Have a Personal Finance Question but Paiseh to Ask? Why Not Ask on Seedly?

Personal finance is one of those things which was never taught in school but it immediately became apparent how important it is when you start working and have to pay for your own sh*t.

It gets worse when your friends start talking about stuff like “qualifying for tax relief by doing voluntary top-ups to SA” and discussing hacks to “maximise miles accrual and cashback rebates” by using different credit cards to pay for their monthly bills.

After a while, it seems like everyone has successfully transitioned to adulthood while you’re still figuring out what you actually want to do with your life.

Eventually, you’ll find yourself going quiet during group gatherings because:

If this is you, or if you’re afraid that this will be you in a couple of years time…

Why not ask the Seedly Personal Finance Community your personal finance questions?

It’s a huge online community where lots of personal finance enthusiasts and professionals from various institutions related to personal finance (like insurance, wealth management, and investment) hang out.

Best of all, you can even ask your questions anonymously!

Free Advice? Sure Boh…

If you haven’t heard of Seedly, they’re a one-stop personal finance platform, which aims to help Singaporeans make smarter financial decisions.

They do this through their educational, but fun to read SeedlyReads, which explains issues and topics related to personal finance in a simple manner.

But they also recognised that readers of SeedlyReads might have questions after reading.

That’s why they created the Seedly Personal Finance Community where you can ask your personal finance-related questions and get answers.

Yep.

They’re awesome like that.

How Can the Seedly Personal Finance Community Help Me?

The Seedly Personal Finance Community is made up of various personal enthusiasts, experts from various institutions and even the CPF Board.

Regardless of what kind of questions you have, you will definitely find a community or topic page that should satiate your curiosity. Even if you can’t find the answer, you can post your question and a community member who can answer it will do so.

Oh, and if you come across a question which you can answer, why not pay it forward by leaving an answer as well?

Some of the communities you’ll find include:

MileLion

Are you a miles or points enthusiast who wants to learn and share new ways of travelling better for less?

Then you’ll want to join the MileLion community.

Curious about credit card points accrual systems? Want to deepen your knowledge on hotel and airline loyalty programs?

Aaron Wong, founder of MileLion, will personally answer your questions.

SG Budget Babe

If you’re interested in cashback hacks or are a parent (or soon-to-be), then this is the community for you.

The host of the community page, SG Budget Babe, is none other than Dawn Fiona (founder of SG Budget Babe) herself.

Fans of SG Budget Babe can ask her questions about how to achieve a financially free lifestyle in Singapore and she’ll answer them personally.

Stocks Discussion

Whether you’re a seasoned investor or an amateur looking to make your first investment, the Stocks Discussion community is the perfect place to ask like-minded stocks investing enthusiasts and gurus for their investment insights and advice.

Some active members on the page include:

After all, it’s always better to learn from someone’s mistakes than to make them yourself right?

So, How Do I Ask the Seedly Community My Questions?

Simply head over to the Seedly website, click on “Ask Community” to get to the Seedly Personal Finance Community Page.

Once you’re there, click on “Ask A Question” to ask your question.

If someone has asked a similar question, you’ll be prompted via a dropdown menu.

All you have to do is pick the question that is closest to yours to find out what the community’s answers are!

And if it’s a question that no one has asked before, simply complete the form, choose the category which you think best suits your question and click “Post”!

Psst! If you’re really shy, just check the “Ask anonymously” box and your question will be posted anonymously.

Why Should I Ask My Questions on Seedly?

Still sceptical about asking your personal finance questions and getting answers?

What if you could stand a chance to win an all-expense-paid trip to Bali for 2 just by following Seedly communities and being active on their platform?

Seedly is sending three lucky winners to Bali (via Scoot) to enjoy a 3D2N stay at Lloyd’s Inn Bali, Seminyak for their Secret Santa Holiday Giveaway!

All you have to do is join one or all of the following communities: SG Budget Babe, MileLion, Stocks Discussion and be active.

You can ask or answer questions, and even receive upvotes to gain points and move up the leaderboard!

The Top 10 from each community will participate in a Live Lucky Draw during Seedly’s exclusive Christmas Party where one lucky member from each community will walk away with the Grand Prize. The rest will each win a $30 NTUC Income Voucher + a Mystery Gift!

Ask your burning personal finance questions, get answers, and even stand a chance to win Seedly’s Secret Santa Holiday Giveaway?

It’s truly a Christmas miracle.

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How P2P Lending Works In Singapore

BY DEFINITION

P2P Lending, short for Peer-to-Peer lending, took off in 2005. It sprung due to many companies’ efforts to deviate from the financial institutions that let them borrow money. Borrowing from banks took about two to three years’ worth of records. And, many companies do not have the luxury of time. Instead, they turn to the Internet for help.

P2P websites allowed private people from around the world to lend money to various companies. For instance, you can lend S$100,000 to a company requiring money for an expansion. In return, you will receive repayments with interest from the company. P2P lending is very attractive to lenders due to the extremely high interest, which is up to 20% per annum.

