By Sun on Apr 3, 2008 | In Bonus, Free money | No Comments »
Got this promotion in the email from Citibank, which offers $50 bonus for opening a Citibank Ultimate Money Account before the end of this month. According to the terms and conditions, the bonus is available only for first-time Citibank deposit account customers. If you are already using a Citibank deposit account or had one before, then you are not eligible for the promotion. Also, Ultimate Money Account must be opened together with their E-Z Checking Account and at least 2 electronic bill payments must be made each month for 3 consecutive months.
If you want to take advantage of this promotion, use this link to open an account and use promo code CYAP if it’s not already in the application form. The Ultimate Money Account currently has a 2.80% APY.
Also, I have another ING Direct Orange Savings Account (OSA) reference code which came in the latest issue of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. Open an account before May 31 and use promo code KP422/WJKQ9YN9 to receive $25 bonus after making a deposit of $250. ING Direct OSA has an interest rate of 3.00% APY.
By Sun on Apr 3, 2008 | In DRIP, Investing | 7 Comments
In December 2006, I bought my first share of Procter & Gamble (PG) through their Shareholder Investment Program (SIP), which is a direct investment program, as part of my effort to build a portfolio that generates passive income (other stocks I own in this category include Bank of America, Progress Energy, Altria, etc.). However, in the past sixteen months, I managed to make only one additional purchase of $200, not really a good effort 
One of the reason was there’s a $1/share investment fee charge for every additional purchase. So it doesn’t make too much sense buy a small amount frequently.
After P&G updated their SIP last summer, the additional charge was eliminated. At that time, I thought I can finally invest every month, but that was just a thought and I never started until early this week when I finally decided to give my dividend-paying investments a boost. I setup an automatic purchase plan to buy $50 PG every month starting this month. That’s not a big investment because $50 even isn’t enough to buy one share at the current price (PG is traded at $70.47 as of today), but it’s better than buying $200 every year. In addition, I also buy $50 of Bank of America (BAC) and Progress Energy (PGN) every month through ComputerShare’s DRIP program.
Speaking of Altria (MO), I received 72 shares of Philip Morris International (PM) early this week from my investment in MO. I have 72 shares of MO in my account at TradeKing. After Altria completed the spin-off of Philip Morris International last week, every MO share received one PM share. I plan to hold on to my PM shares for now to see if the growth expectation can materialize.
By Sun on Apr 2, 2008 | In Mutual fund, Investing | 8 Comments
According to a news release, mutual fund giant Vanguard has filed with SEC to offer a new, passive fund that invests in global stock markets. The Vanguard Global Stock Index Fund, which is set to be available for investors in the second quarter this year, tracks the FTSE All-World Index. The index currently covers 48 countries in both the developed and emerging markets and constitutes of more than 2,800 stocks, of which 55% are companies outside the U.S. At the same time, Vanguard also plans to introduce the ETF version of the new fund. The expense ratio of the mutual fund will be 0.45% with a minimum initial investment of $3,000, the same as most Vanguard funds. The cost of the ETF version of the fund will be at 0.25%.
Prior to introduction of this new fund, Vanguard already has funds that cover the U.S. stock market (Vanguard Total Stock Market Index, VTSMX) and stock markets outside the U.S. (Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Index Fund, VFWIX). Now investors will have the chance to own the entire global stock markets with a single fund.
Like Vanguard founder John Bogle said before, the best way to invest for small investors is own the entire stock market, then forget about it. That will soon become true. Now I just hope that someone comes up with a global bond fund to make investing really, really simple: a global equity fund and a global fixed income fund and that’s it 
By Sun on Apr 2, 2008 | In China | No Comments »
Another month has passed and there was still no sign of a bottom for Chinese stocks traded on US exchanges. In fact, March was a pretty bad month for Chinese ADRs, with 60 of the 87 stocks I tracked ending the month in the red. Among the losers, China Finance Online (JRJC), which is a component of PowerShares Gloden Dragon Halter USX China (PGJ), saw the steepest decline of 34.50%, followed by Xinyuan Real Estate (XIN)’s 31.79% drop. The biggest winner in March was JA Solar (JASO) which recovered most of its 38% loss in February. Other gainers include China Nepstar (NPD), Gushan Environmental Energy (GU), and Global Sources (GSOL). The picture is even gloomier if you look at these stocks’ YTD returns. Of the 87 stocks, only 5 (GU, VISN, UTSI, LONG, and NTES) are in the positive territory at the end of March.
