Easy Investing into Property backed Secured Crowdfunding

For the newbies, debt crowdfunding is a concept where borrowers (usually SMEs) approach a crowdfunding platform for loans funded by a pool of investors. Investors earn interest, paid by borrowers, as returns on their investment. Investments are open to individuals as well as corporates with a minimum amount going down as low as $50 for smaller loan amounts.

Funding Societies, licensed and leading crowdfunding platform in Southeast Asia, backed by SoftBank Ventures Korea and Sequoia Capital, has recently introduced Property backed Secured Loans to its pool of more than 50,000 investors, providing them with more diversification opportunities. This is the third product Funding Societies has introduced since Business Term Loans and Invoice Financing.

What are Property backed Secured Loans?

Property backed Secured Loans are loans taken by companies who have pledged a local property as a form of collateral against the loan. These are local properties owned by the companies and/or Directors of the companies, and can be Residential, Commercial or Industrial. The loan amount is capped at 70% of the property value determined by independent valuers.

As an investor, you can start investing from $1,000 in this secured crowdfunding product

Why should you be excited about this product?

It is secured by property as a collateral: Funding Societies (FS) takes the first charge on the property, i.e. In the event that the property needs to be liquidated to repay the loan, FS will have the first right to access the cash after it is auctioned. Given the 70% Loan to Property Value (LTV), there is enough buffer against fluctuations in market prices that result in properties being devalued.

It’s a short-term investment: The loans are typically up to 12 months’ tenor

Fair returns for a lower-risk product: You can get up to 8% p.a. returns in your investment

Additional Diversification:Existing crowdfunding investors now have a secured loan product to further diversify their portfolios. New investors who have not invested in crowdfunding can take this opportunity to start investing.

What happens if a borrower misses out on repayments

In the case of repayment by borrowers, FS will liaise with borrowers on behalf of investors for collections. If the loan reaches defaults (defined as 90 days past payment due date), Funding Societies will pursue legally to auction the collateralized property. Proceeds from the auction will be used to repay the investors and any excess will be returned to the owners of the property.

In the rare scenario where proceeds from the auction are insufficient to repay the loan, Personal Guarantors (usually Directors of the company) and the borrowing company will be liable for the outstanding due.

TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read)

Given that there is collateral security in the form of a property, Property backed Secured Loans become more secured and typically lower risk compared to other crowdfunding investment products.

For those with a lower risk appetite but still want to potentially earn a return of up to 8%, the Property backed Secured Loans is a product for you to diversify your portfolio in.

Limited Time Promotion: Receive $20 Cashback!

From now till 15 June 2018, sign up as an investor and invest at least $1,000 to be eligible for the $20 cashback. That’s an upfront 2% cashback on your investment!

Here’s how to claim the cashback:

Step 1: Sign up for your new investor account on www.fundingsocieties.com.

Step 2: **IMPORTANT!** Enter MDMAY in the Promo Code section.

Step 3: Complete your registration and activate your account.

Step 4: Invest at least $1,000 before 15 June 2018. Investment can be in one loan or across multiple loans.

Eligible investors will be notified via email of their within one month from the end of the promotion.

This article was first published on Funding Societies’ blog.

Disclaimers:

This article is contributed by Funding Societies.

It should not be construed that Moneydigest is endorsing this article or any of the products and services provided by Funding Societies.

Nothing in this article should be construed as constitute or form a recommendation, financial advice, or an offer, invitation or solicitation from Funding Societies to buy or subscribe for any securities and/or investment products. The content and materials made available are for informational purposes only and should not be relied on without obtaining the necessary independent financial or other advice in connection therewith before making an investment or other decision as may be appropriate.

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Forex sentiment indicator – An Incredibly Imperative Tool That Works for All

In accordance with April 2012 Foreign Exchange Committee, there are total 4 billion dollars of Forex spot transfers on a regular basis. With diverse participants especially those who are trading for some particular purposes are having an edge in the Forex market.

It is imperative to pay attention to the fundamental analysis as they show up the big picture. By looking at this picture, you can easily come to know about the latest actions of the currency pairs and technical analysis. Not just that, you get information regarding the trends.

The forex sentiment indicator is an imperative tool that alerts all the traders about the extreme conditions. This indicator also helps the traders to know the price reversals. It can easily be utilized in conjunction with the fundamental along with technical analysis.

