Tag: t_fuxiTitle_44

inheritance ex_China

Posted on by tiger40490

 

I feel lucky that DJDJ offers free legal counselling hotline 8525 7135 (护法银龄) exclusively to its paying customers. I will consider paying them for their professional advice.

Imagine one aging parent has 6M of life expectancy. I described my two choices to the legal counsellor. They said #1 (one-shot) is superior:

#1) leave a large cash balance in the aging parent’s bank account. Rely on official SAFE regulation to get the three inheritance amounts released in one shot

Observation: It takes less than “several months” to get the cash distributed to 3 survivors.

Rule: Using authenticated proof, you (and I) can engage SAFE to get your portion released. Few bankers know how to do it, but Bryan Du said HSBC has experience with inheritance by foreign passport-holders.

#2) move cash out of the aging parent’s bank account in advance, to avoid inheritance tax… but there’s no inheritance tax regulation as of 2024.

They also advised me to call SAFE gov hotline… who are familiar with foreign passport holders taking out inheritance. I get the impression that this particular gov system (SAFE) is not so bureaucratic, inefficient, ineffective.

Observation: Inheritance law has been proposed many times but still not implemented. It may take years.

PRC gov policy may relax or tighten (close loopholes) capital control any time, but inheritance law is more stable.

(involution)躺平[def]=barebones ffree #w1r2

Posted on by tiger40490

 

Set in the contemporary China context, This blogposts compares 躺平 to barebones_ffree, and then clarifies the fundamentals of involution vs 躺平, two popular but vague Chinese phrases open to interpretation and widespread misuse. Every writer on the subject has had to clarify them, otherwise they are pretty much meaningless.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/china-lying-lie-flat-low-desire-life-work-15152540 is the first article I read. Target group is young professionals in their 20s to 30s. The bbc1 article says “中产阶级的年轻人”.  (Other articles have different target groups. ) The same 躺平 actions and attitudes will, thanks to social media, gain currency at the _lower_ socioeconomic /strata/, but somewhat involuntary and under crushing force. That’s largely because of economic position. (Remember, micro-economics is all about personal choices.) In 10 years, I don’t know which target groups will be more associated with this phrase, but for the time being the most relevant group consists of highly educated, highly mobile and in-demand professionals in their 20s to 40s, basically the two generation after me. This group is more established, with more resources, so their 躺平 is less involuntary. more resignation than surrender.

處事態度具体内涵包括“不买房、不买车、不工作、维持最低生存标准，拒绝成为他人赚钱的机器和被剥削的奴隶”.  I have omitted those other attitudes drastically different from me. Still, there’s too much to read. In this blogpost, I will pick a few points relevant to me.

— sucessE, successZ
躺平 and 摆烂/bai3lan4 are popular among Chinese graduates and young parents, but actually Applicable across age groups. They are comparable to the broad definitions of successE and related to successZ.

— ffree based on minimalistic spending of the young elite
A 27-year-old architect in Beijing said she started saving as a teenager to achieve financial freedom. Same as me.

“From September 2020, when I saw all my savings had reached 2 million (yuan) (US$300,000), I lay down…” Nana said she turned down a job that paid 20,000 yuan (US$3,000) per month.

 

##ePay limits ranked #Nets,Giro

Posted on by tiger40490

 

dollar limits ranked from high to low:

  1. $50k local transfers[FAST..], $50k PayNow, $25k bill payment .. login required
  2. $2000 ATM/Nets .. PIN-protected
  3. GIRO .. Payment limit (fine-grained) configured for each payee. GIRO institutions are usually reputable because the bank itself maintains a short list of (roughly) 100 institutions only.
  4. $[20->50-100] debit card per-transaction limit.. usable by whoever holding the card, without password!

Note PayNow is slightly safer since payee name is shown.

— debitCard .. usable via payWave or swipe

Also limited by #104 balance.

$500 is the lowest in self-service eBanking, but I don’t like $500, so I had it call hotline to set $50 limit, visible in online banking AvailableLimit

If debit card charged by theft, then police (based on police report) need to run all the relevant cameras.

salary-credit`bank: switch

Posted on by tiger40490
  • In the future, contact Asiapayroll @ xxx.com
  • BankIdentificationCode means Swift code
  • I want to save and keep multiple “candidate” bank accounts in Workday, so I can select exactly one candidate to receive salary deposit.
  • To switch between two candidates already saved, go to ViewProfile -> Pay -> PaymentElections -> scroll right on the data row -> click edit -> add a new data row and specify the “good” bank account -> remove the pre-existing data row for the “outdated” bank account.
  • Not possible to split 50/50 between two candidate bank accounts

safe working-class neighborhoods #Bayonne++

Posted on by tiger40490

Many of my Chinese, Indian .. immigrant friends are willing to pay a premium for

  • AA) good public school
  • BB) safe , clean, well-maintained (not dilapidated) neighborhood

Bayonne and South Edison are examples of safe working-class neighborhoods. Schools are average.

For me, BB is a real priority, so Bayonne is good enough for me.

— Working-class, Middle-class, Upper-class,,, neighborhoods in the U.S.
I feel the distinction is real and driven by family economic disparity

The middle-class prefer better schools, cleaner streets, bigger, (newer?) better-built homes. Some younger middle-class couples prefer rental apartments at cleaner, trendier/more fashionable, more “interesting” locations.

