Author: Ristrettz

I grew up focusing many aspects of my life revolving around money. As a result of this persistence and being unable to achieve my goals in time, pessimism started settling in and as a result, I fell into a rat race. Fortunately or unfortunately as one would say it, an unforgettable experience changed my life. As the saying goes, life is unpredictable and things happen for a reason. While one door closes, another opens. That is the positivity that we all need to see in our lives. Personally, I enjoy the process of financial literacy but am really just an amateur in these after reading so many blog gurus. There are so many tools and information out there today and I'm still learning every day. The saying that there is no end to learning is absolutely real. It is not easy to pick up and be good at something. Passion and persistence bring resilience out of a person. Talk is cheap and procrastination is not really an excuse. The time value of being young will pass one day and do not leave regrets behind. That said, money is still important but the journey of life is equally important. My philosophy of life is the balance between money and how you want to lead your life. Some kinds of stuff are more important than money. Be it your hobbies, interests, family, kids, religion, friends, etc...It is important to not be a slave to money. After all, it is a tool to allow you to do more and live comfortably. You can't bring what you have for eternity so always remember the quality of life is equally important.

Everything is Expensive Today

On By RistrettzIn Deals, Interest, Macroeconomic, RandomLeave a comment

We have been in a deflationary world for the longest time and in the last year, everyone has been fighting inflation. It isn’t that fun to know that what you have now buys less of everything. The resulting outcome is that every single item such as consumables, staples, and costs would have increased.

There is a laggard in the sense that the resulting costs of home purchase would mean that home prices have crept up. The cost of hiring has increased since the waste management, your electricity and water bills and the employees behind maintaining the order of infrastructure would have increased. Eventually, this would lead to a higher annual value of everyone’s home prices and that subsequently leads to a higher property tax and so on and so forth. You will get the idea.

When we talk about homes, there’s always something in me that worries for the young. I’m thinking about my kids yes it is and I think it is always at the back of our minds that how are they going to afford housing in another two generations or so? Personally, in a land scarce Singapore, it is hard to agree that property prices will drop. What it currently does is that it is slowly down the increase that Hong Kong failed to do so many years ago resulting in small houses and social issues.

Home prices
This came from CNA

Inflation

With inflation rates normalizing globally, the same effect will be a laggard. However, let’s also be real because no business will reduce prices knowing inflation would have normalized. Moreover, GST has increased in 2024 and it just means that costs will have increased yet again. It would take at least two quarters for anyone to see the easing effect.

While looking at the most recent CDC vouchers, I also started my hunt for CNY purchases. Things like drinks, Bah Kwa, and consumable items: CNY Shopping Items have crept up.

I do hope that I am wrong. I do sense that there is a soft landing rather than a hard one. Recession is a strong word and we have to come to a reality. Recent job cuts in the news is not by chance. What we do not know are the unofficial ones.

Inflation rates have plenty of benchmarks such as the Big Mac. In Singapore, we have the Milk Powder Benchmark:  Milk Powder haha

I do remember that during the “covid period” a lot of homeowners became pet owners. I do hope, they did not discard their pets because that is not great behavior. Hopefully, you can find some good deals here at Pet Shopping

Disclaimer

If you like what you are seeing, do remember to check them out and do your diligence. There is no one-size-fits-all investment strategy and no one solution to life. Join my telegram group to find out more about deals. Join the community to connect for ideas: Life Journey Telegram

If you are doing some shopping, click on the affiliated links here: CNY Shopping

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes here at Referral Services

Investing or Gambling or Punting

On By RistrettzIn Finance, Macroeconomic, Personal Finance Series, Psychology, Random, Wealth & HealthLeave a comment

I recently read quite a bit of online articles to explore fresh new ideas and I came across some blogs discussing the fact that investing is gambling and also several others that discuss Singaporeans being overly confident with themselves. I mean there’s really no right or wrong answer to these and I personally feel that it is a little bit of a righteous standout or declaration. Yes, we all know that many people are snobbish but I would like to think that most Singaporeans are smart, clever, and full of empathy. The ones who are snob are usually the affluent group. Probably think that with a 6-digit asset, they have the right to everything.

