Showing posts with label Year End Bonus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Year End Bonus. Show all posts

Civil Service Bonus for 2020

Straits Times reported lately that civil servants will not be getting a year end bonus this year due to Covid 19.  There was also no mid-year bonus paid out.

Civil servants received a one off payment of 0.25 months which was capped at $750 as well as their 13th month bonus.  This year, senior civil servants also had a pay cut of 0.5 to 1 month according to their seniority.

Not all gloom and doom though.  Civil servants still enjoy a performance bonus that is outside of the mid-year and year-end bonus.  An average performer should get around 3 months worth of performance bonus according to anonymous feedback in various forums.  So taking that into account, civil servant's annual pay package for this year should be around 16 months of monthly salary.  That is assuming one is an average performer.

Interested in civil service payscale? Check out this link here https://sgfinancialfreedom.blogspot.com/2015/10/singapore-civil-service-pay-scale.html

MHA Bonus?

How many weeks in a year? (And why some people get 13th month bonuses)

Well, a simple question that many people have is how many weeks are there in a year. The simple answer is there are 52 weeks in a year.

Of course, we are not trying to be exact here since we know 52 multiplied by 7 only gives you 364 days instead of 365 days.

But is there a way to remember that there are 52 weeks quickly? Well, let me teach you a way that I remember this fact.

See, in the past, people were paid daily or weekly wages and so their monthly salary was based on 4 weeks. However, being paid in this manner means you only get paid for 48 weeks of work in one year. That means you have been shortchanged by one entire month of work (or 4 weeks of work) where you are not paid. And that is where the 13th month bonus kicks in. Of course, many companies do not give out such bonuses anymore but this idea is still prevalent in places like the civil service.

So through this little nugget, you can see that a quick way to remember is that 48 weeks plus the 13th month (4 weeks) equals to 52 weeks.

So there you have it. If anyone ever asks you again how many weeks are there in a year, you can work out the answer to 52 weeks!


Three Great Ideas to Spend Your Annual Bonus

It did not seem too long ago that I was writing about what I should do with my annual bonus.  Most people will be getting their annual bonus in December and I thought that it will be timely to look at a few great ideas on how to spend one's annual bonus.

1.  Insurance

Most people are under-insured.  But one should also be careful not to be over-insured or to be overpaying for insurance.  Some time back, I wrote about one of the cheaper if not cheapest insurance plan in town.  It is NTUC's i-term insurance.  I don't work for NTUC so I can't vouch for this plan.  Neither do I own this insurance plan.  But looking at the rates, it definitely looks like one of the cheaper insurance options around.

Another cheap insurance plan one could consider (if you are a national serviceman or woman) is the SAF Group Term Insurance plan.  Just recently, Aviva has increased the maximum coverage from $600,000 to $1million.  Another thing I like about this group term plan is that it gives rebates.  I am currently covered under this plan and am considering whether to increase my coverage.

I also wrote about whether one is ready to take charge of one's healthcare costs and you might want to consider reading it especially if you are a Singaporean.

Of course, before you dive in and go out shopping for an insurance policy, I must caveat that everyone has to do their due diligence.  In fact, during one of the polls conducted on this blog,  the poll results indicated that many people considered insurance products as toxic investments.  Of course, there is nothing scientific in the way I conducted the poll and it is just the opinion of readers.  I also recommend the following articles on insurance:

2.  Invest

Of course, besides saving up your annual bonus, one could also chose to invest it in instruments that could potentially give you a higher return than the interests rates offered by banks (can someone remind me again what is the interest rates banks are offering again?) 

Most readers should know that I invest mainly for income with capital gains as a secondary goal.  To understand a little more about income investing, I would refer you to some of the previous articles that I have written:
For myself, I am looking at a few stocks that pay good dividends.  On my current watchlist are Sabana REIT, Saizen REIT, Ascott REIT, Far East Hospitality Trust, Lippo Malls Indonesian Retail Trust, SingTel, Capitaland, United Engineers.

3.  Pay off Your Debts

This is self-explanatory.  If you have credit card debt, you should be paying that off before even thinking of investing.  The interest rates on any outstanding credit card bills is just too high to justify you not paying off that debt first.  

For others, you might want to consider making pre-payments or full redemptions of other outstanding loans (e.g. auto loan, mortgages).  

What Should I Do With My Annual Bonus?

The Sunday newspaper carried an article on how people were intending to spend their annual bonuses.  While most have or were planning to spend it on holidays, clothes and IT gadgets, others were thinking about saving or investing a part of it.

The article got me thinking on what I ought to do with my annual bonus.  Currently, it is seating in the bank and I realised that it is not being put to good use.  One idea that I have been toying with is to pay off my car loan which is still outstanding.  The idea of being a little closer to being debt free is just so appealing right now.  By paying off my car loan, I will just be left with my housing mortgage loan.

Another idea will be to invest that sum of money in a mixture of REITs as well as monthly dividend stocks like Gamco Global Gold & Natural Resources Trust (GGN).  This will serve as a passive income flow for me.

For REITs, I am choosing between Suntec REIT, Sabana REIT and LMIR Trust.

Any ideas or suggestions from anyone?

Bonuses and Dividends - Dec 2010

End of the year. Have received nice bonuses and also some dividends from certain stocks that I hold. What should I do with the money? I haven't really decided yet but it will most likely be saved, spent and also given away. But majority should be put into savings based on my current estimates.

It looks like I will end the year on a high too. The stock market is recovering, and everything has been going well. Perhaps it is time to pamper myself and the family.

Or perhaps it is time to buy some stocks. Do check out OCBC's Market Strategy for 2011 as well as Phillip Capital

I wonder what stocks people are looking at for 2011. Time to do my compilation once again.

Work has been busy and I can't wait for the Christmas break to come!

Bank Account is Fat

Monday:

Bank Account is Fat from the year end bonus.. Looking for stocks to increase my passive income again.

Tuesday :

I put a queue of 3 lots of Ascott REITs to add to my income portfolio. I shall not engage in trading. This will be kept as part of my passive income portfolio/
I might put the remainder of my cash into my Maybank iSaavy account or simply buy more stocks. I actually put a queue earlier today but did not manage to buy it. Hopefully the market tomorrow will allow me to purchase this 3 additional lots of Ascott REITs

Wednesday:

Still did not manage to get Ascott REITs. Queued again 3 lots at same price.

Friday:

Still did not manage to get any Ascott REITs. Makes me wonder whether I should have just bought the stocks at whatever price the market was selling. Updated my networth (current @$467,372)

Bonus Bonus Bonus!

Yup. The year end bonus is coming and I am expecting a nice yummy sum of money.

Have bought an additional 2 lots of NOL at $1.15 today to average down on my previous position.

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