Thanks to a kind poster from FSM Msia thread I am now in FSM Spore thread.

The latest promotion is very attractive. Any takers?

secure.fundsupermart.com/fsm/article/view/rcms243720/announcement-invest-in-bite-sized-unit-trusts-with-reduced-minimum-initial-investment

Hi as WhitE LighteR point out I am from Spore. All investment platform charges fees else how they survive? Regarding your concern of platform fees my reasoning is below.

FSM Spore impose 0% sales charge which means you put X dollars all of them go into buying units. With sales charge you actually put (X - sales charge) dollars so you get lesser units. Since it is quarterly, if your fund perform good before the quarterly time is triggered, the fund profits can cover the platform fees.

The new promotion means with 100 I can buy more new funds but take note to sell it is still mostly min holding 1000 which means you can't sell that 100 partially unless you sell all totally. The 100 low capital means I can risk to put into much more riskier funds and hope to get higher returns which previously I dare not as lose is lose 1000 instead of 100. Imagine 1000 can buy up to 10 funds each 100 (of cuz I not doing that in reality it is just for illustration).

Hi I do have dollarDex acct and why I choose FSM was too confidential to discuss here. Basically their online platform workflow has some "flaw". But that was in year 2000 and now I check it is under Aviva maybe they have improved. I also have a POEMS acct but that is primarily a ETF/stocks platform more than UT and their UT features are quite limited in year 2000 but now I check they are quite comprehensive on UT now.

So the 100 min investment is the selling point for FSM now. Seriously over 20+ years in FSM my fund profits covered the platform fees I have checked for both CPF and cash. Key is choose the correct fund and invest medium to long term. Don't do too much buy/sell if want to do that use POEMS ETF/stocks for faster profits/losses.

PS Btw I'm Sporean

First off let me clarify I am not a FSM Spore employee nor did I receive monies from FSM Spore to help them promote their services. I am with them since 2000 so maybe I can share some snippet of my portfolio.

Attached is some of my CPF-OA investment. Look at entries in green color they are there for at least 10+ years. Then look at the entries in red color those are bought this year 2021. So what fund investment had taught me is this is really for medium to long term holding. If your expectation is within 1-2 year see green color maybe funds are not suitable for you. For faster returns try ETF/stocks or perhaps casino even. Those are super fast profits/losses.

As for ppl asking why I want to pay FSM quarterly platform fees correct? If you look at my green color profits and % what are those platform fees? Agreed I can get even more profits if there is 0 platform fees which is why I am now re-looking at dollarDEX and POEMS as they have improved their fund related info and services so much after so many years later.

I believe since yesterday to next week will be a sea of red. This happen so many times over my 20+ years investment horizon. You have to overcome this fear. Once a lot of ppl start pulling out may actually be the best time to enter. Again this is not 100% true as I have lost using this strategy too.

Lastly, like all investment diversification is key. Do not just invest on funds or ETF or stocks alone. I have funds, REIT and non-REIT stocks, Fixed Deposit, insurance endowment etc at the same time too. And most importantly cold hard cash must maintain a portion for emergency. This is in case you are forced to liquidate those built-up investment at a big loss for emergency needs.

Some history poems has been around in Spore for a long time even earlier than FSM or dollarDex which started around 2000. Poems were doing stock/ETF investing more than fund so their fund selection in those times are limited since not their main focus.

Now year 2021 I would think if in future you want to also invest stock/ETF on top of fund Poems is better. dollarDex seem only focus on fund investment. As for fund selection I have checked both offer almost same.

Btw year 2000 dollarDex online interface was 'flawed' which is why I opt for FSM then. Now is 2021 they may have improved alot.

Anyone invest on funds purely based on FSM recommended funds? Let me share my experience.

Their recommendations are not 100% flop but it is not 100% win too. Reason I can think of is their recommendations are based on past historical performance no indication of its future performance. Second some funds when they recommend are already at their historical highest fund price since launched. It can go even higher but can fell down too!

Like stocks,etf once some brokerage recommend price shoot up so already invested ppl are just waiting for these newbies rushing in to sell to them and share price drop. Fund is a basket of stocks so lesser drop but still it is drop.

My opinion for FSM recommended fund is it is worth a look but don't just plainly invest. E.g the fund is at highest price the probability of price drop can be the same as going even higher. Do more research maybe a competitor fund with very close performance say second place but price still way below highest price is a better invest than the actual recommended fund etc etc.

Ok before one try to invest in stock,etf directly be aware of how it works regardless you use which broker. Their price is real time what you buy and sell is locked at the time of txn. Fund and SA are forward pricing I think. When you do a buy or sell the price you see is indicative not the actual price at time of txn.

I read in SA thread ppl complain getting less of what they see on screen when they sell at SA and long time ago in FSM too. These ppl do not fully understand how it works before they invest.

Buy overseas stock,etf always have this extra fees, currency conversion etc factors involved when you perform a trade. You can check online all the various brokerages and banks for the lowest fee.

