Investment Options

Old Jun 28th 2017, 8:07 pm
  #16  
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Default Re: Investment Options

Howdy Y'all,

This is EXACTLY the kind of discussion/advice I was looking for, no specifics, just ideas etc and I am very grateful for everyone's participation .. i will try to address everyone's comments here as much as possible.
Davita: really enjoy (and learn) from your post.. so wanted to point out that golden rule of population planning also is....ahem: Diversity
So I get it that online rate declarations in MY are 'mostly guidelines" and the banks can be pursuaded to sweeten the deal a little depending on your relationship/money etc.

As for as keeping money in home country (USA in my case) is a good advise, however, considering the prime rate has been hovering at 0 or lower here for such a looooong time, your money sitting under your matteress may provide the benefit of reduction in heat bill over sitting in bank savings account. At least in MY it will be getting 3+%...

I meant to have this money brought in for ongoing expenses over a few years and put it in some kind of low risk CD ladder, FDs etc type investments vehicals that are liquid ...i dont mind low payout, as long as risk is low as well, part of my ask is how risky is MY in terms of financial stability. (I remember Brasil of the yore where you had to wake up to differnt currency everyday.. or Venezuela of today with out of control inflationary spiral ..I DO NOT think MY is anywhere clsoe to those extremes (or you and I will not be moving there)..

Finally, in terms of short time money changing, in my personal experience, using affiliate banks ATM to draw local currncey is the best way to get some local moneys, not the money changers (Beaurues etc). Is that not the case in MY?

Thanks again for the active participate and suggestions.

Cheers,
S. Soomro
(Please excuse the typso..fat fingers and small keyboards dont mix well, God knows I did go to good schools )
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Old Jun 28th 2017, 11:02 pm
  #17  
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Default Re: Investment Options

Originally Posted by ssoomro
Davita: really enjoy (and learn) from your post.. so wanted to point out that golden rule of population planning also is....ahem: Diversity

Finally, in terms of short time money changing, in my personal experience, using affiliate banks ATM to draw local currncey is the best way to get some local moneys, not the money changers (Beaurues etc). Is that not the case in MY?
I learned the golden rule of population planning was celibacy...but must confess....I've never been a practitioner....

If you are on MM2H I presume you will be using the Fixed Deposit (FD) system to maintain it which is in MYR. You should also create a current account to receive the interest from that FD and keep extra money there for ATM and other banking activity. Then, transfer a top-up from USA when needed, or when the exchange rate is very favorable. Check out Transferwise or any other online money exchanges for daily rates.
Your post indicates you are risk averse and most investments are risky but, in my opinion, the worst risk is keeping all your eggs (cash) in one basket (Malaysia).

Last edited by Davita; Jun 28th 2017 at 11:05 pm.
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Old Jun 29th 2017, 8:15 am
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Default Re: Investment Options

Originally Posted by ssoomro
As for as keeping money in home country (USA in my case) is a good advise, however, considering the prime rate has been hovering at 0 or lower here for such a looooong time, your money sitting under your matteress may provide the benefit of reduction in heat bill over sitting in bank savings account. At least in MY it will be getting 3+%...

I meant to have this money brought in for ongoing expenses over a few years and put it in some kind of low risk CD ladder, FDs etc type investments vehicals that are liquid ...i dont mind low payout, as long as risk is low as well, part of my ask is how risky is MY in terms of financial stability. (I remember Brasil of the yore where you had to wake up to differnt currency everyday.. or Venezuela of today with out of control inflationary spiral ..I DO NOT think MY is anywhere clsoe to those extremes (or you and I will not be moving there)..

Finally, in terms of short time money changing, in my personal experience, using affiliate banks ATM to draw local currncey is the best way to get some local moneys, not the money changers (Beaurues etc). Is that not the case in MY?
If you intend to spend all money in Malaysia then I can understand that you want to have it in Malaysia. However, if (a portion of) the money is intended to be spent later, in another country (e.g. USA), then you better leave it outside. You will lose money by converting it into MYR and you will lose money by converting MYR to another currency (e.g. USD). Don't look only at the 3~4% interest rate a Malaysian FD gives you.

