Seven of my money habits.

This blog post is mainly inspired by a conversation with my mother on some of my habits. 

Recalling a popular book titled "Seven habits of highly effective people", I came up with "Seven money habits of AK's". ;p





Habit No. 1:
I never order canned or bottled drinks when dining out. 

Fresh food needs on site preparation but I can walk to a nearby supermarket to buy the same canned or bottled drink for a much lower price. 

Some might say it is convenient that we buy drinks from the eateries but the premium paid for this convenience is way too high. 

A can of Jia Jia herbal tea costs $0.60 in NTUC Fairprice but could cost $1.50 at a kopitiam! 

A can of Coke could cost $0.55 in NTUC Fairprice but could cost $4.00 (before taxes) in a restaurant!






Habit No. 2:
I always check my bills.

Huh? Can we really save money this way? 

You bet. 

I have lost count of the number of times I have been overcharged by pharmacies, supermarkets and restaurants. 

Very often, the larger bills are the ones we have to be more careful with as overcharging even a few dollars could be hard to spot. 

It is because of this habit that I have avoided being overcharged for many years now. 

Oh, check the receipt just outside the shop, not after getting home!






Habit No. 3
I always compare products on offer between shops.

For the same product, two shops which are side by side could have very different prices. 

Guardian and Watsons are very often found in close proximity to one another. 

Many times, I saved quite a bit of money comparing their prices before deciding who to buy from.






Habit No. 4
I never take for granted that buying more is definitely buying cheaper.

Many times, I stopped friends and family from buying bulk packed products as they actually cost more than buying loose! Huh? 

Of course, they cost more since we are buying more, you might say. 

No, no, that is not what I mean. 

I mean we should check to see how much is the per unit price in bulk packed offers. 

Don't assume that bulk packed products are always cheaper.






Habit No. 5
I always try to get discounts off my bills.

I always get a discount off my bills at Kopitiam and Food Junction. 

Yes, go get the discount cards if you have not done so. 

If I should be in an unfamiliar establishment, I would ask the service staff if they had discount agreements with credit card companies.

Habit No. 6
I never pay in cash.

Well, unless that is the only mode of payment acceptable. 

Often, I see people before me in a queue choosing to pay in cash. 

Some transactions were rather high in value too. 

Imagine the number of reward points they could have accumulated if they had used a credit card, if they had one, or the amount of cash they could have received in rebates!





Habit No. 7
I bring my own food to work.

I always bring some food prepared at home to work and I save quite a bit of money this way. 

Anyway, I enjoy oatmeal regularly and I don't think they sell oatmeal in the coffee shops or food courts.

If we work to increase our income and reduce our expenses, our financial health will improve over time. 






As the saying goes, it is easier to spend money than to make money.

So, if we just put in a little effort, we could be saving some money as we spend money. 

Sounds good, doesn't it?

When I was in primary school, the POSB bank squirrel came to us and taught us how by saving just a little every time, we could have a meaningful sum of money stashed away over time. :)

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Tea with AK71: Parting with an old friend.

Would you consider 15 years a relatively long time to be in a relationship? Personally, I think it is. It is longer than the duration of many marriages I know of.

After 15 years, I am finally parting ways with an old friend which has been showing visible signs of ageing. Beginning to fall apart, it still stayed by me, faithfully serving me while I reluctantly looked for a replacement in the past couple of months.

I must admit that it is really hard to find a fitting replacement as the candidates were either too big, too small, too complicated, too sexy, too fake, too simple or just didn't feel right. Finally, I found one that is just about right.

What am I talking about? My wallet, of course.

My old wallet was from Heritage, a company in West Germany. Yes, it was bought during a time when Germany was divided into East and West. I think it cost me a bit more than S$100.00 back then. I bought it when I got my very first pay cheque.



Visible signs of wear and tear as the stitching in the fold unravels.

The replacement wallet is apparently quite branded or so I was told by friends. Braun Buffel is a company in Germany (not West Germany) and this wallet costs me $109.00, after a discount. 

15 years on, it is still roughly the same price to get a good quality German leather wallet. No inflation! A miracle!

Even though it is very similar to my old wallet in design, I feel that my old wallet is still better. I guess I just need time to get used to the new one.

Related post:
Some of my stuff (Part 2)

Millionaire or not, plan for retirement.

Being a millionaire today is different from being a millionaire 30 or even 20 years ago. This is simply because a million dollars is worth less now due to inflation in the cost of goods and services. These days, even a HDB flat could cost a million dollars!




I cannot remember the person's name but in the latest issue of The Sunday Times an interviewee (a millionaire) says that he does not want to think of retiring when asked for his retirement plan. Why? People who have plans for retirement, he says, will not be as driven or gung-ho.

Conventional wisdom says that we start planning for retirement as soon as possible. Even a very good fisherman should plan for the day when he can no longer do any fishing.

Today, I received a newsletter with a few interesting facts:

1. Singaporean males live an average of 79 years and women live an average of 84 years. Living longer means we need more money.

2. Due primarily to inflation, current savings will be worth less in future. 30 years later, something that costs $3 today could cost as much as $13.70 with inflation at 5.2% per year.

3. Although 91% of Singaporeans find CPF a reliable tool for retirement planning, according to a retirement study in 2011, each year, fewer members meet CPF's Minimum Sum requirement.

4. Escalating medical costs are a big concern.

The newsletter is a sales tool for an insurance company but these four points which I have extracted are pertinent to us all. If we have not started planning for our old age, we should if we could.

Apart from working to make money and being financially prudent, we invest and grow our wealth, creating streams of passive income along the way. Our investment returns, year after year, should be higher than the inflation rate. This is only part of the equation, however.

I am a strong believer in having adequate insurance coverage for medical costs which are bound to be incurred as we age. Our financial health could take a severe hit if we do not have medical insurance as money meant for living expenses could be depleted by medical bills.

Many might have heard the sardonic remark that being sick is worse than being dead. This could indeed be the case especially if one did not have sufficient insurance coverage of the right kind.

Planning for retirement is definitely more than just having enough passive income to replace our earned income. 

Being able to retire is much more than working because we want to and not because we have to.

Knowing how to make money and building wealth is the first step. Knowing how to protect our wealth is the necessary second. 

Protecting our wealth will cost us some money but not protecting our wealth could cost us even more.

In case you are wondering, I am not an insurance agent and this is not an advertorial. If this blog post has alerted some who have yet to plan for retirement to put on their thinking caps, it would have achieved its purpose.

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3. Roads to wealth creation in the stock market.
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5. CPF is a cornestone in retirement.