What On Earth Is Goal-Based Investing?

First and foremost, we must define what traditional investing is. Traditional asset allocation optimizes the structure of a portfolio based on a generalized approach. Although it typically suits the needs of the institutional investors, it is not necessarily adapted to suit the needs of a private investor. A private investor, such as yourself, tends to create different portfolios corresponding to different needs.

On the other hand, goal-based investing is a relatively new approach in investing where the end justifies the means. Investing is directed to attain specific financial goals throughout an investor’s life.

“Goal-based investing involves a wealth manager or investment firm’s clients measuring their progress towards the specific life goals, such as saving for children’s education or building a retirement nest-egg, rather than focusing on generating the highest possible portfolio return or beating the market.” – Investopedia

Simply put, it re-frames success based on an investor’s needs and goals. Say that an investor’s primary goals are to save for the golden years and to save for the educational fund of his grandchildren. Goal-based investment plan would be more conservative for the former and more aggressive for the latter. As you can see, this approach will help you to withstand most market conditions and volatility.

Apply goal-based investing to your wealth management by following these steps:

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STEP 1: DETERMINE YOUR GOALS

Before anything else, you must identify your financial goals depending on your current life stage. Let us dive into some practical examples. As a young working adult, you may be eyeing on the latest gadgets (e.g., smart glasses, laptops, or smartphones). As a devoted parent, you may be considering the different educational options for your child. As a Singaporean reaching 62, you may be thinking about building your retirement fund. Having multiple goals in mind throughout the course of your life is perfectly fine!

STEP 2: ESTABLISH A TIMELINE

As you list down all your financial goals at the moment, you must keep prioritization in mind. Prioritize your goals by examining which ones you need and which ones you want to have. Afterwards, you must create a timeline for your final set of financial goals.

Do you aim to travel next month? Or, do you need to purchase a flat in the next 10 years? Measure the amount of time needed to realistically reach your short-term and long-term goals.

STEP 3: KNOW WHERE YOU START

How can you plan ahead, if you do not know where to start? Pinning your starting point is important in helping you achieve your financial goals. Administer a simple financial assessment by asking yourself a few questions. Firstly, how much money have you saved up? Secondly, do you have an emergency fund? Lastly, how much are your net worth and cash flow?

STEP 4: CREATE AN INVESTMENT PLAN

You are done with determining your final set of goals, setting a realistic timeline, and drafting your starting point. What is next for you? Well, you must put all of the above information together to create an Investment Plan. Create this by looking at four factors namely: risk profile, investment options, target amount, and asset allocation.

STEP 5: EXECUTE THE INVESTMENT PLAN

Investing for your financial goals does not stop with opening a savings account. You do not need to accumulate a massive amount of money to start investing neither. Instead, you must invest in a consistently as early as possible. As you invest religiously throughout your life, you need to review whether there are on the right path. Are you doing these things to achieve your financial goals? If so, continue on.

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Goal-based investing is a relatively new approach in investing where the end justifies the means. It may seem like an obvious or an oversimplified concept, but it represents a departure from the typical risk-tolerance framework. Will this investment strategy work well with your wealth management practices?

Sources: 1 & 2

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Is Blockchain a Viable Investment Option?

In truth, cryptocurrencies have dominated the news during the last 18 months, thanks primarily to Bitcoin’s historic price run last year. Altcoins such as Litecoin have also generated significant interest among investors, however, while driving high levels of engagement across social media.

Although the interest in cryptocurrency investment remains largely speculative in the mainstream, there’s no doubt that the blockchain technology behind this marketplace is evolving at a rapid pace and continuing to disrupt a huge array of alternative industries.

In fact, blockchain is now emerging as the fastest-growing digital technology since the evolution of the Internet, with its distributed and immutable qualities promising to revolutionise the social and economic landscape.

In this post, we’ll explore blockchain further while asking whether or not it’s a viable investment option.

What is Blockchain Technology?

A blockchain represents a growing list of records and data, with each individual block linked by cryptography.

The brainchild of Bitcoin innovator Satoshi Nakamoto, blockchain is a decentralised technology that has become synonymous with cryptocurrency and the financial market as a whole. In fact, blockchain is based on the principle of distributing rather than copying digital information, creating far greater security and removing the need for a central authority to manage data sets.

This highlights one of the main benefits of blockchain, namely its ability to provide immutable data records that cannot be manipulated. This, along with the anonymity provided by the blockchain, has created a technology that is tailor made the financial market and entities such as forex.

Is Blockchain a Viable Investment Option in the Digital Age?

Despite being synonymous with cryptocurrency, developers have also created an array of alternative applications for blockchain.

It’s certainly having an impact on the wider stock market, with NASDAQ having launched a ground-breaking LINQ platform based on this technology. This is a digital ledger that leverages blockchain to manage the entire process of issuing and managing private equity shares, creating a comprehensive and transparent set of records while optimising efficiencies.

