Anna Agoncillo, Author at MoneyDigest.sg

6 Ways to Fine-Tune Your Lifestyle

Being financially responsible is vital for your health and your financial life. Spending less than what you make each month entails that you live within your means. For many Singaporeans, it is a lot easier said than done.

Start with small financial changes to alter your lifestyle!

#1: TRY BACKWARD BUDGETING

Write down your income and start subtracting each monthly expense. If you get a negative number, you are spending more than you make. You need to cut back. Focus on reducing your expenses to fit your income.

#2: SAVE FOR LARGE PURCHASES

People often use credit cards for large purchases that they cannot afford entirely, such as a new air conditioner. It is best to set aside some money each money until you have saved up enough to buy it outright. Do not purchase something that you cannot afford to buy.

#3: WAIT FOR SALES

12.12 is right around the corner! Save money on your favorite brands or large ticket purchases by waiting for sales. You can often predict when an item will be discounted. Perhaps, a new model will come along. Take advantage of year-end sales!

#4: ASK FOR A LOWER PRICE

Sometimes, all you need to do to save cash is to ask. If you are a long-term client who has never made an overdue payment, you may be entitled to a loyalty discount. Affordable vacation packages can also be offered to you once you ask for flexible travel plans.

#5: PAY WITH DEBIT OR CASH

Leave your plastic cards at home. Try to buy things that you can afford using cash or your debit card. Be strategic and calculate your moves. Consider apps to automatically put money in your savings every time you use your debit card.

Image Credits: unsplash.com

#6: STOP KEEPING UP WITH THE TRENDS

Trends come and go. Resist the pressure to have the same material things as the people around you or the people you see online. You may be able to use credit cards and loans to fake wealth for a brief period, but you will pay for it later. That is more painful.

Sources: 1 & 2

5 Ways to Cut Down the Hiring Process Costs

With 2022 coming to a close, many employees will be making the most of the opportunity to reflect upon their careers. January presents a fresh start, with endless career opportunities and renewed optimism. It is the perfect time to hire fresh staff for your team, isn’t it?

Before you begin hiring new employees, you need to fully audit your own recruitment process. Identifying potential savings is a fantastic way to keep your recruitment fit for purpose. On that note, here are five ways to save money and time when it comes to the hiring process.

#1: PLAN AHEAD

You need to have a different game plan than your competitors. Companies that hire in January need to be competitive with their job offers and move fast to get a shot at securing their preferred candidates. It all starts with Human Resource planning.

What are you looking for? The company must then compare their needs to the expected number of qualified candidates in the labor market.

#2: HIGHLIGHT YOUR HIRING PROCESS COSTS

Costs have indirect and direct links. It is important for you to identify both. The direct costs of the hiring process include referral fees, external assessments, background checks, agency fees, LinkedIn Premium or Recruiter accounts, onboarding, training, and creation of contracts.

For indirect costs, it includes candidate dropouts, poor hires, poor team morale, and time away from work. Slow assessment periods or delayed offers can generate hidden costs too!

#3: KNOW YOUR BEST ACQUISITION CHANNELS

In specialist markets, it is likely that you will have to invest in paid job advertisements. Many employers invest in LinkedIn, Jobstreet, Indeed, and Facebook to promote jobs. It is hard to resist the temptation to make sure every single potential candidate sees your opportunity.

Look closely at your advertising channels and create a comprehensive list of all these. Make sure to sort and manage your channels by estimated total cost per year, current usage, and payment models. You will be able to predict your top performing acquisition channels upon assessment of this list. Junk the unnecessary!

#4: AUTOMATE MANUAL TASKS

If you can save time and money by automating manual tasks, do so. Time lost at any stage of the hiring process quickly dominoes resulting in the lengthy time-to-hires and lost candidates.

Here are the manual tasks that can be automated or templated:

a. Application alerts
b. Responses to candidate applications
c. Disqualification emails
d. Getting candidate contact details from CV
e. Creating recruitment related tasks in your project management tool
f. Adding candidates to mailing lists
g. Sending assessments to candidates
h. Sharing candidate history and CV with hiring managers
i. Booking time in hiring managers’ schedules
j. Booking interview times with candidates

Image Credits: pixabay.com

Automating tasks will keep your hiring process more efficient.

#5: EMBRACE COLLABORATIVE HIRING

As organizations grow, the communication lines between recruiters and hiring managers often become more distant and weaker. Combat this by using collaborative hiring. Collaborative hiring happens when you engage more employees in the hiring process.

More employees beyond the recruiter or hiring manager give the candidate a more cohesive vision of what it would be like to work in your organization. Additionally, you will get more feedback on the candidate. Included other employees in the interview, introduction, and assessment phases.

Source: 1

MAS Says Dealing in Any Cryptocurrency is Hazardous

To clarify some questions and misconceptions surrounding the collapse of FTX.com, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has recently issued a statement. The Bahamas-based crypto exchange company filed for bankruptcy in the US on Nov 11, 2022 and is said to owe about US$3.1 billion (S$4.26 billion) to its top fifty creditors. Its short reign started last 2019.

In the statement released by MAS last Nov 21, MAS highlighted three key points.

#1: IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO PROTECT LOCAL USERS FROM FTX.COM

Since the company is not licensed under MAS and operates offshore, it is not possible to protect the local users who dealt with the bankruptcy of FTX.com. “MAS has consistently warned about the dangers of dealing with unregulated entities,” the central bank said.

