facebookI've just created FSMone account.. how do I start investing or choosing my own stocks? Is it ideal to opt for RSP rather than doing it myself as Im still a beginner in this.? - Seedly

Anonymous

20 Sep 2020

General Investing

I've just created FSMone account.. how do I start investing or choosing my own stocks? Is it ideal to opt for RSP rather than doing it myself as Im still a beginner in this.?

I'm also thinking of investing into something that gives out dividend constantly to build my passive income. How can I go about starting it?

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Justin Mok

20 Sep 2020

Bachelor of Business Management at Singapore Management University

Hi there!

Congrats on taking the first step towards your investment journey! Hope you find the mini-guide below useful

How do I start?

Now, once you are familiar with the platform, time to get the ball rolling!

Before you proceed, make sure you have set aside your emergency funds.

Plan out how much you are willing to invest especially splitting them between your dividend portfolio and your growth portfolio (if you are into it).

For individual stock picking, I recommend filtering the industries that you (1) Understand or (2) Interested.

There are over thousands of companies listed on the Global Stock Exchanges, we certainly cannot cover them all. That's why find some industries or companies that you can understand (through your own education) or something that you like (Apple, if you use their products)

Next, start picking up some investment fundamentals. Things like analyzing a business model, looking at financial statements, understanding their ratios. Seedly has great articles about it. I recommend you to search them under the Investments tab in Seedly.

For now, my advice is to invest in ETFs to rack up that Dividends you are looking for. Do note that US Stocks/ETFs have 30%/15% (Irish-Domiciled) withholding tax on dividend gains. So it is preferable if you were to invest in SG equities. You may consider Nikko AM STI ETF, it tracks the STI Index. Generally, ETFs are considered safer than individual stocks, since it is diversified.

REITs are also quite the lucrative assets to rack up passive income. You may check out https://www.dividends.sg/rank/blue just to get an idea of the dividend yield. But please do not rely solely on it for your investment decisions, you would still have to study the company.

Personally, I wouldn't want to buy into Funds via RSP. I prefer being hands-on. Not many funds outperform the Index anyways. That is why I would recommend passively investing in ETFs or Robo-Advisors (If you have the chance to explore).

Whats Next?

Once you have your dividend portfolio settled. It is time for you to start picking stocks if you are looking for growth. Growth Stocks, tend to be across our borders, specifically in the US. That's why I mentioned selecting industries that fancy you to scope it narrower. Rack up some investment knowledge and start investing actively once you are confident.

I hope this can shed some insights. Happy to help if you need more information.

I am not an expert nor a certified financial advisor. This should not be taken as investment advice.​​​

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