In March, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index (^HSI) lost 1,482.47 points, or 6.09%, and Shanghai Composite Index (^SSEC) declined 875.83 points. That’s more 20% drop in just one month!
| Name |
Symbol |
03/31/08
Price |
March
return |
YTD
return |
| 3SBio |
SSRX |
8.74 |
6.98% |
-41.26% |
| 51Job |
JOBS |
16.25 |
-10.47% |
-9.82% |
| Acorn international |
ATV |
7.62 |
-23.03% |
-18.33% |
| Actions Semiconductor |
ACTS |
2.9698 |
-17.50% |
-27.21% |
| Agria |
GRO |
8.35 |
2.45% |
-10.50% |
| AirMedia Group |
AMCN |
15.9 |
-11.37% |
-28.95% |
| Aluminum Corp of China |
ACH |
40.43 |
-16.98% |
-20.16% |
| APT Satellite |
ATS |
1.54 |
-8.88% |
-28.37% |
| ASAT Holdings |
ASTTY |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| ATA* |
ATAI |
8.86 |
-13.98% |
-7.23% |
| Baidu.com |
BIDU |
239.63 |
-4.66% |
-38.52% |
| China Architectural Engineering |
RCH |
5.45 |
-6.84% |
-36.99% |
| China Digital TV |
STV |
18.73 |
-14.59% |
-30.58% |
| China Eastern Airlines |
CEA |
51.4 |
-17.81% |
-47.37% |
| China Finance Online |
JRJC |
13.9 |
-34.50% |
-36.82% |
| China Grentech |
GRRF |
5.12 |
-26.12% |
-42.08% |
| China Life Insurance |
LFC |
52.06 |
-10.37% |
-31.95% |
| China Medical Tech |
CMED |
41.09 |
-10.67% |
-7.43% |
| China Mobile |
CHL |
75.01 |
0.52% |
-13.65% |
| China Nepstar |
NPD |
13.6 |
23.52% |
-22.64% |
| China Petro & Chemical |
SNP |
85.98 |
-21.44% |
-41.98% |
| China Southern Airlines |
ZNH |
39.65 |
-20.06% |
-39.42% |
| China Sunergy |
CSUN |
7.3 |
3.54% |
-55.81% |
| China Techfaith |
CNTF |
5.48 |
-7.12% |
-5.52% |
| China Telecom |
CHA |
62.83 |
-14.41% |
-19.52% |
| China Netcom |
CN |
57.99 |
-5.29% |
-2.37% |
| China Unicom |
CHU |
21.27 |
0.19% |
-5.04% |
| ChinaEdu |
CEDU |
6.63 |
-16.08% |
-22.00% |
| City Telecom (HK) |
CTEL |
4.48 |
-7.25% |
-20.71% |
| CNinsure |
CISG |
11.53 |
-9.21% |
-27.89% |
| CNOOC |
CEO |
146.79 |
-11.45% |
-12.33% |
| Ctrip.com |
CTRP |
53.02 |
-12.54% |
-7.74% |
| E-House |
EJ |
13.15 |
-19.13% |
-44.82% |
| eLong |
LONG |
8.53 |
-0.93% |
3.02% |
| Focus Media |
FMCN |
35.15 |
-30.22% |
-38.13% |
| Fuqi International |
FUQI |
7.13 |
-7.52% |
-14.10% |
| Giant Interactive |
GA |
12.65 |
21.52% |
-2.54% |
| Global Sources |
GSOL |
14.85 |
21.72% |
-47.43% |
| Guangshen Railway |
GSH |
26.3 |
-18.32% |
-26.21% |
| Gushan Environmental Energy |
GU |
13.07 |
22.72% |
39.79% |
| Home Inns & Hotel |
HMIN |
19.69 |
