Traveling through bus or train is certainly cheaper than owning a car. But, it is not a problem for commuters in Singapore. Singapore is celebrated by its tourists and residents because of its globally efficient public transportation services. If you think this is an exaggeration, you need to experience it yourself.
To further aid your journey, a number of mobile application rose. As you dove into iTunes and Google Play, here are 4 powerful yet Free Transportation Apps in Singapore.
One of the challenges you will encounter if you are traveling in an unfamiliar place is to find out how to get from Point A to your destination. With Singapore Maps, you will know which route to take through bus, car, taxi or MRT. Slow internet is never a problem because you can download and unitize the maps offline!
For someone who is highly reliant on Transportation Apps, this simplistic app is the way to go. Aside from Offline Maps, it also has real-time bus arrival time when you tap the bus stop icon.
SG NextBus, displays the estimated arrival time of public buses (SBS and SMRT) in Singapore. It can not only display the distance of the bus stop from the user but also display a widget that shows the bus arrival time. To start using it, simply tap the bus number to get its expected time of arrival.
If you don’t enjoy busy phone lines and long taxi queues, request taxis right on your fingertips. With the SMRT Book a Taxi app, you can book a cab without even saying your locations to a call agent. Although, booking details to be confirmed at your convenience. You may also add frequent pickup addresses through their “Favorites” feature.
Keep in mind that getting a cab during a heavy rain might be hard so it is best to secure a taxi by tapping the app and by queuing at the same time.
The Land Transport Authority itself developed an app called MyTransport Singapore, to empower the traveling experiences of the nation. This award winning app, allows you to locate nearby bus stops and get its real-time arrival information, dial taxi booking services, determine your MRT/LRT journey fare, and receive notifications about expressway traffics.
Since the government focuses of improvements, you may report road defects through its Snap & Send feature.
Thus ends the list of efficient travel Apps in Singapore. Best of all? All of these can be downloaded for FREE in both iPhone and Android hand phones!
When your car ran out of petrol, have you had problems deciding which petrol kiosks to go to enjoy the most savings? With four petroleum companies in Singapore – Exxon-Mobil, Caltex, Shell and Singapore Petroleum Company, you may at times scratch your head and wonder which petrol companies offer the cheapest petrol.
Owning and driving a car in Singapore is expensive, and it pays to find out how to save on your fuel expenses.
Using the right credit card to make your fuel purchase is important, as you could easily shave off up to one fifth of your petrol costs. The savings is huge! Imagine spending $2,000 on a petrol in a year – you could have saved up to $400 in a year!
There are many credit cards for petrol in the market and while some offer instant site and card discount, there are also cards that offer rebates and rewards to sweeten up the deal.
So which is the best card? Let’s find out! (Scroll to the bottom to see summary)
Esso
DBS Black VISA/AMEX Card & DBS Esso Card
If you own the DBS Black Visa or AMEX card, you can enjoy 18% discount off your fuel if you top up your petrol between 7pm – 7am. (4% cash rebates will end on 31 December 2014)
With the Smile rewards, you can redeem $30 worth of fuel for 750 litres of petrol pumped.That works out to be a 2.5% cut to your fuel expenses after taking into account of the 35% bonus Smile points.
And that’s not all – don’t forget you also earn DBS Points for your fuel top-up, at the rate of 1 Points = S$5 spent. That’s 0.31% on top of all the discounts and rebates!
Total effective discount = 20.81% (Until 31 December 2014)
DBS Esso Platinum Card
Besides their Black Card, DBS also carries the Esso Platinum Card in their product suite, which offers up to 19.81% off your petrol. The only difference is you don’t enjoy the 4% promotional card rebates that the Black card offers. It makes up with a 7% card discount which is higher than the 4% of the Black Card. This will be the card to go for if you don’t want to stick to 7pm-7am rule and if DBS don’t extend the promotional 4% rebate for their Black Card.
