This is another true for those who knows how to invest. I have friends who are in B40, M40, they dont know how to invest and don't want to keep money overseas.

It's never too late. I believe we will see sgd4.00 in our lifetime seeing how the country is run.

I just transferred my saving silver to sg today itself.

I continue converting every spare cash from my salary I have as my goal is long term. Collect rm10k then convert.

Correction. I never fly. I take the train.

I used Sunway money. RM30k transaction more than enough for me to convert. Their rates is as good as money changer rate. Even if rates are more expensive, sometimes the cost to travel and deposit = same as doing it online.

Last time the only online service available are banks. Nowadays there are alternatives which gets the job done as good as banks but cheaper.

Sunway money rates are even better than wise rates at least for SGD. Not sure about other currency.

Interactive broker. Spot rate. You cannot get cheaper than interactive broker as they are giving you USD at real time market rate without any markup unlike banks.

Yes. Deposit SGD into ibkr. Convert SGD into USD using ibkr. Yup only pay usd2.00/transaction regardless of amount.

Unfortunately you can't. IBKR does not accept transactions in MYR (deposits/withdrawals). So you either go through another currency like SGD or directly deposit USD (with the risk of transaction stucked during ACH for Wise and a bunch of ALMA stuffs/ask for proofs etc.)

You cannot deposit MYR. If you try you are basically doing TT via banks and it's expensive not to mentioned if you are doing it like every month or every few months like what I am doing.

If you like giving free money to banks, by all means go ahead.

1. Not necessarily Sunway Money all the time. It's best to compare between the major money changers online, i.e. Instarem, Wise, Sunway Money, and BigPay. Wise used to be good but these days Instarem rates are kind of good for MYR-HKD transfer. Anyway, the rates change all the time, so be mindful of not sticking to one service provider forever.

2. Not just SGD to USD. IBKR offers tonnes of currency pairs. https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/tradi...-currencies.php

Note that certain currency pairs are not available and a "middleman" is needed. E.g., from SGD to CHF (Swiss Franc) and vice versa is not possible as there is no SGD/CHF or CHF/SGD currency pair for trading. So you either deposit CHF directly to IB or use "middleman" currency like USD/EUR.

1. EUR (Euro) and Swiss Franc (CHF) (and in the future GBP for purchase of Anglo-American, Glencore etc.)

2. Yes, USD and CHF can be converted into one another on IB. Currency pair works in both directions. CHF, like EUR is used for European stock investments. There are lots of niche stuffs on European exchanges which don't command the same valuations like their US peers, but are good in their own rights.

First you have Swiss pharma: Roche and Novartis are listed on SIX (Swiss stock exchange) in CHF (Novartis has a level 2 ADR on NYSE though) and smaller players like Lonza, Alcon (contact lens) etc. Then you have Nestle, world's biggest food company listed on SIX (in CHF) too. You can have exposure to Siwss bank like Julius Baer or UBS as you like. Or building materials (Holcim and Sika AG), or luxury goods Richemont and Swatch.

For starters, an equal exposure to Roche, Novartis and Nestle will do the job (they collectively account for 51% of the SMI index, the blue-chip benchmark of Swiss stock market).

Swiss dividends are taxed at 35% by default, and reducable to 15% by filling up Form 60 to be submitted to the Federal Tax Administration at Bern every 3 years. Withheld dividends will be paid out of Swiss National Bank in CHF, so you need a saving account to deposit CHF or risk forex markup/TT fees during receival.

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For EUR, you can have exposure to industrial gas (Linde, Air Liquide), luxury goods in France (LVMH, Kering, Hermes etc.), utility (Engie SA in France), aircraft manufacturing/defense (Airbus).

Actually HKEX is pretty much discussed also: https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/4832883/+1200

As for threads that discuss SIX and EUR, yes, I usualy post these materials in the IBKR thread: https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/4843925/+6020

That's because IBKR remains the only major stock broker with access to SIX and EUR products (barring the local banks and brokerages).

