9 tips for saving in Singapore! [Part 2]

We hope you have enjoyed Part 1 of our series for savings tips. We, TripleHuat, will once again bring you Part 2 of the series in this post!

Shopping

1) Utilising SAF Credits. If you are still an active NSF or NSmen, you will have SAF e-mart credits. Instead of letting the credits idle until the next In-Camp-Training or until its expiry, why not use them to buy some sports equipment for yourself? If you are working in the corporate world, do consider getting their black shoes & socks. You can purchase a pair of sports shoes for your girlfriend too!

2) Earning Online Cashback. The e-commerce world is getting more and more prevalent. You don't have to step out the comfort of your home to do your shopping. Go online and make your purchases! Make full use of ShopBack or/and credit cards to earn cashback. 

3) Be A Savvy Shopper. For shopping at international brands, always compare prices between online vs. local physical stores. For example, because of online sales, some items on the Victoria’s Secret US website are being sold for less than 50% of the price in local SG stores! Even before the sale, it can be about 20-30% cheaper online. Remember to check delivery options though! Besides cashbacks, making payments using credit cards that give you extra points/miles for online payments, such as UOB’s Preferred Platinum Visa card, will also ensure that you’re stretching every dollar. 

4) Leveraging on Sales. For new couples, you can explore buying items at Great Singapore Sales or warehouse sales which are occasionally held at SG Expo, Sia Huat or online platforms such as Taobao, Qoo10 or simply finding second-hand items on Carousell. Make sure you do your due diligence to check on vendors' reputation & items' condition! This would save you a huge sum which you can use for other purposes such as traveling. 

5) Buying Household Items from Chinatown. Little known to many, there is a corner in chinatown at New Market Road with shops that sell household items at cheaper price than many heartland shops. The first floor is made up of hawker stalls while the shops occupy the second floor onwards. You can buy household items or even items for chinese wedding there. Some of the more well-known shops are Swanston and 海洋.

Couple Time

6) Dating. Going out dating with your partner can cost a lot in a day. Instead of spending money and time to eat, watch movie, shopping, why not go out exercise to keep fit together, take a stroll at our UNESCO site - Picnic at Botanic Gardens, bask in the sun at East Coast Park, go on a hike at Coney Island, take a day trip to Kusu island or go for cycling in Pulau Ubin. There are many inexpensive activities you and your partner can do. It's the company and quality time that matters!

7) Visiting Malaysia. We heard that scores of people have went over to Malaysia to purchase many useful, bargain-hunting and affordable items to take advantage of the favourable SGD-Ringgit currency. But do be mindful of the borer restrictions and various taxes! For couples, you can consider a less expensive staycation in Johor Bahru or take a coach from Lakin to various parts of Malaysia. Hotel in a good location is likely to cost less than SGD100 per night during non-peak seasons.

8) Console Games. If you and your significant other are into console games, buy a good RPG game that can keep the both of you engaged for at least a month or two - save on eating out and dates! You can sell the game once you're done to recoup some of the initial outlay. The common option is to do this on Carousell, but there are some shops out there that let you sell back the games that you bought from them once you're done - one example is Qisahn. 

Personal Skills Development

9) SkillsFuture Credit. Every Singapore Citizen aged 25 and above will receive $500 worth of credits where we could use it for skills-related courses. If you want to stay relevant in this ever-changing world, it's time to take charge of your self-development and career progression. So go forth to plan your learning journey with your SkillsFuture Credit!

We hope you enjoy Part 2 of our saving tips! Keep a look out for more tips from us soon!

Huat ah! Happy Labour Day in advance!

Cheers, TripleHuat

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7 tips for saving in Singapore! [Part 1]

It's common to hear people lamenting that Singapore is such an expensive city to live in. The prices will only go up and not down. Aiyoh... money not enough leh. If you are willing to spend the time and effort to search for good bargains, there are still many ways to save a couple of dollars and cents which will add up to be a lot of money over time!

In this post, we the 3 Huats - EzHuat, GoHuat, YoloHuat - will share tips on how we can save money. We have compiled a list of items that will be useful for minimising the daily expenses in our lifestyle and through this post, we hope to share what we know. If you have other tips, we would be keen to find out more from you too!

Food & Drinks 

1) Coffee. Are you a coffee addict? If you are, it's time to do a caffeine check. One cup of Starbucks coffee can easily cost $6 or more. If you need a cup everyday, you would spend $42 a week, $168 a month, $2,016 a year! Imagine what you can do with $2,016! Maybe it's time to search for cheaper source of caffeine fix. How about kopitiam coffee? It probably cost below $2. Or you can buy the coffee powder and make your own beverage!

