MoneyDigest - Personal Finance, Lifestyle, Money Saving Tips

Do You Have The 5 Traits Of A Good Boss?

If you want to succeed in running a business, you need to understand that it takes more than just telling people what to do. You must have the qualities that make you stand out from the rest.

Do not get me wrong, possessing the traits of a good boss will not make you perfect. This is because an individual must act based on these traits. You cannot preach to a crowd if you are disorganized yourself.

Fortunately, these traits can be and must be learned through repetition. Start by knowing what some of these are:

1. CONSCIENTIOUSNESS

Conscientiousness, a trait in the Five Factor Model, has long been associated with success. This is because people who are highly conscientious are dependable and organized. While, people who are low on this trait tend to be more careless, spontaneous, and laid-back.

You can easily spot this trait in the workplace. A boss with a high sense of duty comes to work on time, follows the projects’ deadlines, and avoids unnecessary absenteeism. Acting beyond what is required of you (going above and beyond) is also an indicator of your conscientiousness.

2. COMPASSION

As the noble Dalai Lama once said: “Compassion is not religious business, it is human business…”

He highlights that regardless of our status, compassion is an essential trait for human survival. It is also applicable in the workplace. A compassionate boss can create a workplace filled with people who value each other and who go thru the hurdles as a unit. After all, the Latin etymology of the word “compassion” translates to “to suffer with”. Try to practice compassion in everything that you do.

3. CREATIVITY

Some of the world’s most inspiring leaders are creative individuals. These inspiring individuals include Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg and Patanjali Ayurved’s founder Baba Ramdev. In the local scene, Jeannie Chew of Soaplah comes to my mind.

The invention of the Soaplah came from Jeannie’s previous experiences with skin problems. She was troubled with eczema and other skin issues at a young age that she started making her own natural soap. In her journey to find the best solution, she handcrafted her soaps using natural ingredients such as pure essential oils with anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory properties. Her hard-work paid off as Soaplah offers a variety of soaps that can absolutely soothe even the most sensitive of skins!

Image Credits: www.facebook.com/soaplah

If you are like Jeannie, creative thinking can spark a vision or a sudden epiphany. The road to perfection comes with mistakes. It is your job as a good leader to navigate the wrongs into rights.

4. INTEGRITY

Majority of the people agree that a good boss must uphold integrity and sincerity. Integrity entails honesty in internal and external aspects of the person. It requires you to tell the truth in every situation.

For instance, an honest boss is willing to share the good and the bad news to its employees. It is because he or she knows that they deserve to know.

5. ACCOUNTABILITY

The grave responsibility bestowed on you comes with great accountability. Accountability is not only for the achievements of the company but also for its downfalls. There are no “absolutes” in business. One can never ascertain the things that can happen in the future after making a decision.

Image Credits: pixabay.com

Be fearless and accept the responsibility of your actions. If necessary, hold others accountable too.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, & 4

Infographic: Top Earners – Graduate Employment Survey

This is a guest post from Digital Senior.

NTU’s rise in rankings

We are spotting notable changes in the ranking of the top 10 paying degrees. Last year(http://digitalsenior.sg/graduate-employment-survey-ges-2015/ ) , the only NTU degree we saw was aerospace engineering at number 10. This time round, at 5th and 6th placing, we have both NTU double degree courses. It may be due to a NTU’s rapid rise in world rankings. In 2015, NTU jumped to 13th position in the widely-used QS system, putting it ahead of even Ivy League and European universities such as Yale, John Hopkins, Cornell and King’s College London. NTU doesn’t have a law program and its medicine course is relatively new. As a result of that, some of its strongest degrees are NTU Business and Computing and NTU Accountancy and Business degrees with graduates salaries over $4500. With NTU’s newly established star program- Renaissance engineering students graduating soon, it will be interesting to see how much they would fetch.

IT graduates

Also, there is a trend of computing graduates getting increasingly paid better. It is not surprising considering that many industries in Singapore have transformed with the widespread adoption of internet and technology. Print media is one such example of an industry that has shifted. Individuals with IT skills are definitely in demand. On the other hand, the top 2 paying degrees remained , with law and medicine graduates commanding the highest salaries. It is unlikely that computing students can overtake them anytime soon.