SINGAPORE: THE ASIAN CENTER

Singapore reigns as a the Asian center for P2P lending due to being a regional hub for trading, a safe storage of precious metals, and a well- established economy. Singapore is appreciated for its direct approach to lending and borrowing as supervised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. It even issues promissory letters.

Moreover, Singapore has a cash-intensive economy where a great deal of lending happens outside of the banking system and inside of the online platforms.

HOW TO START LENDING

Take Part In A Larger Portfolio

A well balanced portfolio has a mix of low-risk assets and high-risk assets. By nature, P2P lending is a high-risk asset that invites high returns. It can be used to offset the low returns from your conservative assets such as fixed deposits or Singapore Savings Bonds (SSBs).

Seek help from a qualified wealth manager to balance out your portfolio. As a rule of thumb, experts suggest that high-risk assets should not take more than 15% of your portfolio.

Invest On What You Can Afford To Lose

One of the leading advantages of investing in P2P lending is that you can take on small amounts. You can have various investors pitch small amounts of S$1,000 to fulfill your business goals.

Limit your potential losses by investing only what you can afford to lose. Do not gamble your savings away! Any amount that you cannot recoup within two months is too much.

Spread Out Your Investments

Try not to bury your eggs in one nest. As much as possible, choose to spread out your investments in a list of companies found in a P2P website.

If one company fails to repay you, the rest can do better for your account. It is less likely that every company you chose will fail to repay you. Furthermore, a company may repay you less for a long period of time. You have to get some cushion.

Sources: 1 & 2

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Cheap Investment Opportunities In Singapore

Many Singaporeans think that should accumulate a significant amount of wealth before investing in the stock market. Well, let me prove you wrong! You can start investing with as little as S$100.

This seemingly low amount has three investment options. Choose wisely!

OPTION #1: REGULAR SHARES SAVINGS (RSS)

Regular Shares Savings plans (RSS) are also called monthly investment plans. Your mere S$100 can turn into a stock on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) as long as you commit to it monthly. Simply open an RSS plan with one of the four leading banks in Singapore. For instance, you may choose OCBC bluechip investment or POSB Investment-Saver.

The broker for the financial firm will invest your fixed amount based on the instructions you gave. I may instruct the broker to invest to Strait Times (STI) every month or to other bluechip companies. Do your research before spending! The best part about it is that you have full control over your investment decisions. What’s more? Your instructions can be submitted online thru the bank’s platform.

OPTION #2: UNIT TRUSTS

One a scale of risk taking, you may fall under the conservative end. Fortunately for you, you can invest your money in unit trusts. Unit trust works by combining money from a set of investors. The pool of money will then be invested by a professional fund manager. The professional fund manager will have control over your investment.

Nonetheless, you must educate yourself about the type of unit trusts wish to invest in. Unit trusts can be bought for about S$100 in various local banks.

OPTION #3: ROBO-ADVISORS

The future is upon us! Investors can use robo-advisors to allocate their assets in the portfolio. Robo-advisors automatically help investors by tapping on the formulas to manage their assets.

It is a relatively new system in Singapore. Hence, there are only a few brands to choose from. For instance, you may hop to Smartly or AutoWealth. However, the latter has a minimum investment of S$3,000 while the former does not. These two platforms use different algorithms to arrive at optimal solutions. Moreover, these platforms can charge up to 1% per annum for managing your money. The fee is calculate based on the percentage of the total portfolio held in your account.

Source: dollarsandsense

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Best Personal Loans in Singapore with the Lowest Interest Rates (for 2019)

OCBC, HSBC and Standard Chartered offer the lowest interest personal loans in Singapore, available exclusively on SingSaver.

Editor’s note: Personal loan and bank rates are subject to change. Last updated 7 October 2019.

Whether it’s due to an emergency or simple cash flow management, most of us will need a personal loan at some point. Personal loans do get a bad reputation sometimes, but if you understand how to manage cash flow and know how to take advantage of promotional interest rates, they can be used to your advantage.

The most important factor when deciding on a personal loan is the interest rate for the personal loan. The lower the interest rate, the better. This is especially true if you need to borrow a large amount. Interest rates being offered via SingSaver are often lower than the ones being offered by the bank but also take note that ultimately, the final loan interest rate will also take into account your credit score, salary and repayment history.

Also pay attention to any admin or processing fees involved (sometimes, they are waivable), annual fees, how quickly you can get your cash as well as the monthly instalments to be repaid. Here’s a quick guide on the dos and don’ts when applying for a personal loan. We’ve compared the lowest interest rate personal loans available on the market right now and shared them below.

