income Archives | MoneyDigest.sg

Advantages Of Having Multiple Sources Of Income

Times are tough. Amidst the chaos, who does not have an additional source of income? Side hustles are lifelines in this ever-changing economy. As my full-time position is on halt due to school closures, I exhausted all of my efforts in writing for a couple of websites.

Having multiple income streams allows you to secure your savings in the long run. If you are working full-time as a teacher and are selling cupcakes on Instagram, then you have two income streams. Say you are an investor too! That grows your income streams to three. Not to mention, you may also earn money by selling your stock photos online. That will enable you to generate income from four streams.

As you can imagine, maintaining a day job and running multiple side hustles can be quite overwhelming. Such endeavors require a considerable amount of time, effort, and commitment. However, you cannot deny the benefits of having multiple sources of income!

#1: BROADER SKILL SET

Your multiple streams of income allows you to experience different issues and solutions. It will widen your skill set. Some experiences will call for an analytical mindset, while others will require your creative juices. You have to be able to adjust to the demands of your tasks.

You can develop new skills as a result. Not only can this be extremely gratifying, but they also provide you with an extra layer of security should you apply for a promotion or leave your job.

#2: FINANCIAL SECURITY

It does not take a genius to conclude that leaving your fate in several wheels will expand your chances of winning. Industry wages simply have not caught up with inflation over the years. Even if your job provides you a six-figure paycheck monthly, that goes out the window once you hit retirement age.

Multiple streams of income creates a good safety net. You may also invest some of your extra income to a diverse portfolio.

#3: WIDER NETWORK

Having multiple businesses or positions allows you to meet different people and acquire several partnerships. In the age of social media, opportunities to collaborate with big brands or personalities are as abundant as ever.

Do not underestimate the power of a useful content. You will never know who might be reading, watching, or listening!

#4: BETTER MINDSET

There is a learning curve to all of this. Do not feel bad if you stumble during the initial phases. Your first attempt to sell your items online may not be successful, but you have learned valuable lessons along the way. Use what you learned in digital marketing and e-commerce to provide better consumer services on your second round.

Image Credits: unsplash.com

According to Meir Ezra: “Your income is proportional to your control.” The willpower to control your finances is in your hands. The future is in your hands. Start growing your income today! Chances are, you already have a few ideas tucked away anyway. So, do your research and char potential clients and suppliers. Your bank account will thank you later.

The Ultimate Guide To Making Extra Income

The start of 2018 sparks new opportunities for growth and prosperity. As we usher in a new year, you must not box yourself to the usual 9 to 5 jobs. Your potential to earn extra income is beyond the conventional choices. Contemplate on these creative ideas:

1. Gone are the days when employers rely on the physical presence of their assistants. Virtual assistants (VA) help ease the workload of business owners through remote support. Become a home-based VA by applying at upwork.com.

2. If you are a skilled driver who seeks an income-generating activity, look into the responsibilities of an Uber or a Grab driver. Your spare time can be spent in this flexible working environment.

3. My father wanted to sell his complete golf set, but he does not know where to start. I decided to post his listing on Craigslist. To his surprise, his inbox blew like wildfire. Selling your items online is a great way to earn income on the side. Be careful during personal meet-ups.

Image Credits: pixabay.com

4. For people who are utterly fond of domestic animals, it is a good idea to consider dog walking or pet sitting. Positions like these enable you to mix business with pleasure. You can either stay at the client’s home or take care of the pet in specific times of the day.

5. One of the easiest ways to make money as a tertiary student is to rent your textbooks to the next batch of students. Embody the process of online rental companies by providing a minimum number of rental days at fixed rates. You may sell the reference books too!

6. Offering tutorial services in a subject that you are skilled with is another way to earn as a tertiary student. You can either help them with their research papers or with their important exams. The possibilities rely on your available set of skills and knowledge.

