Money

I just sold an old camera for S$25. It’s not much, but the camera was just lying around anyway (my mum had bought it a few years ago, but it’s since been replaced by a better camera that I’d stopped using), so I really think of it as shelf space saved and money gained.

I really do enjoy selling my old stuff – aside from the obvious monetary benefits gained from stuff you were willing to dump anyway, it feels good to be part of the ‘reuse’ process, and contribute more to the environment than the Copenhagen talks are apparently doing.

I’m also trying to sell some old books and my laptop, which should (hopefully) net me more dough than the camera did, but I’m strangely psyched over this one little sale.

(I’m not getting any money for this post, although I think maybe I should be! If they offered a referral bonus for savings accounts, I’d probably have posted this a lot sooner, haha.)

One thing I’d learned while I was in the UK was the value of having multiple bank accounts. Although UK’s ATMs can mostly be used by customers of any bank (for free!), there are still advantages to being a customer of a different bank. Back then, I’d opened a Barclays bank account for the Visa debit card they’d issued, while retaining my HSBC account for access to their high-interest savings accounts (although that’s no longer a big incentive).

When I returned to Singapore, I got rather fed up of queueing for DBS/POSB ATMs, and started shopping for a new primary bank account. After some looking around, I finally settled on Citibank’s Tap and Save account, which I’m currently convinced is the best option around for a salaried employee. Here’s why.

1. No minimum balance required, if you set it as your salary account – not a problem since it’s currently my primary account, anyway. Most bank accounts charge a nominal fee (~$5/month) if your balance goes below a certain sum (usually $500 for local banks), but that’s no longer a concern.
2. Chequebook provided. Not many savings accounts provide a free chequebook, and I’ve found that I occasionally need to write a cheque or two, so this is really quite a nifty feature.
3. Mobile-based authentication. I really detest the DBS iB Secure Device system which requires me to have that little dongle on my person in order to utilise internet banking – Citibank (and many other banks) offer the option of using your mobile phone for 2FA, which has worked pretty well for me so far (and is a lot more convenient).
4. ATM convenience. Citibank’s strategically placed ATMs can be found at most MRT stations around Singapore, and the queues for those are usually a lot shorter than those for DBS/POSB. They might not be as numerous, but they’re convenient enough and provide for a shorter wait time for use.
   
5. An awesome debit card. This is probably the main reason why people sign up for this account, and I do think it’s a great card. Firstly, it acts as an EZ-Link card and can effectively replace your old one, netting you (slightly) discounted rides in the meantime. Secondly, it’s a Visa, so it’s pretty universally accepted (although it can’t be used for internet transactions, sadly). Thirdly, there is a 1% cash rebate for all Visa transactions. These rebates are automatically credited to you monthly, so there’s no need to monitor accumulated points before they expire. Lastly, it still qualifies as a Citibank card for purposes of restaurant discounts, and I’ve found that to be really useful so far.

The main disadvantages are that it cannot be used for internet purchases and lacks NETS facilities, but if you have other cards and an account with a local bank (I recommend OCBC’s Fairprice Plus), they’re nothing you can’t live without.

In my opinion, if you’re already carrying an EZ-Link card in your wallet, you should seriously consider getting yourself a Tap and Save account.

The Bank of England have reduced the Base Rate by 1.50% to 3.00%. Following this, we have changed the rate of interest you earn on your Online Saver account from 4.25% AER to 2.75% AER, 2.72% gross variable.

The interest rates that apply to your Online Bonus Saver will change as well. The interest you earn changes from 4.75% AER to 3.25% AER (3.23% gross variable, including 1.75% AER bonus interest) in any calendar month you don’t make a withdrawal. If you do make a withdrawal, you’ll still be earning standard interest of 1.50% AER, 1.49% gross variable.

The interest rate that applies to amounts over £50,000 in your account will continue to track Base Rate (3.00% AER, 2.98% gross) if no withdrawals are made and a standard rate of 1.50% AER (1.49% gross variable) if you do make a withdrawal.

These new rates are effective from 13 November 2008.

Thank you for saving with HSBC.

