Monday, November 7, 2016

What Happen If You Are Unable To Track Your Expenses

Hi Everyone,

As you have notice, for the last few months, I am unable to produce my expenses results due to forgetfulness and also tight schedule due to wedding and moving into my new house (there are tons of things to do, so if you are at that stage, do note that it will take a lot of your time).

Image result for overspending

Understanding the fact that tracking of expenses can be quite tough as the days goes by, especially if you have other things to focus on, you will slowly neglect this activity. So some of the readers might feel that this will disrupt your saving journey and will eventually lead to overspending. This concern is legit because not many people can control their spending (including myself) without the help/assist of tools (tracking expenses tools).


So what can we do to solve this issue?

There are a few methods that I have suggested previously which can be useful in tackling this issue.

1) Having a Spending Account and a Saving Account

Image result for bank account

When you start working, do remember the first thing to do is to apply for two bank account, one is for saving and another one is for spending. So my friends asked me before, having two accounts is quite troublesome so why not just put it in one account instead?

Putting all your money in one account is convenient but it will be convenient for them to overspend as well. For your saving account, go for those account which gives high interest and for spending account, it would be best if can go for account without minimum sum required (but it's quite hard, so have to maintain $500 in the account)

2) Credit Card Limit

Image result for credit card limit
If you depend on credit card for your spending, there is a way to control it which is specify your credit limit. Like myself, my credit card spending limit is $1,000 per month. This will ensure that I will not overspend and eat into my savings.

Certainly, putting a limit can be restrictive especially if you are purchasing big ticket items like furniture, ring and etc. So if you really need to purchase big ticket item, get another credit card, and that credit card can only be use if and only if you are purchasing big ticket item. (And don't let your wife hold on to that card... if you know what I mean hahaha)

3) Allowance

Image result for allowance
The final method is to live like a student, as I have mention in my previous post, live like a student and draw allowance daily ($10 to $15 per day) before you start your day. This will ensure you that you only have that sum of money to spend everyday, so you won't exceed your monthly expenses.


So, with these methods (choose either one or choose those applicable ones, all if needed) you can skip the chores to keep track of your expenses.

Monday, October 31, 2016

Personal Passive Income and Expenses Monthly Report - October 2016

Hi Everyone,

This month was a good month for me because I manage to save more money due to my increment. It was certainly a good jump in my salary and poof! my saving increase from 76% to 79%! I did not clear any of my goal and at the same time, I cleared my wedding ring installment! (Which means my expenses will go down by $450 per month!)

This post will be a very short one because this is another month whereby I did not keep track of my expenses. The reason is because there are too many things to handle and due to the tight schedule, I did not manage to monitor my expenses. (Probably for the next 2 months as well)

Not to worry, I will start tracking my expenses in 2017! A brand new year with a brand new goal! (Property!)

As for my passive income, well, it's constantly increasing which I believe I can hit $2,000 mark by December 2016!


150K progress - October 2016

As of now, my savings is around 79%. 21 more percent to go before I hit my target, which boils down to around $31,500 more to go!



Conclusion - October 2016

3% jump is indeed a huge jump but the coming month will be a tough one for me because of the wedding expenses kicks in. So might see a drop in next month's saving progress report. But wedding is a once in a lifetime thing, so who cares! (push it till December 2016, where my bonus comes in)

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

POSB Cashback Bonus

Hi Everyone,

I believe most of you have heard about POSB Cashback Bonus program introduce by POSB (obviously). After reading the requirements online, I find that this might be a good way for me to earn some cashback if I buy my property next year and get a loan from POSB. If I manage to do that I think this will be an additional passive income for me!

The requirement as shown in the picture below

Image result for posb cashback bonus

So if I were to get it, I will be aiming for these three requirements, 1) Credit Card, 2) Home Loan Installment (condo loan) and Investment (Invest Saver). 

I did a rough calculation (Just an estimation)

Spending $100 - Credit Card
Home Loan $1800 per month
Investment - $200 per month

With the above, I can earn about $36 per month, which I think is good. Because with this $36, it is another avenue where I can earn additional income and use it to save up for my investment. So if you have home loan and intend to do some investment (invest saver), do try this out. With this small amount of investment and spending (credit card), coupled with home loan, make use of this to earn more!

Certainly, if this program still available (mid of 2017 or late 2017), I will certainly go for it!

