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Archive for the 'investor education' Category

Introduction to Online Unit Trust Investing

Published
by
Ken
on 26 July, 2006
in investor education and unit trust
. 3 Comments

what-to-investInvesting in Unit Trust is easy. Like all things worth doing in life, you may need to climb a little learning curve. Do not be discouraged, the time investment you put in will reap many time return.

An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.

- Benjamin Franklin

If you are reading this I can assume you know how to get online and is perhaps looking to do self-directed investing online. (Sorry for the jargon, it simply mean investing yourself).

In this first installment on Unit Trust Investing, I will introduce how to get started.

Continue reading ‘Introduction to Online Unit Trust Investing’

Introduction to Technical Analysis (TA)

Published
by
Ken
on 19 July, 2006
in investor education
. 0 Comments

Technical Analysis, in the simplest sense, is the forecasting of the future with past data .

Typically a wide variety of charts and data are examined to see what the past movement or trend can tell us about the future movement and trend.

The word forecasting tells us that the it is not an absolute certainly but a close possibility .

This, if you must, is first take away of Technical Analysis (TA).

The effective use of technical analysis can help investors anticipate what is “most likely” to happen. The investor may still need to assess TA result objectively based on information outside the domain.

Continue reading ‘Introduction to Technical Analysis (TA)’

Investing in Options

Published
by
Ken
on 12 July, 2006
in investor education
. 4 Comments

Over the last weekend, I attended an option investing seminar. Basically it is an introductory review to an Optionetics course.

The presentation of course is skewed towards selling the course but the content is still interesting. In the end I decided that I should spend a little more time investigating Option investing.

Do you invest in options? Do you think such course are worth the fee?Share your option investing experience.

Technical Analysis Notes Series

Published
by
Ken
on 5 July, 2006
in investor education
. 0 Comments

about-invest-insight.jpgMaintaining this site had encouraged me to polish up my technical analysis (TA) knowledge further.

Starting with this introduction, my plan is to share my notes as I further my TA education.
Join me in this journey to be a better investor.

dollarDEX

Published
by
Ken
on 27 June, 2006
in investing sites, investor education, online investing and unit trust
. 2 Comments

dollarDEX

dollarDex transformed their business model from their original online loan and financing model to include distributing unit trusts.

Things I like about dollarDEX

  1. Investing with credit card.
    This is a killer feature and appeal to those that likes to mange their finance with credit card. Effectively you can use the credit money in advance and at the same time accumulate reward points for your card.
    Although not all fund can be brought with credit card, this concept alone deserves full point.
  2. Performance chart comparing to CPF and bank deposit.
    A nice simple chart that all other sites should have but don’t.

Things that dollarDEX can improve

  1. Browser friendliness.
    Since I use Firefox, dollarDEX is the only site among the 3 that I have to switch to IE in order to use it. As a result I hardly ever visit it.

FinatiQ

Published
by
Ken
on 24 June, 2006
in investing sites, investor education, online investing and unit trust
. 2 Comments

FinatiQ

For historical reason, most of my cash investments are with finatiQ. The reason is because finatiQ started off as the first (and only) attempt to be a fully online bank in Singapore. I brought into the indea and moved most of my cash there.

When it lanched in around 2000, it offered the highest interest rate among all the banks for fixed deposit. Now its cash deposit interest (1.38% p.a) is even higher than fixed deposit (0.75% p.a).

Things I like about finatiQ

  1. Easy transfer of cash between OCBC which I have an account. (Bank of Singapore is owned by OCBC)
  2. Fixed deposit. Nice option but not attractive enough to see a need to use it.

Things finatiQ can improve

  1. Portfolio information is too minimal. One point I take issue with is the lack of buying price, date brought and return.
  2. Navigation. I have no idea where to look for information I want.

FundSuperMart

Published
by
Ken
on 21 June, 2006
in investing sites, investor education and unit trust
. 2 Comments

FundSuperMart

Of the 3 online unit trust retailers, Fundsupermart (FSM) is my favourite site for unit trust investing in Singapore.
What I like about fundsupermart.

  1. Good, informative, original articles. Unlike the other sites, FSM has editors that research and write articles. This set them apart from sites that uses fund managers stories. They also publish a magazine. Having SPH as an investor does shows.
  2. Simple and easy to use user interface.
  3. Good set of functions to search, compare and chart funds.
  4. Only unit trust site with a forum. This actually show that FSM “get it” when comes to online interaction and leveraging the online media to reach out and create community.
  5. SGS bonds. Though I don’t buy them, they are a good concepts and add to the investment mix. This and beening the first CPFIS Investment Administrator show that They are creative in delivering value to customers.

What fundsupermart can improve on.

  1. Articles are getting more “markety“. More objective and well-researched article please.
  2. Function to chart investment over time.
  3. Graph or table to compare invested amount against CPF or bank return.

Unit trust strategy for the current correction

Published
by
Ken
on 13 June, 2006
in investor education and my investments
. 0 Comments

about-invest-insight.jpg

I had been holding my unit trust funds and watching the current correction.

Originally my plan was to hold and wait out the correction. However, there are new signs to indicate that the current correct will be deeper than anticipated. In view of this, I’m switching strategy.

Most of my unit trust are invested with CPF monies. While some school of thoughts believe that dollar cost averaging is the best strategy, it is not for me.

Active management is my preferred strategy and I believe it is best for my situation. The point is not to catch the maximum (if I had taken action a month back) but to lock in profit.

It is painful to see the gain shrank. But it will be more painful if I had to cut at a lost later. I am selling my Asia, Japan, Korea, Thailand funds.