As most of them has explained... What ETF stands (a lot of my clients asked this and are clueless as to what they really mean how it works). So i will explain in this manner to them and i hope it will help you as well. In Layman terms, ETFs tracks the index of a particular market that you are interested in comprising of the similar made up of the index. i.e. - STI Index, - FTSE ST Mid Cap Index - etc There are mandy index out there and also in different segment for example Marinetime industy has - FTSE ST Maritime Index So you get that picture what Index are? Now ETF as echoed by Yang Teng is a fund that track these indices for example STI ETF tracks STI index, ST REITs ETF Tracks the Reits index etc. Investor buys ETFs because they have a certain confidence/view in the Index they want to track in to reap the performance of it but at the same time do not have that huge captial to copy the exact allocations of it is made up i.e STI comprises of 30 stocks, DBS, UOB, GENTING etc. Can you imagine buying each of this stock at one LOT (1000 shares) each that's a huge capital to invest in for any retail investor out there. As such there is ETFs that allow investors to contribute a small amount of investment into a pool that tracks the indices they want to invest in. Do note that no ETFs are able to track 100% to the index because there is some techincal tracking errors and other factors as well, but in general they do track closely to index.

No 1. on the list is do check with the banks and see if the loan quatum is the amount that they are willing to take. No 2. If i am not wrong there isnt many FD linked rates now. OCBC, UOB and Maybank have taken that down. No. 3. Dont take Sibor if you are someone who is worried about interest movement. 3months SIBOR has you to jump out of bed every 3 month because the rate changes and in current climax definetly not SIBOR. Leaving you with Fixed and Variable rates. Fixed Rates across all banks are about 2.3- 2.48 some higher. For that minimal saving of 0.2% off from HDB loan rates why bother. Variable are different across all banks. Some have Mortage Rate with a markup (ie. MR+0.75= 2.25 therefore you MR is 1.5 ), Some uses preferred rate (currently about 5.5%) then gives you a discount (Ie Preferred Rate -3% = 2.5%). Ranging about 2.18- 2.3 there about so there is still risk in the interest rate movement ya... Above are some of the examples and rates that I have gotten for my clients. Not for actual reference or quotation I hope what i mentioned will help you. CHeers

Hmm.... Honestly I am very intrigue by their so call 0 downpayment and owning all the 34 properties without any cash down payment. I have been in the Banking industry long enough to know where they are going on with the scheme of theirs. Lets take things into prespective: Legally, if you are to own another property (investment) you will be subjected to ABSD of 12%, Legal Fee, and what have you, of about 15% in total... That's to the Government. Now after securing your so call investment property, you have mortgage to take note, Maintence fee, rental, Property Tax, insurance etc.... I have seen people doing de-coupling of properties so as to escape the ABSD, then what about the legal fee and the rest.... (In the end, its the lawyer, the bank and the Agent most of all the earns the most) not you. Think about it, when you have no financial means to pay the mortgages who is being sued? Bank takes back the property (no lost) Lawyer wash their hands off, because they are only doing the conveyance (money already collected) Agents earned their comm and now long gone (again money collected) You? Charged for bankrupcy because you should have known better about your finances. The funny thing about all these that I have mentioned there are still people in Singapore wanting to buy up property for retirement, for captial gain. When these ads comes up in FB or any social media many rushes in to see and roped into it. A 1million property (which is very rare now) would cost you to lose 15% to the Government. Thats a Whooping 150k. How then can you make back this 15% initial Loss in a matter of 2 years, 3 years or even 5 years.... Foreigner you say? Foreginers will make up for that 15% lost you made. Statistically, you will know you are just trying to comfort yourself. Government has already limited the number of Foreigners into Singapore, and looking that the tax that they are paying i doubt so. What they are trying to make up is a Private investment scheme to properties under many co-owners pulling funds and resources together and since you have a miserable 5% share of the subject property you are considered as OWNED A PROPERTY. I don't know about you but i will Definetly GIVE this A BIG MISS. When Sh s hits the Fence, you know those gurus that say they are just teaching Singaporean how to own 34 properties for free(trust me they get kick backs from lawyers, agents, developers there is no such thing as free) are already long gone and there isn't a think you could do to them because they are not regulated.

