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Tag: Fixed Income

SBSEP23 GX23090F Singapore above 3% again. Bye or Buy?

Posted on by careyourpresent

Savers Heaven

Many of us are savers or simply someone who wish to get the best returns on idling cash. With the raising interest rate, it’s heaven for many people! One can easily get 2-4% with little or no risk.

Although it seems like interest rates hiking will last very long, but it is also likely that the rates will go down one day. Before the arrival of that day, Singapore Savings Bonds is a very good option that let you locked up decent rates for 10 years. Now the yield is above 3% for 10 years after a long while (read: SBAPR23 GX23040S – Singapore Saving Bonds (SSB) above 3% again. Buy or Bye?)

Is this a bye or buy?

SBSEP23 GX23090F

More about this Month Singapore Saving Bonds SBSEP23 GX23090F:

  • Average return over 10 years: 3.06%
  • 1st year to 10th year interest: 3.01 to 3.20%
  • Amount Offered: 600 millions
  • Interest Payment Date: Upcoming payment: 01 Mar 2024. Subsequent payments (until maturity): Every 6 months on 01 Sep and 01 Mar
  • Application Closing Date: 28 Aug 2023, 9pm
  • Allotment Date: 29 Aug 2023, after 3pm

Let’s see the breakdown of the 10 years rate.

1st year is 3.01% whereas the last year is 3.20% with average at 3.06%. Great rates (although lousier than the last issue with more than 3%. (read: SBAPR23 GX23040S – Singapore Saving Bonds (SSB) above 3% again. Buy or Bye?).

S$600.0 million are offered with last day of application on 28 Aug 2023, 9pm. Upcoming payment is on 01 Mar 2024 with subsequent payments (until maturity): Every 6 months on 01 Sep and 01 Mar.

Buy or Bye?

Hence, should we buy or bye?

Let’s us recap the advantages of SSB first:

  • Very safe – backed by Singapore Government
  • Locked down decent rates of around 3% for 10 years.
  • Easy to redeem and can redeem partial
  • Liquidity needs maximum of 1 month where you can get your money back. Hence suitable as emergency fund.
  • Limit of 200k should be good enough for most people.
  • Can build Bond Ladder to get monthly income (which I already did)

Let’s us recap the disadvantages of SSB:

  • Short term rates are lower than banks’ fixed deposits, money market funds such as MoneyOwl,etc of around 3.5% and above.
  • Risk Free 6 month treasury yield is close to 4% which is higher
  • Low returns
  • 1 month liquidity to redeem your funds may be too long for people who need the funds immediately.

Hence the question is should we buy or bye?

Comparatively, this issue is not better than the SBAPR23 issue few months ago but this is getting better. If we look at US treasury yield – 10 years rate is now 4%. Where is recession? Is the recession coming? Your guess is as good as mine.

But there is one very important thing that one should have regardless or recession or not is

WARCHEST!

But warchest has the issue of idling earning very little return, SSB would help to solve this. Personally, I would likely be buying some SSB for this month. I didn’t manage to get the GXS bank at 3.48% and my esaver 4% promotion of #m23a would end at 31 Aug 2023, this means I would have additional idling cash.

Market will be volatile for these few months (Aug, Sep, Oct), chances is I will be able to deploy these money! If not, I get some SSB or liquid bank account (or MMF) with higher interest to wait.

Good articles that you should read!

People are drawn to dividend investing.

Why? Firstly, dividends provide a regular stream of income, allowing investors to receive a portion of the company’s profits on a periodic basis. This can be particularly attractive for individuals seeking consistent cash flow or looking to supplement their existing income. Additionally, dividend investing is often viewed as a more stable and predictable investment strategy compared to relying solely on capital appreciation.

I always write and share articles, especially on dividends which many people love them. Do read them!

Alternatively, you can go the right side of my page, there is a search bar where you can simply search “dividend” to see all my articles related to dividends!

Of course, you can search for other things that would interest you such as “Careyourpresent”, “Reits”, “Side Hustles”, “Fixed Incomes”, “Savings” etc.

CAREYOURPRESENT

Money just buy you the chance of freedom.

When you are young and working, you exchange time for money. When you are old, you can have lots of money but you can’t buy time back, especially the things that you have missed while busying striking out in career. Of course, if you love your career, and consciously know that you are missing out the first time your child walk or talk, that’s ok, but if you are the other spectrum, please do something about it.