Friday, September 30, 2016

Personal Passive Income and Expenses Monthly Report - September 2016

Hi Everyone,

This post might not contain much information regarding my expenses because I was too busy this month with my wedding preparation that I did not keep track of my expenses. On top of that, I guess I over spend too much this month as well which is due to wedding expenses.

For my personal target, I have cleared my passive income of $1,500 in the year of 2016! Another target down. Hopefully I can hit $2,000 worth of passive income by the end of this year. (Probably should add that in!)


And this is the result of my current passive income for the year 2016! Although it is still quite little to some of you but I am slowly building up my passive income starting next year and more results can be seen.



150K progress - September 2016

As of now, my savings is around 76%. 24 more percent to go before I hit my target, which boils down to around $36,000 more to go!



Conclusion - September 2016

Even though I manage to hit one of my personal goals in September 2016, but the savings for this month is pretty low, only manage to increase the savings by 1% (for 150k target). Hopefully I can save more in October (aim to save around 2.5k if possible).

Monday, August 29, 2016

Personal Passive Income and Expenses Monthly Report - August 2016

Hi Everyone!

This post might come a bit early but just two days won't make any much difference. I just got my recent salary increment, which is around $200, feel very happy because an increment is an increment, and I have hit my targeted salary, making $4,000 per month!

One target achieved, 4 more to go! 

Secondly, I just received $64 worth of dividends from Singtel, which is a good thing and this raise my passive income in 2016 to $1,405.65! Well, it might be little, but my actual investment journey starts mid of next year (after I purchase my first property).

I am on my way to hit my goal for myself of generating $1,500 worth of passive income before I hit 28 years old. My investment is still float above $3,000 for now, generating around 4.2% dividend yield per year I guess.


Savings and Expenditure - August 2016


Based on the graph below, my expenses break down are as below (pretty much the same as last month) - but the good thing is that all the target are green! I didn't exceed any of the category:

1) Travel: $120 (Planned) VS $120 (Actual) - I bought adult concession so the amount is fixed
2) Food (Weekday): $160 (Planned) VS $122.20 (Actual)
3) Bills: $120 (Planned) VS $65.13 (Actual) 
4) Entertainment: $120 (Planned) VS $119.75 (Actual)
5) Others: $580 (Planned) VS $511.00 (Actual)

Overall: $1,100 (Planned) VS $938.08 (Actual)


150K progress - August 2016

As of now, my savings is around 75%. 25 more percent to go before I hit my target, which boils down to around $37,500 more to go!


Conclusion - August 2016

My expenses is under controlled, but hard to say for the next few months because of my wedding expenses. Well, $37,500 more to goal to hit my target, hope I will achieve that goal at the mid of 2017. I believe my passive income will generate around $160 per month by the end of this year. 

Also, very happy that I achieve one of my goal which is hitting $4,000 monthly income and hope I can reach my target soon enough! Can't wait to buy my first property and start my investment journey full time!

Monday, August 8, 2016

Plan-it for the Plan-et: Sustainable Finance for the 21 st Century Family

Hi Everyone!

This is a guest post by Cara MacMillion (MBA), and it's an honor for me to have her post written on my blog. So the guest post is as below, do enjoy!

Plan-it for the Plan-et: Sustainable Finance for the 21 st Century Family

Go for it!

You have financial goals; you have written them down...now what?

Move forward.

The biggest mistake people make is inaction. I was recently coaching a couple on setting financial goals. We started the conversation on a warm summer day in 2016. But the couple was still discussing a bad financial decision that they had made in 2006. Somehow, they just decided to stay in 2006 and so they did. And so did their finances.

Treat your finances like a business. Get the emotion out of it. Check your ego at the door and focus on your values and your goals. How long would you stay employed if you refused to move forward and adapt? As an employer, I can tell you I would be setting both of you up on performance improvement plans.

Go ahead. Set yourselves up on performance improvement plans.

So here are the first steps of the Financial Performance Improvement Plan:

1. Pair up with a loved one and separately write down your budgets.

2. Write down financial goals that you hope to achieve in the next 90 days. (I.e.; take a vacation, buy a new car, fix the car, paint a room etc)

3. Determine how much each of those goals would cost and add up your wish list.

Now, this last step is the most important. You see, if you are living in the past and you keep reliving that one bad decision then you cannot move forward. So go on a date in a public place. It can be a coffee shop, a restaurant or pub, or even a picnic in the park. Get out of your regular surroundings! You are about to hold a strategic planning session. Executives always move strategic planning sessions outside of their regular work surroundings so that they can change their perspective and their thought patterns. Follow their example!

