Financial Freedom SG

For the past three years, I have had a busy job that zapped my energy that all I wanted when I reached home was to rest and not do much. On top of that, I am taking a part time master program and one and a half year ago, my little kid came to the world.


So investing and the blog took a back seat as I did not have the time or the energy to put as much effort into it.

With a new job, there are new things to learn and the handphone isn’t ringing off the hook and I don’t have to run around to meet clients or suppliers. So there is time to recharge and take stock.

Through much of that which had happened, the investment income my wife and me have has gone to a higher level and we have enjoyed the dividends that came into our savings account which was sucked into expenses as a baby isn’t cheap in Singapore’s context.

We tried to save money when we could, buying 15 tins of milk power at one go as it was on offer. People were pointing and staring , but we didn’t care. We bought them late last year and my baby just finished eating the last 15th tin no long ago. We finally have a 32 inch LCD TV, courtesy of my parents who got a gleaming 39 inch LED TV free. Sure, there are scratches and it looks bulky for an LCD but it works. We could have bought one for sure, but my spouse will refuse as our CRT TV in the living room still works perfectly more than 7 years later. So it still takes pride of place in the living room as it works better than the LCD anyway which cannot be viewed clearly from the sides. So the LCD went to the bedroom.

The point is that in order to have enough to invest, your salary has to be more than your expenses.

So no frivolous and unnecessary spending.

No car, no LV handbag, no ibook (but an ipad, as the little one magically stays still during feeding session when one appears) etc.

We could afford them (at least I think so, but my wife thinks not and you must always agree if you want your ears to be free), but rather have that in OCBC shares, Berkshire shares, REITS, ETFs, index fund etc.

So we go on the daily ritual to squeeze with the rest of the Singapore population and much of the rest of the world on the MRT and buses. When it is less crowded, you can play Sugar Crush, read the free daily, read news on your handphone or do emails.

My wife prefers looking at photos of the little one, but sometimes, all you see is the back of another person’s head or armpit, depending on your relative heights.

Thanks to the new job, my aim for this month for me is to convert more of my CPF money to pay for the housing loan, so that we can free up more cash for investment.

One of the best way to increase your investment is to have more money to make your investment increase.

If you have an alternative source of income, an increase in your pay, or dividends come in, you can substantially increase your investment.

It sounds simple or common sense, but we are always looking at investment returns and not enough on making more to help increase this return.

 For me, I had taken on giving tuition, writing an assessment book with ex-colleagues, giving investment lectures to increase the side income. Also writing this blog, although the income from this is minimal and more coffee money than anything.

However, all of these stopped with the birth of my child one and a half years ago. I just changed job two weeks ago after being in a stressful one managing a multi million project. There was a substantial increase in pay although my job title sounds less prestigious now than before.

The more comforting thing was that I was given a raise in pay even though I had not been more than one week on the job as there was an organisation wide adjustment in pay. It applied to me even with less than one week's worth of work.

It made losing more than two months plus of bonuses more palatable when I forgo that which my ex-colleagues will take this month. And the thing is that this increment is actually worth more than I had in my previous job. I had stayed in my ex company for two and a half years.

It gives a sense of perspective to changing your job for better prospects. Then again, without the pressures and achievements from my prevoius job plus the contacts made I may not have landed this job.

Both my last two jobs were referrals from ex colleagues or contacts made in the course of my job. It makes perfect sense to be professionally and conduct yourself ethically always as you never know whether your subcontractor or supplier or business contact may end up offering you a job.

What about you? Have you made anything to cause your investment made to increase?

Received my credit card bills and noted the dates for payment. If you had worked before in the bank you will know that credit card payment and processing has their own cycle. So the banks expects and knows that a flood of customers may call after the latest bills are posted.

I have a Maybank credit card which i signed on for recently. It promised a watch after spending a certain amount. So when the time came it ran out of stocks and it promised another date. Suffice to say the date has come and gone with no action the second time. Maybe 'it' forgot. But you can be sure that they won't forget any late payment or interest fees.

When I last worked in the bank I saw my share of people who were living on the edge and maximising their credit limit to the tilt. And these people were calling in to ask for increases to the credit limit so that they can continue with the spending binge.