Increase in salary

In general, starting salaries of fresh grads have also went up by around 5-10% compared to last year , beating inflation rate slightly. It is definitely a good sign that our graduates are getting better paid. The better students can expect to be paid around 4-5k a month.

Importance of money management

While it seems like a huge amount as compared to what their parents receive decades ago, it bears knowing that prices of everything else has also increased. Graduates have also their 5-figures student loan to repay, which could be several times the amount of their monthly salary. Financial prudence have to be exercised right from the time they graduate. We see a tendency for many people new to working world splurging their new-found wealth as soon as they graduate.

While we do not want to paint an overly pessimistic picture for an event as delightful as graduation, the importance of financial planning cannot be overlooked. Many other financial obligations will set in awhile after graduation- housing loan, car loan and kids’ expenses etc. If proper planning is done beforehand, alot of heartaches can be saved.

Advice for graduating students

Luckily, more than 90% of graduates are able to find jobs 6 months within finishing their final papers, which is what we see in the previous years as well. As long as savvy management of money is carried out, we are confident that a smooth sailing financial life is a guarantee for graduating students.

The salaries definitely comes with a “price” as it can be seen that there is a correlation between potential salary and entry grades requirement for each course. If you are looking at earning well in the future, it definitely pays to study harder! That said, the ideal scenario would be find a course you like and can pay well! All the best.

OCBC 360 Account Offers The Best Fixed Deposit Rates

This is a contribution by Alison, who blogs at www.heartlandboy.com

Readers may be surprised that Heartland Boy is suggesting that an actual banking account, as opposed to some plain-vanilla fixed deposit schemes, offers the best fixed deposit rates in town currently. Ever since DBS launched its DBS Multiplier Programme with headline grabbing interest rates, it has forced its key competitors to react accordingly. As a result, this has spawned a new type of hybrid savings account which typically rewards account holders with significantly higher interest rates than the moribund 0.05%. OCBC has its own OCBC 360 Account while UOB has its UOB One Account. After comparing the various bank offerings, Heartland Boy chose the OCBC 360 Account as he thinks it offers the best fixed deposit rates amongst the local banks.

HOW THE OCBC 360 ACCOUNT WORKS

OCBC rewards account holder bonus interests for completing a myriad of tasks. This is in addition to a base interest of 0.05% per annum. The respective bonus interests applicable to the first $60,000 of the account holder balances are:

1.2% per annum when your credit your salary of at least S$2,000 through GIRO
0.5% per annum when you pay any 3 bills online or though GIRO
0.5% per year when you spend at least S$500 monthly on OCBC Credit Cards
1% per annum when you purchase a new insurance (eg: Policies of at least S$2,000 in annual premium) or investment product (Unit Trusts or Structured Deposits of at least S$40,000) with OCBC

Source: http://www.ocbc.com/personal-banking/accounts/360-account.html

The bonus interest accumulates and pays when you do all of the above of any of the following. As an illustration, if you satisfy only criteria 1 and 2, you would still be eligible for 1.7% bonus interest per annum.

TIPS ON MAXIMISING THE OCBC 360 ACCOUNT

Make sure that the salary credited into your OCBC 360 Account uses a code recognised and approved by OCBC in order to earn the 1.2% bonus interest.

A working adult should easily satisfy the criteria of paying 3 bills online (mobile phone, credit cards, insurance premiums etc). If you do not meet the criteria of paying 3 bills online, offer to help pay some of the household bills, such as broadband or utility charges, online.

Whenever possible, apply for GIRO so that the bill payments are automated. This ensures that you will never forget and are guaranteed to complete that task.