Getting money from a bank's ATM is indeed better than using money changers in the streets. But again: you will lose money on your initial transfer, from home country into MYR.

Having said all of the above, I'm pretty sure that there are ways to get a higher investment return in the USA than 0% prime rate. But that would expose you to higher risks as well. Such as stocks, ETFs, or mutual funds.
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Old Jun 29th 2017, 3:21 pm
  #19  
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Default Re: Investment Options

Thank you all for your comments and suggestion.

I am afraid Celibacy is (quite conveniently) against my self-imposed moral code ..(I think selective breeding improves the stock, abstinence doesnt ...but that is a topic for another conversation around adult bevs). SushiFan has some good points. I am not particularly risk averse, in fact I have a reasonably diverse, but mostly stocks focused portfolio here in USA.. as a new resident in a new place, I am looking for modest/low risk options.. that will help keep the kitty growing slightly but not vanish suddenly once I have settled in, I will have better understanding of SEA markets and opportunities.
Cheers,
S. Soomro
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Old Jun 30th 2017, 3:21 am
  #20  
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Default Re: Investment Options

Originally Posted by ssoomro
once I have settled in, I will have better understanding of SEA markets and opportunities.
I invest in Thai stocks for many, many years now. Excellent dividends that cover a good part of the money daily used. Malaysia is not so much in the focus so far, even big ASEAN-Funds located in Malaysia don´t have one local stock in their portfolio. But of cause that can tell us, the right time is NOW
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Old Jun 30th 2017, 3:43 am
  #21  
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Default Re: Investment Options

"....home country (USA in my case)..."

If you hold a US passport, many banks in MY (including Citibank, HSBC, OCBC, etc) do not sell you mutual funds and other investments other than FDs etc.)
HSBC does not allow US and Canadian passport holders to invest in Funds.
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Old Jun 30th 2017, 6:29 am
  #22  
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Originally Posted by columbine
HSBC does not allow US and Canadian passport holders to invest in Funds.
Are you sure...I'm Canadian and hold unit funds invested by HSBC Jakarta.
I used to use HSBC as broker in Vancouver and previously had direct shares in HSBC which I regret selling as their price just went up over 4% yesterday ....due to the stress check being confirmed as OK.
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Old Jun 30th 2017, 9:38 am
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Default Re: Investment Options

Originally Posted by Davita
Are you sure...I'm Canadian and hold unit funds invested by HSBC Jakarta.
I used to use HSBC as broker in Vancouver and previously had direct shares in HSBC which I regret selling as their price just went up over 4% yesterday ....due to the stress check being confirmed as OK.
Yes, Davita. My RM at HSBC Pg main office told me 2 weeks ago Canadians are not allowed to buy mutual funds at HSBC Msia.
Citibank, OCBC and other banks allow Canadians to buy, but Not US passport holders.

Could just be HSBC M'sia. Ive no problem with HSBC HK.

Was just thinking Ssoomro being a US passport holder might have very limited investment options in M'sia.

Last edited by columbine; Jun 30th 2017 at 9:48 am.
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Old Jun 30th 2017, 12:51 pm
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Default Re: Investment Options

The difficulties with making investments overseas applies for all who are considered taxable in the US!
Meaning not only for US citizens but also for those with US residence permits, green cards, etc.
When applying for a bank account outside the US, in most if not all countries one has to declare whether one is subject to US tax or not. (Google on FATCA).
Last month I was actually asked by my Swedish bank to fill in such a declaration!