Coming back to the Maybank story, I wanted to speak to their call centre officer, but even request for waivers were automated and they said that if successful, this will be credited in the next card statement. What if it wasn't?

Seems to me that banks have gone overboard with the cost 'efficiency' at the expense of the customer. You can bet that they'd lose some customers because of this. At the moment, I'd just stick to them. What's your experience like with the banks regarding credit cards?

Saw an article on Yahoo news on “How to Save One-Third of Your Income” and agree with what the author of the article, Kimberly Palmer, was saying.

If you look at the comments given, a lot is by Singaporeans and guess that it strikes a chord with us.

I found that I spent quite a bit of time to read the comments there and learn about the different ways some Singaporeans save their hard earned money.

Lots of people left their comments and the way that they try to save.

However, there are people who think that the amount put into CPF constitutes savings. The fact that most of our CPF goes to buying property plus the fact that the CPF cannot be withdrawn before our retirement means that all of us should put aside part of our cash salary into a savings kitty.

With these savings, it forms the foundation from which you can build your financial freedom.

There is an interesting article on the New York times that talks about the struggles of the author to teach his kids about financial literacy.

"Watch as we don't buy, not as we do" is a real life example of how kids mimic what their parents do and how values are imparted when they observe how their role models spend.

Last week, I just went back to my parents' place for dinner and while washing up, I noticed that my dad's shaver is still the same one that he has been using for at least a decade.

It got me thinking about how I will think hard about every purchase I buy. Whether I'd need it, and put it off so that I can see for myself if I truly want/need it. I think I have to thank my dad for this.

Frugality is transmitted like polite/rude behaviour. I still have work clothes that I buy 10 years ago and still wear it. I can afford a completely whole new wardrobe of clothes. But I don't see the need, nor do I want it.

Living within one's means and choosing not to keep up with the rich fellows flaunting their BMWs, expensive watches, tailored clothes is one step towards financial freedom.

The example you set for your kids for frugality is also an added bonus.

Just don't overdo it and make your kids a leech who takes advantage of others to save money.

I'd remember to get my dad a shaver soon.

1. When you first get your credit card and you may be tempted to swipe it to the max and pay the minimum sum. In a year, you pay $5000 x 24% which is $1200 each year as fees to the bank.

2. You can get waiver for annual fees, late payment, interest. Only if you call in to beg/ demand. And your record is relatively spotless, you pay everything in full and don't forget to pay your credit card bills too often. Else don't bother calling.

3. If you are sinking under number 1, you can do worse if you have 5 cards with 5 different banks and pay $1200 x 5 = $6000 each year to the banks. You'd be the banks' favourite customer.

4. If you think no.3 is bad, it gets worse. You can apply for the credit lines, or their balance transfer promotions since these pay less interest to the bank. Oh, only 12% per annum! And you continue to spend like there's no tomorrow and apply for 5 credit lines with your 5 banks. 5000 x 12% x 5 banks = $3000. So it is $3000 on top of the $6000.

5. When you are in stage no.4, the banks introduce you to overlimit fines, late fees which they will not give you a waiver, annual fees that they also won't give a waiver. And interest? They'll want all the interest too. And when you try to swipe the darned cards, they all get rejected because you have reached the limit. You can the bank to plead to allow the purchase and you are introduced to the Authoriser who decides if your DVDs, BOSE system, furniture, lingerie, restaurant bills can be charged.

6. When you withdraw money, the bank start charging 24% not just on the amount withdrawn but on the ENTIRE credit balance outstanding at the time. So if you have swiped $4500 on a holiday overseas and find that you didn't have enough cash, you withdraw $500 from the credit card. Big mistake. The bank charges $5000 x 24% the moment you withdraw the cash. $3.28 a day, $100 a month of interest.

So use your cards wisely, pay in full and get all the credit card rewards.

The big news today is that the DBS ATM all went kaput in the morning from 8.30am till 10.30am. My colleague wanted to withdraw from his DBS account in the afternoon for lunchtime but couldn’t. So it is likely some of the ATMs were down for a longer time.

Moral of the story? Get another bank account from another bank as a backup so you never have to worry about being unable to withdraw your money.

