Citibank launched a Citi PayAll promotion in April 2023. For every dollar spent via Citi PayAll from 20 April 2023 to 20 August 2023, customers who pay a fee will enable the amount spent to be eligible to earn miles/points + bonus miles/points. What is Citi PayAll? Citi PayAll is a service offered by Citibank in Singapore that allows Citibank credit cardholders to make payments to various recipients using their credit cards. It enables customers to pay for expenses such as rent, education fees, taxes, and insurance premiums, which are typically not payable by credit card.  The service ..read more

Could not find an article online about how much air miles are worth, so I decided to write one myself. First things first: Air Miles or Cashback? This is the thing that has split the internet since the dawn of credit card rewards. Both sides will have their fair share of arguments to support their team, and we are not going to get into it. Instead, today, we will be going into the math of air miles to determine if it is valuable to us. How Much Are Air Miles Worth? If you ask different people, there will be different answers, particularly depending on which credit card you use and whi ..read more

I made a trade 3 weeks back when Hindenburg Research published a paper accusing the legendary activist investor, Carl Icahn, of running a Ponzi scheme with his listed investment vehicle; Icahn Enterprise L.P.  (IEP). Background Story On 2nd May 2023, Hindenburg Research published a paper online accusing the investor Carl Icahn, of running a Ponzi scheme and overvaluing its underlying investments to prop up the share price. IEP stock crashed from $50 to $32 (-36%) within 2 days of the paper's release.   Recommended Read: Trevor Noah Explaining CPF Analysis I took notice of th ..read more

 “我应该用 CPF 还是现金支付我每月的房贷？” 这可能是要买房的人们经常考虑的问题。 您应该选择哪个？ 让我们来看看吧！ Recommended Read: ChatGPT Says No to NCMP Land Sales 情境一：用现金支付房贷，把 CPF 里的钱留在 CPF 赚利息 这是最不常见新加坡人用来支房贷的方式。 当您将您的资金保留在 CPF OA 里，您可以赚取 CPF OA 的利息（2.5% + 1%）。 使用现金支付房贷款也不会产生 accrued interest。 但用此方式付房贷，您的流动现金会减少。因此不建议大多数人这样做，除非您有相当大的一笔现金或收入来维持您的每月房贷。 我所认识的那些人会这样做的人， 有足够的现金/工资支付他们每月的房贷， 故意保留他们的钱在 CPF 里以获得高利率。 Recommended Read: Simplifying UOB's 7.8% Interest Rate 情境二：使用 CPF 支付房贷 这是绝大部分新加坡人最常用来支付房贷的方式。 大多数人的想法是：我的钱被锁在 CPF 里。我得等到 65 岁才能取出，大不如好好把用它来支付我每个月的房贷。 您将无法赚取 CPF 利息，因为这笔钱已被用于支付您的物业。 您所动用的 CPF 资金将会累计 accr ..read more

In the recent budget debate, NCMP Hazel Poa proposed an alternative source of revenue to be added to Singapore's yearly budget. Current Framework (CF): Keep proceeds from land sales in reserves and invest them. Allow up to 50% of investment returns generated from the proceeds to be spent in the budget under the NIRC. Alternative Proposal (AP): Land sale proceeds are dividend equally over its lease period, with each portion added into the corresponding year's budget as revenue.   Invest the unused portion of the proceeds in reserves, with up to 50% of the investment returns all ..read more

There are 3 (R)easons why Singapore set a 99-year term limit on public housing and most private housing. 2 of which have been mentioned by the Singapore Government multiple times on multiple occasions. The last reason was one we thought of as a potential reason that was not explained/explored by people. Recommended Read: Trevor Noah Explaining CPF Reason One: Revitalise old Building(s) Buildings deteriorate over time. Eventually, there will come a time to demolish and rebuild. However, if no absolute deadline is set, the probability of the building being demolished is ZERO as people liv ..read more

Trevor Noah explaining CPF - generated response by ChatGPT. Who is Trevor Noah? He is a South African comedian and television host; best known as the host of "The Daily Show," a satirical news program that offers a humorous take on current events.  And sure we would like for the real Noah to explain it to us, but the ChatGPT version would do just fine. In fact, after reading what ChatGPT generated, we must say, we are quite impressed because we can completely visualise Noah describing CPF in almost the same way ChatGPT responded. It was so convincing that we asked for 2 different version ..read more

UOB recently made the hoo-ha with their new (up to) 7.8% interest rate on savings in their UOB One Account. Of course, a lot of people saw straight through the marketing gimmick of their high-interest rates and started flaming it online. We are not going to comment on the mechanics used to gather eyeballs and attention. We are going to show below what the real effective interest rates we savers are going to get from UOB One Account, removing all the marketing gimmicks and fluff. Source: UOB One Account Recommended Read: What I Learnt During My 1-Year SGUnited Traineeship - Part 1 1 ..read more

1. Inflation is Real Based on the Singapore Government statistics, food-only inflation is 4.5% in May 2022 compared to May 2021. Straits Times published an article on 21 June 2022 stating that inflation may double to 8.2% in the second half of 2022. While these numbers may be staggering, the actual numbers might actually be far worse. Because the reported numbers are what end-consumers are experiencing.  But what is not reported as much is how much is being absorbed by the various importers, wholesalers, and F&B outlets. Take it from someone who has been in the wholesale food ..read more

About a year ago, I posted an article on what I've learnt during my 6 months as an SGUnited trainee with DBS. It has been exactly 1 year since I left my 1-year SGUnited traineeship with DBS to embark on a new career path. And I finally have the time to sort out and list down Part 2 of everything I've learnt and experienced during the second half of my time at DBS. Because it is so long, I am breaking it down into multiple smaller parts for it to be an easier read, and adding a more detailed story to every lesson. Today's lesson is from a mistake I made a few months into the job. 1. The ..read more