If you are not knowledgeable about the existence of English idioms, I bet you are wondering about the meaning behind the title.
What is it with me and my adoration for idiomatic expressions? For starters, most writers dance with the words to choreograph deeper stories. My fondness for the underlying meanings attracted me to this type of phrases. Let us go back to the matter at hand.
“You snooze, you lose” pertains to the rationale that waiting too long for an opportunity can result to not gaining what you want or to the success of someone else. Someone else can beat you at opening the doors of great possibilities if you let things slide. I cannot blame you! It is usually difficult to pinpoint if a certain opportunity can bring future rewards.
If you had a fortune-telling ability or a magic crystal ball then, you could envision whether your decision is a clever move or a huge mistake. That sounds undeniably useful when used with precaution. However, it is far from reality! Just take a moment to reflect upon the missed opportunities at the tech industry. I will start with a story that is close to social media addict’s heart.
Facebook giant Mark Zuckerberg once invited five people to participate in his upcoming business venture. About a decade ago, only two people showed up. These two people namely Dustin Moskovitz and Eduardo Saverin are billionaires today. I can only imagine the impact of Facebook’s success to these three close-minded people.
The next story highlights a relevant brand in today’s culture – the Apple. Steve Jobs offered his boss, the Atari Founder Nolan Bushnell, a chance to invest US$50,000 (about S$67,000) to Apple. He let the opportunity pass by. If he accepted the offer, he would have owned a third of the company. Its market value now is about US$535 billion (about S$724 billion).
Turning down an innovative idea may cost you. But, what is worse than taking a conscious effort to say “NO”? Doing nothing!
Indifference toward an opportunity has its consequences and sometimes these consequences exceed that of a bad decision. For instance, Amy hired a financial consultant to help manage her trendy restaurant. The financial consultant exhausted all his resources to search the most profitable location for a new branch. Despite the priceless efforts that the financial consultant gave, Amy opted to do nothing about it. Among her reasons for indecision was lack of time to discuss about the matter. This can potentially cost affect the entire brand.
Aside from close-mindedness and indecisiveness, there are other ways to dodge a shining opportunity. Do yourself a favor and beware of these instances:
a. by beginning with a negative mindset or a wrong goal in mind,
b. by not being persuasive enough to make a recommendation,
c. by not doing sufficient research on the company you are applying for, and
d. by ignoring your online reputation.
Analyze the situation and make a calculated decision when a blossoming chance comes along. The expense of missed opportunity can be exorbitant to your job performance, work relationships, credibility, and wealth. Do not risk these things due to indecisiveness and close-mindedness.
Based on a Worldwide Cost of Living survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Singapore has been ranked as the world’s most expensive city to live in for the third consecutive year. Indeed, many living in Singapore have to contend with the high property and car prices. Healthcare and education costs are also not far from people’s minds.
Investment is seen as a way to potentially amplify one’s wealth to better fulfil these life goals. But what if you do not have a substantial amount of capital or time set aside for investing? A Monthly Investment Plan or what’s also known as a Regular Savings Plan, could be something for you to consider.
Affordable
There’s a common misconception that you need to have sizeable capital in order to start building a nest egg through investing. However, with a Monthly Investment Plan, you can decide how much to invest based on your personal financial situation. You can even set aside just $100 a month, and put that money into blue chip stocks, exchange traded funds (ETFs) and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) listed on global markets to build your portfolio.
Takes Advantage of Dollar Cost Averaging
Monthly Investment Plans follow the principle of dollar cost averaging. By investing regularly every month instead of trying to time the market and find the best time to buy and sell shares, the risk of investing a large amount in a single investment at the wrong time is reduced.
To gain a better understanding of dollar cost averaging, consider this example where two siblings are given $10,000 each, but choose to invest it in different ways.
Luke used the money to buy 1000 shares at $10. Drew, on the other hand, invested a predetermined amount each month, and he ended up buying more shares when the price was low and fewer shares when the price was high.
Drew’s average price per share ($8.90) is therefore lower compared to Luke’s ($10) – this is how dollar cost averaging works and by extension, how Monthly Investment Plans can help you achieve your investment goals.
Automated and Hassle-Free
No one can exactly foresee and predict the behaviour of the stock market. Instead of trying to time the market and finding the right time to enter and exit, Monthly Investment Plans focus instead on long-term gains, and build your portfolio by automatically buying your shares for you every month. Your work is done at the outset. All you need to do is choose your desired shares and set your monthly investment amount. From that point on, you can sit back and watch as your portfolio grows and your shares accumulate.
