PSBP (Phillip Share Builders Plan)

I mentioned that I make regular monthly purchases of stocks via the PSBP (Phillip Share Builders Plan).

Before this, I used to do RSP (Regular Savings Plan) of $600 monthly via FSM (Fundsupermart) into Asia Pacific Ex Japan Unit Trusts. The charges incurred back then were typically:
- One time sales charge of 1.5 to 2% for lump sum purchase of equity Unit Trusts (no charge for selling)
- Fees of 1 to 1.5% for monthly RSP of equity Unit Trusts

I'm not really into UT (Unit Trusts) but it can offer diversification (in terms of geographical & sector) as well as DCA (Dollar Cost Averaging) via monthly RSPs.

However, as I got to read about the PSBP available from POEMS, I did some research & facts finding.

Concept & Critical Information
- Same concept of monthly RSP (minimum of $100/month) 
- 19 share counters available (18 STI Component stocks and STI ETF)
- Monthly fees depend on investment amount & number of selected counters
- Client is entitled to dividend, if any, issued by parent company
- Purchased units are in custody of Phillip Securities (if one transfers to his own CDP account after sometime, costs incurred will be $10.70 per counter by CDP & $10.70 per counter by Phillip Securities)

Fees
Some calculations for varying investment amount & number of selected counters:
Investment Amount $300, 1/2 Counters, 2.14% Fees
Investment Amount $300, 3 Counters, 3.57% Fees
Investment Amount $500, 1/2 Counters, 1.28% Fees
Investment Amount $500, 3 Counters, 2.14% Fees
Investment Amount $700, 1/2 Counters, 0.92% Fees
Investment Amount $700, 3 Counters, 1.53% Fees
Investment Amount $1000, 1/2 Counters, 0.64% Fees
Investment Amount $1000, 3 Counters, 1.07% Fees
Investment Amount $1100, 1/2 Counters, 0.97% Fees
Investment Amount $1100, 3 Counters, 0.97% Fees

Note:
a. Turning point is when investment amount is above $1000 or more than 2 counters are purchased
b. For investment amount more than $1000, the fees will be the same for any number of counters purchased

For investment amounts less than $500 (1 or 2 counters), the fees are even more than UT.

Thus, to lower the fees to a level that it will not be more than UT, one will have to consider the amount he can afford monthly for the RSP as well as the number of counters to be purchased.

Counters Available
The counters are all STI Component stocks are thus, the risk is controlled in this sense. And the bonus is that the STI ETF is in the list as well which is essentially an ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) that tracks the STI (Straits Time Index). Essentially, the STI ETF is similar to the concept of UT. At the moment, I cannot find any platform that enables one to RSP into STI ETF directly (I might be ignorant here so if anyone know of any, pls let me know!).

Own Investment
I decided that I will terminate my UT's RSP and sign up for a PSBP account:
- Monthly Investment Amount of $700
I can afford to add $100 to the $600 that I had already committed to UT's RSP. This will also lower the fees to less than 1% (0.92%).
- 2 Counters ($400 on SGX & $300 on STI ETF)
STI ETF is definitely one of my selection due to the reasons above!
As for the second one, it was a difficult choice as there are quite a few that I'm interested in. Eventually, I chose SGX mainly because that it's the "mother of all shares in Singapore" and it will take a while for me to save up to even buy 1 lot given its price of $7 to $8 back then (may as well DCA for it).

I invested via PSBP for about 1.5year so far and are earning some profits. I'll further share about this during my year end portfolio update.

My Opinion
This is a good alternative beside Unit Trusts & ILP for those looking into saving/investing an amount monthly or looking for ways to make disciplined savings.

 More information @POEMS