Home - Total Bills To Pay

Since owning my own home, the following are the bills that I have to pay.

1. Singtel residential phone fixed line - $20.92 for quarter
2. SP Services - $42.20 for nov
3. S&CC - $37.50 for nov
4. SCV - tbd
5. Broadband - $45 ( updated on 151207 ) see this.
6. Property Tax - no need due to rebates.
7. TV licence - $110 per year

Portfolio Update - November 2007

Top Ten Holdings ( by market value )

1. ST Engineering
2. Noble Grp
3. SIA
4. Swiber
5. UOB
6. SingTel
7. OCBC
8. Comfort Delgro
9. Allgreen
10. Semb. Marine

Dividend for the month of November = $1211.65

From 05-11 year2007 ( over 7 months ), my total dividend is $14,691.14

Market Value of equity = $423,728.37
Market Value of trust fund ( fundsupermart ) = $72,265.23
Market Value of trust fund ( finatiq ) = $58,289.43

m.v. of equity continues to drop as the whole month remains weak, in line with the drop in Dow Jones. I hope that the market will rally in the year end with the festive season now here. However, I believe the market will continue to remain reactive to any bad news from the credit crunch in US. ( this might come in the early of year 2008 )

Home - S&CC for nov

Today I went to Ang Mo Kio-Yio Chu Kang Town Council to pay for my S&CC.

Amount paid for Nov = $37.50
( w/0 rebates = $55.00 )

Payment can be made by :
1. Cheque Deposit,
2. Cash over counter ( need booklet ),
3. GIRO service ( need to apply ),
4. AXS/S.A.M stations.

Payment can be made on any day from 1st to the last day of the month.

Purchase of SGS T-Bills ( TB-071206-0003 )

My third purchase of SGS T-Bills

The bid done for today is for the auction next week :
Issue Code - BQ07148Z
Issue Date - 06 Dec 2007
Tenor - 91 days
Maturity Date - 06 March 2008

a 10% downpayment was made ( = $100.00 ) which will be refunded when the transaction is performed next week.

I made a bid of S$1000.00
Have to check next week for the yield.

yield = 2.19%
total paid = $994.54
gain = $5.46

Baby's First Month Gift Set

Today, I received a gift from a colleague with regards to her baby first month celebration. It is a nice gift set from "sweet surprises".

Home - Fridge

Today, my fridge was delivered. ( 271107 )

Fisher & Paykel
E521T ( sandstone )
$1210 from BKC

5 yrs warranty
Fisher & Paykel (Singapore) Pte Ltd
Service Department : 6741-0777

Photograpy - how to reduce size of image

Reduction is needed as the pictures were taken at highest resolution.

No cropping or other forms of addictives were performed on the images
before the reduction. I need to reduce the file sizes as i need to send them over internet.

The following links provide guide to how to reduce size of image.
1. Design boom.
2. Graphicssoft.

NCC - service for the month Dec

09/12 - Cam 2, 3rdsession
23/12 - Cam 1, SIS
30/12 - Cam 2, 4th session

12/12 - P n W for servers, 1930 hrs ( wed ).

Financial Terms - Nil-Paid Rights

What does it means....
Security that are tradeable but originally posed no cost to the seller. For example, a renounceable right being sold by the original owner to another investor is considered nil-paid. A right is an opportunity to purchase more shares, usually at discount, given to shareholders by a corporation. The shareholders receive these rights at no cost, and if the rights are renounceable, the shareholders can choose to sell them on the market.

Investopedia says...
Though the word "nil-paid" may suggest that nil-paid rights give shareholders the right to acquire new shares for no cost, this is not the case. Nil-paid rights are only the right to acquire more shares at the current share price or a discount. The corporation issuing the rights to its shareholders does not receive payment for the rights, but if the shareholders decide to exercise the rights, they must pay for the securities they are given the right to buy.

Details found here.

Photography - Flash Diffuser

Yesterday I bought a Sto-Fen Omni Bounce for my Canon 430EX flash unit.

Sto-Fen products can be found here. It costs me $30, which I bought from John3:16.
See how it works here.