OCBC offers plenty of attractive credit cards, such as the OCBC 365, OCBC FRANK, OCBC Robinsons etc. Choose a credit card that is most compatible to your spending habits. For instance, if you enjoy dining out on weekends, you may apply for the OCBC 365 credit card to earn 6% cashback. If you are an online shopaholic, you can earn 6% rebate on OCBC Frank credit card.
If you are paying bills to an organisation which OCBC Credit Card has a partnership with, you can apply to pay through GIRO for greater bang on your buck. For instance, Heartland Boy’s M1 bills are deducted monthly via GIRO on his OCBC 365 credit card. He gets a 3% cashbackfor setting up a recurring telco bill, as well as becoming closer to achieving the S$500 minimum spending on an OCBC credit card as required by the OCBC 360 Account. That is equivalent to killing 2 birds with 1 stone.

If you are capable of making your own investments, you may consider forgoing the 1% bonus interest applicable for new insurance or investment products. That is because the expenses and fees that these products typically charge may well exceed the incremental 1% bonus interest that you earn.

The bonus interest is calculated based on average daily balance, so you cannot “game” the system by withdrawing money at the beginning of the month and depositing money at the end of the month and still hope to get the full interest over the month.

WHAT HEARTLAND BOY LIKES ABOUT THE OCBC 360 ACCOUNT

Previously, Heartland Boy was using the POSB Savings Account, an account his parents set up for him after he got tired of playing with his piggy bank. This account was paying a miserable 0.05% per annum and yet Heartland Boy continued using it out of habit and convenience. This was despite Heartland Boy knowing that he was actually losing money in real terms as Singapore’s historical average inflation was probably 2% per annum. However, since switching over to OCBC 360 Account, Heartland Boy feels awesome whenever he sees the bonus interest roll into his OCBC 360 Account. It was the same feeling he had when he was a small kid collecting candies after accumulating a series of stamps at the funfair.

There is no lock-in period and you are free to utilize the savings inside the OCBC 360 Account whenever you need to. This is in contrast to the traditional fixed deposit schemes whereby there is a lock-in period.

Informing Heartland Boy’s Human Resources Department to change his salary crediting account was surprisingly straightforward. All it took was an email instruction and he only had to do it once!

If you are unconvinced and still fret over the hassle of changing your monetary habits, Heartland Boy can assure you that once you have done it, it will become habitual eventually and you will thank yourself for having done so!

What Exactly Are Mutual Funds And Unit Trusts?

Before investing your hard-earned money, it is a good idea to educate yourself about the different types of investments. Let us start by defining both Mutual Fund (MF) and Unit Trust (UT).

MUTUAL FUND

MF is an investment that gathers the investors’ money into a pool to make multiple types of investments known as the portfolio. The compensation of the investment managers rely on how well the fund performs. Thus, you can rest assured that they will work hard to make sure the fund grows well.

Derived by accumulating the status of the underlying investments, the performance of the mutual funds are typically tracked as the change in the total market cap of the fund.

Players

There are two important entities when taking on the Mutual Fund. I am pertaining to the professional investment manager and the shareholder. Professional invest managers operate the MF by investing the capital and attempting to produce gains for its shareholders. Therefore, each shareholder participates proportionally in the gain or loss of the fund.

Process

As an example, let us consider Canada’s stock market. Gabby wants to try his luck at the Canadian equity market by investing in the S&P/TSX Composite Index. It consists largely of the energy, materials, and financial sectors with different percentages allocated. Performance of the MF is tracked as the percentage of change to its overall adjusted market cap.

UNIT TRUST

UT is distinguished from the MF as it follows a trust structure. Rather than putting the gains back into the fund, it provides profits straight to the individual. This investment scheme is available in Australia, South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, Fiji, Ireland, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Singapore. Both the local and foreign funds are regulated as collective investment schemes in our country.

It works by pooling money from multiple investors to invest in a portfolio assets in lined with the stated investment approach and objective.

Players

There are several important entities when taking on the Unit Trust. Professional investment managers or fund managers operate trusts for gains. The trusts as well as its rights are owned by the unit holders. The unit holders and the fund managers are mediated by the registrars.

Process

The process that the UT goes through depends on the goals and objectives of the investment. The value of the assets in its portfolio is equates to the amount of units issued multiplied by the price per unit. Afterwards, you must subtract other costs such as management and transaction fees.