S$20,000 LOAN WITH 3-YEAR TENOR

Bank Loan Flat Annual Interest Rate Effective Interest Rate (p.a) Processing Fees Monthly Payment
OCBC Personal Loan 3.5%* 7.27% $200 $614
HSBC Personal Loan 3.7%* 7.00% $200 (min of $88) $617
SCB CashOne Personal Loan 3.88%* 7.97% $199 (waived as cashback) $620
*NEW* SCB CashOne Fee Free Personal Loan 4.38%* 8.2% None $630

*Exclusive rate only available on SingSaver

1. OCBC Personal Loan

Enjoy the low interest rate of 3.5% p.a. (EIR 7.27% p.a.) — the lowest in the market currently — when you apply for an OCBC Personal Loan. This rate is exclusive for new to OCBC loan customers who apply via SingSaver. In addition, receive up to $320 in Capitaland vouchers with a minimum loan amount of $8,000. (Note: existing OCBC loan customers will be offered an interest rate from 4.7% p.a)

The downside for this loan is there’s a one-time processing fee of 1% of the loan amount. So if you’re looking at a $20,000 loan amount, that will be a processing fee of $200.

Do note that you will need to open an OCBC Credit Card or OCBC EasiCredit account to service your loan. Your maximum credit limit will be 6x your monthly salary if you’re earning $120,000 a year and above (if not, it will be 4x your monthly salary). Click the “Apply Now” button below, which helps you apply for both the credit account and cash loan all at once.

SingSaver Exclusive Rate

This low rate of 3.5% p.a. (EIR 7.27% p.a.) for your OCBC Personal Loan is exclusive to customers who apply through SingSaver and is not available on the bank’s own website.

Eligibility

Nationality Age Minimum Annual Income
Singaporean or Permanent Resident (PR) 21 – 65 years old S$30,000 and above
Foreigners (residing in Singapore) 21 – 65 years old S$42,000 and above

2. HSBC Personal Loan

If you’re looking at a loan tenor of 2 to 4 years, the HSBC Personal Loan offers the best annual interest rate of 3.7% p.a. (EIR 7% p.a.) for all income levels above S$30,000 per annum. This interest rate is only available on SingSaver and cannot be found on HSBC’s own website. 

The HSBC Personal Loan also offers the longest loan tenor on the market — you can spread out your payments over up to 7 years. Enjoy a waiver of the S$88 processing fee as part of your welcome offer.

Loan amounts range from a minimum of S$5,000 to a maximum of 4x your monthly salary. If your annual income exceeds S$120,000, you can borrow up to 8x your monthly salary, or a maximum of S$200,000.

Foreigners residing in Singapore will need a minimum annual income of S$40,000, and may borrow up to 2x their monthly income, or a maximum of S$100,000.

Nationality Age Minimum Annual Income Other requirements
Singaporean or Permanent Resident (PR) 21 – 65 years old S$30,000 and above N.A.
Foreigners (residing in Singapore) 21 – 65 years old S$40,000 and above Employment Pass with at least 12 months’ validity

3. Standard Chartered CashOne Personal Loan

With a guaranteed flat interest rate of 3.88% p.a. (EIR from 7.63% p.a.), regardless of loan amount or tenure, the Standard Chartered CashOne Personal Loan is one of the best options in the market.

There are no processing fees for this loan but Standard Chartered charges an annual fee of S$199 (waivable for the first year). Subsequently, a S$50 fee waiver will also be awarded (in the form of a cashback) from the second year onwards if all payment is received by the due date for the past 12 months.

What’s more, you can now get instant approval and loan disbursement – no more waiting 3-5 working days to receive your cash! From now till 29 February 2020, you can also receive an Apple AirPods worth $239 when you apply for a minimum loan of $10,000!

Nationality Age Minimum Annual Income Other requirements
Singaporean or Permanent Resident (PR) 21 – 65 years old S$30,000 and above N.A.
Foreigners (residing in Singapore) 21 – 65 years old S$60,000 and above • Foreigners must be holders of P1, P2 or Q type Singapore Employment Passes
• Q Pass holders must have minimum 1-year validity remaining on their passes

4. *NEW* Standard Chartered ‘Fee Free’ CashOne Personal Loan

For a limited time between now until October 31, Standard Chartered are offering a fee-free personal loan with a flat interest rate of 4.49% (EIR from 8.4% p.a.). It comes with:

  • annual fee permanently waived
  • no early redemption fee (after 9 months)
  • instant approval and cash if you apply via MyInfo
  • $160 cashback for successful applicants with minimum $20,000 loan

As there is no “lock-in” period, this limited offer is ideal for people looking for a fuss-free (and fee-free!) product as a means for investment or quick emergency cash.

Nationality Age Minimum Annual Income Other requirements
Singaporean or Permanent Resident (PR) 21 – 65 years old S$30,000 and above N.A.
Foreigners (residing in Singapore) 21 – 65 years old S$60,000 and above • Foreigners must be holders of P1, P2 or Q type Singapore Employment Passes
• Q Pass holders must have minimum 1-year validity remaining on their passes

If you’re still undecided, we’ve compared all the personal loans being offered by banks so you can easily compare the various terms and conditions. Compare and apply through SingSaver now and save more with exclusive welcome gifts and better interest rates.

Alternatively, check out our summary of the Best Personal Loans in Singapore 2019 for our recommendations of the best loans based on different needs.

This article first appeared on Singsaver.com.sg.

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