2) Eating at Hawker Centre. Instead of eating at restaurants, why not eat at hawker centres which cost lesser and the food can be as yummy too! A meal at Hawker Centre should cost between $3-$8 while a meal in restaurants will likely cost at least twice or even more than that. So go for value-for-money meals at hawker centres and you get to support our hawker heritage too! 

3) Cooking at Home. If you are sick and tired of eating out, you can consider cooking at home. Home-cooked food always taste better than outside food because it's cooked with love. It is also a good and healthy bonding session for couples or families to come up with new recipes together! All we need to do is plan your menu and buy the groceries at nearby supermarket. 

Transport 

4) Don't buy a Car. We live in a consumerism world. To own a car in Singapore is definitely not going to be cheap - with a significant amount going to the Certificate Of Entitlement (COE). Instead of spending a 5-digit sum for that piece of paper, why not take public transportation or use Grab/Uber? Besides, we can also make full use of Grab or Uber promo code. It's definitely cheaper than owning a car which you would have to pay for road tax, car insurance, petrol, parking, maintenance, ERP, etc. 

5) Free MRT rides. If you are an early bird at work, you can wake up earlier to take the free train rides if you tap out of the 18 designated stations before 7:45am on weekdays. The scheme has been extended to 30 June 2017. Not only do you get to avoid the crazy peak hour crowd, you also get a free ride! You can check out the 18 designated stations at this link.

6) Grabbing a Bicycle. Instead of driving cars or taking public transport, why not explore using bicycle to travel within a short distance. You can consider to buy second-hand bicycles or take up bike-sharing initiatives from companies such as Zaibike, ofo, Obike. Alternatively, you can explore purchasing a personal mobility device too. Save the planet!

7) Tapping on Travel Websites. Ever wonder whether you could enjoy a vacation while saving a bit more? Well it is possible if you are aware of all the available flight options and choose the less costly ones. Websites such as Skyscanner or Kiwi are useful platforms for us to tap on to quickly find out these info. Do sign up for budget airlines' mailing list too! Sometimes they do offer good promotions at different seasons or occasions. Essentially you can still travel but spend lesser at more affordable prices!

That's all for Part 1 saving tips. Keep a look out for Part 2!

Huat ah!

Cheers, TripleHuat

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YoloHuat's Journey with Money

I learnt the importance of money through the hard way, having grown up without much. Money isn't everything but money gives you choices and freedom. I truly understood, after earning my own keep, that money does buy happiness because once you have money, you don't worry about money anymore. 

Money can also buy you opportunities to make fond memories with your loved ones - a great example is travelling overseas to discover new places, food, and culture. Last year, I spent over a week in Croatia with my husband, and earlier this year, I chased Northern Lights in secluded areas of Sweden with my best friend (because they said 2016 is the last year when you can catch Northern Lights easily). I’m already dreaming about where my wanderlust will take me to next year. :)

Of course, the first thing I actually did back then when I had some extra money in my pocket was to pay off my student debt, which was accruing interest at a hefty rate of 4.75% - hey I think of myself as a triple-A credit (PLUS my latest credit report also says so)! :p I would rather pay myself than pay the bank. So I spent my first year out of college paying off the loan as quickly as I could. Only when I cleared about 90% of the outstanding balance did I start thinking about investing, because even if I lost money in the market it would not affect my ability to repay the rest of the loan, nor will it affect my daily life. (Please do read GoHuat’s post on how important spare cash is.) 

So how did I start investing? Very simple. From the very start, I knew I did not want to worry about money. I did not want to get myself lost in the rat race for a good 40 years of my life, because you only live once. Somehow I stumbled into a job in the financial sector, and from there I started picking up some knowledge about investing and using money to grow money. The rest was history. My first stock buys in late 2013 were Nikko AM STI ETF and SGREIT. I remember thinking to myself then that I want to 'own properties along the Orchard Road stretch because Orchard Road will always be around', so I went and bought OUEHT as well. Hahaha. These days, my investment strategy is a little more refined (as I would like to convince myself). I primarily invest for income, although I do take a punt sometimes when I think there's some opportunity. The punting has not been always successful, but let’s leave this for another time. ;) 

Back to talking about money per se, I can’t emphasise enough how important money management is. You could very well be earning six figures but have less than a grand in your savings account. I use an app to record my expenses and stay on track on my budget, and I find that not indulging in food or transport, my biggest daily needs, help a lot in saving money. So, like my friends here, I did not change my basic lifestyle. In fact, I like taking public transport because it lets me daydream, read, email, whatsapp, and Facebook when I’m on the go. I do complain about the crowd and the MRT breakdowns, but really, do I want to ride a car in comfort when I am young and healthy in my 20s, 30s, or even 40s, but find myself having no choice but to ride the bus and MRT when I am old and fragile in my 60s and 70s? The mid to late 20s is definitely the best time in your life to be saving as much as you can. I know that this stage of one’s life is also when you are tempted by materialism. Believe me, I’ve been through that as well. But I’m thankful that I realised early that it is a vicious cycle - the satisfaction is only fleeting and you end up wanting more and more.

