i got item 1 to 6 so far,
a little of everything i suppose......
coz i am still in the process of trial and error
after 4 years of experiment, conclusion is
1) unit trust could be pretty shitty if u buy the wrong one....., i think i will never buy any again......
2) for insurance, buy just enough for protection and medical etc, if for saving pusposes, better to do it yourselve (at least for me)
reason, the hefty commision paid to agent in the initial years suck alot of your capital amount plus the recurring charges, its lower your return greatly....
3) Share is very volatile so u must have strong heart and capital b4 going in.
after my trials, my personal recommendation if u looking for higher return than FD: (freindly advise only invest at your own risk hor)
1) REIT (Real Estate investment trust)
there is 2 good one in S'pore Acendas REIT and Capital Mall Trust
Both traded in SGX, they paid good dividend ard 8-9% yield, I have got ARIETs, return so far is abt 50% since IPO (10% realised and 40% unrealised)
need CDP account, can trade thro broker, for a start $1300 to $1500 per lot.....
2) SGS (Singapore Governement Security)
its basically bond or US treasury bill equivalent issued by MAS (i think)
basically is u lend them money, they will pay u interest (ard 4% for 10 year tenure), at maturity, they will return u the principal. its guaranteed by govt.
u would need to open a SGS account with any of the local bank, amount to start is S$10,000.00 i think
will be trying this in April when i FD which is earning peanuts atm due...
3) Foreign Currency
Highly recommended AUD, yearly int ard 5% plus economy very strong and inversly related to USD ie. USD fall, it will go up.....
for this is for those with strong heart coz forex move very quickly also,
but if u go citibank, think they can hedge for u by doing a forward contract to fixed the conversion rate at maturity of FD if u wanna convert back to Sing. Think abt AUD 5000 to start a deposit a/c with bank....
things i haven't try, gold and silver, comics, dolls, collectables like transformers......,
bascially lazy to monitor, buy and trade lar, prefer something which i just leave it there, fairly safe and give me enough return to finance short holiday yearly
and easily liquidated in case i need money....
just my 2 cents worth.....
if anyone else got good advice, pls let me know okay