Financial Freedom

Liquidated Ascott REIT, Sabana REIT and Cross Timbers Royalty Trust

Liquidated my entire holdings in Ascott REIT, Sabana REIT and Cross Timbers Royalty Trust since they have all appreciated. Most of them were sold for a profit though I have held on to some for a few years while others were just bought recently.

Ascott REIT sold 15 lots at $1.415
Sabana REIT sold 2 lots at $1.18
Cross TImbers Royalty Trust sold 100 shares at US$30.789

My sense is that the REIT market in Singapore is already fairly valued and there are perhaps little opportunities for further increase. I could be wrong but thought it will be better to sit on some cash and await further opportunities.

How Much Does Youtube Pay?

So how much does youtube pay its partners for videos that are uploaded and monetised? For those interested in earning some additional cash, youtube offers a partner program which pays you cash. You can check out the partner program here (http://www.youtube.com/yt/partners/).

Youtube is basically owned by Google so its partner program is really like Adsense. It is linked to adsense and one basically earns revenue from the advertisements that are shown. The amount one can earns depends on the type of ads and the pricing of the ads that appear with your videos.

Based on feedback, it seems like the normal rate paid is 1/3 cent to 1 cent per view. What this means is that for a video with 1,000,000 views, you can earn $3300 (1,000,000 x 0.033 cents). Other users claim a rate of between $1 to $5 for every 1000 views. So that places it around $1000 to $5000 for a million views. The rate does not seem to far off from the normal adsense program where one is paid both for clicks and for views. At this stage, one can only wonder how much Psy earned from his Gangnam style music video.

Of course, your videos have to be original content, suitable for all users, etc. And if you do the math, you will realise that it isn't that easy. You basically need to have a large audience before it is possible to make money from youtube.

Time to work my butt off

How to Check if I Have Medishield

To check if you are covered under Medishield, it is really quite simple. There are basically 3 ways:

Look at your yearly CPF Statement of Account (the yearly statement will also tell you whether you are paying for a dependent)
Log in to my cpf online services and go to My Messages (this is located at the menu on the left hand bar). Under Insurance, you should be able to see your medishield coverage
Call CPF Board at 1800-227-1188 to check.

The CPF FAQ also states it quite clearly as follows:

Your yearly CPF Statement of Account and “My Messages” (under "my cpf Online Services ", which you have to log in to with your CPF Account Number and SingPass) will indicate the status of your/your dependant(s)’ coverage. Alternatively, you can also call CPF Board at 1800-227 1188 to check.

Jesus is Lord by Daniel K.L. Chua

Just sharing an inspirational song that I heard some years back in church. I am somewhat surprised that this song is not more widely sung in churches and I have yet to come across any other video on this song in Youtube thus far. I hope this song ministers to you whatever station that you may be in your life.

Lyrics and Music of the song by Daniel K.L. Chua

Jesus is Lord, behold the King of Kings

Exalted high, the name above all names

I sing his praise, the Lamb upon the throne

Who reigns in glory, power and majesty

This is my God, behold his hands and side

The wounds of love, that healed my brokenness

What God is this? What kind of sacrifice

Would give so much to gain a loveless soul?

For me to live is Christ to die is gain

For Christ has died that I might gain his life

He is my All, my joy, my righteousness

My hope of glory when he comes to reign

Yes, suddenly, my God shall come again

And every name shall bow before his name

And he shall reign, forever on the throne

And in his glory there I shall proclaim

JESUS is LORD

Added Starhill Global REIT to Portfolio

Have added a small amount of Starhill Global REIT that is traded on the SGX into my portfolio. Bought them at 82.5 cents. This is just part of my diversification strategy as I have found my REITs holdings to be heavily weighted towards one single REIT.

Starhill Global REIT owns various retail/office properties in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, China and Japan. Its distribution yield is slightly over 5% and various analysts have chosen it as one of their top picks with a target price of around 85 cents. I am also expecting the REIT to pay out its distributions in Feb or Mar 2013.

For newbie investors, S-REITs have actually risen quite a fair bit over the year and now trade at a premium to book value. For quite a long time, S-REITs have been trading at a discount to book value. Most analysts are perhaps NEUTRAL on S-REITs right now given how much they have appreciated over the past one year.

Paid Paternity Leave for Singapore?

There is much talk and buzz going on that the White Paper on Population to be discussed in Parliament in early 2013 might include the possibility of paid paternity leave for fathers (of course). While mothers are already entitled up to 16 weeks of paid maternity leave, fathers have not been given that entitlement. And all that could be set to change this year.

A quick check on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parental_leave) shows that most developed countries have some form of paid paternity leave. Last year, NTUC also called for 2 weeks of paid paternity leave. In fact, quite a few employers already practise paid paternity leave (usually around 2-3 days). In a newspaper report last year, PM Lee was reported to have indicated that "paid paternity leave may finally get the nod". Maternity leave is however not likely to be increased.

Of course, most fathers will welcome the news of paid paternity leave but it remains to be seen how many days of leave entitlement will be introduced. There might be concerns among Singaporean men that too much paid paternity leave (together with their national service liabilities) might put them in a weaker stead if they intend to look for a job. In addition, there will probably also not be something too over the top with regard to paternity leave. For a start, paid paternity leave may be introduced in a bite-sized manner that will probably bring cheers to fathers but also be manageable for employers.

What say you? How many days of paid paternity leave do you think is reasonable?