As you relax, follow an agenda. Give your budget to your partner and you take theirs. Read them alone and make notes. Each takes your turn asking questions respectfully to ensure complete understanding. You will have a complete first draft of your budget. You have each created one and you can now blend the two budgets together into one. You share accountability for the future.

Now dream a bit. Celebrate a bit. Share your wish list in the same manner. Do any of the goals match? If not, that is ok. This is why you cannot move forward. To get past this, you should agree to accomplish one goal from each other’s wish list in the next 90 days. And accomplish it.

Congratulations! You are now working together on your sustainable financial family plan.



Monday, August 1, 2016

Personal Passive Income and Expenses Monthly Report - July 2016

Hi Everyone,

Finally, it is the end of July 2016 (in fact today is the first day of August), as this is a monthly personal financial report, I will be doing a summary of my passive income, expenses and savings in this blog post. With this blog post, I will be able to note down my progress every month.

Investment and Passive Income - July 2016


My investment still remains the same as compared to June 2016 as I did not make any move into purchasing or selling any shares. Currently the market is pretty unstable (sometimes bull and sometimes bear) and also I need to prepare savings to purchase my first property next year as well.

My passive income in July 2016 was $238.37 which are all main from OCBC 360 interest, UOB One account interest and credit card rebate. This is a good monthly income as it can cover my travel expenses. However, the extra $100 from UOB credit card is given quarterly, so technically, my monthly interest is around  $138.37, which I have successfully met the target set on the previous month (target $138). My next month's passive income should hit $140 (hopefully I could).


Savings and Expenditure - July 2016


Based on the graph below, my expenses break down are as below (pretty much the same as last month):

1) Travel: $120 (Planned) VS $120 (Actual) - I bought adult concession so the amount is fixed
2) Food (Weekday): $160 (Planned) VS $94.20 (Actual)
3) Bills: $120 (Planned) VS $89.22 (Actual) 
4) Entertainment: $120 (Planned) VS $122.80 (Actual)
5) Others: $580 (Planned) VS $545.11 (Actual)

Overall: $1,100 (Planned) VS $971.33 (Actual)

Goal - July 2016

I have yet to achieve any goal for this year yet.


150K progress - July 2016

As of now, my savings is around 73%. 27 more percent to go before I hit my target! Wish me luck!


Conclusion - July 2016

This is a good result whereby my entertainment target was the only one that exceed the planned target. However, the overall expenses still within $1,000. This is indeed a good goal for me and I am really happy about it. Of course, I did not included my wedding expenses as I have already set a side the amount that I needed for wedding. 

My passive income was also doing a good job of having $138.37, which hit the target that I set formy self last month. With this amount, it can help me to clear my travel expenses with a bit of leftover.

Up till now, I have met none of my goals! But these goals are to be met during the last 2 to 3 months of this year. So by then I should be able to clear them all I believe.The biggest headache is my $150k goal. Certainly, I have increase 3%, leaving me with 27% more to go, however, it would mean that I need 9 months (if I manage to save 3% of 150k per month) which will be quite hard so hopefully my bonus can play a big part in clearing this hurdle.

So wish me luck!

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Pokemon Go! Potential Expenses For Most Players

Hi Everyone!


Today's topic is about the potential expenses for most players when playing the game, Pokemon Go! I truly understand the hype of Pokemon Go, because I am one of the player who is waiting for the game to be available in Singapore. So let me share some of the potential expenses that might incurred in some of the players.

1) In App Purchase

Pokemon Go as well as other free games like Clash Royal, have in game purchases which would will or boost the player's ability to gain higher level or become stronger. In Pokemon Go, you can purchase their virtual money to purchase items to gain level or to hatch Pokemon Eggs. It is inevitable for some players to spend money because of their competitiveness. However, do remember that not to spend so much money on games if you are on the way to achieve financial goals as it will cost you a lot.

Tip: Just play for fun, don't rush too much on upgrading or leveling up your Pokemon. In anime, Ash also train his Pokemon by going through tough journey, if he can do it, so can you!

2) Restaurant or shops request purchases before entering to their shop to catch Pokemon

Pokemon Go is a augmented reality plus location based game whereby the user will have to physically walk to the specific location in order to find and catch Pokemon. Some of the Pokemon might appear in some shops or restaurant. Thus, those owners might make use of this hype to create some conditions like patrons/trainers/gamer would need to purchase something from them before they are allow to go in to catch Pokemon. This is a good opportunity for shop owners but a hole in the pocket for trainers/gamer.