The richer families out-bid the working class families and take over such neighborhoods.

Beside the higher cost on bigger homes, pTax also squeeze out the working class families.

Paradoxically, Bayonne has high pTax. Some parts of this working class town are definitely higher standard, closer to the county park.

BDYK + fwd hazard rate #BGC/MIH

Posted on by tiger40490

For each overseas rEstate project, there are a few miletones, each with serious hazards/risks

  1. project completion .. Hazards can cause lengthy delays (BGC [1]). Some unreliable developer can disappear (RitzG5). MIH is a good example [2]
    • vicinity development can take decades. Until that vague “milestone”, your building might be the only decent building in the area. No jobs, no parks, no retail, no “buzz“
  2. renovation completion .. furnishing, fixing problems. Some units are “completed” but unusable.
  3. land title registered .. Risks? legal risks
  4. mtg approved .. Risks? poor mtg rate or no banks
  5. finding a local agent and negotating the terms .. hazard? Some locations have no agent at all.
  6. first tenant signed.. hazards? May not find anyone at all for years. Perhaps oversupply in the location. Perhaps the location doesn’t have the buzz of Uptown.
  7. Milesstone-9: 1Y probation completed with the agent .. Risks? Many owner-agent relationships don’t work out.
  8. ^^ One of these milestones may appear to be too trivial to be a milestone, but I have seen investors getting stuck at each of these things, always due to some serious hazard.

FHR [forward hazard rate] := the aggregate amount (count and magnitude) of potential derailers [swans, missteps] per year. Usually we ignore the per-year part [4]. In the beginning we face the highest hazard rate i.e. many things could fall on us or derail our train.  At each milestone, our total (forward) hazard rate improves, as uncertianties become well-known and familiar risks.

BDYK [Better the Devil You Know] is a key observation/experience in FHR.

[1] For example, the BGC asset has survived many hazards and is now a much safer asset than it was in 2015, therefore worth a BDYK-adjusted SGD 300k, even if we ignore (or don’t know) the market value changes.

[2] MIH — When I first paid down payment, FHR was huge and off-putting (show stopper to many investors) largely due to credit risk of an unknown developer. After completion, the biggest hazard was removed, and the asset is now worth a BDYK-adjusted USD 200k.

[4] When do we actually use per-year yardstick? In the stable phase. FHR in the per-year sense captures the amount of headaches, stress, derailers (of my bubble)

Does FHR ever worsen? Only in rare swan events like covid19. This exception proves the norm that FHR always improves until Milestone-9 or somewhere nearby.

— paradox of rEstate concentration risk
If you buy in 9 countries you are bound to hate one of them, often due to hazards. It’s then logical to exit that country and increase concentration in the best of those 9 countries.

On a less macro level, once you are familiar with a given country or developer, FHR would be better than X years ago (when you were unfamiliar). It’s now logical to increase concentration with (eg) MIH.

This “logical” allocation ought to be balanced with the (equally logical) need for diversification.

Look at U.S. or China rEstate investors. Most of them stay in home country. Zero diversification by country.

— positive cash flow -> self-sustainable i.e. the highest level of success.

Q: As of 2014, when we heard of SG investors flocking to an overseas “opportunity”, how many percent of them would reach Milestone-9 of positive cashflow with a reliable local rental agent?
A: Below 30%. Possibly 20%. It’s nearly impossible to achieve positive cashflow, if you have a mortgage with P+I. (Biggest problem is P).

Many investors would ask about my appreciation margin. For them self-sustainability is not the highest level of success. I don’t care about their priorities. I don’t even know the valuation, but I’m sure it’s better than my initial. What’s important to me is carefree and positive cashflow, not windfall appreciation.

— appreciation .. I feel after you can demonstrate that your unit has a proven rental yield, you can get a higher valuation than before completion.

This is logical, but many logical predictions don’t happen. I can list many reasons.

FHR has shown a real improvement. Many of the big question marks and big clouds are cleared.

— Overseas rEstate .. is the main focus of this blogpost. Local projects are much easier for investors.
==== Fwd Hazard Rate, without the “per-year” part, is also applicable beyond pff

immigration offenses and criminal record affects a career more in the earlier stage of a longer career. The FWR depends on the “remaining lease”.

FHR affects a marriage the most soon after babies are born and improves as kids become less dependent on the continuing marriage of their parents.

standard deductions #Rbh div withhold`tax

Posted on by tiger40490

Standard deduction is used by most taxpayers. Itemized deductions are less common and actually turned out inferior in my experience.

— inflation adjustment for tax year 2022 (filing done in 2023)

  • for married couples filing jointly, the standard deduction will increase to $25,900, which is $800 more .
  • For single taxpayers and married individuals filing separately, the standard deduction will increase to $12,950 — up $400.
  • The deduction for heads of household will rise to $19,400, a $600 increase.

— MOETF implication (keywords: Rbh, dividend withholding)

All Singaporeans receiving dividends on U.S. stocks pay 30% withholding tax. However, I am a U.S. tax payer … no withholding tax on dividends or capital gain. Instead, these incomes are assessed during tax filing. It is typically below $1k, well below the std deduction, so I end up paying no tax on these investment /gains/.

This is another advantage of my Rbh account over other platforms. It is something to keep to myself not even for my family members, definitely not something to share with friends.