What the …. happened to Ben Foo?

My dear friends,

I have gone MIA for the last 3 months and have not continued with the "investment"  gatherings. I am sorry I did not update earlier.

I am now living in Ho Chi Minh City for the last 2months plus. Yes, I have relocated and have resigned from Phillip Securities, and some fellow SHCians already knew. Sad to say, I will not be able to arrange our "Investment" meetings anymore and participate in all the exciting events that I used to attend, like getting drunk at Ah Nee’s party at MAS.

My old friend has invited me to join him and help expand his biz in Vietnam, and I took the plunge. I now hold a 3-year residency visa in Vietnam, hopefully can find a affordable ‘paradise’ to retire in the longer term.

I am the Singapore director of a 5-year old Korean investment advisory and real eastate company based in HCMC. We provide consultancy to corporate customers to help start their business and quickly secure the appropriate business licenses (not easy and can take forever) in Vietnam.

We also provide real estate agency, investment and management services to help foreign companies and individuals (facing language, cultural and legal issues) to lease or buy land (for building factories, resorts, etc), buildings, offices, retail outlets, apartments (condo) and villas (landed) in Vietnam.

I am still learning anything and everything Vietnamese. It has been quite an experience so far (some of you may know what I mean), and busy settling down (no time for alot of things). 

I shall be most happy to catch up with SHCians living in HCMC, or meet anybody coming over for holidays. I shall pick you up in my company car at the airport. I shall be happy to enlighten those who may be keen to invest and retire in Vietnam, I think it is a very attractive idea. Drop me a post and I shall try to reply asap (sorry in advance if few days late). I am not advertising or asking anybody to do this, but if you ask I shall reply.

Meanwhile, I shall keep my dear friends posted here. So now you want to know what the …. he does at night?

Cheers, Ben Foo

Online Trading Training postphoned to 30 Jan Sat 11am

We have had a wonderful time at our investment event yesterday (Sat) but have to postphone the online trading training due to system maintenance.

There are those who had registered for the training during the event, names below.

I suggest this Sat, 30 Jan, same Phillip venue at Balestier Rd, where there are 8 PCs available for hands-on, at 11am. We can go for lunch at the hawker center nearby (good food & kopi I hear) after that.

I shall be conducting the training and timing can be flexible, 10am, 11am or 12noon (I suggest 11). The place closes at 1pm as we shall be using the PCs in the common area.

As we can only take in 16 trainees, plse confirm your attendances. Available space shall be given to others on 1st-come-1st serve basis.

1. Constance Wong

2. Jacqueline Han

3. Lilian Teo

4. Rose White

5. Peggy Ho

6. Kenneth Tan

7. Andrew Koh

8. Thomas Goh

9. Ginko

10. Tham Weng Hon

11……

(6 places available, register is you want)

Those who has taken the forms, plse remember to mail to me asap to get the POEMS access.

Cheers, Ben

Jan 2010 Investment Meeting & Online Trading Lesson

Dear SHCians,

The new year brings in the beginning of a bull rally in the stock market. The much awaited downward correction never came end of last year, instead we have indications of USA and Asian economies on the mend.

Yes, we are expecting the stock market to pick up for the next 6 months and it is good news for those who have been preparing to be ready to trade and for online trading.

So, we are back to school again in Jan 2010. I shall be conducting stock picks, when to buy/sell sessions with hands-on lesson on online trading.

Place: Phillip Investor Center, Shan Rd (junction with Balestier Rd (check www.poems.com.sg for maps, location). Can take bus from Novena MRT station. Cashcard parking available inside, $1/hr.

Date & Time: 23 Jan 2010 (Sat) 2:00 to 4:00PM

Charges: Free use of the facilities

F&B: Buy your own, big Balestier hawker center nearby

The training room can take about 15-20 persons, plse indicate if you are coming.

I wish SHC investors will make it good this year.

Cheers, Ben

Oct Investment Update

Dear all,

I have wirtten a post yesterday morning but discovered now that it’s content is empty pending review. There is a bug in the system.

So here goes again…

1. Instead of organising our own meeting this month, I am inviting our kakis and those who are interested in investing to join a talk on 24 Oct 09 at Phillip Investor Center at Shan Rd/Balestier RD from 9.30am to 12.30pm. It is free, and light refreshment will be served. I will conduct training on POEMS for those who are keen and willing to stay back for 30mins after the meeting. Plse reply to this post, thanks.