#2: THERE WAS A CLEAR DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BINANCE.COM AND FTX.COM

To the central bank, there was a clear difference between fellow crypto exchange companies Binance.com and FTX.com. While both companies are not licensed in Singapore, Binance.com was actively soliciting users in Singapore while FTX was not.

“Binance.com in fact went to the extent of offering listings in Singapore dollars and accepted Singapore-specific payment modes such as PayNow and PayLah,” according to the statement released by MAS. Thus, it was placed on the Investor Alert List (IAL).

#3: IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO LIST ALL CRYPTO EXCHANGES ON IAL

Hundreds of such exchanges and thousands of other entities offshore exist so, MAS says that it is not possible to create an exhaustive list of all offshore crypto exchanges in the world on the IAL. The purpose of the IAL is to “warn the public of entities that may be wrongly perceived as being MAS-regulated, especially those which solicit Singapore customers for financial business without the requisite MAS license.”

Image Credits: pixabay.com

Users looking to refer to all the MAS-regulated entities should refer to the Financial Institutions Directory. This directory keeps an exhaustive list of such entities. It is important to remember that crypto exchanges can and do fail.

“Even if a crypto exchange is licensed in Singapore, it would be currently only regulated to address money-laundering risks, not to protect investors,” says MAS.

Sources: 1 & 2

How to Save Money when Shopping for Luxury Bags

Shopping for the perfect Christmas gift can be a stressful affair! You have a ton of things to do, and between all the planning for the family gatherings, there is hardly enough brain capacity left to be thinking of what to put under the tree. In addition, you do not want to spend a fortune on an unpleasant handbag.

Handbag lover or not, it’s something most of us use on a daily basis. The right handbag will surely be put to effective use! To save money on luxury bags, consider the tips on this list.

#1: SAVE CONSISTENTLY

Leading up to the holiday shopping spree, you must cut down the unnecessary purchases. For instance, you can eliminate your daily Starbucks run to save up to S$2,000 a year. Giving yourself a home-brewed morning drink can satisfy your cravings and save your wallet. You can even open a savings account to help you budget better.

#2: STEER AWAY FROM TRENDS

There are so many fast fashion items that go out of style immediately. Who cares if you do not wear it? It was on sale for S$30! Well, think about your purchases next time. Adding investment pieces to your collection can help you create a staple handbag collection.

Image Credits: unsplash.com

#3: STORE WISELY

Forgo your lazy inclinations to toss your items in your bag as storing your recently purchased bag can be one of the most important steps to maintain the newness of your luxury item. Most designer bags come with free dust bags – use these! Do not forget to store your liquids in containers to avoid spillage.

#4: SHOP AT CONSIGNMENT STORES

Consignment stores will often carry products at discounted prices. These products might be last season’s handbags or something that is selling as much anymore. However, you may not always be able to find the product you are looking for.

Image Credits: unsplash.com

#5: SHOP AT ONLINE AUCTIONS

Online auctions provide you a fantastic opportunity to snag a new product at a much cheaper price. You just need to be patient and diligent in your searches and keep an eye out for the best auctions.

#6: WATCH OUT FOR DISCOUNTS AT DEPARTMENT STORES

Local department stores can help you save money on high-end, luxury handbags. Most stores will have various sales year-round, which they will announce virtually through their websites or newsletters. Stay updated!

Sources: 1 & 2

10 Gifts You Should Never Give This Christmas

There is nothing worse than watching someone opening your gift and pretending to like it! Avoid cringe-worthy moments like this by familiarizing yourself with the following types of gifts that people would rather not receive this Christmas.

Do not waste your money on these gifts!

#1: PETS

Living, breathing creature as a present is a bad idea! Being stuck with them for the remainder of your life can seem scary, especially if you will gift a lizard. Never get someone an animal they may not be able to take care of.

Image Credits: pixabay.com

#2: EXERCISE GEAR

What message are you sending by gifting exercise gear? We all have at least one friend who is obsessed with fitness, gifting exercise gear to said friend is acceptable. However, you do not want to risk unintentionally insinuating that he or she needs to lose weight.

#3: WORK DRESS

Gifting a work dress is tricky! You might not get the right size. Can you imagine the look on your friend’s face when you bought a Size 10 and she wears a Size 4?

#4: ROMANCE NOVELS

Not safe for work, novels can be embarrassing to open in front of friends and family. There would be so many shades of red if that happens.

#5: WRINKLE CREAM

It is insulting to insinuate that someone needs anti-aging creams. What about giving a nice, seasonally scented lotion instead? Peppermint or cinnamon lotion sounds delicious to me!

#6: AN OUTDATED CALENDAR

It might seem like an obvious one, but you would hate to receive a calendar that is only good for a month. Do not give a calendar for a year that already happened.

#7: CLEANING SUPPLIES

Your friends and family are going to wonder what you are really trying to say if they were to open a bag filled with cleaning supplies. Your cleaning tools and sprays might put a smile on your face, but you might send a wrong message across.

#8: GYM MEMBERSHIP

Much like giving exercise gear, signing someone up for a monthly gym membership could have a negative connotation. Plus, aside from its potential for offense, a gym membership serves as a reminder that New Year’s resolutions are right around the corner.

Image Credits: pixabay.com

#9: SOUVENIRS

Did you just visit Bali or Maldives? Then, they do not need a tacky magnet to commemorate your experience. Look for inspiration elsewhere.

#10: HOVERBOARDS

They were the hottest toy years ago but have proven to be dangerous. Authorities recalled thousands of models all over the world. So, please find a safer toy to give to your favorite nieces and nephews.

Sources: 1 & 2

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