6 tips to save on your air ticket

6 tips to save on your air ticket

Planning for a getaway? It’s never too early to start planning for the trip. Before you get excited over your dream destination, it pays to start scouting for the cheapest tickets.

There are many factors that affect the price of the ticket. The price of a ticket may fluctuate and differs across different airlines and the route taken. Ultimately, it depends on the basics of economics of supply and demand which explains for the variation in pricing.

Here we share with you 6 tips to save on your air ticket:

1. Choose your departure and arrival date wisely

Airlines segment their market to increase their profitability. In other words, they charge different travellers different price for the same route. How do they do that? Business travellers usually travel on a Monday and return on Thursday and Friday, and flying on these days would usually be more expensive than if you travel on mid-week, say Tuesday and Wednesday. Avoid these dates if your travelling plan is flexible.

2. Buying early on the right day

While it is ideal to purchase your ticket when airlines launches a sale, you can also enjoy up savings if you make your purchase on the right day. According to flight comparison website Skycanner, it would be the cheapest to book as early as possible for budget and short-haul flights. The best time to book is 28-29 weeks ahead of your travelling date from Singapore. Whereas for full service and long-haul flight, it may be cheaper to wait, but not too long from your flight date. A general benchmark would be between 17-22 weeks ahead of scheduled flight.

3. Flying on less peak hours

If you are flexible with your travelling plan, flying on less popular hours will get you cheaper ticket. Most people do not want to reach their destination late in the evening or depart early in the morning, but as long as public transport is available to bring you to and fro from airport-accommodation, why not?

4. Use flight comparison websites

With advent of technology, the introduction of flight comparison websites have helped many individuals compare prices of different airlines at their selected date. There are many sites like SkyScanner, Kayak, Zuji and Expedia which does the job for you. Use at least 2 to make sure that you are getting a bargain for your air ticket.

5. Credit Card Perks

Before you book your next flight, check if your credit card is eligible for rebates, air miles or free travel insurance. Many banks are offering travelling credit card to chalk up your mile points which can be used to offset your next ticket or upgrade your seats. If you are a frequent traveller, you may even redeem for free tickets. If not there are also rebates and free travel insurance as an icing to the cake.

6. Shop for Travel Vouchers

You can search for travel vouchers that are up for sale on classified sites like Gumtree and STClassified. These vouchers are usually offered by individuals who have won them in lucky draws and gifts and do not intend to travel. These vouchers are usually being offered at 10-20% cheaper off its value.

7. Use our Hotels Search Engine (*Updated 9 March 2015)

Have you heard of Trivago, Expedia, Hotel.com? Yes, these hotels aggregators search thousands of hotels to find you the best deals but which one to use? Use our hotels search engine (http://hotels.moneydigest.sg) as we search these aggregators to bring you the best price guaranteed hotels.

Read Also: Ultimate Guide to Planning Your Europe Trip

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Plan your children tertiary education early

Plan for your children tertiary education early

For many new parents, the cost of buying milk powder, toys and clothes seems to be the first thing that comes to the mind.

There is one thing that most parents has overlooked – children’s tertiary education.

Everyone has been through this stage of life and has obtained your Degree and Diploma. If your parents have funded your education, are you aware of how much it has costs? For those who funded your own education, i am sure you know it is no small amount.

Now that you are a parent yourself, wouldn’t you want to be able to fund for your children education needs and not deny him or her the opportunities to at least obtain that piece of paper in a highly competitive society of Singapore?

If you have not start to save for your children education, start now.

Time value of money will compound and grow and multiply this pot of money. You will be surprised that stashing away a small portion of your money every month can grow to something significant 20 years later.

The question is how much do we need to put away?

First, we need to find out how much it costs for a tertiary education now and how much it will cost 20 years later after adjusting for inflation.

Base on a 3-years business course, the estimated* figures are illustrated in SGD in the table below:

Country Tuition Fees Other Expenses Total
Singapore $27,750 $2,000 $29,750
Australia $108,276.60 $84,990 $193,267
UK $99,827.28 $126,036 $225,863
US $78,000 $112,320 $190,320

If we assume a 5% education inflation, the expenses in 20 years time worked out to be:

Country Total Expenses
Singapore $78,936
Australia $512,795
UK $599,282
US $504,976

The figure are startling but that should discourage you to start saving for your kids.

By saving i don’t mean stashing away in your bank’s saving account as the low interest environment is not going to let you achieve the numbers above.

If you’re financial savvy, do a ‘110 minus your age‘ stocks portfolio. If you are not, stick your money with STI ETF.

If we assume your investment performance to be in line with education inflation of 5%, you would need to set away approximately $15,000 a year to get around half a million 20 years later.

