SingTel grilled over digital investments

I read an article in The Strait Times which stated that SingTel was grilled by investors over its digital investments during its latest annual general meeting AGM. Apparently, some of the investors were concerned about the company’s decision to budget multi-billion dollar for its new digital investments and queried the company on the soundness of such an ambitious plan. I am not vested in any SingTel shares and neither did I attend any of its AGM, but after reading the article, I have some comments.

Most investors thought that buying the shares of a company means having a stake in the entity, albeit as minor shareholders. They are absolutely right. But technically, in most cases, they do not have much say or influence over key decisions made by the management of the company.

Stock investing

Take for example, in SingTel’s case, even though many minor shareholders were unhappy over the company’s strategy to invest billion of dollars in digital portals, the resolution was still passed. So honestly, I would say the AGM was really just a formality to inform the outcome of management’s decision.

My thinking is that if you are uncomfortable with the direction undertook by the company which you invested in, you should just divest away your stake.

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BullionStar Review: Gold Buying Frenzy in Asia

This article is extracted from BullionStar, a Singapore online bullion company where you can buy gold and silver at competitive prices.
According to Scott Morrison, Chairman of Swiss precious metals processor, Metalor Technologies, gold refineries were unable to keep up with the demand from Asia investors as the plunge in gold price sparked frenzy in buying gold bullions and jewelry from China to India. His company expects to complete its US$15 million gold refinery on Singapore by the end of this year. The refinery will have a capacity of 150 metric tons a year, he said.

In a bid to expand Singapore’s share of gold bullion trading, the government removed 7 percent GST from investment-grade precious metals in 2012. The aim is to enhance trading and encourage the buying and selling of gold and silver. Retail players should welcome this move as having an vibrant ecosystem of trading facilities will help to boost the liquidity of precious metals.

As a result of this policy change, international financial institutes like Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase have opened vaults in Singapore. In recent years, in order to meet the demand for physical gold which is being highly sought by the local investment community, premiere online bullion dealers like BullionStar Singapore were established to facilitate the trading of gold and silver at competitive prices.

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Invest in Singapore Industrial Sector Stocks

Below is an article from guest blogger, Richard who works as a stock analyst and has 3 years of experience in the stock market. He likes to write articles and hope to share his experiences with investors in Singapore If you would like additional SGX Dividend Stocks data, information or screening tools, please visit website http://sg.dividendinvestor.com, a leading source for in-depth research and analysis for stock investments.

While talking about the Singapore stocks outlook, we should examine the general global economic outlook. As being a small country the Singapore stock market is much shaped by what is going on in the global markets. By investing in Singapore Stocks, investors can generate income for their future. I am sharing five Singapore stocks from Industrial sector in which you should invest.

MYP Ltd (SGX: F86)

MYP Ltd is a Singapore-based company. It is engaged in investment holding and providing of shipping agency, terminal operations, warehousing and logistics services. Its operating segments include Agency and terminal operations and Strategic projects/Logistics. In June 2012, Ow Chio Kiat sold its 25.69% interest in the Company. In April 2013, it completed the divestment if SSC Shipping Agencies Pte Ltd, Island Line Pte, Nanyand Maritime (s’pore) Pte Ltd and Hai Poh Terminals Pte Ltd.
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How to make money from blogging

In my previous post, I wrote about making money from blogging. As promised, in this post, I shall elaborate how you can make decent money from your blog. Bear in mind that this article is written solely based on my personal experience. It may not be the only way of making money from blogging. After all, I am not a full time professional blogger and my main source of income is not derived from blogging. So if there are better alternative ways, feel free to share.

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Passion
There are many people who think that they can make a living from blogging full time. In reality, this is very difficult to achieve. Indeed, you probaby can make a few hundreds or thousands here and there from affiliate marketing or sponsorships. But in most months, there might be neligible or even no income at all. Over the years, I have seen so many local bloggers fizzled out from the scene after only a few months. I supposed most of them gave up blogging after realizing that it really cannot bring food to the table on a daily basis. So if you wanted to make a career in blogging, your first priority should not be in making money from your blog.

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Making money from blogging

July 2013 has been a fantastic month for me so far. Both my career and blog reached new milestones during this month. Firstly, I have been promoted. This is the first promotion in my job journey and I am so happy that my hard work for the previous years had paid off.

Thinking back, those extra duties and late nights at office were worth the efforts. With the promotion increments, my financial situation definitely improved a lot, given that I am the sole breadwinner. The next step for me is to continue reducing my housing and car loans.

Secondly, I am pleased to inform my readers that one of my articles was featured in Yahoo Finance! on 3rd July. It was a pleasant surprise because I was not informed prior to the article being published and I happened to chance upon it. Furthermore, this article was written quite sometime ago last year. So I didn’t really expect it to be featured by any online media companies. Nonetheless, it was a form of recognition and made me feel encouraged to keep blogging. Hopefully more of my articles would be featured by Yahoo Finance!

Wealth

Lastly, I made $1000 from my blog, SG Wealth Builder, last month.

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OCBC Bank: Top Investment Ideas (July 2013)

The following coverage is from OCBC Bank Investment Seminar conducted on 9 July 2013.