Tips: Try to avoid such places and search for alternative places for the Pokemon that you want to catch. This will take some time but will save you quite a sum of money. 

3) Data Usage and Battery Usage

Based on my research on some articles, it can cost high data and battery usage when playing Pokemon Go (Especially when you play 24/7). Singapore Telco has been charging around $10 for additional usage of 1GB data, which can be quite costly to those who are still studying. Certainly, if you constantly play Pokemon Go, your devices will also consume large amount of battery/power. 

Tip: Use wifi if possible, like Wireless@SG or go somewhere near your house to capture Pokemon, if really need to, don't play too much Pokemon Go, as it is just a virtual reality. Work hard in your studies and career as you should prioritize this over Pokemon Go. If really need to be, get a better mobile plan. For electricity wise, charge your devices in school or in work place. So that you can cut down your electricity bill.


So the above are the potential expenses and some tips for the gamer on how to cut down the expenses. So if you have anything to add on, please feel free to comment below.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

5 Things Learnt When Dealing With Cost Management for Wedding

Hi Everyone!

As I am in the process of preparing for my wedding, which is at the end of this year, and also I have come across a few blog post about wedding budget, with that I shall share my humble opinion on the topic of Cost Management for Wedding Budget.



As many people have mention, wedding is a once in a lifetime event so some couple will spend quite a sum of money to have a grand wedding with hundreds of guests attending the ceremony. Of course, this is not wrong, who wouldn't want a memorable wedding that the couple can remember. However, it is also important to understand their own financial capability before making any hasty decision.


So with that mention, many people will think that we should have a proper plan for the wedding so that we can maintain our budget to a certain limit. This is a correct approach as it can help the couple to monitor the expenses and not going over their financial limits. Many financial bloggers have pointed out the needs to have a proper planning and scope for wedding.


However, in my opinion, things usually don't follow what has been planned. The reason is because there might be some unexpected situation like the location not available, your parent intend to invite more friends and etc. This can really kill your budget faster than you thought. 

Based on my personal experience, such unexpected situation can really happen. However, you shouldn't panic when you encounter such situation. Because the more you panic, the more confuse you will get and this will lead to making wrong decision. lucky for my wife and I, we were pretty calm when such situation occur whereby our ROM location was not ready for us to use and we will have to find alternative place for our ROM. Although the cost is pretty high (1K++) but we are able to maintain our budget without exceeding it.


The reason why we are able to achieve that is because during the planning process, I have allocated some buffer (which we can afford) in the wedding expenses. Because I knew that at some point of time, something unexpected will happen. So I decided to go ahead with adding some buffer in our expenses.

So the lesson that I have learnt is that whatever financial planning or budgeting that you do, it would be best to add in some buffer just in case some unexpected situation happen. Because not all the things will go according to your plan (if not you can buy lottery hahaha).

So these are the few things that I have learn during the process of wedding preparation

  1. Always prepare a budget before you start your wedding preparation
  2. Always Prepare for Plan B and even Plan C
  3. Set some buffer to cater for unexpected situation
  4. Be calm when dealing with unexpected situation
  5. Always monitor and update your expenses


Not sure if you agree with my point of view, do share with me what are the things that I might have missed out as I am still in the process of wedding preparation.

Monday, July 11, 2016

What To Do If You Are Too Lazy To Keep Track Of Your Expenses?

Hi Everyone!


In order to build your own passive income, it is always important to save more money while you are working so that you can invest those savings into different instruments for good returns. So in order to build your own portfolio, you will need more money in order to generate decent amount of passive income to support your monthly expenses, in order word, achieving financial independence. 



So most of the people would suggest to start monitoring your own expenses in order to achieve your monthly saving goals. At the start, you might be able to diligently keeping track of your expenses however, it might died down after a certain period of time (I have to admit that I, myself have experience this kind of situation before). 

So I asked myself, what should I do in order to maintain my expenses while not keeping track of it?

Well, there is a way to do that and we use to do that when we are in schools (especially in primary and secondary school), do you have any idea on how to do that yet?

Live like a Student and Save like a student

So there are a few things that you need to do because after all adults and children/teenager are different as adult, we have liabilities that we need to take care of, like house debt, bills and etc. So there are a few things that you need to do!

