Savings and Investments in SIA

[tobester]

Hi

I am due to relocate from the UK and am investigating the best means of savings and investments,

what is the general feeling in the expat community? do you stick with off shore for regular savings or are there good opportunities in the local system and banks?

thanks

Tobester

[msekree]

Hi Tobester, how's the relocation going- are you out here yet?

I just moved across from the UK myself last week and am loving Singapore/not being in the UK at the moment. I've been an IFA back in the UK for a while and have come out here to advise ex-pats on stuff like savings. I'm just finding my feet in the local market and in one way I'm not liking what I see but in another way it's great.

I don't know if you've found out yet, or whether you will soon, but financial advisers have got a pretty lousy reputation out here. Things are improving since the Monetary Authority of Singapore (the equivilant of the FSA in the UK, if you're familiar with them) introduced mandatory licensing of/qualifications for financial advisers 18 months ago. However there are quite a few advisers just tripping into the country and operating illegally without a license. The standard of 'advice' from these people tends to be very poor and has left a foul taste in many people's mouths. To be fair it seems like many of the licensed advisers may not be too much better.

While this is generally bad it's good for me. I've been working for my father's firm back in the UK and have gained my diploma in personal finance- a rare thing out here it seems. The way we've always done advice is by looking at our client's overall needs and objectives and then recommeding products based on that- pretty obvious you would have thought. It seems that out here though it's back to the '80s with salesman talking a good fight with more thoughts of himself than the client. Anyway, I'm hoping my style is going to go down a lot better and that I'll get a good reputation and plenty of clients that way.

If you want to have a chat about anything to do with your finances, or want to know anything I might be able to tell you about Singapore then just let me know. We could either do the full meeting thing or just go for a beer, which, to be honest, I'd much prefer!

Look forward to hearing from you,
Mark

[hc1977]

My advice to you is be careful who you deal with. First port of call is to get their license number and then get their office address in Singapore. Without these they should not be operating here.

I have friends in the industry who work for companies that are fully regulated by the MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) and are fully qualified to do the job.

If you want to I can put you in touch with the company I use. I have always found them to be 100% professional in their approach. My adviser told me I should have more money behind me and pay off CC's before investing.....now you don't hear that very often! That is genuinely best advice for the client not the adviser!

reply if you want the details and hopefully you will be able to benefit from their advice as I have.

[Pioneer]

Hi Guys,

I am in the same boat as Tobester, I am relocating in January so trying to sell my house in UK right now, hopefully I will release a pretty good amount of equity and rather than it sitting in a UK bank being taxed on savings, maybe there is something else I can do with it that will not be too risky and yet give me a resonable return.

Just out of interest do SG have anything like the UK version of Premium bonds as this is safe bet, with the (hopefully) resonable level of return without risking your capital?

Cheers

[riversandlakes]

no risking of capital with favorable returns more than the pathetic FD here?

please count me in!

[qm]

hi this is the question I have been thinking about lately. care to introduce me a couple of financial advisors as well?

here is another related question: would you rather pay 3100/month to rent a condo, or try to buy a condo in the price range of 600k-900k? which makes more financial sense? I heard contradicting views and am quite confused.

My calculation goes this way:

Say I will stay in SG for 4 years. the total rent is

3100 * 12 * 4 = 148,800

but that is all.

If I buy a condo priced at 750k, I first have to pay 20% out of pocket as down payment, which is 150k. the monthly condo fee is usually 250+. given the current interest rate, I expect to get a 30-35 year loan and pay roughly 2500-3200 as the monthly payment. So by the end of the four years, the out of pocket expense is

150k + 250 * 12 * 4 + 3000 * 12 * 4 =306,000.

say the condo did not appreciate or depreciate at the end of the four years, and I sell the condo for 750k again. how much money do I get back? i.e., how much equity would I have built by then?

[msekree]

Hi all. If you see my post higher up (number 2), the offer is open to anyone. To field some questions:

First off, I completely agree with hc1977- there is no reason why you should use anyone who is unlicensed no matter how good they seem. If they have a license then they have a license to lose and so you have something to hold against them should you be dissatisfied. I work for a firm called Affinity Financial Consulting who are licensed and have an office in Singapore. Check out the website http://www.affinity-finance.com for details.