Purchase of SGS T-Bills ( TB-071129-0002 )

My second purchase of SGS T-Bills.
( my naming convention :
TB - treasury bill
yymmdd - year, month, date
xxxx - running serial no. )

The bid done for today is for the auction next week :
Issue Code - BQ07147F
Issue Date - 29 Nov 2007
Tenor - 91 days
Maturity Date - 28 February 2008
a 10% downpayment was made ( = $100.00 ) which will be refunded when the transaction is performed next week.

I made a bid of S$1000.00
Have to check next week for the yield.

yield = 2.32%
total paid = $994.22
gain = $5.78

Home - Property Tax

I submitted a GIRO form to IRAS for my property tax. According, I supposed to pay 4% of $4680 ( value of house ) = $194. There is a permanent rebate of $150 for 3-room flat. Furthermore, there is a rebate for the GST increase. So I might not have to pay any property tax for these coming 2 years.

Got to wait for official letter from IRAS to confirm this.

Home - Service and Conservancy Charges ( S&CC )

I received a letter from Ministry of National Development on Service and Conservancy Charges ( S&CC ) dated 05/11/07.

It states that i will get S&CC rebates and will not be paying S&CC charges from dec 2007 till march 2008.

Financial Terms - Underwriting

What does it means...
1. The process by which investment bankers raise investment capital from investors on behalf of corporations and governments that are issuing securities (both equity and debt).

2. The process of issuing insurance policies.

Investopedia says...
The word "underwriter" is said to have come from the practice of having each risk-taker write his or her name under the total amount of risk that he or she was willing to accept at a specified premium. In a way, this is still true today, as new issues are usually brought to market by an underwriting syndicate in which each firm takes the responsibility (and risk) of selling its specific allotment.

Details found here.

Rights which are underwritten would means that the underwriting company will take up the remaining unsubscribed rights.

Home - TV licence

Today I paid for my TV licence at a Post Office. TV licence is under IRAS. I paid a sum of $12.54 for today to the end of the year.

The TV licence is an annual subsciption of $110. Therefore my next bill will be for the year of 2008.

Payment can be done at AXS station.

Financial Terms - Renouncable Rights

What does it means...
An offer issued by a corporation to shareholders to purchase more shares of the corporation's stock (usually at a discount). Renounceable rights have a value and can be traded.

Investopedia says...
Stockholders that have received renounceable rights have three choices of what to do with the rights. They can act on the rights and buy more shares as per the particulars of the rights issue; they can sell them on the market; or they can pass on taking advantage of their rights.

Details found here.

Non-Renouncable Rights
What does it means...
An offer issued by a corporation to shareholders to purchase more shares of the corporation (usually at a discount). Unlike a renounceable right, a non-renounceable right is not transferable, and therefore cannot be bought or sold.

Investopedia says...
Issuing more shares dilutes the value of outstanding stock. But because the rights issue allows the existing shareholders to buy the newly issued stock at a discount, they are compensated for the impending share dilution - the compensation the rights issue gives them is equivalent to the cost of share dilution. However, shareholders who do not take exercise the rights by buying the discounted stock will lose money as their existing holdings will suffer from the dilution.

Details found here.

Underwriting for that rights would means that if the rights are not fully total up, the underwriting company will fulfill the quota.

Impact of Currency - sgfunds

By meatball ( 18 nov 2007 )

1) Trade Balance of Payments.
When the country export more than it import, its currency is expected to rise. As the influx of funds back into the country increases, where the currencies is converted back to local currencies causing a increase in demand for the currency. For example, ppl buy ur goods, they will buy SGD to buy your goods and services etc...

2) Monetary Policy (Eg. Interest Rate)
When the country's interest rate increases, the currency will strengthen. Ppl may save more money, increasing the reserves and less outflow of funds resulted. Inflow of funds increases as foreigners may put money into your country as deposit or buy your currency for Fixed Deposit (in ur or their countries), Bills, Bonds etc. Eg. the carry trades which involves ppl especially big institutions borrowing low interest rate JPY and puting them in the high yielding AUD or NZD etc.

3) Fiscal Policy
Fiscal policy affects the economy and will indirectly affects the trade flows and Balance of Payments especially for Singapore where we import most or all of our resources.

There are some other areas I missed out, this are some of the main pts.

Details found here.

Vibropower - Rights on 6 nov 2007

Renounceable non-underwritten rights issue of up to 251,745,494 new shares at an issue price of $0.005 for each rights share, on the basis of two(2) rights shares for every one existing share in the company held on 6 nov 2007.

