SGX Hacks for Malaysian Investors

Hi, I’m Ian.

I’m a Malaysian who invest in stocks listed on the SGX where I’m receiving a steady flow of dividend income on a quarterly basis. Perhaps, you may ask:

‘Ian, are you a Singapore P.R.?’ Nope.

‘Ian, are you based in Singapore?’ Nope.

‘Ian, have you worked in Singapore before?’ Nope.

‘Ian, do you have a bank account in Singapore?’ Nope.

‘Ian, how do you invest in Singapore?’ I’ll answer it now.

In this article, I’ll share what I know and do so that you can start investing in SGX-listed stocks as a Malaysian investor based in Malaysia itself. Therefore, here are the 7 hacks that you need to know before investing in the SGX.

#1: An Overview of the SGX

As I write, the SGX offers a boutique of 700+ stocks to investors. The biggest 30 stocks are included as constituents of the Straits Times Index (STI). For a start, they include huge corporations which might have just ring a bell to you such as UOB, OCBC, SIA, Genting Singapore, and CapitaLand. Besides, SGX has a well-developed REIT market where investors can invest in a globalized portfolio of Billion-Dollar commercial real estate. Currently, the STI and the S-REIT markets are the main focuses for most investors who are investing in the SGX.

#2: CDS account vs. Trust account

Here, I’ll write from my perspective as a customer of Maybank Investment Bank (IB). I’m using Maybank IB for my investments in stocks listed on both Bursa Malaysia and the SGX.

Bursa

For Bursa-listed stocks, the buying process is straightforward. First, I deposit an amount into my stock account. Second, I place my order for the intended stock. Third, the money in my stock account would be debited and my stock with the amount of shares would be credited into my CDS account which is under my own name.

SGX

For SGX-listed stocks, the buying process is different. For my first purchase, I deposit an amount into a Global Trust Account. The amount deposited was a little more than the intended amount I wish to invest. Then, I place my order for the intended stock online. After the order, I would have to call my broker (Maybank IB’s staff) to inform him about my investment. From which, I wait for 1-2 working days for the contract note that states the exact amount of my investment in Ringgit. My money in the Global Trust Account would then be debited and my stock would be credited into my Trust (Custodian) Account where Maybank IB keeps my stock and collects dividends on behalf of me.

#3: Transaction Fees

For MayBank IB, the minimum brokerage fee is set to be S$ 30 a transaction. Inclusive of a few miscellaneous charges such as GST and stamp duty, every transaction, buy or sell, should cost a minimum of S$ 32. Here, I’ll calculate the ideal minimum amount of capital needed to make your venture into the SGX worthwhile. For instance, if you intend to limit the transaction costs at 1% of your capital, then, the minimum amount you need to invest is S$ 3,200 or RM 9,600 per investment.

The amount needed will obviously be lower if you choose to limit the cost at 2% of your capital. Ideally, it is best to keep it low and thus, I reckon that you should not invest if the transaction cost is above 2% of your capital.

#4: Invest or Trade

I think it’s expensive to trade SGX-listed stocks as every transaction, buy and sell, costs a minimum of S$ 32 as compared to RM 12 for Bursa-listed stocks if you use Maybank IB. Hence, it is more ideal for investors as stocks listed in the SGX, to me, are to be kept over the long-term. If you are a new investor, I reckon you to aim for dividend income so that you can quickly earn back the transaction costs after 3 – 6 months of holding onto your SGX-listed stock.

#5: How to Open my Stock Account?

If you choose Maybank IB (This is not a Sponsored Post), you can apply for both CDS account and Global Trade Account simultaneously. You just need to bring your NRIC, salary slip, and bank statements and walk-in directly to the nearest Maybank IB branch. I’ll provide the links below:

What to Bring:

Maybank IB Trading Account Application Details

Where to Go:

Where’s the Near Maybank IB branch from You?

#6: But, I want to Invest in the US Stock Market

The facilities provided by Maybank IB is not limited to the SGX. In fact, you can choose to invest in other markets such as NYSE, NASDAQ, and HKEx if you prefer to do so.

