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.

Saving and Spending

Below is a list of items that I am saving for and also items that I would like to spend my money on.

I personally believe that it is important to save/invest more than 10 percent of one's salary. Of equal importance is also to spend at least 10 percent of one's salary to make your home a better place for your family.

List of things I am saving for:
1. Retirement ( est. $1,000,000) ~ currently $70k
2. Son's education (est. $150,000) ~ currently $0 saved
3. My Second Home deposit (est. $200,000) ~ currently $80k saved

List of things I want to buy:

1. A piece of Art to hang on the wall. Bright coloured. It will brighten up my house and make it a much nicer place to live in (Budget $100)

2. Window Grills. For safety reasons as my little boy grows up.

3. 3 x Soap Dispensers (Those beautiful and classy kind of soap dispensers that cost around $20 to $30 each). 1 for the kitchen and 2 for the bathrooms.

4. A nice swivel chair to use for the computer. (budget $200) Will probably buy this from Ikea

5. A door to prevent my boy from entering the kitchen. (est $400)

6. A nice chair for the living room. (budget $200)

7. An air conditioner for the living room. (not sure how much it costs)

8. A Wii / PS3 / X box (purely for entertainment sake)

Networth Main Contributor : My House

So far, one of the large ticket items that I have bought is my 4 room flat.

Based on the 3Q 2008 housing statistics obtained from HDB, my 4 room flat is worth $481,000 (based on the median price). Considering that I bought my home at just slightly above $300,000, this has by far proven to be my best "investment" (note: I do know that this is not really an investment per se)

TOWN	4-ROOM	5-ROOM	EXECUTIVE
ANG MO KIO	$333,000	$468,000	-
BEDOK	$305,000	$430,000	$471,000
BISHAN	$390,000	$537,500	$600,500*
BUKIT BATOK	$335,000	$441,400	$470,000
BUKIT MERAH	$438,300	$572,000	-
BUKIT PANJANG	$284,000	$360,000	$457,500
BUKIT TIMAH	$431,900*	$615,000*	$667,500*
CENTRAL	$386,000*	$593,000*	-
CHOA CHU KANG	$299,000	$358,800	$413,000
CLEMENTI	$367,000	$503,900*	$630,000*
GEYLANG	$364,000	$570,000*	$500,000*
HOUGANG	$303,000	$380,000	$462,000
JURONG EAST	$308,500	$418,000	$465,000
JURONG WEST	$294,500	$363,000	$406,000
KALLANG/WHAMPOA	$400,900	$520,000	$542,500*
MARINE PARADE	$395,000*	$632,500	-
PASIR RIS	$320,000	$375,000	$500,500
PUNGGOL	$327,000	$391,500	$450,000*
QUEENSTOWN	$481,000	$620,000*	$780,900*
SEMBAWANG	$300,800	$355,000	$420,000*
SENGKANG	$320,000	$374,000	$458,000
SERANGOON	$325,000	$414,000	$485,000
TAMPINES	$330,000	$395,000	$488,000
TOA PAYOH	$397,000	$553,000	$617,500*
WOODLANDS	$283,400	$330,000	$420,000
YISHUN	$251,000	$338,000	$401,000*
OVERALL	$313,000	$380,000	$455,000

Being Frugal

In one's journey to financial freedom, being frugal is definitely one of the criterion.

Can one be frugal and still enjoy life? I will like to think so. Many things in life can be enjoyed without spending much money.

Let's take the case of eating out.

By eating at a cheap hawker center, one saves alot more compared to eating at a fancy restaurant. And seriously, the food actually tastes pretty much the same.

Take the example of how I spent my morning today:

I took a slow walk together with my family to Margaret Drive Hawker Center. Ordered a bowl of fishball noodles (S$2.20) for my wife and duck noodles ($2.50) for myself. I topped that up with 2 x Iced Tea and a cup of coffee ($2.60) and also 2 delicious popiah ($2.40).

That was a hearty meal at less than $10. In times like this, saving up every single cent surely counts. A meal at MacDonald's would cost more than $10 definitely.