It would be nice for you to start a thread on opening bank account in Switzerland. I am interested to enjoy banking secrecy there too. Do let us know the steps/procedures for a tourist/work visa holder to open bank account in Switzerland. I assume only HNWIs can open bank accounts there, but I may be wrong. Don't be afraid of trying out new things.

And no, your questions are perfectly normal. SIX is mostly for retirees and "value/old-economy" stock investors. The Swiss counters do not command high valuations like their US tech peers, you can tell from the industries: pharmaceuticals, food & beverages, luxury goods etc. Long-term capital gain is around 6-8% p.a., with dividend yields of around 2% p.a. And they are not as liquid as the big US markets, thus they avoided the limelight.

I don't join any social media (except LinkedIn ) nor am I aware of any Telegram group. I would advise you to refrain from joining such groups as you never know what the true intention(s) of these group starters is/are; a pump-and-dump scheme might be in the works. If you find out that the group always have messages like tips and focus on penny stocks/illiquid counters, you should be very cautious.

But to be honest, I hardly hear people discuss Swiss pharma or Nestle in any chat groups. Boring counters for the massess, but long-term investors will always find value in these counters.

I won't bother with Swiss. Cause I always pro US. US companies are superior to Swiss except their banks. Never ever bet against the US economy. If you want to invest why settle for 2nd best when you can buy the best?

It's about making your money work most efficiently..By buying Swiss stocks, you are not maximising your money working efficiently. That's why I invest only in US companies.

There are dividend tax in Swiss and there are dividens tax in US. However there are no caoital gain tax in US for us. Hence use that. Pay less tax and keep the savings and invest in. How? Buy spy or qqq etf and sell covered calls on them. Generate 1% per month tax free money. That's what my friend in sg doing. It's the safest tax free way cause you are investing in etf. There's no timing market or choosing what to buy. Yea you calmed them back from Swiss govt but you need to file a tax file with them and do it every year. Do you want easy hassle free Vs you want to file tax return for small summit dividends?

But then again the choice is yours. It's your money. That's why I only invest in US and US listed Canada companies cause US listed Canada companies, their dividends are only tax at 15% Vs Swiss at 35%. I don't bother with dividend investing in US.

If you want to do dividend investing, stick with HK, SG, UK some part of Europe and Canada. Cause  some part of Europe and Canada their dividend tax is only 15% Vs US at 30% and there's no need to file any tax return. Make your life easier. My way is  always keep it simple. Don't complicate things. Why do you want to complicate our life with more paperwork? Our life is already complicated. I don't need additional layer of complications.

To sum it up, my investment style is
1. Never bet against the US market.
2. Buy quality companies, why settle for 2nd best?
3. Pay less tax where possible.
4. Keep it simple.
4. Keep your cost low.

If you want tax free country for dividends, HK, SG and UK.
Buy US reits on sgx. They pay in USD.

If you've invested early,.. and your holding prices are low enough, whatever EFRs they do moving fwd will be above your holding prices. Then you have a choice of wanting to average-up or not,... ie you will average-up IF you participate in the EFR. Otherwise you wouldn't be averaging-up.

And a GOOD REIT will always be able do dpu-accretive acquisitions. This is the most important thing.

Whatever number of units you hold then does not matter anymore even if you do NOT participate in the EFR. Your dpu collected will increase after the acquisition has been completed together with whatever EFR done.

I have said the above many times in a few forums,...

The boat is coming back,... wait for REIT prices to drop.

I've been telling people around me,... when times are good, can't invest much becos prices are high. The opportunity comes when times are bad,.. like today. But one must still be selective,.. not everything can be invested into. What that makes the difference are :-

1) do you have the money to invest with today ?

2) do you have the knowledge to select the right instruments to invest into today ? In our case now, do you have the right knowledge and experience to choose the right REIT/s to invest into after they dropped ?

Good luck ,bro,...