NASDAQ continues to blaze a trail in this respect, however, with blockchain technology now used to underpin its own transactions and to support external marketplaces that are looking to integrate distributed ledgers into their business models.

This has involved a number of innovative and crucial collaborations, including a number of particularly interesting partnerships involving organisations such as Citigroup. Wealth management brands are also evolving to incorporate blockchain technology, in order to enhance the range of assets and the efficiency of service provided

Beyond this, blockchain is also having a huge impact on the modern supply chain, with distributed ledgers being used to introduce greater transparency into the logistics sector. Not only are these ledgers highly scalable, but they also improve the accuracy of recorded data and make it easier to monitor shipments in real-time.

The Last Word

As we can see, blockchain is an exceptionally diverse technology and one that has a growing number of potential applications available.

Not only this, but the blockchain market is also growing at a considerable pace and set to achieve a market value of $16 billion by the end of 2024.

With this in mind, it’s little wonder that RSM recently suggested that blockchain technology is “too powerful to ignore”, and this is certainly a worthwhile consideration for investors across the globe.

Ultimately, there’s no doubt that this technology offers value from both a short and a long-term perspective, while investing early may well increase your returns over time.

 

 

 

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The Influence Of Asia On The World Of Cryptocurrencies

Despite being decentralised online payment systems, there are various countries across the globe adopting these cryptocurrencies and sky-rocketing them to the rate of growth and development we’re seeing today. While the USA, South Africa and the UK sit quite prominently within the industry, there are a huge number of Asian countries either catching up, or dominating completely. From China’s ever-changing regulation, to South Korea’s outright ban, the greatest and most prominent countries within the continent are proving time and time again to make quite a substantial difference – the question is, how?

Japan

Japan’s crypto success arguably came when China imposed a ban on cryptocurrency withdrawals. This saw the BTC JPY exchange rate start to raise in a relatively strong upwards curve until the crash in price after the December 2017 high and has since turned more and more businesses within this innovative hub to either utilising blockchain technologies, or accepting Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payments. There has even been recent speculation that future economic booms could either involve, or be thanks to cryptocurrencies and the decentralised technologies that power them. Whether this is ultimately the outcome is a matter of keeping a close eye on changing focuses in the technological and financial industries, but it’s certainly proving an interesting road to take.

 China

China has always been notorious for reducing and restricting the development of anything potentially out of government control and as a digital coin with no centralised system to control, cryptocurrencies were certainly in their line of sight. Despite having initially held one of the biggest markets across the world for cryptocurrency trading and mining, this isn’t so much the case anymore. After the ban of ICOs and the following closure of various local bitcoin exchanges, their stance in the industry plummeted. However, with a focus on ‘blockchain not Bitcoin’, it might not be the end for cryptocurrency use in China just yet.

South Korea

South Korea has taken a similar stance to China, but seems to be offering a far more mixed view than its larger counterpart. Despite its small size compared to China, a simple speculation that bitcoin could be banned was enough to plummet the price of major coins considerably. However, it still remains unclear as to whether this is going to actually be the case. These rumours certainly hold weight behind them, considering the announcement having been by South Korean officials, but have yet to actually be put into place. Instead, we’re simply seeing more and more Korean exchanges and local businesses starting to consider Bitcoin payments as standard, regardless of potential changes to come in the future.

What Could The Future Hold?

Whether we see global bans on cryptocurrency use or global adoption of a ‘blockchain first’ policy, only time will tell for sure. If there is one thing we have quickly learned from the world of cryptocurrencies, it’s that even the slightest movement or speculation can considerably shake up the industry and as a result, Asian countries focused on FinTech and other technologies have an even bigger influence than you may expect.  The future could see unstable governments or economies introducing their very own cryptocurrencies to reap the benefits without the risks, or the simple outright ban and avoidance of all things digital coin.

What do you think?

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Must-Read: Important Investment Questions Answered

WHY IS RISK TOLERANCE A FACTOR TO INVESTMENT?

Determining your preferences is the initial step to investing. Under it is risk tolerance. Risk tolerance is basically how much you are willing to gamble in any event. It can impact how you shape your portfolio. You see, the pressing need to acquire the money can make you shift towards conservative investments.

If you are worried that you are missing out on a higher earning potential, then your investments may be too conservative. On the other hand, constantly fearing the condition of your investments can mean that you are carrying too much risks. This is why you must quantify your risk tolerance by taking quizzes.

As I entered the investment scene under a renowned international institution, I was given a risk tolerance questionnaire with 16 questions. It helped me to identify the appropriate asset classes that suited my mindset.

CAN YOU RISK IT ALL BY PICKING YOUR OWN STOCKS?

