Back!

Hey everyone, I am sorry for the long hiatus. It has been a difficult period for me as I had to settle some personal issues. But now that it is over, I am back! I realised that I need to continue to blog even though it is tough to keep going. While I can easily let myself down, I find it hard to let others down. In this case, the readers out there. It gives me the discipline I need to keep going.

As the start of the new year, I set out 3 financial goals to pursue. Kept it short and sweet.

1. Read one investment book a month and apply it if necessary
2. Review 1 solid stock every 2 weeks.
3. Save 40% or more of my salary

I will post about my recent research soon! Stay tuned!

A Folly of My Past

Today, I finally put a closure to one of my past follies... Yes, there are many more to deal with.

Back in 2007, I bought an Investment Linked Policy from one of my NS friends. He was starting his career so I decided to support him! But I did not do my homework before I bought into it.

So I used $6100 of my CPF-OA to purchase the ILP then and now when I finally decided to cash it out, the value is $7323.23. On first glance, it seems like it wasn't such a bad deal after all. A sweet gain of $1223.23. However, if I calculate the CAGR, it is only a measly 2.65%! OMG even some fixed deposits can do better than that.

If I had left this money in my CPF-OA which earns 2.5% compounded annually, it would have been $7250.98 now. This means the amount of risk I took to invest in a non-guaranteed ILP for 7 years is only worth $72.25. This is such a miscalculation on my part.

All in all, I don't blame my friend because I was the one who made the decision and he did not force me in to. I only wish I had better financial knowledge back then and know better about investing wisely.

Now that the money is back in my CPF-OA. I can comfortably sleep at night and know that it still earns 2.5% annually =)

Credit Card Galore

There are so many credit cards in Singapore!! It is almost impossible to keep track of which is better but it is definitely wise to review your card preference once in a while to ensure that you are getting the best deal!

This time, I will focus on Cashback! (Who doesn't love cashback?)

I recently came across an interesting card - OCBC 365



It has the following benefits...



The caveat is a minimum spending of $600 per month and the cashback amount is capped at S$80 per month. This means if you spend the most on petrol and weekend dining (which are exactly my main expenditure),  you should spend at most $1600 on this card (assuming 5% cashback). Beyond that, you are not going to earn anything extra cashback.

Overall, this is quite a good generic card I must say. It allows you to use it for most of the expenses without having to crack your head and wonder which card to use when the bill arrives.

There is another card worth mentioning - Maybank Family & Friends Platinum Mastercard

As silly as the name may sound, it offers quite attractive cashback.

Selected 5% Cash Rebate Merchants
	Daily Essentials Cold Storage** NTUC Fairprice/Finest/X-tra** Leading petrol stations and hypermarts in Malaysia Click here for merchant outlets		Learning & Retail FOX Kids & Baby New! Mothercare New! POPULAR Bookstores Toys "R" Us Yamaha Music Click here for merchant outlets
	Fast Food Delivery Canadian Pizza Delivery KFC Delivery McDonald’s Delivery Pizza Hut Delivery Click here for merchant outlets		Health & Wellness Guardian Unity NTUC Healthcare Watsons Click here for merchant outlets
	Leisure & Attractions LEGOLAND® Malaysia  Resort# Click here for merchant outlets

Once again, the caveat is a minimum spending of $500 per month and the cashback amount is capped at $600 per year which works out to be $50 per month. Beyond that, it continues to earn cashback at 0.3%.

Too bad the petrol cashback is only for Malaysia petrol stations.

To end off, I shall honor my past favourite - Citibank DIVIDEND Card

It does not have a minimum monthly spending but it has a minimum transaction amount of $50 before you can earn the full cashback. It give you 18.3% for petrol, 5% groceries, 2% dining and 0.5% for others.

I think currently the OCBC 365 suits my spending pattern the best as most of my expenses are on dining and petrol (two of my most sinful pleasures in life)

For those who wants a more detailed review of credit cards, I recommend Cheaponana! It is very comprehensive and it provides some analysis too! 

More on CPF!

Strangely enough, after my previous post on CPF LIFE,  I had lots of conversation with my friends, colleagues and even my future mum-in-law on the making of CPF and CPF LIFE. So as part of my own archive (since my page view is so low), I will put down some more links here for posterity's sake.

• All about CPF.  While this link brings you to a page that is titled "Other CPF Schemes and Services", in my view this is a one-stop shop that contains all the links to important websites such CPF LIFE, Minimum Sum Scheme , Supplementary Retirement Scheme, Investment Schemes and even what happens to your CPF monies when you are due to see the maker! I would recommend anyone to start from this page and keep revisiting it until you finish navigating through the labyrinth of cpf.gov.sg

• Minimum Sum Scheme.  Before you embark on CPF LIFE, you definitely need to understand the Minimum Sum Scheme as it forms the basis of how CPF LIFE operates. It also determines how much you can withdraw upon reaching 55 years old. A few important points which many may not be aware of:
• You can only withdraw the remaining monies in your OA and SA after setting aside sufficient monies for the CPF Minimum Sum and Medisave Minimum Sum. 
• When you reach 55 years old, the monies in your SA will be transferred to your RA first. If not not meeting the CPF Minimum Sum, your OA will then top it up. If you have excess monies in your Medisave (above the Medisave Minimum Sum), it can contribute to the CPF Minimum Sum too.

*At the point of writing, the CPF Minimum Sum is $155,000 while the Medisave Minimum Sum is $43,500.

• FAQ.  Of course, no good website is complete without a solid FAQ, and I am happy to announce that the CPF website has quite a comprehensive and detailed FAQ. Inside contains a lot of "gems". One of them is the maximum top-up for the CPF Minimum Sum. It is essentially the difference between the current CPF Minimum Sum and the recipient's SA balance. Below is a good infographic.

Fun Fact: Do you know that you can top-up others' CPF to help them reach their CPF Minimum Sum? 

There are two types of top-up. (1) with Cash and (2) with your OA monies. While you can use cash to top-up for almost anyone, you can use your OA monies only to top-up for your immediate family members. Interestingly, you cannot top-up for your child with your OA monies! Well, I guess it is well-intended since your child has a longer timeline to reach the CPF Minimum Sum than you. Earn your own keep, my young Padawan!

While CPF is a complex matter, we should spend some time studying it and tease out the essence for our retirement's sake! Oh well, tomorrow is Monday! Time to earn some money for my CPF!