Continue Drip-Feeding into Equities
We remain positive on global equities, especially with the recent correction in prices. Going forward, markets will remain volatile with uncertainties about Fed monetary policy and China. However, we see this as an opportunity to buy, and continue to recommend that investors drip-feed capital into the markets.

The US and Japan are still our preferred regions: an allocation to US equities is an important element of your core portfolio. Meanwhile, as expected, investment-grade bonds have borne the brunt of the rise in long-term interest rate; we prefer high-yield bonds.

Recommendations
Equity funds: With U.S. economic data pointing to increasingly solid growth and the outlook for corporate earnings steadily improving, investors can gain exposure to the country’s recovery through the Franklin U.S. Opportunities Fund. The fund invests in leading growth companies with a sustainable competitive advantage.

Investors who prefer a geographically diversified fund that captures both yield and growth could consider Blackrock’s BGF Global Equity Income Fund, with monthly pay-out amounts of around 3 per cent per annum. The fund provides exposure to developed markets such as the U.S., investing in quality companies with strong growth potential that deliver a steady dividend stream.

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Investing in Singapore Stocks

Below is an article from guest blogger, Richard who works as a stock analyst and has 3 years of experience in the stock market. He likes to write articles and hope to share his experiences with investors on Singapore stocks. If you would like additional Singapore stocks data, information or screening tools, please visit website http://sg.dividendinvestor.com, a leading source for in-depth research and analysis for stock investments. 

Singapore is the fourth largest foreign exchange trading center which is also rated as the most business-friendly economy in the world. The country had an estimated growth rate of 8.2% for the second quarter of 2007. The country has many financial advantages. It has also a strong currency. Focus on these Singapore stocks to add your portfolio.

Stock investing

SembCorp Marine Ltd. (SGX: S51)

SembCorp Marine Ltd is a marine and offshore engineering company. It is engaged in the provision of management services and an investment holding. The company provides ship repair, shipbuilding, rig building and offshore engineering and construction. It operates in two segments: Ship and rig repair, building and conversion, and ship chartering. 
The company has a market capitalization of 9.03 Billion, EPS is 0.26, P/E ratio is 16.58 and the dividend yield is 2.55% at the annual dividend payout of 0.06 
Rickmers Maritime (SGX: B1ZU)
Rickmers Maritime is a Singapore-based company.
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July’s Stock Markets Outlook

Guest blogger Argutori is an avid blogger who manage a private portfolio. His fund pursues a fundamental value oriented strategy focusing on developing and frontier markets in the Asian region. The fund focuses on countries that have progressive foreign investment policies, young and growing populations, and stable or improving economic situations. The aim is to find and invest in companies that have stable franchises for good prices before the masses.
While my blog is largely focused on Southeast Asian stock markets, I also try to keep things in perspective and consider the global situation. Stock markets have had a relatively good run so far this year and there is a lot weighing on the US recovery, which has spilled over to emerging markets. I’m struggling to piece together the economic data, media commentary and market movements, which appear to me to be disjointed. Which lead me to ask “What’s really going to happen with equity markets for the rest of this year and how can I best position my portfolio?”

 

It feels like the world’s gone crazy and the markets aren’t acting in line with rational expectations – worse than anticipated economic data sends the markets up because it means that the Fed will have to keep pumping dollar bills into the system. 
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BullionStar Review: Will the end of quantitative easing signal the collapse of gold prices?

This article is extracted from BullionStar, a Singapore online bullion company where you can buy gold and silver at competitive prices.

It has been an interesting year thus far for gold. Having traded between USD$ 1600 to USD$ 1800 for much of last year, it has trended downwards for the first few months of this year, cumulating in a nose dive in the middle of April, where prices tumbled 15% in a mere 2 days and is currently trading around USD$1,400.

One of the main contributing reasons many agree on is the ongoing talk by the United States Federal Reserve to taper quantitative easing, with some suggesting a tapering starting as early as the end of this year. The reason offered was that the amount of money that has been pumped into the economy has already started to stimulate the economy and since this is the case, the government do not have to interfere in the markets anymore. Other reasons that were offered included the slowdown in the Chinese Economy or the hedge funds liquidating their long positions in the stock markets.

What implications are there should the Federal Reserve slow down the printing of the dollar? The dollar will definitely increase against other currencies, which is what we have already seen as investors move their money out of other asset classes (gold and silver included) to invest in the US dollar and their stock exchanges.

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New measures on property loan

Over the weekend, the government rolled out new measures on property loan to curb excessive borrowings by property investors. The new ruling requires lenders to take into consideration of the debtor’s other existing loans when granting property loans.

The aim is to strengthen credit practices by financial institutions and encourage financial prudence among borrowers. The central bank will also refine rules related to the application of the existing Loan-to-Value (LTV) limits on housing loans. These refinements seek to ensure the effectiveness of the LTV limits that were put in place to cool investment demand in the housing market. In particular, they aim to prevent circumvention of the tighter LTV limits on second and subsequent housing loans.

The question at the back of investors’ mind will be whether the new measure will be the ultimate needle to burst the housing bubble. My take is that this new measure will not have any significant effect on the housing market.

Property investment

To put things into perspective, the current housing situation is not truly due to demand and supply dynamics. The private home market has witnessed huge gains in prices in recent years because of the hot money flowing from foreign countries such as United States and China as a result of loose monetary expansion.

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