OCBC 360 Account

With inflation eating our deposits in the bank, we should always find ways to grow our money which exceeds that of the inflation rate. One of the banks has introduced the OCBC 360 account which will help grow your money by 3.05% if you fulfill their following criterias:

a) Credit your salary every month (1%)
b) Pay 3 unique bills using the OCBC bank tool (1%) [You can GIRO your taxes and they count!]
c) Spend $400 within a month using the OCBC credit card (1%)

The 0.05 percent is for account balances up to 200k. It must be noted that this account should only apply to that of your emergency funds and not to their entire nest egg as this percentage is only for the first 50k in the account. I have opened my account and am looking to see if I have missed out on any fine prints of this particular product.

Link to find out more:

Property versus Stock

Since I have time on my hands, I tend to frequent the libraries and the bookstores quite a bit. I have often seen investments books which advocate property buying or stock buying.

Some of them say that property is the way to go, while others say that stock is the way to be rich. I am sometimes rather confused as to whether I should focus on property or stocks. Let me attempt to dissect which is more suitable for you as an investor.

	Property	Stocks
Advantages	Able to get loans from banks Many rich people are in it Able to renovate to improve value	Easy to complete a transaction Small capital required
Disadvantages	Big capital required 3 months to complete transaction Need to find tenant (if you are renting out)	Not able to get a loan from banks Prices change quickly Unable to renovate to improve value

With the advantages and disadvantages mentioned above, which will you choose or should we be greedy and choose both?

Cheers!
PIB

Portfolio Update - Apr 2014

I did not receive any dividends this month. It is a dry month for me. I have divested Capitalmallsasia to help boost my portfolio yield to that of 5.94%. I want to kick off Rickmers and Lifebrandz which are bringing my current portfolio's yield down.

I am also currently looking into trying to polish up my portfolio by trying to reduce a high number of 19 stocks to that from 3-5 stocks. From now on, I will only purchase stocks which meet the following numbers criteria (more relevant for REITS):

• Dividend yield of at least 6.5%
• NAV below current price
• For REITS, gearing should be less than 40%
• Consistent growth in DPU (Distribution per unit) compared to previous quarters
• Consistent growth in NPI (Net property income)
• Occupancy rate of > 98%

On the property front, my rental from property is coming in on time and I am currently looking for a new tenant. I hope to get a new tenant soon to help with the mortgage payment! My interest rate is going to hit a high of 1.88% this June and this is exact same month where my current tenancy agreements ends!

I have opened a new OCBC 360 account to take advantage of the high interest rates. I can only enjoy a maximum of 2.05% as I am not currently working right now. I will focus on getting the 2.05% every month. This is definitely better than the 1.88% by SCB bonus-saver or the 0.8% by CIMB.

Currently, I am waiting for my IELTS exam results which is supposed to be released on 7 May 2014 after 3pm. I hope to be able to do well and get my role in Australia. :)

Cheers!
PIB

Inaugural Post!

As they say, the journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step. I have to start somewhere if I want to write a blog and the time is now! I have always wanted to start a blog, but I have always put it off till today. I hope that this blog will be helpful to those to read it and that I will try my utmost to keep on writing on it.

Purpose of blog
The aim of this blog is to learn from one another as to how to build passive income streams which include property, shares and other financial instruments. I don't really see myself as being financially independent yet, but I like to see myself reaching there as soon as possible. Do note that there will also be some random posts about food/places/experiences that I have and would like to share with everyone who bothers to read my blog. Do note that this stocks/property are not a recommendation to buy/sell them. Do conduct your due diligence research. =)

Cheers!
PIB