Tool - StockAlert

It can be rather frightening at the end of a trading day, after the market has closed and when you realize that your holdings have shrunk by 10% or 20% due to sudden drop in share price of a stock.

This is where StockAlert comes in. Using it, you can keep set low/high price alerts as well as volume alerts. Currently, it allows you to keep watch on 20 stocks. Surely, that's more than enough for most users.

What's more, it's free!

Download it here:
SG Stock Alert - Explorer Technologies

Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in this blog should not be construed as an enticement to buy or sell the securities, commodities or assets mentioned. The accuracy or completeness of the information provided cannot be guaranteed. Readers should carry out independent verification of information provided. No warranty whatsoever is given and no liability whatsoever is accepted for any loss howsoever arising whether directly or indirectly as a result of actions taken based on ideas and information found in this blog.

Tool - SharesInv

To be able to know what stocks to buy, it is important to carry out research on the companies on your own. By this, I do not mean reading analyst reports or gather views from internet from others. This is because one cannot be sure if these analysts or others have "hidden agendas", in that they may be vested in these stocks, and are therefore inclined to persuade others to take up these stocks as well in order to drive up prices.

Of course, by the above statement, I do not mean that all analyst reports or views of others have hidden agendas. Nor do I mean that you should not read any analyst reports or not consider another's views. I just think that it is dangerous to rely only on these information sources and base only on them for your decision to buy or sell.

Thankfully, with technology, information is readily available on the internet. Some may be obtained freely, for example, on the company's own website. However, I think that it is worthwhile to pay a subscription fee, especially if you are actively trading, to subscribe to a portal that is able to provide the information to you of all the listed companies, available to you when you require it (instead of going through the hassle of searching for it, or tabulating the data).

One such portal I have used is Share Investment (www.shareinv.com). Its online subscription fee per month is SGD$7, and a yearly subscription costs $70. Information such as articles, charts, share price performance, financial ratios such as Price Earning ratio (PE ratio), Earnings per Share (EPS), Price to Book ratio (PB ratio), Yield, net asset value (NAV), dividend payout history, company announcements, quarterly performance, analysts reports are provided. There is also the possibility to customise your own watchlist, or to do stock screening, for example, to select companies based on lowest PE or PB ratios, or highest yields.

Of course, there are other possibly better portals out there, for example, those that provide you with ticker tapes, or which is able to give indication of whether the big boys are buying (through buying/selling lot sizes). However, I think that these information are not really necessary if you are not doing day trading. Furthermore, subscriptions for these portals are much more expensive.

Therefore, at present, I am quite happy with the above-mentioned portal. Their app ShareInv is available for download through the ITunes store.
Link here: Shares Investment - Pioneers & Leaders (Publishers)

Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in this blog should not be construed as an enticement to buy or sell the securities, commodities or assets mentioned. The accuracy or completeness of the information provided cannot be guaranteed. Readers should carry out independent verification of information provided. No warranty whatsoever is given and no liability whatsoever is accepted for any loss howsoever arising whether directly or indirectly as a result of actions taken based on ideas and information found in this blog.

Tool - Stock Chartist

Another tool which I have found useful is Stock Chartist. The one which I am using is the Ad version which I got it for free in the ITunes Store, when it just launched a few months back, although, for some strange reason, when I tried to look for it just now, it shows that it is not available for download in the Singapore ITunes Store.

This app is great in that it allows you to carry out technical analysis (TA) on the stock charts. It has functions of Moving Averages, Bollinger Bands, Swing Overlay and Parabolic SAR that can be superimposed on the price charts, and in another (bottom) window, it allows you to choose between Volume, Average Range, MACD, RSI, Stochastic Oscillator, Rate of Change, DMI/ADX and Williams %R. I have so far only managed to read up about the Moving Averages, Bolinger Bands, Volume, Average Range, MACD, RSI, and Stochastic Oscillator, and understand, with my limited knowledge, that these indicators allow you to kind of gauge the market movement, as well as to know if a stock is overbought or oversold.

In a way, I think that the Stock Chartist offers a easy, simple and fuss free way to do your TA without having to plot your own charts. More importantly, proper use of it could allow you to properly time market entries and exits, which adds a useful dimension to value investing strategies of buying good companies at low prices.

More information may be obtained from the following two links (youtube demo videos which I am not affiliated with) :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTt1iFQ62pM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k511ulC1oMQ


You can get the app from the ITunes store using this link:
Stock Chartist - Tony Jansen


Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in this blog should not be construed as an enticement to buy or sell the securities, commodities or assets mentioned. The accuracy or completeness of the information provided cannot be guaranteed. Readers should carry out independent verification of information provided. No warranty whatsoever is given and no liability whatsoever is accepted for any loss howsoever arising whether directly or indirectly as a result of actions taken based on ideas and information found in this blog.

Tool - Investment Stock-Watch and Portfolio (iStockFolio)

My trading is carried out online. I own an IPhone and I prefer to use it for trading as it is cheaper, i.e. lower commissions, than going through a broker (on the phone) and it allows for greater flexibility in executing my orders, be it placing orders, changing orders or canceling orders. It helps that my broker has a relatively simple platform for me to use, and so far, except for some occasions in which the network is slow, it has been a breeze to trade using the app.

Unfortunately, the application that is hosted by my broker is not perfect as it does not allow me to keep track of my buy and sell histories, nor does it allow me to keep track of dividend payouts. Therefore, there is a need for other tools to supplement this. One tool that I have found useful is Investment Stock-Watch and Portfolio (iStockFolio) by Richard Prandini. It allows me to keep track of my holdings, my buy and sell price, dates executed, as well as the dividend payouts. This gives me a peace of mind cos I need not be worry about overselling what I own, or selling below a price that would render the trade not profitable. Though I use it for my tradings (on the Singapore stock exchange), it does allow tracking of other markets too. One other aspect which is helpful for me is the ability to export the transactions as a .csv file which is emailed to me and allows me to keep track using a spreadsheet. On top of it, when I downloaded and tried the software, it was free! How cool is that? It is now going for SGD1.28 or US$0.99 cents in the ITunes store.

Links to the App in ITune Store here:
Investment Stock-Watch and Portfolio (iStockFolio) - richard prandini


Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in this blog should not be construed as an enticement to buy or sell the securities, commodities or assets mentioned. The accuracy or completeness of the information provided cannot be guaranteed. Readers should carry out independent verification of information provided. No warranty whatsoever is given and no liability whatsoever is accepted for any loss howsoever arising whether directly or indirectly as a result of actions taken based on ideas and information found in this blog.

My holdings - December 2012

I hold a few REITs such as Mapletree Commercial Trust (MCT) (IPO lots) and Sabana, both of which are bought (luckily) before the awareness for REITs set in a few months ago. I feel that the prices are rather on the high side at the moment, especially for MCT, therefore, even though they have been providing me with good dividends every quarter, I am hesitant to add on to my position at this moment in time.

Recently, I acquired a few lots of Singtel when Temasek went on a selling frenzy. I thought myself lucky at that time as I had queued to buy at $3.19, and got them for $3.16. Haven't quite figured out how that came about. Anyhow, prices were hovering about $3.19 - $3.23, and dropped to $3.12 at one point since I bought them. A couple of days ago, it suddenly went up and is now at $3.31. I intend to hold on to the stocks, in view of the dividend payout end of December at 6.8 cents and Singtel being a blue-chip company.

I also hold a few small and mid-cap companies, reason being they are relatively low priced thus allowing me to buy more lots with my limited resources, and have greater potential to scale greater heights. I bought some Second Chance recently, in view of the attractive dividend payout of 3.8 cents, making it a dividend yield of 8.9% at its last done price of $0.425. In fact, I had sold the stock for a small profit after the results were released recently, when prices reached $0.45 at one point. I was looking for an opportunity to pick up the shares again, and was happy to do so when prices went down to pre-result release levels.

Another stock that I am holding is Global Premium Hotels, the hotel/hospitality arm of Fragrance, although that stock is not doing as well as I had expected and hoped. It is currently hovering around $0.235-0.245, which is lower than its IPO price of $0.26. A few reasons why I bought the stock:

a) it is selling at a premium compared to its IPO price. In fact, it is (I read somewhere) selling at a premium compared to the price at which Fragrance acquired it for $0.25.
b) Tourism in Singapore is (and still is) booming. Although there are uncertainties going on in the global financial markets, demand for economy hotels should still be there.
c) The management explained the decrease in profits during the previous quarters due to one time fees incurred as a result of IPO listing. Hence, it is reasonable to expect that profits should improve in the subsequent quarter(s).
d) Maintaining dividend payouts for 2012. So far, it has been $0.002 per quarter. That works out to 1.7% yield for half a year or 3.4% annual yield based on its last done price of $0.235.

I will watch and see if their results improve in the next quarter before deciding whether or not to divest in this stock.



Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in this blog should not be construed as an enticement to buy or sell the securities, commodities or assets mentioned. The accuracy or completeness of the information provided cannot be guaranteed. Readers should carry out independent verification of information provided. No warranty whatsoever is given and no liability whatsoever is accepted for any loss howsoever arising whether directly or indirectly as a result of actions taken based on ideas and information found in this blog.

    

How I got started and my investment approach

I started to learn investing in the stock market more than a year ago. It has been a roller coaster ride so far, having been through the US rating downgrade by S&P in 2011 as well as the on-going European debt crisis, and the (possible) US fiscal cliff next year. Certainly not been easy for a novice share investor like me.

However, as the Chinese says "There is opportunity in danger". I believe that so long as one's fundamentals are intact, it is ok to take calculated risks. Of course, one of the most important mind set, I feel, is the need to be not greedy.

What got me started on investment was the book Rich Dad's Guide to Investing by Robert Kiyosaki. Now I regret having not started earlier when I was in my twenties, to allow more time for my investment to compound. In any case, better late than never! The book truly opened up my thinking and I started learning about investing. Having read a number of investment books while trying not to lose my money, from value investing books on the philosophies of Warren Buffett and Benjamin Graham, to growth investing books by William O' Neil, I now adopt a hybrid approach, that is:

To identify good companies and good yield stocks as part of my on-going research, and to monitor the market in order to buy these stocks when they are being offered at a good price.

I am still learning, and being human, emotions come into play. I make mistakes now and then, but treat them as good learning experiences, and believe that practice makes perfect (so long as I learn from these mistakes).

You can read the reviews from others and/or get the book that inspired me (Rich Dad's Guide to Investing by Robert Kiyosaki) from Amazon here:-
Rich Dad's Guide to Investing: What the Rich Invest in, That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!

Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in this blog should not be construed as an enticement to buy or sell the securities, commodities or assets mentioned. The accuracy or completeness of the information provided cannot be guaranteed. Readers should carry out independent verification of information provided. No warranty whatsoever is given and no liability whatsoever is accepted for any loss howsoever arising whether directly or indirectly as a result of actions taken based on ideas and information found in this blog.