credit cards > debit cards, MMF / bond ETFs > FDs / govt bonds

i saw the recent kelvin learns investing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqLqa_SYNyw

wow

FINALLY

after years and years, people realizing about IB01 and ERNA, lol

his story is very long

so let me cut short

IB01 is the default answer for 95% of people

ERNA if you okay with corp bond risk for more yield

he talks about using IBKR as a broker

i agree, IBKR is the best broker 

but

 

big butt here

 

banks also want you "do business" with them 

premier / priority banking always has AUM requirements

and that is where this knowledge can be useful

 

in most cases, securities can be counted as AUM

i say most cases, because i know OCBC doesnt count securities as AUM lol stupid fucks

this means, rather than roll a fixed deposit and have an obligatory talk with your RM about why you humji dont want to invest in any other things and want to roll your FD

you can just buy this, it auto rolls and accumulates, and you never need to talk to them again

amazing product

anyway

myself, i use IB01 as a superior form of FD with the banks

for emergency cash

cash that i know i dont need immediately, but i want it to be cash because of portfolio construction

if i need it back as cash, i sell it against a healthy volume order book, and get cash within a few days

just like how credit cards are the superior form of payment in singapore 

IF YOU PAY IT OFF EVERY MONTH

compared to debit cards

due to the points / cashback

similarly

MMFs and these type of ultrashort bond / mmf ETFs are superior to fixed deposits or direct bond purchases

they are better in every meaningful way: automatic, liquid without penalty

while worse in ways that no one cares: credit risk between govt and banks

 

i will say it again

if you prefer fixed deposits or tbills

you are either uneducated or irrationaly humji

low rates should not affect you

if short term interest rates are 2% or 3% or 4%, it should make no difference to your life

it seems to me like sinkies are ultra fixated in high yield savings account and broker cash management account promotions, tbills and ssbs as REPLACEMENTS to actually taking investment risks

i see the same people talking about all these numbers

2.9%

3.1%

3.3%

who the fuck cares?

1 year returns for snp500?

+29%

you fear drawdowns

i fear that the positive returns that i make are too low

dont overinvest in the S&P500? lol

i watched mr 1m65 and chris tan from providend talk about s&p500 allocation

chris is partially correct. if you suddenly need the money and its all in 1 market and that market is down, then how?

then obviously, you are fucked

so he's right? not really. you are just a lousy money manager of your own money

the goal of an investor should not be to generate a smooth 45 degree linear net worth chart so that at any time if you quit game, you are in profit

a good investor should understand that sometimes, markets go down, and when that happens, you need to hold enough liquid cash (not fixed deposits, not tbills, not bonds) so that you dont need to dip into your underperforming assets to pay for expenses and just tahan the volatility

people like chris are old school and have the philosophy that fundamentals and value are what that is truly important to determine asset prices

that used to be the correct way to think about investing

unfortunately it is 2024

nobody gives a fuck about fundamentals

the only thing that matters is FLOW

where is the money flowing to? msci world stocks? em stocks? lmao, no

when was the last time you bought a large cap in europe or japan? ya, the answer is never

so if you are not buying it, then who is buying it? 

the sad answer is: only other suckers that think "world" or "em" or "value" can suddenly outperform for some unknown reason

compare to the s&p500

millions of people blindly DCA-ing and nobody gives a fuck about P/E ratio, fed meetings, interest rates or inflation rates

new month? buy

new month? buy

new month? buy

new month? buy

new month? buy

new month? buy

new month? buy

new month? buy

if you think your "fundamentals" can win over the flows of money from my infinite army of monkeys, good luck to you

if you think about "who is the next sucker going to be" to buy your assets, you will quickly realize that only the us stock market has endless supply of future flows that are going to keep on coming, rain or shine. other markets? look at SGX and make your own conclusion

imagine advising someone to dca into the sti etf instead of the s&p500

either you are uneducated or you fucking hate that person and want them to be poor

or imagine doing that yourself

lol

the s&p500 will constantly outperform almost everything for a very long time

not because its 500 companies and the usa are fundamentally good investments and a good country

but because global finance is structured in a way that the s&p500 will naturally keep on sucking in money

at this point, it is almost like gravity

why try to fight it? you can instead accept it and go along with it

every single AI powered optimized allocation rebalancing diversified fundamentally driven factor value investing strategy will lose to

a brainless monkey (me) that just simply whack 100% all in s&p500

don't believe me? come fight against me and my infinite monkey army

who cares about total returns? i want PASSIVE INCOME

it pisses me off me how uneducated people talk so much shit on the internet

this is about all the self proclaimed income and dividend investors

total returns = capitals gains + income / dividends

why the hell would you optimize for 1 part of this 2 part equation, rather than looking at both?

are you too simple minded? tiny brain?

this makes even less sense for sinkie investors since there are no capital gains tax to worry about

suck US finfluenzas cock and copy content steal strategy only

example is to only date people based on their looks

personality? values? chemistry? all not important

why need all those things?