7. Lastly, you may become an effortless mystery shopper. Mystery Shoppers are paid by the company’s marketing department to report about their experiences as they try the said company’s products, eat at their restaurants, or buy their goods.

Image Credits: pixabay.com

If you accepted a “mystery shopping” job, you will be paid for your time as well as be reimbursed for anything you bought.

Income versus Expenses: How Are We Faring?

Singapore is not cheap, which makes you wonder, how do we thrive? To help us understand better, let’s talk about our cost of living.

Housing

In general, the property prices in Singapore are going down, thanks to the efforts of the government, including reducing the loan-to-value ratio and capping home loans up to 35 years. Moreover, you have several property options, although more than 75% of us live in HDB flats, of which the cheapest can be a 2-room home with a possible net selling price (after grants) of $52,000.

But this would need a median income of $1,500 and a monthly instalment to income ratio of 11%. So far, as of 2014, the median income calculated during the mid-year was $3,770. If you can’t afford to buy the property yet or you have no intention of doing so at least within a few years, you can take this time to start saving, managing your debt for a better total debt servicing ratio (TDSR), and comparing mortgage loans.

Healthcare

Singapore promotes a universal healthcare program. Under this are Medisave, Medishield, and Elder Shield, to name a few. A part of our CPF contributions is intended for healthcare by the time we’re old (and, yes, our population is getting way older than before). Other countries have commended our healthcare system for having some of the best hospitals and well-trained staff with training and expertise comparable to that of European and North American countries.

But our healthcare isn’t immune to inflation, and premiums for coverage such as Medishield are expected to go up. Moreover, the government provides only subsidies, which means you still have to pay for the remaining healthcare costs. If there’s some good news, it’s that many companies do provide healthcare and even life insurance at no extra cost on your end.

Education

Singapore stresses the huge importance of education, so much so that it allocates at least 20% of its annual budget to it. It is also compulsory for children between 6 and 15 years old, but it’s not unusual to see children as young as 4 to go to school, which means education expenses can also start early, and a nursery class may cost $900 per year. University is expected to go up by as much as $30,600, but subsidies can greatly help by decreasing tuition fees by as much as 26%.

Food

A huge chunk of a family’s budget goes to food, and the expenditure keeps on increasing every year. In 2013, the average food expenditure was $1,188, an increase of $239 from 2008. There are two possible explanations for this: inflation and our penchant to eat out. We are the highest spenders in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of dining out with a monthly expense of around $324.

Can We Afford It?

The high cost of living, however, is just a partial way of evaluating our capacity to thrive in the country. The much bigger question is if we can afford our necessities. Thankfully, the answer still remains yes.

More households are earning $20,000 and above a month (including CPF contributions), and even if our total household expenditures have gone up through the years, they’re still lower than our average monthly wages.

This doesn’t mean, though, you won’t go bankrupt or continue to live from paycheque to paycheque. Your own spending habits and financial decisions can have a significant impact on your expenses and income. As an example, while you have many choices for credit cards, going for the ones that help you earn rewards with your credit card is more sensible as you can take every dollar you spent further.

To conclude, whether you’re living in Singapore or anywhere else in the world, being financially smart can shield you from all the money woes.

(This article is brought to you by SingSaver.com.sg)

Lost? Here Are Sensible Money Tips From 3 Financial Experts

Tangled in a financial dilemma? Who will you ask for monetary advice or practical financial tips? If a professional is out of your reach, the next best thing is to read about their nuggets of wisdom.

This is why I collated the best financial advice from three experts. These experts are no other than Suze Orman, Cullen Roche, and Jeanne Kelly. Suze Orman is an American Financial Advisor, Author, Motivational Speaker, and Presenter. Cullen Roche is the Founder of a financial services firm called Orcam Financial Group, LLC. Lastly, Jeanne Kelly is a media acclaimed Credit Coach.

