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FI

FI

FI writes about investing, risk, CPF/SRS mechanics, and portfolio frameworks — practical, product-agnostic analysis for readers building toward their own enough point. Views are personal and educational only, and do not reflect the position of any employer.

Posts by FI — Page 2

Is There Really a Glut of Unsold New Homes? Yes — In a Handful of Districts.

Is There Really a Glut of Unsold New Homes? Yes — In a Handful of Districts.

Singapore has around 34,000 unsold new private homes — developers’ stock, not resale. The figure is official, it is in every property headline this year, and it sounds like a warning about whatever you are viewing this weekend. It is also a national figure, and nobody buys the nation. We added up where the unsold stock actually sits, district by district — and it is nowhere near evenly spread. Three districts hold more than a third of it. Five have no active launch at all.

Does a Cheaper District Pay More Rent? No. Smaller Flats Do.

Does a Cheaper District Pay More Rent? No. Smaller Flats Do.

Everyone repeats the same rule: the suburbs pay you rent, the prime districts pay you prestige. We checked it across 26 of Singapore's 28 private districts and the relationship is not there — price and yield barely move together. What does move with yield is the size of the flats. The highest-yielding district in Singapore is in the city centre, and it is full of small apartments.

New Launch or Resale? Whoever Picked the Dates Picked the Winner

New Launch or Resale? Whoever Picked the Dates Picked the Winner

Half the property internet says good resale beats a new launch. The other half says new launches are the sure win. Both can point at real transaction data from the same source, and neither is making anything up — the answer reverses depending on where you start counting. Put both sides on the same basis and the whole advantage comes to about S$3,800 on a S$1.5 million home, against a S$44,600 stamp duty bill. Here is what is actually worth comparing instead.

Leveraged ETFs Sometimes Work. Can You Survive the Ride?

Leveraged ETFs Sometimes Work. Can You Survive the Ride?

Korean retail investors put billions into 2× Samsung and SK Hynix funds this June. Five weeks later, S$10,000 in that fund was worth S$1,351 — while the stock itself had merely halved. Yet on other markets the same structure made fortunes. What separates the two is not the product. It is whether you can sit through the path.

Do Singapore Investors Pay US Estate Tax on US Shares?

Do Singapore Investors Pay US Estate Tax on US Shares?

Singapore abolished estate duty in 2008, but US shares and US-domiciled funds above US$60,000 remain exposed to US estate tax of up to 40% — even in a Singapore brokerage account. An interactive look at how the rule works, and what changes it.

CPF vs SRS: Which Should You Top Up First?

CPF vs SRS: Which Should You Top Up First?

CPF top-ups and SRS contributions both offer tax relief and long-term compounding, but they behave very differently once the money is in. A framework for thinking through the trade-offs.