Woah! I haven’t blogged for some time.
Today’s post will be related to stocks rather than the usual credit cards topic.
Remember, money management requires more than just controlling spending and sniffing out great deals. Investing and getting more returns is the other part not to be neglected.
I had avoided buying US stocks because of the custodian fees involved (if you transact through our local brokerages). I reckon as a small retailer of the US markets, it just wasn’t worth it when my transaction volume is low.
While this is a valid and sensible reason for me not to trade US markets, I’m also aware that I’m limiting my choices by excluding the US markets.
So I read about Stanchart Chartered new trading platform with interest. It appears that there is no custodian fee charges.
And the main feature of this trading platform is that there is no minimum transaction charge imposed like many other brokerages. Good for retail investors who do small volumes at a time. This was also the benefit of this platform a friend had mentioned to me before. The only thing is that the stocks are held under Stanchart, not the usual CDP.
I understand DBS Vickers currently also do not charge custodian fees. Unfortunately, they will be implementing the charges soon.
Of course, for US stocks, it would still be better to go through a US stock broker rather than a local one because of the charges involved. But US stock broker usually will require a sum of deposits and may not earn you any interest on this sum. It really depends on which one will serve you best.
And now, as part of their promotion, Stanchart is offering 2 free trades, up to a limit of $100. Promotion until 30 June 2012.
