Hi anon, In the long run, probably not much. Look back years to previous presidential impeachments, the most recent of which was Bill Clinton, and you'll realise that a few years after that, the markets were moving as though an impeachment didn't even occur at all. In the short run, I wouldn't want to make a prediction, but if the markets sink, it's a good time to watch for stocks that have dropped to a more reasonable valuation and see if you'd like to start a position or add on.

Hi anon, You can get new or 'almost new' notes from most banks. It's probably the queue that turns most people off. I believe that is really the only way of assuring yourself of a new or almost new note. Short of that, try the ATMs. I just drew some cash and it came out with the crisp feeling of a brand new note. I was surprised, and certainly not expecting it. Note that you should just withdraw cash as part of a need to, and not go around testing ATMs till you find one loaded with new notes!

Besides what the rest have suggested, I'd like to point out that the CIMB fast saver account has no criteria and will give you 1% (if I recall correctly), so it's quite no-frills. Use that to maximize interest earned if you are either not eligible for SCB Jumpstart or have hit the $20K cap.

Hi anon, In order of importance, here is what you should be looking at: 1. Hospitalization plan. This covers any hospital bills and associated pre/post hospitalization costs. This would be from an integrated shield plan, with a rider to take care of the deductible/co-insurance. Depending on your budget, you can take a private hospital plan and downgrade later, or just go for Goverment A ward. You already have this so at least that is a start. 2. Critical Illness coverage. This provides a sum of money for you to cover your expenses and other out of pocket costs should you fall critically ill and are not able to work. Usually recommended to cover at least 5 years of expenses and an additional sum to cover out of pocket costs. This is usually via a limited payment life plan, or a term plan, depending on your budget/needs 3. Death coverage. This provides a lump sum of money should something happen to you. Not mandatory if you have no dependents or liabilities. Usually takes the form of a term plan. For the coverage amount, you could use a multiple such as 10 x of your current income, or calculate based on your current liabilities. 4. Personal Accident. For the minor stuff like TCM claims, etc. Generally, you should not have to spend more than 10% of your income on coverage. Work with an independent financial advisor who can provide multiple options and explain in detail what you will need to know before coming to a decision, especially with respect to cost effectiveness as well as the minor differences between the plans. Do note that GE Wealth Multiplier is an endowment plan, and it will not be for protection purposes. If you are not past the free look period, you might want to revisit your purpose for getting this plan.

Hi Jared, The CPF savings will be distributed by the Public Trustee’s Office (PTO) to the legally entitled beneficiaries according to existing intestacy or Muslim inheritance laws. A fee is charged for the distribution of unnominated CPF savings. Do note that CPF savings cannot be distributed via a will as they do not form part of the estate. The 9 rules are as follows: https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/ISA1967 Please ensure a nomination is made if this is of concern for you (or whoever you are asking for). It only takes a few moments to do so.

DBS itself doesn't carry the ETF, but their brokerage platform allows access to SGX which has the S27 ( SPDR S&P500 US$ ) which is what you are looking for. So in theory you could open a brokerage account and buy it there. But please don't. Liquidity is horrible. The average Singaporean won't be buying the S&P 500, they will be buying the STI instead. You'll want good liquidty and it's found on the US exchanges, since the average US person will be buying the S&P 500 ETF.

Hi Gabriel, While I probably won't be able to give a total answer, one of the reasons is economics. Everyone's pretty much charging 0.28% or $25 at this point. If any player makes a drastic cut in rates to gain market share, the rest will follow suit rapidly, and everyone will be back to status quo again, but all will be worse off. So it's a practically a Mexican Standoff.

Hi anon, Perhaps you would like to elaborate a little on your current situation so that a more specific answer can be given. A more accurate picture really should take into account factors such as your current age, assets, liabilities, portfolio, cashflow, etc. However, if you don't feel comfortable to share, I will do my best to send you some guidelines to work on - What should I be looking at investing in? Asset classes have two broad forms, guaranteed and variable. Or you can look at asset classes as those with growth and those with income. Which suits you more depends on your goal. If you are near retirement, you should focus more on income assets. Growth assets would work if you have the ability to cope with more risk or have more time to grow them - How should I distribute my cash? Again, this is dependent on your investment goals, as I mentioned above. However, I can say this: Don't throw everything into a single asset class. Diversify. - What should I have set up before I start investing? A multi asset investment account, and a CDP account. Plus, nerves of steel, since you're about to start something that you've never done before. - What are some educational tools that I can use and look at before I start investing? The seedly website has a number of good articles for beginners. Hope that helps.

Hi Gabriel, Can I understand what you mean by high fees? Transactionally, you can find zero sales charge, zero platform fees and zero switching fees solution here. If you're talking about management fees, remember that ETFs have management fees as well, although they are lower than UTs in general, but never forget the job scope of the ETF manager is basically to buy holdings that replicate the ETF.....and that's it.... A UT manager does not just buy holdings based off a benchmark, but their goal is and always has been to deliver market beating returns, which again, not all UTs can do. They do have a team of analysts and the like to support the operation, so that has to be costed in somewhere. After all, if you are trying to beat the benchmark, then you can't just buy the benchmark, you need to adjust the allocation, and maybe even buy stuff not on the benchmark due to your research and convinction. Now, as Jonathan mentioned, the real question is whether the manager is worth the fee. If he's delivering market beating returns nett of fees, do you really care about what he charges? A high fee would erode his returns to below market returns anyway, so it is also in their interest that the fees be reflective of the costs to run the fund. As an example, I will point you to First State Dividend Advantage, which has, nett of fees, beaten MSCI AP ex-Japan handily. (Usual disclaimer of past performance not representative of future results). However do note that not all funds perform like this fund does. There are quite a number of funds out there that just can't deliver the Alpha returns. Well, no one said you had to invest in those fund right? I could say a lot more, but I'm not about to turn this into an essay, got a feeling my answer is already longer than all other 8 answers (as of this point of writing) combined. Now, before the naysayers and protesters come in, please, civil discussion only.

Hi Gabriel, In general, if you have access to institutional share class of UTs, you'll save on fees such as the trailer fee, which will then boost the return of the fund ever so slightly. So you are really looking at the share class of the UT. A $50K investment in a retail share class will yield the same return, no matter if it was bought by a HNW or a mass market affluent.