Total effective discount = 19.81%
OCBC 365
OCBC 365 is next on the list for Esso’s pump. You can enjoy savings of up to 20.80% effective discount which matches up with the DBS Black Card. Unfortunately, good thing don’t last and the cash rebates of 4.3% will end on 31 December 2014 and you will need a minimum charge of $600 with a $80 cap in rebates for a month.
Total effective discount = 20.80% (Until 31 December 2014)
OCBC Plus!
Good news is you can get a higher discount using a OCBC/NTUC PLUS! Card! That’s because you get Link points when you use the PLUS! card and a $300 spend will get you an additional dollar off your groceries at NTUC FairPrice. That is equivalent to an additional discount of 0.33%.
Total effective discount = 21.13%
Citibank Dividend Card & Other Citibank Cards
Citibank Dividend Card matches up with the PLUS! card of 21.13% for Esso station. As long as you meet a min spend of $50 in a transaction, you will qualify for the cash rebates. You will also earn Citi Dollars for your transaction and 1,500 Citi Dollars can be used to exchange a $5 Shell voucher.
Total effective discount = 21.13%
Caltex
UOB Lady Card
With the UOB Lady Card, get up to 20.75% off from your fuel! It offers a relatively higher card discount to make up for a lesser rebates as compared to the first few cards. Caltex also has it’s own loyalty programme – the Thanks! Rewards. 40 Thanks! points is equivalent to a dollar off and if you add this together with the rewards from UOB (UNI$600=$10 SPC voucher), it sums up to an effective discount of 20.75%!
Total effective discount = 20.75%
UOB One Card
Another product from UOB is the UOB One Card which has higher discount than the UOB Lady Card. With an effective discount of 21.54%, it is the best card from UOB for motorists. That’s because besides the usual Smart$ rebate of 1.68%, you are also entitled to the UOB One Rebate of 2.80%. That’s massive even though you don’t qualify for the UNI$ programme.
Total effective discount = 21.54%
All other cards from UOB may get up to 19.07% off from their fuel purchase.
HSBC Premier MasterCard/VISA Infinite/VISA Platinum
HSBC Premier MasterCard, VISA Infinite and VISA Platinum offers a whopping 23.45% discount to your fuel – and that makes it the best credit card for petrol in 2014. (Ends on 31 December 2014 – This post may come a bit late, but we will keep it updated!) However, it comes with a few conditions to be eligible for the full discount. First, to get $4 off your petrol you will need to spend $80 on gross petrol. (Ends 31 Dec 14) That is equivalent to a 5% cut which is easily achievable should you need to top up a full tank on a RON 98. Next, to get the cash rebates of 5%, you are required to charge $800 a month for all 3 months in a quarter. Otherwise you are only eligible for 3% rebate.
Total effective discount = 23.45% (Ends on 31 December 2014)
All other HSBC cards can get up to 15.06%.
Shell
HSBC Premier MasterCard
If you want to refuel at a Shell station, then coincidentally, the HSBC Premier MasterCard tops the list again with a total effective discount of 21.81%. This time round it offers a higher cash rebates of 6% with a min spend of $800 a month for 3 months in a quarter. Unlike in Caltex, you don’t get the $4 off petrol for a $80 pump, but there is a Shell Escape Rewards where you can exchange 600 Escape points for $20 worth of voucher and you get additional 1 point for every $5 charged to your card. For its own card rewards, you can exchange for a $10 voucher for every 2250 points.
Total effective discount = 21.81%
HSBC VISA Infinite and VISA Platinum gets 5% cash rebates so total saving = 20.91% and all other HSBC cards get 16.61%.
OCBC 365 & Citibank Dividend Card
You can also use OCBC 365 Card to enjoy 16.54% or Citibank Dividend Card for 18.43% discount.