Set aside some of the money for fixed expenses

So, before you start your saving journey, do make sure that you write down all your fixed expenses and set this amount of money at one side in order to pay for your fixed expenses. This is rather simple and straight forward.

Note down the monthly expenses that you would spend

Before you start living like a student, set your target monthly expenses for your travel, food and entertainment. This is important because this is the sum of money that you will be spending for the month without touching the rest of your income.

Split your income into various account

Once you have listed down your fixed expenses, monthly personal expenses and savings, split them into different account for segregation.

Set daily allowance for yourself

So after the splitting is done, now is time to live like a student! If you recall, when we were a student, we used to receive allowance from our parents for weekly or daily expenses. So now you will have to live like a student, set a daily allowance for yourself. For example, your daily allowance is $10, so you will have to go to the bank to receive your $10 allowance at the start of each day. This will ensure that you won't overspend and you will be able to maintain your monthly expenses and you do not need to diligently keeping track of your expenses.

So what do you think of this strategy? I will be adopting this strategy after I settle my down payment for my condo next year. So if you find that keeping track of expenses is not your style, do try this method. 

Saturday, July 9, 2016

[Saving Quest] Increase Your Saving By 2% Every Month

Hi Everyone

Previously, I have mention about the 26 Weeks Money Challenge. The 26 Weeks Money Challenge is the first basic, if you are confident enough to clear the 26 Weeks Money Challenge with ease, go this this level of challenge.


This level of saving quest is to increase your monthly savings by 2% every month until you hit your desire target like save 60% of your annual income with the current saving level of just 40%. This will gives you more steady improvement in the long run rather than straight away jump to your target which might affect your current lifestyle.


Also the other reason why this incremental challenge is because sometimes people will try tons of ways like skip lunch and dinner, or eat instant noodle to cut down their expenses so that they can hit their desire saving target in the shortest amount of time. Well, this is actually bad for you because by doing that, you are killing your body, and when your body is unable to take the extreme change in lifestyle, it will naturally break down and you will have to spend tons of money for medical bill.

So do take this challenge if you are still far away from your saving target. For those who have achieve their desire monthly saving amount, see if you can achieve more by looking out for higher returns in low risk instrument like high interest saving/current account, Singapore saving bonds and etc.

I will post my results at the first day of August, see if I can hit a 2% increase in my savings!

Thursday, July 7, 2016

WHAT HAPPENS IF I CAN’T AFFORD MY MORTGAGE REPAYMENTS?

Hi Everyone,

Today's guest article from SingSaver is about what happen if I can't afford my mortgage repayments? This is a valid question to all those who have purchase or wish to purchase properties. Personally, I have thought about this issue with my finance before as our aim is to have two condos before we hit 30 years old. (One under her name and one under my name). As a person who think through all the possible scenarios, there is one thing that I most afraid of, which is losing our job which cause us unable to pay our debt.

So this article write down the solution on what are the possible ways to deal with such issue.


Any Singaporean would panic at the thought of losing their home. Stay calm and try these alternatives. The prospect of missing a mortgage repayment is frightening. Most Singaporeans would panic at the thought of losing their house. But the key is to stay calm, and look for alternatives to repayment. Remember: neither you nor the lender (whether the bank or HDB) wants you to lose your home.
 
What is a Healthy Mortgage?
You cannot get a mortgage in Singapore if, combined with other debts, your monthly loan repayments exceeds 60 per cent of your monthly income. This is the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR). However, we feel that even 60 per cent is high. In an ideal situation, your debts should not take up more than 40 per cent of your monthly income. This will ensure you still have enough money to save and invest, rather than just spending all your money on servicing loans. It can be especially misleading if you use your CPF to pay the mortgage. You may feel as if you are not spending much at all, as the payments do not come out of your bank account. But remember that your CPF is meant to help with your retirement, and that it can run out. Many homeowners have been caught off-guard when their CPF gets too low to service the mortgage, and they suddenly have to pay cash they don’t have. At SingSaver.com.sg, we have always recommended that you automate savings, but not payments. It may be a good idea to pay your mortgage in cash, as it preserves your CPF, and keeps you aware of how much you’re truly spending. That said, a healthy mortgage is one where (1) your total monthly repayments do not exceed 40 per cent of your monthly income, and (2) you are aware of how much it costs. Remember that mortgage interest rates can change (yes, even HDB concessionary loans can theoretically rise). So if your mortgage goes beyond the 40 per cent mark, you should consider getting a smaller house. But if you already have a mortgage you’re struggling with, here are some steps to take:
 