Your kids grew up and they no longer need you to accompany them. They no longer want to sit on your lap to share/do things with you…all these time you spent in your 9 to 6 or even longer cubicles…can the money that you have earned by you back these?

We always thought we have more time with our old parents, but we are wrong. Time with them is ticking away every day. One day it will suddenly be gone. There is no regret medicine, no reset in time. Gone is gone and cannot come back. No matter you are billionaires or millionaires, you cannot reset this.

We always thought that we have more time with our spouse every day, but we are wrong. One day they will be gone too. When you read this, please go tell your spouse that you love him/her and he or she is the best thing that you ever had in your life.

I have picked out some of the more life reflecting articles of the CAREYOURPRESENT series. Do read them:

You can read more about my articles on Careyourpresent via the Category “Careyourpresent” or simply click “Careyourpresent” via the main menu bar.

REMEMBER:

Love your life daily.

You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and yourself.

Time is ticking away.

For each passing day,

Enjoy and Treasure your Life!

For those who are interested in regular updates of my articles, please join the others to sign up for my free newsletter to has my newest blogposts sent to your mailbox for free!

For real time exclusive updates on market news/life (especially Crypto markets where the news move fast, important news will be shared directly via tweets or telegrams), do also join the platforms below and engage with other like-minded people!

You may also contact me via [email protected].

If you’re looking referral codes, do check out my referral and ebook page. Give it a try and who knows? You might end up loving these platforms! To be absolutely fair to all the readers, I am definitely using all these companies and they are useful to me! Likely will be useful to you too!

At the same referral and ebook page, you can also download my free ebooks and other free resources.

For quick references to these resources, you can see below.

  • Ebooks and other useful resources on enhancing productivity (Investment, Excel, Notion etc). Currently most of it are free at this moment (subject to change).
  • WeBull: A powerful brokerage with nice free welcome gift. You can refer to my guide here on how to signup! 4 Simple step only! Click here to register a new account!
  • MoneyOwl: You can use this 6SHU-93MC to get free grab vouchers and highly safe liquid cash fund account.
  • Trust Bank – You will enjoy free FairPrice E-Voucher referral if you sign up via my referral code KNDBPEPT. Simply download the Trust Bank SG App on the App Store or Google Play Store. Tap on “Use referral code” immediately after you start the app and key in: KNDBPEPT
  • FSMOne: P0413007. Good account to keep liquid cash in autosweep and to purchase investment at low fee.
  • Hostinger: You can use this link for hosting your new website. 20% off hosting!
  • Crypto.com: Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/h92xdfarkq to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD 🙂

Mastering Dividend Investing: 5 Evergreen Investment Principles

Posted on by careyourpresent

Welcome to the captivating world of dividend investing. Imagine an asset where your investments work tirelessly for you, generating cash flow even as you sleep. Dividend investing has gained reputation as a powerful strategy that offers the best of both worlds – capital appreciation and regular dividend payouts. It’s an enticing option for both seasoned investors and those new to the financial landscape.

Unlike other investment approaches that rely solely on market fluctuations, dividend investing focuses on companies that not only show strong growth potential but also share their profits directly with shareholders. These dividends, often paid out quarterly or annually, provide a steady stream of income that can be reinvested or enjoyed as extra earnings. This unique combination of stability, growth, and financial rewards makes dividend investing an attractive choice for those seeking long-term wealth building.

5 Evergreen Investment Principles

Let me share 5 timeless ever green investment principles for dividend investing.

(I have shared these before in my previous posts, but for new readers, let me share again with some edits).

1. No Dividend No Buy and only buy those that you are willing to keep long term of at least 10 years. Must pass sleep test.

Most people although calling themselves dividend investors, but they don’t really behave like a dividend investor. They buy/sell, buy/sell trade the dividend stocks/Reits instead of keeping for dividend. If the price crash, they would sell and cut loss.

You can see from the recent crash of the US Reits such Manulife US Reit, Keppel Pacific Oak US Reit, Prime US Reit – initially the investors sound so confidence, freehold assets, US assets etc., good rental income etc.. But see what happened now? Many of them cut loss after the price drop 50% or more.

If you have bought MIT at $2.80 instead of Manulife US Reit at $0.70, likely you won’t cut loss for MIT but will cut loss for Manulife, especially if you have put in an amount larger that you are comfortable with (see Rule 3 below).

