HDB housing grants

Was just looking to the grants available if you are trying to buy a HDB house.

CPF Grants
There are currently 3 main types of grants. (these are meant only for resale flats and not new flats by HDB. This is because the price for the new flats are already subsidized). Also, the income ceiling for household does not include bonuses, income from rental, investment etc.

Type of Grant Available	Amount	Income Ceiling for the household
CPF housing grant for family	$30,000	$8,000 per mth
CPF housing grant for family (living near parents/married child) - Parents are residing in an HDB flat or owner-occupied private property within same town or within 2 km	$40,000	$8,000 per mth
Half Housing Grant - A first-timer citizen who marries a second-timer spouse, who has previously enjoyed a housing subsidy, can apply for half of the Family Grant amount to buy a resale flat, if the family meets the eligibility criteria of the Family Grant.	$15,000 / $20,000	$8,000 per mth

*Taken from this website


AHG
In addition, there is the Additional CPF housing grant (AHG) that is between $5000 to $40,000 on top of the grants that I posted on top. ( Can be used for new or resale HDBs) Below is a table for the amount of the grants)

Average Monthly Household Income *	Additional CPF Housing Grant (prior to 6 Feb 09)	Enhanced Additional CPF Housing Grant (wef 6 Feb 09) **
$1,500 or less	$30,000	$40,000
$1,501 - $2,000	$25,000	$35,000
$2,001 - $2,500	$20,000	$30,000
$2,501 - $3,000	$15,000	$25,000
$3,001 - $3,500	$10,000	$20,000
$3,501 - $4,000	$5,000	$15,000
$4,001 - $4,500	-	$10,000
$4,501 - $5,000	-	$ 5,000

Note:
* Previously, the average monthly household income was assessed over a period of 2 years. Under the Enhanced AHG, the average monthly household income is assessed over a period of 1 year.
*Taken from this website


Maximum Subsidy
So the maximum subsidy that you can receive is when
1. Buy resale flat near your parents ($40,000)
2. Both you and your spouse are not working ($40,000)

That is $80,000!


Compare HDB prices in Singapore
This link shows the median prices of different HDD house types in different regions of Singapore

My Stock Picks

Looks like the correction is here. And Singapore is leading the way!

However be prepared for the uptrend. These are the stocks that I'm looking at.

STI ETF

Will buy when nearing 2380. However if it choose to rebound next week, will only buy if it breaks 2666. In addition there should be a crossover of the momentum indicator before I buy


Suntec REIT

• With a reported NAV of $1.98 and a current market price of less than$1, the discount is one of the biggest of all the REITs with a market capitalization of over S$1 billion.
• The expected yields based on some reports is around 11%,9%,7% for the year 2009,2010,2011 respectively.
• Reported gearing of around 35%. Though a little high, I feel that its still managable. Since interest rates are low now, I think their newly funded debts should have low interests too,hence the potential for higher future earnings
• Though office rental prices are expected to go down, I feel that in the long term, land prices in Singapore in general will still go up
  
• Will buy it its nearing $0.874(support) . Or if it breaks out of $1.10(resistance), provided the STI breaks out too.
  

Brokerage Fees

I am finally going to start trading soon. Here is a list of brokerage firms that I have research and found to have one of the lowest commission charges around.

I have shortlisted these 3 firms. DBS Vickers, Citibank and POEMS.

DBS Vickers

Normal Account: Link here


If trade using cash upfront : Link here



Citibank Brokerage

For link to the Citibank website: Click here


POEMS

For link to the POEMS website : Click here



Thus looking at the commission charges, I will definitely use DBS Vickers with the cash upfront. It has the LOWEST brokerage / commission charges for the Singapore market at 0.18% or minimum $18. However cash upfront means that before you make the purchase of the shares, you have to transfer the money from your DBS/POSB account into your DBS Vickers account. ( This can be done real time) However, withdrawing of the money in this account back to your DBS/POSB account requires 1 working day. Personally I do not see a problem with this, unless you are doing contra trading.

If you are going to do contra trading, Citibank's internet commission is the lowest, at 0.28% and minimum charge of $22. Though DBS Vickers' normal net account has a 0.28% minimum too, it has a higher minimum charge of $25.

I placed POEMS in the comparison too, because I do use phone trading in the past, especially for emergencies. However, it has a rather high (though considered the market rate) for commissions.

Those are interested to trade together, just drop me an email at NTUChartist@hotmail.com

Economic Update

Its been a while since a did a post on the economy.

Been looking through some of the reports/news and here is some important things to take note.

• Some reports feel that market now is in the over-evaluation stage (However, this stage usually lasts for quite some time. But do expect a correction when almost EVERYONE starts to feel extremely confident about making a quick buck)

• Out of the 64 banks in the US which has failed so far, 16 occurred this year (2009). The amount of $$ lost in the banks was USD 17.6 billion last year. However for this year to date, its USD 14.2 billion! WE ARE STILL LOSING AS MUCH $$!!

• Ben Bernanke expects unemployment rate to go over 10% first before it eases. And the FED predicts this to happen around the 4th quarter 2010.

If we look carefully, the economic stimulus were placed quite some time back. However the financial institutions are still facing problems in the US. Why? This means that the real problems are not solved yet.

Though the stock market is supposedly a approx 6mths forward indicator of the economy, the real economy has not been really picking up just as fast as seen by the data. This implies that people are speculating!! So...Be CAREFUL! (However I feel that the speculation is just in the beginning stage, so there is actually still some room left)


Base on my own TA, I feel that there is still room for the Singapore market to go before the slight correction.



Target: STI 2800 (It will act as the resistance, however if this breaks, it should run)

Support: 2400

Back from Indonesia

Hi all, I was away for the pass week in Indonesia for my school's project. The trip was enriching, however most of us also came down with food poisoning.

After some interactions with the people there, the locals in Indonesia do not actually know much about the financial crisis that had happened. And apparently they are not feeling any implications of the crisis at all. Interesting...

Here are some pics of my trip.

Preview Robert Kiyosaki Book

As mentioned by a fellow reader, preview the latest book by Robert Kiyosaki, 'Conspiracy of the Rich' at http://www.conspiracyoftherich.com/ before he starts to publish it and sell it!


*taken from conspiracyoftherich.com


From my past experiences reading this author's work, I feel that one should not believe/practice every single thing that he says. These are 2 reasons (in my opinion)

1. Lots of examples and scenarios are for the US. So it might not apply in Singapore due to difference in laws, especially tax laws.

2. Some of his examples will only work in the bull market.
For example, borrowing money to fiance a house that you cannot afford. He assumes that the rental income is sufficient to cover the bank loan. However in the event that the economy goes bad (like now), where are you going to get the money to pay off the loan? In the end, you might even lose all the repayment that you have already done.


However here are some good stuff that you can pick up.

1. Plan your finances!

2.Understand the tax laws in the country! It will help you save! Especially if you are a small business owner.

3.Have an open mind to look out for investment opportunities. ( This has to be practiced)

Back from the US

Hi All! I'm back from the US.

Great trip. Shall be updating soon.. =)