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Wednesday, May 19, 2010

How do we trade Forex?

Shared-by: Chee Wan (Msia)
Date: 19-May-2010

Topic: Trading Strategies

Info: Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing.

There are 3 criteria to determine which currencies to buy:

a) The currency must have relatively higher interest rate than other currencies. Naturally investors will want to invest in currencies for their yield. Hence those currency that has higher interest rate will be attractive to investors. As more investors buy into those currencies, they will appreciate.

b) The nation must have budget surplus. Budget surplus means that the nation is earning more than it spends.

c) GDP growth must be healthy and positive. Healthy GDP growth increases confidence to investment community and hence higher probability of capital appreciating.

After determine which currency to buy, we will check out the trend of the currency. The saying “the trend is your friend” is always true. We will use our Trend Identifying Strategy to determine the medium term trend of the currency pair. It is easier to ride with the trend rather than the go against the trend. Move onto next step if trend shows uptrend.

Next we need to find out the behaviour of the currency pair that we want to trade. This can be performed using our FX Behavioural Software. After finding out the past behaviour of the currency pair, we can use this information to generate buy / sell signals. We will proceed to next step when the signals show buy.

Identify the support level for the currency pair. We will always buy near a support level. If the current price is far from support level, we will wait for better entry level.

Finally we will determine where is our stop loss and target loss. Make sure that we do not risk more than 2% of our capital for each trade. All predictions are a matter of probabilities, not certainties. Hence all trading decisions must come with managing losses. By risking only 2% or less for each trade is our way of managing losses.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Four CPF Life Options

Here are the details of the four CPF Life Plans, with input from the chief executive of Eternal Financial Advisory.

Mon, May 03, 2010
The Straits Times

Here are the details of the four CPF Life Plans, with input from Ms Viviena Chin, chief executive of Eternal Financial Advisory.

Life Basic Plan: Gives lower payouts but leaves more to beneficiaries. Suitable for those with sufficient retirement income and wish to leave behind income for their loved ones.

Life Balanced Plan: Strikes a balance between monthly payouts and the bequest. This is the default plan for those who will automatically be included in the scheme from 2013. Suitable for retirees who have additional sources of retirement income.

Life Plus Plan: Gives higher payouts and leaves less for beneficiaries. The plan will appeal to individuals with conditions such as chronic medical conditions who require higher payouts to cope with the cost of living and yet still wish to leave something behind. This plan has been the most popular so far.

Life Income Plan: Offers the highest payout with no bequest feature. Any amount left in the retirement account will go to the CPF Life monies pool, to be shared with the existing members under the scheme. Likely to be suitable for those with no beneficiaries and those who have no other sources of retirement income.

Plan way in advance

'The intent of annuity plans like CPF Life, which is compulsory, is to ensure that Singaporeans do not outlive their savings. With increased longevity, annuity plans are one of the best ways to hedge against this risk. We have to start thinking about financial planning for retirement even before we hit our 50s. It's a lifelong process of stock-taking. Plan wisely and you should be able to live comfortably through your golden years. You've earned it.'

MS DEBORAH HO, chief executive, DBS Asset Management

Live the life you want

'The sooner one starts the process of financial planning, the better one's ability is to secure his future and free up financial resources to enjoy a sustainable lifestyle.'

MR SHRIKANT BHAT, head of wealth management, Citibank Singapore

Leave behind a legacy

'For a comfortable retirement, Singaporeans need to save more than their CPF and they need to invest with the right asset allocation to grow their assets after allowing for the effects of inflation.

So save more and invest cleverly, with the help of a qualified financial planner. In addition, for peace of mind, estate planning is important to look after the future of the next generation.'

MS ANNETTE KING, chief executive, Manulife Singapore