Hence this first rule is very important. Please only buy reits/stocks that you are willing to keep at least 10 years, no speculation, no FOMO (Fear or Missing Out). Don’t listen to others. Have independent mind. Must pass sleep test.

Take for example, Development Bank of Singapore (DBS), Singapore Exchange (SGX), Mapletree Industrial Reit (MIT), Mapletree Logistic Reit (Mlog), Capitaland Ascendas Reit (Areit), Frasers Centre Point Trust (Trust), NikkoAM-STC Asia Reit (CFA) etc. No people will cut loss buying these, they will simply add more. Yes, the yield is low, but on long term basis, it is a 99% sure win. Remember Tortoise and Hare Story, Tortoise wins. Many people are enticed by high yield instead of the fundamental behind the companies which in the end lose their hard-earned money and cut loss when the shares drip in prices.

Just keep buy and collect dividend and reinvest for good stocks/reits. You will get this picture below.

2. GUTS (buy big) and PATIENCE (wait crash/dip) and dare to HOLD VERY LONG, think long term (10 years at least)

Most people are looking at short term. They should look at long term (10 years at least). If they did their shares selection well as per rule 1 above, the next step is to have patience and wait. When the time come, example 2020 March Covid Crash, Reits dip due to interest rates etc, they should be brave and buy! However, many don’t have the guts to buy when come. If even they have, they don’t dare to buy big. even if they dare to buy big, they don’t dare to hold. Additionally, people keep want to wait for lower price and then missed!

Are you behaving the same way as I have described above? I believe most are. Let me share a few rules that I have learnt:

  • Buy only dividend growth companies that I know Fundamental well so that I will not cut loss. Example, companies with yield >5% with net cash, low payout ratio, sustainable business. Or simply buy those big names that could rarely goes wrong in my rule 1 above.
  • Be patience. Do research while waiting.
  • Red buy, green sell. Similar to buy discounted groceries in supermarket.
  • Focus cashflow and certainty.
  • Few cents don’t matter. Can’t always buy at bottom price or sell at top price. Good price just dca buy and keep.
  • Better to put big sum (e.g. 100k) in good companies like MIT MLOG FLCT AREIT PLIFE DBS SGX etc for 10% than 10k in less strong stock for 10% gain.

3. Position size Important and no leverage

Position size important and possibility no leverage if you are not sure what you are doing. You can set for example 5% per counter, then you will have 20 counters. Chances of 20 good shares (if you have followed Rule 1 above) dying at the same time, not paying dividend at the same time is very very low.

This is especially true when portfolio get large, example 1 million and above. One should take less risk and do capital preservation. Why? 1 million at 6% already give you $5k per month (not difficult to get 6% yield with 2% cap gain every year). $5k per month is already a very good salary for most people.

However, people want haste and earn more. In the end, they lose more by putting too much in something which can’t let them sleep well. In the end they cut loss and lose money. Hence, only put the amount that you are comfortable with; that would enable you to sleep well.

4. No earn no sell especially for dividend stock. Keep long term, no stop loss policy because point 1 is followed.

This rule is contrary to what most people would do. No cut loss policy.

If you didn’t do any leverage/plan allocation well (Rule 3) and only buy good stocks that let you sleep well (Rule 1), there is no need for you to cut loss. (However, if fundamental changes, please cut loss unless you are confident of recovery).

Price drop, just hold and collect dividends as “painkillers”. Throughout the years, treat the dividend (or simply use the Trading around Core Strategy – Rule 5 below) to reduce the average cost of your shares. The worst case is stock goes to zero or in most case, your average cost will be reduced over time.

5. Trading around Core with only Good FA Dividend Reit/Stock

Of course, it is very hard to curb itchy hands. People feel that it is very hard to do nothing. You have to keep buy sell buy sell, especially if you keep seeing the shares of the companies that you are holding are going up and down every day. Hence what can we do? We can use Trading around Core Strategy.

This simply means that you allocate for example 100k to buy Share XXX for 5% yield. One can simply keep DCA down to keep and collect dividend (price goes down, dividend yield goes up). As long as the total amount of share XXX that you are holding doesn’t exceed your allocation (in this case 100k), you can do a trade buy/sell buy/sell 1-2 cents for profits to reduce your average cost.