Sigh. Really wishing I’d brought home more of my UK funds back when the exchange rate was 2.7 (it’s gone down to about 2.3 now, almost a 20% drop in value for me). Nothing to do now but let it earn (lowered) interest while waiting for it to rise, I guess. Not like I urgently need the cash right now.

The rate should rise eventually, right?

-sees a 1.5 exchange rate next year- NOOOOOooooo!!!

So Singapore’s gone into a technical recession. This is the first time I’m encountering such a situation as a salaried worker (sort of), and as a civil servant I’m not too affected, since my job’s somewhat of the 铁饭碗 (iron rice bowl) nature. It’s not absolute immunity, of course, but all in all I’m rather thankful for this stability, as compared to (previously) high-earning employees of firms that no longer exist today.

In volatile market, only stable investment is porn!
- Trekkie Monster, Avenue Q

I’ve just applied for a brokerage account with Citibank. The current financial crisis is probably far from over, but I figure that in the long-term view of things (perhaps a 5-10 year window) it’ll be good to start entering the market sometime in the near future. I don’t have a particularly high risk appetite (especially given the situation now), but I believe it’s important to keep your money growing, and well – I guess the time to learn is when you’re young, have less obligations and can afford to make mistakes.

Still, it’s a rather scary first step for me. Investing’s by no means a certain thing – the value of my UK savings account has fallen by almost a thousand (Singapore) dollars due to the change in exchange rate (counting from Jun 2008, when I could have converted all the money and brought it home). I’ll probably end up just getting some STI ETF to begin with – seems like a comparatively low-risk move.

I just sold my camera for S$270. That’s only about 60% of what I’d paid for it, but it’s still money, and far better than the $0 I’d have got by hanging on to something I wasn’t really using.

I’ve actually been reselling my (more expensive) old stuff for quite some time now, I guess I first encountered eBay when buying/selling vintage toys back in my JC days, haha. After awhile I figured that some of my belongings could still fetch a pretty sum when sold off, and I could get some pretty good deals on used items. While I understand the insistence on buying new items sometimes (for example, I generally prefer a new laptop since it’s something I will use very often), I’ve probably saved quite a bit on tech goods (like computer parts) by selling and buying old stuff.

I think the second hand market is really a good way of cutting expenses, actually, as well as cutting waste – reduce, reuse and recycle! It’s a pity many people don’t seem to be aware of the option, or are simply unwilling to expend the extra time/effort.

(Well, it took me weeks to get motivated enough to list my camera for sale, so maybe I’m not one to talk!)

My very first successful card waiver!

I’ve long heard of card companies deciding to waive credit card fees for you if you call in and threaten to cancel the card, but I’ve never done it myself, not having a credit card of my own. More recently I heard from my brother that they usually refund the annual fee if you just call in and request for a waiver, which seems easy enough to do, but I didn’t think I’ll need to do it that soon.

Turns out that the debit card I’m using had suddenly decided to charge me an annual fee (or more accurately, the three year waiver had expired, since I got it shortly before leaving for the UK) and so I called in to try my luck at getting a fee waiver. It’s an easy enough procedure – just call the hotline, and voila! S$19 saved.

I think I’ll still be cancelling the card soon though, probably will be applying for some credit cards – mainly to enjoy the discounts offered – and this procedure seems to be quite troublesome if you’re juggling too many cards. I’m currently eyeing the Citibank SMRT Visa Card, since it doubles as an EZ-Link card (Singapore’s version of London’s Oyster card) and I’m definitely interested in maintaining a (relatively) light wallet. I’ll have to wait awhile for my first paycheck (12 Aug) though, a day I’m quite eagerly anticipating. =D

How exactly does someone rack up 1500 messages in just one month?

On the end of the spectrum, we have my sister, a 12-year-old girl who has somehow managed to rack a bill of S$70+ on a mobile bill that’s supposed to be free (for six months). A large part of the bill was due to the number of text messages sent – a whopping 1568 in less than a month (25 days to be exact – it’s a new plan). I know that the female species is capable of many things beyond imagining, but how exactly she managed to use an average of 63 messages daily escapes my fragile male mind.

I’ve told her that she’s going to be paying for all excess charges, and am planning to get her to manage her own account in secondary school, but I wonder how exactly to teach a teen the value of money?