Welcome

Welcome to my investment blog where I share with you my analysis of REITs in Singapore.

I hope that my investment philosophy will bring me a steady stream of income apart from my job. I am aiming for at least $3,000 per month which can sustain the current expenses of myself and my family.

Do enjoy reading my blog and post any comments that you have. I welcome them because it is a time to learn from each other.

When I am looking at investing in REIT, here are some of the guidelines that I am looking at. Feel free to comment on it. I am willing to listen to ideas.

-> at least 8% yield.
-> Price that is lower than its NAV.
-> Low gearing (if possible)
-> High secured NAV.

Current Dividend income is $3,800/month.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Starting small for investing in REITs (Be the landlord with a few hundred dollars)

I started investing in REITs when I have a few thousand dollars. I remember that it was tough because expenses ratio is very high as there is a minimum commission which we need to pay. Therefore I have made it a point to save at least $3000 before I make a single trade.

As competition between brokerage firms intensifies, there are now brokerages which offers lower commission rates, better analysis tools, easy-to-use interface. Therefore, here is my suggestion if you want to start really small i.e. a few hundred dollars.

1. Open a Standard Chartered Bank Securities Account  http://www.standardchartered.com.sg/personal-banking/investment/securities-trading/en/. This account offers no minimum commission with a rate of 0.2% in SGX which is cheaper than most trading brokerage firms. You might need to open a savings account with them  as well i.e. eSaver http://www.standardchartered.com.sg/personal-banking/deposits/esaver-account/en/, because it has no charges.

2. Open another securities account with a firm that you are comfortable with. I have two, one with Phillips and one with DBS Vickers. Use the account to help you to analyze (not trade) the REITs that you are interested in. My broker also sends me research reports whenever they have so that I can make an informed decision.

Once you have done these two steps, you may start depositing money into your Standard Chartered Bank Account and start investing in small quantities, lot by lot, and start (small) building your second stream of income.

Do remember that Standard Chartered Bank requires you to have cash upfront i.e. the cash has to be deposited in the account first before you can buy. This is not an issue as I do advocate investing excessive cash and not borrowing money to invest. Just that it might be a bit more troublesome.

Enjoy investing.

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