Whether you want to lead a simple life or an extravagant one, having financial goals gives you direction. It steers your focus on the things that you want to achieve at a particular time-frame. It has the power to make you more hopeful about the future.
However, having financial goals may not work for everyone. You see, others can get frustrated upon seeing the milestones that they have not achieved yet. Do not worry! There is a solution. Look at the brighter side of your financial life by creating a reverse bucket list.
What is a reverse bucket list exactly? For starters, it is a list of goals and achievements that you have already met. Apply this ideal to your finances to reap its benefits.
REVERSE BUCKET LIST HIGHLIGHTS PATTERNS
Creating a reverse bucket list gives you an opportunity to pinpoint your spending and saving patterns. Use your observations to improve your financial circumstance.
For instance, you may notice that most of your spending falls under skincare and cosmetics. Consider signing up for Sephora’s loyalty program to maximize your discounts. Alternatively, you may indulge in the affordable homegrown products brought by Shophouse Sixtyfive and Katfood. Shophouse Sixtyfive sells handmade lip balms infused with essential oils, vitamin E, and plant extracts. What’s more? These balms, such as Sir Stamford (S$9.80), have a local twist too.
Now, let’s move on to Katfood. Its playful name says a lot about its interesting background. You see, Katfood aims to create beauty products out of ingredients that you can actually eat. Everything is handmade with no preservatives and are infused with organic and raw elements. Its Cuckoo For Cocoa Dry Shampoo ($13.90) includes ingredients such as coconut flour and cocoa powder.
REVERSE BUCKET LIST MARKS YOUR MOTIVATION
Whether you like it or not…setbacks happen. You cannot be fully in control of your finances all the time. This is where motivation comes in. Motivation propels you to continue on this journey.
Seeing the list of financial achievements you have cemented will transform your motivation into manifestations. You will remember where it happened, why it happened, and how it happened. Making this list will enable you to see your financial situation realistically.
Image Credits: pixabay.com
As I said, you will experience some obstacles along the way. These obstacles do not reflect your financial capabilities or intelligence. Instead, these are merely challenges that you need to learn from. Keep moving forward!
In the hustle and bustle of the city life, Singaporeans are exposed to the high economic pressures. What makes this concrete jungle thrive? Money, of course. Putting matrimony into the mix makes things more complicated.
Managing money is a complex task fraught with emotion. It is natural that conflicts can arise from time to time. To keep your marriage and finances in tact, open communication and teamwork are essential. If only more couples are having regular conversations about money issues before and after walking down the aisle then, we will less likely to have divorces.
MONETARY IMBALANCE
What will happen when there is a massive earning gap between partners? Or, when a spouse comes from a wealthy family and the other came from humble beginnings? More so, living in a single-income household is not uncommon. Sometimes, the imbalance between two people creates power play.
When power play occurs, the person who earns the most dictate the spending habits of the other. He or she will have personal spending priorities in mind. The other partner simply complies.
Handling this situation is tricky. You can either make a pre-nuptial agreement or open a joint account. Nonetheless, marriage should be founded by cooperation in all aspects.
OPPOSING PERSONALITIES
In the list of reasons why couples divorce, money is among the top answers. Friction brought by money can be due to the opposing personalities of two people. Personality towards money plays a vital part in a couple’s marital bliss or the lack thereof.
Imagine living 24/7 with a hoarder when you are a spender yourself. Or, living with someone who is a risk-avoidant when you are a risk-taker yourself. To the extreme, you may live with someone who believes that the person who dies with the most money wins. These opposing personalities can be mediated by empathy. Walk in the other person’s shoes to understand where he or she is coming from. You may also adopt your spouse’s money habits for a month to see how it works. Paying attention to money habits before and during matrimony can be beneficial. Talking about your financial views and feelings can help put both of you at ease.
OVERWHELMING DEBT
From school loans to shopping addiction, many people come to the altar bearing a financial baggage. If one partner has an outstanding mountain of debt and the other does not, this situation can spark a conflict.
In such situations, people often take solace in knowing that debts are not carried over thru the marriage. However, it is understandable to share the responsibility over housing and child care debts.
Knowing what you are getting yourself into can help you decide how to deal with it. Both partners have to be honest and non-judgmental when discussing about their financial habits and bad records. Apply several payoff strategies soon after. And, seek professional help when needed.