An Incredibly Imperative Tool That Works for All

The sentiment indicators show up the percentage of the traders who have taken a specific position in the currency pair. For instance, you can assume that there are total 50 traders that are trading in the same currency pair. If 10 of these traders are long and 40 are short, then the 10 percent of the traders are considered as the long ones on the currency pair.

When the traders’ percentage in a particular position reaches the highest level, then the sentiment indicators becomes quite useful. For instance, you can assume that when a certain currency pair starts rising and 70 out of 100 traders are long; then some traders will leave to go with the trend.

The sentiment will indicate that it is the perfect time to consider the price reversal. When the price starts moving in lower and shows up a signal which is topped, the sentiment trader just enters the short. It assumes that those traders in the long will have to make sales to avoid losses when the rate falls.

On the other hand, it is said these indicators are not so accurate in providing the buying and selling signals. You have to wait for the rate to confirm the reversal ahead of acting on the signals of the sentiment. The currencies can stand on the higher levels for an extended time period as well as the reversal might not appear instantly.

The higher levels will be different for each currency pair. In the event that the rate of the currency pair has reversed when the buy reaches 75 percent and when the longs reach that higher level again then it is said that the pair is at the extreme.

Therefore, you will have to wait for the signals of the rate reversal. In case, another pair has reversed when the percent of the traders in the short is 80 percent then you will need to wait for the reversal at the extreme.

The sentiment indicators are present in diverse types. They are available from diverse sources. We cannot say that one is better than the other one. However, they can be utilized in juxtaposition with each other. Or else, the particular techniques and strategies should be followed to the data you find simple to interpret.

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5 Essential Things You Need To Consider Before Opening a CFD Trading Account

If you are thinking of trading in the financial market, the first thing you might want to do is open a trading account. With a plethora of platform providers in Singapore, choosing a platform as a preferred broker might be more beneficial to you than you realize.

Since most providers offer very similar services, they may appear homogenous from the very start. However, if you take a closer look at the various services they offer, you will begin to notice all the differentiating factors. Here are some of the essential things you need to consider before opening a cfd trading account in Singapore.

Company’s Reputation

All thanks to the internet, personal finance has become truly globalized. A few years ago, retail investors used to rely on making phone calls to their trading representatives for the purpose of buying or selling their investments. However, in today’s world all one needs is a good internet connection to make use of the platforms being offered by providers in Singapore and the rest of the world.

One major disadvantage to this is that there are plenty of small and obscure providers out there offering brokerage services. A number of such firms offer new clients extremely low transaction costs in order to lure them to their platforms.

If you are looking to open a cfd trading account in Singapore, it is advisable that you go with a reputable and well-established trading firm. This is because CFD trading requires a specific type of skillset.

Ease of Opening a Trading Account

Human beings have the tendency of always looking for the most convenient option. Most people, if not all tend to appreciate a low barrier of entry. When you are able to easily open an account online, it saves you the time you would have taken to physically go to the office to sign up.

Similarly, if you are not required to put up a minimum trading amount to open the account, it will give you a chance to first test drive the platform before making any long term commitments.

Mobile Support

In today’s world, it is crucially important to be able to use your tablets or mobile device to conduct business and check on your trades. This is because people spend more times on their phones and they constantly have their mobile devices with them as compared to desktops and laptops.

Before you go opening a cfd trading account, ensure that the provider has an application that permits you to trade via tablet or mobile devices. This would really come in handy in the long run.

Educational Support

This is perhaps one of the most significant factors to consider when getting a CFD trading account.  However, educational support is frequently ignored by both traders and platforms alike. If you want to succeed in financial trading, you need to have full knowledge and understanding of what you are doing. Unlike gambling, CFD trading in Singapore requires a lot of experience, skills and knowledge.

A good company should have industry experts who assist you in trading strategy and other skillsets. Some of the topics covered should include technical analysis, forex trading and algorithm trading among others.

The Platform Provided

Some of the key considerations when choosing a platform should be availability of tools and user experience. These should comprise of charting indicators, as well as customizable features. Other things your trading platform should have include automated trading and stop-loss features among others.

When choosing a financial trading account, ensure that you get one that best suits your needs. There is no right answer when it comes to choosing the best cfd trading account, it all depends with what you intend to do. Whether you intend on making a periodical investment or making more frequent trades in multiple asset classes, the best choice for a trading account really depends on your intentions.

