Save on Cable Bills by Streaming Your Favorite Channels

Save on Cable Bills by Streaming Your Favorite Channels Singapore

by with No Comment Money ManagementPersonal Finance

Are you burnt out or bored with Singtel or StarHub?

Do you wish you had a broader variety of things to watch without paying for extraneous channels?

Are you frustrated with MediaCorp TV?

Do you miss the days of variety from satellite dish entertainment?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, you will be well-rewarded for reading the rest of this article. Provided below is a guide to getting digital entertainment for discerning Singaporeans who want to cut the cable (Read More: Purge Your Money Burdens) but still access media on their own schedule and at more negotiable prices.

Save on Cable Bills by Streaming Your Favorite Channels
Save on Cable Bills by Streaming Your Favorite Channels

Determine the Right Video Streaming Service and Plan

Because there are many streaming services out there, you need to understand what each platform offers. While it is best to do your own research, we can assist by providing an overview of the major providers, their pricing and even highlighting which ones have free trials.

Netflix

While the platform that allowed streaming to rise to its current prominence has recently taken several hits, Netflix is still a solid streaming service for original programming. It also features a decent catalog of television and films that is constantly being subjected to updates.

Pricing Structure: Netflix offers three subscription tiers.

  • Basic (S$12.98/month) – This option has a single-screen limit and only offers standard-definition content. Downloads are limited to one device.
  • Standard (S$17.48/month) – This option has a two-screen limit and offers Full HD content. Downloads are limited to two devices.
  • Premium (S$21.98/month) – This option has a four-screen limit and adds Ultra HD to content options. Downloads are limited to four devices.

Free trial – 30 days

Disney+

If you love anything Disney-related or its many subsidiary properties, then this is the streaming service for you.

Pricing Structure: Disney+ subscriptions come in a few plans.

  • Monthly – S$11.98/month
  • Yearly – S$119.98 upfront
  • StarHub Bundles – StarHub features several bundles that include Disney+.

Free trial – Not available

Amazon Prime Video

Prime Video (check review) is full of original series and films, as well as a respectable library of third-party content.

Pricing Structure: Anyone interested in a Prime Video subscription can pay S$2.99 a month. It includes access to Amazon Prime.

Free trial – 30 days

Apple TV+

If you are a fan of all things Apple or curious about shows like “Ted Lasso”, you might consider giving this platform a shot.

Pricing Structure: S$6.98/month.

Free trials – 7 days

HBO GO

HBO GO is an exhaustive compilation of Hollywood films, blockbusters and original series from the various brands of HBO and Cinemax.

Pricing Structure: Anyone interested in an HBO GO subscription without using another service provider can pay either S$13.98/month or S$29.98/three months.

Hayu

Over 200 reality programs are available the same day that Americans see them.

Pricing Structure: S$4.99/month.

Free trial – 7 days

iQiyi

If you love your pan-Asian media, this streaming service is for you. They even offer several original programs.

Pricing Structure: Anyone interested in subscribing to iQiyi has two options:

  • Standard – S$8.98/month with a two-screen limit.
  • Premium – S$12.98/month with a four-screen limit.

Viu

Nicknamed ‘Korean Netflix’, this streaming platform is a reliable spot for binge-worthy Korean dramas.

Pricing Structure: Anyone interested in subscribing to Viu has three options with special pricing available for student subscribers:

  • Basic – This is the ad-supported free tier but comes with only limited access to standard definition programming. Users can access content 72 hours after it becomes available to Premium users and may download one show at a time.
  • Premium – Users have unlimited, ad-free access to Viu’s catalog and are free to download as often as they wish. New shows become available 8 hours after the telecast. While this tier is available for S$7.98/month, that cost is reduced for lengthier subscriptions: 90 days, 180 days or a full year (S$7.58/month, S$7.19/month and S$6.39/month, respectively).
  • Premium (Student) – Students who present a school ID can receive a discounted subscription to Viu Premium that only costs S$3.98 per month.

Free trial – 7 days.

Buy a Video Streaming Device

Once you know which streaming services you like, your next step is acquiring a device to stream those services. In the simplest of terms, this is like a set-top box that connects directly to a TV and allows you to watch your favorite films and shows through that TV; think of it as a replacement for a cable box. While there are dozens of brands on the market, the major names include Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast and Roku.

Final Thoughts

Now that you have a better idea of your options, you now know which services can best suit your tastes in media. You will need a streaming device to enjoy them on a screen bigger than your phone, tablet or monitor (Read More: How To Save On Big Ticket Purchases). You can safely cut that cord and still find plenty of entertainment to consume with friends and family.