#7: Learn to Invest in the SGX

There are many tools and resources available to speed up your learning curve and to familiarize yourself with the Singapore market. Here, I’ll conclude my sharing by listing down some websites and blogs that I personally follow and read on a regular basis:

No.1 – The Fifth Person

The Fifth Person is Singapore’s leading site that focuses on value investing. It is founded by Rusmin Ang, Victor Ch’ng, Adam Wong and Kenji. It contains a lot of quality and very detailed reads on stocks listed in both Singapore and Malaysia (although I’m among the main contributors of Malaysian stocks).

No.2 – Value Invest Asia

Value Invest Asia is spearheaded by Stanley Lim, a CFA, a Johorian who has extensive working experiences in Singapore. It is also a site focusing on value investing and is building up fast-read materials, webinars and even a physical book ‘Value Investing in Asia’ for stock investors who intend to invest across Asia. (I’m also a regular contributor of the Malaysian articles of this site).

No.3 – Dr. Wealth

Formerly known as the BigFatPurse, Dr. Wealth started off as an investment blog and has evolved into a comprehensive financial education firm that has contents and courses on stock investing, REIT investing, angel investing, and even cryptocurrencies.

Ian Tai

Ian Tai is the founder of Bursaking.com.my, a platform that empowers retail investors to build wealth through ownership of fundamentally solid stocks. It is an essential tool that sifts out stocks that grow profits consistently from a database of over 900+ stocks listed mainly in Malaysia.

Pomeranian (‘Golden Lion’)

Isn’t the Pomeranian dog above sooooooooo cute? They have long furry pelt and are loyal to the master. Pomeranians are smart too. Above is one of my Instagram followers of many Pomeranian pictures and they sell t-shirts and leggings too. Nope, this is not a sponsored post, but a blog post to show the cuteness of Pomeranians which I happen to own one too. Leia is now 1 year and 1 month old. As a puppy, she won a photo contest consisting of dog tooth paste and anti-fleas solution. Well, yours truly took the photo and sent it to The Star publication during the contest period. The other 2 winners were Kaka and Wowo. How ‘Hokkien’ sounding for the names! The following week, The Star published article on Star Wars where Leia got her name from; – Princess Leia.

The initial name given by me was Princess, but it is too long to call as it has 2 syllables while Leia was given by second sis in Southampton and it is so much easier to call her. Anyway, congrats to second sis and hubby who both passed their PhD degrees already in the UK.

Going Down South Tomorrow Morning

I shall be traveling down south tomorrow morning to KL. After putting my pet Pomeranian in a pet boarding place, and a short trip to Sungai Petani, Kedah this afternoon, we shall set forth to KL in the morning. I have already put my supplements and vitamins into the pill box for 2 weeks, but I should be back soon as dad has to go for an ultrasound and my presence is needed, as requested by youngest sister.

I have also resumed writing for a travel website and I need cash to help offset dad’s exorbitant expenses due to a heart attack. His stay at a local nursing home is also not cheap and GST was charged too. Dad suffered 4 heart attacks in 6 months and the sooner he goes for an open heart surgery, the better. The question is where! Well, it is free in GH but payable in a private hospital. I could only pray that God will use the cardio surgeon as an instrument to help heal dad while the Almighty does the actual healing.

Dad is not like Dr Mahathir; still very strong and even won the recent election. Dad is fragile and is suffering from a few illnesses that I shall not mention. I just pray for his longevity and at the same time, not to neglect my work while accompanying youngest sis to the hospitals, GH or private. Meanwhile, pray for my safe journey to KL for business by car.

Happy Mothers’ Day

I am neither here nor there, but I would like to wish pregnant women and all mothers out there a “Happy Mother’s Day.” As they say, “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.” As an aside, I am pleased that I voted for Pakatan Harapan which won the election, initially by a simple majority. Now with Sabah and Sarawak joining the new coalition, it could be 2/3 majority and Najib’s camp being trounced sorely. Goodbye to a oppressive regime, with the ex-PM and wife living like a King and Queen while the people are taxed heavily like the 6% GST to make up for their lavish lifestyles. They have been called the Marcoses of Malaysia. Prices of gasoline skyrocket “every seconds”, as Dr Mahathir aptly calls it.