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Bonus is in! Time to Diversify Your Investments with Peer-to-Peer Lending

With most companies’ financial year ending in December, some of you may have received your bonus in March and are wondering what to do with it. There is no written rule on how you should be utilizing your bonus. Some choose to repay their outstanding debts, while others prefer to splurge on luxury items as a way of rewarding themselves for a job well done in the past year. Building wealth can be a part of your strategy (see what experts say at CNBC and Forbes), and what better time to do it than when you have fresh funds in your bank account?

Wealth building comes in many forms, from saving to investing, be it actively or passively, amongst other strategies. Today, we introduce you to an alternative investment – Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Lending.

Although new to many, P2P lending has changed the financial landscape in Singapore over the past three years. P2P platforms like Funding Societies offer SMEs additional avenues for business financing and give investors more opportunities to diversify their portfolios. In other words, as you see your wealth grow progressively, you’re also helping local SMEs grow their businesses.

Here are 4 reasons to consider putting part of your bonus into P2P lending:

1. It caters to all salary and bonus ranges

P2P lending is accommodating in terms of one’s starting investment capital. You don’t need a huge fortune to begin investing, and you can invest more depending on your risk appetite. For instance, Funding Societies allows you to make an investment from as low as $50. Not to mention, you only need to put in a $1,000 deposit (can be withdrawn at no cost) before you are able to access investment opportunities. Accredited and institutional investors with higher capital and risk tolerance may also put in tens of thousands per investment.

2. Shorter tenures means that you get to see your returns quickly

If you are looking for short-to-mid term investments, P2P lending is a feasible option for you. Many traditional investment products require lengthy lock-in period. Generally, that is not the case with P2P lending as the loan tenures are usually shorter. The tenure for Business Term Loans typically ranges from 1 – 12 months and from 30 – 90 days for Invoice Financing. What’s more, you receive monthly repayments from your investments in Business Term Loans (one-time repayment for Invoice Financing), which you may choose to re-invest in new loans, creating a compounding effect.

3. Potentially high returns: Up to 14% per annum

Yes, you read it right. P2P lending has become a part of many investors’ wealth building strategy possibly due to its attractive potential returns. Interest rates offered by Funding Societies typically range from 8% to 14% p.a.

While the key risk with investing in P2P lending is the non-performing loans, Funding Societies manages its default rate at less than 1.5% (as of April 2018), comparable to those of major banks. This is done through extensive credit assessment of the SMEs’ loan applications to give you quality opportunities to make your investments.

4. It is super easy to participate

Investing can often be time-consuming due to the multiple tools and monitoring required. However, P2P lending is relatively simple to participate in:

  1. Just look out for upcoming deals
  2. Read the respective fact sheets
  3. Decide on an amount to invest in.

Funding Societies further simplifies this process with its Auto-Invest function, which helps investors pre-select investments based on their pre-set criteria. Investors will be notified of the pre-selection and can decide to opt-out or go ahead with the investment. This not only makes investment hassle-free for investors, it also helps them to diversify their P2P investment portfolio by participating in multiple loans.

Start your P2P investment journey today with Funding Societies
Now that you have a clearer picture of P2P lending, consider allocating a portion of your bonus into this form of alternative investment and start earning up to 14% returns. Funding Societies is here to help you begin your P2P investment journey.

Founded in 2015, Funding Societies is the leading P2P financing platform with a Capital Markets Services license issued by the Monetary Association of Singapore. With operations in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, Funding Societies has onboarded more than 45,000 investors in a span of three short years. Now, it’s your turn to get hands on investing in P2P lending.

Sign up with Funding Societies now!

Disclaimers

This article is contributed by Funding Societies.

It should not be construed that Moneydigest is endorsing this article or any of the products and services provided by Funding Societies.

Nothing in this article should be construed as constitute or form a recommendation, financial advice, or an offer, invitation or solicitation from Funding Societies to buy or subscribe for any securities and/or investment products. The content and materials made available are for informational purposes only and should not be relied on without obtaining the necessary independent financial or other advice in connection therewith before making an investment or other decision as may be appropriate.

 

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4 Ways to maximize returns in crowdfunding

Peer-to-Peer(P2P) Lending, or debt crowdfunding, has grown tremendously since the concept originated in 2005 with Zopa in UK. In 2016 alone, P2P lending has generated more than $300 billion worth of investment opportunities worldwide. The concept helps the underserved or underbanked individuals and businesses access alternate sources of funding from investors who lend and earn passive income in the form of interest.

