What's good about owning a car?

I had a car for about 2 years now and I dare say it's one of the best things I've bought. This is in sharp contrast to other financial bloggers, who are mostly too quick to dismiss car expenditure as something frivolous and definitely under the category of "wants" and not "needs". I thought I should share what's so good about getting a car in Singapore, rather than just focusing on the dollars and cents, which is pretty much anyone who frowns upon...

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Which method of savings will you adopt?

I wonder how many people feel the same way that I did. Whenever I'm busy earning more money, I spend much less time outside shopping or eating at restaurants, so my income shot up and my spending shot down. This resulted in my savings rocketing skywards with a boost in earned income and a drop in expenditure. Conversely, when I'm more relaxed and have more free time because work winds down, I spend more despite my lack of income. So savings suffered...

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How to ride through the bicycle of life

I went for a course on learning how to ride a bicycle recently. The course last for 2 days and I just completed the course on Monday. It was great! The experience is well worth the money ($190 per person, including rental of bikes) and is further enhanced by the fact that I'm doing it together with my wife. Coincidentally, both of us didn't manage to learn how to ride a bicycle when we're younger. Kind of rare actually, considering that most people...

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Allocated 2 excess rights units for AIMSAMPI rights exercise

This post wraps up the entire episode about the rights exercise for AIMSAMPI Reit. Before the counter went XR, I bought 6 lots of aims mother shares at 1.385. I didn't buy any nil-paid rights off the market. I'm entitled to 1050 shares of rights units, and I've fully subscribed and applied for excess rights units too. Today on 20th March 2014, I checked my CDP account and saw that I've a total of 8 lots. The refund is not in yet though. I'll probably see the refund into my bank account on 21st March. This means that: 1) I've successfully converted...

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Need a seat? Just ask for it.

I was reading the news about Singapore being unkind and ungracious with interest. There's a lady reporter, being pregnant and feeling nauseous, wasn't offered a seat when she took the MRT. Even our top politicians are remarking on that. I think that if you are in a restaurant, seated, and nobody comes up to you to take your orders, you should wave your hands wildly and call for attention. That will draw attention to yourself and people will come...

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Elderly folks getting bullish?

I noticed that quite a number of elderly folks wanted to put their money to better use. They realised over time, that the miserable interest offered by banks are not keeping up with the general rise in prices. This had been going on for some time after all. Perhaps they heard stories where their friends, or sons or daughters are making a good harvest from investing in the stock markets. Being in a bull market for 6 yrs is a pretty long time for...

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To remember, you have to suffer every now and then

People are funny; only when things that matters to them disappear, will they realise how much they lost. Recently, I had a very bad bout of flu. It's so bad that I was quite immobilised for 2 days. On the 3rd and 4th day, I've no choice but to drag myself off bed and go to work. Thankfully, it's all over now and I'm fully recovered. But the illness did make me so happy that I'm healthy. Imagine suffering from some illness that isn't that readily...

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Accepted, applied and paid for Rights Units!

Today I went to an ATM and exercised my rights units for AIMS AMP Capital Industrial Reits. I bought 6 lots, entitled to 1050 shares of rights units, applied 950 shares to round up my odd lots and also applied an additional amount for excess rights. All these rights entitled and applied are paid up in full (plus another $2 for the service fees) by the time I leave the ATM. Again, the last date of exercising your rights units through ATM is 13th March 2014, 930pm. Don't miss that dateline. I've heard a horror story of someone who bought a lot...

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Rule 4: Living on last month's income

Had a pleasant surprise this March. When I opened my YNAB to do my monthly budgeting, I realised for the first time that I'm having a $0 for my budget from Mar instead of having a negative number. For those who don't have YNAB, you might not realise how fulfilling this situation is. Since they are using a system where every dollar has a job to do, having a non-negative starting budget value for the start of the month means that I've succeeded...

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