Best Credit Card in Singapore

This issue of stretch your dollars series is definitely worth a read for all who qualify for credit card applications.

My colleague and I went shopping for a car last week. He liked the car and decided to pay for the booking fee. As he didn’t have a credit card, I offered to pay for him. The booking fee costs $16,000 thus I have to split payment between 2 cards. The first card I used was the Manhattan Card. It gives me a cash rebate of 5% on spending, with a cap of $300 every quarter. Good choice, I just earned $300.

The 2^nd card I used was an Xtra Saver Debit card by Standard Chartered Bank (SCB). As I have more than $6,000 in the account, I am eligible for a 2% cash rebate on my MasterCard transactions. Not bad, I will be getting $160 cash rebate.

As I rarely use my cards, SCB sent a mailer saying that I qualify for a 5% retail rebate, up to a cap of $50 for my purchases. Coincidentally, I earned another $50.

The Xtra Saver card gave me another 0.5% on NETS payment (cap at $50). Hence I will be using the Xtra Saver card to pay my Manhattan Card bill ($8,000). This gives me $40 cash back.

My total gain was $550, for helping my colleague out. He transferred the money back to me this morning.

I did not do my “homework” on which card to use before going shopping but when I came back and search the web on the “best credit card” to use for the $16,000 purchase, it turned out that no matter how many points you chalk up, the returns can hardly be as good as the above combination.

The best combination, perhaps is to use 3 different (holders of) Manhattan cards to clock a $800 rebate ($16,000x5%) plus paying 3 cards using Xtra Saver NETS ($80 rebate) which gives a grand total of $880.

However, it will be too much of a hassle to do that. Currently, even with American Express 100% bonus points or SCB Visa Infinite 2.5x points system, the total vouchers value will not be close to $300. Don't even bother about airmiles or POSB everyday card's 0.3% cash rebate.

Typically, credit card gives 0.5% rebates in voucher values on spending. For example if I spend $10,000 on the card, I can redeem around $50 of vouchers. Even with 3x points on spending, I can only get $150 of vouchers. This is a far cry from pure 5% cash rebates from Manhattan Card.

The only drawback for Manhattan Card is that it only gives 5% rebates when spending exceeds $3,000. But readers can consider using this card to pay your annual insurance premiums, wedding banquet or any other purchases that exceeds $3,000. Do not be fool by marketing gimmicks of 2x or 5x points. They are at most 1% to 2.5% rebates of your spending.

Measures to curb property speculation finally revealed

Today’s papers reported that measures are rolled out with immediate effect to curb property speculation. In layman terms, they are:

(1) Sellers to pay stamp duty again if they resell the property within 3 years of purchase. (A $1m property attracts $24,600 of stamp duty.)

(2) For buyers who have outstanding loans with banks or HDB they

(a) need to pay at least 10% in cash for downpayment, instead of 5%.

(b) can only loan up to 70% of property valuation limits.

Looks like the government is intervening as the property market astronomical rise is going out of hand and they can only continue to roll out measures in a such manners to react accordingly.

I feel that more can be done to curb the property craze. It is a good thing that government is trying to balance speculative interest from real home seekers. However from my observation, most speculators are already sitting on high paper/real profits; the people who are trying to buy now are real home seekers.

That’s truly an irony.

Then again, what is the definition of speculator? If I am investing in property because I want to leverage on cheap interest rates and earn rental income for 10 years before selling off, am I a speculator?

Actually, I am only trying hard to save for retirement. With the stock market increasingly unpredictable, savings interest rates at 0.2%, buying a property seems to be the next best alternative for anyone who can cough up 20% downpayment.

Yet again, I am always priced out.

I applaud the government for proactively solving problems. But may I suggest that they stay on top of our problems by reacting before they even surface?

Prevention is better than cure, am I right, Mr. Govt?

Public transport

I tried taking the MRT and bus to work recently. It was a horrible experience to take the train. As I need to alight in Orchard area, I had to smell the arm pits of commuters. Then I tried the bus, service 65. Below was the snap shot.

I was pleasantly surprised! I could even read papers there! The ride was a short 30 minute ride from my home. I could check the bus arrival times rather accurately using my iphone from the SBS website. Meanwhile, I could even have a cup of coffee and noodles for breakfast while waiting for the bus.

The dedicated bus lanes also narrowed the time savings between public and private transport. I felt sorry for the cars beside me having to pay hefty $4 ERPs (accumulated), $150 season parking while being stuck in jams daily.

My daily transport cost? $2.20. Of course I hate to leave my car at home, but it just doesn't make sense to pay 100 times more and spend more time travelling.

