Q: Wilfred, Company X5 announced on 8th March 2018 that its full year results for 2017 was US$163 million in earnings. This was significantly larger than that in 2016 of only $6.7 million. However, its stock price plunge by –17.2% since then even taking into account of dividends. Why is this so? The S&P 500 total return during the same period was -2.33%. Answer: There could be many reasons. Some are simple and others are complicated. I will attempt to explain in simple terms. No … [Read More...]
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Human capital and investing in employee stock benefits
Today I would like to introduce the concept of human capital and briefly touch on employee stock purchase program. What is human capital? Human capital is simply the ability to earn money by working. If you earn $5000 a month and has 30 more years of working life, the human capital is 5000 x 12 x 30 = $1.8 million assuming no pay increment and inflation is zero. Because the human capital is the ability to earn money, it is beneficial to increase this human capital as high as possible. … [Read More...]
Featured articles
Investors always buy high and sell low regardless of asset classes
February 2018 started with a poor market performance. The S&P 500, Nikkei 225, STI and Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite index is down by -5.82%, -7.03%, -4.79% and -7.94% respectively in SG … [Read More...]
Conservative Account (for existing clients only)
This is an announcement for existing clients. The Conservative Account is an investment that aims to provide a return of 2-4% per annum (inclusive of dividends) with low volatility. The Account … Read more
7 real reasons why most investors are not successful
Long time ago, the only way people can invest was by investing in stocks. However, not everybody had the expertise to pick stocks. Moreover, most people were busy working. So, they did not have time … [Read More...]
$300m company’s share price sliding down like a falling knife (not referring to Noble)
By now, everybody is aware that Noble’s share has been on a decline by a large magnitude. In fact, its share price is down by a whopping 98.43% compared to 5 years ago Like Noble, there is another … [Read More...]
Share price plunged despite good cash conversion cycle
is a technology company listed in Hong Kong. It is a highly efficient company in terms of its cash conversion cycle but it has caused shareholders to lose huge amount of money over the past few years. … [Read More...]
Why this company has high profitability but still lose money?
One of my client asked me about a particular company that is listed in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. She wanted to buy this company. is not a small company. It has a market capitalization of HKD 173 … [Read More...]
Paying dividends from borrowings
In 2015, I met a client who engaged me for comprehensive financial planning. But I was quite frustrated with the outcome because the client did not take up most of my recommendations. In particular, I … [Read More...]
Property investment is illogical especially when its > 100% of networth
Update 30/11/2017: See article: MAS flags risks from 'excessive exuberance' in property market For those who has read my blog for some time is well aware that I am against the way many Singaporeans … [Read More...]
When insurance agents jump ship, clients may suffer
For those who does not read newspaper, the Sunday Times has an article today on the potential problems that could occur when insurance agents are being poached (When insurance agents jump ship, … [Read More...]
3 Costly Mistakes to Avoid in Retirement Planning (Facebook Live)
Topic: 3 Costly Mistakes to Avoid in Retirement Planning. Date/time: 16 September 2017 10am (SGT). Duration: 1 hour. URL: … [Read More...]
A retirement product to be avoided at all cost (This post comes with an IRR calculator)
Not too long ago, I met a client who purchased the most horrible retirement product on planet earth. Apparently, his relationship manager used a Universal Life policy as a retirement product. The … [Read More...]
featured articles
Why private banking clients have no asset allocation skills?
A UBS survey among high networth individuals in Singapore and Hong Kong revealed interesting findings: 62% of investors admitted that they did not know how much to save for retirement Only 1% … [Read More...]
No advice given, few documentation and non-disclosures but earns easy money
Here is an example on how a financial adviser sold a life insurance product. The following is a scanned image of a section of the KYC: In the KYC, the client declared "I do not want any … [Read More...]
A client who spent $27,000 a year on insurances
There was an article Does it pay to stick to a big name in insurance? (Straits Times 30 Dec 2016) which asked the question whether should consumers buy from larger insurance companies in hope of … [Read More...]
Why using ILPs for children’s education planning is a bad idea?
Many parents use ILP to save for children's education. I think this is a bad idea. This is why: The ILP salesman will market ILP on children's education like this: Life assured on the child. … [Read More...]
CPF: How to Accumulate $1m in your CPF by 57?
I read from the CPF’s AREYOUREADY facebook about a man named Loo Cheng Chuan who believes he can accumulate $1m in his CPF. Is this really possible? The article did not provide any mathematics. I … [Read More...]
Rental income may not be enough to service property loans, warns MAS
"In particular, before investing in property, investors should be aware that rising vacancy rates, declining rentals and impending interest rate increases mean that they may not always be able to rely … [Read More...]
Widespread financial illiteracy on retirement planning, says CPF Advisory Panel
It was reported that Singaporeans are suffering from the lack of financial literacy. The problem is actually widespread despite Singapore scoring tops in mathematics. “There is a difference between … [Read More...]
Question on Investment Linked Policy charges (ILP charges)
Question: Wilfred, my financial adviser sold me a product called X and he told me that the insurance charges are constant throughout my entire life. My premium is $1,200 a year. However, I read in the … [Read More...]
Examples of mis-selling an insurance
In this short article, I will show how insurance products are mis-sold to unsuspecting customers. This article also serves as an education short write-up for existing financial advisers because they … [Read More...]
Millions of dollars of retirees’ money lost in property scam
It was reported that $60 million worth of investors’ money was lost in a property ponzi scam right in Singapore ("Investors caught in $60m ponzi scam", Straits Times 24 May 2015). Ms Leong Lai Yee … [Read More...]
