Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Selling of STI ETF (Sept 2017)

Last week, I have sold off my remaining STI ETF for a small profit. Currently, I do not hold any more STI ETF. Maybe when the STI goes lower, I will buy again to hold it under my CDP account.

Details of all transactions are logged here: STI ETF RSP

Summary of units:
Counter
Total Cost
Total Units
Average cost
Last Done
Unrealized
Profit/ Loss
Unrealized
Gain / Loss %
Realized Profit /
Loss / Dividend
STI ETF
0.00
0
$0.00
$3.27
$0.00
0.00%
$1,107.60
Nikko STI ETF
0.00
0
$0.00
$3.35
$0.00
0.00%
$114.15

Sunday, April 9, 2017

How much can you withdraw from CPF at 55?

Earlier today, there was this article indicating that those who turn 54 this year are eligible for a new CPF retirement planning service (CRPS). There will be a one on one session to help the individual to understand the CPF scheme and plan for the options which will be available one year later when they turn 55.

Article at:
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/invest/something-to-plan-for-when-youre-54


In the same article, they also provided a few examples on how much you can withdraw at the age of 55. I feel that this is quite useful and will share here with some of my comments:



SCENARIO 1

Mr Raju's OA savings at age 55 amount to $100,000 while his SA savings are $180,000, which is a total of $280,000.

The Full Retirement Sum of $166,000 will be set aside in his RA, which will provide him with a monthly payout of $1,380 from age 65 for life.

He can withdraw the remaining amount of $114,000 in his OA and SA. If he owns a property with sufficient property charge/pledge, he can also choose to set aside his Basic Retirement Sum of $83,000 in his RA and receive a correspondingly lower monthly payout of $750 from age 65 for life. In this case, he can withdraw $114,000 from his OA and SA, and an additional $83,000 from his RA.

MadStranger: 
This scenario is where the OA + SA exceeds the full retirement sum (FRS). In this scenario, you get to withdraw all balances above the FRS
If you own a property with sufficient pledge, you can set aside half the FRS which is also known as the basic retirement sum (BRS) instead. Your monthly payout will be reduced accordingly. Any amount above this BRS can be withdrawn.



SCENARIO 2
At 55, Mr Ahmad has $45,000 in his OA and $55,000 in his SA, or a total of $100,000.

From this, $95,000 will be set aside in his RA to form his retirement sum which will provide him with $840 monthly from age 65 for life. He can withdraw the remaining amount of $5,000 in his OA.

If he owns a property with sufficient property charge/pledge, he can choose to set aside his Basic Retirement Sum of $83,000 in his RA and receive a correspondingly lower monthly payout of $750 from age 65 for life. In this case, he can withdraw $5,000 from his OA, and an additional $12,000 from his RA.

MadStranger:
This scenario is where your OA + SA is lesser than the FRS but higher than 5k. In this scenario, you get to withdraw 5k.
If you own a property with sufficient pledge, you an set aside half the FRS which is also known as the basic retirement sum (BRS) instead. Your monthly payout will be reduced accordingly. Any amount above this BRS can be withdrawn.



SCENARIO 3
Mr Lim's OA savings are $25,000 while his SA savings are $35,000 - a total sum of $60,000.

An amount of $55,000 will be set aside in his RA to form his retirement sum which will provide him with $530 a month from age 65 for life.

He can withdraw the remaining amount of $5,000 in his OA.

MadStranger:
This scenario is where your OA + SA is lesser than the BHS but higher than 5k. In this scenario, you can only withdraw 5k.


SCENARIO 4
Mr Robert's OA savings at 55 are $3,000 while his SA savings amount to $1,000. As Mr Robert has less than $5,000, he can withdraw all the balances amounting to $4,000.

MadStranger: This scenario is where your OA + SA is lesser than 5k. In this scenario, you can withdraw the entire balance.


 
 

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

OCBC 360 interests changes again (Apr 2016)

Previously, I posted about the OCBC360 account and its interest revision in May 2015
http://madstranger.blogspot.sg/search/label/OCBC360

Currently, the account has the following interest components:
If we ignore the "invest" component, most account holders can still earn an interest of 2.2% on the first 60k in the OCBC 360 savings account. In addition to this, you also earn an interest of 1% for any incremental balances.

Starting from April 2016, there will be some changes to the interest components. The changes are as follows:

The most important change is the bonus interest can be earned on the first 70k instead of the current 60k.

Other changes are as follows:

1) Payment component:
The interest has been revised from 0.5% to 0.3%
There is now a minimum of $150 for the 3 bills. Previously there is no minimum total to fulfill. There were account holders who paid 3 $1 to 3 different credit cards. They can no longer use this trick.


2) Credit card spending component:
The interest has been revised from 0.5% to 0.3%

3) Invest component:
The interest has been revised from 1% to 1.2%. Also, an additional lower tier has been introduced.
 Most people won't qualify this interest component unless they invest with OCBC.


4) Savings component:
There will no longer be bonus interest paid on incremental bonus.
Instead, an additional 1% is earned on the first 70k if you have at least 200k in the OCBC 360 account. This also works out to be a 0.35% across the 200k.
For most people, they will be earning lesser interest.


Comparison between the interests now and the revised interests:


Average interest per month

Interest
Now
Interest
Apr-17
Base

60000

70000
Salary
1.2
60
1.2
70
3 bill
0.5
25
0.3
17.5
credit card
0.5
25
0.3
17.5
incremental bonus on 1k
1
0.83

0
TOTAL

110.83

105

Assuming you have 70k in the account, you now earn $5 lesser bonus interest per month on average.
In addition to this, you lose out on he incremental balance interest. For every $1000 of incremental bonus, you get $0.83 lesser on average per month.

However, if you have a full 200k sitting inside the account, you will qualify for the "save bonus interest" and will get an additional $58.33 on average


  
Conclusion:
For some who have larger savings with the bank or do investment with the bank, they can gain more interests.
However, for most people, they will be earning lesser interests from 2.2% to 1.8%. Some have already started looking at alternatives like UOB ONE, BOC smart saver and Citibank maxigain accounts.