The festivity of the Chinese New Year is about a month away. Abundant food, family reunions, and little red packets called “Ang Bao” will grace Singapore once again.
These red packets are usually given during social gatherings such as weddings or the holidays. Its color embodies “good luck” that is supposed to ward off the evil spirits.
Married couples usually give these red packets to single people (e.g. children or work colleagues). Its history is rooted from the Chinese belief that you achieve the “adult status” once you get hitched. So, the newfound status comes with the privilege to distribute “Ang Baos” to those who still remain single or are younger.
Image Credits: Paul via Flickr
Since Singapore is a mixture of different cultures, we as a nation have created practices centering “Ang Bao” gifting. It is not uncommon to have marriages between two different races, leading to traditional practices being modified or ignored. But aside from the Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Filipinos and South Koreans have similar customs.
A simple survey on TheAsianParent Facebook Page showed that readers usually give out S$2- S$80 to children in 2014. Furthermore, “S$4” was avoided due to its similarity to the word “death” in many dialects.
Ultimately, PerfectWeddings.sg showed that economy and income status affects the money given. During good economy, it was common to receive “Ang Baos” with a minimum of S$6 each for children but economic recession urged its reduction to S$2 each. Since, economic downturn affects the whole country, there was no judgment in the amount you give.
To help you find the right amount to give…here is a concise “Chinese New Year Ang Bao Market Rate 2014” chart by PerfectWeddings.sg:
As you can see, a red packet containing a minimum of S$2-S$20 is common to give for children, while it ranges to about S$8- S$88 for parents. Your in laws will not take it against you if you give them S$88 in the New Year. Lastly, you may give the same amount of money to your friends or colleagues’ children as you did with your own children.
Masked in Singapore streets are fuel-efficient cars. One of them is the exciting Toyota Prius. It has been one of the first mass-produced hybrid vehicles.
Image Credits: M 93: „Dein Nordrhein-Westfalen“ via Flickr
The annual fuel cost is about S$1, 816.
5. Peugeot 508 RXH Diesel Hybrid4
Peugeot 508 is a large family car launched in 2010. It has a strong engine, a roomy space, and a fuel-economy. Since it runs in Diesel, it will cost you about S$1, 299 for its fuel annually.
4. Mercedes-Benz E-Class E300 BT Hybrid Sedan
If you don’t want to sacrifice beauty over fuel efficiency, then Mercedes-Benz E-Class E300 BT Hybrid Sedan is the car to be! It is equipped with high-tech safety features such as radar cruise control. Surprisingly, its fuel will only cost you about S$1, 300 annually.
This one-ton transportation that comes in candy colors has a maximum fuel-economy rating of 44-mpg highway. Aside from being fuel efficient, it is also loan efficient.
It costs about S$18, 280 to own it in United States.
2. Ford Fiesta
Ford’s smallest sedan is a Diesel saver as it goes to about 45-mpg in the highway. You can choose between two engines: a standard 120-hp four-cylinder or an optional 123-hp turbocharged three-cylinder. Not only is the ride balanced but its braking is good also.
You will need about S$18, 639 to own it in United States.
1. Chevrolet Cruze
If you value comfort and practicality then this car is for you. The Cruze will take you to a maximum of 46 mpg in the highway once Diesel is under its hood.
Image Credits: ChevroletCruze via Flickr
Its Smartphone integration and onboard Wi-Fi features will keep you connected throughout your journey. It costs about S$24, 529 to own it in United States.
Although money can seem occasionally to be easy in Singapore, many people are still concerned with saving their wealth for later. The simplest way of earning money is still saving money – this principle will also hold for 2015. No matter what position on the social ladder one is sitting on – savings and earnings are going hand in hand. The international stock market appears currently to be in a better condition than many experts had expected a few years back. Global indices are rising and markets seem stimulated, but they are hungry for more. There are, however, continuously increasing expenses, such as the recently raised credit card interest rates in Singapore. In order to stay financially on track and pay off debts on time, one should start into the New Year with certain saving strategies. When wanting to save money, one should be aware of the fact that mere saving is not effective enough. The combination of saving and investing will not only earn and save money, but also protect its value.
