2008 will be repeated. The question is when as 2008 did not solve the problem just merely delay it by pumping more money (QE). When the time comes, you must have a shopping list and cash. Shopping list without cash is meaningless.

Depends on who you ask. If you ask Hansel who is a staunch supporter of DBS, he will tell you go with DBS cause he have a SG address so he can invest like a SGrean. For the rest of us without a SG address, you can't participate in rights preferential offering via CDP (as it requires you to have a SG address beforehand). The only way forward is use a nomination brokerage. If you have USD100k cash, Interactive broker is the cheapest. Well if you don't then need to look elsewhere.

Elsewhere meaning : Maybank KE Prefunded, FSM SG and Standard Chartered SG (not sure if Standard Chartered SG still accepting malaysians or not).

Of course SG brokers are limited to SG markets only with exception of Standard Chartered SG (due to them charging fees for dividends, quarterly fees,  markup commission). So ask yourself, are you willing to lock your SGD3k with DBS or put it work? For me with small capital, every sen counts hence I am not willing to lock my SGD3k with DBS hence I convert my account into a lock in SGD500 account only. Do you really need a Multi currency account (MCA) if you are investing in SG only? There are many ways to get yourself a MCA with zero or near to zero cost:
1) Transferwise
2) Bigpay for overseas transaction

I need a USD account as I getting cashback from shopping in US (shopping in US is way cheaper even after counting exchange rate and delivery) and since DBS is a psudo USD account (the cashback company can't transfer to DBS account as it's not based in US and does not have US identification codes) hence I opted for free Transferwise.  Remove SGD2500 from DBS and put it to work.

Again ask yourself, what type of investor you are? Are you actively trading or dividend investing or value investing?
Then ask yourself do you have basic knowledge to invest?
- I learnt this from blogs
- A very good place would be http://investmentmoats.com/ It's very detail sometimes too detail.
- Another way I learnt is analyse what financial bloggers buy/say and take that advise with pinch of salt.
- Another way is look at companies able to dish out dividends in 2008. If a company can still stay profitable in 2008, it's highly a keeper
- Look for companies with low debts, increasing DPU. [/B]
- Some good SG financial blogs I recommend
1) ASSI
2) Investmentmoats
3) Dividend Rich Warrior
4) Heartlandboy
5) STE Stock investing Journey
6) A Path to Forever Financial Freedom (3Fs)
7) The Fifth Person - used to be good as they use to do analysis but still useful for people who have no time to travel down to SG for AGM.

The list above are not in any ranking but I learnt a lot especially from 1) & 2).
http://www.sginvestbloggers.com/ This link will update be updated as those blogger update their blogs.

The next question you want to ask yourself, are you willing to enter at such price or wait for better price? There are some stuff on offer but generally is quite expensive. Do you have the patience?

For me, my priority is always minimise cost as is something you can control as John C. Bogle was right cost adds up.. Try to find the cheapest way to send money to SG. For me that's not trough banks but rather via fintech like moneymatch and instarem.

Hope this helps.

U may open the DBS MCA account with initial deposit of sgd3k. then after few mths, you open the posb savings account with initial deposit of sgd500.

submit a letter to close the DBS MCA and transfer the remaining sgd3k to your posb savings acc. I did that  :thumbsup:

Lock in because if the value drop below that threshold even for a day, the bank will charge you a monthly fee.
For SGD500 account should the amount drop to say SGD499.99, you will be charged SGD2/month.
For a SGD3000 account, the fall below fees range from SGD5-7.5.
What this means is the SGD500/SGD3k is essentially lock up and you can't move it. Thus generating you zero returns.

Posb everyday Savers as how I taught prince_mk below or maybnak isavvy accounts are one of the last few SG bank accounts going at min amount of SGD500.

Depends. Like I said if you are loaded with cash (min USD100k) go with Interactive broker, or Exante (EUR25,000)

If not look at which market you want to buy. Generally local brokerage in their respective country is cheaper. Forget about buying foreign stocks via SG brokers. They sucks big time.

If you want to go for US broker,  my best recommendation would be 8 securities.

If you want to go for HK, best choice would be FSM SG.

Of course overall best broker would be standard chartered sg (as they don't impose dividend fees, quarterly fees but their exchange rate sucks big time).

A trick I learnt from a SG read blogger is consolidate buy using DBS Vickers (they have good exchange rate), transfer over to Standard chartered, when amount is large enough transfer it to interactive broker.

Regarding what kind of investor are you,  you need to make up your mind as unless you have huge amount of cash, you can't afford to go both ways. You can only pick one.

Read back a few old articles by investmentmoats.com. He gives a very through breakdown what to look out for. Either you read lots of books or plenty of blogs with analysis.

Not necessarily. I find that having patience to wait pays off. Not all companies patience pay off but majority are like that.
Finally,  you are starting to listen to my advise. My efforts have not been wasted.

DBS and posb are the same bank. Only different brand. For obvious reason DBS will want you to open their SGD3k account rather than the SGD500 account.

This posb account can only be open online after getting a DBS account. No DBS account don't dream of getting a posb account as most branches will not let you open if you don't have a work permit.

DBS is tricky as they might not accept Malaysians anymore especially after the 1MDB fiasco. If you are going to sign up, might as well get everything done on the spot at their HQ at MBFC.

For FSM SG, everything can be done online but the question when will they start charging platform fees?  Is only a matter of time before they start charging platform fees.

Must be dbs mca first then only posb savings.

Just open a Maybank isavvy account from malaysia. Only cost you SGD500. Is the cheapest account to open.

Hansel said cannot,  something about money laundering stuff. Best you ask Maybank KE customer service and see if they accept payment from3rd party.