How Your Investment in Peer-to-Peer Lending Supports Local Businesses

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are at the heart of Singapore’s economy. They make up 99% of our enterprises, employ two-thirds of our workforce, and account for about half of Singapore’s GDP. To date, there are nearly 200,000 SMEs in Singapore.

While we often see success stories on news and social media, the road to success is sometimes not as straightforward. Find out how you can invest in peer-to-peer (P2P) lending with Funding Societies and support emerging Singapore SMEs.

Your contribution can directly make an impact on the business you’re supporting

According to a 2017 Straits Times poll, 40% of SMEs said that they thought the Singapore economy would grow in the next 12 months and 43% felt positive sales growth was on the cards.

By investing in SMEs through P2P lending, you directly contribute to immediate cashflow needs of the SMEs to grow their businesses. In return, you’re rewarded in monetary returns from the interests of the business loans. Funding Societies is one such platform in Singapore that is supporting local businesses through crowdfunding.

Read about how peer-to-peer lending works.

You earn potentially high returns on your investments while supporting local businesses

P2P lending harnesses the power of people to help local, homegrown businesses to grow and expand. Investing in P2P lending allows you to potentially earn up to 14% per annum returns on your investment.

It is actually really easy to invest in SMEs in Singapore through P2P lending. Funding Societies is a digital P2P lending platform that is dedicated to serving SMEs, therefore the mission of Funding Societies is aptly, “Stronger SMEs, Stronger Societies.” Investors receive monthly repayments which they can re-invest to support even more local businesses.

Support SMEs across multiple industries

The Ministry of Trade and Industry announced a $4.5 Billion industry transformation programme to systematically raise productivity, develop skills, drive innovation, and promote internationalisation, so as to catalyse transformation and achieve the stated vision of each industry. There’s also Infocomm Media Development Authority’s Go Digital Programme — an initiative that allows SMEs to increase productivity and capture more online sales through digitalization of their businesses.

However, the Singapore Budget 2017 recognizes that the government alone cannot help all businesses transform and the need to strengthen partnerships and collaborations in order to help SMEs succeed. Financial institutions, including alternative finance companies such as Funding Societies, play an important role in providing financial support to help SMEs grow and prosper.

As the minimum investment for peer-to-peer lending starts as low as $100 on the Funding Societies platform, you could help the economy holistically by investing in multiple industries and companies at the same time, in turn diversifying your investment portfolio across sectors.

Since its inception in 2015, Funding Societies has already expanded to two more Southeast Asian countries over the last two years – Indonesia and Malaysia. It is the only P2P lending platform to have won the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Fintech Award in 2016 and was recognised as one of the Top 250 Fintech companies globally.

More than 23,000 investors are already on Funding Societies’ platform regionally. Find out how to invest on the platform here.

Interested? Sign up for your investor account with Funding Societies now.

Disclaimer

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.

Read More...

Things that you need to learn as currency trader

If you want to stand in the financial market, you should be a brave person. You might be wondering what bravery has to do with trading. Of course, courage plays a vital role in trading. We will cite an example to make it more transparent if a trader hesitates to enter into a trade how he or she can trade the market? Moreover, this is a volatile market if you don’t bear the risks or if you don’t handle the risks, you cannot survive. The bottom line is you should be brave enough to trade the market successfully. The Singaporean traders are highly successful due to their braveness in trading the market. If you consider the Singaporean traders, they never hesitate to enter into a trade or they never think twice about trading the market. Facing losses is also part of trading so the trader should be able to accept it. Trading will be simple if the traders look at easily. If the traders look at the market as if it is complex then definitely it will be. The fault is in the gaze of the traders. Let us read to learn more.

img1

Market information should be learned

You are not the only trader in the market, so the competition is high. You need to compete with other traders to become successful in the market. To become successful traders, you should learn the market information thoroughly. You should make sure to learn the market news, financial news, market changes, market movements, economic changes, etc. to trade successfully. It is evident that the news impacts the market profoundly when the market is affected it will be a significant impact on your trading career. So, as traders, you should not be neglectful regarding the market. You should be a trader who does not want to see market surprises meaning you should be attentive regarding the market changes. If you study the changes, you will not know even if the value of the currencies changes so how can you also trade? As CFD traders you should bear in mind when trading CFDs the changes in the currency value will impact a lot on your trades. You should be up-to-date with these factors to become a successful trader.

A wise trader has a bright career

A knowledgeable person will lead a successful life so likewise, a wise trader will have a brilliant career. When the trader is wise he or she will not let the market to fool so the trader will collect the details regarding the price movements. When the trader knows what the market has prepared trader can make the wisest move.

