Attention: To All Readers

Hello Readers!

Please be noted that I bought a domain recently and will continue to blog from https://everydayinvestinginyou.com.

Hence so forth, https://personalportfoliopp.blogspot.com will cease to exist. 

As you may be aware, I have been blogging for about a year now. My initial plan was to start with a free blogging platform as I am unsure if I will continue this hobby of mine. After writing for close to year, I decided it was time to 'get serious' and own my domain as it gives me the autonomy over the management of my website. 

For those who are still keen in reading my random musings, gentle reminder to bookmark the page above as I plan to decommission this site soon. 

Thank you!
Lots of Love

How to Decide which Stock to Buy in Less than 10 minutes

In this time and age where we want everything to be done fast and quick, we want to decide if the stock that we are looking at is worth taking a second look to decide if we should take it further. With a large abundance of stocks being listed on various exchanges and an influx of upcoming Initial Public Offerings (IPO) interests being registered. A company's financial ratios have to be outstanding before investors will take a second look and uncover its hidden assets and be invested in its growth story.

In this article, I am going to share with you how I quickly decide if the stock you are looking at is worth your time to perform an in-depth analysis or if you should let go and move onto another stock instead.

Read: Best Free Mobile Apps for Investing

How I Perform this 10 minute Check

By utilising Investing.com Mobile App available on Android and iOS platform

First, go to Tools followed by Stock Screener

Read: How to Monitor Upcoming IPO's for Free

Select Country, Exchange and Sector to narrow down selection

Add Criteria: Industry, P/E ratio

Why I chose Industry as a criteria is so that the P/E ratio selection that follows will be applicable for the selected industry. The results might be skewed if the industry is not set in place as different industries have different industry P/E ratio.

Next, select the P/E ratio option and narrow the P/E ratio range to the mid mark.

The reason for using the mid-mark as the cut off point is because generally a higher P/E ratio can indicate that the stock is being over-valued. Also, a higher P/E ratio means investors expect higher earnings and it also implies that many are chasing this stock. I personally do not like to chase the stocks that are "hot" or trendy at the moment because I see it as a "bubble" that will burst once the craze is over.

Read: Beating the Street by Peter Lynch

Screener Results are presented

Read: One Up Wall Street by Peter Lynch 

Personally, I will only consider the instruments listed on the main board exchange. In this case, it will be NYSE and NASDAQ and disregard the OTC Markets.

Once the instruments are collated for the different industries, I will input them into my template with more detailed ratios and criteria where I will perform a detailed investigation for each company.

Know of any methods other than the above? Do share with our fellow readers so we can all learn from one another! Feel free to share in the comments section. 

How to Read Harvard Business Review for Free

What is Harvard Business Review about? It showcases articles from subject matter experts ranging Managing Yourself to Organisational Culture to Decision Making. I like to read it for self improvement and when I am unsure of how to handle certain situations at work. Reading Harvard Business Review is like getting advice for free.

A quick check online shows that a Harvard Business Review annual subscription costs SGD $221. Many of you may be 'broke' and are not willing to pay to read the articles especially when you do not intend to read all the articles on offer. The non-subscription business model is limited to three (3) articles per month.

Read: How to Read Books for Free

How to Improve Your Credit Score

Note: Credit rating and credit score will be used interchangeably and they have the same meaning for this article. 

What is a Credit Score
Credit score is a score that creditors use to determine how likely you are able to repay them in time should they decide to extend the loan to you.

The credit score calculated by the Credit Bureau Singapore (CBS) is a four-digit number based on your past payment history on your loan accounts.

Credit: CBS

The score ranges from 1000 to 2000, where the higher the score by an individual, the lower the chance of individuals reaching a delinquency status. Together with the score, the risk grade and the probability of default is provided as shown in the picture.


Read: How to Re-finance your Mortgage Loan

How to Lower the Cost of Car Ownership

In my previous articles, we talked about the cost breakdown of car ownership in Singapore, together with what to look out for when purchasing a car. The articles have highlighted the high cost of car ownership in Singapore, due to the various taxes and duties levied upon the car not forgetting the cost of maintaining the upkeep of the vehicle. In this post, I am going to show you how to lower the cost of car ownership in Singapore.

According the data published by the Singapore government, the volume of new registrations for off peak cars is trending higher since year 2015. This could be due to the high cost of maintaining a full license car in Singapore, the craziness of the roads during the peak travelling period and the convenience of public transport system.

Read: The Cost of Owning a Car in Singapore

How to Determine Your Job's Salary Range

This month of April is when some of us might be looking for new opportunities after receiving our year end bonus for the previous fiscal year. All of us here have various reasons for leaving our current employer, be it due to the people you are working with or thinking of career advancement or even switching industries completely.

For those embarking on a job search or thinking of negotiating their current salary package with their current employer, the inevitable question on everyone's mind will be what is the salary compensation package you are looking for.

From my experience, stating that your compensation package is "negotiable" does not cut it with the recruiters. Neither does giving them your ideal figure, you will be in a disadvantageous position as you are "revealing your cards" to the recruiters even before you have a chance to showcase your talent during the interview.

The recruiter can either:-

(i) Offer you a compensation scheme that is less than their original budget if your expected salary range is lower than they expect

(ii) Drop you from the candidacy for the position if your expected salary range is higher than what they have in mind

(iii) Work on your current salary to package a slight raise

I acknowledge that you will eventually have to submit your current payslip to the Human Resources for verification. Nonetheless, try your best not to reveal your salary figures during the initial stage of the recruitment.


Read: How to Negotiate Your Salary and How to Prepare Your for a Job Interview

How to Monitor Upcoming IPO's for Free

With the recent pricing of popular Initial Public Offerings (IPO) such as Uber, Lyft and Pinterest, it got me curious on how can I source information for upcoming Initial Public Offerings (IPO) before I even read it on the official news website. Usually such information would be kept under wraps till the details are confirmed and by then, it would be disadvantageous to make a decision as it has become public news.