And Penang will have a new Chief Minister >> Chow Kon Yeow, while Lim Guan Eng has been declared the Finance Minister since he has accounting background. I bet his job will be tough, getting back the stolen monies in 1MDB. I hope Jho Low will be brought back to Malaysia with his billions of dollars of super luxury yacht and overly-priced paintings. He even lost millions of Malaysian dollars in gambling in US casinos and had a private room. It is going to be a tough but takes collective work to bring back these crooks and put them behind bars. There is also the mystery of the murder of Altantuya, private investigator Bala, etc. The people have won. Kudos to Malaysia and our 92 year-old Prime Minister, the oldest in the world that sets a new record!

All the Internet of Things – IoT

Limor “Ladyada” Fried is the founder and CEO of Adafruit Industries, an open-source hardware company. A founding member of the NYC Industrial Business Advisory Council, she was named a White House Champion of Change in 2016.

The Internet of Things is all about connections—connecting your electronics design, product, or project to the wider world. We start with the idea that you have a “Thing” that you want to connect to the “Internet of.”

How do you do that? Usually you start with something you’d like to improve. Say you love fish and have a home or school aquarium. Since you’ve got some really fancy fish, they need the water temperature to stay between 20 and 30 degrees Centigrade. You could always check the water temperature, but it would be better if you had a microcontroller to help you out!

You could start with a simple temperature manager, but even better would be one that could email or text you to let you know if something went amiss and maybe the heater broke. That’s what the Internet of Things is all about: Making stuff smart!

A Bluetooth-enabled Adafruit board.

What is Adafruit?

I design that “smart stuff”—the electronics and code for makers who make real things in the real world. We also teach them how to make their ideas come to life. Some are simple projects, like getting an alert if there is water in your basement. Others are getting real-time information like transit schedules and displaying it at home so you know when your bus is coming.

Some of our favorite IoT projects are ones that make life easier for people who need Accessibility Technology (AT). For example, a project from our friend Chris Young, who not only uses AT but designs it, for people who have the same needs he does! He has written up how to make an IoT remote control so he can use a laptop or tablet with touchscreen to turn on/off devices in his house.

What we think is the most exciting part of IoT’s future is seeing makers and coders design the devices that best suit them and their community. Instead of relying on what’s available in the store, customization and optimizations will let small-scale engineering happen by the people who will actually use it!

We made an internet of things service called “adafruit.io” that gets you started quick and easy, so your things can spend more time on the internet, not just trying to get going.
The best language for IoT

Here at Adafruit, we like using Python to program IoT devices. What, a snake? Close! The Python programming language is the fastest-growing programming language that beginners and experts alike use. Python is great for IoT for a lot of reasons.

IoT is all about getting and sending data. Maybe you want your aquarium to let you know when the temperature is too high or too low. You could code this up in Python using an if conditional:

water_temp = acquarium_temperature() # read the sensor
if water_temp > 30:
send_text_message(“Help! The water in the aquarium is too hot!”)
if water_temp < 20: send_text_message("Oh no! The water in the aquarium is too cold!")

Even simple examples such as the above are super powerful when you add the Internet, email, cellular and text messages so that your programming can reach outside your screen.
Why Python and IoT?

Why is Python so great for IoT? First, of course, is how popular it is—it’s available for any and all computers. It’s also really great for parsing text, in particular the “structured data in text” that the Internet runs on, often referred to as HTML, XML or JSON. Other languages may be faster in some ways, but they often struggle to do regular expressions, text parsing or moving from one data format to another.

Python has flexible memory management, so you don’t have to worry about pointers or memory. This comes at a cost to speed, but helps avoid some of the ickiest security problems that plague IoT devices. You definitely don’t want to accidentally turn your smart aquarium into a botnet!
Take the First Step Toward IoT Glory

Python also has exception handling, which is a “proper” way to handle errors compared to some languages. Whenever you expose your devices to the Internet, you’ll have inconsistent connections (e.g., “the WiFi is down!”) or unexpected data sent your way. Exceptions mean that even if you are a little lazy and forget to check a value or function output, your program will be more likely halt rather than blithely continue with incorrect instructions.

