There has been push for the Mass Affluent and High-Networth-Individuals (HNWI) market by many financial institutions. This is a logically move looking from the business volume and margin angle. However, this trend does not necessarily benefit the mass affluent or the HNWIs.
When it comes to the mass market, 1 or [...]
Simon (not his real name), wanted to invest USD2 million. Seeing that the market is volatile, Keith (not his real name), Simon’s private banker from bank B, suggested a Regular Savings Plan (RSP) to ride out the volatility. The RSP time frame is 3 years. So USD1.8m went into a USD50,000 per month [...]
Money managers have to cope with numerous limitations and constraints. Investors should be wary and consider these restrictions when deciding who would be the better choice in managing their wealth. Read the article What You Money Manager Don’t Want You To Know to find out more.
The pressure to meet sales targets has caused a former bank executive 7 months of his life in prison for forging documents and transferring client’s cash to other accounts, it was reported in the March 23th 2010 edition of The Straits Times – Money-go-round scam: Ex-bank exec jailed. Quoting the report:
“Do you play the stock market?” “Which stock are you playing now?” Do these sentences sound familiar to you? Many ‘investors’ invest (speculate is a better word..) with a gambler’s mentality, attempting to ‘play’ the market through series of buy and sell. By associating investing with the word ‘play’, investment becomes a game, [...]
Since the electric tariff increased by 21.5% for October 08 to Dec 08, there has been increased attention on the price of electricity, especially during the current economic downturn. Following the drop in oil price, the tariff will decrease by 24.7% for the Jan 09 to March 09 period. There was an advertisement [...]
A major local bank has declared that they are overhauling their sales tactics. 3 changes will be made:
A more ‘intrusive customer qualification process’
A summary sheet that customers must affirm that they have read
A cooling-off period
The chairman is adamant that the bank will turn away customers who are ‘not suitable by their [...]
Many a time, you can find insurance companies dangling freebies to attract customers. It is not unusual to find them at electronic and pc fairs where they will display advertisements showing freebies such as digital cameras or printers. You would have mistaken them as another electronic booth!
It is very common to find [...]
Just watched the 10pm news on Channel 8 reporting on the dialogue between a local bank and their Lehman-linked Structured Note investors. There wasn’t much info as reporters were not allowed into the dialogue session.
The reporter mentioned that there were occasional burst of shouting followed by loud applause. Some investors who don’t understand [...]
Yesterday, I was at the Speaker’s Corner at Hong Lim Park for the protest against having been mislead into buying of structured products like Minibond, High Note, Pinnacle Note and Jubilee Note. An estimated 700 people was there. I had not bought any of such products but was there to understand the kind [...]