For example, you plan to allocate 100k to Mapletree Logistics Trust (Mlog). Currently you are holding only 50k worth of Mlog. You can strategise and buy 10000 shares of Mlog at $1.58 and sell at $1.61. Every trade will win you few hundred dollars which you can treat it as lowering your average holding cost of the share. In the worst case, if the price drops below $1.58, it doesn’t matter too, you can just keep it and collect dividend. Do note that this only work if you follow Rule 3 (allocation) and Rule 1 – only applicable to those that you are willing to hold long term and passed your sleep test.

Good articles that you should read!

People are drawn to dividend investing.

Why? Firstly, dividends provide a regular stream of income, allowing investors to receive a portion of the company’s profits on a periodic basis. This can be particularly attractive for individuals seeking consistent cash flow or looking to supplement their existing income. Additionally, dividend investing is often viewed as a more stable and predictable investment strategy compared to relying solely on capital appreciation.

I always write and share articles, especially on dividends which many people love them. Do read them!

Alternatively, you can go the right side of my page, there is a search bar where you can simply search “dividend” to see all my articles related to dividends!

Of course, you can search for other things that would interest you such as “Careyourpresent”, “Reits”, “Side Hustles”, “Fixed Incomes”, “Savings” etc.

CAREYOURPRESENT

Money just buy you the chance of freedom.

When you are young and working, you exchange time for money. When you are old, you can have lots of money but you can’t buy time back, especially the things that you have missed while busying striking out in career. Of course, if you love your career, and consciously know that you are missing out the first time your child walk or talk, that’s ok, but if you are the other spectrum, please do something about it.

Your kids grew up and they no longer need you to accompany them. They no longer want to sit on your lap to share/do things with you…all these time you spent in your 9 to 6 or even longer cubicles…can the money that you have earned by you back these?

We always thought we have more time with our old parents, but we are wrong. Time with them is ticking away every day. One day it will suddenly be gone. There is no regret medicine, no reset in time. Gone is gone and cannot come back. No matter you are billionaires or millionaires, you cannot reset this.

We always thought that we have more time with our spouse every day, but we are wrong. One day they will be gone too. When you read this, please go tell your spouse that you love him/her and he or she is the best thing that you ever had in your life.

I have picked out some of the more life reflecting articles of the CAREYOURPRESENT series. Do read them:

You can read more about my articles on Careyourpresent via the Category “Careyourpresent” or simply click “Careyourpresent” via the main menu bar.

REMEMBER:

Love your life daily.

You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and yourself.

Time is ticking away.

For each passing day,

Enjoy and Treasure your Life!

For those who are interested in regular updates of my articles, please join the others to sign up for my free newsletter to has my newest blogposts sent to your mailbox for free!

For real time exclusive updates on market news/life (especially Crypto markets where the news move fast, important news will be shared directly via tweets or telegrams), do also join the platforms below and engage with other like-minded people!

You may also contact me via [email protected].

If you’re looking referral codes, do check out my referral and ebook page. Give it a try and who knows? You might end up loving these platforms! To be absolutely fair to all the readers, I am definitely using all these companies and they are useful to me! Likely will be useful to you too!

At the same referral and ebook page, you can also download my free ebooks and other free resources.

For quick references to these resources, you can see below.

  • Ebooks and other useful resources on enhancing productivity (Investment, Excel, Notion etc). Currently most of it are free at this moment (subject to change).
  • WeBull: A powerful brokerage with nice free welcome gift. You can refer to my guide here on how to signup! 4 Simple step only! Click here to register a new account!
  • MoneyOwl: You can use this 6SHU-93MC to get free grab vouchers and highly safe liquid cash fund account.
  • Trust Bank – You will enjoy free FairPrice E-Voucher referral if you sign up via my referral code KNDBPEPT. Simply download the Trust Bank SG App on the App Store or Google Play Store. Tap on “Use referral code” immediately after you start the app and key in: KNDBPEPT
  • FSMOne: P0413007. Good account to keep liquid cash in autosweep and to purchase investment at low fee.
  • Hostinger: You can use this link for hosting your new website. 20% off hosting!
  • Crypto.com: Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/h92xdfarkq to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD 🙂

Ugly but Attractive Singapore Saving Bond – SBJUL23 GX23070H and my recent Trades

Posted on by careyourpresent

Singapore Saving Bonds

Many people love the stability of income, monthly cashflow, interests etc, worrying about the volatility of equities etc. Singapore Saving Bond is one of the best options that many people like to opt into. This month rate is out! The interest is no longer pretty but is still attractive. Why do I say so?