And of course, Python comes with the kitchen sink—so much is included already, so you can get started faster than ever. Not only is Python available on computers like your desktop or laptop, it also comes on embedded computers like the Raspberry Pi and on microcontrollers as Circuit Python.

Learning Python is a great way to make internet-connected things, and to share data and creativity around the world. Cuddle up to this friendly snake and check out learn.adafruit.com for thousands of free IoT projects you can build with Python!

Where anyone can get the skills they need for the jobs they want.

Branded SunGlasses

People put on sunglasses for several reasons. One of the leading reasons would be to safeguard the attention in the sun rays from the sun and also the second most apparent reason would be to look fashionable. It is a fact the atmosphere we reside in does lots of damage to the eyes and often it might be essential to put on sunglasses. Regardless of what your reason is perfect for putting on sunglasses, they safeguard your vision as well as cause you to look stylish. If you’re thinking about buying a set of sunglasses, listed here are couple of tips about how to buy a suitable one.

Protection against Ultra Purple Light

Ultra violet sun rays released in the sun could be dangerous for that eyes. They are able to cause macular degeneration, cataracts along with other kind of ailments. Fortunately, 99% of those sun rays don’t even achieve the top of earth, however that remaining 1% may cause lots of damage. If you venture out within the sunlight frequently, it is crucial that you purchase a set of sunglasses which blocks Ultra violet lights. Nowadays, good brands of sunglasses include Ultra violet protection which are a good option for all individuals who’re concerned about their eye health. For more information on where to get genuine กรอบแว่นสายตา, visit our website today!

Polarization

Lots of people believe that light travels inside a straight line. The truth is light bounces in one surface to a different and cause glare from numerous elements for example glass, eco-friendly grass, water and white-colored sand. When you purchase glasses with polarized lenses, you provide only vertical sun rays to feed them which reduces glare.

Color

Sunglasses are available in various colors. Even though the colour of the glasses doesn’t have to so something with polarization, they are doing impact clearness, depth perception and glare. Nowadays, most glasses include gray lenses that are an unbiased color and don’t distort color. Other colors that are around include red, brown, eco-friendly, yellow and orange. The colour of lenses you have selected should be thought about carefully. Make certain that whenever you put on them in sunlight, you’re confident with it which doesn’t distort color while increasing glare around the glasses.

Frames

Frames are available in a variety of styles and in addition they vary in weight and sturdiness. When purchasing a set of sunglasses, you have to make certain they look good for you, are durable and lightweight weight. Don’t buy sunglasses which look good, but aren’t comfortable. Want to get the best deals on genuine แว่นกันแดด? Visit our website for more information.

Digital Marketing for Branding Your Business

Digital marketing, the promotion of merchandise or brands via a number of types of electronic media, is different from traditional marketing because it uses channels and techniques which allow a company to evaluate marketing campaigns and know very well what is working and just what is not – typically instantly. Know more about branding agency by visiting our website today!

Computerized advertisers screen such things as what’s being seen, how often as well as for how much, deals transformations, what content works and does not work, and so forth. As the Internet is, maybe, the station most carefully associated with advanced advertising, others incorporate remote content informing, versatile texting, portable applications, podcasts, electronic bulletins, computerized Radio and tv channels, and so on.

Really, individuals invest two times just as much energy online because they accustomed to 12 years prior. And bearing in mind that people express it a good deal, the way in which individuals shop and buy truly has altered, meaning disconnected promoting is not as compelling as it was once.

Promoting has dependably been tied along with connecting together with your gathering of individuals within the correct place and also at the opportune time. Today, that suggests you need to meet them where they’re as of this moment investing energy: within the web.

Digital Marketing may also be understood to be, “any kind of marketing that exists online”.

The effective use of the web along with other advanced media and innovation to assist ‘present day advertising’ has offered ascend to some stupefying scope of marks and language produced by the 2 scholastics and experts. It’s been known as digital marketing, Internet marketing, e-marketing and web marketing which option terms have differed over time.

