How did AK "supercharge" his CPF-SA's returns?

Some might find this email exchange interesting:

Hi AK,

I chanced upon your blog and started to follow - would like to say thank you for being active and selfless sharing your wealth building story.

I came across one blog entry and you mentioned that in 2008~2009, you took the opportunity and invested in an OCBC SG equity fund and you said that you would invest on it if market crash down again. what is the name of the fund? Lionglobal Singapore Trust Fund?

I am in the midst of looking for a fund to invest and would like to study further on your choice back then.

Warm Regards
I

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Hi I,

Wow! You have done your homework well! Yes, that was the fund I used money in my SA to buy. There were not many mutual funds which were approved for investment with CPF-SA money. :)

This is a unit trust which invests in names I am familiar with and since I am not able to use my SA's money to invest directly in these names, I did it through this unit trust instead. ;)

Best wishes,
AK

Hi AK,

I research further on the return of this fund, amazing 70% in 2009, but -22.76% in 2011, and 19.34% in 2012.

Overall return looks good.

Regards, I

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Hi I,

With our money in the SA, all the more we should buy only when there is blood on the streets. Very few investments can consistently produce results as good as compounding 4 to 5% per annum without fail and with zero risk. :)

Best wishes,
AK

Related posts:
1. SRS, CPF-OA and CPF-SA.
2. Do you want to be richer?
3. A bigger retirement fund with CPF-SA.
4. The CPF-IS and its alternatives.
5. Balancing returns and risks.

How is credit limit for personal credit cards determined?

The purpose of a blog post could be "A" but people could end up seeing "B". It has happened in my blog before and, going by the comments generated on FB, it happened again for my last blog post.

I am not complaining, really. I am just amused by how sometimes we can have unintended consequences which can be good things too, of course.

Some comments:

"I thought the credit limit should be 2x monthly salary only. MAS guideline, I remember. Or no longer in force?"

"std chartered gives a $100000 limit to everyone...the manhattan card i am referring to specifically. anyone else care to share?"

"Strange, ocbc gives my hubby credit limit of only half of his monthly income. We do not have any loan with them. Guess they do not want us to spend more money... We never get 2x or 3x our income. Usually only get 1x of our monthly limit or lesser."

"the banks will do a check with credit bureau. its just like when u open a stock trading acct, there is a financial background check..."

"So, if a person has no debt, pays his bills on time or has more unencumbered assets, he gets a higher credit limit?"

"That's the part I don't understand. We have no car loan, no house loan, we don't have overdue credit cards, no personal loan... How come our limits are so low?"

Including myself, it seems that not many know clearly how credit limits for personal credit cards are determined. So, I did a bit of research and found this:

Interesting, isn't it?

To read more on this topic, visit Moneysense:
http://www.moneysense.gov.sg/understanding-financial-products/credit-and-loans/types-of-loans/credit-cards.aspx

Related post:
An easy way to improve cash flow in life.