We’d look at some of the banks interest rates:

From about 40 minutes looking at it and gathering data and trying to figure it out, one thing is clear.

The banks need to get their act together. Seriously. Why are there so many different accounts with different names offering the same interest rates?

The bank needs to only offer three at most, savings, current and a special savings account with some sort of limitations like no ATM card or or not passbook.

Also, a clear winner from $1 to the first $50,000 is Maybank, after which the banks all just happen to offer the same rates of 0.25% till the first $100,000. UOB takes all winners from $100,000 onwards.

So there you have it, the best savings interest rates you can get.

If you have the time read this article on how $1 saved a day can yield you $67,815 in 30 years at 10% annual return. Quite an optimistic return, but the article is worth reading.

I save at OCBC and POSB, while my wife saves part of her money at Maybank. Maybe I should ask my wife to manage the money? :)

Sources:

1. UOB Interest Rates

2. DBS Interest Rates

3. Maybank Interest Rates

4. OCBC Interest Rates

5. Standard Chartered Bank

6. ANZ Interest Rates

7. Yahoo News

I think most Singaporeans know of this ‘trick.’ Call the credit card company to ask for a waiver when the annual fee is due.

Today, I made my annual call to the bank which has changed 3 times in these turbulent times, from ABN Amro to RBS and now ANZ. As I have only one credit card, I use it more than the average user. Another reason is that my wife is also the supplementary card user.

So when I call, it is normally waived with little questions or bargaining.

The good thing about this bank is that their call centre can be reached very quickly. I got in and talked to a real person in less than a minute when I called at 8.25am just before I reached my office.

This is unlike the experience with the local telecom providers.

For readers who have more than one credit card, be prepared to cancel the card if you don’t get the waiver. If you don’t use it that often, the bank officer is often not able to extend the full waiver any way. I know, because I used to be at the other end of the line before.

When I attended a Personal Effectiveness course recently, the trainer said that it is a good practice to have just one card. And I agree completely with him.

Unless you have a habit of filing away all the credit card slips hat you sign and tally them weekly, you could be charging too much to your cards. With a single card, it is easier to control your spending.

How do you control your credit card spending?

Have a good week ahead.

To celebrate my birthday today, I called Starhub to cancel away the sports group and other channels that we don’t need. Saved almost 50% of the original costs so that is a good birthday present.

Without the England Premiership matches, it has lost its value. My wife and I took the chance to pare away channels that we don’t particularly like or watch. Unlike the 30 minutes wait encountered with Singtel’s ‘helpline’, it was shorter this time. By about 12 minutes.

The funny thing was that before that just before the 16 minutes wait, I called the sales line from a number on the Starhub website and it got through in just 2 minutes. So new customers wait 2 minutes, old customers wait 16 minutes.

And the new line customer service officer on the sales line told me to call the other line curtly, “You have to call 1633.” Singapore’s customer service has improved? I think not.

Maybe with the inevitable cut in subscribers, they will have less people manning these lines. And service standards will spiral downwards.

So how much did I save? $312 a year.

Compounded for 10 years at 7%, it is $4924. 25 years it becomes $21,427. The magic of compounding interest.

Cool, I have just made it possible to have an extra $21,427 for retirement. Not too bad for 18 minutes work.

What expenses have you cut recently?

Saw in the news yesterday that a frugal vegetable seller, Chen Shu-Chu (陳樹菊) has been honoured by Time Magazine for her generosity to education. She is named as one of the world’s 100 most influential people.

She lives on NT$100 each day while she found the time and resources to donate NT$10 mllion (S$437,000) over the years to a school and orphanage for the past 17 years!

She has helped contribute to a children’s fund, build a library, give financial support for three children at the orphanage etc. One reason for her focus on education and children was the fact that she was born to a family that was so poor that she did not complete elementary school (primary school for us Singaporeans).

The 61 years old vegetable seller in Taichung, Taiwan has been selling vegetable since she was 13 to support her family. She gets up at 2.30 am each morning to set up her stall and greet customers in the early morning market.

To get the award, she is taking the plane for the first time in her live and she doesn’t even have a passport. The news yesterday showed the effort that the Customs and Immigration department went through to speed up the process of her application for the passport so she can get there on time.