To be subject to tax in the US does not make it forbidden to invest overseas but it has to be reported to the IRS and since the banks also have a reporting responsibility here, some may want to avoid this hassle so the easiest would be to reject such clients.
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Old Jun 30th 2017, 1:46 pm
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Default Re: Investment Options

There is always that one guy who ruins the party... (Just kidding). That is interesting development, i can understand the reporting/taxation requirements. But not selling securities to US Citizens is an unusual measure. I will reach out to my HSBC RM here and try to confirm it.

Originally Posted by columbine
"....home country (USA in my case)..."

If you hold a US passport, many banks in MY (including Citibank, HSBC, OCBC, etc) do not sell you mutual funds and other investments other than FDs etc.)
HSBC does not allow US and Canadian passport holders to invest in Funds.
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Old Jun 30th 2017, 2:36 pm
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Default Re: Investment Options

Originally Posted by ssoomro
There is always that one guy who ruins the party... (Just kidding). That is interesting development, i can understand the reporting/taxation requirements. But not selling securities to US Citizens is an unusual measure. I will reach out to my HSBC RM here and try to confirm it.
hehehe, that's what I told my RM at HSBC Pg that I've nothing to do with the US, Canada is another country North of it and it's not Canada that investigated HSBC. He said sorry, keep your FDs with the bank, but buy mutual funds at other banks.

Please do and appreciate if you post your findings here.
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Old Jul 1st 2017, 4:33 am
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Default Re: Investment Options

Originally Posted by columbine
If you hold a US passport, many banks in MY (including Citibank, HSBC, OCBC, etc) do not sell you mutual funds and other investments other than FDs etc.)
Some will even refuse FD to US citizens.

But the good news for ssoomro, he will probably stick to the big guns anyway, that is CIMB, Maybank and HSBC. And absolutely no use to buy investment funds with the Malaysia accounts.
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Old Jul 2nd 2017, 6:49 am
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Default Re: Investment Options

Davita makes some very good points about investing in a range of funds to provide you with a hedge against problems in any one financial sector or region of the world.

But there is one factor that no one seems to have mentioned yet and that is currency fluctuations. When I left the UK I left a chunk of invested money behind. It had been doing modestly well for many years and I hoped the trend would continue. Over the last year that money has done spectacularly well and I could return to the UK a happy man. But thanks to the Brexit vote and a recent election fiasco the value of the pound has plummeted in that time. If I were to bring all that money to Malaysia today I would not get very many more ringgits than if I had brought it over the day before the Brexit vote.

Before you bring large sums of money into Malaysia look at the historical trend of the Ringgit against other currencies that you could invest in. I have opened investment accounts in Singapore as I think that long term the s$ will fair better than the ringgit.
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Old Jul 2nd 2017, 7:33 am
  #29  
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Thanks for confidence in my post neon.
I agree with your point about diversity of currencies and think I broached that subject in my post. For example, I did mention funds being diversified but also implied that currency fluctuations are also part of the mix.
I said my portfolio was GBP355,000 but four days later it's only GBP351,000 due to the strength of the pound. However, in any currency I will spend i.e. Indonesia/Canada/USA ...I'm still better off if I sell the GBP into those currencies.
Investing from outside one's homeland will always introduce that currency fluctuation risk.
This was evident as I receive an RAF/OAP from UK and, since Brexit vote, that has lost considerable buying power since I don't live in the UK...compounded by not having them increase by inflation... as it would be if I did.

btw Transferwise today offers MYR 5,552.55 for GBP1,000.
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Old Jul 2nd 2017, 7:54 am
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Default Re: Investment Options

NeonHippy, I believe that currency fluctuations is some sort of double-edged sword. If you plan to stay the rest of your life in Malaysia, then it would be best to have your investments in MYR. And don't be exposed to any other currency. However, if you plan to move to another country later in life it would be better to have yourself hedged to that currency.
If you search good enough you will find everywhere the possibility to invest in mutual funds whose base currency is either EUR, GBP, USD. For some of those funds you maybe pay in GBP, but are in their core based on EUR or USD, for example. Combining those in a portfolio of funds creates some hedge against all major currencies.
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