Expected Timetable of key events :
Book Closure Date - 6 nov 2007
Despatch of the OIS, ARE and PAL - 12 nov 2007
Commencement of trading of "nil-pad" rights - 12 nov 2007
Last date and time for splitting - 20 nov 2007
Last day for rading of "nil-pad" rights - 20 nov 2007
Last date and time for acceptance of and payment for Rights shares - 26 nov 2007
Last date and time for renunciation of and payment for Rights shares - 26 nov 2007
Last date and time for application and payment for excess Rights shares - 26 nov 2007
Expected date for issuance of Rights shares - 4 dec 2007
Expected date for commencement of trading of Rights shares - 5 dec 2007

Application :
On 16 nov 2007
Applied 4000 shares of rights = $20
Applied 4000 shares of excess rights = $20

Results :

A sum of $10 was returned to me. This means I was successful in getting
rights = 4000
excess rights = 2000

a total of 6000 shares at a price of $30.00

1st purchase of SGS T-bill

Today I bought my first SGS T-bill at an UOB Bank branch office. It took about an hour to settle everything as I had to open a new trading account for the transaction.

The bid done for today is for the auction next week :
Issue Code - BQ07146E
Issue Date - 22 Nov 2007
Tenor - 91 days
Maturity Date - 21 February 2008
a 10% downpayment was made ( = $100.00 ) which will be refunded when the transaction is performed next week.

I made a bid of S$1000.00
Have to check next week for the yield.

yield = 2.34%
total paid = $994.17
gain = $5.83

If one is buying T-bills in the auction, the purchase is always one week earlier. So today's purchase is for next week's auction. Since it is one week earlier, one can actually register the bid anytime before Friday. But as the bank only knows the issue code on Friday, it is best to register the bid on Friday itself, during office hours ( 0930 - 1600 hrs ).

Financial terms - Treasury Bill

What does it means...
A short-term debt obligation backed by the U.S. government with a maturity of less than one year. T-bills are sold in denominations of $1,000 up to a maximum purchase of $5 million and commonly have maturities of one month (four weeks), three months (13 weeks) or six months (26 weeks).T-bills are issued through a competitive bidding process at a discount from par, which means that rather than paying fixed interest payments like conventional bonds, the appreciation of the bond provides the return to the holder.

Investopedia says...
For example, let's say you buy a 13-week T-bill priced at $9,800. Essentially, the U.S. government (and its nearly bulletproof credit rating) writes you an IOU for $10,000 that it agrees to pay back in three months. You will not receive regular payments as you would with a coupon bond, for example. Instead, the appreciation - and, therefore, the value to you - comes from the difference between the discounted value you originally paid and the amount you receive back ($10,000). In this case, the T-bill pays a 2.04% interest rate ($200/$9,800 = 2.04%) over a three-month period.

Details found here.

What is the difference between bills, notes and bonds?

Equity-Treasury Bills

Yesterday, I dropped by the UOB branch at Novena Square. They allow buying of SGS T-bills ( 3 months ).

Things needed for 1st purchase :
1. I.C.
2. UOB bank book.

When to purchase :
1. Every Friday morning every week.

What is to be done on each appointment
1. Open trading account ( 1st time )
2. State amount to purchase ( min $1000 )
3. Quote issue number ( available on SGS website )
4. 10% downpayment, refundable upon purchase of T-bills.

After this, one can buy from any UOB branch.

Current rate = 2.4% p.a. ( 5 nov 2007 )
( for 3 months T-bills, return is ~ 2.4% divide by 4 )

One can purchase T-bills if one have POEMS account. Bank is doing it as a free service while buying from POEMS, there is a small charge as they make buy it over secondary market.

Home - Singtel bills

I took over the ownership of my residential fixed line.
However on 08 Nov 2007, i received a email from vpost regarding my singtel bill for the month of Nov 2007. The sum is $43.78.

I was told that Singtel is automatically linked to vpost, that explains why I am getting a reminder from them. Checked with Singtel Hello store, they said that I should checked with vpost if I want a hardcopy. So I called vpost @ 1605, and have them set my account such that I will get a hardcopy of my Singtel bill.