Of her donations, she states in the news article that:

“money serves its purpose only when it is used for those who need it.”

She is non-plussed by the attention that is lavished on her by officials, media and the public and questioning what the award was for as giving isn’t a contest.

Lessons for all of us?

• It is possible to save a large sum of money enough for retirement
• money given out benefits the society at large (so leave your accumulated fortune back to the society if you don’t spend it all during your retirement)

I am very inspired and humbled by this vegetable seller’s frugality, generosity and most of all her humanity .

Sources:

1. Northward Ho: http://northwardho.blogspot.com/2010/04/chen-shu-ju-story-in-time-magazine-is.html

2. Taiwan Woman ‘embarrassed’ to enter Time influential list: http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20100430-213439.html

3. Vendor flies to US to receive ‘Time’ award: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/05/03/2003472049

The recent bad publicity regarding Breadtalk over comments that its HR manager allegedly made gave me an excuse to cash in my earnings in the stock and increase my cash buffer.

It has been a while since my bank account has 5 digits. I have been buying stocks and index funds whenever I can through the past few years. So when I sold my position in Breadtalk, it is to prepare a cash buffer to sit on and wait for opportunities.

At the same time, I am keeping more of a buffer as I embark on my next stage in life. If you read my profile, you will know that I have had quite a few career changes. For the next year, I will be embarking on a specialized masters course (certainly not an MBA). So I need to accumulate to pay the fees, which is over $10,000.

I am a believer in planning ahead before even taking the course. So I am ready with the money even though I am going to pay by installments. I want to have the cash so that I don’t have to sell more shares later if the market plunges. So I need to balance out some risks that I am taking.

My wife and me are believers in not keeping up with the Joneses. We don’t have a car, nor a maid, no condo, no club membership, no 32 inch LCD TV nor plasma TV.

Our badge of honor is that my wife has no LV handbags, we rather buy the stock/unit trust of the company. Or maybe my wife is giving me doublespeak? I must ask her.

Today, she and I were at Ikea to buy mattresses because a big group of her relatives and friends are coming over sometime in August this year. She wanted a cheapskate mattresses, I argued that we should get slightly better ones.

In the end, I won the argument over the mattress, but conceded to the cheapest mattress pad for the beds. We are both cheapskates :)

Her logic is that the relatives will be here for a few days only, so we do not have to spend much to get the best quality ones. My is just that I do not want the mattresses to fall apart after one year and have to go through the hassle to get another one.

We rather have more money to give to both sets of our parents and of course to increase our investments.

So you understand why we don’t have all the things and gadgets at the top. We buy stuff via unanimous agreement.

Have an enjoyable and fruitful week ahead.

Like the mighty oak tree coming from a small little acorn, a fortune or big sum of money can come from small savings each week.

While reading the Wall Street Journal today on Google Reader, I saw an article which set me thinking about savings. The article is titled “Doing the Math on Coupons” by Brett Arends. At the bottom of the well written article, he goes to make this statement:

Someone who saves $25 a week will save $100 a month, and $1,200 a year. Over a lifetime that can easily grow to $100,000 or more–even after accounting for inflation

Without savings, one cannot talk about even insurance, not to mention investments. But the money saved can go on compounding. If you invest in dividend stocks, this can even give you a fairly good returns in a year. Supposed that you have a million dollars invested, at 3% per annum you will have a cool $30,000 a year. That is more than enough to retire on.

I’ve read about a blogger who has attained the $350,000 mark, so I guess he is one third of the way there.

If you go and read around different blogs, you can see some bloggers who are actively trying to attain financial freedom. Through their introspection and musings, I’ve learn a lot and found out that there are people who are very savvy about their finances and shrewd.

For a newbie investor, there is more than enough information for you to start on your savings and investment journey to reach financial nirvana.

The list of bloggers that is listed on this blog is a good start to find out more about the whole shebang about what investing is all about.

May you start soon if you haven’t and if you have, may your road ahead be a nice and relatively uneventful journey to financial freedom.

In a chart showing savings per capita, Singapore ranks 7 with around $13K saved while, United States ranks 28 with just $5.5K saved for the year 2005.

