Rainbow on FI

In my previous post The best credit card for my new house renotion , I compared some credit cards that I owned and have chosen the Maybank Family & Friends card as the best credit card that I would use for my new home's spending. Today I received an email from Maybank regarding some updates to the Maybank Family & Friends Card Cashback Programme starting from 1st January next year. Let's take a look. What have changed? Revisions Description Cashback Awarding for selected cashback categories and additional bonus category Tier 1: Up to 6% cashback with a minimum spend of S$800 per month (capped at S$20 per category) Tier 2: Up to 8% cashback with a minimum spend of S$1,600 per month (capped at S$30 per category) Base cashback 0.22% cashback on all other spend Eligible Merchant Category Codes (“MCC”) in selected cashback categories Commute (previously “Transport”) MCC 4111, 4121, 4789, 4112, 4131 Automotive (previously “Pharmacy”) MCC 5541, 5542, 5532, 5533, 5599, 7531, 75...

I signed up for DBS Treasures in September this year after seeing a promotional notification on my DBS digibank app. The promotion stated that, upon successful sign-up, Multiplier account holders would receive the Multiplier tiered bonus interest on account balances of up to $200,000.  Since it's an easy opportunity for my idle cash, I figured—why not? I could simply transfer funds from my UOB Stash account, especially since UOB had reduced its effective interest rate to 2.045% (and would be reducing it further to 1.5% from 1st December). From the Welcome email, these were the highlighted benefits of being a DBS Treasures client: A Unique Blend of Personalised Advisory and Digital Capabilities • Bespoke Solutions for Accredited Investors As an Accredited Investor, you gain access to a wider range of sophisticated investment products, such as investment-grade bonds, equity-linked notes, and more—beyond the usual retail offerings. This expanded range is meant to enhance your por...

Renovating your home is an exciting journey—but it can also feel overwhelming with so many decisions to make. From choosing the right materials to selecting colours, finishes, and fittings, each choice affects not only the look of your home but also how comfortable and practical it will be for everyday living. In this post I have compiled the selection tips for 6 key interior finishes that could make or break a functional, and beautiful home: Kitchen Countertop Materials Wall Paint Colours Flooring and Tiles Lighting Bathroom Sink Selection Blinds or Curtains By carefully thinking through each of these aspects, you can ensure your renovation results in money well spent. Selection of Kitchen Countertop Materials When choosing a kitchen countertop, it’s important to balance aesthetics, durability, and maintenance needs. Common materials include: Solid Surface $: Made from acrylic or polyester resins, solid surfaces are seamless and easy to maintain. They can be rep...

1. Not losing money and earning steadily in trading is when the stock prices are trending sideways or slowly trending.  2. Losing and winning a lot of money in trading is when the stocks prices are swinging wildly with long red or green candles. (That's great opportunity for day trading.) The latter needs Jedi mind power - astute and quick judgements (analytic skills) to act on the price actions, hedging if you must, and take profits off the table before you get caught with your pants down. Sometimes you do number 1 for too long until you get complacent. Then you forget how to react when number 2 happens. We need different strategies to ride different market conditions and steer away from speculation. --- We are in a pretty crazy hot market right now, where stocks, cryptocurrency and gold have sky rocketed in prices. When yields drop , we would expect bond prices to rise (it's a vice versa chicken & egg effect). Short term bonds e.g money market funds are no longer offer...

Usual tool and communication apps aside, here are 3 nifty apps that I enjoy using daily. The apps are easy to use and have clean navigation interfaces, good for folks like me who doesn't like complicated functions and ad spams. 1) Life Reminder   The top app that I have been using for years and even spent to get rid of pop-up ads is Life Reminder . Maybe I have been getting on in years and my memory tends to be failing me more often, having this app is a real life saver. Whenever I have an appointment, important matters that need follow up or any urgent chores, I would key into this app.  Under each reminder, I can also attach an image for reference, write notes and set a pre-alarm. I was amazed that it can even set actions like phone calls and SMS with the reminders. The reminders can also be set on an auto-repeat basis so I can easily get reminders on birthdays and anniversaries (besides marking them on calendar app which I will forget to check).  Present and past remin...

I am surprised and feeling wtf to find out today that my $100 Endowus fee reward will be expiring in October this year (rewards earned can be viewed under Earn rewards --> Track my rewards). I was expecting the fee reward to be able to offset any of my invested goals' fees, but apparently not.  On emailing Endowus, they simply slapped me with a reply that contains a link to their TnC. Paragraph 4 reads - Upon successfully registering for the promotion via the Promotional Link provided to you by Endowus and completion of the Qualifying Investment during the Promotion Period, a S$100 Endowus Fee credit (the “Reward”) will be distributed to your Endowus account by 24 January 2025. However, please note that the Reward will be valid for 6 months from the date of distribution of such Reward and will only be applied on or for investments made through your Endowus account using SRS. Great, now I know I can't use it for any of my other investment goals and got to watch it expires. FY...

This is a belated post as I finished moving some times ago and thought I would save some tips to remind myself the next time I move house. I have underestimated the gross amount of items that I have had and ended up needing 2 separate days of truck moving. I booked a Lalamove 10-ft truck with mover for the second big move as I don't need cartons nor wrapping for furniture. Lalamove was very efficient, the driver arrived early and moved all my storeroom items and remaining carton boxes with care despite the rainy weather. Here's my tips for house-moving / lessons learnt from mistakes: 1) Defrost your refrigerator If you have a layer of ice in your freezer compartment, do defrost it a day before and clean up the water. That would save you from having to clean up any leakage of water from a defrost during and after the move. 2) Turn off the tap of the washing machine and disconnect the water pipes Disconnect the tap connecting pipe and drain away the water prior to the move. If yo...