congratulation on your new property and at the same time, sorry to hear about your misfortune.

where else? melbourne (zone 2) of course.

perth is too boring (no offence to any perth-ians) and sydney is too congested.

This post has been edited by nokia2003: May 5 2010, 01:00 PM

any oz bank recommendations for term deposit and non-term deposit accounts?

what are the rates for GBP like?

my previous account in the UK (left after completing my studies there) is still idle and the monthly interest yielded is pathetic.

and why not AUD (if i may ask)?

i managed to secure AUD @ 2.75 via my housemate's HSBC early this week.

rumours/speculations are hot that the reserve bank of australia actually intervened last friday (after 12pm-ish) to keep it from dropping.

not sure if AUD will continue dropping this coming week.

but with the MYR performing poorly as well, not sure how much difference, it will make

my housemate was just telling me yesterday that HSBC Australia is currently doing 6.1% for only 4 months.

he was rather surprised because HSBC doesn't usuallyoffer the best rates as compared to its rivals.

just FYI of course.

have a good day everyone!

This post has been edited by nokia2003: Jul 2 2010, 04:47 PM

i'm currently studying finance in australia and pretty well aware of the banking industry over here.

so if you do have any reservations/questions, do post them in this thread, i will try my best to answer them.

of course the usual disclaimer rule applies as i'm not providing any personal advice.

by the way, 60 months for just 6.75% is way way too much and unjustified.

you can obtain 6% with ease without any commitment i.e. withdrawal at your discretion.

these days, with internet banking, you can manage your funds at a click of a mouse.

the usual disclaimer rule applies as i'm not providing any personal advice.

you are definitely, what they call a risk-adverse investor; unwilling to participate in risky products and made obvious with questions like Do you think this is the best time to put money in AUD? Will the currency have chances to still going down?

seeing that you actually have NZD600 grand to spare, i would definitely recommend that you first open a malaysian hsbc premier account (however it is likely that you already have one based on your previous statements). but always maintain that account to avoid hefty monthly charges.

then instruct your relationship manager to assist you to open an australian equivalent of hsbc premier account.

with an existing, recognised australian account, you are then exposed to an array to other financial products offered by other banks/financial institutions.

IMHO, bankwest typically offer very attractive products and is backed by commonwealth bank of australia (one of the big four). also bear in mind that these products are not precisely term deposits/fixed deposits and hence there is no commitment needed. statements in the spoiler below are quoted from bankwest's website.


yes, australian banks will yield you one of the best returns globally, but it is also extremely volatile. hence, if the AUD depreciates to a level unacceptable to you, you can always opt to transfer the funds from your australian hsbc premier account to the malaysian equivalent at your discretion with no commission or fee.

interests earned are non-taxable if total income earned is kept below AUD6000 per annum. further explanation of personal assessable income tax brackets can be found from the ATO website

This post has been edited by nokia2003: Aug 17 2010, 09:24 PM

hmmm... i don't really buy into such speculations. besides malaysia is a still a FDI dependent nation and i doubt that the central bank will allow us to lose such comparative advantages.

my motto is just to invest with the diversification as a motive and hence don't place everything in australia.

by the way, if you do have NZD600 grand to spare, you really shouldn't be asking such questions in a public forum; opt for a financial planner instead.

i will only answer to questions pertaining to maneuvers and financial products over in australia, as i'm not an expert and do not hold an AFSL.

all my knowledge has been channeled through my degree and hence it may differ in actual life.

This post has been edited by nokia2003: Aug 18 2010, 03:22 PM

now, that's the problem.

you are attempting to minimise the risk.

risk averse investors are trying to eliminate risk completely.

australian banks (and banks globally) are typically guaranteed by the federal government

can't say the same about malaysia.

but over in australia, RBA is committed to maintain annual inflation rates in the region of 2-3%.

hence if your interest rate earned from saving, exceeds that, you are actually doing alright.

---

Added on August 18, 2010, 11:36 pmspot on.

This post has been edited by nokia2003: Aug 18 2010, 11:36 PM

but we are talking about 2.6 here (per USD) and not a drop of couple points.

2.6 is close to the pre 1997 asian crisis.

hmm... not quite sure what you mean here.

but i was basically referring to bubbl3t3a's claim that a "close friend" has insider information that the exchange rate will be heading towards 2.6 by end of the year.

man, if it does go to 2.6, i will be so broke purchasing all those gadgets from the states. yum!

This post has been edited by nokia2003: Aug 19 2010, 11:34 AM

that's what i reckon as well.

to be honest, i'm actually an ubank customer and i have that said accounts.

however, despite being no fee account, i would still prefer bankwest because they do have actual, physical branches here in melbourne.

furthermore, i merely link my bankwest accounts to a primary account of mine; i don't like the idea of multiple accounts (harder for me track them)

having said that, i should be closing my ubank account shortly upon graduation.

---

Added on August 23, 2010, 1:27 pmi was suggesting that in relation to bubbl3t3a.

quoting my statement above; with an australian account, bubbl3t3a can then proceed to link these bankwest accounts to his/her australian hsbc premier account.

that way, bubbl3t3a can mitigate his/her risks better.

bankwest -> australian hsbc premier -> malaysian hsbc premier (with no transfer fee/commission)

This post has been edited by nokia2003: Aug 23 2010, 01:30 PM

don't go for AUD now.

it is extremely overvalued at the moment.

i'm just waiting for AUD to reach in parity (or at least sufficiently close) with USD.

if does happen, it will not reflect well on MYR

This post has been edited by nokia2003: Sep 17 2010, 05:38 PM

Disappointment risk: Aussie dollar '27% overvalued'

Australia's dollar, this quarter's best performing major currency, is now the most overvalued.
Purchasing power parity, a measure of the cost of goods relative to other countries, shows the so-called Aussie is 27 per cent too expensive, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The median estimate of strategists and economists is for it to weaken 6 per cent by year-end, the fourth-worst performance of 31 currencies tracked by Bloomberg...


Read more here


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RBA is most likely gonna increase the overnight cash rate next fortnight.

so...

hmmm, IMHO, AUD will definitely continue to appreciate until at least first quarter of 2011.

flash back to february 2010, i purchased my AUD at 3.08, so touching that all high level, shouldn't be much of a problem.

rumours are hot for overnight cash rate to hit 4.75% (and even 5%) soon from the current 4.5%.

even more if their AUD were purchased during GFC @ 2.25.

my tuition fees were bought at that rate.

the AUD is extremely volatile and hence to a certain extend risky.

brace yourself for this upcoming tuesday as RBA announces its decision to raise the overnight cash rate or not.

if it does, i believe that the increase will be a jump and thus sending the AUD shooting through the roof!

it is already 3.000 as i'm typing this.