The highest is Qatar, with around $36.7K saved while the lowest recorded is negative $643 by Bosnia and Herzegovina.

You can see the figures in a table form from the website about gross domestic savings per capita. Interestingly, this compares quite favorably with the 1921 figure of $13.58 per person in the world. If you discount the dis-savings from countries who people spend more than they earn.

The reason for the post is that a fellow blogger from Singapore who post about financial matters recently posted that he has managed to saving a very respectable figure of S$50,000 for the year of 2009. That is around US$34K.

No matter which part of the planet you are from, you probably wished that you had saved just a bit more right? So, reading blog posts like the above makes me want to try to save just a bit more for the year of 2010.

Bar a jump in salary, or money coming in from unexpected quarters, it will mean a bit more discipline to curb unnecessary spending. Like that $42 lunch my wife and me had on Saturday at a Japanese restaurant.

Guess I can’t buy any more expensive camera equipment for 2010. Instead of negative statements like that, maybe a more targeted one with actual figures will do better.

So my wife and mine early resolution will be to save $1500 each month making it S$18,000 for 2010.

What is your savings target next year?

Sources:

1. New York Times article dated 1921 on “World Capita Savings is $13.58”

2. Nationmaster.com post about “Gross Domestic Savings Per Capita by Country”

3. La Papillion article about “My 50k Challenge”

Before you can attain financial freedom, the one thing you must do is to save money.

After that, you can look to invest this money saved for your retirement needs. So how can you save money?

1. call your bank to waive the annual fees
2. get rid of the landline phone and use the free phone that comes with broadband usage
3. get your haircut not at a branded saloon but the ordinary neighbourhood ones
4. Better yet, get it done via the Japanese styled $10 barber
5. buy house brand groceries
6. do your shopping list first before you go to do your shopping and keep to the list
7. clothes like t-shirts which are faded can be worn at home
8. when the heels of your shoes come off, get those superglue and use it to stick it back
9. instead of the branded furniture, get it from IKEA, save a bundle and assemble your own furniture
10. instead of buying a car, use the public transport

11. if you have to have a car, plan your route before leaving home so that you save on going around
12. plan on routes that help you escape the road tolls like the ERPs
13. Drive at the optimum speed of 80-90 on the expressways for fuel economy and also avoid getting the speeding ticket
14. get term insurance instead of whole life, endowment or whatever else insurance there are
15. get the unit trust/mutual funds with the lowest management cost you can find which is normally an index fund
16. On days that are windy and cool, use the fan instead of the aircon
17. get energy saving bulbs instead of the incandescent lamp
18. make sure that the lights are off when you are leaving the room
19. make sure that the main switch for electrical appliances are off instead of just switching off to standby mode.
20. consolidate your bank accounts to one bank and when you are charged for cheque account and so on, call to ask for a waiver or discount.

21. switch off the main switch when you go off for holidays save for the one powering your refrigerator.
22. collect all the dirty laundry and wash them all in one or two sittings, instead of washing it everyday or every two days.
23. Items which you don't need anymore but which are still usable can be auctioned off online.
24. Even if you are not an electrician or plumber, there are simple stuff that you can probably do and become a handyman around the house, saving the money to hire one which can be expensive
25. Buy non-perishable items in bulk when they are for sale, like the toilet paper, tissue box, light bulbs etc
26. consider getting ETFs instead of buying managed funds like the mutual funds/unit trusts as the are cheaper to buy and hold with lower management fees and no sales fees bar the brokerage fees which are similar to that of buying stocks
27. Instead of placing your money in fixed deposits, place them in government issued bonds or money market funds which pay higher interest rates
28. instead of subscribing to the magazines, read them in libraries or purchase only those issues that you find interesting or that you'd keep.
29. Find an inexpensive hobby to occupy your time like gardening or something which you can learn to be good at which can help earn you some money later like photography or web programming. (although photography can be expensive :) )
30. Read a book instead of spending money going out

