InvestFair 07

This year Invest Fair 07 organized by Shareinvestor saw many retail and professional investors participating. The crowd participating was over whelming and seminar rooms were packed with eager investors waiting what the experts have to say. As like I would like to stay longer, I had only time to go for 3 seminars.

The first seminar I went is by Christopher Lee who is the co-founder of ShareInvestor. In his seminar, he mentioned about what are the different ways to generate incomes in order to achieve financial freedom. Through his own personal experience, he found out the best way to achieve financial freedom is by investing. He is more of a fundamental investor that a technical practitioner but occasionally he will do some trading. He went on to explain on how he choose stock that is fundamentally sound. Basically he uses PE and NAV to choose stock that are undervalue.

The second seminar that I went was by Song Seng Wun, regional economist- Head research of CIMB. He stated that the macro economic environment of Singapore is still relatively intact despite the Sub prime mortgage risk in US. Economic indicators suggested that the global economy is still growing especially China and India.
He advice investors to dump away penny stocks as prices have reached unsustainable level due to speculation of investors and the stock market Bull Run. Instead, buy on shares that are undervalue and has high yield. Shipping and construction shares are a great buy as he sees great potential in both of the industries

Ray Barros was the speaker for the third seminar. He touch on the topic on how to trade effectively and make money. He briefly introduce us the RSI and teaches us how to use the RSI to see whether the market is going up, down or sideway.

All in all, I have learn a lot of stuffs in the InvestFair. I was being introduce to other new investment instruments beside stocks and warrants.

Cheers

Aging Population- The main concern of PM Lee

At this year National Day Rally Speech, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has unveiled a series of comprehensive strategies to tackle Singapore income gap widening problem. The most attention grabbing strategy is the one percent interest hike on first $20 000 of ordinary account and on a total of $60 000 in special, retirement and medisave accounts. This is a bold move by the government to tackle Singapore income widening gap problem. The start up of this programme will cost the government $700 million and much more as interest compound. This would provide incentive for Singaporean to put more money in their CPF account and provide a bigger nest-egg for their old age.

Housing grant will also be increase from $20 000 to $30 000 to help low income-earner to buy HDB flat. This will cover half of Singapore households. To ensure Singaporeans particularly the low income group has enough to survive in their golden years, compulsory annuities will be introduced.

In attempt to cope with Singapore rapidly aging population, the government will pass a law under which, from 2012, workers reaching the retirement age of 62 will be offered re-employment till 65 and eventually till 67. To encourage employers to do so, Workfare Income Supplement could pay 20% of the salary of a 60 year old who earns $1000 a month- up from 10%.

Another key area that will underpin the government strategy is education. A fourth university will be built to raise the quality of our workforce for the next generation. He mentioned that payoff of education is going up and the best way to reduce income gap. The fourth university will be ready by latest 2011 according to our Minister of Education. This will create 2400 additional places and it will have its own unique strengths and character.

Estate renewal have been brought up again in this year National Day Rally Speech Singaporeans speech but this time much of the focus is on private estate. Funds will be allocated to private estate to make enhancement as the community deem fit.

Crisis in the making or just a short-term turbulance

The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled about 207 points to 13,028 or 1.6 percent. The S&P 500 down 26 points to 1,426 and Nasdaq Composite down 43 points to 2,499 respectively at yesterday 14 august. The big question in investors’ minds must be whether the bull market is over and is it the start or a bear market Singapore.
Investors should be aware that many banks and companies in Singapore have little exposure to the sub prime mortgage problem in US. In the coming months, I believe that the Fed will decrease interest rate and inject liquidity to ease off some pressure in the credit market.

For long-term investors, I feel that the bull market in Singapore stock market is still intact despite concern of credit and inflation problem in US. Between now to 2010, I see Singapore with tremendous growth potential and opportunity. Next year, Singapore will host their first ever Formula One race. Year 2009 will see the newly built integrated resort and following the year after will be Singapore general election. With all these events in line, Singapore will be a city full of buzz and excitement. I reckon that Singapore tourism, retail and hotel industry still would a lot of growth potential due to all these major events coming up.

All in all, I urge investors to stay compose during these turbulence period and firmly believe that the stock market will continue to pick up its momentum by next year. Investors should not sell into strength but buy when there is blood on the street.

Baltic Dry Index

What is Baltic Dry Index. It is a shipping and trade index created by the London-based Baltic Exchange that measures changes in the cost to transport raw materials such as metals, grains and fossil fuels by sea.

The Baltic Dry Index is a composite of three sub-indexes that measure different sizes of dry bulk carriers (merchant ships) - Capesize, Supramax and Panamax. Multiple geographic routes are evaluated for each index to give depth to the index's composite measurement.

So why is this index inportant to investor? Changes in the Baltic Dry Index can give investors insight into global supply and demand trends. This change is often considered a leading indicator of future economic growth.

China , India and Middle East have shown enormous appetite for building material such as coal steel, cement etc. I believe that the Baltic Dry Index still have a lot of upside potential. Invest in company that deals with transporting of raw material.