As the credit card interest rates in Singapore have been raised quietly in the end of last year, the hard-earning citizens have to find new ways not to loose more money. Paying the minimum rate of your credit card bill every month, will leave you in the long run with more debt than before. Even paying more than the bare minimum will not do the trick. If the full payment is not made, the interest rates will every month calculate a new and higher debt, due to the interest rate of the month before. This accumulated interest rate can let your debt rise quickly higher than initially planned, if one is only paying the minimum rate or slightly more. The debt will grow proportionately until the full amount is paid back. As the credit card interest rates have been raised about 1%, the debt is even bigger now. Therefore, it is important to pay off the credit card bill in the end of every month. In case there is no other option than stretching the credit card, one should consider a 0% interest instalment payment plan in order to save money. The credit card interest rate can be very tricky and quickly become a vicious circle that is getting increasingly harder to break out of.
Another option for saving money in 2015 is a saving account. An extra amount on the bank account can easily become a save investment. Let the money work for itself. Many experts presume that the saving account interest rates in Singapore will go up. Some banks already have some interesting offers. OCBC has a 2.35% Bonus & Saving Account offer that not only saves your money, but also makes you some more. If one has S$10000 or even more than that, one could potentially get a high and profitable interest rate for the OCBC savings account. The interest rate will go up if no monthly or quarterly withdrawals are made. The very basic rate is only 0.05%, which isn’t much at all and frankly won’t do much to your savings. However, without monthly and quarterly withdrawals, but with additionally added funds of S$10000, one can get a rate of 2.35%. But there are also other banks offering interesting rates. One other example is the 2.08% DBS Multiplier Programme. Extra amounts of Singaporean dollars that won’t be needed throughout the year, should be therefore stored on a savings account. One should watch out for changing rates throughout the year and check with one’s bank for specifics.
One should check its options though. Purely saving without investing might not do the trick. Many Singaporeans are however very interested in long-term saving programmes, such as emergency funds. If one was to save S$10000 in a year, one does have a substantial sum. However, this amount of money will surely not be the same in a decade. The inevitable inflation will decrease the value of the S$10000 eventually. Saving accounts should therefore not be the only long-term option for one’s money. Saving account can be an ideal way to save large and momentarily unneeded amounts of money. Storing money on a savings account is, however, only advisable and beneficial, if that particular amount of money will remain for a long time on the saving account. If there is a chance that one might need the money throughout the year for some reason or another, the savings account isn’t the proper place to store it. Frequent monthly or quarterly withdrawals will reduce your interest rate drastically. Furthermore, in order to protect you money from losing its value due to inflation, one should be investing as well. The combination of investing and saving is ideal.
Another trick to start 2015 by saving some money is connected to one’s car insurance. Firstly, it is advisable to check the individual policies of the car insurance. Often there are unnecessary policies that one can get rid of. Checking the car insurance’s polices one might discover that one is already covered for the same event twice. Reducing the policies to the bare minimum can help to save a lot of money. Furthermore, there are more tricks to save money with the car insurance. Increasing the deductible of your car insurance will course the premium rate of the insurance to go down. This saved money can be immediately put into a saving account and eventually used for another purchase. When wanting to buy a new car, one could start getting the money for it together a year or more before the actual purchase. Reducing one’s car insurance through different means will save money that can already finance the new car. When having finalised the purchase, one should immediately double check the insurance and eliminate all unnecessary policies. This way one can save straight from the start.
Starting the New Year by saving money isn’t the most difficult and unrealistic venture to do, but it is the combination of saving and investing that it actually makes it profitable and valuable for the individual. A saving account can be lucrative, but only if it is used properly. Therefore, one should be sure to invest and save at the same time.
Personal Finance Consultants may argue that the money you spend on small purchases (e.g. cup of Starbucks coffee) add up together and redirect towards a huge expenses. Assuming it costs $5 per cup, you are spending over $70 in a week. This is why you can save thousands of dollars in two years if you reduced your caffeine expense.
5 Clever Ways To Save Money on Coffee…
1. DO NOT EQUATE PRICE TO QUALITY
A blind taste test by New York Magazine’s Adam Platt showed that people prefer the inexpensive Dunkin Donuts coffee to the upscale Starbucks coffee. Even though it is expensive, it does not mean it tastes good. So, try the small coffee shops across your office.