I avoid all that by invest in funds where fund managers do all those for me by paying them fees in the form of expense ratio etc. For local stock,etf can use poems but sometimes the bid and ask can be a pain. You either buy up or sell down if cannot wait. Take note of the buy see fees incurred for each trade. The more you flip the more you pay and that is when brokerage firm very happy as each trade they earn monies.

Lastly happy investing and please invest what you can lose. Don't invest your whole fortune into it.

Hi you seem to have very strong opinion on some investment ppl have done. Can I ask how old are you in real life and how long have you been investing?

E.g you say sg stocks only good for REIT and banks, fund make or lose monies guaranteed to lose 1.8% etc.

If you are looking for quick bucks I don't think sg us stock,etf or funds are suitable for you. As Msian Genting Highlands casino is a few hrs drive away. Play big small 5-10 min you get your 100 or 0% profits,losses immediately.

This is a FSM Spore thread so I thought this is a good forum to exchange views on fund investing but you keep talking about lose monies. Can I ask you lose monies very big in FSM before? If yes I can understand becuz investment inherently come with risk. I hope you lost not a lot so can recoup via interactive brokers as you mention.

Msian no need serve NS so 7 years I think you are still not over 30. I hate to use age as argument as it will lead to another topic but just to inform I am in investing 20+ years and reaching 50 soon.

Ok back to topic you are of cuz entitled to your view but when you keep saying you choose X confirm lose monies is purely your point of view and experience. It does not mean everyone is losing monies.

How about I tell you poems for some investment you are losing monies over a long term horizon due to frequent trading? Contra, short sell are common strategies there for a lot investors. I view those close to casino play.

Also in Spore we have this CPF equivalent to your Msia EPF which we cannot withdraw all at age 55 which is why for FSM most of my trades are for CPF which I attach a screenshot in my earlier post. I have cash trade elsewhere which I did not reveal as this is a FSM Spore thread so I want to stick to topic.

You are welcome to post your opinion confirm lose monies etc as this is a forum for all but I feel I need to speak out and let other readers read both sides of the story and form their own opinion whether confirm lose monies is valid based on your argument.

Lastly I will continue to share fund related info in this FSM Spore thread unless admin feel I am violating forum rules. I will also try not to talk about other investment platform as a sign of respect to this thread that is dedicated to FSM Spore.

I am not sure what you mean by dead capital market? Assume we talk about FSM Spore I have noticed the number of funds offered are much more. We have 0% sales charge and most recent min 100 initial investment etc. I notice some FSM Msia funds are feeder to fund A and this fund A here in FSM Spore we can buy direct no need go through feeder fund.

This can explain why SA is a hit with Msian as FSM Msia maybe lacking options to investors. Long long time ago it is the same with FSM Spore back in 2000 but it improves the selection along the years.

MYR inflation quite high so long term profits in Msia can be eroded abit. Just think my times is SGD to 2+ MYR and now is 3 MYR. This mean if invest in MYR denominated funds many years your later returns is lesser when you withdraw and turn to cash.

So using the same reason I am investing in RMB denominated funds in recent times.

Not sure if anyone notice fund (very small number though) that has factsheet that explicitly mention they do not benchmark again any existing index to track their performance? In fact in another fund I read the fund manager actually come out with their own stock composition of the index for them to benchmark against? All along I thought fund has to benchmark against some index to track their performance but it seems this criteria is not mandatory at all.

How do anyone in fund investment think of this issue? Is it mandatory for fund to benchmark against index? And the index used can be fund manager own stocks composition formulated or need to be index provided by some other neutral third party?

Next question is without index to benchmark how do we know the fund is performing well against those ETF which typically track index?

Ramjade is basically biting the hands that feed him. When he is newbie and green, SG conducive environment provide for him to learn. Once his wings grow strong he can fly and start to bite those instruments that used to train him. (I read this thread from page 1 onwards during my free time)

Think of Chinese pugilistic show. Disciple no skill, master slowly teach and nurture. Once disciple learn all the skills go and kill the master and become his own master going around killing. An analogy

PS Btw in those show, that arrogant disciple soon met his downfall in the end. Food for thought.

Anyone focus in investing 100% high yield/normal bond funds only? Can share their experience? My experience has been quite bad with bond only fund. Yes I get the dividend but the price does not seem to move especially when you invest for long term. I have read must look at the different bond maturity held by the fund. If some are matured and fund manager did not manage to secure new bond the price cannot move.

This lead to me to invest in balanced fund (mix of equities and bonds) and equity fund that pays dividends. I do understand dividend paying fund will slash the total returns of the fund over a long period but it is ok I want the dividends and at least the price will move over a long period unlike those bonds only funds.

PS there are very few funds that pay dividends and yet can match or beat the benchmark. take note of this when you compare such fund performance vs those non-dividend paying fund.

