How do you manage your/family finances?
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[quote]Remember watching a movie and someone said that a good pair of shoes will bring you somewhere... can't remember which movie though. [/quote]
It's from Taiwan's F4 流星花園 by 靜!
If it's a movie, then maybe not that show liao. -
mrswongtuition:
For the ultra conservative, SGS bonds (i.e. bonds issued by S'pore government) provide higher interest rates than FD if you are prepared to hold them to maturity (but note the much longer maturity compared to usual FD).
I know nuts about investments, so I park my money in FD. It's not earning the most interest but at least I know my money is 'safe'.
For myself, apart from SGS, I also buy preference shares issued by banks. They are tradable on the stock exchange, so technically, you may still suffer \"paper-loss\" from the investment. However, if you hold them till they are redeemed by the banks (which would be at par), you get a much better return compared to just FD rates. Of course, you need to feel assured that the bank would not fail in the meantime lah. -
winth:
[quote]Remember watching a movie and someone said that a good pair of shoes will bring you somewhere... can't remember which movie though.
It's from Taiwan's F4 流星花園 by 靜!
If it's a movie, then maybe not that show liao.[/quote]Ha, maybe you are right. No, I did not watch the Taiwan's version, but I watched the Japanese cartoon itself...
Still, I thought there was an English movie that also said the same thing... -
are you someone who would think of ways to save or think of ways to earn more?
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[quote]Hopefully with time, their naive-brain will mature. Perhaps these people just aren't in our stage of lives yet where they realise the harsh reality. DH's buddy used to wonder how come with our earnings, we are still driving a van, living in a 3-room and still rent out our common room. When DS1 turned 5, his DD just born.
Then he was telling DH how his savings are suddenly depleted bec of a new addition. We were like , oh... welcome to the parenthood![/quote]I remember someone wrote in the flowerpod forum : \"Instead of trying to save money, we should get a better paying job instead.\"
I have tried so hard to find a job that pays me above $10K a month. After a long time I realized that no matter how hard I try, I am not going to earn that kind of money in my life. Does that mean that I am not hardworking enough ? I am probably not clever enough, but I am born this way, how can I change myself to become more clever ?
I have encountered young people with limited life experiences, as well as rich tai tais, who think that people with low income are simply those who have not worked hard enough to find better paying jobs.
If a person only has O levels education, how is he going to find a job that pays him $5K a month ?
The fact is that companies discriminate against mommies with young children, older workers(near or above 40 years old), etc. Even if a person has the right qualifications and the right experiences, he/she may not get employed ! -
To insider’s point, I would like to add that, in the end, it is all about education.
Generally, the higher one’s education, the more likely that he will earn a stable salary. The stable can be fairly high but it might not go very high.
People whose salaries become very high are those who are willing to suffer a lot and are patient in waiting for the returns. They are willing to sacrifice about 10 years of their lives to build up a business or a career. -
Hi Sleepy,
Actually, I am pretty lazy when it comes to the investment part. I hate shopping so even with investments, I don’t really shop for the best deals.
I have a trusted advisor whom I turn to most of the time and she is with AIA so a lot of the endowments, etc are from them. She does at times tell me if it makes more sense to invest in something else instead of whatever AIA has depending on my objectives. The returns vary from product to product and it is dependant on the timeframe and amount that you put in. But I can say that it definitely beats leaving the money in a basic savings a/c. These are my kids’ money so I tend to be more conservative. At the moment I am looking at AIA’s S$ Wealth accumulator that has a 5yr maturity and a guaranteed return of min 2.55% per annum.
For my own money, I am a bit more adventurous. Like buying Citibank shares when the mkt crashed and selling it when it went up later these are short term investments. For longer term investsments, I like buy preference share issued by banks like one of the parents here.
I am also still very green where investments are concerned. And there are so many schools of thoughts about what is good or not good, worth it or not. So I am also still learning.
The coupons from NTUC are those for exchanging for the pots and pans. Not the NTUC vouchers. -
Someone once told me that it’s not how much you earn but how much you save that matters. I think it came from someone rather senior in terms of age during the early stage of my working life. This left a impression on me and I believe in saving 25-30% of my income every month.
To a certain extent, it’s true, one could be earning 20k a month and yet spend all of it. On the other hand, one could also argue that how much money can you spend on yourself??? But you never know especially when one acquired a certain lifestyle when they earn that kind of $. So I still believe that it’s not how much you earn but how much you save.
