Thanks to everyone who attended our webinar last night. I will be posting the slides to it later this week. I will be conducting a live workshop early next month to help investors better understand financial ratios and how to interpret them. Financial Analysis Made Easy: Step by Step Guide to Financial Ratios Date: 2nd May 2019, Thursday Time: 7:00pm to 9:00pm Venue: Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre Focus on what is important One of the biggest challenges I see investors face is the lack of a strong foundation when it comes to looking at stocks. Knowing how to do simplified financial analysis is crucial to pick winning stocks, and more importantly, avoid losing stocks that can be fatal to your investment portfolio. I will help simplify financial analysis for you in our u

If you are re-contracting your phone plans in recent months, you would have observed that your data bundle have gotten real attractive.  This is probably the result of intense competition due to entry of a 4th telecom operator TPG. Before, they start offering their paid package, and as they are testing out the quality of their network, the incumbents are starting an intense price war.  Not just that, the mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) such as Circles Life, Zero, MyRepublic and Zero1 are also offering some really competitive packages.  As a consumer, this is a good thing because these corporate tyrants are finally kowtowing to you at the expense of their margins.  What I do find refreshing is that the MVNO operators are catering to selected usage segments that t

With the earnings season over, we will summarize the ups and downs of every REIT/ investment trust and rate their financial performance in this six-part series. To begin the series, here are four of the most disappointing trusts that let investors down in the latest quarter. Investors Takeaway: 4 REITs/ Investment Trusts That Let Investors Down This Quarter OUE Hospitality Trust With the absence of income support for Crowne Plaza Changi Airport, OUE Hospitality Trust saw its DPU decline by 2.9 percent year-on-year. That being said, the hotel was still receiving minimum rent from its master lessee in FY18 and improving its operational performance. With the ongoing ramp-up of Terminal 4 as well as opening of Jewel Changi Airport in 1H19, CIMB believes that Crowne Plaza Changi Airport will

Institutional investors are organizations that manage large pools of money – including mutual funds, pension funds, banks, insurance companies or hedge funds – and unlike retail investors, they are the ones which have the financial muscles and positions often large enough to dictate the direction of the markets. As William O’Neil, founder of Investor’s Business Daily and author of best-seller “How to Make Money in Stocks” wrote in his book, “It takes big demand to push up prices, and by far the biggest source of demand for stocks is institutional investors. These large investors account for the lion’s share of each day’s market activity.” Hence, savvy investors regularly look at the funds flow of institutional investors, or often referred to as the “smart money”

Overseas data used to be an expensive luxury that most of us think wistfully about as we bounce from one public wifi hotspot to another, struggling to stay connected for long enough to respond to the flurry of WhatsApp messages that flood our phones. But because of the proliferation of high-speed 4G networks around the world and comprehensive network sharing agreements, we can now remain connected and reachable by our loved ones – and our bosses – with prices that are relatively affordable. Read Also: [2019 Edition] Best Unlimited Data Mobile Plans In Singapore (Plus: Which Plan Gives The Most 4G Data Per Dollar?) For those wondering, here is a cost comparison of the mobile data roaming services of three of Singapore’s largest telcos, and the wifi hotspot service provided by Changi

The latest earnings season was a disappointment, to say the least. Multiple sectors such as banks, property, telco and O&G saw earnings cut due to slowing global growth and US-China trade war. As a result, earnings growth was slashed for FY19. This contributed to the fall in STI from its February high of 3,286. Going forward, DBS is expecting STI to stay around the support area of 3,180 with a bull-case forecast of 3,500 by end of the year. Investors Takeaway: 3 Strategies After A Disappointing Quarter By DBS For investors, the deepening cuts point to a worrying sign of things to come in the upcoming quarters. So, how should investors adjust their investment strategy to avoid underperformance in the upcoming month? According to DBS, there are three strategies that investors should cons

We’re all spoilt for choice when it comes to content we can consume on our mobile phones. There is a wealth of news, longform articles, streaming music, online videos, virtual courses, apps and games available at the swipe of your finger, as well as communicating with others via video calls, voice calls over data, and multimedia chats. All these great use cases all require data, and not everyone has the luxury of waiting until they are at home or in the office to tap on a fast and reliable Wifi connection. To satisfy Singaporeans’ need for data, the various telecommunication companies (telcos) in Singapore have begun to offer increasingly cheaper data plans, culminating in unlimited data plans. These plans promise to put an end to situations when we have to watch our data usage closely

Here are the reasons that have contributed to the decline in StarHub Ltd’s (SGX: CC3) share price in the last 12 months.