SBJUL23 GX23070H

Let’s look at this month bond’s rate.

The rate for first year is 2.76% with 10-year rate at 3.02%. The average 10 years rate is 2.82%. Psychologically, below like to buy SSB with rate above 3%. However, this month and the previous month the rate starts to drop below 3%, hence people think that this is not attractive not pretty anymore. But if one think carefully, 3%-2.82% = 0.18%. Is that difference really that big?

The CAP of SSB is 200k per pax. Let’s say for 200k, 200k*0.18%= 360 per year, $30 per month. It’s not a lot but its decent for some cai png money. However, realistically, during the months where the rate is above 3%, it’s not easy to get all 200k inside. Hence, you won’t be able to get all your 200k to be above 3% within a month of application as you won’t know the allocation rate.

If you refer to the April bonds, actually you can get everything you want, it’s all about hindsight. But who knows before that? When it was 3% that time, but the other options at that time give up to 4%, people rather take other options. Now it’s 2.82%, people rather take other options or this option?

Singapore Saving Bonds – SBAPR23 GX23040S – results out! Almost all get what they want!

Other Options

We should compare with other options available. One can see that the rates are dropping across board. The fixed deposits across the banks are around 3-3.5% for those 6 to 12 months. If you buy Fixed deposit, you will earn more as compared to Singapore Saving Bonds. But who know what will happen after 6 to 12 months? Singapore Saving Bonds, let you lock 10 years rate in advance and save you the hassle to keep sourcing for better rate every 6 or 12 months.

Is this hassle worth $30 per month for 200k worth of bonds? Or would you be better to spend your time better elsewhere? It’s up to individual. For me, I have finish building up my bond ladder where I will get something every month. Likely, I won’t add anymore. You can see screenshot of my bond ladder below.

There are also other options to put your idling cash – refer to Ultimate Guide of where to place your idling funds in Singapore.

Buy or Bye?

Hence, should we buy or bye?

Let’s us recap the advantages of SSB first:

  • Very safe – backed by Singapore Government
  • Locked down decent rates of around 3% for 10 years.
  • Easy to redeem and can redeem partial
  • Liquidity needs maximum of 1 month where you can get your money back. Hence suitable as emergency fund.
  • Limit of 200k should be good enough for most people.
  • Can build Bond Ladder to get monthly income (which I already did)

Let’s us recap the disadvantages of SSB:

  • Short term rates are lower than banks’ fixed deposits, money market funds such as WeBull Fullerton fund etc of around 3.5% and above.
  • Low returns
  • 1 month liquidity to redeem your funds may be too long for people who need the funds immediately.

Interesting SSB this month

Do note that if you want to apply, the deadline is 26 Jun 2023, 9pm, with allocation out on 27 Jun 2023, after 3pm. The amount offered is 600 millions.

In my humble opinion, this month should be interesting month for Singapore Saving Bonds. People think Fed may not increase rate in June and the fact that fixed deposit rate are dropping all across the banks which make fixed income hunter/savers worry if the rates will drop further. Some might want to get the chance to lock their money in care rate drop further in a 10-year flexible bonds where they can withdraw the money within 1 month notice. Hence, there may be some interest this month, but I don’t think will be overwhelming.

As for me, I have already created by Singapore Saving Bonds ladder as my emergency fund. I won’t add further. You can try creating bond ladders too. Getting few hundreds every month risk free is great! Instead, I have also been shopping for equities for the past few weeks. See below:

My SSB Bond Ladder

See: Capturing Opportunities in Market Fluctuations: Noteworthy Recent Trades and

Good articles that you should read!

People are drawn to dividend investing.

Why? Firstly, dividends provide a regular stream of income, allowing investors to receive a portion of the company’s profits on a periodic basis. This can be particularly attractive for individuals seeking consistent cash flow or looking to supplement their existing income. Additionally, dividend investing is often viewed as a more stable and predictable investment strategy compared to relying solely on capital appreciation.

I always write and share articles, especially on dividends which many people love them. Do read them!

Alternatively, you can go the right side of my page, there is a search bar where you can simply search “dividend” to see all my articles related to dividends!

Of course, you can search for other things that would interest you such as “Careyourpresent”, “Reits”, “Side Hustles”, “Fixed Incomes”, “Savings” etc.

CAREYOURPRESENT

Money just buy you the chance of freedom.