I have to admit that becoming the mastermind of your portfolio sounds attractive. However, picking your own stocks can potentially become a disaster for newbie investors. Studies have shown that choosing your own stocks is almost always a losing proposition even for the professional traders. The risk versus the rewards of owning stocks are simply not in your favor.

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Why is this so? For starters, you are more likely to incur trading fees when you trade more stocks. This will eat any money you would make. Accept that you do not own a crystal ball. You cannot perfectly select the stellar companies over the dull ones. So, seek professional help whenever possible.

WHAT IS A BOND?

Whenever I give a talk about financial indepence, I always get asked about the different asset classes. Bonds is among the common ones. A bond is a fixed income investment in which an issuer or investor loans money to an entity. Entities such as companies or governments borrow the funds for a definite period of time, involving an interest rate. These bonds are used by said entities to raise money or finance a variety of projects.

For instance, an airline might take up a bond loan from the government if wants to purchase a variety of new planes. This type of loan involves a specific period and fixed investment rate. Said rate is determined by a number of factors such as the economy’s climate.

If you are comfortable with getting less money in return, then you will benefit from investing on bonds. You may think that bonds are less risky than others. However, this statement is not entirely true. Bonds are usually less risky than stocks when you are comparing products from the same issuing company. Institutions that offer bonds include Singapore Government Securities and ABF Singapore Bond Fund.

WHY IS IT CRUCIAL TO BE DIVERSIFIED?

By definition, diversification is the process of allocating capital in a way that reduces the exposure to any one particular asset or risk. Say that you invested all your money on one company. Your money will go down the drain when it goes bankrupt. Owning 2,000 shares from various companies can cushion the bankruptcy of two or more companies. It is essentially better to invest small pieces of wealth in multiple companies rather than investing it all in one.

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Simply put, diversification means that you will not put all your eggs in one investment basket. Being diversified applies to all the industries or asset classes that you will invest in. Try to invest a mix of stocks and bonds or a mix of industrial sectors. The broader your portfolio is, the more likely you are to weather a market storm.

Sources: 1 & 2

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Will High Interest Rates Affect The Local Stocks?

In my road towards financial independence, I decided to invest some of funds to grow my wealth. I encouraged my colleagues to do the same by inviting a reputable insurance agent in the workplace. The insurance agent stressed how one’s risk level play an integral part in his or her actions. For many investors, they are worried about losses and interest rates.

Interest rates in Singapore are not set by the central bank or Monetary Authority of Singapore. Instead, the rates are determined by the global market and are strongly affected by the United States.

THE FED

In an attempt to control inflation, the United States’ federal fund rate is used by the Federal Reserve (or the Fed). The Fed attempts to shrink the supply of money available for purchasing by increasing the federal funds rate. Doing so makes earning money hard and expensive to obtain.

The question of “how stocks would react when interest rates rise” is essential for many market participants. Interest rates can have a significant impact on the price that investors are willing to pay for varying asset classes. For instance, investors tend to prefer lower risk and high yield investments like bonds over stock.

Truth be told, increasing federal funds rates does not directly affect the stock market. The institutions who borrow money from the Fed are directly affected by these rates. However, I cannot deny the daunting ripple effect.

Since it costs more to borrow money from the Fed, financial institutions (e.g., local banks) often increase the rates they charge for the clients to loan money. Individuals are affected through elevation in credit card and mortgage interest rates.

CHASING THE MONEY

Stocks and other asset classes such as bonds, real estate, and cash are in a constant race for the investors’ capital. Theory states that investors should not pay up for stocks when interest rates are high. Firstly, businesses experience decreased consumer spending and increased cost of borrowing money. Secondly, bonds and other asset classes such as fixed deposits are seen as more attractive.

On the other hand, when rates are low, it makes sense to bid up stocks. Bonds are not capable of generating a decent return during this time. Everything comes down to the risk-reward profile of the investment. When interest rate rise, the risk-reward for bonds become more attractive as the yields are higher than when interest rates were lower.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Changes in the interest rates can have diverse effects on the consumers’ spending habits. It depends on a number of factors including projected rate changes, consumer confidence, and overall health of the economy.

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As an illustration, consumers may be influenced to spend less money if they believe that the purchasing power of their dollars will be eroded by inflation.

BOTTOM-LINE

Movement in interest rates can affect both the investors’ and the consumers’ sentiments. Investors will be worried about the asset classes that they will partake in. Long-term investors know that these changes will only affect the prices of their assets in the short run. However, short-term investors know that these rates are significant.

Let us move on to the consumer behavior. Consumers tend to borrow more when rates are low and save more when rates are high. They must decide when to save or spend money.

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Economist Mark Skousen once said:

“The reality is that business and investment spending are the true leading indicators of the economy and the stock market. If you want to know where the stock market is headed, forget about consumer spending and retail sales figures. Look to business spending, price inflation, interest rates, and productivity gains.”

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5

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