After ending 2018 on a bad note, the performance of the stock market in the first two months of 2019 has gave investors a reason to cheer. If you are looking to repeat the splendid performance, here are some strategies for you to consider. Investors Takeaway: 3 Strategies If You Want To Beat The Market Again By DBS Take Advantage Of Interest In S-REITs With Fed Chairman Powell re-iterating the Fed’s dovish stance to be patient on rate hikes, interest in REITs should sustain going forward. The consensus now appears to be zero rate hikes for this year as the Fed continues to monitor how the economy evolves. Previously, DBS recommended investors to focus on large cap REITs in resilient segments such as retail and industrial (warehouse and business parks). DBS likes these large cap REITs f

With the introduction of the Open Electricity Market, telcos have begun their foray into the electricity market in Singapore. Telcos have started working together with electricity providers to sell electricity plans to consumers. M1 is tying up with Keppel Electric, while Singtel is collaborating with Geneco. These partnerships between the telcos and electricity providers offer customers electricity plans at competitive prices bundled with promotions for the telco’s services. In this episode of 4 Stocks This Week, we take a closer look at the how Singapore’s three largest telcos are doing, along with Keppel Corp, which is involved in taking M1 private and has a subsidiary (Keppel Electric) involved in the Open Electricity Market as a retailer. Read Also: [Cheatsheet] The Best SIM

1. SPH Reit  --  4th Jan 20192. SPH  --  11th Jan 20193. First Reit  --  16th Jan 20194. FrasersCom Trust  --  18th Jan 20195. Kep Reit  --  21st Jan 20196. Frasers Cpt Trust  --  21st Jan 20197. Mapletreelog Trust  --  21st Jan 20198. Kep DC Reit  --  22nd Jan 20199. Kep Infra Trust  --  22nd Jan 201910. MapletreeInd Trust  --  22nd Jan 201911. MapletreeCom Trust  --  23rd Jan 201912. Kep T&T  --  23rd Jan 201913. Suntec Reit  --  23rd Jan 201914. CapitaMall Trust  --  23rd Jan 201915. SGX  --  24th Jan 201916. Kep-KBS US Reit  --  24th Jan 201917. Kep Corp  --  24th Jan 201918. Frasers L&T  --  24th Jan

StarHub CEO, Peter Kaliaropoulos must be feeling the heat again. On 18 February 2019, StarHub share price plunged to a 14-year low of $1.61. The last time that StarHub share price was trading at such disgraceful level was in 2005. The trigger for the massive sell-offs was obviously the dismal Q4FY2018. Following the announcement, investors wasted no time in punishing this counter, sending StarHub share price to rock bottom. It seems that honeymoon period is over for the StarHub CEO. Following his appointment on 9 July 2018, StarHub share price enjoyed a brief respite and even managed to halt its horrendous slump. Then the announcement of Keppel and SPH buy-over of M1 shares had led to a resurgent StarHub share price in September 2018. Investors had speculated that a potential privatizatio

I writing a topical email every week to my mailing list. Here’s our last email to subscribers which I thought I share. You can sign up on our mailing list to get the latest updates when it goes out every week. Investing for “yield” is one of the main draws of the Singapore stock exchange. However, investors chasing yield have been burn badly in recent years – something I have talked about. The following email will cover both dividend paying stocks, bonds, preference shares and perpetuals. This email is one of the longest emails I’ve sent out but bear with me as the lessons here are timeless and apply to almost any investing situation. In this article, I am going to run through how investors can analyze whether a company’s dividend or payout is sustainable in the long run u