Read: What is Secondary Public Offering

The Cost of Owning a Car in Singapore

In my previous article, we touched base on What to Look Out for When Buying a Car. In this article, I am going to breakdown the cost of buying and owning a car in Singapore to give you readers a clearer picture of the cost components of car ownership in Singapore.

Disclaimer: The figures reflected in this article is accurate at the time of writing. 

What to Look Out for When Buying a Car

Buying a car is no mean feat, especially for first time buyers. What makes it even more intimidating is the high cost of car ownership in Singapore and the tonnes of choices that comes along. In order to not get carried away by the honeyed words of the car dealers, I have compiled a list of points to consider when purchasing and selecting a car.

How to Read Books for Free

These days time starved professionals do not have much time to read books, much less pay a visit to their nearest library to borrow books. Gone are the days where people visit the library as a past-time. With the advent of technology gadgets and entertainment (read: distractions), the amount of time spent reading has dropped. 

According to a study done by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the average time an adult spent reading is 25 minutes/ day in comparison to spending 200 minutes/day watching the telly. Various articles have been written about why you should spend time to read, such as allowing one to be more creative and open-minded and being successful in life. 

Reading should not be an expensive and inconvenient habit. In fact, it is free and easily accessible as long as you have access to a mobile device. 

How to Borrow National Library Board's eBooks using the OverDrive App for FREE

The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach

As I continue on my quest to be financial independent and improving my money management knowledge, I came across the F.I.R.E movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early) that is popularised in the United States. After some digging, it seems that this sort of lifestyle may not be suited for everyone as it involves living frugally and eventually achieving financial freedom to quit your job and retiring early. 


Here comes David Bach's money management book on The Automatic Millionaire.


Forget about Budgeting. 

David touches on small simple yet effective actions to make your savings automatic because he knows that most of us do not have the discipline to invest and save up regularly. By automatizing such actions, he is able to give insights to readers on how over time, such small savings and actions can add up. Hence, amassing sufficient money to retire and not living from pay check to paycheck. 

This book is recommended for all of us who feels that their bank account is not growing as much as they want to be. Do share your thoughts in the comments section below and I would love to hear from you. 

21 Dirty Tricks at Work by Mike Phipps

21 Dirty Tricks at Work by Mike Phipps

This book touches on the common experiences one faces in the office. I have worked in a few places before and I can say that politics is everywhere. Rather than avoid them, why not face it? Certain issues one faces at work are more prevalent which is worth taking note of. This book also serves as an emotional intelligence exercise to see how well you fare in such political situations. 

I have summarized the key points in this book below. Feel free to comment below whichever experience you face at work. And if the recommendations the author presented is helpful. 

Also check out my related posts on similar topics such as How to Retrench Proof Yourself and How to Negotiate Your Salary. 

How to Negotiate your Salary

As much are you come prepared with answers for an interview, you will not want to be not be caught off-guard during salary negotiations. Even if you know the market range for your job, chances are the recruiter will likely counter-offer with a lower than expected amount. The key is not to accept the amount offered immediately. Rather, see this as an opportunity to negotiate.


The following scenarios will help you think through how to respond when recruiters throw the curve-ball at you so that you will not be flustered and agree to their offer right-away.

How to Re-Finance Your Mortgage Loan in Singapore

What is Re-Financing of Home Loan? 

Re-financing of mortgage loan is the act of switching your home loan to a different bank which offers a more attractive interest rate.

Note that this is different from re-pricing of home loan, where the user stays with the current bank, albeit taking up a new loan package with the bank.

A Guide to Trading Daily Leverage Certificates (DLC)

What is Daily Leveraged Certificates

- A leveraged product that offers investors 3, 5 or 7 times the daily performance of the underlying asset, whether it is a rising or falling market

- e.g if the underlying moves 1% from its closing price the previous day, the value of the 5x DLC will move by 5%

- designed to be traded over short periods of time, usually traded on an intra-day basis

- long and short DLC available to trade both rising and falling markets

- will never lose more than your initial investment


How to Trade DLC

Beating the Street by Peter Lynch

Book Summary on Beating the Street by Peter Lynch with John Rothchild 

This is a follow up reading from One Up Wall Street book summary where Lynch writes about how an ordinary person can also be 'One Up' the Wall Street professionals. 

This book is akin to a diary that Lynch has written about his years spent investing in the markets working with Fidelity. In this book, he shared with readers the hits and misses and shared how he analyses the companies. 

 

Herewith I have extracted the key points from this book. 

One Up Wall Street by Peter Lynch

Book Summary on One Up Wall Street by Peter Lynch

How to Use What You Already Know to Make Money in the Market

For those Time Starved Professionals, I have compiled the list of points which I feel are relevant to the man in the street. Although this book is about navigating the financial markets, it is easy to read as Lynch wrote this with the intention for the everyday people to read. His aim is to show us that understanding the markets is not rocket science, arm yourself with knowledge and be patient. This book aimed at long term investors. If you are here looking for fast gains and strategy play, then this book is not for you.

Insights on OCBC Securities - A Practical Guide to Precise Entry and Exit

Recently I attended a free Seminar organised by OCBC Securities on a Practical Guide to Entry and Exit. The speaker that shared his thoughts with us was a trader who has more than 20 years of trading experience, Wong Kon How. I have shared below on the insights gleaned from his seminar with us. Feel free to share your thoughts with me in the comments section! 

*Disclaimer: This is not a paid article. The opinions expressed are writer's own and does not intend to discredit anyone's else. The inspiration for this article was taken from the speaker.


Investors can be Classified into 4 Quadrants