I adopted the moniker YoloHuat - why? Because I strongly believe that because you only live once, you gotta live on your terms and never be a slave to money or work or material goods. 

This is my definition of yolo, thanks for reading and feel free to share your thoughts and experiences. Huat ah!

Cheers,

YoloHuat

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GoHuat recalls.. “How did I start my personal investment journey?”

One common question posed to me by my friends is “How did I start my personal investment journey?” 

Let me answer this question through a sharing of my personal profile. My investment journey started around 6 years ago. I was a fresh graduate and started my career in the public sector. I was particularly inspired by the Rich Dad author - Robert Kiyosaki - to achieve passive income so that I can get out of the rat race fast. Later on, I was influenced by Warren Buffett’s style of investment. Recently, I adapted different styles to form my own style so that it can be better suited to my present needs. I believed that my investment style will continue to evolve as my lifestyle and needs changes in the future.

Lifestyle and Needs..

My lifestyle and needs have been relatively simple. I prefer to eat at hawker centre and home instead of at restaurants unless it is for a social gathering. My mode of transport is usually by train, bus or “bus 11” aka walk. My monthly recurring expenses are: $600 for my parents, $100-120 for public transport, $300-$500 for food and outings. I also built up the habit of recording my savings and spending to gain deeper insight of my own balance sheet, cash flow and income statement. Subsequently, I used the data to optimise and forecast my future income and expenditures. Even until today, I am still consistently recording my daily income and expenditures!

Invest in Singapore Stock Market

My investment efforts were mainly focused on the Singapore stock market as it is easier to monitor and gain access to. Before buying my first stock, I spent around 9 months monitoring the prices and analysing the financial condition of selected blue chip companies on the Singapore Exchange. I also read many investment blogs to find out mistakes made by other investors to accelerate my learning curve. Concurrently, I built up my investment fund aggressively. At the start, I was allocating up to 85% of my monthly take-home pay for investing. My idea then was to maximise my cash returns through the stock market while young and am able to stomach more risk.

I soon realised how volatile the stock market could be. Within a few months, most of my stocks went well below their buying price. Then, I chose to hold on to them despite low dividends return of less than 2% as I was confident of the company’s long-term potential due to my extensive research into its business fundamentals. Still, it was very painful to watch other companies offering better returns over the same period. I also found out that different business requires different financial indicators to evaluate (i.e. Net Asset Value is often used as one of the indicators to evaluate property companies - why?); the importance of the company’s management and strategic directions; as well as having good situational awareness of the global business and economic climate so that I can spot potential market risks early. it was really stressful when a large portion of my cash was locked in the stock market. Adding on to the anxiety was the fact that I have bought them at a considerable high and the market was starting to head downwards.

Sufficient cash for immediate or future expenses?

1 year after making my first stock purchase, I performed a thorough review of my investment approach. It dawned on me that investments should not have affected my day-to-day life and the existing approach was definitely not suitable. I analysed and identified the cause to be primarily not having allocated sufficient cash for my immediate or future expenses. Without realising the importance of doing so, I have given myself a lot of stress subconsciously whenever I looked at my investment portfolio.

Spare Cash for Investment!

To solve this, I decided to immediately build up my cash-on-hand equivalent to 2 months of my pay. Gradually this was increased to around 6 months. In doing so, I felt that my “back” has been covered and whatever amount left is now “spare cash” which can be freely used for investment. My definition of “spare cash” is the amount of money, without it, will not affect my daily lifestyle for the next 6 month. In the next few years, I will likely increase my cash-on-hand to 1 year as my number of dependents increases. These earlier experiences went on to form my first investment guiding principle: ONLY INVEST WITH MY SPARE CASH.

Over the past years, this approach has served me well against using cash that is needed for near-term expenses such as credit card bills, wedding cost, renovation costs or any emergency cash needs. I admit that it does feel uncomfortable to have a good amount of cash sitting in low-interest rate deposits, especially during favourable market conditions. However after many rounds of consideration, my final decision is to stick to my approach so that I can perform my daily duties without worry and sleep soundly every night!

Hope you enjoy my first post here! I will be sharing more in my following posts: “How I build up my spare cash”. Feel free to drop your comments here to share on your experiences too!

Together, let us all Go & Huat ah!

GoHuat

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