1. Refinance for Lower Monthly Payments
A mortgage loan that is just one per cent cheaper can shave several hundred dollars off your monthly repayment. Over the course of a year, a one per cent change on a S$800,000 loan can amount to over S$2,200 in savings. If you are starting to feel the pinch from mortgage repayments, start looking around for refinancing or repricing. This is when you switch from a higher interest rate loan to a cheaper one. For example, at present you might be able to refinance a loan with an interest rate of 2.5 per cent per annum, for the POSB/DBS loan of just 1.8 per cent per annum. There is some cost to this, usually around S$3,000 for the paperwork. However, it can ensure you have a more sustainable mortgage for years to come. If you have sufficient funds in your CPF, you can use it to pay this fee. You will need to speak to a qualified mortgage broker on refinancing your loan. The good news is, many such brokers provide their services for free to you (they are paid by the banks).
 
2. Extend the Loan Tenure
The maximum loan tenure for home loans is 35 years. However, there may be more restrictions. For example, you may be unable to extend the loan tenure if you would be older than 62 at the end of the loan. Stretching out the loan tenure ultimately means paying more, as you will be paying more interest. However, it will lower the monthly repayments. Say you borrow S$800,000 to buy a condo, at an interest rate of 2.35 per cent for 25 years. Your monthly repayment would be around S$3,505 per month. Now say you refinance and pay the same rates, but you stretch the loan tenure to 35 years. The monthly repayments would drop to around S$2,789 per month. That’s a difference of about S$716 per month. There is a steep price for this. The total interest you pay over 25 years is around S$258,640. The total interest paid over 35 years is around S$374,340. You would be spending around S$115,700 more by refinancing for a longer loan tenure. But if you absolutely can’t afford to pay your monthly home loan, you may not have any choice in the matter. It is still better than losing your home.
 
3. Get a Tenant
It may not be comfortable living with a stranger. But if you cannot make monthly repayments, a tenant can take a significant weight off the financial pressure. You will have to abide by certain laws if you are getting a tenant. HDB flat owners, for example, cannot let out rooms until they have met the Minimum Occupancy Period (MOP) of five years. You are also responsible for ensuring the tenant is not an illegal immigrant. We strongly suggest you avoid finding a tenant on your own and getting a property agent to help you instead. For a lease of two years, the fee is usually S$500 or one month’s rent, whichever is higher. The price is often well worth the hassle of finding a tenant and doing the background checks yourself. To work out how much you will get, ask around the neighbourhood to see what landlords charge. The rent you receive will probably be within the same range.
 
4. Talk to Debt Counsellors
A debt counsellor, such as from Credit Counselling Singapore (CCS), may be able to help. Debt counsellors can help you negotiate loan repayments. Both the banks and HDB would prefer not to foreclose on your home, except as a last resort. We don’t have room to go into details, but suffice it to say banks risk losing money if they foreclose. With the help of a counsellor, it may be possible to come up with an alternative repayment plan, or an interest-free period. We advice against trying to negotiate with the banks yourself, as mortgage loans are significantly more complex than personal loans or credit cards.
 
5. Downgrade as a Last Resort
Everyone hates to lose their home. But as an absolute last resort, you might want to sell your house and buy a smaller one. With a smaller financial burden, you will space to save and invest, and gradually rebuild your wealth. This allows you to trade a temporary setback for a possibly permanent one. You could end up spending so much on the house, that by the time it’s paid off you have no savings to retire on. While it may hurt to let go of the house, remember that holding on could hurt even more.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

What Is A Good Investment Plan (Part Two - Goals)

Hi Everyone,

This post is the continuation of the "What Is a Good Investment Plan" - Part One - Financial Needs


Question on what Is A Good Investment Plan?

Recently (After I posted the part one on what is a good investment plan), I have received emails on asking that why a good investment plan requires us to know the financial needs, goals, liability and etc. rather than finding a high returns in both capital and dividends, isn't that the most important thing? 

Of course, high capital gain and dividends will certainly be welcome by me (who wouldn't want to earn more right?), however,  the "Give and Take" analogy still exist in investment plan. Whatever the investment plan can give you (interest, dividends and capital gain) there is always something that you will need to give in return (time, money, energy and etc. depending what kind of investment plan are you taking)

For example, if you purchase a saving plan, you will need to take into consideration of the monthly payment, the duration whereby you are unable to touch the money, the consequences of breaking the contract and etc. So understanding the "Give and Take" analogy, you will have to asked yourself, whether is this a good investment plan for you. Thus, you will have to study your own financial capabilities, liabilities, everyday needs and what is you goal that you would want to achieve.