31. Borrow that book from the library if possible
32. Else get it from second hand bookstores.
33. live in a smaller flat or house which will save you money maintaining it
34. use the water for washing the vegetables to water the plants or flush the toilet
35. Cancel the newspaper subscription and read news online for free
36. hold off expensive purchases for one week later. see at that point in time later whether you still want to get it. If you still do, wait one more week later. If you still do at that point, buy it.
37. Pay off all your credit card bills every month in full.
38. Note when your credit card bill is printed and when you have large purchases, keep it till one day after the bill is printed so that you have more time to pay off the purchase. This only works if you follow point 37.
39. Cancel those channels that you don't watch on cable tv or even every other two days
40. Go to the movies on weekdays

41. If you have a car, get rid of the weight in the car boot so that your car has better mile-age
42. Higher octane fuel doesn't add anything to your mile-age or to the maintainence of your engine, get the cheapest fuel your car can accept.
43. Have two bank account, one is your emergency fund account/savings account and the other is your transactional account. Pay yourself first by transferring money from your salary to the savings account first before putting the money in your transactional account.
44. Be a laggard in the technology wars. If you are a early innovator or adopter, you will pay the full price and have a product that is just out with all the rough edges. Get it a few months or even a year later with all the rough edges smoothen out and best of all- cheaper with more functions
45. Before buying any electronic appliances or gadget, check that the prices you are getting the item at is a fair price and not you are not being fleeced
46. Getting a cheap and good product which has been well taken care of could be as good as getting a new one, like the lens that I got second hand has been permanently fixed on my camera instead of the more expensive new lens
47. Don't buy drinks every time you have meals outside, once in a while or all the time, just get the cold water instead
48. The home cooked meal is cheaper than eating outside and more healthy, so if you can, have a few meals a week at home instead of eating out every day
49. Don't shop on an empty stomach as studies have shown that you tend to buy more and spend more when you are hungry (why do they study such things? Go figure)
50.  Before watching that movie or buying the DVDs, you can read the reviews on Amazon or watch excerpts of it or the trailers on YouTube to help you in your buying decision

 
51. Instead of buying it you could rent it for a few days instead or ask around to see if a friend has bought it
52. Read through the rewards catalogue or brochure to see what the banks offer as their rewards matches what you want to get. Use the credit card that has the rewards you want and you can even use if for groceries, however, watch what you spend and make sure that you do not blow your budget for the month
53. If you cannot keep spending below what you earn because of the credit card, cut it up and pay back what you owe as soon as possible
54. If you find yourself spending more for your credit card, you can ask the bank to put a lower credit limit for your card so that you will not exceed what you earn each month
55. Never use instalment scheme to buy gadgets or items that you want, they cut a part of your salary and you effectively take a pay cut. Also it makes you have the false impression that you can spend like there is no tomorrow. If you have to use it, limit it to one item and finish paying off for that before you even think of getting another.
56. Do not withdraw money from your credit card account as this will ensure that you will start paying interests on the money withdrawn plus all current outstanding amounts in your credit card.
57. Collect water from washing vegetables to water the plants in your house
58. If you buy stuff, you should take in the opinion of your spouse or family member which should limit the items you buy as they will have a different opinion on it
59. For any purchase which is not a necessity, you should delay it one week to see if you need it and want it
60. This has been repeated on various blogs before and written about- it is the latte factor, where authors have advised that you should stop drinking all the latte and do your own coffee, saving you that $5 each day which translated to 200 working days will mean $1000 saved. Small things count.

61. Have fun trying to save money and organise a picnic at the beach or park instead of that high class restaurant that cost an arm and leg. Save the expensive restaurant on special occasions 
62. If you have a car, consider if you really need it. If you don't sell it and take the public transport if applicable to your situation, you can save a lot of money during your daily commute. Rent one when you need it
63. When travelling consider a motel or student hostel instead of that 4 or 5 star hotel.
64. You can save a night stay by travelling in the night and sleeping on the plane/train/bus
65. Some of the best travel stories you obtain is when you are walking around exploring the area rather than spending the time on more shopping
66. Sometimes, things can be much cheaper overseas, so if you are going to certain countries, it will be good to see if prices of things you get normally is cheaper there and buy them there. The savings could pay for your travel expenses
67. When shopping for travel packages, look for discounts during travel fairs or promotions by trusted travel agents
68. Get travel insurance for your luggage so that you are covered in case you lose them in transit and there are valuables like your electronic gears, cameras, camcorders etc
69. Bring some instant noodles and instant food like snickers bars which you can eat in case you go hungry and the nearby food outlets don't look appetising or are expensive
70. Bargain and compare prices at different shops to see if you are being taken for a ride