Southeast Asia is an emerging P2P lending market with a huge financial gap faced by SMEs. In the last 3 years, P2P lending has financed thousands of small businesses to support their growth, while offering investors an alternative investment opportunity. In Southeast Asia, one of the leading platforms, Funding Societies has funded more than S$120 million across Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. At the same time, they have given more than 45,000 investors access to this alternate investment class with net annualised returns of up to 14% in short tenor loans.

This article aims to highlight 4 important considerations to maximize your returns in P2P lending with examples of initiatives taken by Funding Societies:

  1. Choose your platform wisely

When investing, you want to choose a platform with decent track record and achievements. These are things to look out for in a good platform:

a. The platform has good risk management practices

Review the platform’s risk management – including filtering out bad quality loans, pricing returns as per the risk, and managing non-repayment and defaults. While most platforms do not publish their proprietary methodologies, their processes should be robust enough to identify potentially bad loans. A good indicator is the platform’s default rates. Funding Societies has a default rate of 1.3% (as of 7 March 2018), one of the lowest in the region.

To illustrate, here is an example of the impact of a low default rate:

Assuming gross annual yield of 12%, platform fee of 2% and default rate of 3% (on the higher side) one can make 7% in returns.

This of course is not assured but depends on many factors including platform’s risk management as mentioned above.

In the inevitable event of a late payment or default, it is essential for the platform to have a process to manage collections or exercise legal action. You should enquire the platform on its processes to have a better understanding and clearer expectations.

b. Skin in the game

Find out if the platform has YOUR interests aligned with theirs, and what’s in it for them to ensure that investors’ money is handled properly and the investment opportunities/loans are of good quality.

Firstly, the platform should know how to handle your money. Funding Societies is the first P2P financing platform in Singapore to engage an independent escrow agent to handle investors’ funds, keeping its operating funds separate from investors’ funds. This gives investors peace of mind knowing that their money is safeguarded by the escrow agent and will not be utilized for anything besides their investments.

Secondly, is the platform as invested as you are? The management at Funding Societies has a ‘skin in the game’ by investing in every single loan, and will do their best to maximize the returns and manage any negative impacts.

c. It cares about YOUR Experience!

Debatable – but a good platform should be all-encompassing in its experience, right? This should start from the platform, mobile app (convenient for you), and customer experience. More importantly, it should be responsive and helpful when you need to speak to someone.

  1. Understand macroeconomic conditions

Knowing the pulse of the economy will help you when you select the loans to invest in. This includes updates for each sector and government initiatives to boost SMEs and specific sectors.

Coupled with the factsheets provided by P2P lending platforms that state the company’s operational and financial health, you will gain a wider perspective of the economy and SMEs you are funding.

  1. Diversify your investments within the platform

As the saying goes, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”, the same goes for investing in P2P lending. Diversifying across many loans has its advantages specifically in spreading the risk across many loans and helping to minimise the impact of non-performing loans.

Funding Societies endeavours to provide ample opportunities to diversify your investments:

  • I. Participate in multiple loans with small amount (at times as low as $50)
  • II. Consider spreading the weightage of your investments in terms of loan amounts
  • III. You have the option to choose the industries to invest in.
  • IV. Funding Societies currently provides Business Term Loans and Invoice Financing for investment. You can consider both products when investing.

Using the Auto-Invest feature simplifies your road to diversification. All you have to do is set your criteria based on product, industry, tenor, rate of returns and industry. When an investment opportunity matches your criteria, you will be allocated the investment based on the auto allocation algorithm.

  1. Re-invest for compounding effect

When investing in P2P lending, repayments are made on a monthly basis (30,60,90 days in case of invoice financing), and you can decide, based on your risk appetite, whether to reinvest the repaid funds and thereby compound the returns.

Southeast Asia’s leading crowdfunding platform, Funding Societies, currently operates in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. With more than 45,000 investors and being the only P2P lending platform to win the MAS FinTech Award (SME category, 2016), Funding Societies has also attained global recognition, being recognised amongst the Top 250 FinTech companies globally by CB Insights and winning the Best in Customer Experience for Alternative Financial Services by Retail Banker International.

Want to start investing in P2P lending? Sign up with Funding Societies today!

Disclaimers:

This article is contributed by Funding Societies.

It should not be construed that Moneydigest is endorsing this article or any of the products and services provided by Funding Societies.

Nothing in this article should be construed as constitute or form a recommendation, financial advice, or an offer, invitation or solicitation from Funding Societies to buy or subscribe for any securities and/or investment products. The content and materials made available are for informational purposes only and should not be relied on without obtaining the necessary independent financial or other advice in connection therewith before making an investment or other decision as may be appropriate.

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