The Open Electricity Market (OEM) has allowed households to switch from SP Group to other retailers to trim their electricity bills. While this has been a fantastic ride so far, it would be even better if households can make the switch with certainty on the following:
Knowing the unit rate to be paid across the entire duration of the contract
Enjoying the highest saving rate across the type of plans available
With so many fixed rate plans being offered in the market, consumers actually need to look no further than Senoko Energy LifePower24 Fixed Rate Plan to get the most bang for their buck. It offers one of the highest cost savings for a fixed price 24-month contract.
Senoko Energy LifePower24 Fixed Rate Plan
Senoko Energy LifePower24 Fixed Rate Plan is a 24-month fixed price contract where consumers pay only 17.78₵/kWh (price includes GST) instead of SP Group’s current regulated tariff of 24.39₵/kWh. This extremely low unit price is fixed for the entire duration of the contract. Furthermore, additional savings are thrown in as well:
$60 bill rebate;
Up to $50 one-time cash rebate for recurring payments made at Senoko Energy’s partner banks;
Up to 5% monthly bill rebate for recurring payments made with OCBC, Standard Chartered or UOB. Find out more about their bank partners here.
With such a low unit rate fixed across the duration of the entire contract, coupled with the excellent freebies thrown in, this makes Senoko Energy LifePower24 Fixed Rate Plan one of the lowest cost 24 months fixed rate plan in the market.
Highest savings amongst OEM Retailers for HDB 3/4/5 rooms, Condos and Landed properties
To illustrate why Senoko Energy LifePower24 Fixed Rate Plan is the lowest in town, let’s make a comparison across OEM retailers offering 24-month fixed rate plans based on SP’s average household electrical consumption.
Click on image to enlarge
Rates above are accurate as of 22nd May 2019.
Comparison are based on 24-month fixed rate plans with bill rebates factored, applied on national consumption patterns by dwelling types. Bank rebates are not yet included.
As seen in the above table, a comparable household staying in a 4-room HDB will enjoy 30.3% savings in electrical bills by switching from SP Group to Senoko Energy LifePower24 Fixed Rate Plan. The most important conclusion is that whether you are staying in a HDB 3-room or a condo apartment or even a landed house, Senoko Energy LifePower24 offers the highest savings rate amongst the OEM retailers compared. More importantly, Senoko Energy does not collect a security deposit when you make the switch.
Sign Up Now for up to $110 Bill Rebate
To milk the most out of this opportunity, consumers should quickly sign up for this limited-time promotion to enjoy up to $110 rebate. Hurry to lock in both the unit rate of your electricity bill and the greatest possible costs savings available in the market. Give your household the peace of mind and sign up with Senoko Energy LifePower24 Fixed Rate Plan now!
Legal Disclaimer: It is still important to exercise due diligence when choosing your retailer, so be sure to read the fact sheets and fine print.
Every business needs an effective marketing strategy to meet sales objectives. As we are progressing tremendously into the technological world, it is imperative that businesses leverage the digital realm to speak to their target markets in more effective ways. Here are three useful digital marketing tips you should consider as part of your overall sales strategy.
Build an SEO-friendly website
Having an online presence is the basic necessity to thrive in the digital world. With 4.92 million internet users in Singapore at a penetration rate of 84%*, tapping on this medium to market your business is essential. You can first start off with a fully-optimised website that is search engine friendly. While Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is crucial for search engines to rank your website on the first page, you must also know how to target your audience online using SEO.
Keywords
Before beginning any SEO optimisation strategy, you must know what keywords or phrases you want to rank on search engines. These words or phrases are what your potential customers will key into the search box when they are looking for a product or service that you also offer. There are many ways you can do keyword research. For instance, you can find out what generic words or phrases best describes your brand and also look up those used by your competitors to see where you are lacking in. There are several powerful keyword planning tools you can find online to perform this step.
Do note the type of customers you want to attract. If you are looking to drive sales to your e-commerce site such as Shopify, your potential customers are more likely searching for a product or service with a buying intent and thus, your keywords and phrases should be more product and service-focused. Those seeking information often use different short and long-tail keywords that are topical. While the former appears to be a more direct way to drive sales, the latter is also an important digital marketing strategy to tap on as it can persuade potential customers to visit your website to learn more about your brand before making a conversion.
On-page SEO
Once you have decided on your keywords and phrases, it is time to work on your on-page SEO. These include updating your metadata by giving descriptive page titles and unique meta descriptions for each web page. Your URLs must also be easy to read, and your site must be accompanied by a clean web structure that is easy to navigate.