Diversification
Monthly Investment Plans enable you to diversify your investment portfolio in a couple of ways.
Most of these plans allow you to invest in ETFs like SPDR STI ETF or Nikko AM STI ETF which are funds that invest in the 30 largest companies listed on Singapore Stock Exchange. More conservative investors can go for these ETFs. In addition to these ETFs, your Monthly Investment Plan may allow for investments into REITs. If you are interested in investing in property, then this is something to look out for; REITs don’t just give you exposure to one property – they give you exposure to a whole portfolio of properties. Some Monthly Investment Plans will also allow you to access stocks listed in markets like the US, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand. Expanding your horizons and looking at offerings listed on these global markets is another way to diversify your portfolio.
If any of these four benefits sound appealing to you, then you should find out more about how Monthly Investment Plans can help you along your investment journey.
My sister is sweeping the Web for the perfect birthday present that her friend will deeply appreciate. Helping her through this task made me realize that you can find just about anything online. From bacon lip balm to a Nicholas Cage pillowcase, you type it to get it!
On that note, here are the 5 Singapore online stores that are worth your time:
If you are on a hunt for elegant dresses that can be worn for any occasion, search no further than Smooth the Label. It is Sarah Lim’s first leap of faith. Ever since she started the e-commerce business in 2010, she had been carefully choosing the pieces to be manufactured for the brand. Each of the designs are embellished with her own unique touch.
The shop’s widespread prices range from S$9.80 to S$80. Best of all? The shipping in Singapore is always free.
Since its emergence in the past three years, HipVan has been making waves regionally due to its lifestyle design inspirations and great sales. It is founded by Danny Tan, Kevin Vo, Deborah Wee, and Shobhit Datta with a whopping fund of S$500,000. This awesome online store delights you with up to 70% off the retail prices of furniture, accessories, kitchen-wares, and so much more. Check their collections at www.hipvan.com.
As the name suggests, Eco City Hydroponics focuses on the lesser-known subset of hydro-culture called the hydroponics. It is a method of cultivating plants using mineral nutrient solutions instead of soil. This online store provides home delivery of products such as Bunching Onion and Vegetable Soy Bean seeds. If you are critical about this type of urban farming, try out their Hydroponic Hobby Kit first.
Where else can you spot an online pet store that is affordable, convenient, accessible, and offers free samples? Well, nowhere but Kohe Pets!
Kohe Pets regularly dishes out free samples of their products so that the clients can easily find out the most suitable treat to their pet’s taste. It has a huge selection of more than 2,500 reasonably priced products ranging from the popular brands to the special brands that are difficult to find in the country. According to testimonials, their deliver service is swift as customers typically receive their orders on the next day.
One of my favorite hobbies to let the time pass is reading. Searching endlessly through a myriad of brands, I found an indie gem called BooksActually. It is my go-to place for enigmatic titles and creative stationary. It houses beautifully written pieces of literature by local and international authors.
The website is crisp, simple, and neat. Go and see for yourself!
So you’re at the age where you are starting to dabble in beauty products and make-up. You’ve heard the horror stories of rashes, breakouts, wrinkles and worse outcomes that WILL happen if you don’t start taking care of your skin – Mother (amongst many other people) told you so. You start surfing through the internet, asking your parents, siblings, friends for advice.
Bombarded by the amount of choices, you throw your hands up in the air in frustration. And then you decide – you know what? SK-II is a famous brand used by millions of people around the world. Surely it would be a great, reliable way to kick-start your journey into improving or just preserving your skin condition (if you are young and lucky). Now the question is: Where should you buy SK-II products in Singapore from?
SK-II Counters @ Shopping Malls
SK-II Robinsons Orchard Counter
The obvious no-brainer choice. In fact, you probably SHOULD visit these counters at least once. Not only would those lovely, experienced ladies tell you all about their brand’s specialty products, they can also advise you on what to buy based on your skin condition. How do they know your skin condition, you wonder? Why, through this nifty machine of course!
SK-II Magic Ring
This, my dear, will make you the next Ironwoman is the SK-II Magic Ring. Just by scanning your face, it will be able to identify your Skin Age, give you a brief summary on the results in a diagram, and suggest areas of improvement (by means of their products of course). While it is no doubt an exciting venture into the unknown, the experience will likely get old after the next few times. In addition, if one wants to buy SK-II products in Singapore, it cannot possibly get any more genuine than getting it straight from the SK-II counters.