This week saw the conclusion of earnings reporting for many Singapore listed firms, and the result was a sea of red among SGX counters, with 212 losers versus 124 gainers. Most firms failed to meet financial projections and there weren’t enough clear future prospects to buffer the loss in confidence among investors. For this week’s 4 Stocks This Week column, we look at 4 counters with some of the largest price movements. Thai Beverage Public Company Limited (SGX: Y92) One of the companies that outperformed expectations was ThaiBev, one of the largest food and beverage companies in Southeast Asia. In addition to distributing beers, other alcoholic beverages, non-alcoholic beverages including milk products, the Thailand-headquartered company also operates restaurants, bakeries and owns

You give some people whose job is to invest money, and by a lot of standards they are good at it.  Shockingly only 49% of their picks made money. Some of them was successful only 30% of the time.  At the end of these, almost non of them lost money. They still made a lot of money out of it.  I think this was the part of the article that caught my attention.  The main reason is that it is something that is not often explain in a book, or by course trainers, or in video how to navigate this problem.  A lot of the stocks that you come across will look like they are the best picks.  Some of these, you didn’t do the prospecting yourself. You followed someone you assessed as an astute investor (and correctly so by all measure), yet after 5 years, your results l

US stocks moved higher on persisting optimism around the trade talk, after President Trump said that he would allow for flexibility to delay the trade-deal deadline if both sides are making sufficient progress. Furthermore, Trump indicated that he would still like to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping soon in an effort to put an end to the trade war. Meanwhile, Trump reassured market participants that a second government shutdown was unlikely even though he was unhappy with the tentative agreement. Over the last three weeks, Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 3.5 percent closing at 25,439.39. Correspondingly, China equities surged on hopes that the trade talk can achieve breakthrough, after the market re-opened from a one-week long Lunar New Year holiday. Overall Shanghai Composite Index

Singapore’s two biggest telcos, Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SGX: Z74) and StarHub Ltd (SGX: CC3), go head-to-head to determine the better buy.

All three major telcos – Singtel, StarHub and M1 –  offer prepaid SIM cards, giving you plenty of options depending on your intended usage. Different bundles vary in terms of validity period, amount of local/roaming data, talk time and SMS. Some also provide features such as unlimited usage on certain social messaging apps. For your convenience, you can use this handy guide we compiled to help you find the right prepaid SIM card that suits your needs. All prices in this article are inclusive of GST. Long Validity Prepaid SIM Cards A longer validity prepaid SIM card is suitable for those who live in Singapore and prefer prepaid SIM card over a post-paid plan. All these SIM cards have bundled local data. For local outgoing calls and SMS, some cards come with bundle while others charge

In preparation for Lunar New Year, many households have the tradition of doing spring cleaning. In addition to cleaning your home this year, it is worth considering doing a spring clean for your financial life as well. To help get you started, here are 4 financial spring cleaning goals to help you keep yourself in the pink of financial health for rest of the year. #1 Review Your Insurance Coverage A yearly review on your insurance portfolio is important to ensure that there are no gaps or too much redundancies in your insurance coverage. As we progress in life, our required coverage may differ significantly. New parents may want to get their new-born adequately insured, while retirees who no longer have dependents may choose to make adjustments to their life insurance policies. Another

In the first two parts of this four part series, we highlighted two of four investment themes that DBS recommended for 2019 (Defensive plays with strong earnings visibility & yield plays with growth potential). With the market on the backfoot, DBS thinks that there is potential for value investors to seek value plays. In this article, we highlight another key investment theme that DBS recommends for investors in 2019: Bombed out value plays. Investors Takeaway: 4 Bombed Out Value Buys By DBS Genting Singapore Despite the turnaround in profitability after the challenging period in 2015-16, the market remains sceptical over the sustainability of Genting Singapore’s (Genting) earnings recovery. However, DBS begs to differ. According to DBS, as Genting selectively extends credit to its