Wealth Management, Asset Allocation and its relevance in the Singapore context

This paper tackles the necessity of wealth management for individuals, looks at the current trends of wealth management in the country. It will discuss the details of the different investible asset classes in Singapore and provide recommendation on how an individual can structure his investments across different asset classes to achieve a sizeable portfolio by the time he retires with the objective to earn good returns over the long term. It starts by reviewing the recent development of wealth management industry in Singapore and introduces the concept of compounding interest that the man in the street can leverage for accumulating his long term wealth. A quick review of the modern portfolio theory follows and the paper will dive in with a detail analysis of investing in the Singapore stock market and developing a methodology for maximizing returns and minimizing risks. In the later section, the paper touches on the relevance of asset allocation in volatile market conditions and quick review of global stock market performance in recent history. In the final section, the paper discusses the various investment vehicles available to the public in Singapore, with a special mention of the unique retirement savings scheme in Singapore, the Central Provident Fund system and its recent changes. The paper concludes with a recommendation of how an investor can leverage the various financial products available to him to achieve his long term wealth accumulation goal