As LTA races to tender out railway network in Singapore, I seriously doubt the marginal increase in ridership will increase the profits of SMRT. The circle line is already operating at a loss, major lines running at full capacity, what kind of growth are we looking at? A PE ratio of above 20 doesn't justify its growth rate ahead.

Though the bus business seems to be a dying trade, I would prefer to take the bus anytime now, considering the current situation of MRT rides. Due to training purposes, public transport for me will only be a temporary measure, but I am quite sure I will research the bus routes instead of MRT whenever I take public transport.

Well done SBS!

Make money blogging

I have been meaning to write on blog monetization so here it is!

I started Singapore Blue Chips in May 2008, it has been slightly more than 2 years from now. I would say that my blog did generate decent income to cover my internet bills over the past 2 years. The majority of my income did not come from direct advertising but rather from indirect sources.

I earn referral fees from US advertisers to put up their advertising on Singapore blogs. I receive $6-$10 for each referral. So during my free time I comb the local blogging fraternity for possible referrals.

Another part of my income comes from online requests. Prudential once approached me to moderate their forum, http://www.honestlyspeaking.sg/ (forum closed down as campaign ended) and I was paid $100 weekly. The forum was part of their advertising campaign and I am honoured to have the opportunity meet their advertising team to discuss on the online advertising aspects of insurance products.

Occasionally, I do get tertiary students asking me to complete their finance assignments. I do charge high prices for that, at $40-$60 per page. Most of them get good grades anyway, so ethics aside, this blog does generate indirect income similar to online tutoring service. I do discourage prospective students from approaching me though as you are eventually short changing yourself.

Lastly, online advertisements account for the least income. My readership isn’t high, slightly over a thousand unique views weekly, hence payouts from advertisers have been slow. And I know you guys reading my blog never click on my advertisements too!

Fortunately my “Singapore Blue Chips” is always the 1^st search result on google and yahoo. Hence readership can always be maintained at a decent rate even if I stop blogging for 3 months. Mr. Tan Kin Lian has kindly linked his blog to mine, which generate the highest number of web referrals too.

This blog was never intended to make money anyway. But it is really satisfying to be able to generate income from a hobby, however little it may be.

I do get several emails a day from readers asking advice on stocks and wealth accumulation. I rarely reply them due to time constrains and the information provided is simply inadequate. Besides, I have no license to advise on financial matters! All I can say that it is never simple to make money through equities investing. Making money through equities does not mean you are correct in your financial concepts. The acumen needs to be honed and there is no short cut in hard work to build one’s fundamental knowledge in finance.

Lately I have been blogging lesser on equities mainly because my portfolio is generating decent income and passivity is my best way to monitor the market. I have no desire to generate super normal returns and my farmer philosophy has served me well.

Hence, everything will continue as so.

Of Cars and Cars

I have a rather luxurious family car below where I rarely drive. Most of the time, I drive my trusty 5 year old Japanese car (1.6 litre) for work or take the train when I go for trainings in town. Occasionally, I do drive my family car for errands when it is available. Often people who just got to know me will associate the car with me living in a bungalow or working in prestigious MNC. It seems that the car is an epitome of success, which is quite inconsistent with my current image. In the end, I have to clarify that I have a humble job, that car isn’t mine and I only stay in a HDB flat.

Honestly, sometimes driving this car leads to more embarrassment than awe as people who just knew me would probably be thinking why the hell you are driving this car when you are “supposed” to be taking a bus.

There are many cons in driving that car other than the above scenarios. I would be afraid while in my possession that it might be scratched, knocked or stolen. I have to be careful while going over the humps and struggle to remember the different functions that are supposed to “aid” in driving.

When should I be using cruise control these days when the expressways are as crowded as the car parks, 24/7?

I forgot to mention that I need to see a doctor to check for my hearing soon. There seems no difference between a Mark Levinson and a pioneer locally assembled car stereo system.

On the contrary, I feel a lot at ease driving my own LKK car. The leather seats seem seasoned to my butt, fitting them comfortably. The single CD player (not even MP3 player) never jams. The $50 full tank can last me for a good 10 days. Not to mention the $750 insurance premium and $769 road tax is easy on my pocket. The servicing cost me $100 every 9 months, nobody ever bothers to scratch my car since day 1 I bought it. I can floor the accelerator without feeling heartpain. Only God washes my car for me (quite often recently!).

Driving is a luxury only when you comfortably afford it. I guess I still can’t get used to spending things I rarely use and impressing people I don’t know.

Is Singapore really that bad?