Certainly, different people will have different ways to measure what is a good investment plan. Some might include the rate of return (the higher the better, ignoring the risk involved) and etc.

So without further ado, lets continue with the part 2 of "What Is A Good Investment Plan"!

What Is A Good Investment Plan - Part 2 - Goals
Having a goal for investment planning is important because it can help you decide whether what kind of investment plan that you can go for. For example, your plan is to be able to save up enough money for your child's university fees in 20 years time. So certainly, you will have to look for some saving plans so that you can contribute a sum of money to the plan so that you will have sufficient money for your child's school fees. 

Another example is that, you want to have a passive income per month so with that passive income it can help to offset your monthly bills or even offset your monthly expenses without risking much of your capital. For this, you will have to do shares investment, bank interest like OCBC 360, UOB ONE or BOC SmartSaver account for high interest and etc. 

So as you can see, there are many ways of creating an investment plan. However, a good investment plan requires you to really understand what you want to achieve so that you can have a better idea on which plan to go for.


Setting Your Goal

Setting goals isn't as easy as you think as you might think that we just write down whatever we hope to achieve and that will be the goal for me. This is a true statement however, if you set your goal too far, you will lose sight of it and naturally forget about it. 

So the trick to set your goals is to split them into different milestone or different terms. For example:


The picture above shows a short term goal / one year milestone of my personal goal, this will push me harder to reach this milestone before moving on to the next one. So let's compare with this goal setting:

I hope to generate $80,000 per year with my passive income with 2 private properties so that I can retire comfortably. 

If you compare these two, the second one will take years to achieve, if you are just a normal salary worker in Singapore. so naturally, you will either become too aggressive which resulted in loss of money or you naturally forgot about the goal you have set for yourself because it is too far away from your current status.

So setting your goal into different milestone will be an idea way of monitoring your progress and enables you to have the push to reach your goal!

So with this, you will be able to know what type of investment plan you should be aiming for and to further decide which investment plan you should go for, the other two factors will need to come into play which is the financial capability (current savings and income) and liability (loans, debt and etc.)

Monday, July 4, 2016

Saving Challenge - 26 Weeks Money Challenge

Hi Everyone!

Last year, I have posted a challenge for all the readers to see who can actually complete the quest of 52 weeks Money Challenge! (http://jyklmoneyblog.blogspot.sg/2015/01/saving-challenge-52-weeks-money.html)

My result is that, I didn't follow it when it is halfway through because I totally forgot about this challenge since I have switch to wordpress for a couple of months before jumping back to this blog. However, I have do a rough counting on the remaining weeks before the end of the year and found out that there is exactly 26 weeks before the end of 2016. (which means that we are in the middle of 2016!)

Okay, since we are doing this for 26 weeks, if anyone wish to join this challenge, do comment below and I will create a section which is call saving quest in my blog so that we can know how many quest we can complete within the given period of time. 

This saving quest a challenge and also a goal for us to save more money in order to build up our finances. So If you are ready to go do comment below and we will report our monthly progress in the comment below. Of course, please do not cheat or report a fake result because only you know, and if you didn't hit that target, you will be the one at the losing end!


So the aim of this money quest is to save an additional $351 in the year of 2016! So in order to make it more interesting, you are only allow to use your money which has been allocated to your expenses for this challenge. So can you achieve this quest? 

Come on and let's have a challenge! Do write down a comment below and we will do frequent update on the comment or you can write it on your blog post every month or every two month or anytime you want to report! So comment now to accept the challenge! (It will be fun!)
52weekmoneychallenge 


Saturday, July 2, 2016

How to Start a Blog That Makes $124,074 Per Month [Infographic]

When people think of bloggers, they primarily think one of two things: Either a young teenage girl with too many emotions who is maniacally typing away at her computer and reveling at the unfairness of the world, or a middle aged woman with too much time on her hands who wants to make a few friends.


Well, while those bloggers are certainly out there somewhere, the face of blogging has changed. It’s no longer a hobby used to quell loneliness and discuss feelings, but rather a lucrative business venture that can help turn self made individuals into extremely successful and wealthy entrepreneurs.


Just take Pat Flynn for example, who turned his blog, Smart Passive Income, into a million dollar business that now consistently makes him over $100,000 a month.