To Pioneer- good luck with the house sale, you’ve got a lot to look forward to out here! As for a Singapore version of Premium Bonds, I’m not sure. Premium Bonds as a whole are quirky. Like all NS&I products they exist primarily to raise money for the government. Their ‘rate of return’ is in fact fairly poor. They can be attractive to a higher rate taxpayer since the winnings (interest) are tax-free. For a basic/nil rate taxpayer the rate is worse than a good online UK savings account, of course the bonus is that you could win big with no risk to the nominal value of your money.

To Pioneer and Riversandlakes-There is one fund available at the moment of which I am aware that has returned excellent growth month on month for the past four years and has never gone down. It’s a slightly unusual one but I can send you details if you wish. Of course there are always capital guaranteed funds available if these are attractive to you. Personally I like the old fashioned method of putting together a balanced portfolio to match your attitude to risk and time to be invested and then understanding and accepting that there will be downs as well as ups over the length of the investment.

To qm- I’m afraid I haven’t had a look at your calculations but a couple of things. Firstly the assumption of no appreciation/depreciation is a big one! You’d have to think about this carefully before buying. From what I’ve heard, Singapore property prices have suffered very badly in recent times but this may well represent a buying opportunity since things seem to be on the turn. As for equity building up- you could assume that you are taking out an ‘interest only’ mortgage whereby only interest is being paid and the loan is not paid down at all. The only equity to be built up in this case is the difference between the purchase price + purchase costs and the value – disposal costs.

Other factors, such as the hassle of purchase and sale and the inability to move easily should you wish to will probably play as large a part in the decision as financial considerations. Of all my clients so far, even those who have been here for a long time, rent in Singapore. A possible overriding factor is that only certain classes of residents are eligible to buy certain types of property.

Let me know if you’d like a meeting- the address is [email protected]

[msekree]

Hi all. If you see my post higher up (number 2), the offer is open to anyone. To field some questions:

First off, I completely agree with hc1977- there is no reason why you should use anyone who is unlicensed no matter how good they seem. If they have a license then they have a license to lose and so you have something to hold against them should you be dissatisfied. I work for a firm called Affinity Financial Consulting who are licensed and have an office in Singapore. Check out the website http://www.affinity-finance.com for details.

To Pioneer- good luck with the house sale, you’ve got a lot to look forward to out here! As for a Singapore version of Premium Bonds, I’m not sure. Premium Bonds as a whole are quirky. Like all NS&I products they exist primarily to raise money for the government. Their ‘rate of return’ is in fact fairly poor. They can be attractive to a higher rate taxpayer since the winnings (interest) are tax-free. For a basic/nil rate taxpayer the rate is worse than a good online UK savings account, of course the bonus is that you could win big with no risk to the nominal value of your money.

To Pioneer and Riversandlakes-There is one fund available at the moment of which I am aware that has returned excellent growth month on month for the past four years and has never gone down. It’s a slightly unusual one but I can send you details if you wish. Of course there are always capital guaranteed funds available if these are attractive to you. Personally I like the old fashioned method of putting together a balanced portfolio to match your attitude to risk and time to be invested and then understanding and accepting that there will be downs as well as ups over the length of the investment.

To qm- I’m afraid I haven’t had a look at your calculations but a couple of things. Firstly the assumption of no appreciation/depreciation is a big one! You’d have to think about this carefully before buying. From what I’ve heard, Singapore property prices have suffered very badly in recent times but this may well represent a buying opportunity since things seem to be on the turn. As for equity building up- you could assume that you are taking out an ‘interest only’ mortgage whereby only interest is being paid and the loan is not paid down at all. The only equity to be built up in this case is the difference between the purchase price + purchase costs and the value – disposal costs.

Other factors, such as the hassle of purchase and sale and the inability to move easily should you wish to will probably play as large a part in the decision as financial considerations. Of all my clients so far, even those who have been here for a long time, rent in Singapore. A possible overriding factor is that only certain classes of residents are eligible to buy certain types of property.

Let me know if you’d like a meeting- the address is [email protected]