Today a colleague told me she wants to migrate to Australia. Initially, I thought it was just a passing remark. However, as I probed further, she has actually obtained PR status through an agent here, after spending about $8,000. She has also taken an English test to demonstrate her proficiency in English and will be moving over to Western Australia by December as a skilled worker.

My first question was, why leave? She is in her late thirties and has worked in the same line as me since graduation. Her grouses are the same as mine: No work life balance, working over weekends, no time for herself to consolidate and “talk to herself”. She feels the sheer volume of work is making her out of breath, only by leaving Singapore can she regain her sanity. She has a lot of health problems, possibly attributed by her career.

I applaud her courage. She is single, have aged parents and living alone. She will only look for accommodation and job when she reaches there. I would probably sink into depression if I go to a foreign land with no friends and job.

Is Singapore really that bad?

Over the weekend, there are extensive reports on the Singapore Dream. It states that to attain 5Cs has become increasingly impossible over the years. This is extremely true even for me and everyone around me. I earned an average of $6,500 a month. However, I can only afford a Japanese car (5 year old now) and stay with my parents. Unless I get married, there is no way I can afford a roof over my head alone. Well I can, if I use up ALL my savings and investments. That would mean an opportunity cost of at least $1,800 a month as the dividends from my investments generate roughly that amount on average.

I would need to pay for utilities, property tax, maintenance, gas, groceries, electricity and many other costs associated with living alone. My living cost will shoot up and I will be stuck to my job, forever.

Lately, I feel the strained in my workplace. It has become increasingly competitive as every other colleague competes to outshine each other. Workplace has become a place where working hard is no longer enough; Competition breeds office politics and other hypocritical acts. Nobody is my friend now. I am an economic unit of my office which is a subsidiary of Singapore Inc.

Not many people seem happy in my workplace. Many are stuck and resigned to fate.

“This is Singapore”

“It is the same everywhere”

“Some places are worse!”

“I can only do this”

“I have a family and mortgage to service every month”

My Singaporean readers, are you entrapped in the vicious cycle as well? Do you pursue wealth to attain happiness only to lose happiness while pursuing wealth?

Why are you feeling like that?

I believe it is an issue of comparison. Below was an excerpt I posted 2 years ago on my blog:

Robert H. Frank, professor of economics at Cornell University, says that most people find the first option more attractive. When it comes to salaries, we care more about relative size than absolute size. What matters most is earning more than our neighbours.

The same holds true for all sorts of things. The actual size of our apartment matters less than its size compared to everyone else's. And most of us will settle for a modest car - provided our neighbour is driving something worse.

It is a sobering thought. We assume that getting a pay rise, or moving into a new apartment, or trading-up to a better car will bring us increased levels of happiness and satisfaction. In fact, many of us simply raise the bar on what counts as adequate.

We work longer hours, earn more, spend more and consume more. Meanwhile, everyone else does the same. So, by comparison, we are no better off, and therefore no happier.

How true?

(I actually enjoy re-reading my blog sometimes. It is like talking to someone about my past. It makes me philosophical and happy.)

When you can hear

Today a new admin staff came to my office. When I wanted to speak to her, she passed me a black colour remote control like device and asked me frantically to speak into the device. I was quite taken aback as I didn’t know how to use it until she demonstrated it to me. That was when I realised that she was having a hearing aid on her ear. Every time we want to communicate to her, we have to speak to her listening device and it will amplify our conversation to her ear piece.

I was actually quite overwhelmed by her disability. Even though it was not as serious as not being able to see, smell, taste or feel, yet I feel so much for this young lady.

Over the past few years, I spent a large part of my time pursuing wealth, work and academic studies. Even on a Saturday night, I am clearing my work from home now, hopefully I can have my Sunday free. Yet as I listen to the wonderful music playing from my laptop, I taught of this (near) deaf girl.

What she wants in life is so simple. To hear us clearly. To answer the telephone. To use an ipod. To drive.

Sometimes when I look at the misfortune of others, I gloat at myself. Every day I struggle to juggle between societal expectations of a 30 year old graduate, yet within me, all I wanted was a simple, low paying, brainless job to get by the day happily.

So what if I manage to reach $500,000 assets by December 2010? So what if I get the Masters in Applied Finance? Will that warrant a passport to happiness?

I guess it is time to take life slowly now. As I listen to beautiful music, I feel blessed to be even able to hear them. Something that Beethoven couldn’t even enjoy.

I will tender my resignation by the end of this year and enjoy being unemployed. Perhaps I would just be the clerk next door.

Stay tuned. J