Simple Budget, Simple Life

With the influx of posts on social media re UOB One (psst on grabpay) and the receipt of my house keys, I decided it was the time to sign up for a UOB One account plus credit card. It was gonna be the best tool for household joint expenses and joint savings. However, I've faced multiple hiccups that made me VERY frustrated....WHY ME?! 1. Delayed approving process led to losing out of sign up bonus First, I signed up for the UOB One card and Account in early Oct through Singsaver's promotion. The promotion said that I'd get to enjoy cash incentive for registration + UOB's promotion of $80 cash credit with min $1k spent within 30 days of card approval. Mind you, t hese terms were stated to end on 31 Oct , extracted below: S$80 Cash Credit for  UOB  One Account:  Limited to the first 500 new to  UOB  Deposits customers who either (i) deposit and maintain $5,000 or (ii) credit their salary, into their new  UOB  account for 6 consecutive months. ...

Hello! I'm back! My blog has been collecting dust with my previous update 2 months back. Glad to provide good updates that I've finally received the keys to my home :). Reno has also started and we hope to be able to move in by end this year! I guess it's a blessing in disguise that my key collection was delayed till now. This is an excellent time to purchase household items at attractive prices on 11.11 (and upcoming Black Friday!) It's practically sales everywhere now, as it builds up to Xmas. Makes me happy while typing these. Who can resist bargains right? Prior to 11.11, I started carting stuff and comparing prices. Hence, as the clock struck 12am at 11.11, I was frantically paying. In fact, in just 1 day, I spent close to $5.5k on 3 platforms. Taobao, Lazada and Qoo. And hey, I contributed to this record  😛 Items bought includes: dining table electrical laundry system Xiaomi TV ceiling fans lights fridge washing machine sofa toilet...

Fancy a free staycation at M Social Hotel and a $50 credit?  If you signed up for the FRANK credit card, you'll get the $50 rebate and receive a free staycation with $400 minimum spend. The last I had a FRANK card was years ago. Back then (think 2012), FRANK account was suitable for undergraduates with their attractive interest rates and customised credit card designs. Their FRANK card was awesome as I recalled a 5% online rebates with low minimum spend. As usual, good things don't last. When FRANK account offered pathetic interests compared to other salary crediting accounts and their FRANK credit card became unattractive due to it's minimum $400 offline spend to start clocking rebates, I cancelled it immediately. Until recently when I spotted this: The credit card still sucks but by spending $400 for a free staycation? Count me in! Furthermore, I received a $50 credit by signing via myinfo which is effectively a 12.5% rebate! Take note that the fr...

I've a happy problem now. I'm expected to get my keys by end this year. I was deliberating on the options to settle the loans  - whether to pay off as much cash as we have, to minimise the loan we have. By some stroke of luck, our parents are extending their money to us...with interest of course, but slightly lesser than HDB loan of 2.6%. Works for us since the interest we pay them is better than what the banks give. With this loan, plus wiping out our CPF (leaving $20k behind), we can actually pay the remaining  with our savings at point of key collection. This is our scenario, amounts adjusted for simplicity: Remaining to pay after downpayment $550,000 Parents loan $200,000 CPF OA $100,000 Remaining balance (to pay using cash?) $250,000 And, I'd have paid off my HDB at point of key collection (though effectively, we still owe our parents money with interest). Use Cash, Grow CPF Our idea is to use as much cash where possible. First, the interest g...

I've heard about the $5 screening offer from HPB last year but didn't bother. Until I came across articles on pap smear and cervical cancer and it got me thinking that I should perhaps do a test.....for $5. I initially thought that all I had to do was to show the clinic my IC and I'd be eligible for the $5 screening. Turns out, we need to present a letter for verification before we can enjoy the rate. I then checked out the HPB website  and contacted their hotline to request for the screening letter. I vaguely recalled receiving it sometime back, but probably lost the letter 🤭 The officer on the hotline told me that the letter generation will take 2 weeks. Oh gosh, another example of the slow service from government agencies. I told them to expedite as I want to have the scan soon. No promises, they said. And I wondered, how many procedures backend would it take for them to "approve" my letter?  🤔 Shouldn't such letters be built inside the h...

Half a year gone. I still have not gotten my keys to my new home and am still childless. Ok, TMI. On financial front, I've been seeing a steady increase in my net worth. As at my last update in end 2018, my net worth was at $372k. Half a year later, I've successfully crossed $200k cash savings (previously it dropped as I topped up my MA) and exceeded $400k in networth. I may be able to hit $450k by end year but will just need to carve out some money for renovation and home stuff. Most gains came from employment. While I lament how sick I am of work, it is my main source of $. I've not added any stocks and can never not live off my portfolio for passive income. It is with salary crediting that I've received 1.85-2% interest on my DBS multiplier anyway. I've been thinking if I'm making my money work hard enough. I occasionally browse the SGX hoping to see some stocks to purchase, but am not comfortable enough to make the move. Since Jan till date, my...

Each day passing is one step towards old age. Unknowingly, we are in mid 2019. Top-up to CPF SA Anyway, with my bonuses in, I decided to park $7k into my CPF SA for tax relief purposes. I've always been saying that I should do the $7k voluntary top-up at start of the year to gain extra interest, but have never done so hahaha Got my hubby to do the same as well...not without some nagging and me taking control of the transfer  🤦‍♀️ Hubby wasn't super keen as he preferred to keep the cash to pay off our housing loan ASAP. His thoughts on our housing loan For context, our balance to pay is at $500k+ 🙃We are paying equal amounts for the home. Wipe out our CPF, leaving $20k in OA Pay $100k cash upfront (or even more if we can afford) - he feels our investments does not beat 2.6% interest charged by HDB for loan. This is true given majority of our money in savings accounts, SSBs, FDs which gives at best 2% interest? For the remaining amount, to get a 25 years loan ...