Personally I think my fil is a good example. He works as technican all his life with the same co. so his income level is average (not alot type). He has 5 kids and my mil is a housewife who in earlier years help to supplement household income by becoming a nanny. He is now in his mid 70’s. Though we stay under the same roof, they are financial independent (my hubby and his siblings will give them allowance out of filial piety). On top of that, he has a sizeable investment portfolio that help to finance some of the housing investment, etc… (heard he has been playing shares all his life). The interesting thing to note is that my pils are very thrifty. They rarely take cab, eat simply and live simply. Though he has free air tkts, he choose not to travel and when one of us offer to bring them for hols… he would nag. So to a certain extent, hubby and I felt that he don’t know how to enjoy life as he is already at that age and he is financially OK so he should just enjoy life.
For us, we are happy with our income, though we have 3 kids, 2 sets of parents and properties to support, we are simple folks. Financially, here are some of the things we do :
1) We decided to keep our current car (turning 5 yrs in Jan 2010) for 10 years. We like the car and probably buy the same model if we change so we thot of just keeping it. We maintain it regularly with agent so hopefully that will give us less maintenance problem which can be big ticket item as the car grows older. Our loan will be fully paid up in 2 yrs + time. We thot of paying off earlier to save on interest and then drive instalment free for the next few years. In the meantime, we can use the amount we used to pay for the car each month to probably save for the next car. We don’t believe in stretching car loan to 10 years. My hubby believe car is a liability so he does not believe in "branded" cars.
2) Usually buy the kids’ clothing when I travel for work. Usually I buy sizes ahead and stock up for the future. Singapore shopping is expensive and by doing so, I rarely buy stuff for the kids in Singapore. Eg. recently I bought snow white costume in China for $30+ (the quality type with elaborate materials, etc…) that typically I would have to pay around $60-$70 for it here.
3) Seldom shop for myself too. I wear the same clothes for years. I prefer comfort to anything else. I usually buy when I see something I like. I go for average range but key thing is it is comfortable and presentable. I buy cosmetics at DFS when I travel or via friends who work in those co. so manage to get stuff at staff price.
4) I do carry bags like coach. But that’s because I got it at a good price in US. I will not buy it in Singapore. To me, it was like paying bonia price but getting coach. I would scout the malls every day when I am there for good deals despite the winter weather… I don’t think I will ever buy a LV,etc… even if I can afford it as I think that is too excessive. Frankly, I would rather spend that kind of $ on a expensive watch that has more value over time.
5) We eat out every weekday and we usually dine in foodcourt, market and seldom go to restaurants. We only go for occassional treats.
6) I buy local and US shares for investment. Definitely burnt before and learnt from lesson. I believe there are alot of opportunities right now. But again it could go either way as it’s all about optimism…I hold a long term view to some of the shares I buy hoping that over time, it’s my cash cow. My mum had a neighbour who owns a bungalow at mountbatten area and she told my mum that they got that house when the hubby made $ in shares. For me, I just hope to see my $ grow.
7) For housing loans, we go for those that are tied with savings account. So the $ inside earn the loan interest % then we can pay off our loans earlier. We recently did some refinancing and cut down the tenure to 15 yrs so as to take advantage of the low interest rate at this moment. It is satisfying to see the principal amount dropping month after month and telling myself that I can "retire" at 50.
I am open to 0% instalment payment. I believe that this is good for managing cashflow. Eg. why should I trap my cash in some purchase when I can phase out the payment at 0%. That cash can sit in my savings and earn interest from my housing loan. Or I can use that for investment. But this tool cannot be used to finance things you cannot afford. Saw friends who got into trouble with the bank as they don’t know how to manage this and overcommit themselves. -
insider:
Still have one more about lending of money. That is difficult to explain and so leaving it out…
if it's not too much trouble at all,
洗耳恭听 -
I’ll state up front that I do not believe in feng-shui, and therefore I guess I don’t subscribe to the notion that one’s ‘money-flow’ is somehow predetermined. As with all such things, does such a theory stand the test of a proper study? What are the rules? Does an intervention lead to a predictable and measurable outcome? If such things were to apply consistently at the micro level (i.e. for an individual), then when evened out over a population basis, one should surmise that any kind of economic crisis is not theoretically possible (especially one of the magnitude we have witnessed), as one does not expect that over a large economic base that so many different families would be so out of balance with their ‘flow’, to the tune of negative US$3 trillion net overall.
I put to you that ‘money-flow’ is far more influenced by macro-economic factors and policy, and regulatory regime, which secondarily incentivise the right or wrong behaviours, than any sort of super-naturalistic factor. I.e., the poor risk management practices of many financial institutions, the availability of cheap capital which drove middle-class america into buying 2,3,4 homes, contributing to asset-price inflation and the eventual and utterly predictable crunch that followed. Speaking with my American colleagues, it was interesting to hear the psychology of the bubble as it developed.
One should really have a look at the habits of Warren Buffett, or read what Suze Orman has to say. All logically reducible, even at an individual basis, and basic principles prevail.
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