Image Credits: Cherrysweetdeal via Flickr
2. MAKE YOUR OWN BREW
Coffee beans are cheaper than Starbucks; try to make your own to save a significant amount of money. If you are feeling creative, buy black coffee and add your own mixture of milk, cream, and sugar.
3. GIFT CARDS
Fish for discounted gift cards on Ebay or Carousell. This may not be worth your time if you are an occasional coffee drinker. But, if your caffeine habit is emptying your pocket, this tip will save you quite a bit.
McDonalds may have “free coffee Mondays” so follow them on Facebook or Twitter.
5. REDUCE YOUR CAFFEINE INTAKE
Lastly, one sure-fire way to help you save a significant amount of money is to reduce your coffee intake. I know it takes a lot of willpower at first but it gets better as time passes.
Do it gradually, you cannot force this process or you will experience symptoms of withdrawal (i.e., headache, depression or nausea). Eliminate a cup per day.
Reducing your caffeine intake will not only increase your savings but it will also increase your survival. It decreases your risk of hypertension and increases calcium absorption to help keep your bones and teeth strong.
Life insurance is an important tool for an individual’s financial plan. Because you don’t have a crystal ball to predict what will happen to you tomorrow and the day after, you need to transfer this risk to a life insurance company – by paying a premium.
Fortunately, you don’t need any divination to find out how much life insurance cover you need. Since this article is penned in the year 2015, i have reasons to believe you belong to the Gen Y’s population and is knowledgeable enough to work out your own insurance needs by following the steps below. That is also the reason why very soon you will be able to purchase life insurance cover directly from the company without the need of financial planners. (If you belong to the Gen X’s, i don’t see why you need any life insurance besides your Medishield or Medishield Life)
Working out how much you need is no rocket science. It’s as easy as sitting down with a calculator on your hand and asking yourself a few questions.
1. Do i have any dependants?
This should be the first question you ask when you buy life insurance. You want to provide for your loved ones should something untoward happen to you.
Let’s assume Michael has a wife and a 3 years old son that he need to take care of. He is also providing allowance to his aged parents who have retired and not working.
2. How much do they need?
Finding out how much your dependants need is important to determine how much life insurance cover you should be looking at.
Now Michael contributes $2,000 a month to household expenses which include paying for the bills, foods, daily necessities and children expenses. His wife is also working and contribute the other half of the household expenses amounting to $2,000 a month.
If something unfortunate happens to Michael tomorrow, his wife would have to shoulder the responsibility of paying for Michael’s share and may not have enough to cover a monthly household expenses of $4,000 a month.
So Michael wants to protect his share of liability.
He needs to provide for 20 years of household expenses until his son graduates from university and starts working.
He will need to cover himself sufficiently such that the large sum of money paid out can be invested to generate a passive income of $24,000 a year. Let’s assume a modest 4% rate of return, Michael simply divide $24,000 over 4% to work out $600,000. That is the cover he needs to provide a passive income of $24,000 a year for his family.
Once they no longer need this passive income, the bulk of this money could be used to purchase a home for Michael’s son.
3. What about mortgage, other loans or even children’s tertiary education?
For mortgage you would have taken up a mortgage decreasing term assurance to take care of that.
if you look into loans and children tertiary education, you could have factor those into your monthly expenses. That is also to say i am assuming you would have set away a portion of your monthly salary into a portfolio that gives at least 8% of growth to your children education fund.
4. Does that means i don’t need any insurance cover if i have no dependent?
You would hope so. But you might want to look into replacing your income should you become disabled or get critically ill. That is when you should consider getting yourself covered for total permanent and disability until the age you retire.
As for critical illness, a simple rule of a thumb is to cover for 5 years of your income because of the prognosis of cancer (or the survival rate of cancer, being the most common critical illness in Singapore) You can basically go without income for 5 years since you will be focused on recuperating and going for chemotherapy and other cancer treatments.
For hospital cover, don’t forget you have your Medishield or Medishield Life to take care of them.
What’s next?
We should be expecting a web aggregator to be rolled out in the first quarter of 2015. Now that you know how much you need to get yourself covered, most consumers can actually skipped the middleman to pay a lower premium and make use of web aggregator to find the most suitable product at the most affordable price.