(Read more: The Ultimate 4 Quadrants Shopping Guide Especially If You Are 28 and Older)

Chengkok is a licensed Financial Services Consultant since 2012. He is an Investment and Critical Illness Specialist. Wealthdojo was created in 2019 to educate and debunk “free financial advice” that was given without context.  

Feel Free To Reach Out To Share Your Thoughts.

Contact: 94316449 (Whatsapp) chengkokoh@gmail.com (Email)
Telegram: Wealthdojo [Continuous Learning Channel]
Reviews: About Me

My SRS Portfolio Sept 2022

My SRS Portfolio and Thoughts [Sept 2022]

by with No Comment Investment AccumulationSRS

If you are in cash this year, you would have beaten the market. Congratulations! However, this does not mean you should keep your money as cash as inflation will erode the value of your money.

2022 is a rough year for the investment market. If you have invested in the STI for the past 1 year, you would have achieve no movement at all.

STI ETF Since March 2022
STI ETF Since March 2022

If you have invested in other markets, then you are most likely seeing a red in your portfolio.

If you are new to Supplementary Retirement Sum (SRS), please start here.

Disclaimer: This article is not and should not be taken as a buy/sell/hold recommendation.

My SRS Portfolio Sept 2022
My SRS Portfolio Sept 2022

My Thoughts and Consideration

My SRS Portfolio Sept 2022
My SRS Portfolio Sept 2022

SGX:HST continues to face downward pressure as Beijing’s zero-Covid pursuit, regulatory crackdowns and tensions with the West have led to a US$5 trillion rout in Chinese stocks since early 2021. I have averaged down (why DCA is not working on China’s stocks?) once in March 2022 and will be having a hold approach for this counter for now.

SGX: BTOU slides even further in the last quarter. I believe the main reason is because the FED has raise interest rates to combat inflation. This has made borrowing more expensive and may be a cause of concern for investors. However, it is worth noting the Fixed Rates Loans makes up 85.7% of their debt profile as of 30 June 2022 and isn’t a great cause of concern. BTOU is in a midst of transformation as explained in June 2022. I will be reading closely to this in the quarters ahead.

Manulife US REIT BTOU Debt Profile June 2022
Manulife US REIT BTOU Debt Profile June 2022

SGX: ME8U is a new entry into the SRS portfolio. I was eyeing Mapletree Industrial Trust for a long time. It was a stock that I was interested in even before COVID-19. MIT’s property portfolio comprises of 143 properties ranging from light industrial buildings, stack-up buildings, flatted factories, business park buildings, Hi-Tech building and recently data centers.

Mapletree Industrial Trust portfolio growth in IPO has been amazing with a new position into Data Centre. Looking forward to its’ performance in the years to come.

Mapletree Industrial Trust Portfolio May 2022
Mapletree Industrial Trust Portfolio May 2022

I have also invested a small amount into a 3 year endowment with a guaranteed of 3%. As this is a very straightforward proposition, I will not be updating this particular segment.

Final Thoughts

Quarter 4 is the best time of the year to think about SRS contribution. The main reason for SRS contribution is to reduce your tax payable for your FY2022. You then need to consider the investment portion thereafter. I will be running a webinar on SRS tax reduction in the months ahead.

Do comment below and I will individually send you an invite for the event.

Meanwhile, take care and hope you are well.

Chengkok is a licensed Financial Services Consultant since 2012. He is an Investment and Critical Illness Specialist. Wealthdojo was created in 2019 to educate and debunk “free financial advice” that was given without context.  

Feel Free To Reach Out To Share Your Thoughts.

Contact: 94316449 (Whatsapp) chengkokoh@gmail.com (Email)
Telegram: Wealthdojo [Continuous Learning Channel]
Reviews: About Me

The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organisation, employer or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author.

Best High Interest Saving Account Singapore 2022

Best High Interest Saving Account Singapore 2022

by with 2 Comments General EconomyMoney ManagementMoney Mindset

I never thought there will be a day the banks will adjust their interest rates upwards again(DBS, UOB, OCBC). In 2018 period, the local banks came out with a great marketing program to give higher interest. It was heavily discussed. However, it was short lived as the banks slowly reduced the amount of interest.

Learning from the past lessons, I view that this interest increase as temporary in nature and you shouldn’t base your long term planning (insurance or investment) to increase your interest in your bank account.

In this article, I will take on several assumptions to decide which bank account is the best for you in 2022.

Best High Interest Saving Account Singapore 2022
Best High Interest Saving Account Singapore 2022

Assumptions Taken

Marketing Message From The Banks

This is the current marketing message from the banks.

Based on the marketing message, OCBC sounds the best. It is also good to know that OCBC changed their program 1 month after DBS and UOB have made changes.

