As a dragon baby navigating the Year of the Dragon, it is inevitable that I experienced more downs than ups in 2024. Whether it is at work, familial relations or health, all experienced massive lows. Personally, I can’t wait for 2024 to be behind me and bring all the issues away (hopefully). 1) Holiday in […]
Invest Your SRS Funds And What You Need To Know When You Withdraw
A Supplementary Retirement Scheme (‘SRS’) account can be opened with any of the 3 local banks and this is the start towards a journey to save for your retirement. At the same time, contributions towards the SRS account provide dollar-for-dollar tax relief, capped at S$15,300 for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents, and S$35,700 for foreigners. While […]
My Family Holiday To Thailand’s Bangkok With 2 Kids
This was the first time that my family is travelling with 2 kids, a prospect that I quietly fear because I do not know what to expect. To up the ante further, the little one just turned 1 and discovered the wonders of walking. This meant full-on adult supervision is required to minimise falls and […]
Does 5-room BTO flat make more resale profit than a 3-room BTO flat?
When I successfully balloted for my 3-room BTO flat back in September 2014, well-meaning relatives strongly urged that I should consider a 5-room BTO flat instead. There were indeed 5-room flats in Bukit Batok and Buangkok available during that HDB BTO sales launch. They put forth the key argument that a 5-room BTO flat, based […]
Reflections On Lenora Turning 1 Year Old
Hi Lenora, you just turned 1 year old recently and I thought this was a big milestone worth penning a blog post on. As we already held a large-scale 100-day birthday party for you, we decided to keep this celebration smaller with just immediate family members invited. You also timed it to perfection by taking […]
Step By Step Guide On The Timeline and Sale Of HDB Resale Flat
I recently sold my HDB BTO flat after it has reached its Minimum Occupation Period (‘MOP’). It is yet another significant milestone in my home ownership journey and one that has been a long time coming. To be specific, the process was 10 years in the making, from balloting to the eventual sale. As a […]
Did UOB One Account jump the gun in cutting interest rates too early?
By now it should be widely known that UOB is reducing the interest rates of its flagship UOB One Account from 1 May 2024. This announcement was made as early as 1 April to give its customers a one month’s heads-up. While the notice period was nice, a lot had changed on the macro-economic front […]
I took my parents for advance care planning in Singapore, here’s why
My parents are aged 67 and 64 respectively. From their point of view, they think that they are old. From what national statistics suggest, there’s still 2 decades of lifespan left in each of them. How much of their remaining lifespan will be in the form of healthspan is anyone’s guess given how unpredictable life […]
Time For Radical Ways To Increase Singapore’s Total Fertility Rate
It was recently published that Singapore’s Total Fertility Rate (‘TFR’) dropped below 1.0 for the very first time. A psychological mark has been breached and this dominated Parliament debates and social commentaries. Given the clear TFR trend, factors such as 1) marriage plans disrupted by COVID-19 and 2) low births during the Zodiac of the […]
Dobin: The Best Personal Finance App In Singapore So Far
Being a member of the personal finance community for over a decade, I have always been crying out for an all-in-one personal finance mobile app that can replace manual tracking. Pretty much like a super app in the personal finance domain that can do it all- savings, expenditure tracking, budgeting, discounts etc. I would say […]