When you are young and working, you exchange time for money. When you are old, you can have lots of money but you can’t buy time back, especially the things that you have missed while busying striking out in career. Of course, if you love your career, and consciously know that you are missing out the first time your child walk or talk, that’s ok, but if you are the other spectrum, please do something about it.

Your kids grew up and they no longer need you to accompany them. They no longer want to sit on your lap to share/do things with you…all these time you spent in your 9 to 6 or even longer cubicles…can the money that you have earned by you back these?

We always thought we have more time with our old parents, but we are wrong. Time with them is ticking away every day. One day it will suddenly be gone. There is no regret medicine, no reset in time. Gone is gone and cannot come back. No matter you are billionaires or millionaires, you cannot reset this.

We always thought that we have more time with our spouse every day, but we are wrong. One day they will be gone too. When you read this, please go tell your spouse that you love him/her and he or she is the best thing that you ever had in your life.

I have picked out some of the more life reflecting articles of the CAREYOURPRESENT series. Do read them:

You can read more about my articles on Careyourpresent via the Category “Careyourpresent” or simply click “Careyourpresent” via the main menu bar.

REMEMBER:

Love your life daily.

You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and yourself.

Time is ticking away.

For each passing day,

Enjoy and Treasure your Life!

For those who are interested in regular updates of my articles, please join the others to sign up for my free newsletter to has my newest blogposts sent to your mailbox for free!

For real time exclusive updates on market news/life (especially Crypto markets where the news move fast, important news will be shared directly via tweets or telegrams), do also join the platforms below and engage with other like-minded people!

You may also contact me via [email protected].

If you’re looking referral codes, do check out my referral and ebook page. Give it a try and who knows? You might end up loving these platforms! To be absolutely fair to all the readers, I am definitely using all these companies and they are useful to me! Likely will be useful to you too!

At the same referral and ebook page, you can also download my free ebooks and other free resources.

For quick references to these resources, you can see below.

  • Ebooks and other useful resources on enhancing productivity (Investment, Excel, Notion etc). Currently most of it are free at this moment (subject to change).
  • WeBull: A powerful brokerage with nice free welcome gift. You can refer to my guide here on how to signup! 4 Simple step only! Click here to register a new account!
  • MoneyOwl: You can use this 6SHU-93MC to get free grab vouchers and highly safe liquid cash fund account.
  • Trust Bank – You will enjoy free FairPrice E-Voucher referral if you sign up via my referral code KNDBPEPT. Simply download the Trust Bank SG App on the App Store or Google Play Store. Tap on “Use referral code” immediately after you start the app and key in: KNDBPEPT
  • FSMOne: P0413007. Good account to keep liquid cash in autosweep and to purchase investment at low fee.
  • Hostinger: You can use this link for hosting your new website. 20% off hosting!
  • Crypto.com: Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/h92xdfarkq to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD 🙂

SAVERs – How to maximize your interest and my Market Transaction/Updates

Posted on by careyourpresent

Market Update – recession

Recession risks are getting higher each day.

For those who are into the market news would have realized that the conditions of the market are getting more and more volatile each day. It can up a lot one day and then down a lot for the another day (I mean for US market).

For Singapore Market, it is generally quite stable since most investors are just holding for dividends. However, do not forget that when the big brother sneeze (US), the rest of the world might get a cold too. If big brother sneeze consistency (perhaps coming soon), let’s better be careful. No matter how stable, it will still be affected somehow.

Interest rate

For those who remembered, the market started off quite well this year but starts to get a little volatile in mid-February. The interest rate also drop as people expects and think Fed “will pivot” early Feb.

We can see from the Singapore Saving Bonds for those who are more into Singapore. This month bond rate (SBMAR23 GX23030A) is 2.9% for 10 years are much lower than previous month rate of 2.97%.

Disclaimer: I have not applied for this month bond as I have already built my SSB bond ladder. I want to keep my cash more liquid to take advantage of the possible upcoming market weaknesses.

SBMAR23 GX23030A

Besides Singapore Saving Bonds, we can also see from the Fixed Deposit Rate. They have dropped a lot since February. You can refer to my previous post SAVERs – Best Options to maximize your interests (2) to see how much it has dropped. Just look around the local banks or even foreign bank like CIMB, you would have realized it in early Feb.

