Take Risks

 

Are You A Yield Hog?

 

No need to reinvent the wheel.

Read the article below and take the 4 test questions and you'll know:

Are you a Yield Hog?

How?

Let me refresh you with some financial history, if you still in denial...

1) Remember the Lehman minibond saga of 2008? Why did those "savers" jump onto the path of Earn More instead of sticking with their Save More fixed deposit accounts? Was that extra few % really worth it?

2) How about Peer-to-Peer lending a few years back? Did you bite? I mean lending your money out at 18% interest is surely better than voluntarily contributing to CPF at 4%! Why today so less hype?

3) Did you invest in "High Yield" corporate bonds over their rated cousins? Why? It was all fun and games until you realised they were called Junk bonds in the past for a reason!

4) Where did all the Shipping Trusts go? I mean when they were launched, their yields were on average 3-4% more than their REITs counterparts. There must be a reason so! 

5) Did you choose the "lowest" wholesale electricity plan last year? It never occurred to you they must be a reason big daddy very low key - never promoting it to the general public? Maybe wholesale plan is more suitable for corporations who know how to hedge their electricity exposure? Just like how SIA hedges their fuel costs?

Dividend investors are not the same as yield hogs. 

I'll leave it to you to figure out the difference yourself.

I too was once a yield hog... Until "crash got sound" straightened me out.

LOL!

Yup, I no better than you.

   

Keppel Club HDB BTO - Joy for Majority; Dismay for the Few

 

Let me first share with you one interesting story about my time in Shanghai.

There's this purchaser that was newly promoted to Business Development Manager. In her first year, she gave the senior purchaser in her team quite a big salary raise.

After the pay increase, the salary gap between this Business Development Manager and her purchaser has become quite negligible...

Guess what?

This Business Development Manager rightfully turned around and asked HR how come a Business Development Manager pay is no different from that of a purchaser?

Smart girl!

Not only did she "bought" the loyalty of the senior purchaser in her team, now this Business Development Manager has a strong hand when it came to her own salary negotiations!

I knew of this story because HR was poking me - this Business Development Manager was one one of my mentees in my Leadership course - what the hell have I been coaching them!

LOL!

So with this story in mind, I am pleasantly surprised big daddy is allocating a huge chunk of the land at the Keppel Club for HDB BTOs!?

Of course I am pleased! 

Great! They are creating another Pinnacle. 

I thought it would be just some small "token" project to "wayang" we are inclusive and all...

HDB residents of Telok Blangah, and especially those who bought the BTOs there recently, no need to pray liao... Its confirmed!

For context, newer readers may want to read this previous post:

HDB Prime Location Public Housing Good For Pinnacle Flat Owners!

Of course happiness and joy for some can be dismay for others...

Especially if you can't stand HDB heartlanders, and deliberately avoided those condos that are smack right between HDB flats in suburbia...

Well, that's the price for not choosing areas like Claymore Hill, Cairnhill, or River Valley Road... These are tried and tested condo enclaves; all private.

Can't blame you.

Who would have thought such a prime waterfront location would be given to HDB heartlanders?

Even rental units!!!???

Arrgghhhh! 

 

Faith Based Investing

 

All of us started out with Faith Based Investing.

Yes, you heard me right.

It could be a book, something a friend told us, or maybe from those so called "Free" seminars or workshops... 

I mean no personal track record, no "crash got sound" hindsight, we just jumped into investing like any another "bei kambings"...

Armed with only what others have said (or sold to us)... 

If this isn't "faith", what is?

Of course. with the passage of time, we knew better.

Some remain devout apostles - never bother to explore other "faiths" - and fervently swear by their chosen path, even if its just a stroke of "co-incidence" that's the first and only path they happen to come across...

Some hop from one "religion" to another. Always seeking to find the holy grail...

Some become disillusioned. Move from agnostic to atheist (conversion to Save More path). 

Some found the right shoes to fit their feet after walking long distances themselves.

Some carnivorous ones had their own epiphanies! Its so much better to start their own "Prosperity Cults" to fleece and milk their own flock! 

Investing is hard.

Teaching investing to others is easy!

What say you old fogeys (and youths who have become veterans)?

Are you still with the same "faith" as when you first started out?