That said, our small country has exceptional talents. These people don’t voice or come out to talk about their opinions in public. Usually, they can avoid it in its entirety or put their opinion on where it matters the most. After all, we are still humble Singaporeans, aren’t we? There was an increasing trend in the last decade about some topics that irk me a lot, let me list them down:

Kiasu/Kiasi

Meaning scared to lose or scared to die. It was prevalent in the last decade where FOMO exists today and I felt that it was uncalled for because people just flock to what most people did. It kind of made many next-gen be contrarian

Best

The concept of best has been something I disliked for some time now. At least for 30 years. For 30 years, I have been hearing the words best and “bestest”, even words that do not exist in the English dictionary appear in my everyday life. My question is, what is best? Who determines the best or why is it the best? Is what one defines as the best really the best? I beg to differ in all aspects. There is no best, there’s only what one thinks is the best. By the way, it doesn’t mean cheap means it is no good.

Similar to the way one measures a valued company. It’s not the best but it is the most valued. Then again, value is perceived hence my point – beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.

Invest in gambling

It is said that gambling is punting, investing is gambling of sorts and investing is a study of risk management. If one sees risk management the same as gambling then I’ll ask, why invest and spend so much time understanding a company or an investment? Life is an entirety of risk and we understand the risks, manage the risks, and reduce risks to enhance our lives, our experiences, and our money.

Lady luck plays a big part in our lives no doubt. Some people seem to have more of those but I’ll say, you make your own luck. If lady luck is not on your side, it is probably because it is the wrong lady. Some find their lady earlier and some later. There’s no loser at the end, it is part of the risk management and tools we can use to enhance our priority.

Disclaimer

If you like what you are seeing, do remember to check them out and do your diligence. There is no one-size-fits-all investment strategy or general rule for your every life. Join my telegram group to find out more about deals and join in the community to connect for ideas: Life Journey Telegram

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes here at Referral Services. 

If you have not opened a Moomoo account to start your investing journey, you can give it a go here to recieve rewards up to S$660 (T&Cs apply). Cliek here to Open a Moomoo account

Thank you in advance. It keeps the light running on my blog. Cheers!

Retirement Series (Part 2)

On By RistrettzIn New Ideas, Personal Finance SeriesLeave a comment

My part 2 version came a year and a half late. My apologies really.

In the previous discussion, I discussed about retirement. In the past, it was a buzzword only for people in their 40s or 50s. That is quite normal I would say. Given the financial literacy and knowledge of Generation X. Not many people make an effort to think about the future. I would say that partly it is due to the conditions of the past and education. Fast forward 30 years, the trend is gradually changing. The young are concerned about their futures and the future of their younger ones. An additional factor is that personal finance and financial literacy are increasing among the young.

Including myself, I love my kids and I want the world to be in a better place than it was when I am no longer around. It depends on which stage everyone is in. Some people have more resources while others have lesser. However, that does not make you any less by starting out early. Even if you are late to the game, making the start of this means that you are already on your way to some form of freedom.

There are so many investment tools out there in the market to put your money in and it’s a matter of understanding the risks and taking the right risks to grow your money. Of course, the basic step is to spruce up an emergency fund first. You cannot confuse your pot to be of multiple use. Different funds that you raise have to be for a different purpose. If you have fewer resources, then focus on the things that will give you the confidence such as building a pot of emergency funds. For example, 9 months’ worth of extras. Do not undermine the power of achieving milestones because the small effort often counts for bigger things to come.

Once your basics are covered. We have to think about the next step of risk – This is the part where I term it as risk transfer. This is short is coined as Buy an insurance. The basics are buying your personal health insurance and protection against illness, treatment, sudden medical conditions as well as other unforeseen circumstances. Life itself is uncertain and as time goes by, it will be more prevalent. Getting insurance is never enough but there are many ways to kick-start that. It also involves a bit of planning.

I’m no financial expert. All I know is you probably should find out more to convince yourself that you need to risk transferring your future.

a. Health Insurance

b. Whole Life Plans with TPD or Term Life Plans or Hybrid Plans

c. Critical Illness

d. Early Payout Critical Illness

e. Disability Income or Elder Shield Enhance

I’ll say start working with the Health portion followed by Death or permanent disability coverage. Because if you are gone, your potential future earnings are gone and your dependants depend on them. Once you have covered yourself, then start thinking about the rest. Baby steps. This works well if you are still young.

Things like Mindef or MHA term insurance coverage or SNACK Income microinsurance work well to supplement this insurance at a low cost. That’s something most advisors probably would not share with you.

That’s probably enough information for Part 2. We should talk more about insurance in Part 3.

Disclaimer

If you like what you are seeing, do remember to check them out and do your diligence. There is no one-size-fits-all investment strategy and no one solution to life. Join my telegram group to find out more about deals and join in the community to connect for ideas: Life Journey Telegram

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes here at Referral Services

All about CPF today – Part 1

On By RistrettzIn CPF, Finance, Interest1 Comment

Deductibles on MA – CPF

Happy Friday. My mood is getting better by the day because I have clarity over what I have to do with my life in the next few weeks. I believe everyone has received their CPF interests. Some people have a lot more while others are just started out. I understand human psychology makes you a bit more envious than others. Not many people can shut the noise out. Here’s what I am going to do. You need to learn to cut it out because you are you. Not to worry, we must believe that we can do a lot more.

Today’s focus will be on deductibles for your CPF. This is not for everyone but it is good to know. It may not apply to you today but it will some day so be in the know. By now, if you are looking through tax deductibles via CPF, you would have known that 1st Jan 2024 is a great time to receive interest in your CPF account. Slowly but surely, your CPF will compound. In my very early days of financial blog, I talked about the power of compound. Do refer to that and you can see how powerful it is and time flies very quickly.

All about CPF
Compounding interest (Image from BYJU)

All about CPF
Where do your CPF monies go

CPF is divided into OA, SA, and MA and apportioned according to your age. If you have planned it well by some time, you would have maxed out FRS in SA and the cap at MA. The interest portion that you received will not flow into your MA but goes to the other accounts and if you hit your SA, then it goes only to your OA. That means that by contributing cash to your MA or what we know as a top-up. That helps in your tax deduction for the year.

Usual years – likely due to normal inflation rates, the top as projected is about 2 to 2.5k every year. As of 2024, one can top up to 3k in the MA. That helps with tax deductions.

Just a disclaimer that everyone’s situation is different so you have to consider some factors:

  • Do you have a mortgage that you need to pay from your OA?
  • Did you use any CPF monies for T-bills. If you need cash flow, then you have to plan it out.
  • Do you require liquidity? CPF Is an irreversible process until you reach the statutory age of 55 or longer.
  • If this does not apply to you. Just be in the know, let it be a motivation.

Disclaimer

If you like what you are seeing, do remember to check them out and do your diligence. There is no one-size-fits-all investment strategy or general rule for your every life. Join my telegram group to find out more about deals and join the community to connect for ideas: Life Journey Telegram

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes here at Referral Services

SNACK by Income – Microinsurance for the public

On By RistrettzIn Deals, New Ideas, Personal Finance SeriesLeave a comment

Revisiting a tech online portal that Income has developed over the years. It is not a great app since it wasn’t developed fully in my opinion but it does dole out a nice reward over time. It also helps to supplement whatever insurance that I currently have as a risk transfer.

Why Insurance?

Let’s face it. Everyone needs to transfer their risk and that is a fact. Whether it is a term or a whole life plan, is up for debate but no best answer. You need health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, travel insurance, car insurance, and the list goes on. The challenge to DIY stuff is that although it comes cheap you have to figure out how to do that on your own. Nothing wrong with that but it comes in as a pain when you don’t have time to manage those stuff.

Try Microinsurance

Personally, I feel that it is fine to try out a cheaper alternative to insurance just to get yourself covered at the lowest cost possible. SNACK is by Income and they did not have this concept of microinsurance. I find it appealing personally coming from someone who understands how these things work. It kind of supplements what I have existing.

At least they try to speak the millennial language. Next, I find that with such low-cost products – There will be fewer barriers to entry. The difficulty in this solution is to educate people. It is much easier to say that it is complicated than trying to find out what this is all about.

Once you sign up online and register the amount you can commit daily, every document will be sent to you via email or digitally. Quite simple.

 

There are 4 ways you can choose to buy insurance (Choose 1 or whatever you need but the auto-invest is the one that gives out e-CapitaVouchers):

a. Critical Illness

b. Personal Accident

c. Life Insurance.

d. Investments – There is a new weekly limit for the RSP style on the Asian Income Fund. There’s only one fund and I also believe the NAV versus the Sell (Also known as bid price) will be different from the Buy (Ask price) That’s something I don’t quite like about insurance firms. They need to do away with this (With the fact that they tell customers there’s no front-end or back-end loading). This itself is the spread.

Recently, there’s been a monthly mission and a single top-up mission that one has to invest and hold for a month before the team releases e-CapitaVouchers via email on fulfillment. It’s not too bad and ranges from a cashback of approximately 5-8% depending on the investment amount.

The cons is that the system is not great. You can’t do partial withdrawal, there is only one Asian Income Fund, and it comes with a buy-sell spread (Fees and management fees from the fund). Also, the max investment is $1000 weekly so there’s a bit of micro-management and exploring how bad the app is to figure out how to not tweak the limits any period as the change actually reset the period.

Missions also are limited to 28-29 days – so if you miss a day, you miss out on the big prize. The challenge prizes have also been reduced over time but that is expected.

Be careful since it is still an investment but no harm in trying after exploring and figuring it out.

You can also trigger these daily costs from a few parts:

a.  Redeeming deals or paying for meals using a VISA card.

b. Commuting by bus, train, or cab and paying for it using a VISA card.

c. Through retailing and purchases using a linked VISA card.

d. Shopping for groceries using a linked VISA card.

e. Through entertainment and paying using a linked VISA card.

f. Topping up petrol and paying using a linked VISA card.

g. Pay your utilities and pay using a linked VISA card.

h. Activate your Fitbit app and fulfill your daily steps.

You may be thinking what happens if you hit every objective. There is a limit to the premiums charged to your credit or debit card depending on the weekly cap you’ve set up. Once you’ve hit this weekly cap, SNACK will no longer charge you premiums when you complete lifestyle triggers and you will not be issued any more policies for that week.

The minimum amount daily you can set is $0.30 and you can add on as many triggers as you wish.

There is also a cap on each insurance segment:

a. For Personal Accidents, the cap is at $100,000

b. For Life Insurance, the cap is at $200,000

c. For Critical Illness, the cap is at $200,000

These insurance are known as non-participating policies so the moment you stop paying for these, the coverage will stop. To me, it is a stop-gap kind of coverage and at an extremely low cost. If you are looking at the full suite, take time to understand and learn. You will definitely benefit from the knowledge and to suss out your new insurance agent. Whether they are in it for the long term or to hit and run. We will never know unless we experience and have the basic knowledge.

Disclaimer

This is not a sponsored post. This is purely my own opinion after using their service and/or products. If you like what you are seeing, do remember to check them out and do your diligence. There is no one-size-fits-all investment strategy or general rule for your every life. Join my telegram group to find out more about deals and join in the community to connect for ideas: Life Journey Telegram

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes here at Referral Services

The pictures were taken from the SNACK website for this article. If you need a referral code, please use my referral code “PAU4055” to sign up at https://www.snackbyincome.sg/ to find out more.