71. Instead of buying the ordinary holiday souvenir to decorate your house, consider taking a photo instead of it and storing it in your computer
72. Consider your mortgage interest payable and shop around when you are able to redeem it in full without any penalty
73. Get a separate savings account and pay yourself every month first and that will be your retirement money and investment money- make sure it is a bank that doesn't charge you a fee for not maintaining a minimum amount like what banks here in Singapore do
74. When you receive extra money other than your normal salary, use the majority of the extra money for investment rather than to spend it. You decide if you want it to be 80-20 or 50-50 or any proportion you like, ie 80% for investment or 50% for savings and investment while you spend the rest.
75. Makes sure you get the right insurance, and once you are covered, separate your insurance from your investment
76. Paying too much insurance premium will eventually mean that you give up the policy later in you life, so be sure to get one at the amount you are comfortable with ( it shouldn't be more than 10% of your salary) as your savings and investment amount increases, your insurance needs will go down
77. Stay at home, go to the public library instead of window shopping. Window shopping is not a recreational activity, and you will not be able to stop yourself spending if you treat it as a recreational activity
78. Be prepared to cut and run- I just cancelled the credit cards from Citibank because they no longer serve my needs of being a public transport card as their card is no longer valid and they didn’t bother to replace them with new cards. I can start looking to see which banks have better deals to help me save money on groceries and stuff
79. Cut down the number of new clothes you buy. Do you really need that new shirt, dress or blouse when your wardrobe is choke full of clothes?
80. Don't be late paying the bills from banks or any billing companies as they often have late payment fees. It can come to quite a lot especially for mortgages

81. Plan your route, arrival early so that you don't rush and sped and get a tick or waste fuel by stepping on both the accelerator and brakes hard
82. Save money but don't skip the maintenance bill for the car or the servicing which can cost you a new engine if you forgo the change of engine oil and maybe be slapped with a huge tow truck service bill too.
83. Look to pay off the debts that charge you the highest interest first, not the one which is the biggest.
84. Instead of that a bath in the bath tub, use the shower instead, it is cheaper
85. Quit smoking
86. Stop gambling- yes, including buying lottery ( I can't help buying those which have high payouts though)
87. Limit your clubbing and the nightscene- it saves a lot of money in the long run. Do you need need the headache from all the flashing lights?
88. Avoid the keeping up with the Jones, if you can't take the emotional battle, move to a cheaper neighbourhood. Better than to get the latest BMW just because the neighbours just got the latest Mercedes
89. If you cannot find interesting things to do instead of spending money, surf the internet, or better still write a blog
90. Join the International Buy Nothing Day

91.   Read the ads before you start buying your groceries, as there may be items on special offer.
92. Get the coupons for discounts if they are available
93. Don't assume it is cheaper by just the price, see if the quantity is the same, often times, the bigger sized item is cheaper even though it costs more
94. Look out for discounts on clearance items that the grocer is trying to clear as they may be expiring. You can get it and put them in the freezer
95. Talk with your family members on how you can all help to save money. Put it down as the plan you will all follow
96. Take a walk in the park, its free. Instead of paying for that exclusive gym membership
97. Draw up a monthly budget and stick to it
98. Some of the movies you want to watch can be seen in the free to air television instead
99. Instead of trying to save money, make money roll on for you by investing it and compounding it for many years

1. Quite a few of its branches are opened after till 7pm on weekdays, some even on Sundays too. So you can do your banking after work or during weekends. Like draw fresh crisp money for packing your red packets. Or buy a bank draft.

2. Its ATMs are not lined up like those you see outside a popular condo launch, or a certain you know which bank. If you are desperate and cannot find one, you can use the UOB ATMs too.

3. The advertisement by the bank will strike a chord with you, the one about the guy remitting money back to his aged mother. This one is pretty good too, about making mistakes in life.

4. I've been using OCBC for 15 years so far, it has also been the first bank and only financial institution that I've tried dollar cost averaging with.