Considering the present verbal confrontation about the effective use of the word ‘computerized promoting’, we figured it’s useful to bind just what advanced means via a definition. Do definitions really make a difference? We figure they are doing, since especially in a association or from a business and it is customers we must have clearness to assist the objectives and exercises which help Digital Transformation.

This is of digital marketing could be designed to clarify that, advanced promoting incorporates overseeing diverse kinds of online organization nearness and existences, for instance, organization sites, portable applications and web-based social media organization pages. This really is along with online interchanges methods including any semblance of internet searcher promoting web-based social media showcasing, internet based publicizing, email advertising and association considerations with various sites. Scalping strategies are employed to assist the destinations of having new customers and providing administrations to existing clients that assistance develop the customer relationship through E-CRM and showcasing robotization. In almost any situation, for computerized showcasing to become fruitful, there’s up to now an excuse for mixture of these strategies with customary media, for instance, print, TV and publish office based mail like a major facet of multichannel promoting correspondences.

Negligence digital procedures in supporting coordinated multichannel showcasing is really a critical segment some part of advanced advertising, yet is often disregarded. From various perspectives, this features that it’s so important to separate storehouses among ‘digital’ and ‘traditional’ promoting divisions. Online channels can likewise be determined how you can assist the entire purchasing process from pre-deal to manage to publish-deal and additional growth of client connections.

Why digital marketing is important

Digital media is pervasive to the stage that buyers approach data as much as they require it. The days are gone once the messages individuals got regarding your products or administrations originated in you and also made up of precisely what you possessed these to know. Digital media is really a regularly developing wellspring of diversion, news, shopping and social communication, and clients are presently presented not merely as to the your business states when it comes to your image, yet exactly what the media, buddies, relatives, peers, and so forth., are stating also. In addition, they’ll most likely have confidence in them than you. Individuals need brands they are able to trust, organizations that know them, correspondences which are customized and pertinent, while offering custom-designed to their requirements and inclinations. Want to know more about digital marketing singapore? Visit our website for more information.

The 5Ds of digital marketing

To understand the value of digital marketing towards the eventual fate of advertising in almost any business, it’s helpful to think about what number of onlookers connections we must comprehend and oversee. Digital marketing today is all about numerous more types of crowd connection than site or email… It offers overseeing and saddling these ‘5Ds of Digital’ which have been characterised within the prologue to the newest refresh to my Digital Marketing: Strategy, Planning and Implementation book. The 5Ds that we must survey customer reception of how and when our business can organize their utilization are:

1. Digital devices – our audiences communicate with companies using smartphones, tablets, personal computers, TVs and gaming devices

2. Digital platforms – most interactions on these units are via a browser or apps in the major platforms or services, that’s Facebook (and Instagram), Google (and YouTube), Twitter and LinkedIn

3. Digital media – different compensated, owned and earned communications channels for reaching and interesting audiences including advertising, email and messaging, search engines like google and social systems

4. Digital data – the insight companies collect regarding their audience profiles as well as their interactions with companies, which now must be paid by law in many countries

5. Digital technology – the marketing technology or martech stack that companies use to produce interactive encounters from websites and mobile phone applications to in-store kiosks and email promotions

Came Back from KL

I came back from Kuala Lumpur last night and slept through early due to the long journey. It was a short trip to collect a cheque and thereafter had a short honeymoon in Mandarin Oriental Hotel where I was given a bouquet of orchids of violet, orange and white hues. We presented our voucher for a free box of 10 chocolate pralines in various designs and bursts of flavors. I also receive pink heart shaped chocolates in caramel and drizzled with red spots as eye candy. At the hotel, we also received 2 complimentary bottles of orange and apple with lemongrass flavored sparkling water.

As it was Dad’s and spouse’s birthdays this month of April, I used the 50% voucher for a strawberry, blueberry and blackberry topped cheese cake at $84 after discount. The cake was lovely and heavenly to taste. Pure ambrosia! Apparently Mandarin Oriental, despite its Chinese name, serves kosher or ‘halal’ Malay cuisine. It was 51% owned by Petronas, the corporate government arm of Malaysia. Thank goodness, we arrived safely and will celebrate dad’s early birthday in a beach hotel later.