I just borrowed this book, Jesse Livermore: World's Greatest Stock Trader - By Richard Smitten,  from the library yesterday. Basically Jesse Livermore is known as the world's most famous stock trader, having made millions, lost it, and made it again.

 Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100.

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

In the earlier article on the benefits of ETFs, we talked about why ETFs can be a better option compared to unit trusts. Now, we look into the ETFs available on the Singapore stock market. It's amazing that there exists instruments which can be potentially useful, yet few have heard of it, or even use it.

Myth 1: ETFs do not yield dividends

Fact: There are SGX-listed ETFs that pay dividends to investors. ETF fund managers determine if dividends arising are better utilised re-invested or distributed as income to investors.

Not too long ago, Singapore swapped out the STI with a new FTSE ST Index. The only problem with that was that the old sub indicies, such as transport, commerce, property, etc were also swapped out. And on top of that, some pricing disagreements between the providers and the users came about, resulting in a lack of public information regarding the FTSE index.

As a result, people relied on free websites to get their current ST index number. None of the brokerage platform provided the ST index real time.

However, good news have arrived! The FTSE ST Index, as well as all their sub-indicies is now available!

Go view the FTSE ST Index and their sub indicies on yahoo!

All the sub indicies charts are also available on Finance Kampung.

From Singapore Business Times. Published March 10, 2008

Banks cut fixed deposit rates; but cautious investors stay liquid in face of market volatility

(SINGAPORE) Cash-rich Singaporeans averse to risky alternatives are in an unhappy spot of having their savings eroded by inflation.

Not only is inflation clearly on the rise - it hit a 26-year high of 6.6 per cent in January - banks are further cutting their already miserable deposit rates.

Last week, DBS Bank slashed its fixed deposit (FD) rate again to 0.9 per cent for a 12-month deposit of $1 million. The latest revision is less than half of the 2.02 per cent it offered on Jan 2.

What seems to confuse most investors about Exchange-Traded Funds, or ETFs, is that they seem to be funds - but aren't. Investors like unit trusts and funds, because they spread risk by diversifying investments. However, most do not like the management and operating expenses associated with actively managed mutual funds which typically can range from 2-5% for the sales charge, as well as a 1-2% annual management fee. That is why index funds (designed to track the major indexes such as the STI, Dow Jones, S&P and even Gold price) have become so popular - they may not be actively managed but their returns are in-line with the benchmarks they were designed to mirror. Similarly, ETFs are not actively managed but they are designed to mirror other indexes and offer a number of significant advantages to investors.