1. TAKE CHANCES

Suze Orman tells us that nobody achieved financial security by being frightened and weak. Being confident in one part of your life is contagious, as it will bring more opportunities to you. You won’t get there unless you try!

2. INVEST MORE IN YOU

Cullen Roche shares that the primary way to financial success is more than just saving. It is by investing more…in you. Since your primary source of income is the person you see in the mirror, a good way to maximize your wealth is to make yourself valuable to other people or other companies.

To be valuable and different from the rest, you must never stop learning. Education that improves your skills so you can adapt to the ever-changing economy. I personally recommend you to start with free Internet education from YouTube’s Khan Academy or Crash Course.

3. BAD CREDIT IS EASY TO AVOID

Jeanne Kelly claims that it is easier to maintain good credit by avoiding bad ones than to rebuild a new credit once it has been declined. She says that a quick way to avoid bad credit is by regularly reviewing the credit reports – at least two times a year. In merely 15 minutes, you can minimize the errors of your credit report and save more money!

4. EQUATION FOR YOUR INCOME

Lastly, Cullen Roche suggests for you to try the 50/30/20 budgeting rule. Spend 50% of your income to the basics or essentials such as rent, food, and utilities. 30% should go on your personal needs such as entertainment, vacation, and leisure. And the 20% left should be allocated to your savings.

Image Credits: 401(K) 2012 via Flickr with CC Attribution-ShareAlike License

Take in their knowledge only if it applies to your situation. Then, fuse the elements together and enrich your life.

Sources: 1 & 2

The Lure Of Income Investing

We have often heard of the term “Income Investing”, but what is it and why it should concern you? Income investing is essentially investing into assets that produce income for you. This could range from investing in stocks that reward investors with dividends, purchasing a residential property and renting it out, etc. I particularly want to zoom into the stocks side because that’s what I have been doing and more people can benefit from this article because owning a property requires a good amount of capital, which not everyone may have at their dispense.

Why Income Investing?

What if I told you that your money has the capacity to grow at a “fixed” rate irregardless of market conditions. Would you be interested? I want to introduce you to dividend stocks where companies pay out dividends that could range all the way to double digit dividend yields if bought at low prices. The benefits of investing in dividend stocks is that you enjoy potential capital growth as well as get to take home some cash every year or even every 3 months.

Picture this, you bought Stock X at $1.00 and based on past dividend history, it has consistently given off $0.05 of dividend per year. This translates to 5% dividend yield per year. What it means is that even if the stock price goes to $1.10(Scenario A) or $0.90(Scenario B), you’ll still get your $0.05 per year. If you consider in terms of returns, for Scenario A, it would mean that you made a 15% return for the year and for Scenario B, it would mean just a 5% loss (-10% + 5%). Your capital gain/loss is amplified or mitigated by your dividend yield.

Fixed Deposit or Dividend Investing?

Some of you may be contemplating between FDs and Dividend Investing. I will leave it up to you to decide at the end of the day, but I will show a comparison between the two.

Fixed Deposit

Lump sum/Progressive capital investment with a minimum lock-in period.
Principle amount usually guaranteed.
Some allow you to take home a small sum every year while deducting it away from your principle amount. Meaning less compounding power.
Fixed but relatively low interest rates and long lock-in period with penalties for early surrender.

Dividend Stocks (Increase risk, increase return)

Increased risk, although not necessarily high if due diligence is conducted.
Potential capital gains.
Possibility of increasing dividend yields through increased dividends or averaging down the share price.
No lock-in period, no minimum sum.

For people who aren’t interested with stock markets at all or don’t know how to select companies may prefer the fixed deposit option. However consider this, when you take on a little more risk and spend time to learn and understand companies, you can mitigate the risks you take. There may be losses, but for the same period of say, 25 years, with dollar-cost averaging or other strategies that you may apply, you’ll likely see returns that fixed deposits can never offer you. And besides, have you ever heard of anyone getting rich by putting their money in fixed deposits alone?

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