Image Credits: pixabay.com

COMPARISON

Both the MF and UT gathers the investors’ money into a pool to make portfolios, which are managed by the professional investment manager. The major difference between these two investment schemes is in its structures. Basically, Mutual Fund issues redeemable shares while Unit Trust issues units. It is up to you to find an investment scheme that suits your lifestyle.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

6 Things You Can Learn About Money From Professor X-Perience

“Who is Professor X-Perience?”, you may ask. It is a persona that I created to embody our experiences.

Our experiences consist of the overall process of sensing and doing things. As far as I know, not everything can be learned from the pages of the book! Exploring the world with your own eyes gives you the most valuable lessons about money.

On that note, here are some of the financial realizations that came from my experiences:

1. GIVE AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE

Whether you want to admit it or not, it is rare that we receive something without doing anything. This statement does not only pertain to finances as it can be applied to other areas in life like opportunities and friendships. If you want to increase the perceived value of what you receive, you must give it out first.

Why is this so? I realized that you reap what you sow. Almost everything that happened to me was a result of my actions. I was able to enjoy an overseas trip because I worked for extra hours and saved up for it.

Image Credits: pixabay.com

2. EARN YOUR MONEY HARD

Since you worked hard for your money, you must spend it wisely.

I never saw the true value of money until I had my first full-time job. When I was younger, I spent my part-time pay on shoes, clothes, tickets, and other materialistic things. The feeling of satisfaction was short-lived as these things are superficial. Nowadays, I spend my money on long-term investments.

Being independent with my finances made me realize how important it is to practice budgeting and tracking your expenses.

3. DO PRIOR RESEARCH

Days before a job interview, I make it a point to do prior research regarding the company and the position that I am applying for. Make your way into the basics such as the company’s mission and vision as well as the position’s duties and objectives. Then, dig deep into the issue that is rarely spoken in our Asian culture – the salary. Be prepared to provide a salary range.

Spend a substantial amount of time in finding out the average salaries for similar jobs in your particular field. Websites such as salary.sg, hudson.sg, and payscale.com are helpful for this task.

4. EXPLORE DIFFERENT JOBS

Some people are so creative that they cannot be confined in a cubicle. If you are one of them, do not limit yourself to the 9-5 PM office jobs. Learn to explore other opportunities such as working online.

Saying that Internet changed our generation is an understatement. Personally, it influences my bread and butter. I am freelance writer that is able to choose from a variety of markets. And, you can too.

You can write for online or print media that go beyond magazines and newspapers. Setting up your own website or blog is also doable. Furthermore, book publishers are always searching for the next big thing. They are in need of people to write their marketing letters, announcements, e-books, and more. An ambitious scribe may dive in to freelancing and get its profits. Note that training, skill, and experience affects your rates.

5. REWARD YOURSELF RESPONSIBLY

According to studies by Behavioral Psychologists, positive reinforcements motivate people to work more. I support these studies as I savor rewards after a long month of work.

Rewarding yourself with a responsible amount of 5-8% of your monthly salary is recommended. Find interests outside of your job such as painting, dancing, yoga, or cooking to ease your daily stress. Also, rewarding yourself with a hobby is a good way to keep you motivated.

6. KEEP YOUR COOL

When faced with embarrassing money-related situations, it is best to keep your cool.

I was working as an administrative officer at a fitness studio a few years back. A rising Hollywood celebrity came to pay but her credit cards got declined. She was furious at me and gave her debit card instead. Thankfully, the transaction was successful.

You can handle this situation better by being calm. Talk to the personnel privately and arrange an alternative form of payment. Consider going to the nearest ATM to withdraw some cash.

Image Credits: pixabay.com

Comment down below to share your own experiences with money.

HOW THE OCBC 360 ACCOUNT WORKS

TIPS ON MAXIMISING THE OCBC 360 ACCOUNT

WHAT HEARTLAND BOY LIKES ABOUT THE OCBC 360 ACCOUNT

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