I also send vpost a email on how I can make the setting myself.
( vpost responded, nothing new )

Singtel bill can be paid through AXS station.

Photography - Tripod

On 08 November 2007, I bought a tripod to top-up my accessories for my camera. I bought Monfrotto 190XPROB costing in total $328.00

It consists of
- tripod ( $185 )
- tripod head, ball socket ( $105 )
- strap ( $38 )

Photography - Flash

In october 20007, I bought an external flash for my Canon 400D. The model is Canon Speedlite 430 EX, which costs $465. I bought it @ john 3:16 in Funan Centre.

Financial terms - acquisition

What it means...
When one company purchases a majority interest in the acquired.

Investopedia says...
Acquisitions can be either friendly or unfriendly. Friendly acquisitions occur when the target firm agrees to be acquired; unfriendly acquisitions don't have the same agreement from the target firm.

Details found here.

Mergers and Acquisition: Introduction.

Private equity here.

RaboJet Certs - Series 5 - updates

Based on the updates here. My return is as follows :

Total number of scheduled trading days duinrg the life of the Certificates = 250
Number of scheduled trading days elasped since Launch Date 28 Aug 2007 = 39
Number of scheduled trading days elasped since Purchase Date 5 Sept 2007 = 35
Number of scheduled trading days to date when Lock In Amount Accumulated = 35
Lock in Amount acumulated to date ( per Board Lot of 1,000 Certificates = SGD $28.0 ( $0.8/day)
Profit = $28.0 - $43.43= -$ 15.43

Next observation date = 28 Nov 2007.

Financial terms - amortization

What it means...
1. The paying off of debt in regular installments over a period of time.
2. The deduction of capital expenses over a specific period of time (usually over the asset's life). More specifically, this method measures the consumption of the value of intangible assets, such as a patent or a copyright.

Investopedia says...
Suppose XYZ Biotech spent $30 million dollars on a piece of medical equipment and that the patent on the equipment lasts 15 years, this would mean that $2 million would be recorded each year as an amortization expense.While amortization and depreciation are often used interchangeably, technically this is an incorrect practice because amortization refers to intangible assets and depreciation refers to tangible assets.

Details here.

What is the difference between amortization and depreciation?

Amortization usually refers to spreading an intangible asset's cost over that asset's useful life. For example, a patent on a piece of medical equipment usually has a life of 17 years. The cost involved with creating the medical equipment is spread out over the life of the patent, with each portion being recorded as an expense on the company's income statement.

Depreciation, on the other hand, refers to prorating a tangible asset's cost over that asset's life. For example, an office building can be used for a number of years before it becomes run down and is sold. The cost of the building is spread out over the predicted life of the building, with a portion of the cost being expensed each accounting year.

Depletion refers to the allocation of the cost of natural resources over time. For example, an oil well has a finite life before all of the oil is pumped out. Therefore, the oil well's setup costs are spread out over the predicted life of the oil well.

Oilpods Investment

I received my 3rd monthly income from my ownership of the Brookshire Salt Dome project= $108.84

Brookshire Salt Dome project monthly income breakdown
Aug 07 = $114.49
Sept 07=$110.89
Oct 07 = $108.84

Total Sum to date = $334.22

photography - candid camera

The following points were taken from an article titled "Candid Camera - How to use a candid aesthetic in Photography" from Asian Photography Magazine dated september 2007.

Financial terms - impairment

Impairment
What it means...
1. A reduction in a company's stated capital.
2. The total capital that is less than the par value of the company's capital stock.

Investopedia says...
1. This is usually reduced because of poorly estimated losses or gains.
2. Impairment can be used in many contexts. Whatever the situation, impairment is bad for the company.

Details here.


Impaired Asset
What it means...
A company's asset that is worth less on the market than the value listed on the company's balance sheet. This will result in a write-down of that same asset account to the stated market price. Accounts that are likely to be written down are the company's goodwill, accounts receivable and long-term assets.

Investopedia says...
If the sum of all estimated future cash flows is less than the carrying value of the asset, then the asset would be considered impaired and would have to be written down to its fair value. Once an asset is written down, it may only be written back up under very few circumstances. Firm's carrying goodwill on their books are required to make tests of impairment annually. Any impairments found will then be expensed on the company's income statement.

Details here.

Impairment Charges: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly