Financial Freedom - Is It Right For You?

Breaking Free from Money Worries

The journey towards financial freedom is not a walk-in-the-park. It requires an unwavering desire to achieve the goal, sustained persistence and dedication in the face of skepticism (both internally-generated and externally-influenced), and enduring mental and physical discomfort (some say hardship, depending on your personal threshold) for the many sacrifices (in the form of delayed gratifications) one has to make. Stretch the journey out over the very long term, it is not surprising that only the minority stays the course.

So what exactly determines a person’s chance of success in this quest for financial freedom? Though I am in no way financially-free (yet), having stayed the course for a few years now, and having experienced the swing from being optimistic to pessimistic, and now to being realistic, I thought I could share my own personal reflection on what made me stay the course, and what I think is the one most important factor affecting one’s chance of success in this quest.

Financial Freedom – A Goal Like No Other

Making the decision to work towards financial freedom is one thing – after all, it sounds cool and adult-like – but actually committing to that decision and having it as one of the main considerations for almost every choices you make is quite another matter altogether. Like most other long-term life goals that are worth pursing, the quest for financial freedom cannot be worked on only from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. To have a reasonable chance of succeeding, you have to measure (almost) all aspects of your life against that objective, and make the necessary adjustments, both major and minor ones, to align your life to it. You have to “live” the goal, not just “work on it”.

And I am not exaggerating.

Unless you are born with a spoon made of precious metals, or are among the top earners in your country, the only fast enough way (read: within your working lifetime so that you can enjoy the “freedom” part of “financial freedom”) to have your passive income exceeds your expenses is to keep the latter to a minimum. Trimming your expenses necessarily means that there will be discomfort, lifestyle adjustments, sacrifices, and not to mention the numerous occasions when you have to go against your wish and put off buying that dress that you are sure to elicit “Gosh! Where did you get this dress from? You look dead gorgeous!” kind of responses from your friends. But, if you are dead serious about achieving FF, you must be dead serious about cutting expenses, and lo-and-behold, expenses can be cut in ALL areas of your life, including when you are sleeping (e.g. using the fan instead of air-conditioner).

Depending on how much and how fast you want to achieve financial freedom, the measures/changes you adopt can be calibrated accordingly. But in general, you can expect the journey to include drastic changes to your current, probably wasteful lifestyle.

The One Thing that Makes All the Difference

Given the level of involvement and commitment required of anyone who wish to achieve FF, it is inadequate to treat it just like any other goal. Unless you are extremely disciplined, and want FF so much that you are willing to put up with “pains and sufferings” for the long term (and possibly for the rest of your life because you are expected to continue keeping your expenses low even after achieving FF), you are likely to give up mid-way through the journey. Even if you do attain FF, does it make sense to stay the course when you are struggling to make sense or justify your commitment day after day? If you are not happy with your FF-lifestyle, then is it a goal worth pursuing in the first place?

That brings me to the one critical factor that determines your chances of attaining FF, and whether or not you should be pursuing it in the first place: Values & Beliefs (V&B).

Okay, I cheated. That’s two factors, not one. But I am no literature student, and I am not about to dissect and analyse the differences between the two. I see them as the same, and I think this understanding should suffice for the discussion here.

V&B as a Strong Predictor of Success in the Quest for FF

V&B is a strong predictor of success in the quest for FF because it determines the way you view and feel about the difficulties, challenges, hardship, and sacrifices you have to make. Some V&B supports you in the journey, while others work against your effort. Let me illustrate with my own personal experiences.

I am someone who cares about the environment, and values simplicity and minimalism over excesses and extravagance. If I need to get to the supermarket to buy some groceries, would I choose to drive (10 minutes) or cycle (15 minutes)? The choice is an easy one for me, even when I put aside the financial considerations. Because moving 1.5 tonnes of metal to the supermarket just because a 67kg me needs to get there to buy some 3kg worth of groceries is such an outrageous and wasteful way of using energy, and that cycling is infinitely better for the environment than driving, the choice to cycle comes naturally to me. My V&B guided me towards that choice, which, coincidentally, is also one that is financially-sensible. I face no internal struggle throughout the decision-making process, nor feel like I am “sacrificing” my comfort for my goal, because my V&B is congruent with my FF-goal.

In contrast, my parents-in-law values comfort and good food. They believe that living life with a certain (read: high) level of comfort is important, and culinary experiences provide them with much joy. To them, petrol cost and parking charges are small prices to pay for the comfort of sitting in an air-conditioned car. To be sure, they are not wasteful – they drive a modest Toyota even though they could probably afford a Mercedes Benz – but because their V&B accord “comfort” and “good food” a high level of importance, giving up their car for the bicycle and premium-grade Wagyu beef for chicken wings will naturally feel like a big sacrifice. Identify a few more “sacrifices”, and you can be certain that my parents-in-law will be ditching the FF-goal in no time.

TL;DR: If your values and beliefs naturally lead you to make financially-sound decisions, you are more likely to stay the course over the long haul.

V&B as a Litmus Test

Examining your V&B is also useful in predicting your level of happiness after you’ve attained the FF goal, and therefore whether you should pursue it in the first place. Unless your FF goal accounts for a substantial increase in expenses once you have attained it (not recommended as this would make the goal an even more difficult one, thereby further diminishing your chances of staying the course), chances are you will be required to maintain the same lifestyle as you were livingbefore achieving FF. Therefore, if the journey towards financial freedom is already unbearable for you from the beginning, my guess is that you will not find happiness in achieving the goal. Simply put, your V&B is not aligned, and thus the FF goal is not suitable for you. In such cases, be kind to yourself and work till the statutory retirement age, and save up enough to last you till your final days.

Afterthought

While the idea of financial freedom might sound appealing to most, it is certainly not suited for all. Everyone is made different, and we should assess our own temperaments, personal inclinations, and perhaps most importantly, your V&B to decide if achieving FF is a goal that makes sense for you.

*The above is a sharing of my experience and introspection. As you might have noticed, I made many assumptions – the more glaring one being that living a financially-free life necessarily means having to live frugally. I believe this holds true for the majority of the working class, though this might not stand for the strong earners.

Networth Update

Taking stock of what you own and owe.

WHAT IS THIS POST ABOUT

To chart my progression towards financial independence, I will (try to) take stock of my net worth every half-yearly. The last time I did a review was in May 2017.

I am going to use the same structure and format for this series of posts for consistency.

WHAT I HAVE

Growing your networth bit by bit.

I've been staying with my parents-in-law and renting out my DBSS flat since Apr 2016, as detailed here. The monthly rental income of $2500 was used to offset the mortgage payment of $2665. Since Apr 2018, our waiver to rent out the flat expired, and the rental income dried up. We are now digging into our cash savings to pay for the mortgage. If interest rates should go up further, we might consider using our CPF savings to maintain the mortgage.

As before, I'm going to exclude the DBSS that my wife and I bought because we still have a big mortgage to service, which makes our flat more of a liability than an asset.

Cash and Equivalents:

1. Personal Savings - $140,000 [an increase of $30k]
2. Joint Savings with Spouse - $45,000 [$5k has been used for mortgage payments in Apr and May]
3. Daughter's Savings - $19,000 [this amount will slowly start to deplete as we use this to fund her childcare fees]
4. Son's Savings - $20,000

FD and Equivalents:

1. Dad's CPF - $26,000 (Can be withdrawn with short advance notice as my Dad is past 55 years old. Basically, instead of him withdrawing from his CPF at age 55, I gave him $20k cash in Oct 16 and another $6k in Jan 18. I treat it as a 10 year FD yielding 2.5 - 4% p.a.)
2. Mum's CPF - $14,000 (My mum has minimal CPF balances, hence I've decided to contribute to her SA and getting some tax relief in the process. I am planning to contribute a further $7k this year. She will receive monthly payout from CPF LIFE when she reaches around age 65 to help offset her living expenses.) [contributions made in Sep 16; Jan 17]

Personal CPF:

1. Ordinary Account - $68,000 [an increase of $26,000]
2. Special Account - $49,500 [an increase of $13,500]
3. Medisave Account - $54,500 [an increase of $8,500]

Investments:

1. Common Stocks - $120,000 (market value on 31 May 18) [an increase of $33,000, mainly due to capital injection]
2. 331 Oz of Silver -  $7,282 (331 x $22)
3. Bonds - $1,010 (market value on 31 May 18)

TOTAL OWNED: ~$564,000 [previously: $444,100]

WHAT I OWE

The burden of debt.

I took on a car loan in Dec 2017. Yes I know, bad move, but with 1 infant and 1 toddler to lug along wherever we go, the car adds a lot more value to our lives.

1. Outstanding Housing Loan - $584,500 [a decrease of $17,000]
2. Car Loan - $57,000

TOTAL OWED: $641,500

MY GOALS FOR 2018

My networth has been on a steady increase ever since I started working about 6 years back. Even with the birth of my two lovely children, we were still able to keep our expenses lower than our income. 

However, I've made a decision for a career-switch. Though I hate my current job, I struggled with leaving because from Jul 18 onwards, if I'd accepted the promotion, I will be paid in excess of $150k p.a. 

I will likely take on quite a big pay cut, but for my long term happiness and sanity, short term pain is necessary.

I am happy to simply maintain my current level of savings for the next 1-2 years. Hopefully my paycheck will recover to its current level soon.

Full Year Passive Income for 2017

This is the first time I get to consolidate my passive income for an entire year as I only started on this journey in mid-2016. Although I don't actually "see" the income coming in month-to-month (as I am still relying on my active income for expenses, so my passive income goes straight into the common savings pool), it still feels great to see the consolidated numbers at the end of the year.

So here are the numbers in graphical form:


Interest income for the year = $4,147.75
Dividend income for the year = $3,741.56

TOTAL Passive Income = $7,889.31

This works out to be $657.44 per month.

Not too shabby.

I remember a time when I had to teach tuition, 2 lessons of 1.5h each per week, to earn an additional $600 a month. This additional source of income can be entirely replaced already! (And indeed, I've stopped giving tuition as I wanted to spend more time with my two young children)

I will do a consolidation of my net worth soon.

The All New DBS Multiplier Account!

Well, finally DBS is catching up with the other banks. I think for the longest time, they have such strong local foothold that they are flooded with cash (probably from the older generation who still believes that DBS is backed by the government and therefore, is the safest place to put their money), hence negating the need for them to be more aggressive in pursuing new deposits. Finally they are waking up.

Cutting to the chase, I think this is an awesome account. As long as you credit your salary with them, and transact in 1 other category, you get to earn bonus interest. The interest is even higher if you transact in 2 other categories. Take a look at their interest rates table:

What's more, there is no minimum credit card spend required, and POSB invest-saver qualifies as transaction in the "Invest" category.

More details here.

Possible Combo with DBS' Be Your Own Boss Account

I blogged about the merits of DBS' BYOB account here.

Well, I've signed up for it, and since I am already crediting my monthly salary to POSB (previously I was crediting my salary to BOC SmartSaver account), I might as well look at how else I can benefit from this arrangement right?

So the revision to the Multiplier account came just at the right time. Take a look at this table:

When I signed up for BYOB account, I'm already prepared to credit my salary with DBS, and make 5 transactions on any DBS/POSB credit/debit card. Without any additional effort on my part, I can already qualify for bonus interest with the DBS Multiplier account. That's what we call SYNERGY!

The only additional effort that I might possibly make is to sign up for POSB invest-saver, to qualify for the higher tier interest. I think I might just do that.

POSB Cashback Bonus as an Alternative

DBS Multiplier account is good for those who have savings (the bonus interest is applicable for the first S$50,000). For young adults who are just starting to build up their stash, a good alternative to the Multiplier account is the POSB Cashback Bonus.

Well, again, this can be layered with BYOB account, the only difference being that signing up for Invest-Saver is no longer an option if you want to be eligible for earning the cashbacks.

Still, I think this is a great combo with BYOB account for those who don't have much savings.

P.S. I previously blogged about how DBS Visa Debit card is a good combo with BYOB account here. Do note that spending on the debit card will not fulfill the "credit card spend" requirement for both the Multiplier account and the Cashback Bonus; You have to use a credit card. Well, my plan is to use my DBS Esso card once a month, and use the DBS Visa Debit card for an additional 4 times to hit the requirement for BYOB account.

DBS Visa Debit Card - Possible Combo with BYOB Account!

And so I signed up for the DBS Be Your Own Boss (BYOB) offer which I blogged about here.

Starting from this month, I will be making a monthly regular savings of $3000 into the account to maximise the offer, which is only valid for 2 years.

To earn the bonus 2% interest, I have to make 5 retail transactions using DBS/POSB credit/debit cards.

But I don't have any decent card from DBS/POSB.

Well, I have the DBS Esso card, but the discount is not that great compared to using UOB ONE Card at SPC.

I also have the POSB Go! debit card. Nothing much to say about this card really. It's just a plain vanilla debit/atm card.

So the hunt for a useful DBS/POSB card is on!

Because I already have to make minimum spending to earn higher interests in my other savings accounts, I don't want another card that has hurdles to jump through.

I was all ready to simply use my Go! card to make the 5 transactions, until I came across the DBS Visa Debit card!

5% cashback with no minimum spending and no annual fees!

Awesome stuff.

But nothing comes free. To qualify for this 5% cashback, you have to make less than 3 cash withdrawals across all your DBS/POSB accounts in a month. The total value of your withdrawals also must be $400 or less. Full T&C can be found here.

Sounds easy enough, as I am already going cashless whenever possible.

If you are in a similar situation, this card might work for you as well.

DBS Be Your Own Boss - A Very Attractive Offer!

I am one of those who have been waiting for the next big crash to come, opting to construct my portfolio with more than 50% cash. Well, sitting on a pile (small one for me) of cash is not the gloomiest situation, but watching them eroding away by inflation day after day is not exactly enjoyable either. For anyone who wish to grow their wealth, keeping cash that generates close to nothing is hardly a palatable proposition.

Thankfully, the banks are competing hard to get our cash parked with them. I've been parking my warchest in UOB ONE and BOC SmartSaver accounts, with the former yielding an average of 2.43% p.a. and the latter, between 1.55% to 3.55%. I was actually quite happy to continue with this arrangement until I chanced upon SGBudgetBabe's post on Be Your On Boss (BYOB) offer by DBS. More details on the product website here.

On first look, BYOB offers interest rates of up to 4% for the next two years if you do the following:

That's simple enough, but do scroll to the bottom of the product page and read through the terms and conditions. Of note, to qualify for this offer, you must be between 18 to 30 years old, and with no salary credit arrangement with POSB/DBS between 1 Sep 2016 and 28 Feb 2017.

Interest Calculation

Being slightly more mathematically-inclined, I was wondering how the interests are calculated. Below is an illustration provided by POSB/DBS on interests calculation:

On first look, it does seem like the interest are not credited and compounded monthly. Upon further investigation, I found out that the "Additional 2% interest" only applies to the original amount credited + interest earned in the preceding month. The "Bonus 2% interest" only applies to the original amount credited into SAYE. This all sounds very confusing, so I tried to reverse engineer the whole calculation process:

I tried various methods of calculating, but I simply couldn't get the exact figures provided by the bank. The above table shows the closest attempt I managed.

If I changed the monthly saving amount to $3000, this is what I get:

A total interest of just over $3000 over 2 years. Neat.

Just to satisfy my curiousity, I wanted to find out what's the equivalent rates if interests are credited and compounded monthly, instead of the convoluted way of calculation that POSB/DBS has decided to use. I've learnt not to trust headline numbers so readily. This is what I found:

An equivalent interest rate of approximately 3.9%. Not too different from the headline numbers, fortunately.

To Sign Up or Not to Sign Up?

Numbers don't lie, and I think this is one of the best places to park your excess cash at the moment. You might lose some liquidity though, since to qualify for 4% (or 3.9%) promotional rate, you are not allowed to make any withdrawals.

On the flipside, at least you know for certain the amount of interest you will get at the end of the 24 months. Neither UOB ONE nor BOC SmartSaver can give you this certainty, since the terms for those accounts can be changed overnight.

Oh oh oh....and if you sign up before 31st Oct, you get an additional $88 as a welcome gift =)

P.S. This is not a sponsored post. My blog is not popular enough for that, so you can be assured that all opinions contained herein are those of mine and mine alone.

On Child-Raising

I just had a minor exchange with my spouse. Though unrelated to personal finance, I felt that the episode and the resulting realizations are worth sharing.

Background

With the arrival of my second child, we moved in to my parents' place as we felt that the maid alone cannot handle both children. We were staying with my in-laws previously, but my mum-in-law didn't want to be at home to help out with the children - she has her own retirement activities. Hence, other than having my wife becoming a stay-home-mum, our only other option is to move in to my parents' place for my mum to help out with the children.

Not-So-Good Relationship Between the Two Dowagers

As with almost all other cases I've heard, my spouse's relationship with my mum leaves much to be desired. The cohabitation started off rather badly, but over time, they learnt to stay out of each other's way and the situation improved - but not quite enough.

The unpleasant exchanges between the two ladies stoked my wife's desire to move back to our own place. We are fortunate to have a trustworthy and capable helper, hence my wife felt that we could leave the kiddos with her at our own home. I don't agree.

Potential Risks of Leaving Our Children with Only the Helper

While I don't proclaim to fully empathize with the unhappiness my wife has to put up with, I feel that the potential downside for moving out is far too great to be worth risking.

First, young children's capacity to learn is beyond the realm of our imagination. By putting them in an environment where there is only one adult (the helper) for most parts of the day, we might be, albeit unintentionally, artificially limiting their learning and growth. There is so much that a growing toddler needs and is able to learn, and nature has helped facilitated this by making them extremely curious and observant. Toddlers are further endowed with the ability to take in information from multiple sources - so many that they themselves might not even be conscious of. Even in the absence of planned, deliberate "teaching", young children are constantly learning, picking up new knowledge and making sense of the world around them. When my wife said she doesn't feel like my mum is teaching the children anything, hence justifying why there is no added value in staying with my parents, I knew she has massively and mistakenly underestimated the amount of learning done by the children through casual interactions with, and observations of the people and happenings around them. The immersive experience of listening in to conversations between adults, observing how adults behave and interact with each other, and sensing emotions under different situations is hard to replicate in a household consisting of only the helper and the two children. a tiny household is more "sterile" and provides less stimulus and learning opportunities for toddlers.

Second, our children will start going to pre-school very soon, and that is when they will start getting exposure to many other things - both good and bad. As toddlers, they will no doubt be excited to talk about their experiences and learning in schools. Staying with my parents means that they will be able to talk to them while my spouse and I are at work. This interaction provides my parents with "teaching moments" to impart correct life values, demystify/clarify misconceptions/misinformation, nudge them in the correct direction if they are going off-course, and finally, discipline them when required. The helper cannot be expected to do the same, and we risk our children becoming self-entitled if their needs and wants are always pandered to by the helper.

Permanent, Irreparable Consequences VS Fleeting, Temporary Unhappiness

The two potential consequences of leaving the children with only the helper are irreversible and permanent. Contrast this with the fleeting and temporary unhappiness that my wife has to put up with for perhaps 2 more years, and the sensible choice to make becomes obvious. Now, I am not saying that our moving out will definitely turn our children into delinquent, self-entitled teenagers - child-raising is never this straightforward - but as parents, we should strive to provide the best environment (not materially) that gives the best chance of nurturing our children into independent, confident, and healthy adults.

Passive Income Update

It has been a while since I last consolidated my passive income. Instead of waiting for the new year, I shall attempt to do a mid- (or more like three-quarter) year review.

The journey towards financial freedom is a long and arduous one, which makes it really easy for me to lose steam and lose sight. I hope that this stock-take of my achievement thus far will put me back on track and provide me with the motivation to push on.

Let's cut to the chase:

9M interest income = $3135.17

9M dividend income = $2839.24

Total passive income for first 9 months of 2017 = $5974.41

This works out to be $663.82 per month.

I need to caveat that the interest income is expense-driven, i.e. by fulfilling credit card spend requirement to qualify for higher interest rates on saving accounts like UOB ONE and BOC SmartSaver. This source of income is not foolhardy. In the event that I lose my job, I will have problem hitting these minimum credit card spend requirements, thus drying up this income stream. 

For dividend income, I must say I haven't been exactly building up my portfolio with high-quality, high-yielding counters. Often, I am tempted to trade, taking profits and trying to buy back lower. Not being able to do this well means that my overall portfolio yield hasn't been fantastic, as oftentimes I will miss the chance to buy-back lower as the counter continues to scale higher prices. Though I am trading much, much lesser now, my self-discipline still has rooms for improvements.

More than 50% of my holdings are in cash now. I will lose sleep and make more emotionally-driven buy/sell decisions if I allocate more to stocks. Holding more cash while markets continue to break new highs gives me peace of mind. 

Passive Income Update

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year everyone! 2016 seemed to have flown by don't you think? It's true that as one grow older, time seems to speed up. It's rather scary because a year can just pass us by while we are playing Candy Crush or Pokemon Go. It is timely, on the first day of 2017, to remind myself that time is a precious limited resource, and I should be more deliberate and intentional in the way I use it.

As a continuation to the update on my networth, and before I start living out my 2017, I shall take stock of the passive income I received in 2016.

In 2016, I received passive income from the following sources:

1. Rental Income from my DBSS flat.
2. Interest Income on my Cash Holding.
3. Dividends from my Investment Portfolio.

Let's go through each of them in turn.

RENTAL INCOME FROM DBSS FLAT

For the uninitiated, after the arrival of our daughter, we had to seek waiver from HDB to allow us to rent out our newly-acquired DBSS flat (read more about it here). It is unlikely to be a long term arrangement as we still have to move back to serve our MOP. Nonetheless, the passive income from rental really helped boost our monthly cashflow. We have been saving up the entire amount to pay down our huge mortgage.

Rental Income: $25,000 after deducting all the associated fees (I assumed expenses are 2 months worth of rental).

This works out to be $2083.33 per month.

INTEREST INCOME ON CASH HOLDING

Throughout the year, I earned interest from a combination of (1) OCBC 360 account, (2) UOB ONE account, (3) BOC SmartSaver account, (4) Standard Chartered eSaver account, and (5) CIMB Fastsaver account, depending on the promotion available and what suited me more.

BOC SmartSaver Account.

Out of the list of accounts above, I think BOC SmartSaver is the least raved about one. I don't know why, but it offers one of the best rates when it first started out. Take a look at their interest rates:

Bonus interest rates for BOC SmartSaver account.

Prevailing savings interest rates for BOC SmartSaver account.

I rushed to open an account after reading a blogpost by scg8866t. Basically, to earn 3.55% interest, you have to fulfill the same 3 conditions as what's required of OCBC 360 account. But there was a hack. the $500 card spend can be fulfilled using their debit card. So.....this means that I could use AXS mobile and pay for my UOB ONE credit card bill using my BOC debit card. That's killing 2 birds with 1 stone! The Spend Bonus is a whopping 1.55%, and combine that with 3 Bill Payments of $5 each, and the base savings interest rates for balances of $50,000 and above, I could get an effective interest rates of 2.55% p.a. even without qualifying for the Salary Credit Bonus. This was awesome, until recently they closed the loophole and made a whole host of other changes. It's still worth checking it out though (here), because they made some attractive improvements to their Family Card.

Oops, sorry for digressing.

Here is my Interest Income for 2016: $3433.

This works out to be $286.08 per month.

DIVIDEND INCOME FROM INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO

I am looking for an elegant way to share my portfolio on this blog, but that's still work in progress. It's a small portfolio with a few legacy holdings from the times when I simply anyhow buy. But I've since learnt my lesson and am now trying to build up a quality, income generating portfolio.

Dividend Income: $745.73.

This works out to be $62.14 per month.

SUMMARY

Total Passive Income for 2016: $29,178.73

But if I were to remove rental income, total passive income will become: $4,178.33

This works out to be $348.22 per month.

8 Money Saving Tips in Raising a Child

Is your budget baby-proof?

 My parents, rather unabashedly, once told me this:

If you don't plan to have children, then don't even get married. Get married for what? Just stay together can already.

My gut feel tells me many others think this way as well. I mean, why else would one wants to get married right? Especially for the men. Matrimonial contracts have "anti-men" written all over it. Nothing in the contract benefits us. I mean, that's the plain truth if I am absolutely objective and clinical about it.

The moment you sign on the contract, what's yours is hers, what's hers remains hers.

But anyhow, despite all the terms that are set up against me, I got married at 24. Going by the logic of my parents', I have to start a family eventually. Both my wife and I weren't sure about it, but we weren't against it either, so we simply not choose and let nature takes its course. About a year later, tadah! My wife got pregnant. To be honest, I didn't know what to feel when I first heard the news. I wasn't over the moon; I wasn't scared; I wasn't feeling anything. It was just that: I am becoming a father soon, and that didn't mean anything to me at that point.

Shortly after though, the financial commitment associated with raising a child began to dawn on me. It was anxiety-inducing to say the least, as I wasn't quite prepared to give up (or at least delay) my dream of achieving financial freedom. But it was no longer an option.

To set the record straight, I wasn't regretting. I was just feeling uncertain and anxious.

16 months on, I am glad my wife and I had chosen not to choose. I mean, sure, we now have to be a little more careful with our money, but it has not yet turn into something that keeps me awake at night. Just like what my parents told me (again), raising a child can be relatively affordable, or extremely expensive, it all depends on your expectations as parents. So to everyone out there who needs this last bit of encouragement to start a family, go ahead and take that leap of faith! It's not half as scary as you imagine.

After being a parent for slightly over a year, I'm proud to say that I've mostly been able to keep to my prudent lifestyle. Sure, expenses will increase, but as with every other situation, there are always ways to limit the scale of it. It all depends on our expectations, right?

So here are some money saving habits that I have to share:

1. Ask for Used Baby Clothing from Friends/Relatives/Colleagues. Before my daughter was born, my wife's colleagues handed over many bags of baby clothing and a few old but functional toys. Another colleague of mine passed me his baby car seat which he got from another colleague of ours. These items are not new, but with a little cleaning, they are good enough. I told my wife that it's better to use old stuff because they are likely to be rid of all the nasty chemicals used in production. She agreed, and so we not only saved tons of money, but also helped conserve the environment a little. The Earth needs all the help it can get.
2. Carousell for the Win! Well, not everything comes free, and there are times when you simply need to spend that hard earned dollar. But why not stretch that dollar? There are many good deals on carousell. I managed to buy a used baby high chair for less than half the retail price, a new booster seat at a great discount, and many others! The seller of the booster seat received the item as a gift, but has no use for it. His loss, my gain =)
3. Explore Free Places. My daughter is 16 months old now. She is able to walk and do random baby things, but I doubt she will be able to appreciate places like Universal Studio. I've always insisted that we bring her to free-to-enter places like Singapore Discovery Centre. There are enough spaces for her to explore, and even if the exhibits are not world-class, they are good enough to keep the baby's senses occupied. We've mainly kept to this practice, but my wife had this nagging urge to bring our baby to the zoo to look at real animals. When I finally relented to her repeated requests though, she was disappointed as my daughter could not yet appreciate what she saw.
4. Borrow Books from the Library. My wife was initially concerned that books from public library, especially children's books, will be rather filthy. That didn't stop me from dragging her to take an actual look before we make any conclusions. She is now appreciative of the variety of books she can borrow for our daughter, and since 1-year-old has an attention span of like 3 minutes, the benefits of being able to constantly refresh the titles we have available at home came up more starkly.
5. Make Your Own Toys. I am repeatedly surprised by the stuffs my daughter finds interesting. I brought home an empty paper cup from Burger King, washed it clean and shouted into it like how one would use a loud hailer, and that got her so excited. When she finally got bored of it, I cut two holes at the side, tied a string across, and "transformed" it into a hat. She was more intrigued by that cup than most of the toys she has.
6. Look into Your Old Stash. I have to thank my mother-in-law for this. She actually kept my wife's doll house for 20 over years! We whipped that out and my daughter had so much fun playing with it. Some figurines have their necks broken, but nothing too catastrophic that super glue can't resolve. 
7. Polyclinics for the Win! Like many first-time parents, we only want the best for the kids, but sometimes we really should pause and consider if the cheaper alternative is indeed inferior. The first few vaccines that my baby had to take was at a GP/Gynae. The charges weren't sky-high, but they weren't cheap either. We decided to take our daughter to the polyclinic for her vaccines on the advice of other parents, and I instantly regretted not going there right from the start. Most of the compulsory vaccines were FOC, and the nurses were all very well-trained and professional. There was once when we had to bring home some paracetamol just in case she develops fever after the injection, and so I made my way to the dispensary. I couldn't believe my ears when I was told to pay like 30c (I really couldn't remember the price because it was ridiculously low) for the bottle of medicine. Being Singaporeans, there are really many things to be grateful for.
8. Have a Few More! Last but not least, have a few more babies, and keep their age close! The cost of raising the second child is likely to be lower than the first, as many things can be handed down. That's economies of scale right there for you to exploit.

That's it! These are 8 practices I keep to to prevent my wallet from emptying out too quickly. And yes, I do practice what I preach: my second child is arriving in Mar =)

Networth Update

Taking stock of what you own and owe.

 WHAT IS THIS POST ABOUT

2016 is coming to an end, and I thought it might be useful to take stock of where I am now financially. I've stayed prudent and thrifty for the last 4.5 years since I started working, but I've never taken stock of my financial position. Instead of setting aside fixed budget every month, I view every spending opportunity independently, and rely on my principles (more on this in a separate post) to guide my spending decisions. While I can be sure that every cent I spend is well worth it, and that there are no more "fats to be cut" without inflicting much discomfort on myself or on people around me, I won't be able to say with certainty how much I've been adding to my net-worth annually. By putting down in details my financial status year after year, I hope to better quantify my progression. This is the first stock-take I will be doing, so wherever I am now today will set the baseline. I aim to do a review bi-annually.

WHAT I HAVE

Growing your networth bit by bit.

Let me first detail what I have. I'm going to exclude the DBSS that my wife and I bought because we still have a big mortgage to service, which makes our flat more of a liability than an asset.

Cash and Equivalents:

1. Personal Savings - $110,000
2. Joint Savings with Spouse - $50,000
3. Daughter's Savings - $19,000 ($13,000 in her CDA; $6,000 in cash)
4. (Unborn) Son's Savings - $10,000 (Part of this will be used to pay for the delivery expenses in Mar 17)

FD and Equivalents:

1. Dad's CPF - $20,000 (Can be withdrawn with short advance notice as my Dad is past 55 years old. Basically, instead of him withdrawing from his CPF at age 55, I gave him $20k cash. I treat it as a 10 year FD yielding 2.5% p.a.)
2. Mum's CPF - $7,000 (My mum has minimal CPF balances, hence I've decided to contribute to her SA and getting some tax relief in the process. She will receive monthly payout from CPF LIFE when she reaches around age 65 to help offset her living expenses.)

Personal CPF:

1. Ordinary Account - $31,000
2. Special Account - $31,000
3. Medisave Account - $45,000

Investments:

1. Common Stocks - $42,000 (market value on 23 Dec 16)
2. 1 Oz Canadian Silver Maple -  $1,177.50 (50 coins x $23.55)
3. Bonds - $1,000 (market value on 23 Dec 16)

TOTAL OWNED: $367,000

WHAT I OWE

The burden of debt.

The only liability that I have is the $650,000 housing loan that my spouse and I took from HDB. Monthly mortgage is about $2,680. Very substantial in relations to our income.

1. Outstanding Housing Loan - $610,000

TOTAL OWED: $610,000

MY GOALS FOR 2017

So where am I going next? For 2017, I am targeting to sock away $30,000 (inclusive of the $7,000 I will be contributing to my mum's SA) from my salary, and joint savings of $25,000 from our rental income. We are expecting our son in Mar 17, and I hope that the additional expenses will not set me back too far from my target.

Turning a Mistake into Opportunity, and Strengthening My Conviction in the Process!

Building streams of passive income - a hard but worthwhile goal.

THE MISTAKE

One of the biggest financial mistakes I've made is buying a 5-room DBSS flat in Tampines. I paid $722,000 for it, and even after $30,000 first-timer grant from the government, the flat still cost a princely $692,000. It is a lot of money for someone just fresh out of college. I must have been out of my mind when I bought the house, and AK's post (link) doesn't help me feel better.

Well, it's not that we don't have our reasons for buying the flat. As compared to balloting for a BTO, which will have us waiting for 4 years or so, the DBSS was a sale-of-balance exercise and will be ready in a year's time. My wife and I really wanted to start a family while we are young, and so we went ahead with the purchase. I know I know. We could have bought a resale flat in a non-mature estate and that would have cost us a fraction of what we paid for the DBSS, and possibly be able to move in even earlier as well. I concede that there can be no justification strong enough for the purchase, and that's why I started off by admitting that this is a financial mistake.

Have I regretted buying the flat then? I am not sure. I still like the house and the location very much, and I think good things have happened after we moved in. I got a small promotion at work and my wife gave birth to a beautiful daughter. I am a little Pan-Tang this way, and I think the house must have brought us some good luck.

THE OPPORTUNITY

After my wife's maternity leave, she has to return to the workforce because my single income cannot keep up with the mortgage payment and the household expenses. As we wanted to minimize the potential for conflict between ourselves and our parents-in-law, we got a helper to take care of the little girl as well. At first, we tried shuttling between our own house in Tampines and my in-laws' place in Serangoon, but that proved too cumbersome. We reckon that it's not beneficial for the baby in the long term as well, since we always got to wake her up early in the morning, disrupting her sleep. I thus suggested that we moved in with either my parents or my wife's. Of course, my wife chose the latter as expected.

Our house was newly renovated at this point. We only stayed there for about 15 months or so. When I suggested to my wife that we should rent out the house since we won't be staying there for at least a few years, my wife objected to it vehemently. She didn't want the tenant to spoil our furniture etc. I cant blame her for that, since it also took me a bit of self-psycho-ing to convince myself that this is the most sensible thing to do. After all, I really wished to reduce the "damage' that this "mistake" has caused us.

STRENGTHENING MY CONVICTION

It took a few more sessions of coo-ing and molly-coddling before my wife finally relented. Looking back now, it turned out to be a decision that both of us are thankful for making. We are now receiving $2,500 per month in rental income, and I insisted that we save up all of these monies to make early repayments for our mortgage loan. In 2 years' time, assuming that the cost of renting the house is about $5k a year (agent's fees, income tax, delta in property tax, and maintenance), we will be looking at an additional saving of about $50,000. This is amazing, as it takes little to no effort on our part to save this amount. Imagine if we can continue to rent out the house for a total of 5 years, we will be able to bring down our mortgage loan by $125k, and the cost of our house down from $692k to $567k. This figure is closer to what a 5-year-old, 5-room HDB in a mature estate will cost. Sounds less like a mistake now? Definitely!

Besides the financial benefits, this experience gave me a taste of what receiving passive income feels like and strengthen my commitment and desire of building a substantial steam of passive income!

Voluntary Contribution to CPF Special or Retirement Account - Not As Easy Emotionally As I Believed

Save for your retirement and save on taxes - only available in Singapore.inc.

Sometime in June this year, I blogged about how anyone in similar situation as mine can instantly get 7.53% capital gain and a 5.38% yield on capital per annum [link]. It was easy going through the fancy numbers and writing about it, but to actually put the plan to action? Tough. No matter how impressive the plan looks on paper, the idea of locking up my money for the next 15 years and never getting them back in full doesn't really sit well on me emotionally. It feels like I'm "giving away" my money, and who does that?

But as much as I hated that feeling of parting with my hard-saved money, I knew I had to stick to my plan if I am serious about securing my financial future. So I bit my tongue and took the plunge, contributing $200 to my mum's SA a few days later. Yes, a grand total of $200. This is the first time I am using the e-cashier platform on the CPF website; it's only prudent to test it out first. Expectantly, the money appeared in my mum's CPF account a few days later.

Then, here comes the hard bit. I intended to contribute a total of $7000 to my mum's CPF to maximize my tax benefits, which left me with $6800 more to go! Okay well, to some of the higher-income earners out there, maybe this does not sound much to you, but it's sizable and significant to me. You know how sometimes people can conveniently leave a $2 note in a corner of their house and forget about it? $6800 is not that to me. $6800 is an amount I will safe-keep in a strongbox made of 10 cm thick fire-resistant alloy that's hidden in the most concealed corner of my house and drilled to the wall with a pair of 10 cm long screws. Yes, it's exactly that, and now you can see how difficult it is for me to use that money to buy a golden egg that will only hatch 15 years year. In fact, it's so difficult that I actually put the plan on hold for the next 1 month.

In that 1 month, I kept looking for reasons not to follow through with the plan. I could not find one compelling enough.

So again, I bit my tongue for the second time and made a contribution of $2800. The money appeared where it should a few days later.

With $4000 left to go, I sat on the plan yet again. I sat on it so much that I nearly developed piles. Eventually, I got so sick of sitting and the risk of actually developing piles got so high that I went back to biting my now-swollen tongue instead and made my final contribution of $4000.

And now I can rest and prepare myself for the next round of tongue-biting and piles-developing exercise. I hope it gets easier.

Cash Is King, Until It No Longer Is

Allow me to share with you a (true) story.

My paternal grandparents were born in the 1920s/1930s. They owned a small piece of land in Pulau Tekong where they cultivated rubber trees, grew vegetables, reared live stocks like chickens and pigs et cetera. As you all know, the island is now exclusively used for military training. My grandparents were displaced when that happened, but not without being compensated with a 3-room HDB flat right beside Tampines Mall and some money. Exactly how much, I have no idea, but at one point, my granddad had over a $100k.

At that time, that much money could get you a freehold landed property. But nope, my granddad decided that keeping it in the bank is the way to go. The outcome needs no elaboration. 

While cash is king, we must remember that we are actually losing money every year if the returns on that money is lower than inflation. My portfolio consists of mainly cash now, as I wait patiently for the opportunity to pick up great companies on the cheap. I don't know when that will come, so meanwhile, the best I can do is to find the highest yielding place to park my money without taking on too much risk nor losing too much liquidity. Not that I have got tons of money though, as a bulk of my savings were spent on wedding, down-payment for my property, renovation & furnishing, having a kid, and all the other things that an ordinary, young married adult will need to spend on. What's left, I park them in the following places while waiting for the right time and opportunity.

1. OCBC 360

Criteria to fulfill to earn bonus interest on balances of up to $60k in OCBC 360 account. 

This is my salary crediting account, and it yields me 1.25% (1.2% bonus interest + 0.05% base rate) without me doing anything else. Of course, the other low-hanging fruit is making 3 online bill payments to earn an additional 0.5%. I am also usually able to spend $500 on my OCBC cards to earn the other 0.5%, yielding me a total of 2.25%. However, I prioritise my UOB credit card spend before OCBC's because UOB gives me a higher yield on their UOB ONE account, which brings me to the next point.

2. UOB ONE

Criteria to fulfill to earn bonus interest on balances of up to $50k in UOB ONE account. Note that unlike OCBC 360, spending of $500 on UOB credit card is a must for the account to qualify for any bonus interest at all.

I strictly maintain $50k in this account, nothing more, nothing less, due to the tiered structure of its interest rates. I've already set up three GIRO bill payments, so it only makes sense for me to prioritise spending $500 with my UOB ONE Card. If I don't, I am back to earning the base rate for that month. If I do, the GIRO deductions will bump up the effective interest rates to 2.43% on the $50k balance. Spending $500 on my UOB credit card also helps me in getting higher interest rates in my 3rd account - Bank of China's SmartSaver account.

3. BOC SmartSaver

Criteria to fulfill to earn bonus interest on balances of up to $60k in BOC SmartSaver account.

I maintain a minimum of $50k in this account, so my base interest is 0.40%. Together with the 3 bill payments, the account already yields me 1%. I forego the 1% from crediting my salary into this account because well, I only have 1 income source, and OCBC gives me 1.2% for that. The last criteria, $500 credit/debit card spend to give an additional 1.55% is the real deal. I am going to let you in on a little secret of mine; this mighty combo I believe many of you will be thrilled to find out. Ready? Here it goes: 

The Bank of China Great Wall International Debit Card that is issued together with the SmartSaver account can be used to pay for another credit card bill. This IS the real deal. I use this as the perfect combo with UOB ONE Card. This means that I only need to spend $500 a month with UOB ONE card, and then use BOC debit card to pay for that credit card bill. Voila! I kill two birds with one stone. It's hard to chalk up so much credit card spend every month, so this works like a charm, giving me an additional 1.55% interest on the balance in this account to yield a total effective interest of 2.55%.

So if you have $170k cash, and are thinking hard about making them work harder for you, the above solution might work for you. With just $500 credit card spend, OCBC will give you 1.75%, UOB 2.43%, and BOC 2.55%. If you can chalk up $1000 credit card spend a month, OCBC can yield an additional 0.5% to make 2.25%. Not worth forcing it just for that 0.5%, but on months when you have that extra expense coming in, why not, right?

Note that bill payment is never a concern because you can simply pay $5 to the same three bills that are GIRO-ed from UOB ONE account. Do this using your OCBC and BOC accounts every month, and the outstanding amount will be GIRO-ed from UOB ONE account.

What about you? Where do you park your warchest to maximise the return while you wait?