First Determine the Age that you want to retire. if 55 to retire then you have 20years to save, 65 then 30 etc. (Stick to it) Then work out your expenses per month add inflation computation, add another 10-20% more (you be shock that actually early retirement can cost you more because of more time to travel and more time to engage in activities which you wouldnt thought about it whilst working. Look at your average family male life expectancy (thats an indication of your own life expentancy +/-then reverse work the sum out... but always plan for longer life expentancy) You have your Retirement Sum. then again there are some blinds spots that Single also mention to me. Why should i get Early Critical Illness, why life plans at all when i dont even want to leave anything behind for anyone... Some of these Blind spots though not really a blind spot but client just choose to ignore them are Early Critical illnesses can happen to anyone anytime and at any age. The payouts from these plans are meant for your own treatment and expenses should you be stricken before the retirement age. So you got to be prepared ya Cheers and Well Done on making that first step to think about Retirement

Having a joint account is good and the best would be to do an automated giro into the account and enforce that monthly contribution and commitment too. One mistake that many make is the contribution amount remains the same over a 100 years... haha needs to increase with your salary ok... you cant be saving 100 a month at 20 and still be saving 100 a month in your 30s and 40s In my line of work, I have met many young couples who have this ideology in mind " WE MUST MAKE SURE THAT WE SAVE ENOUGH TO HAVE CHILDREN". Trust me you never know when is enough and you never know for sure if when that little bundle of joy will bestow upon you guys. Becoming a father myself, my wife and I realised that we really didnt know that there is so much to parenting and the recurring cost involved. But then again, we are lucky because we stick closely to the 6-9 month emergency fund rule and also do not spend excessively on branded stuff. Therefore, as long as a couple you are not overspending beyond your means always ensuring that you have 6-9 months of emergency fund and adequately covered by with medical plans and life plans you are good to go. What I did when I was younger and has more cash in savings I took up a 5 year saving premium with 15 year maturity (children education) mind you that I didnt have a kid then and who knows if you ever gonna have a kid, but saving more can never be wrong right? . (Yes, I know investment could have yield much more. Yes investment are liquid. futhermore you work as banker) but that's not the point. What I want to achieve with this is to finish saving this part of my goal when i didnt have that much committment and carry on with other goals that I will in the future. Since we are just two and there are still some spare cash to save. WHY NOT? Still unsure? look me up and we can chat and discuss more.

Great that you have start thinking about saving!!!! That's a great first step. Most Insurers accepts from 100/ month savings some with lower than a 100 a month. I can runs some numbers if you want. Now 2nd thing to consider is what's the purpose of this saving plan that you have? i.e for early retirement, Wedding, House upgrade in the future, children education etc. the reason to set this purpose or goal is to keep you "in track" (FOCUS) and manage expectation of what you are going to achieve from these endownment plans. More Often then not some will lose track of why they wanted to save in endownment plans in the first place and then after some "consultation" with so call "investment gurus" they decided to surrender the policy at very high cost for better "investment Returns" or simpily lose the focus of their saving objective and decided to spend the money on other things. Which is not worth you money and time vested. Time Frame also plays part in the selection. most offer save 5 years waits 5 years, some are plain vanallia 25 years savings that beckons the reason why you need to set your reason too. i.e for retirement you can look for longer term endownment if you are younger. for shorter time frame goals such as wedding and children's education then select the right saving period to suit that needs of yours. Most endownment plans offers Death Benefits and other applicable riders (where some form of underwriting may be required, some are GIOs (Guaranteed Issuance Offer) where there is very little death coverage usually 105% of th total premium paid. So this is also one of the considerations that you ponder on. Usually not always , "higher death sum benefits" endownment plans yield lesser returns than those GIOs plan because of the mortality charges etc. Look at the cover page of the Product illustration the company will indicated the yield to maturity of the plan at both Projected returns table. Different companies offer different yield for their endownment plans so do compare around. Lastly there will be nah sayers of endownment plans and asked you to invest to get better returns. However more often than not the nah sayers some time are clueless as to where and how they should invest. Investment is not the cup of tea for everyone, some are just comfortable with 3 plus % returns as compare to those that has higher risk but gives 7-8% returns. I am not against investment, in fact been in this line for quite some time now and through experience I can tell you I have seen my fair share of "investment Gurus" who got my clients into unknown investment that promises higher returns in short time frame and then lost all their hard earn money. Great that you are taking that first step into financial planning. There is never a thing call small savings as long as there is a start.

Hi I guess you want to put you money in higher Risk vehicle because you are expecting that higher return to compensate for the risk taken. Seems like you have invested before and want to juice up a little more on the returns of your investment. Great !!! Look a tactical play in current market condition. Tactical meaning the sum invested must not exceed a certain % of your core investment portfolio. This % is determine by your risk appetite and how ready are you lose this % of your core investment. Core investment denotes those that are stable and gives a stable returns and you are confident with the movement of the shares in good times and bad times. Tactical Investment (usually higher in risk) are looking for pocket of opporunity in under value stocks i.e cheaper PE ratio. but for tactical play you need to monitor more actively and move them when you have reached a targeted return or stop loss level If you are more to the invest and let play kind you can try choose some dividend yielding Unit Trust that can gives you a steady stream of income of about 5-7%. Multi Assets Income, Asian Income etc. But do note that there are cost involve. I am referring to Unit Trust. NOT ILP. Cheers hope you are able make some good money from your tactical play

First what's is your experience in investment. Done any before? if yes good you can stick to those that you are familiar with. example Bluechips ETFs or Unit Trust. If the above sound unfamilar to you, I would ask you to consider the following: 1) is this 10k the excess of your emergency fund if yes Good, if No do adjust the sum you want to invest. 2) Your investment horizon - how long can you keep the funds invested. short time frame for high returns are very risky products. Risky aka losing your principle entirely is possible 3) Whats your risk appetite. Agressive, Growth, Balance etc. because this affects your attitude to the investment if you see your investment drop in value due to market conditions. (would you be very anxious and fluster) 4) Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA). the link explains what DCA is and also why https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dollarcostaveraging.asp 5) Invest in the market where you know what you are investing to- I.e Banks Shares, Telcom, etc where the news of that particular vehicle that you are invested is easily available and transparent. Hope it helps.