Do not waste your emotions

There are three things a person should never waste. These are food, water, and emotions. So as traders; you should not waste your feelings. The market does not mind even if you lose a win it will move according to its wish you should be intelligent to tame the market.

All the novice traders had to face an extreme level of difficulty in the early stage of their trading career. They don’t know how to deal with the market dynamics. In fact, the majority of the traders think that this market is easy to trade and thus trade with big lot size. Some even start trading with high leverage account to make a huge amount of money from a small trading account. Every single one of them blows their entire trading account within a short period. So if you want to avoid such situation then make sure that you are not taking unnecessary risk.

Learning is a continuous process for every full-time trader. You need to make sure that you are well aware of the global economic factors or else you will find yourself in a miserable condition. Read the financial news to assess the economic performance of the country.

Read More...

Newbie’s Guide To Bitcoin Investing

ACT LIKE CASH, MINED LIKE GOLD

Cryptocurrency continues to gain popularity among investors and venture capital firms. Several of these individuals are betting that Bitcoin is here to stay! Before taking a stand, let us have a quick look at the basics of Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is a decentralized payment system developed by Satoshi Nakamoto (a Japanese pseudonym). This innovative digital currency was publicly released in 2009. We came a long way since then! A myriad of improvements or updates have been made by a network of developers.

Image Credits: pixabay.com

Image Credits: pixabay.com

In simple terms, bitcoins act like cash and are mined like gold. How so?

Global retailers may allow you to purchase goods and services through this “intangible” currency. However, its acquisition poses challenges. Solving extensive mathematical equations are needed to discover new bitcoins. You will have to unlock each block and be rewarded afterwards.

It is fascinating that the developer has set a finite number of bitcoins to be mined – 21 million to be exact. The uncovered bitcoins skyrocketed in the recent years. At this rate, the final bitcoin is projected to be discovered by the year 2140.

THE ART OF ACQUISITION

Develop a strategy to obtain bitcoins by weighing the advantages and disadvantages of these primary options. You can either outright buy, mine for, or receive it.

The easiest way for beginners to acquire bitcoins is to purchase from specialized companies such as the www.coinbase.com. Coinbase.com sells bitcoins to customers at a mark-up of about 1% over the current market price. On the other hand, traders can go to bitcoin exchange websites such as the BitStamp. BitStamp eliminates the middleman as it allows you to transact with other users. See for yourself!

The second option is to dedicate your time on bitcoin mining. Bitcoin miners are crucial to the completion of transactions and the validation of genuine bitcoins. Using the computer, bitcoin miners need to verify a series of transactions that are guarded by a virtual lock called “blockchains”. Miners will run a software to find the key that will open said lock. For finding the coveted key, miners get a reward of 12.5 newly generated bitcoins. Research showed that it takes 1,789,546,951.05 attempts to find the correct key. Imagine how much effort you have to exhaust for that!

Last but not least, you may receive bitcoins offline by selling goods or services. You should apply the usual precautions when meeting a stranger for the bitcoin transaction. Meet in a public place at daytime and bring a friend (i.e., if possible).

Image Credits: pixabay.com

Image Credits: pixabay.com

Are you going to embrace the future of money or treat it as a chaotic addition to the stock market?

Sources: 1, 2, & 3

Read More...

What On Earth Are Bitcoins?

In the recent years, Bitcoin has captured the attention of many Singaporeans. We are gradually embracing the new wave of modern transactions – the rise of cryptocurrency! Despite its exposure, you may still be wondering what exactly it is.

BITCOIN DEFINITION

In its core, bitcoin belongs to an alternative type of payment system called cryptocurrency. It is a digital asset that enables you to conduct transactions outside of the mainstream financial infrastructures. Balances are securely stored using private and public keys. I am not referring to the metal keys that help open doors! Instead, these keys are linked through the mathematical encryption algorithms.

Image Credits: pixabay.com

Image Credits: pixabay.com

One of the most challenging parts of sustaining a digital transaction is ensuring that nobody spends the “same bitcoin” more than once. As you can imagine, almost anything digital can be copied over and over again! Regulation is crucial to cryptocurrency. Traditionally, verification was done thru trusted central authorities (e.g., PayPal). What makes bitcoin special is its utilization of a huge peer-to-peer network to verify transactions. Bitcoin payments are non-reversible, transaction fees are significantly lower, and its corresponding accounts cannot be frozen.