I would like to know why avoid sg stocks at all cost is it lose monies? To tell you the truth I am one victim too. Let me share with you why I lose monies. I think this is not sg stocks specific you go other stock market sure meet the same.

Case 1
I suddenly get my hands in investing penny stocks (share price < 20 cents) in SGX. Reason that time was with X dollars I can buy so many lots. With that same X dollars I cannot even buy one lot of share price > $1 stock. So I have many penny stocks in my portfolio especially during that time any penny stock that has China in the stock name the price shoot up like crazy. I was naive and thought buy and hold for price to rise so I can sell to make profits. How wrong I was becuz those crazy share price does not reflect the company actual real value! Once some big players start dumping it is all the way down. I even attempt to average down and guess what later that stock get suspended and some later delist and gone missing. I get back a piece of paper stating I own XXX shares of that penny stock.

Case 2
I suddenly get caught up in contra and shorting. This is even worst! I buy so many lots to sell within 3 days to earn the difference profits. But other players also play same game and they got more capital than me so 3 days up I need to sell at a loss else I cannot afford to pay up for so many lots!!! Shorting also worst. I attempt to sell stock I do not own only to buy back later to cover for the missing lots. Guess what 3 days up I need to buy them back at a loss!!!

Why I suddenly want to share such info in a FSM Spore thread is to inform ppl like you why over the years I turn to FSM as investment over stock investing. There are just too many ways to die investing in stocks directly. Lucky I lose those monies while I was young so working can earn back. Those quarterly platform fees charged by FSM is really small fry compared to the SGX and brokerage fees I have paid for the lesson! At least for FSM I truly found profits with them.

Anyone decide to invest with FSM Spore latest promotion of fund min. initial investment of $100? $100 for you to test water on funds that you previously will not want to try due to the min. $1000 requirement.

Let me start first I have. And since the capital is small, I go for the most aggressive funds of risk rating 10. Basically sector/theme funds. Gold & Precious Metals, Healthcare, Infrastructure, Property, Resources, Small to Medium Companies, Technology. Previously say for e.g to invest one fund in each sector, I need $7000. Now I only need $700. Then depend how it goes slowly top up $100 each time. This is like supermarket sales promoter that cook some food and let you taste nice or not. Nice then you buy more. Of cuz food testing is free but the idea is similar.

Reason why focus on sector/theme funds is because I already have quite a few geographical region and country specific funds over the years. For a long time I do not have the courage to put so much on those highly volatile sector/theme funds.

This post has been edited by sgh: Dec 9 2021, 07:16 PM

Agree not to derail this thread. But I think my penny stock, contra, shorting you never try before? Please don't try the monies loss is huge! Agree with your analysis on sg big stocks. That is why even for my fund total portfolio I don't have any Spore only fund.

For ppl still want to have funds that have sg stocks try to get one which is Spore and Msia combined to spread out the risk. Avoid Msia only fund if possible too.

Today talk about funds that specialises in small to medium companies investment. I think this is highly volatile since we all know it is easy for those companies business to go bust in comparison to the big stocks in Nasdaq, S&P 500 for e.g

This mean the fund manager stock pick skills must be superb to manage and turn it profitable. I would think the frequency of changing stock in the fund portfolio would be much more than those funds that just buy big stocks from the index.

If the fund manager manage to pick it well the returns from the fund will be huge but come at a very big risk. Hence if one has some spare monies it doesn't hurt to invest in these funds as your high risk supplementary portfolio.

Yes for me supplementary portfolio is to be aggressive. Main portfolio keep it safe and higher percentage, remaining smaller percentage chiong ahead.

Finally after 20+ years of investing with FSM Spore I reach diamond tier no more quarterly platform fees. The criteria is for acct including beneficiary acct, CPF + cash add up total. Beneficiary acct can be your spouse, kids, parents etc.

CPF fund investment do not incur quarterly platform fees. They take from your cash fund investment instead. So Sporean with CPF FSM Spore a good instrument for investing. As for cash it depend as there are more alternatives around besides FSM.

Their recent min. 100 initial investment attract some of my cash though. Still hunting for something like StashAway but with DIY ETF. I want to buy,sell my own ETF but pay SA fees structure. Interactive Brokers seem the best so far but if anyone find better than this can PM me.

Not sure if need to start a new thread so just tag along. Now fundsupermart has a brother called bondsupermart. https://www.bondsupermart.com/bsm/ same ifast financial company behind.

Just like year 2000, get the research info from the website and then use other platform invest hehe. But since I am a diamond tier client maybe I can invest on their platform instead. Frankly speaking I am not a bonds lover as I prefer equities more but since got new website specifically on bonds research maybe I will be a convert? Hmmm

Reason ppl there are not keen to have in depth discussion on fund investment related topics so I move on. If later this forum also no one is keen I guess will move on too. Just seeking like minded fund investors to discuss on fund topics beyond the usual operating procedures, documents needed, work around etc topics.