Images play a big role in search engine optimisation too. You can boost image SEO by updating your alt texts, image descriptions and titles with relevant keywords that relate to the nature of the image, the text it is accompanied by and the webpage it is displayed on.
Content
One other crucial element of on-page SEO that is significant in digital marketing includes optimising your website content that can drive sales. While it is necessary to include keywords in your optimised content, you must remember that your content is not only meant to convert prospects but also serves as a resource for others to share. This means that you can reach new audiences that will increase your website traffic and thus increase the chance for you to convert a lead to a customer. There are different types of content you can include – blogs, videos, guest posts, product reviews and guides, among others.
Establish a powerful social media presence
Once you have a well-optimised website, you can now take advantage of social media to further enhance your online presence and be a level higher in your digital marketing sales strategy. There are 4.6 million active social media users in Singapore, with 4.2 million accessing the application via their mobile phones. Apart from creating paid advertisements on these platforms, you can create engaging organic content that your customers want to read, and drive engagement through likes, comments and shares. This allows you to generate positive brand mentions when your followers consistently interact with your brand in ways that meet your objectives. It is also an excellent opportunity to incorporate weblinks into posts and encourage your followers to click on them to reach your site.
All in all, boosting your products and services on social media not only helps to increase traffic to your website (that could potentially lead to conversions), but it also helps to build a base of loyal brand followers who are willing to share your content and thus increase your audience reach.
More prospects, more opportunities for a conversion!
Attractive Google My Business Profile
If you are running a business with a single store or several franchises across the country, setting up your Google My Business (GMB) profile will be incredibly helpful. An important SEO ranking signal, GMB allows you to manage your presence on Google Maps where you can provide all relevant details of your business such as the address, opening hours, telephone number and email, reviews as well as a link back to your website. Moreover, you can also give prospective customers an idea of what your business looks like by incorporating a 360 virtual tour. This allows them to have fun while interacting with your content and be prompted to find out more about your business by navigating to your website through your GMB profile. This drives organic visitors to your site who have the potential to generate conversions.
There is never a direct way to drive sales when it comes to digital marketing. Often, customers may not be as receptive to promotional content and thus it is useful to find other meaningful ways to engage them before they are more confident to make the purchase.
Being a parent is truly one of life’s most blissful moments. While parenthood can be incredibly exciting, there are likely to be some challenges along the way as well. To better equip parents embarking on this journey, NTUC and its social enterprises have partnered the Embracing PArenthood Movement to put together the NTUC Good Start Bundle. It consists of necessities, parenthood tips and perks that will benefit any parent with a newborn.
How Parents Can Benefit From The NTUC Good Start Bundle
The NTUC Good Start Bundle is helpful in a variety of ways:
1. Necessities a newborn needs
The NTUC Good Start Bundle includes the FairPrice FairMily Kit (worth up to $100) which consists of milk powder (for babies above 6 months old) and grocery essentials. It also includes an exclusive FairPrice Online Deal, which is a god-send as parents could be too busy and exhausted from tending to their newborns. With this exclusive online deal, parents can now shop from the comforts of their home without ever leaving their newborns out of sight!
2. Mother Tongue Reader to ignite your child’s love for her Mother Tongue
Parents may receive a Mother Tongue Reader or Parent-Child Activity Book at PA’s Embracing PArenthood Community Celebration events. The Mother Tongue Reader comes with 3 sets of mother tongue language stickers and is a fun and interactive way to grow your child’s love for their mother tongue language. Early experiences matter, so remember to get either book for free and start them young!
3. Exclusive birthday celebration packages (worth $149) at Downtown East
NTUC understands that planning for the baby shower or first birthday celebration could be the last thing on the minds of busy parents. That is why the planners at Downtown East stand ready to organize these important milestones. With such experienced hands on deck, fatigued parents can focus on spending precious time with their babies and simply turn up to bask in the joyous occasion.
Why Should Parents Sign Up For The NTUC Good Start Bundle
Besides the goodies mentioned above, there are other perks and privileges within the NTUC Good Start Bundle that await parents and their babies:
Complimentary entry to The Little Skool-House Early Literacy Centre every Thursday;
Complimentary Plus! Card for non Plus! Members;
One-year complimentary health insurance for your newborn
The best news is that the NTUC Good Start Bundle is completely free! There is absolutely no reason to say no to these goodies?
Sign Up For The NTUC Good Start Bundle
All families with Singapore citizen babies born between 2016 and 2019 are eligible to receive the NTUC Good Start Bundle goodies! Getting your hand to these amazing goodies is as simple as the following steps:
