Rainbow on FI

Like a school kid who becomes hardworking only when her mom tells her she can go out to play if she finishes her homework, I am seeing that playground now.  The 'rushing homework time' now begins... Photo by  Ben White  on  Unsplash How U.S. Stock Prices Correlate to the Value of the U.S. Dollar "The value of American stocks, especially those that are included in market indexes, tend to increase along with the demand for U.S. dollars." "The dollar automatically strengthens when the euro weakens. That’s because the euro makes up 57.6% of the value of the U.S. dollar index. This means that whatever makes the euro weaker will make the dollar stronger and vice-versa. Each of the other currencies in the USDX has less influence on the dollar’s value." [ source ] My take: The strengthening of US dollar is probably temporary. I am expecting the US gov to continue injecting cash to support the weakened economy. The demand surged becaus...

We have been hearing about the inverted yield curve and how it signifies that recession is on the horizon. So what exactly is an 'inverted yield curve'? Source: Investipedia Let's take a look at the above chart. Short term yield is represented by the blue line (US 3-Yr Treasury Note) and long term yield is represented by the orange line (US 5-Yr Treasury Note). We can also substitute the 5-Yr note with say a 10-Yr note. As we can see, the orange line (short term yield) logically should stay above the blue line, since the note / bond holders are expecting higher compensation for the longer time frame of holding it and with a longer time frame comes more uncertainty. The right hand side indicated a point of inversion - when the orange line falls below the blue line. Why would this happen? As I am not good at explaining the technical stuff, so I shall leave that explaining to Investopedia here . Some important points I want to highlight are as follow: ...

What's the latest fad now besides FIRE? The akan datang SIA bond ! I just realised that I hardly mentioned anything about bonds in my portfolio. FYI they have been playing a rather significant role in stabilizing my investment portfolio, especially in times of market volatility. In fact, at this point in time, about half of my paper assets are in bond (gasp! surprise, surprise...), so you can see how much I value them. I must also give them credit for helping my Multiplier Account to multiply $! My proud bonds collection: 10 years SGS bond at 2.63% (Oct15) 10 years SGS bond at 2.39% (May18) 10 years SGS bond at 2.63% (Jul18) 10 years SGS bond at 2.44% (Sep18) 10 years SGS bond at 2.57% (Dec18) 10 years SGS bond at 2.45% (Jan19) FCL 3.65% treasury (2022) Perannial 4.55% bond (2020) Astrea IV bond 4.35% (2023)  When I saw Uncle8888's 3-liner blog post : "To lend at 3.03% interest rate in hope of Return OF Capital???...

Singapore's interest rate is expected to rise in the coming year as Fed hiked interest rate ( http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/singapore/singapore-interest-rates/2356210.html ). So let's keep our eyes peeled to see if SSB would be following suit should bank savings interest starts to rise. Is the economy really expected to be recovering next year or would it be toiled by the rate hike? I really have no idea... but if you want to have an inkling of idea how a rate hike would affect investments read interest-rate-and-its-effect-on-market . To read more about Singapore Savings Bond, click here . SSB is for you if... You do not need money for middle to long term Have a stomach for low risk bonds Wanna park your money somewhere safe but  more flexibl e than the lock-in CPF Think that banks would not raise their interest rate any higher than SGB's Get updated information at  http://www.sgs.gov.sg/savingsbonds and  http://www.sgs.gov.sg/savingsbon...