However, as with all the positives, there are some negatives as well. Blasphemy, you cry? Alas, I regret to inform you that it is all true my dear. For one, as the SK-II ladies only sell their own products, it may be difficult to get advice on products from other brands that are not biased.
In addition, as those Lovely Ladies are saleswomen at the end of the day, they will no doubt recommend many, many products to you when all you wanted was to buy SK-II products in Singapore. Your conversation after the SK-II Magic Ring test will no doubt end up being along the lines of “You should definitely get this“, “This is also good for you“, “I also recommend this“, “We are having a promotion where if you get this and this, we will give you this at this price / FOC”. They may mean well of course, but depending on the health of your wallet, you may not be looking to buy so many recommendations… yet. If that happens, well. We have learnt that famous move from the Penguins at Madagascar haven’t we?
TLDR: GREAT IF YOU ARE VISITING FOR THE FIRST FEW TIMES AND NEED ADVICE FROM THE PROFESSIONALS
Sephora
Sephora at Ion Orchard
Bright, clean, beautiful and spacious, Sephora carries TONS of brands. Sephora is no doubt one of THE local hotspots for skincare, cosmetics and makeup. The great thing about this is that you would be able to compare the skincare products from various brands. In addition, it is highly likely that there will be someone who will know something about some brand or another. Sephora’s prices for SK-II products are unlikely to deviate much, if at all, from the retail prices as found in the SK-II counters.
Due to high traffic, it may be difficult for Sephora’s customer service to give their full attention to you, especially during peak hours and weekends. Furthermore, if you are looking to try out their testers, you might find it a tad unhygienic because it has likely been used by many other people over a few weeks…
TLDR: AWESOME VARIETY, BUT YOU MAY NOT GET MUCH ATTENTION DURING PEAK HOURS. ALSO, BECAUSE IT IS SUCH
A HIGH-TRAFFIC PLACE, THOSE TESTERS MAY HAVE SEEN A LOT MORE ACTION THAN YOU WOULD LIKE…
Changi Airport
SK-II Pitera Lounge at Changi Airport
As we all know, our very own Changi Airport is Duty Free! This makes it a promising location to buy SK-II products in Singapore because it is cheaper than those sold at SK-II counters and Sephora, plus we know that it is 100% confirm plus chop genuine.
There is a catch, however. SK-II products at Changi Airport can ONLY be bought inside the departure hall. So unless you have a boarding pass… you can’t buy it.
TLDR: YOU CAN’T BUY SK-II AT CHANGI AIRPORT UNLESS YOU HAVE A BOARDING PASS – PERIOD.
Sasa/Beauty Language
Sasa outlet at Jurong Point
Beauty Language at Northpoint
Sasa and Beauty Language are two of the cheaper alternatives to buy SK-II products in Singapore – that’s what intensive searches on the internet and word of mouth would tell you. Seems like as we go down the list, we’re recommending cheaper places to buy SK-II products in Singapore. These are shops that sell a variety of products at cheaper prices – which are easy on the wallet. Beauty Language even has an Android App on the Google Play Store.
That’s all well and good, but exactly which SK-II products do they sell? Well, you would have to stare at their website, look for a store near you, and finally enter the store to find out. The disadvantage is that you don’t know if what you want to buy is sold in their store until you enter it or ask their salespeople. In fact, if you were just looking at their website, you wouldn’t even know they sold SK-II products!
TLDR: THEY SELL SK-II PRODUCTS A LOT CHEAPER THAN OTHER RETAIL STORES
Online
In this digital age, people are increasingly looking to online platforms for their shopping needs. From clothes and accessories to toiletries and groceries, a large variety of goods are available on the web. Examples of these platforms include marketplaces like Qoo10, Lazada, eBay and Carousell – we’re pretty sure that you must have heard of them.
Skincare products such as SK-II are not exempted from this wave of online shopping too. And why would it be? To buy SK-II products in Singapore online is so much cheaper and more convenient than going down to a physical store. It’s easy to check on online stores if stock is available so it would never be a ‘wasted trip’. Not to mention that time saved could be used for better activities – like watching Korean dramas like Descendants of the Sun or doing your midnight shopping at Mustafa.