5. Its subsidiary, Great Eastern is the first financial institution that offers full refund to ALL its investors in the structured deposit, minibonds, high notes etc debacle. As this post by Tan Kin Lian shows: Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Great Eastern Life shows the way.

Which banks do you like to use?

In this period of economic uncertainties, it is essential that we save money to prepare for any eventuality, like being laid off. To have spare cash that we can fall back on makes sleeping at night easier if we should lose our jobs. As a rough guide having at least 6 months worth of normal expenditure is the minimum- at least for myself and my wife.

After you have at least that amount, you can invest the rest of the money you accumulate so that you can better prepare for retirement.

So how does one save money?

10. Get a pay raise
If you are able to command a pay raise through your abilities and knowledge, getting a pay increase is one way in which you can get the money to squirrel away in your savings account. Before going to the boss to ask for one, make sure you have a strong case so list your contributions to the company and be prepared to show how much you have helped the company save or how much you have contributed to the bottom line.

However, in this time of economic uncertainty, our bosses would be very unlikely to agree to any increase, much less a huge increase especially if they see the company to be operating in difficult times or going to run into trouble.

9. Look for alternative income streams
Write a book. Take a part time job. Make a list of things you don't need to sell online. Ask around to check if people need babysitting services, tutoring, a handyman etc.

Better yet, find out more about investing and see if it can help you generate income from dividend payout or interest payments for maturing bonds which you have invested.

8. Stay at home
The logic being, if you aren't out there, you are not spending your hard earned cash on dinner out, cinema ticket, more clothes you don't wear etc. Being an introvert and anti-social helps in this type of economic conditions. Go out only when you need to buy groceries like milk and bread to fill up your stomach.

7. No 0% installments or interest free loans
When you want to get that second or third laptop for your home or that huge 42 inch plasma tv, you think that you can afford it because the retailer allows you to pay the amount over 24 months interest free. Don't. It means that your pay is cut, and you have less money to spend plus save. Deferred gratification is the key word, anything you cannot afford to pay off immediately, you do not need.

6. Cut up your credit card
I had to pay off over $4000 in credit card payments recently because of a trip to Japan. There were times when I forgot to pay the bank and was slapped with late payment and interest payments although I could afford to pay in full. I am seriously thinking of either not using any cards or just have one card. Luckily, I worked in the bank before and know that if you are late in payment, you can actually call the bank to ask them for a waiver. Else, cancel the card. You'd be better off without it.

5. Housebrands vs Luxury
Do you need that branded polisher? Or that branded washing detergent, or that branded toilet paper and tissue box? Get the housebrand. It works as well as the branded cousin and more importantly, it is cheaper.

4. Needs vs Wants
Warren Buffet does not travel around by private jet while the 3 CEOs of failing auto companies travel by private jets while asking the government for a bail out, it goes to illustrate very nicely what is a need and what is a want.

Read this article about how cheap one of the richest person is who did not want to pay the author of the blog his $8 chicken meal. There is no free lunch in the world.

Get the cheapest you can find for your needs and push off what you want as long as possible, until either it becomes a need or it becomes cheap. But once in a long while, you can have a nice treat and eat the Ben & Jerry's.

3. Pay yourself first
Have two bank accounts and once your pay is in, take out the amount you want to save and pay yourself first by putting the amount in your designated saving account. The other account is your current account where you draw it down with your expenditure. Tell your bank you don't need a card or a cheque for your savings account so that it becomes a hassle for you to withdraw your money from the savings account.

2. Keep a budget
55% of millionaires have a budget and keep to it. If you want to be one, you need to keep a budget and analyse what you spend. You'd be able to know where your money goes to and see how you can save more by cutting away frivolous spending.

1. Save more than you spend.

Some of us work for companies that are so tight fisted with money that you are charged for the toilet paper you take. Or the company gives you a roll every month (you laugh, but my colleague told me this story is true) So what are the signs of a scrooge like company?

The hardest thing to do after earning a living is to save the money earned. So saving the hard earned money is the second most difficult thing to do. A lot of people do not have a budget for their expenses and it will spiral out of order and will cause a person to either save less or worse become debt addict- hooked on home, bank, personal, car and other loans and at the same time with a credit card that is fully maxed out.