SPC
American Express Platinum Credit Card
If there is only SPC in your vicinity and you happen to own an American Express Platinum Card, you can enjoy the highest discount of 21.64% in SPC as compared to other cards. That’s because of a very generous 7% cashback on the financial charge amount and a 5% site discount. You can also get a $20 SPC voucher once you have accumulated 3,900 reward points from AMEX. (2 Reward Points = S$1.60 spent)
Total effective discount = 21.64%
POSB Everyday Card
Who say you need to be a high-income earner to enjoy exclusive discounts? With the POSB Everyday Card, you can get up to 20.10% discount for your SPC fuel.
Total effective discount = 20.10%
UOB Cards
All UOB cards get up to 20.33% off as there is a $3 petrol discount for every $60 gross spend.
Total effective discount = 20.33%
To summarise everything in a table:
Petrol Company
Best Credit Card
Total Effective Discount
Esso
OCBC Plus! VISA & Citibank Dividend Card
21.13%
Caltex
HSBC Premier MasterCard/VISA Infinite/VISA Platinum
Being in a relationship founded by mutual trust may find it natural to create a joint bank account together.
Since you can trust your partner with everything else, why not trust him/her with your own finances?
But, managing this may be difficult especially when there are two people with different buying habits and priorities.
So, here are 5 Tips to Help Couples with Joint Bank Accounts…
1. HAVE SHARED GOALS
Maintain a joint bank account for big financial goals such as vacations, household bills, or insurance. Whatever the purpose and goals may be, be sure to make it unanimous as both of you will contribute each month.
Image Credits: Asher Isbrucker via Flickr
2. CREATE RULES BEFORE OPENING AN ACCOUNT
Have a plan of how each of you will contribute (e.g. 50-50 or 60-40). As said a while ago, discuss the goals and priorities you want to pursue in order to know where the money will go.
3. MAINTAIN YOUR OWN BANK ACCOUNT
Aside from the joint account, each person is entitled to have an individual account. This is because you must treat yourself or your partner personally without affecting the “household money”.
You might say that this burns the bridges of sharing, but not really. The key to having individual accounts is that both would have access to each other’s account in case of emergency so there are no secrets.
4. RECORD AND MANAGE YOUR EXPENSES TOGETHER
Communicate openly about your joint bank account and organize your expenses. Make it a habit to log on to your online banking account to reconcile all your purchases together (i.e., every week or every two weeks). Through this, you will understand how you are spending the money. Make cut backs if possible so you can save more.
5. REMAIN EQUALS
Embody your marriage vows or treat it like a merger between to companies. Everyone has an equal say and contribution to the shared account. This is why setting up rules and agreement before the processing is very important. Through this, you can keep an open eye if one overspends on something you did not agree on.
Image Credits: BK via Flickr
Ultimately, you must respect each other’s decision and communicate openly about your finances. Having a joint bank account may not be easy, but it is possible! Sharing is not only showing Care but it also Saves money.
Do you know the feeling when walking from the closest MRT station towards your house and it simply takes forever? Driving around the island of Singapore is a true pleasure. One hardly ever encounters a traffic jam and generally gets quickly to any desired place. There isn’t any problem with pollution or a high car density. However, driving and owning a car in Singapore can be a costly undertaking. It is not only the car and its license that is expensive, but also the car insurance can weigh heavy on one’s finances. No matter how much money one has – there isn’t any chance that one can lower the government-imposed charges for the usage of the car. Therefore, it is even more important that one finds a beneficial deal for the car insurance.
The first trick to safe money is the oldest one in the book – drive safely. However, many people are not aware of the system that car insurances around the world use. If one has a car accident, the rate one has to pay monthly or yearly is instantly increased. If you are driving safely around Singapore over a long period of time, your car insurance will remain the same or even shrink slightly. Those people, who tend to crash their car, will not only pay for the reparation, but also for the continuously increasing car insurance. Many car insurances offer a no-claim discount (NCD). This allows for a 10% discount for every year in which you haven’t claimed anything. If you for example have only a minor dent in the car, you may want to consider not claiming it from your insurance, as you can possibly save more with the discount. The NCD can reach a maximum discount of 50%, with which one can safe potentially thousands of hard-earned dollars.