-27.42% |
-44.72% |
| Huaneng Power |
HNP |
30.54 |
-6.03% |
-26.05% |
| Hurray! |
HRAY |
2.76 |
-17.61% |
-30.65% |
| Hutchison Telecomm |
HTX |
21.51 |
8.36% |
-5.03% |
| JA Solar |
JASO |
18.6 |
30.16% |
-20.07% |
| Kongzhong |
KONG |
4.33 |
-31.70% |
-28.90% |
| Las Vegas Sands |
LVS |
73.64 |
-11.60% |
-28.54% |
| LDK Solar |
LDK |
27 |
-5.53% |
-42.57% |
| Linktone |
LTON |
2.7 |
-21.97% |
-12.62% |
| Longtop Financial Tech. |
LFT |
18.88 |
-2.68% |
-20.27% |
| Melco PBL Entertainment |
MPEL |
11.38 |
-5.99% |
-1.56% |
| Mindray Medical |
MR |
28.94 |
-21.14% |
-32.65% |
| Netease.com |
NTES |
19.21 |
-10.44% |
1.32% |
| New Oriental Education |
EDU |
64.86 |
4.03% |
-19.52% |
| Ninetowns inter |
NINE |
2.34 |
-13.01% |
-26.65% |
| Noah Education* |
NED |
5.56 |
-8.10% |
-31.02% |
| O2Micro International |
OIIM |
7.73 |
-10.01% |
-33.02% |
| Perfect World |
PWRD |
22.71 |
-15.98% |
-18.54% |
| PetroChina |
PTR |
125.31 |
-14.65% |
-28.59% |
| QiaoXing Mobile Comm. |
QXM |
6.01 |
-13.90% |
-28.88% |
| Renesola* |
SOL |
11.36 |
6.87% |
-9.19% |
| Semiconductor Manufacturing |
SMI |
3.51 |
-13.12% |
-32.37% |
| Shanda Interactive |
SNDA |
29.1 |
-12.03% |
-12.56% |
| Simcere Pharmaceutical |
SCR |
10.46 |
-0.10% |
-24.48% |
| Sina |
SINA |
35.25 |
-14.88% |
-20.43% |
| Sinopec |
SHI |
34.99 |
-24.90% |
-42.70% |
| Sohu.com |
SOHU |
45.13 |
0.11% |
-17.22% |
| Solarfun Power |
SOLF |
12.06 |
3.61% |
-63.06% |
| Spreadtrum Communications |
SPRD |
8.7 |
15.38% |
-29.04% |
| Suntech Power |
STP |
40.56 |
9.12% |
-50.73% |
| The9 |
NCTY |
20.5 |
-4.74% |
-4.34% |
| Tongjitang Chinese Medicine |
TCM |
8.22 |
11.38% |
-16.55% |
| Trina Solar |
TSL |
30.74 |
-3.24% |
-42.86% |
| UTstarcom |
UTSI |
2.84 |
0.71% |
3.65% |
| VanceInfo Technologies |
VIT |
6.08 |
-25.12% |
-32.44% |
| Vimicro International |
VIMC |
2.7496 |
-15.40% |
-26.87% |
| VisionChina Media |
VISN |
11.08 |
5.83% |
30.35% |
| WSP Holdings |
WH |
6.9 |
-2.82% |
-24.18% |
| Wuxi Pharmatech |
WX |
22.36 |
-6.83% |
-23.53% |
| XinHua Finance Media |
XFML |
3.16 |
-22.17% |
-47.33% |
| Xinyuan Real Estate |
XIN |
8.39 |
-31.79% |
-41.04% |
| Yazhou Coal Mining |
YZC |
71.03 |
-13.68% |
-26.82% |
| Yingli Green Energy |
YGE |
17.1 |
1.36% |
-55.77% |
*2008 IPO
No new Chinese ADR was offered in March. In stead, one stock, ASAT Holdings, was delisted from the NASDAQ and is currently traded on AMEX under the symbole ASTTY at $0.20 a share.
