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It bothers me that my father made more money than me in the 80s and 90s than I do now. : antiwork
Main Post: It bothers me that my father made more money than me in the 80s and 90s than I do now. : antiwork
Case Study - Avoid My Mistake Using a Margin IBKR Account - How to Change to a Cash Account
Main Post:
I recently started using IBKR because of the recommendations from r/singaporefi. I only do traditional index investing, and IBKR is the lowest cost provider in Singapore. However, although IBKR is low cost it contains a lot of complexity that is not that useful for index investors - complexity that can lead to unexpected risk.
My Margin Mistake
The unexpected risk I took was accidently using margin that I did not plan to use, while investing in VWRA. This was possible because I had unknowingly setup a margin account, not a cash account.
- I deposited SGD$1,000 into IBKR from a Singaporean bank
- I wanted to invest in VWRA, which is denominated in USD
- To invest in VWRA I converted it to USD$750
- But when I bought VWRA I accidently bought USD$1,000, USD$250 more than I had in the account.
- I then had to top up my IBKR account with an extra SGD$350 and convert it to USD$250 to cover my shortfall.
Changing to Cash Account - Waiting for Settlement
To change your Margin account to a Cash account appears simple, but is actually a little confusing once you are in this position. The flow is meant to be:
- Click on your name at the top right hand side
- Click Settings
- Go to Account Configuration > Account Type
- Select Cash in the drop down menu
However, I was repeatedly blocked from doing so with the statement:
To resolve these violations, please purchase the currency in FOREX markets or liquidate positions.
United States Dollar (USD)
This was surprising as I had covered all my margin, by depositing the extra SGD and converting it to cover the margin shortfall. It turned out the reason I was unable to change my account to a cash account was because my recent VWRA trade had not settled. My VWRA trades settled in around 3-5 days, so I had to wait that long before I could convert my account to Cash.
To find out your trade settlement dates in IBKR you need to:
- Click Performance and Reports
- Statements
- Trade Confirmation
- Set Period to Custom, and enter the date range for all your trades.
- Enter the report and look for the column titled Settle Date. All your trades need to have a Settle Date in the past to convert your account to Cash.
I hope this helps others, as the IBKR instructions are not that clear on the topic of settlement impact on Margin > Cash conversion.
Top Comment:
While you think this is a mistake, but actually this is a feature.
When you want to get the trade done at a specific price, the margin feature will be handy.
But I think people just in general, do not know that they need to cover their trade by doing FX from their SGD, so maybe this is the point people should ought to know
What’s Your Money Maker?
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I travel to the Vivec Mage’s Guild, walk across the street to the smithy, cast a Frenzy spell on the ordinator standing in his shop and proceed to fry his ass in 2 hits of a strong spell, then sell his armor and mace to the smith for about 12k each time (he carries 2500 drakes, so this takes about 5 trades to complete). Walk back to the Mage’s Guild, sleep for 24 hours, repeat as necessary.
Top Comment:
Using "Command Creature" to bring Mudcrab and Creeper home to Hlormaren.
cannot get my money out because of their CRAPPY terms ...
Main Post: cannot get my money out because of their CRAPPY terms ...
My money tree 🤍🧿
Main Post: My money tree 🤍🧿
Top Comment:
That’s a lot of money 👌
Just give me my money
Main Post: Just give me my money
Top Comment:
Pyramid scheme
After years of not knowing how to manage my money, I’ve finally learned self control and now have the most I’ve ever had.
Main Post:
I (28m) just want to post this here to encourage everyone else who is seeing posts on here and getting discouraged. My entire life I never knew how money worked and my parents didn’t teach me. So I had to learn the hard way lol. But by building small habits I’ve learned how to change my situation. I know I’m far from being where I should be, but I’m also very far from where I started. If I can do it you all can too! Don’t worry about how long it takes, just focus on yourself and don’t compare yourself to others. 😇
Top Comment:
stack that bread
What do I do with my money?
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I recently graduated, got a job where I make 100k a year. I have 0 expenses since I live at home. Most of my monthly expenses amount up to maybe $1000, which leaves about 5000 in just money. I have no school debt, no car payment.
Part of me just wants to get a new car, one that i enjoy driving, but I WFH so there’s really no point since i only go out on the weekends, do trips to the grocery store and go to the gym.
EDIT: just some more things to mention, I currently have a car thats paid off, I just want to get a new toy. My first idea was to save up for like 3 years, buy a townhouse, live in it and rent out the rooms to make extra income, is that a feasible idea?
Top Comment:
I'd say put 50% into savings and retirement. The faster you can get your money to start growing, the happier you'll be when it comes time to take a great trip or buy a home or even retire and quit work.