Simple Budget, Simple Life

If you've not heard of Chocolate Finance and Heymax, here's the deal: As of 11 Feb 2025, Chocolate Finance is partnering with Heymax to allow 2 max miles per $1 through their Chocolate Visa Platinum Debit Card. We can now earn 2 Max Miles per S$1 spent on virtually everything - charitable donations, education, hospitals, insurance premiums, utilities, and even AXS transactions. What is Chocolate Finance? Chocolate Finance has been my sidekick saving account since Jul 2024 where I placed $20k for 3.3% p.a. on the first S$20,000. So far, I've earned $454.98. Not too bad for an account that allows easy and immediate withdrawal.  What is Heymax? Heymax is a rewards platform that offers Max Miles which can be transferred to various airline (excluding SQ) and hotel programs, making them highly valuable for travelers.  I've been using it for the past year as it helps maximise rewards on my credit cards by recommending the best card to use. Simply key in the cards you have on h...

I have been feeling stuck for years. 6 years in fact. I felt like I did not live for myself. That I did not love myself enough. I blame my body for its weakness. I blame my overactive mind for giving me heartaches and tears.  I didn't give time to heal. I was chasing against time, against my biological clock. But I missed out taking care of myself. The pursuit for a child seemed like a blackhole. Only pouring in, with no outcome. I am now stopping this journey. Whether it is a pause or a full stop, I am still uncertain. But I know I need to live for myself NOW. Therefore, 2025 is going to be my year of healing. I had this thought nearing the end of 2024 - that I've suffered enough. Sure there were happy moments, but I could not live in the present.  I wish for reborn. 1. Physical Healing I've made steps to better my health.  Due to my frequent indigestions and stomachaches, I've gone for gastroscopy and colonoscopy. Fortunately, the results were not earth shattering. It...

My favourite activity for each start of the year is checking my CPF interest. And on 1 Jan 2025, I've received the following interest: 2025 will also mark the year where I reach FRS of $213,000. This will mean limited tax relief, unless I've deductions from Medisave that can allow $8k top-up. It will also be the year where I receive my CPF OA used for housing, upon the sale of my flat. That said, the amount will likely channel out to my new home (which I'm still hunting for). Overall, I know 2025 is going to be eventful. It is definite that I will get a new home under my name. While cashflow is tight, I'm proud that I am able to scrap through owning a >1m property by my own. Though, servicing another one under my hubby's name will be a headache. Anyway, we will get there.  Things are looking rosy and 2025 will be a great year for me!

  Another end to a year. For the nth time, I dread reflecting on the year because I did not receive positive outputs from the pain I've endured. But here goes.  Here's a recap of my finances over the years: 2016 -  Unexpected review of 2016: hitting $200k in net worth 2017 -  End 2017 review - net worth at $287k 2018 -  End 2018 review - net worth at $372k  2019 -  End 2019 Review - inching close to $500k net worth  (~$440k) 2020 -  End 2020 Review - net worth at $550k 2021 -  End 2021 Review - closing in to $700k net worth 2022 -  End 2022 Review - failing financial goal for the first time, $660k net worth 2023:  End 2023 review: $819k net worth 2024 Review Borrowing my past year statement: This year, so much has happened, but not much have changed. Since I don't blog every month, here's a recap of what I've done across the past 12 months: Jan Did CPF MA topup of $3k Spoke about feeling depressed and signing up for counse...

For years, I've done CPF cash top-ups in a bid to reduce taxes. I typically did them at the start of the year. I had an inkling I wasn't earning a lot to warrant the tax reliefs, but felt compelled to do so to make it seem like my money in CPF was working harder.  Afterall, 4% on SA was much greater than leaving it in the banks. No doubt, these were money "stuck" until I could only withdraw them when I cross 55. In the past 2 years, I became more apprehensive of topping-up at the start of the year. I only did it for MA, but for SA, I decided to wait...till I had more cash on hand. This was because I was running out of cash reserves as I threw in quite a bit of cash in 2021 onto stocks, cryptos....and unfortunately, was not savvy in making good returns.  I had to rebuild my cash reserves. That meant just aggressively saving, without investing. This may not be the wisest, but I needed comfort and security that my cash nest is being built back to the original state. Fast...

As of 8 Dec 2024, I have officially unlocked the milestone of $1m networth 🎉 This is all thanks to the increased in value of my crypto holdings as well as my US stocks. My HK/CN stocks are still in bad shape. On stocks front, truthfully, my overall investments is still in the red. I had made mistakes in stock picking and has not taken the opportunity to cut losses. I had the view to hold and pray those stocks in deep red would go up - after all, I told myself I don't need the money right now. On crypto, given that BTC has bounced back, I'm sitting on decent profits. I've been cashing out bit by bit. The last I spoke in Mar , I cashed out a rather sizeable amount of BTC at 50% profit. On hindsight, if I had waited till now, I could have cash out 3000 SGD more. Anyway, this time round in Nov, I cashed out 2 times, at a 70%-80% profit. Not bad considering the rest of my investments. As long as there are no major global events impacting the markets negatively, I believe I woul...