Therefore, it is important that parents should start to plan for you children tertiary education early.

(* The numbers are estimated and factors like exchange rate fluctuation, variable education inflation and choice of school may not reflect the figures above)

 

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25 Highly Paid Jobs in Singapore

25 Highly Paid Jobs in Singapore

When you are in school, you have always heard that doctors and lawyers are highly paid. You buried yourself under the books for years hoping to achieve the grades that let you enter either the Medical or Law School.

Have you wondered how much they earned? Are there any jobs that are also bringing in the big bucks?

We list down the top 25 best paid jobs across all industries in Singapore.

1. Specialist Medical Practitioner (Medical) $21,595
2. Specialist Medical Practitioner (Medical) $20,348
3. Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer $18,000
4. Trade Broker $14,781
5. Chief Operating Officer/General Manager $12,000
6. General Practitioner/Physician $11,384
7. University Lecturer $11,371
8. Commodities Derivatives Broker $11,240
9. Company Director $10,899
10. Ship Broker $10,660
11. Foreign Exchange Dealer/Broker $10,000
12. Software and Application Manager $9,900
13. Legal Officer $8,573
14. Lawyer (Excluding Advocate and Solicitor) $8,500
15. Chief Information Officer/Chief Technology Officer $8,300
16. Financial/Insurance Services Manager $7,929
17. Risk Analyst (Financial) $7,708
18. Treasury Manager $7,558
19. Network and Communication Manager $7,435
20. Research and Development Manager $7,391
21. Policy and Planning Manager $7,105
22. Technical/Engineering Services Manager $7,023
23. Marine Superintendent Engineer $7,000
24. Budgeting and Financial Accounting Manager (Including Financial Controller) $7,000
25. Managers $7,000

Is your dream occupation in the list?

(This list is compiled based on median income listed on MOM’s Occupational Wage Table, 2012)

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Should i buy term or life insurance?

Should i buy term or life insurance?

Congratulations. You have just tied the knot, moved into your new house and plan to start your own family. What’s next?

You have also acquired the debts and liabilities of having a mortgage to service and a family to feed.

Now the most important question daunt you. What happens if an unfortunate event renders you and/or your spouse incapacitated? Imagine a pillar that gave way and cause the entire building to collapse. It will be a disaster for that to happen.

How do you address that then?

You need another pillar to support the building. Insurance is the key – the third pillar. Getting yourself covered is the most responsible thing you can do for the family.

What are the different type of insurance?

There are many types of insurance in the market and knowing which is the most appropriate for you is an important financial decision. There are two main types of life insurance.

1. Term Insurance
2. Whole Life Insurance

Term insurance, as the name suggests, covers you for a term period you define. It can be as short as a yearly renewable term or it can cover you all the way until you become a centenarian.

Whole life insurance covers you for the entire life. The key difference is there is no cash value for a term plan as compared to whole life insurance.

The question now boils down to if you should get term or whole life insurance or a combination of both?

Term versus whole life insurance

Whole life insurance might seem attractive with a guaranteed cash value being paid out should you decide to surrender the policy later in the policy years. It seems like a no-brainer then – to get whole life insurance rather than a term policy that expires with no cash value. At least, that’s what many financial planners out there are advocating. Why pay to rent a house (in this case, purchasing term insurance) when you can afford to pay for the house and own it (purchasing whole life insurance)?

First, here’s a nifty infographic that put them side by side to show you the main differences.

Term vs Whole Life Insurance

Now after understanding how both products work, let’s place both of them side by side and examine them.

Let’s assume the following scenario:

Paul, a 25 years old male who wishes to get covered at $100,000 sum assured for death, terminal illness and disability. He also wants to accumulate some cash for retirement.

There are two options he can consider:

1) Buy a whole life insurance that can meet both needs; or
2) Buy a term insurance and invest the difference in other assets

1) Buying a Whole Life Insurance

It will costs him $112/month to get a $100,000 cover for death, terminal illnesses and disability. Should he retires at 55 years old (30 years later), he can choose to surrender the policy with a guaranteed cash value of $28,646 together with a non-guaranteed portion of $30,142 (using a bonus rate of 4.75%) – having paid $40,170 in premiums altogether.

Not too bad isn’t it? Even if the economy has taken a beating and Paul doesn’t get the guaranteed portion of $30,142, he still gets back $28,646. Then the outlay for his protection would cost him $11,524 over 30 years. Well, no free lunch in this world, so the question is if it is justifiable for him to pay that amount for insurance?

a) Yes, it is reasonable to pay $11,524 for protection over 30years. Furthermore, it only costs him around $384/year.

b) Some may also argue that there is still a possibility of him getting some of the non-guaranteed portion and even have the chance to make a ‘profit’ of $18,618.