2. I have started Twitter braodcast and you are invited to "follow me" for stock market news, stock alerts, US indexes and STI directions, stock chart analyses, US econmic data, etc. You can join Twitter at www.twitter.com and "Search" for benfoo88 and "Follow Me" and read all my braodcasts or tweets. This is faster and I will try to keep it short and relevant to help you in the decisions to invest. I have made some recommendation before opening yesterday morning after the STI trashing on Monday and DOW trashing last Friday.

Cheers, Ben

Sept Monthly Investment Meeting

Hi gals and guys,

I thought a new post will help grab your attention.

We got lucky and have managed to booked the Presentation Room at Phillip City Tower Level 6 (same place lah) from 1.30 to 4.30pm on Sat, 5 Sep 2009.

We shall have our next meeting then and there are some feedback the last meeting that I would like to address in the agenda.

1. Online Trading has been well requested and learning this skill will be an important step to manage your money and trade better. I will conduct a 30-min training session using live POEMS, I will see if we can have access to the terminals there for some hands-on during a short break. Those who wants to open POEMS account (free) beforehand, plse email me separately (foost@phillip.com.sg).

2. Stock Picks & Fundamentals – I shall talk about this in more details. We can also share and identify some attractive small & mid cap stocks and get organised to do some research on them as a team (investor club).

3. Review the stock market (STI) and anticipate potential upcoming correction levels.

4. Analyse the stocks you want to know more about. From feedback, some listen to “tips” and buy without knowledge; some got burnt badly before, are stuck with loads of shares and don’t know how to move on to take advantage of the opportunities that are opening up now.

5. Re-visit money management, timing market entry & exits and stop loss (auto with POEMS ProTrader).

6. Initiate discussion on Investor Club. Suggestion to call it SHC Top & Bottom Club (like sell top and buy bottom as motto)?

7. There will be a 30min break for socialising and chatting as we now have 3 hours. I know the last time was rush rush.

I have been asked if I can handle the buying and selling shares as a Phillip Security Consultant. Yes, contactually I am a Remisier with Phillip but have the flexibility of operating a mobile office as a consultant. Yes, I can open your trading account with online POEMS free of charge (even if you already have one) and yes, I can meet you anytime and place to do it. And yes, I will answer your questions, meet you, advise on shares and guide you to trade online to save on brokerage fees (0.28% vs 0.5/0.4%) if you so desire (especially for SHCians, to help you save money).

Lastly, any further feedback for the agenda are welcome. I know few have asked for coffees and soft drinks the last time. There is a great coffee shop at City Link about 50M from the City Hall MRT entrance and good local coffee O only 90cents. Maybe can buy during break (we will have a break this time, note the time is longer).

Same thing as usual, plse leave you name behind if you are coming so that we know how many will be there.

Thanks for your kind co-operation and looking forward to “siow liao lah” positive energy greeting again.

Investment Update Aug 09

Dear all, I thought it might be more convenient to start a new post, troblesome to "scrull" around for some or maybe not at all emoticon

Thanks to the 43 or so SHCians who overwhemingly support the last Sat talk and meeting. It was a lively meeting and I am sure all have enjoyed it. We ran out of time and had to rush through at the end and ommitted the discussion on inevestor club. Also due to time, regretfully only half duly complete the feedback form.

It is encouranging to have positive feedback from Kenneth and LH Jie in their respective earlier postings; and also supportive comments from Terence and Tim. Thanks guys!

As suggested by Kenneth, a short summary for those who have not attended is duely.

The theme: Stock Market: Preparedness to meet Opportunity = Managed Luck and topics included

1. Positive Energy Attracts Opportunity

>> Happiness is the source of goodwill and positive energy. We are only as happy as those around us. By way of introduction, we tell one another how "good" we were feeling to the tune of James Brown’s song with same tiltle. High "5"s all around for re-inforcement. So now we can get lucky.

2. ST Index: 1998 to 2009 – Technical Analysis & Opportunities

>> We looked at the last boom and bust cycle and identified support lines and retracement patterns. From technical analysis, we have looked at possible retracement level around STI 2700-2750 points, following Fibonacchi’s retracement method and identifying strong resistenace turned support level. Next, we looked at possbile correction levels at 2420, 2244, 2112 & 1936 that we need to watch out for as prossible Fibonacchi’s turning points (buying 4D also suggested).

3. Investment Planning

>> We covered Basic Technical Analysis using Fibonacchi’s retracement; trend, resistance and support lines, top & bottom turning-point indicators, and divergence indicators to help us identify an opportunity when it arises and to prepare for entering or exiting a position (WHEN TO BUY). We then see how to enter a trade looking for candles confirmation and breaching of resistance lines; and how to exit with confirmation of breaching of support lines (HOW TO BUY). And of cource, a STOP loss plan (HOW TO CUT LOSS).