BITCOIN FUNDAMENTALS

1. History: Its origin dates back to 2008 when it was created by developer Satoshi Nakamoto.

2. Operations: Transactions are fully transparent due to the publicly available ledge known as the “blockchain”.

3. Security: As mentioned above, a bitcoin transaction consists of a public key (i.e., known to everyone) and a private key (i.e., exclusive to the bitcoin user). You cannot spend coins without knowing its private key.

4. Purpose: Bitcoin provides a viable alternative to the dealings within mainstream financial infrastructures. It eliminates the hefty transaction fees and the transportation expenses.

BITCOIN MINING

The bitcoin network is only as strong as the people and institutions supporting it. It is not created by the simple copy and paste tool! Instead, you need to mine for the digital assets using extensive computers that solve complex equations. Bitcoin miners are crucial to the completion of transactions and the validation of genuine bitcoins.

Without bitcoin miners, no new coins will be brought into the circulation as no rewards would be given.

Image Credits: pixabay.com

Image Credits: pixabay.com

Sources:1, 2, 3, & 4

Read More...

How to start your peer-to-peer lending investment journey with Funding Societies

In September, we gave you 5 reasons to invest in peer-to-peer (P2P) lending. If you have not already opened your account on Funding Societies’ investor platform, it’s time to start now and earn up to 14% per annum returns on your investments along with 21,000 other investors who invest in crowdfunding with Funding Societies.

Here’s a recap of how P2P lending works

What are the products?

With Funding Societies, you can invest into the following 2 products:

Business Term Loans – Loan given to SMEs for working capital, fulfilment of contracts, acquiring new contracts etc. with tenors ranging from 1 month to 12 months. As an investor, you receive principal and interest on a monthly basis thus unlocking the cash and allowing you to reinvest the monies into new loans.

Invoice Financing (Accounts Receivables Purchase) – Funding provided to SMEs against the invoices issued to their buyers/debtors/clients with tenors ranging from 30 days to 90 days depending on the invoice credit period terms. Investors receive repayment at the end of 30/60/90 days along with interest.

Every deal could have a few hundred investors investing alongside you and thus you fund a small part of each loan/invoice and therefore also bear the same small part of the risk.

Okay, how do I start?

  1. Sign up as an investor on Funding Societies platform
  2. Receive your subscription agreement and e-sign it! (Fun fact: Funding Societies is the first P2P lending platform that has e-signing of contract so that their investors can do it on their computer or mobile anytime, anywhere)
  3. Make your first deposit of minimum $1,000
  4. Browse for opportunities on web or app platform
  5. Start investing from as little as $100
  6. Turn on Auto-Invest to let the system allocate investments based on your pre-set criteria

How do I choose which investments to go for?

Before every crowdfunding opportunity, you’ll receive an email alert for the deal. There is a detailed fact sheet that you can review hours before deciding to put your money in the loan.

Some of the investors on Funding Societies platform have placed their monies on every loan by either (i) manually investing when the crowdfunding period starts, or (ii) auto-investing (see point #6 above). For every auto-invested loan, you always have a choice to opt out from the investment before the crowdfunding starts.

However, different investors have different risk appetite, so it is common practice, and also a good one, to explore the platform and view the various opportunities before making your investment decision.

How do I track the repayments and performance of the investments?

When you invest on Funding Societies platform, the repayments are on a monthly basis.

Simply log on to the web portal and access the dashboard. Check out the screenshots here.

As an investor, you will also receive late repayment fees from SMEs who did not make the repayment on time – but hey, when you share the risk, it’s only fair that you share the returns right?

Common strategies to invest in P2P lending

While there is no one-size-fits-all formula for any type of investment, Funding Societies shares three ways you can explore for your investment portfolio with them:

  1. Diversify, Diversify, Diversify

As a matter of fact, investing in P2P lending is already one way to diversify your investment portfolio. However, within P2P lending, it makes sense to diversify your portfolio into different loans – by industries, amounts, tenure – to minimize the default risk.

  1. Create compounding effect by re-investing

Funding Societies’ repayment schedule is on a monthly basis, that means you get your original invested amount + pro-rated interests back every month based on the stated dates. While you can hold the money in the account, a smart thing to do is to use this for other investments on the platform to create a compounding effect.

  1. Free your time with Auto-Invest

As mentioned, Auto-Invest is a feature Funding Societies created to allow their investors to put in their money for loans based on their preferred criteria. Here, you can choose a range of interest rates, tenure, industries. Once it’s set up and switched on, the algorithm sets in to auto-allocate your preferred amount for the loans that fall within your criteria.

Start exploring P2P lending as an alternative investment now with Funding Societies. Sign up now by clicking here.

 

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.

Read More...