everyone knows that the basis to a healthy long term relationship is 100% based on physical looks right

i already know why income investors are not optimizing for total returns

they are optimizing for humji comfort

parking USD

from a recent kelvin learns investing video

for banks, SC usd saver is 3.32% pa for 3m usd, but rate is heavily backloaded

not recommended, unless you love SC, have 3m usd and wrongly think that non-banks are scary

how good is SC premium banking? cards are weak, perks are weak, banking products are weak, but no drama

for cash management, im glad he finally mentioned wise, which i think is superior to SC, unless you are scared that wise is not a bank

more finfluenzas are mentioning wise (both usd and sgd) and i think wise is a good default choice

for money market fund, amundi and fullerton have usd funds

the cash management accounts also all use the same few funds, just like sgd

no right no wrong, all about the same

just use whichever platform you already have an account with and are comfortable with

fixed deposits are a bad idea for cash

so are treasury bills and bonds

strongly do not recommend

cash is supposed to be liquid

you want to be locked in a 1 year fixed deposit when the market drops 20% and it is the best time to buy?

dont be a humji loser

this is my general recommendation for parking usd cash:

for max yield and good liq, buy ishares 0-1yr treasury bond etf for self-rolling tbills through brokerage

for convenience and instant liq, wise usd interest

there are only 3 types of income

1 earned income

trade your time & labour for money (fixed)

dont work? no money

not passive income, but have no shame

it aint much, but its honest work

2 entreprenial income

trade your time & labour for money (variable)

dont work? if you built a good business, could be possible to eventually be passive

people think that this sort of income is passive, but i think you actually work more hours

the main trade off vs employee mode is trading away fixed office hours, capped upside and no immediate downside for 24/7 working hours, uncapped upside, but also very real risks of capital losses

influencers and content creators are in this category

 

3 investment income

risk your capital for more money (there are fixed and variable returns)  

truly passive to a large extent

requires small amount of thinking energy to manage investments

unfortunately, requires capital

as they say, no money no honey

i recently spoke to someone about making money

i think this persons impression of wealth generation is actually quite common for most poor people

 

person gave me advice to go buy businesses and operate them

"that is how all the rich people do it, they own businesses" 

i dont think this person understand that most businesses are shitty businesses and anyone that wants to sell their business, is probably operating a shitty business

rare situations of force majeure may present good buying opportunity, but that is luck, not skill

i say that i already own businesses, through stocks

the person said that's not the same. no storefront to visit, no employees to boss around.

i say, isnt it good to not to have employees?

isnt it good that i dont need to worry about the daily operations of the businesses at each location?

the person said if i owned the businesses, i can hire compentent management and not do anything and earn all the profit

i say, i already do nothing and earn a lot of profit :)

if it is so easy to make money like that, why don't everybody do that?

i think most people dont realize how hard it is to run a profitable business.

open business very easy. go register company on ACRA can already

open business that makes money? if so easy, everyone would be running their own business

open business that makes money and no need any effort? if so easy, everyone would be rich and FIRE already

if you know so much about businesses and making money, you must be very rich right?

follow the 50/30/20 rule if you are stupid and want to stay poor

watched a sinkie influenza talk about the 50/30/20 rule

50% spend on needs

30% spend on wants

20% for savings

i tell you up front that this is stupid

only low IQ people should follow this rule, because it is too simple that it does not help 

the correct way to budget is this:

1 spend what you need on needs

2 spend the minimum amount required for yourself to be happy

3 the remainder goes into savings and then investments

there is no ratio

you just overflow into the next bucket

if you earn less than average, you maybe need to spend 70% on needs

if you earn more than average, you maybe need to spend 20% on needs

expenses don't track earnings, unless you are a lifestyle inflation loser

you earn 50% more this month, you spend 50% more on wants? are you a child?

you earn 50% less than month, you reduce you rent/mortgage and day to day expenses by 50%? lol

this is a stupid rule of thumb and it helps nobody while giving misinformation

you spend on needs what you need to spend

you spend on wants in a reasonable manner

you dump all the rest into savings/investments

looking at myself as example

when i realized a lot of capital gains (coz GLK is not a high income worker), how did i allocate it?

5% to needs

15% to wants

80% reinvest

you should not invest anything until your emergency fund is full

only after that, do you "overflow" into investing

this is not difficult or complicated at all

here is my overflow order

shelter

food

utilities

transportation

TERM insurance

emergency fund

enough "wants" so you can continue living life happily

investing

"wants" that are ridiculous, but you no longer worry about money

i consider emergency fund a need, so i fill first before wants

ppl have problems is because they suka suka misclassify WANTS as NEEDS

you NEED to drive a car in singapore?

you NEED to have an annual trip to japan?

you NEED to fly business class?
you NEED to own luxury brands?

lol okay

dont let a internet loser like me tell you that you are WRONG, THOSE ARE WANTS, NOT NEEDS

in that case, maybe one of the reason why i am more financially successful than you is because i am a low-needs person that could overflow a lot into investments and have that larger capital base to snowball for longer

you live your own life

at the end of the day happy, can already

but ill warn you, it is not easy to be happy if money no enough

also dont think that low-needs = making sacrifices / being unhappy

i am a very happy person with a very happy life

just being happy is the real thing that makes sour people jealous