Things start to change

However, after a while, things start to change in mid-February (see below: Screenshot 23 Feb 2023 from CNBC). You can see that the US treasury rates start to go up after more news from US Fed. Seems like people thinking pivoting not happening?

Screenshot 23 Feb 2023 from CNBC

Let’s Compare

If you refer to my earlier article dated 13 Feb 2023, about 10 days ago (Portfolio Update: Feb 2023 and Reflection at half-life (hopefully) mark – 40 Years old), both the 6 months and 10 years rate have gone up with US6M even exceeding 5% from then.

https://careyourpresent.com/portfolio-update-feb-2023-and-reflection-at-half-life-hopefully-mark-40-years-old/

If we look at the history for FED, interest rate tightening doesn’t end well. Some investors may believe that this time is different, but I don’t think so. Hence, I will only fast trade now for good counters while holding 50-60% cash as per my update on 13 Feb 2023.

Transaction

To be most transparent, I only aim to trade as of now. Unless the price is super attractive, I won’t buy and keep. For example, today, I bought Wilmar at $3.96 for trade (if I get stuck, it’s fine too. Long term Wilmar will be good especially with potential food shortages). The price is not super excellent but is decent enough especially it still drops after good results. DBS and UOB also dropped despite giving special dividend and increased dividends. All these shares long term will be good, but meanwhile, I am taking the risk off mode. I will only trade for now unless super good price come which my guess should be in the next couple of months. Disclaimer: Please do your own due diligence.

Savers

Ok, enough of ratting about market and my personal opinion. Let’s go back to saving.

Saving is important especially in such high interest rate environment. With such high interest rate environment let’s not waste it and put our money to good use 🙂 However, as mentioned earlier, Fixed deposits rate have gone down for this month but quite likely it will go up again next month due to rising rate)

For me, I want to keep my cash liquid. I have already locked few hundred Ks in Singapore Saving Bonds (SSB) for the past few months as liquid emergency funds. Unless SSB for next month reaches above 3% again, then I may consider putting in more. Meanwhile I preferred to put into more liquid options.

What options are available for savers?

Recently I have put some money into Fixed Deposit with the most attractive being the 4.88% P.A. SR1B for 3 months with DBS. I posted this in private group but not the public telegram group. Next time, maybe if got good lobang, I should post in the public group too.

For now, I think there are only few attractive options which are still available (excluding the UOB One and OCBC 360 which require salary and some spending).

Personally, my eSaver exclusive bonus will end by 28 Feb 2023, I need to find a place to put these money. Quite likely I will put the money into one the options below. Most likely will be option 2 or 3 which are much more liquid as I want to take advantage of the market in case of market weaknesses.

Option 1: OCBC 4.08% Fixed Deposit Promotion

8 Month Fixed Deposit at 4.08% for OCBC 360 Customers. Don’t miss it! The caveat is you will need to have OCBC 360 accounts in the first place.

https://www.ocbc.com/personal-banking/deposits/fixed-deposit-account

Option 2: MoneyOwl WiseSaver

MoneyOwl Wisesaver is investing in Fullerton SGD Cash Fund – Class A (SGD) which invested mainly in SGD Fixed Deposit and backed by Temasek. MoneyOwl itself is under NTUC income. It is as safe as you can get!

The latest rate is around 3.99%. This is liquid and you can take out anytime.

https://www.moneyowl.com.sg/wisesaver/

Insure, invest, or do a financial planning with MoneyOwl and get welcome Grab credits when you join using my referral link/code. You can use my referral link (or key in 6SHU-93MC) to get free $20-$60 Grab Vouchers when you invest with them.

To earn the first free $20, simply sign up for WiseSaver which the underlying fund is Fullerton Cash Fund – invested in rolling SGD Fixed Deposit and backed by Temasek. Then put in minimum $10 via FAST transfer to fund this account to earn full liquid ~4% yield. Since free money and risk free, why not?

For those who have sign up using my referral, thank you in and hope that you have enjoyed the Grab Vouchers.

Option 3: Fundsupermart Autosweep

The latest yield is 2.751% which is very decent. But the most attractive part of this option is that I am able to use the fund to trade directly and immediately. Option 2 may take a few days to transfer the money out.

Personally, I am using FSMOne.com to invest in funds & ETFs (including money market funds).

FSM is good due to the low comms and the free transfer from FSM to CDP (last year I did a few transfers and took less than a week to transfer. However, my most recent transfer was initiated on 4 Feb 2023 but the transfer to CDP was only done on 23 Feb 2023 around 2pm). Hence, user might want to take note.