Wait..

Let’s take a look at the second option and see how it matches up.

2) Buying Term Insurance and investing the difference

A similar term cover for Paul would cost him $12.80/month under the SAF Group Term Life insurance. That adds up to $153.60/year. It covers Paul for 30 years and it expires without cash value when he is 55.

The difference of $99.20 as compared to the first option can be invested into other assets such as STI ETF which has return 7-8% for the past 30years.

Assuming a 8% growth, Paul would have accumulated approximately $147,843.66 when he is 55 years old. Now contrast that with the first option of a guaranteed $28,646 plus a non-guaranteed of $30,142. The difference is huge.

Even if Paul is more conservative and expect a growth of 4%, he should be expecting a cash value of $68,849.90 after 30 years.

Wait, isn’t it non-guaranteed as the first option? But hey, Paul has the full control and flexibilities on when he can liquidate his invested assets should rainy days come.

We have our winner: Buying term insurance and investing the difference is the way to go!

And if you are still not convinced, Suze Orman says it all.

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How to save on your electricity bills

How to save on your electricity bills?

Before we go into the various methods on how to save electricity bills, let us find out what are the appliances that consume the MOST electricity.

According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), the three appliances that consumed the most energy are air-conditioner, water heater and refrigerator – with the former consuming the most electricity.

If that is really the case, what should be done to reduce the consumption?

Lets find out!

1. Set your air-conditioner thermostat to 25°C or higher

Singapore is a humid place and at times it can get really hot and stuffy in a room. Use the air-con if you wish, but you don’t need to turn your room into a Nordic country by setting your thermostat below 20°C to be comfortable. Set the temperature to 25°C or higher. Do you know that for every degree raised, you save an estimated of $15/year? If you can replace your air-con with a fan, bring your family out for a feast at the end of the year with the moola saved.

2. Reduce the use of heat-emitting appliances

Heat emitting appliances like iron, hair dryer, tumble dryer, induction stove and water heater uses lot of electricity. Here’s how to reduce the use of each appliances.

A. Iron
Instead of ironing clothes, try this – hang your clothes on plastic hanger and place them in the bathroom when you take a hot shower bath. Make sure the window and everything is close so that steam stays in the room. It takes about 10-15 minutes for your clothes to be wrinkle-free.

B. Hair Dryer
If you have long hair, drying it after a shower is a pain. Hair-dryer will usually do the trick but it is actually one of the main culprit for inflating your electricity bill. Try using a super-absorbent microfibre brush to comb your hair after a shower or wrap it up with a microfibre hair turban.

C. Tumble Dryer
Of course, you can hang your clothes on the traditional bamboo stick method. It’s the best method that does not consume any electricity. Also make sure you use the high-spin method on your washing machine as the electricity used to create the extra spins will be less than the electricity used to generate heat from a tumble dryer.

D. Induction Stove
Use a gas stove if safety is not an issue.

E. Water Heater
There are a few ways to save electricity consumed by the water heater. Here’s a few:
Use a smaller size heater because electricity consumed is based on the amount of water heated. Switch off your water heater immediately when not in-used. Keep thermostat at medium level and use heat insulating water pipes to prevent heat loss. Lastly, if you want to save water and electricity, go to Sembawang’s Hot Spring.

3. Fill up your refrigerator’s empty spaces

Who say less is always going to save you more money? For a refrigerator, it works the other way. First, you need to understand some physics on how heat moves in air. Air is dense and not a good conductor of heat, thus they moved by masses of warm and cold air trading places. In an empty fridge, lots of trading takes place when you open your fridge. If it is full, heat can only be transferred by conduction.

You can fill up your fridge with jug of waters, ice packs, or any empty containers and bottles so that there is no room for hot air to enter and replaces the cold air – which saves the energy to pump the extra heat out of the refrigerator.

4. Use a LED TV instead of a Plasma TV

A Plasma TV consumes more electricity than a LED TV because electricity is used to charge up every gas cell in a Plasma TV whereas in a LED TV, the light is independent and shared across in an efficient way.

A Plasma TV also generates more heat than an LED and if you keep your air-conditioner on the entire day, it uses more electricity to cool the room temperature.

5. Off appliances on standby mode

Appliances on standby mode contributes about 10% of a household energy use. Turn them off when not in use. Common items are laptop, TV, radio and heater.

6. Submit your own meter reading

Once every two months, SP Services will send someone to read the electricity meter located outside your house. The readings are estimated on months that meters are not read. To prevent overcharging, you can actually submit the reading yourself online to via their phone services.

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