New Year, New Start in 2024

On By RistrettzIn Deals, Finance, Personal Finance Series, Psychology, Random, Wealth & HealthLeave a comment

Before we start on anything for 2024. I would first apologize for disappearing for a full year. I was fully focused on getting my career on track to only lead to a single result. The end result is actually disappointment, anger, and fear. I ask for peace and hence over it. I am keen on moving forward and this is actually good for me.

Everyone is different

My situation can be similar or different from many others. One can choose to focus on the negative aspects or the positives. This year, I will try my best to constantly blog more, and provide more deals, promotions, and thoughts about stuff. Provide more referral sources to find out about life hacks and travel more.

Doesn’t this picture make you happy?

We keep looking into blogs, about deals, life, investments, about promotions. It all begins with one thing, you need to have the basic necessities of life. Food, drinks, bills that you pay. If a certain segment does not fit where you are heading or takes some time to reach, just ignore it and focus on your current situation.

Work on it until you have built your emergency funds up. Inflation today has dropped but it is not a joke, prices will not drop even if there is a deflation (Unlikely so) However, I do personally think that interest rates might just drop drastically – This has already been priced in in the most recent treasury bills and SSB. Personal Finance consists of many parts, some choose to focus on P&L while others focus on finding great deals.

What is Personal Finance to you?

For me, personal finance is a game of psychology. It is how one deals with another person’s boasts or proof of what works for them. I do not see red over others and I actually would celebrate their achievement. My only gripe is that everyone is different and one does know another’s situation. So, my ask here of you if you are humbly reading my posts is that. If you have excess cash, good for you, you can seek better and more deals. If you are of a humble background, a fresh graduate, or someone in a situation.

Don’t fret. Many people are in the same situation – You just need to be aware of the situation you are in. Drop the “I’m unlucky, I’m old, I’ve to restart” stigma. Age is just a number and your situation is only temporary. However, if you continue your rut and continue to be unhappy then I can only say that you’ll take a longer period to get out. You will eventually.

Take care of my readers (My LJs). Time will heal and recover. Meanwhile, it is back to my store store and referral time!

Disclaimer

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes for other services at Referral and Recommendations

These pictures were taken off the website. I thank you in advance for keeping my lights on on my humble blog.

Making more than 5% interest in Money bull

On By RistrettzIn Alternative Income, Deals, Finance, Interest, Interest Rate Series, New Ideas, Promotion, RandomLeave a comment

It’s been a while since anything kind of got me excited and Webull along with the money bull is coming along pretty nicely. During the Christmas period, there are some nice promotions to be taken away for a new Webull customer. That’s pretty sweet.

There are two items here to take note of:

  1. There’s a time factor now for anyone who is not a WeBull customer. The promotion campaign is ongoing and running until 29 Dec 2023. Click here to sign up Webull sign-up link
  2. There is something that is running similar to a Cash Fund promotion which doles out extra money.

Benefits of signing up

  • You just need to open an account with Webull, and fund any amount (no minimum) –  get 10 free shares when you open a Webull account and fund any amount. There is also a Moneybull promo you can get up to US$3,000 by participating in it.
  • Click here to sign up Webull sign-up link
  • Next you have to sign up with Webull and click on the promotion link to open a Moneybull account.
  • The T&Cs are pretty clear from here. you can only get one of the two promotions. One point to take note of is the SGD-USD exchange rate, you have to ensure that the SGD deposited is equivalent to the USD when exchanged. Then the bonuses are tiered according to either:
    Accumulating deposit with Moneybull before 29th December 2023 (3.59PM) and hold the funds until 31st March 2024 (11.59PM) US$2,000: US$80 cash vouchers

    US$100,000: US$3,000 cash vouchers
  • Additionally, you can put the funds into money market funds and earn the projected yields.

That’s how easy that is. Good Luck!

Remember to read the T&Cs Webull sign-up link

Conclusion

It is really a no-brainer to get free cash. You can also explore another app to see if it does fit with you. Never say never because if you do not try it. You will not know.

Click here to sign up Webull sign-up link

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes for other services at Referral and Recommendations