If you do not have an account, you can sign up here. Please use my FSMOne referral code: P0413007.

https://secure.fundsupermart.com/fsmone/cash/autosweep-account

Option 4: MAS Treasury Bills

This is one of the safest options as these bills are backed by Singapore Government. However, the money will be locked up for 6 months. If you confirm don’t need the funds for 6 months, it will be a good option. Moreover, the rates are going up. Quite likely you should be able to get more than 4%.

For those who are unsure what are Treasury Bills; what are the difference between competitive/non-competitive, do read this article (Treasury Bill: Competitive or Non-Competitive?). Personally, I would do competitive auction for at least 4% in case there is some weird freak result.

https://www.mas.gov.sg/bonds-and-bills/singapore-government-t-bills-information-for-individuals

Good articles that you should read!

People are drawn to dividend investing.

Why? Firstly, dividends provide a regular stream of income, allowing investors to receive a portion of the company’s profits on a periodic basis. This can be particularly attractive for individuals seeking consistent cash flow or looking to supplement their existing income. Additionally, dividend investing is often viewed as a more stable and predictable investment strategy compared to relying solely on capital appreciation.

I always write and share articles, especially on dividends which many people love them. Do read them!

Alternatively, you can go the right side of my page, there is a search bar where you can simply search “dividend” to see all my articles related to dividends!

Of course, you can search for other things that would interest you such as “Careyourpresent”, “Reits”, “Side Hustles”, “Fixed Incomes”, “Savings” etc.

CAREYOURPRESENT

Money just buy you the chance of freedom.

When you are young and working, you exchange time for money. When you are old, you can have lots of money but you can’t buy time back, especially the things that you have missed while busying striking out in career. Of course, if you love your career, and consciously know that you are missing out the first time your child walk or talk, that’s ok, but if you are the other spectrum, please do something about it.

Your kids grew up and they no longer need you to accompany them. They no longer want to sit on your lap to share/do things with you…all these time you spent in your 9 to 6 or even longer cubicles…can the money that you have earned by you back these?

We always thought we have more time with our old parents, but we are wrong. Time with them is ticking away every day. One day it will suddenly be gone. There is no regret medicine, no reset in time. Gone is gone and cannot come back. No matter you are billionaires or millionaires, you cannot reset this.

We always thought that we have more time with our spouse every day, but we are wrong. One day they will be gone too. When you read this, please go tell your spouse that you love him/her and he or she is the best thing that you ever had in your life.

I have picked out some of the more life reflecting articles of the CAREYOURPRESENT series. Do read them:

You can read more about my articles on Careyourpresent via the Category “Careyourpresent” or simply click “Careyourpresent” via the main menu bar.

REMEMBER:

Love your life daily.

You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and yourself.

Time is ticking away.

For each passing day,

Enjoy and Treasure your Life!

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For real time exclusive updates on market news/life (especially Crypto markets where the news move fast, important news will be shared directly via tweets or telegrams), do also join the platforms below and engage with other like-minded people!

You may also contact me via [email protected].

If you’re looking referral codes, do check out my referral and ebook page. Give it a try and who knows? You might end up loving these platforms! To be absolutely fair to all the readers, I am definitely using all these companies and they are useful to me! Likely will be useful to you too!

At the same referral and ebook page, you can also download my free ebooks and other free resources.

For quick references to these resources, you can see below.

  • Ebooks and other useful resources on enhancing productivity (Investment, Excel, Notion etc). Currently most of it are free at this moment (subject to change).
  • WeBull: A powerful brokerage with nice free welcome gift. You can refer to my guide here on how to signup! 4 Simple step only! Click here to register a new account!
  • MoneyOwl: You can use this 6SHU-93MC to get free grab vouchers and highly safe liquid cash fund account.
  • Trust Bank – You will enjoy free FairPrice E-Voucher referral if you sign up via my referral code KNDBPEPT. Simply download the Trust Bank SG App on the App Store or Google Play Store. Tap on “Use referral code” immediately after you start the app and key in: KNDBPEPT
  • FSMOne: P0413007. Good account to keep liquid cash in autosweep and to purchase investment at low fee.
  • Hostinger: You can use this link for hosting your new website. 20% off hosting!
  • Crypto.com: Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/h92xdfarkq to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD 🙂