing term insurance prices across different companies
c. Do you like the design and layout of the website?
Simple is good, its the content that matters. The various investment/insurance articles are useful starting points for me.
d. What do you like best about the website (if you like it at all).
The simple and easy to understand articles. 

Survey

Please participate in the most recent 3 surveys shown here.

Sudoku (Logic9) online

Try our interesting version of Sudoku online at www.easysearch.sg. You can try with other symbols, instead of numbers. This trains your creativity.

Internet and Business Productivity

Mission
Tan Kin Lian believes that the Internet provides a great opportunity for a business enterprise to improve its productivity and customer service. He is developing many web and mobile applications to help an enterprise to achieve this goal.


Visit www.tankinlian.com 
View this document: http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=102

Videos on Puzzles

You can watch the videos on tangram, shape quiz and sudoku here. You can get the free puzzles by printing out the teaser sheets. If you like to have more puzzles, you can buy the puzzle book here.

Yields on preference shares and REITS

Dear Mr Tan,
Attached please find a list of a few bank preference shares and REITs in SGX for your reference.
NameAnnual DistributionPrice / Lot  Yield
DBS NCPS 6%  10 $                     60.00 $       1,046.00    5.74%
OCBC BK 4.2% NCPS $                     42.00 $       1,000.00  4.20%
OCBC BK 4.5% NCPS 100 $                   450.00 $     10,050.00  4.48%
OCBC BK 5.1% NCPS 100 $                   510.00 $     10,441.00  4.88%
Ascendas-REIT $                   134.80 $       2,060.00  6.54%
Cambridge Industrial REIT $                     49.52 $          500.00  9.90%
Parkway Life REIT $                     82.80 $       1,430.00  5.79%
Suntec REIT $                   101.12 $       1,440.00  7.02%

The yield is estimated based on the latest known distribution/dividend (eg. for the last quarter results announced) and the closing price yesterday. The few REITs selected have been consistently paying distributions for the past years but as the prices have gone up, the yields look less attractive now. The bank preference shares pay a fix dividend, the yield can be improved if we manage to buy at a lower price. 
Personally, I will not venture to say shares are safe now, as there is great price volatility. Over the long term, the odds are they will give a better yield than fixed deposits/money market funds but with the risk of capital loss as the share prices are not considered low now. If we managed to purchase at the time of the last financial crisis, I would safely say that these will be high yield, long term investments.
KSL


My comments
Please take note of the comments about the preference shares as mentioned by Pang in the comments. It seems that dividend on the preference shares will reduce after a certain date to a lower level, based on the interest rate of the banks plus a spread. This will give a lower yield than the yield indicated above. 




Preference shares

Dear Mr Tan, 
I used to buy Singapore Government Bonds, when yields were at 2 to 3%. Now it is not worth my trouble.
 

I am aware of preference shares that are issued by DBS, UOB and OCBC.  For OCBC, their coupons are 3.93%, 4.2%, 4.5% and 5.1%. This is what I am most familiar with. I bought a small amount for my mum's retirement fund. 

In summary, they are perpetual and non-cumulative. Of course the other risks associated with debt securities apply. 
They are rather illiquid. Looking at the OCBC annual report, one can see that they are held in rather large quantities by institutions. 

I read in Benjamin Graham's The Intelligent Investor that the best time to buy them is during market turmoil when prices are depressed. That is when the yields are sufficiently high to compensate for the potential risks. 

NL

HSBC Preference shares 8% USD

A consumer sent me a prospectus about the HSBC preference shares denominated in USD and asked my views. I asked an investment expert to study the prospectus. He gave his comments on this investment, compared with OCBC preference shares (which pays a lower yield in SGD). His analysis will be posted in the inside pages of the  FISCA website and will be available only to members after login.  See: www.fisca.sg.


Comments
You should avoid investing in financial products that you are not familiar with. The advisor who recommends the product to you should explain the risks to you, rather than push you a complicated prospectus to read. After all, the adviser is earning an attractive commission by selling the product. You should ask the adviser to give you a Product Highlight Sheet, which is now required by MAS, but I am not sure if the requirement has already come into effect.


Direct communcation

This article shows an example of the problem that a consumer can face, when they buy insurance from a financial advisory firm. It is usually better to deal directly with the insurance company, to avoid any breakdown in communication.

Promotion of TKL books

Several titles of my books are available on promotion up to 31 July 2010. Discounts of more than 15%. Go to www.tankinlian.com and click on "iShop" tab.

Wait for market correction

If you have cash that is earning 0.5% per annum, and you are worried about the current level of the stock market and the uncertainty in the global economy, which option would you prefer?
  • Invest the money for 5 years to get a guaranteed return of 10% (i.e. 2% per year)
  • Keep the money in cash and wait for the market to drop by 10%, i.e. ST index of 2,600
  • Wait for the market to drop by 20%, i.e. ST index of 2,350
  • Invest in preference shares or REITS to earn a yield of 4% p.a. or more
In my view, the chance of the stock market reaching 2,600 within the next 5 years is quite high and reaching 2,350 is moderate. However, when the market does reach 2,600 or 2,350, are you prepared to plunge in, or would you be too scared at that time?

Take part in this survey. It is fun.

Research
If you are familiar with the stock market, please send me the preference shares and REITS that can give a dividend of at least 4% per annum. Send to kinlian@gmail.com

Here are some information about REITS
http://reitdata.com/

Here are inforamtion about preference shares
http://www.google.com/search?q=sgx+preference+shares&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:{referrer:source?}&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7ADBR

Save for the future


Hi Mr. Tan,
I was discussing with a friend on a entry in another blog (http://tinyurl.com/2ueorzv) advising readers to concentrate on saving for their retirement instead of children's school fees.

We tend to agree that we should not be worrying too much about supporting our children's education, since they have other options like scholarship, bursary, study loan or even part time studies. May I have you opinion on this please?

HLK

REPLY

I agree with your views. I advise people to save for their future, and to use the savings for education, retirement and emergencies, e.g. loss of employment. They should not lock up the savings just for children's education.