Yeah, I saw this thie morning,...

I am one of that significant minority mentioned above,.. as a matter of fact, I don't see any other party commenting against the MAS move on Monday morning except myself,..

It's okay - I'm doing this with a good intention, I want my nearby international financial hub to be the best in the world...

Bros,... is past deep corrections, bonds were affected too - missing coupon payments and some defaulted. But I guessed this depended on the type of bonds and the issuers and, of course,... the type of bonds and the issuer together, among other factors, determine the credit ratings. Credit ratings can chg,...

What type of bonds do you hold ?

Bond funds should be safer, 'cos of diversification (many different bonds under that fund). Couldn't be that all bonds mati-lar, eight ? But bond funds will have fees, which will, in turn, lower your returns.

Bro,... no tax on dividends from SG REITs for individual single or joint accounts.

Bro,... I'll try to convince you again,... no need to think too much, if you buy a REIT in Singapore, you don't get taxed at all on your dividend or capital gain if you buy it as an individual or in a joint name with another individual.

If you buy a US-based REIT in Singapore, make sure you fill-up and submit the W8-BEN Form to the share registrar. But for one recent US-based REIT listed in Singapore, you don't even have to fill the W8-BEN Form, this is for Ara US Hospitality Trust.

Personal experience for many years,... don't worry bro,...

Tq bro for the excerpt above.

So, no issue for REIT investments in SG. The only challenge is : CAN A MALAYSIAN OPEN AN 'ECONOMICAL' ACCOUNT THERE ?

I mix a lot with Aussies, they can't open bank and brokerage accounts easily today in SG. Many Aussies want to invest in SG too due to the strong currency returns.

Ok bro,....

...tq for offering this info, bro,...

Welcome to the club, bro,...

Hmm,... yeah bro,... now that you mentioned it, I noticed my SG REITs are also 'racing to be included into the indices'. Seems that when included, there will be more liquidity for the ctrs,...

Unit prices will rise though after inclusion, but have not really paid attention if they fell back again,....

Tq bro,... the fighting and the breaking has stopped ! This is important.

Local 'majlis' elections this weekend, I think,... after this, more peace when their chosen leaders go up,....

Good opinions, bro Lighter,.. yeah,.. perhaps so,... world getting immune already, but I believed when the Human Rights and Democracy Act is passed by Trump, many funds will start to pullout from HK. Just my opinion,...it will be in the SOP of funds to be able to invest in regions which are politically stable. Public-listed companies may still stay, like Alimama,... but funds ???

Fund Managers will be shivering already,...

Bro T,... this is related,..

Ok,.. well,.. I read their mandate and the fact sheets... I interpreted differently when I read under the section Risk Factors : Political Risks.

Good or bad,.. still have to stay invested ? For funds which fall under Active Mgmt, is this right ?

Somehow, I opined that if HK is considered to have lost its autonomy when evaluated by the Secretary of State of The USA, Fund Mgrs will regard this as highly negative. First step that will take place will be to reduce holdings so as to reduce the funds exposure to that region.

Hmmm,.... bros Lighter and T231H disagreed on all fronts and gave strong rebuttal points. Bro YK Looi was mentioned too,....

Must be open to these points too,...

Tks bros,... on that bill, your theories could be possible also,....

I can only quote from my experiences with the funds that I owned,... the Allianz and Fidelity HY Bond Funds.

Their mandates are more flexible. No doubt these funds payout monthly dividends, my nav values (not inclusive of dividends reinvested) are still at breakeven or slightly above breakeven levels.

Yes, bro YH, you are right abt over-doversification - main thing that kena us will be adding to the cost... unless, of course,...

..the investor gets to enjoy something like,.. eg, no minimum charges, then he can diversify as much as he wants. He can buy as small a lot as he wants to and sell as small a lot as he wants to.

NO issue at all !!!!

Hard to answer this, bro,....

Maybe someone can answer with some opinions first and we improve from there,...

This is best answer, I guessed,...

Been looking at the above inputs with enthusiasm,... good inputs,.. I'll give some opinions here to bro pcf,...

For myself, I came to this cross-road many years ago,... ie which place to invest into, a place with MYR- or a place with SGD- denomination. I studied historical movements of currencies and some other fundamentals.

Back then, the doors were NOT closed yet, it was very easy to open SG bank accts.

Then I realized I will need RM to convert out to the SGD to invest in the SGD-denomination. This was expensive back then, my rate was,... emm,...I think 2.30,.. or something like that,... and when I had to use more and more SGD, it was more painful as I had to convert out more and more of my RM at higher and higher exchange rates.

But, after that I saw returns coming back, and when I 'calculated backwards', I found that after accounting for the spread charged, I am able to get back more RM.

Secondly,... when I invested into one instrument there, somwhow, other interests in other instruments over there will come along.

Such was my experience back then.

Susah dahulu, senang kemudian.

Sure bro,...

By the way,... the door is not closed yet for opening an SG bank acct... you can still do it via help from Maybank Msia,... and opening an iSavvy Acct in Maybank Sgp.

There's one bro here, Ramjade,... search his postings,... he gave quite some details,..he knows it in and out. I think there is a thread too abt opening SG bank accts.

Well,... in short, let me give you some details,... you need to look fro a Maybank branch that provides this service. Depending on where you are located, go to the nearest branch, fill-in some forms and then need to wait already.

Err,... pls see the thread for more. Sorry, bro, I did not open my iSavvy acct with this route.

Added : Bro,.. I just noticed this input by bro krv : It was really easy to open a CIMB fast saver account though, did it within days via their website. Using it to fund my FSM SG account.

Why don't you try this out ?

I'll give you a Real Life eg : I opened a CIMB fast saver account for the purpose of sending back SGD to MYR, and the process was quite fast.

I used the process from the CIMB SG website, filled in the forms, received the call and asked me to transfer 1k from an SG acct under MY NAME to my incumbent fast saver acct.. I have a few banks accts in SG, hence, this could be done easily. After i transferred the funds, my fast saver became active within two hrs.

I learnt from postings here that applicants with no SG bank acct can also use their CIMB MY acct to 'certify-fund' their incumbent fast saver acct... so you may need a CIMB MY acct too before you apply in the CIMB SG website.

This post has been edited by Hansel: Nov 26 2019, 06:13 PM