I know what you’re probably thinking -- that those results aren’t typical. And you know what? They may not be. But that isn’t because they can’t be.


There is a definite lack of education when it comes to transitioning your blog from hobby to full time job, and it shows.


In a 2015 survey of thousands of women bloggers by iBlog magazine, only 11% claimed to earn more than $30,000, while 68% of bloggers said that they earned less than $5,000.


How is there such a huge divide in the blogging industry that some people earn over $100,000 PER MONTH while others never even see $5,000 of profit in their lifetime?


Believe it or not, it all comes down to what you know. If you know how to turn over a profit, you’re going to be able to do it. Period.


If you don’t know, you’ve come to the right place to learn. Wise Startup Blog, the site dedicated to helping you start a blog you can monetize, has put together a research study.


We took the time to look at Pat and other successful bloggers and assessed not only what they do to make money, but how you can replicate their actions to start turning over a profit for yourself.


We found 12 foolproof monetization strategies for you to try yourself, and now we’re ready to share it with the world.

how to start a blog
How to Monetize Your Blog

Friday, July 1, 2016

What Is A Good Investment Plan (Part One - Financial Needs)

Hi Everyone,



Before we move into this topic, it is essential for the readers to know that I am not a certified financial consultant or adviser, just a normal financial blogger who is sharing my own experience when it comes to financial savings and planning. So do not 100% follow my view on this matter and it is always better to do your own research. 

Okay, now let's come to my view on what is a good investment plan. Before we dwell into this topic lets first understand what is an investment plan

Definition on Investment Plan: 


The placing of funds into the proper investment vehicles based on the investor's future goals, time horizon, and priorities. This also takes into account the safety of the investments as well as liquidity and level of return. Ideally, proper investment planning will allow the investor's funds to produce financial rewards over time.

Source: http://www.investorwords.com/11657/investment_planning.html

With this definition, so what is a good investment plan? Personally, I believe that a good investment plan is a plan which can address your financial needs and goals that are within your financial capability and liability. Once you can address the 4 components above, you will be able to start planning for your investment plan. 

Financial Needs


So let's start with financial needs, for financial needs, this is where your monthly expenses, come along. You will need to set a side some of your monthly budget in order to maintain your currently lifestyle.

Budget/Expenses

So with a typical point of view, it will be something like what I have for myself as shown in the picture below, whereby I keep track of my monthly expenses. This will be my initial budget for my financial needs. 


So after getting your budget, which is the first step, you will have to follow it through for a few months in order to ensure that this budget can fit into your lifestyle. So while you are working on your expenses, there are somethings that you can take note of which is the area that you can reduce your expenses without sacrificing your lifestyle needs. 

Reducing Expenses without Affecting Your Lifestyle

Many people will asked, how do we cut down our expenses without affecting our lifestyle? Certainly, there are many ways that you can do it, by firstly cutting down those monthly recurring expenses. Let's take an example of the following expenses

Mobile Plan: $62.90 - 3GB data per month
Netflix subscription - $16.98 - Premium Plan
Internet Subscription - $59.90 - 1GB Fiber plan
Gym Membership - $128 per month

So, the above expenses are the common things that we use and pay for in our current life, so we can start off by reducing the expenses for each individual item. 

Mobile Plan: $62.90 - 3GB data per month - Change to another Telco, with the same data per month for $42 per month - $20.90 reduction
Netflix subscription - $16.98 - Premium Plan - Change to standard plan for $13.98 per month if you do not have HD TV - $3 reduction
Internet Subscription - $59.90 - 1GB Fiber plan - Change to another Telco with 1GPS for $39 per month (If you only use it to watch video and surf net, not necessary to get such an expensive plan) - $20.90 reduction
Gym Membership - $128 per month - If you are not a frequent Gym goer, can consider using pay per usage community gym which is around $3 per entry. ($3*30 = $90 - provided you go to gym every day) - $38 reduction or subscribe to cheaper gym plan

If you take a look at the reduction, and you still maintain your current lifestyle, with this slight modification, it can help you to save around $80 per month. Although it looks little but every single bit counts.

Finalized Monthly Expenses

After adjusting your monthly expenses, you will have your tentative budget for your financial needs. Do it for a few months and you can see that you can save more money and cut down your monthly expenses without affecting your lifestyle. This will be your financial needs for per month basis. 

So with this, you are one quarter towards the start of planning for your investment plan.