>> We tackled the question of "I only want to buy at $1 and then sell at $1.20 to make 20 cents, why should I be bothered with all these technical analysis?" with topic on Trading Psychology and see how FEAR, GREED, HOPE and EGO go trading shares. The picture becomes obvious that we need to cleard away all our emotion when investing or trading and follow the rules. If you don’t know the rules, go learn or rely on somebody in cahoot who knows the rule.

>> Next up, Fundamental Analsysis and Stock Pick which dealt with boring facts and figures about companies – price pattern and volatility, see the future and look at the past of the company, news and institution buyers. In USA, this is largely automated with a scoring system and available for subcription on the web. We are still backward, can this be a opportunity for SHC to develop and offer such services for Sgp and Asean market?Investor club members can share such info and save time (WHAT TO BUY).

>> Money & Risk Management – we talked about float and max 2% risk per trade (HOW MUCH TO INVEST). Allocation plan is such that the no. of successive losses is less than the 2% max risk. The idea is trade to survive (loose less money) rather than how much I want to make. Determine risk appetite, return, time frame, which instruments and apply risk managenet. We examine different investment scenerios as different types of risk management.

>> The emphasis on Online Trading and the basic skills needed to get started. I can start a class with POEMS and it is free to open a Phillip account (I will be happy to help) that comes with free access to the online POEMS. There is no rule to restrict you to only one trading account. You can have as many as you want and all free. Feedback needed if you want to attend. Commission is lower for online trading, so better learn.

4. Admin & Trading Rules

>> The do & don’ts in trading, the credit limit and what does it mean, the settlement date and forced selling, the wrong keying in of orders online and how to appeal, the opening of trading account and the service level of your remisier/ dealer. You can open as many Phillip accounts as you want and trade with the remisier who gives you the best service in making and protecting your money.

5. Investor Club – no time to discuss, postphone to next time. Feedback here is welcomed. For starter, I am suggesting we meet socially once a month and see how it goes.

Lastly, the feedback form is great for us to plan our talks better in future and to reach out to specific requests from the group. I have only received 19 on Sat and I would like to request those who have not done so to send an email to me foost@phillip.com.sg or sms XXXXXXX your email address so that I can forward you the soft copy for you to fill in and return via email. Or just drop you email address here in the post if your are too busy.

Please feel free to comment, ask or suggest. However, do give me some days if any lengthy respond is expected. And just call me if it is about the stock market price movements, it is time to watch for buying opportunities as most blue chips have started to pullback already. Crucial news from USA this Friday includes CPI, capacity untilization, industrial production and consumer sentiments.

Will keep you post on the next talk… cheers, ben

This Saturday’s Investment Talk cum Meeting

Dear all who have registered (in total 51 SHCians),

Plse be reminded the talk cum meeting is this Sat 080809 (auspicious day, double ‘fatt’) from 2.00 to 4.00PM at Raffles City Tower level 6 Phillip Presentation Room.

The STI index has briefly touched 2,700 points this mroning and retracted. The 2700 point is the very strong support turned resistance level. It is also the 50% retracement between the Oct07 high  at 3907 and Mar09 1455 low, in line with Fibonacchi’s retracement projection. So, are we due for a correction? If so, how much will the STI pullback? Is this my second chance accumulate at reduced risk? If I have shares now (CPF or others), should I be selling now?

Well, to add some spice to this Sat’s talk, I shall include a Technical Analysis of the STI (from the past to now what’s next?), looking at possible retracement and support levels in the coming months.

So, don’t miss the Sat’s event. The theme is Stock Market: Preparedness (when meeting Opportunity = Managed Luck).  Plse refer July 12 Post for topics and details.

Cheers, Ben

Sharing Stock and Investment Market Info and Happenings

Dear SHCians,

The STI Index has moved up more than 40% since Mar 09. Most economists believe the worst is behind us, but nobody knows how fast and how soon our economy will recover. However, we know the stock markets move much faster and earlier than the actual economy.

For those with interest, it is wise to get prepared so that you do not miss the next rally and bull run in the stock market. There are also new instruments such as Exchange Trade Funds (EFTs) and Extended Settlement (ES) contracts much like stock option in the stock market today.

Drop me an email foost@phillip.com.sg to receive stock info and invitations to selective investment talks and events. If the response is good, we can consider starting our own Investor Club to help educate our members and share knowledge and experiences so that we can be better traders and investors.