First Elimination

With our assumptions, we feel that DBS multiplier is the worst out of the 3.

DBS Multiplier Account Working
DBS Multiplier Account Working
DBS Multiplier Account Interest Tiers
DBS Multiplier Account Interest Tiers

Based on our assumptions, we will only hit 1 category in DBS multiplier. I feel that we shouldn’t increase our transaction categories just for the sake of the higher interest.

Effectively, there will be a higher interest on the first $25,000. Your interest of 1% will give you $250 annually.

Best Fuss Free Bank Account: OCBC 360 Account

OCBC is rank the best fuss free bank account in my opinion as they follow a very simple interest tier model.

OCBC 360 Account Interest Tiers
OCBC 360 Account Interest Tiers

Following our assumptions for using only salary crediting and spending on credit card, the effective interest rates (EIR) 1.5% resulting in an annual interest of $1500.

However, I like this more as this is fuss free. If you don’t want to hit the credit card spending of $500 monthly, the salary option will have an EIR of 1.1% resulting in an annual interest of $1100. This is great for people who do not want to keep track of their spending for the sake of the extra interset

Best Higher Interest Bank Account: UOB One

UOB and OCBC comes up very close but UOB wins because of the ease of understanding of their UOB one card.

UOB One Account Interest Tiers
UOB One Account Interest Tiers

The emphasis of UOB is the credit card spend. If you do not hit the minimum of $500/month, then the interest be affected. Hence, this will only work if you are certain to be able to hit the monthly eligible credit card spend of $500.

The total annual interest (inclusive of cash rebates) from UOB One account and UOB One Card is $1,700 making this the best higher interest bank account for now.

 

Final Thoughts

There you have it. Personally, I’m went with the OCB 360 account because of the ease of use.

I believe that choosing your bank account is one of the first steps to plan for your finances. At the same time, I will avoid buying products just to get that extra bit of interest as the interest might change in future again.

That being said, you should always have a long term perspective when it comes to planning. I will recommend you to use the retirement calculator to have an idea how much you need for retirement.

I wish you all the best! Take care.

 

Chengkok is a licensed Financial Services Consultant since 2012. He is an Investment and Critical Illness Specialist. Wealthdojo was created in 2019 to educate and debunk “free financial advice” that was given without context.  

Feel Free To Reach Out To Share Your Thoughts.

Contact: 94316449 (Whatsapp) chengkokoh@gmail.com (Email)
Telegram: Wealthdojo [Continuous Learning Channel]
Reviews: About Me

The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organisation, employer or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author.

Retirement Calculator Singapore

Retirement Calculator Singapore: How Much You Need To Plan For

by with One Comment Investment AccumulationMoney ManagementPersonal FinanceRetirement

In 2022, I having more conversations with my clients whether they should increase their retirement sums due to inflation. I begin to realize that it is not easy for them to project their future needs when they don’t know the perimeters needed.

Hence, I have build up a quick calculator for them to calculate in less than 1 minute how much they need and how much they have to invest NOW to achieve their retirement goals.

Retirement Calculator Singapore
Retirement Calculator Singapore

The Assumptions

Behind every model requires a few assumption. I will go through the ones that require more thought process.

  • Replacement Ratio

This is the percentage of income to maintain lifestyle. Most studies suggest aiming for a target of between 70 and 85 percent of pre-retirement income. Typically, most of us spends a certain portion of our income to maintain our lifestyle. Some of us will spend more, some of us will spend less. To most of us, our spending habits will stay with us for a long period of time.

For Example: Peter earns $6K monthly and spends $4K every month on household needs etc. This means his replacement ratio is roughly 67%.

  • Inflation Rate

Though this is well defined, it is not easy to determine a meaningful figure especially when inflation has been going up in the last few months. From the graph below, you can see that we have spikes in inflation previously. However, it has been maintained at a certain level for prolong periods of time.

While, MAS does not have an explicit inflation target. The MAS has concluded that, on average, a core inflation rate of just under 2%, which is close to its historical mean.

I would think to err on the side of planning, we can use a inflation rate of 3%.


source: tradingeconomics.com

  • Expected Investment Rate

This is the rate that you want your investment to grow yearly to reach your goals. For this to be effective, it would be easier to attribute it to your risk profile which will then lead you to the appropriate investment instrument you will find suitable.

If you are someone who is risk adverse, you might consider fixed deposits which typically gives around 1% per annum. For Singapore bonds investment, the yield typically is around 2% to 3% depending on the tenure of the bond.

For those that are more adventurous, the SPDR Gold Trust (SGX: O87) annualized 10 Years Performance is 1.29%. Straits Times Index (SGX: ES3) annualized 10 Years Performance is 4.4%. SPDR S&P 500 (SGX: S27) annualized 10 Years Performance is 12.96%. Average yields are a reference point and can be used as a pinch of salt.