Not only being a safe driver, but also being a law-obeying driver can help you with the insurance. Fancy and fast cars are extremely attractive in Singapore, but even if you have one of those racecars, you are still subject to the speed limits. If you have a clean license over an extended period of time, you can earn a further discount instead of another ticket. After three years driving without committing a traffic offence, you can get the Certificate of Merit (COM), which brings you a further 5% discount on top of NCD. Using all this saved money, one can buy a ticket for the Formula 1 Race in September and enjoy proper racing.
When you are arranging a new car insurance policy, then pay attention to what you actually commit. Many policies often include unnecessary points. Go through them and use your commonsense. It can be that your car insurance also covers you for something that you are already covered for. A personal injury policy within your car insurance is very good, but a total waste of money if your health insurance already takes care of you in the case of an accident. Being covered twice for the same cause will not bring you double money and doesn’t mean you can claim it twice. Furthermore, one should check exactly what policy covers what points. When renting a car, one might be already covered in the case of an accident through another insurance. Different policies might have different names, but cover actually the very same thing. A rental-car insurance might include the same points as a collision policy. Therefore, it is very important, if one wants to save money, to double check the covered points in a insurance. Furthermore, one should eliminate all unnecessary points.
Car and accident statistics aren’t the best friends of young drivers. Unfortunately, an inexperienced young driver has the tendency to crash a car more often than older and more experienced drivers. This results in a higher insurance policy for younger drivers in general. Even if you are driving perfectly, you are paying more by default. Therefore, it is advisable to let your experience on the road be reflected in your policy. If you have been driving for more than ten years without any accident, then you should make a point of it in your new insurance. Not everybody has the possibility to do so, but there is another trick. One can for example insure the car on another person or include a driver with more experience into the policy. Mixing a high risk and a low risk profile will in most cases reduce the insurance. Therefore, one should check who is a low risk profile. Statistically older or female drivers will fall in this category. Listing such as the main driver in one’s car insurance policy, can save some money.
Each car is categorized with a certain amount of insurance money that the owner has to pay. It is generally known that the bigger the engine of the car, the higher is this amount. The reasoning of the car insurance companies is the higher risk. Statistically cars with a higher engine are more likely to crash. For obvious reasons insurances are all about statistics. So if you can beat the statistic, you will save some money. Most people will not modify their car, however there are car enthusiasts that do. A simple engine tweak or any other car modification can quickly become very expensive. What seems like a body shop bargain, can become a killer within the insurance policy. Therefore, it is worthwhile to check with your car insurance whether an upgrade is necessary.
Of course one could say that the insurance company doesn’t have to know. This is however an extremely risky undertaking. In case you do have an accident with your modified car and you haven’t notified your insurance about it, you can loose your cover immediately. Even if you haven’t caused the accident, the insurance company can refuse to pay anything. Hence, one shouldn’t modify outside the regulations of the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and definitely not keep it a secret. Handling your car insurance correctly doesn’t take too long and can award you with some extra cash.
Many people cannot imagine themselves to be retired. It may be so many years away that it does not resonate to the current ideology of working hard for success and financial freedom or to simply stop working.
There are two kinds of retirement: by choice or by circumstances.
If you choose to (or not to) retire, it means you have either achieve financial freedom or you have relieved yourself from most financial obligations such as paying off your mortgage and raising your child to legal age. You may also choose not to retire as you gain satisfaction from working incessantly till the day your body can no longer take it physically. Alas, you throw in the white towel.
Like it or not, the truth is you may also fall in the latter category. With bills to pay and mouths to feed, you try to impress your superior so that you can keep the job as long as you could. Unfortunately, besides culminated years of experience, you are also the few who has inflated the labour cost of a company. In contrast, a fresh graduate costs much less and has more drive and in a company’s perspective, it makes complete economic sense to choose the latter. Fortunately, in Singapore you are protected by the Retirement and Re-employment Act. Under section 7a, your employer should offer re-employment when you attained the specified retirement age of 62, until age 65 or up to 67 as may be prescribed by the Minister. Of course, your work must be satisfactory and you must be healthy in order to be re-employed. What if you are completely debilitate by common illness such as diabetes? Stroke?