For widely held EFTs that mainly invest in China, iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI) lost $10.09, or 6.95% in March, and PowerShares Gloden Dragon Halter USX China (PGJ) dropped $2.76, or 9.96%.
By Sun on Apr 1, 2008 | In Contest | No Comments »
are
From the comment list of the original giveaway post, they are George (comment #19) and Kay (comment #10). Congratulations! And also thank everyone who participated in the giveaway. I hope there will be more giveaways like this in the future
And if George or Kay decides to use SmartyPig for their saving goals, it would be great if they share their experience with us so we can all benefit from it.
By Sun on Apr 1, 2008 | In Net worth, About me | 5 Comments
Just when I thought maybe the worst was over last month after seeing a negligible drop in our next worth in February, we were hit again in March as the stock markets continued to struggle, though the amount lost on paper isn’t as bad as the first couple of months of 2008. In fact, except our brokerage accounts which hold our investments in individual stocks, we managed to get some positive numbers in all other categories. But the losses in stocks were big enough to offset those gains. So we ended up having another month in the red, the fifth consecutive month. At the end of March, our wealth on paper is close to the level we had at the end of July 2007 That’s pretty bad, I guess.
The stock markets ended March mixed. The Dow is the biggest loser among major indices with a decline of 3.06% to 12,262.89. The S&P dropped 0.60% to 1,322.70 and the NASDAQ actually gained a little bit (0.34%) to close the month at 2,279.10. As for our money, we had $542,806.70 on March 31st. That’s $7,936.13 (1.44%) lower than a month ago. Somehow I wish I do the tally today instead of yesterday. Given the rally we had today on the April Fool’s Day, we could very well break the losing streak 
Well …
Here’s a quick summary in each category I am tracking:
- Credit card balance(+): We have a total of $19,043.17 on our credit cards, which include $17,000 0% APR balance transfer. The overall balance is $240.18 (1.25%) smaller than last month. It’s quite consistent that we charge about $2,000 on our credit card every month.
- Cash(+): Our cash grew a little bit last month to $59,861.43, $1,193.56 (2.03%) higher than a month before though we paid our annual life insurance premiums in March. Our cash will take a hit this month as we will have to (again) write a fat check to Uncle Sam on April 15 Actually I started to pay estimated tax since last December so the process (the pain I mean) will be gradual. But looks like I may need to start it in the summer.
- Taxable accounts(-): Here’s where things got ugly. Overall, our taxable investments lost $12,311.88 (4.74%) last month to $247,405.99. Most of the losses came investments from Chinese ADRs. Also last month, I sold two of my stocks, Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) and Nortel Network (NT), in order to buy Visa (V) on its IPO day. The stock is currently a little higher than the price I bought. In the long-term, I hope it can do well (though may be not as well as MasterCard). In March, I also started to use a small fund in my Zecco account to do active trading (I will talk about it more later). At the end of the month, I made more than $110 in that account. BTW, I am glad I finally got rid of NT, which has been a major pain for too long.
- Retirement accounts(+): A little gain in our retirement savings, which is at $226,822.22, up $2,439.40 (1.09%) from previous month. Obviously, the reason for this part being positive is because of our own contributions. Without the new money, it would be another big hole.
- 529 plans(+): Our daughters’ 529 plans rose $479.03 last month to $13,380.25, that’s an increase of 3.71%. Since all investments in 529 accounts are index funds, this part is by far the least affected by the market volatility.
- Bonds(+): The boring but safe part of our investments added $100 (0.76%) last month to a total of $13,323.78.
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