Of course, buying products online comes with its own risks. As you can’t try the product beforehand, you might get a fake product when it comes, or you might even get nothing at all. Then there are times where you find a nice retailer but they are gone the next time you need the product again. Then you might find someone selling genuine products – albeit with poor customer service. Oh my! It is really difficult to find a trustworthy retailer amongst the crowd.
TLDR: BUYING SK-II PRODUCTS ONLINE IS CHEAPER, BUT BUY AT YOUR OWN RISK. OR FIND A TRUSTWORTHY
SELLER YOU CAN GET ALONG WITH.
Xiaomei
And then there’s us! If you are looking for someone trustworthy who isn’t looking to just make a quick buck and run away, why not give us a shot? Xiaomei might just turn out to be your favourite avenue to buy SK-II products in Singapore. I’m sure you don’t need to hear it, but it still needs to be said that our products are 100% genuine and we have friendly customer service staff who don’t bite. We even reply enquiries during the weekends!
We are also constantly checking the product prices of our online competitors so our prices see constant revision. In addition, we are also branching out to the various different online platforms. Right now, our products are available in Qoo10,Lazada and Shopee.
Unfortunately, we are bound by the restrictions of e-commerce as well. Thus, your product will still take about 2-3 days to arrive, unless your office building is the same as ours (we do have such orders!). Finally, we may not have a lot of brands under our belt… yet. This is mainly due to the vast amount of makeup, cosmetic and skincare brands out there – we are still deciding what is good to bring in. It is always amusing when the office ladies get excited over the latest shipment of Laneige. We sell perfumes too, so once in a while the office will be filled with different perfume scents.
Ending Note
That’s all folks! Know of any other places to buy SK-II products in Singapore and want to share it with the rest of the Xiaomei community? Simply drop us a message.
(This article is brought to you by Xiaomei, your one-stop beauty paradise.)
According to a study published by the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, consuming healthy food can save you money. The participants lost weight and reduced their grocery budget.
Mimic these effects by choosing healthier options and shying away from junk.
1. AVOID THE CONVENIENT
Salad sets containing assorted lettuce seems convenient but, these are a bit expensive. Individual greens can also be more vulnerable to turning wilted at a short amount of time. This is why it makes more sense to purchase the heads of lettuce, which are cheaper and usually longer lasting.
2. EMBRACE THE OATS
One of my go-to healthy fixes is the oatmeal. Oatmeal contains soluble fiber which helps lower your cholesterol and your risk of heart disease. Embrace the power of the a bowl of oats by topping it off with grated apples, almonds, or honey. Try the Quaker Quickcook Oatmeal Hearty Supreme that retails for only S$2.95.
3. BULK UP
Bulking up is applicable to some situations than others. For staples like oil and noodles, you can always stock up when they are on sale. Do not forget to compare the prices per weight of the bulk items as well as standalone items before you decide that the bulk section provides a better deal.
Image Credits: pixabay.com
4. KEEP IT GROUNDED
Ground or minced beef has a reputation of being budget-friendly as compared to its other counterparts. To get the maximum benefits for your health, go for the lean ground beef. Use it as an ingredient to your tacos or spaghetti. You may also make some patties with lettuce as its buns.
5. DITCH THE SODAS
If you are looking forward to trimming your belly before the December festivities, ditch the sodas. Sodas are not only high in calories but they also contain carbonated bubbles. These bubbles can accumulate in your belly and add a bulge. Stick to water or tea as much as possible. Try the Sea Dyke Oolong Tea for S$1.10 or the Dilmah Green Tea for S$3.85.
6. BIGGER IS BETTER
What is better than a piece of carrot? A bunch of them, of course!
You can save more money by cutting your own “big” carrots into smaller bit-sized sticks instead of purchasing the prepackaged “baby” carrots. It is best to cook these carrots to get most of the beta-carotene as these root veggies can be internally hard to break down. Moreover, carrots are full of Vitamin A, Vitamin B8, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, and Potassium.
7. ALWAYS COME PREPARED
It always pays well if you come to the store prepared. Nutrition expert Katherine Tallmadge encapsulates this concept when she said: “Take inventory of what you have on hand so you don’t overbuy. Create a detailed shopping list based on your needs and weekly menu plan, and take into account how you plan on using leftovers.”
Image Credits: pixabay.com
Moreover, you may bring your last grocery receipt along as a guide.
Anna Agoncillo
Maybank Kim Eng
MoneyDigest