Whichever the case, learning to live within your means when you retire is important. You need to ensure your money is sufficient to cover you until the day you call it quits. You don’t want to blow the last candle on your 80th birthday cake knowing that you have spent the last dollar on it,
Here are 8 tips to make sure you live within your means.
Create a retirement budget plan
Look you may have done this when you first started working but circumstances has changed, your income and expenses are no longer the same. Without a budget plan, you simply cannot predict (or to be as accurate as possible) when you will finish exhausting your retirement reserves. And that is dangerous or just plain irresponsible on your part. Start off by aggregating your sources of recurring income such as CPF, stocks dividends, rental income, proceeds from your business and interests from you cash reserves.
Track your expenses
To complement your budget plan, you need to be able to track your expenses to make sure you are in line. There are free money management apps available on your phone which you can use. So you can do away with the traditional way of budgeting with pen and paper and not worry that Alzheimer or Dementia may take them away.
Spend less than you earn
With the two tips above in place, spending less than you earn should be easily achievable. But don’t count on it should you decide to travel often and hit the greens every weekend. It is paramount to make sure that money that goes out is less than the money that comes in so that you will not deplete your retirement savings faster than you are even aware of it.
Don’t keep up with the Joneses
When you retired, you will have an army of retirement kakis (buddies) that are in the same boat as you. You will go golfing, play chess, go fishing and even travel together so no one will blame you when you want to get that Rolex that your buddy has or if you want to buy the most expensive golf equipment to unleash your Tiger-Wood-Skills in Sentosa Golf Club or in your state-of-the-art home theater with your virtual golf simulator. I won’t be surprised when you also pick up expensive hobby such as a punt in the casino when you see your ‘Chow Yun-Fat’-inspired buddy visit the casino daily. These activities are extravagant and while it is acceptable to occasionally indulge yourself, overdoing it will be detrimental to your retirement goals.
Form a saving group
Rather than a group of kakis trying to keep up with one another, why not do it the beneficial way? Form a saving group that reward the one that save the most for the week. A beer or even a treat to an afternoon high tea after living frugally for a week? I will take it.
Look out for free stuffs
Who say you can only keep yourself entertained by spending money? There are many community and social centres that regularly organise activities for the elderlies. Activities such as karaoke, mahjong session, excursions and road trips are easily available so make full use of them. If not there are also many attractions such as the National Orchid Garden, Malay Heritage Centre, or the S.E.A aquarium that offer senior citizens a discounted entry. You can also organise a fishing trip, a chess session or simply parading the birds in birds-singing corners.
Make use of senior citizen benefits
Besides having a concession travel pass, make sure you are savvy enough to know what are the privileges and benefits that are available to senior citizens. Some examples are the 2% discount for your shopping at NTUC Fairprice on Tuesday when you are aged 60 and above, 10% discounts at Watsons and 5% at Unity or Guardians, CHAS programme for the pioneer generation or even catching a movie at discounted senior citizen price.
Monetising your homes
Often viewed as a last resort, your home is an asset which you can monetize when you are asset rich cash poor. There are various options available for right-sizing. You may consider selling your HDB flats and move in with your family members to get the Silver Housing Bonus (SHB) of up to $20,000 to top up CPF Retirement Account. You can also join the Lease Buyback Scheme (LSB) where you sell part of the lease back to HDB and retains a 30 years lease. More info here: http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10325p.nsf/w/MaxFinancesOverviewLeaseBuyback?OpenDocument
There are also alternatives such as renting out your spare rooms and reverse mortgage that is currently in reviewed.
As you reflect on your retirement options, make sure you work towards creating a strong pot of retirement funds. While money is not everything, you would not want to rely on others if given the option to. Start saving for your retirement now and of course, don’t be penny wise and pound foolish.