Taking a pause here, all forms of investments carry risks, including the risk of losing all of the invested amount. Such activities may not be suitable for everyone. With an additional disclaimer, the above doesn’t represent a buy/sell/hold recommendation.

The Retirement Calculator

 

Final Thoughts

I think planning beyond 2022 will be an interesting discussion as we are in midst of existing developments (Russian-Ukraine, China-Taiwan, Monkeypox, COVID19). However, we should let it stop us to plan consistently for the future.

If realised you have a retirement shortfall, congratulations! It is time to do something about it. There are various instruments available and I will be glad to have an open conversation with you on how to do that with you.

If you feel like something needs to be done, the next place you need to go to is here (to read more) or simply contact me using the information below.

I wish you all the best! Take care.

 

Chengkok is a licensed Financial Services Consultant since 2012. He is an Investment and Critical Illness Specialist. Wealthdojo was created in 2019 to educate and debunk “free financial advice” that was given without context.  

Feel Free To Reach Out To Share Your Thoughts.

Contact: 94316449 (Whatsapp) chengkokoh@gmail.com (Email)
Telegram: Wealthdojo [Continuous Learning Channel]
Reviews: About Me

The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organisation, employer or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author.

The Pros And Cons Of Dollar Cost Averaging

The Pros And Cons Of Dollar Cost Averaging

by with One Comment Investment AccumulationMoney ManagementMoney MindsetPersonal Finance
The Pros And Cons Of Dollar Cost Averaging
The Pros And Cons Of Dollar Cost Averaging

You might be thinking this is “another of those dollar cost averaging article”. I assure you that this is not. It is always during a Bear Market Survival that the topic of dollar cost averaging surfaces. Rarely, this topic is popular during a upward trending market.

Once a for all, I will discuss on the value of dollar cost averaging and what it can do in your portfolio. If you have been investing in China over the last year, you might think that dollar cost averaging is not working on China’s stocks? Read on and consider the pros and cons.

What is Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA)?

Dollar Cost Averaging is a popular investment method of investing equal amounts of money over a period of time. The opposite of this would be to invest a lump sum of money at once. I will leave you to read up about summary of DCA in this photo below.

Dollar Cost Averaging
Dollar Cost Averaging

Financial advisors are one group of people that preach about this because of the simplicity of the method. It is however, easier said than done as emotions might get better of us in the market.

One question you can ask yourself today ( 1st June 2022), are you still averaging down?

The Pros

  • Simple and systematic (if you set rules that continuously invest during ups and down): You don’t really “think” when you employ a DCA strategy. You simply trust the system and invest through the ups and downs. It will work BEST if it is via auto-transfer rather than manually transferring.
  • Downside protection: In a downward market, you will see a “bigger lost” if you do a lump sum strategy. For example, if the market corrected 20% in a month, your initial investment of $100,000 will be left with $80,000 (lost of $20,000). Now, if you do a DCA investing $10K per month, your initial investment will be left with $8,000 (lost of $2,000). You also have capital to continue investing at the “down” on the second month. For those that is retiring soon, this have great psychological benefits. I believe there is nobody that wants to lose 20% of their nest egg 6 months prior to retirement.

The Cons

  • FOMO (Fear of missing out): If this is an upward market, you risk missing out on the extra capital gains and compounding benefits. Using the same scenario as above, someone who invested $100,000 with a 20% run-up would make $20,000, while the investor DCA their first  $10k would’ve only made $2k.
  • Being too passive: DCA works best if the asset have a long term upward tread in nature. If the underlying investments are downward/sideways moving (take a look at the Japan market), DCA will not be the best strategy.

Final Thoughts

A big shout out to one of the most loyal reader of Wealthdojo Mr Sinkie. He sums up my thoughts on DCA in a single sentence. “DCA works best for assets that are volatile but have very long history of uptrend”. Thank you for being so patient and contributing to the blog. For those that are interested in his elaboration (I think you should), go over to Bear Market Survival Tips.

Looking forward to more people commenting on the blog.

If you guys need help, please reach out. I will be more than happy to have a conversation with you.

Chengkok is a licensed Financial Services Consultant since 2012. He is an Investment and Critical Illness Specialist. Wealthdojo was created in 2019 to educate and debunk “free financial advice” that was given without context.  

Feel Free To Reach Out To Share Your Thoughts.

Contact: 94316449 (Whatsapp) chengkokoh@gmail.com (Email)
Telegram: Wealthdojo [Continuous Learning Channel]
Reviews: About Me

The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organisation, employer or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author.