Sunday, September 23, 2007

It doesn't pay to save

He also works in Shenton Way.


Huh? Well at least for next few years where we should be experiencing negative real interest rates.



What is negative REAL interest rate?
Real interest rate = Nominal rate less inflation rate


So a negative real interest rate is when the gross interest interest rates that you are getting from your Bank for your saving account and fixed deposit are generally lower than the inflation rate.



The inflation rate is expected to be 1% to 2%.



If you let your monies sits in your saving account, your monies would buy less less things as any interest earned is outstripped by climb in consumer prices.



For example, DBS Bank offers to pay 1.8% per annum for $50,000 - $99,999 24-month fixed deposit.



I am not discouraging the age old good habit of saving.



But I am highlighting the need for you to aggressively manage your monies ie. to seek out investment opportunities which could yield higher than inflation rate at a risk level acceptable to you.



Bottomline - It doesn't pay to save amid rising inflation, low bank rates. Ask your money to work harder.

CPF interest rate increase

Toward the beginning of the month, we were told that the first $60,000 in the various accounts will be given an additional 1%.


This is to help grow our retirement fund. I cheer to that.


A couple of weeks later, today, I heard it on radio that the inflation rate is now at 1-2% and it is expected to go up in the second half of the year.


From this piece of news, it dawned upon me the importance of the 1% increase in interest rate announced earlier.


Without this increase in CPF rate, our funds in the CPF Ordinary account would be accumulating at close to inflation rate. Bottomline - No real increase in purchasing power.


Bottomline - We need to ensure that our monies work even harder to ensure sufficient funds for retirement.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Mr Oei is selling down his Centillion shares


On Friday alone, it is estimated that he made $26mio from selling the 300,000,000 million shares that he has.

That effectively reduced his holdings from 26.47% to 19.72%...

HUH!!!! He still got 19.72%%%%%

40.6% was the highest level he held.

Mr Oei, I will pay good attention to your next purchase decision. Really hope to learn from you.