I guess that if you are applying for BTO you will be applying as a couple right? So i assume that you be in a dual income family. For HDB, the government implaced the Mortgage Servicing Ratio (MSR) & Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) help home seekers manage their finances before commiting to a HUGE DEBT. In General, correct me if i am wrong guys for MSR the monthly mortage payment aka. monthly installment should not exceed 30% of your combine monthly income. for TDSR which is all your servicing debts aka. credit card installment, car installment and the Mortgage should not exceed 60% of your combine monthly income. To be on a even safer bet for your BTO budget (because as a self employed you will be using cash to pay for the monthly installment) also to work out your monthly expenses as well. Especially those cost that you CANNOT SIAM ONE!!! like of etc. Hp bill, Electric bill because these are not computed to the above calculation. alternatively just allocate another 500 a month for these misc. expenses. (though misc but they are a huge part to your expenses as well) :( The you reverse compute to what is the budget for your BTO. I feel you too as an self employed person. So i know the anxiety of it all. But buying a house will be a big commitment so do take that step wisely and be on the safer side of things. When you business picks and you are able to afford bigger, then upgrade. Anyway BTO takes about 3-4 years and MOP is 5 years after you move in so don't over commit. There is always a chance to UPGRADE. I hope this helps you a little on budgeting your BTO. Cheers, Congrats and Good LUCK

From the phrasing of your sentence where you emphasis more to investment. I will touch on that point first. Investment always sound very sexy and its like the "in" thing that many blindly follows. In this current time and age there are so many platforms, so many instrument that you can choose from. Bitcoins, ETFs, Reits, Fx, Unit Trust etc. BUT WHICH TO CHOOSE? First ask yourself what's you RISK appetite and HOW long are you willing to hold these investments. Being in this line for sometime now, I have seen many customers who are attracted to High returns investment but did'nt know what the investment that they do were actually Ponzi scheme or aliken and got burnt by those. Expectation is also very important. "I want principle protected, I want high return, I want to make the most in the shortest amount of time". These are those that eventually will be conned by their so call investment "gurus" Friends. There is never such a thing call high returns and principle protected instrument". So set that expectation right. If you find the investment returns too good to be true, then yes its too good to be true. Now you have set that expectation of your own risk appetite and the tenor you are looking for. Next is to know how much of the investment that you are willing to place are actually excess of your savings. Because there are times where you invest and the market turned and you may lose the entire amount. So thats the ratio that only you can answer. To start off, you can try OCBC bluechip investment plan (BCIP) where you can contribute on a monthly basis and select some counters that you are familar and have confidence in. ie Banks Shares, Telcom etc. The monthly contribution helps you to do Dollar Cost Averaging which is especially useful at this current time and market condition. https://www.ocbc.com/personal-banking/investments/bluechip.html Alternatively you can chose Unit Trust (Mutual Funds) take those with a steady stream of income/dividends and select the markets that you have some knowledge of or interested in ie. ASIA EX Japan, Multi Assets, ETFS. There are those that have payout dividends of up to 5-6 %. But do note that there are costs involved when you buy into these funds. Find a good advisor that help you choose one that suits you. What I am referring is UNIT TRUST NOT Investment linked Policies (ILP) don't get that part wrong As for savings wise, the general idea that most have is to find the best saving account in Singapore and part all your money there. But asked yourself this question " I save 1000 dollars a month and I have already set aside 6 month of the salary as emergency fund. Do i really need to place that full1000 a month in a saving account that can only generate a 1% p.a interest or I can do better by placing say 300 of that 1000 that i saved in other instruments such as endownment and retirement plan that has gives a IRR of about 3 plus % returns =/-?" Yes it may not be as flexible as saving in the bank account because in the bank you can withdraw as and when you want to. But if saving is your idea to have it withdrawn as and when you want then its not actually saving. Save for a goal, Save for a purpose and be Discipline about it so as to achieve that specific goal. Saving the money to make the bank account look good does not serve any purpose. Saving the money so that you can enjoy your retirement early, to save a big sum for a tour tour etc. is a meaningful purpose so that what you should establish first. I know I am long winded but hope its helps you to make an informed and clearer decision to what you should do. Cheers