Read Related Postings:
Top 10 Money Saving Tips
My Saving and Spending List
Drinking and Eating Your Way to Financial Freedom

Invest in Gold in Singapore

Gold needs to be part of anyone's portfolio in their journey to financial freedom. Gold serves as a hedge against any inflation. Usually, people recommend that 10% of your investments be in Gold. I currently have 0% in Gold and am looking for opportunities to purchase some Gold bullion or Gold coins. Based on what I have found thus far, only UOB offers gold investments. Please see below for what UOB offers:
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Gold Bars
Choose from a large variety of sizes, ranging from small gold wafers to cast kilobars. They can be bought from and sold back to the Bank with our daily buy-sell market quote.

Gold Bullion Coins
We offer the following bullion coins in various sizes, ranging from 1/20 oz to one oz:

• Canadian Maple Leaf Gold Coins
• American Eagle Gold Coins
• Australian Kangaroo Gold Nuggets
• Singapore Lion Gold Bullion Coins

These coins are legal tender with face value, and are accepted and traded worldwide. They can be bought from and sold back to the Bank with our daily buy-sell market quote.

Adjusted for Singapore market conditions.

Gold Certificates
These are sold in kilobars and up to a maximum of 30 kilobars per certificate. With no expiry date, these certificates can be exchanged for physical gold or cash whenever the need arises.

Gold Savings Account
You can buy and sell international gold - through a passbook - at prevailing market prices and transact any time during banking hours in units of one gm of gold, subject to a minimum of five gm per transaction.

Your gains are not subject to Singapore's Goods and Services Tax (GST) and can be exchanged for cash, whenever the need arises.

Limited to a maximum of 1,000 gm per transaction on Saturdays.

Silver Savings Account
It has never been easier to invest in silver. We have made the international silver market more accessible to smaller investors through our Silver Savings Account, where you can own unallocated silver bullion with a minimum fineness of 99.9%.

You can buy and sell international silver - through a passbook - at prevailing market prices in multiples of 10 ounces of silver each time, limited to a maximum of 500 ounces per transaction on Saturdays.

Your gains are not subject to Singapore's Goods and Services Tax (GST) and can be exchanged for cash, whenever the need arises.

How much does it cost?

• Check our daily gold and silver prices
• For Gold Bars: Prices are based on the daily international gold price adjusted based on Singapore market conditions
• For Gold Bullion Coins: Prices include a premium over the international gold price
• For Gold Certificates:
  • A flat S$5 per certificate
  • An administrative fee of S$30 per kilobar per annum
• For Gold Savings Account: An administrative fee (in grams of gold) as low as 0.12 gm per month or 0.25% p.a. on the highest balance per month, whichever is higher
  
• For Silver Savings Account: An annual administrative fee (in ounces of silver) as low as 0.2 ounce per month or 0.375% p.a. on the highest balance per month, whichever is higher

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The Dollar Crisis

It seems that many books and articles have been written about the coming demise of the US dollar and the effects it would have on the global economy.

In my journey to financial freedom, I understand that there must be a certain amount set aside hedge against inflation. But what if there is a total collapse of the entire financial system worldwide? What if the US dollar becomes absolutely worthless? How would that affect me and my savings?

If the day was to come when the US dollar becomes totally worthless, I think all countries willl be affected. Everyone will face inflation or hyperinflation and those currencies which are not backed by gold will suffer the most. Of course, this situation is just hypothetical but it could happen in our lifetime.

The best thing one can do is to make sure that a certain amount of money is set aside in Gold - which for the longest time in the history of mankind, has been used as money. Only in recent times have we as nations abandon the gold standard which was replaced by Man's money (easily reprintable and reproducable money).

I am looking for opportunities to invest in Gold.

So far, the only bank in Singapore that sells gold is UOB. I will explore this further in the next posting.

Gold as a Hedge against Inflation

I have been considering buying some physical Gold as a hedge against inflation.

Not too sure how to go about it though as it seems that UOB is the only bank that is selling physical gold coins and bullion in Singapore.

The prices of Gold however seems pretty high even now compared to their historical prices.