$1 Fish and Chips

Yes, you heard me right! There is a special promotion of $1 fish and chips at Fish and Co.

All you have to do is go to the Fish and Co Earth Hour promotion and spread the message and they will give you a $1 coupon which entitles you to a $1 fish and chips (terms and conditions applies).

You can only use one coupon per table though.

I used the voucher today and managed to grab a nice pan of fish and chips at $1.00. Never mind that the total bill added up to over $20 in the end, the feeling of getting a discount or good deal always feels good.

Everybody in the restaurant were literally using the coupon, waving the printed sheet of paper in their hands. I saw big groups of people that even split themselves into smaller groups so that they could maximise the number of coupons they had. Some came in earlier and ordered separately before their friends joined them at nearby tables and they then proceeded to combine their tables. The waiters and waitresses seemed a bit overwhelmed by the various methods used though.

Anyway, I was quite surprised to realise that this ongoing promotion was actually part of the Earth Hour promotion. Perhaps the word should be "amused". I can imagine the Green Peace activists flipping in their chairs when they see the amount of paper that customers have used to print the coupons for the discount. Talk about saving the earth =)

Well, fish and chips at Fish and Co is always good and at $1 per pan, it is an offer not to be missed!

Public Transport Cheap

A few weeks back, I commented that it took me $0.91 per trip to use the bus to get to one of my destinations. This makes a two-way trip a mere $1.82.

With the rising costs of COE prices which I have highlighted previously, a lot of Singaporeans will have to consider taking public transport as an option.

Comparing the costs of public transport and car ownership

Public transport in Singapore is definitely affordable I must say. Compared to a car, if one was to spend $5 on public transport each day, the total cost per month only adds up to $150. That is assuming that the person does not take any taxi. But we can add in some discretionary taxi expenses at say $150 per month and the grand total is ONLY $300.

Compared to a car's monthly charges of $1000 and up, $300 is definitely very affordable. One can save the difference and invest in stocks or REITs to beef up their retirement funds. This is indeed a worthwhile option that people should consider.

Cheap but....

Today I took my regular two way trip which cost me $1.82. While public transport is cheap, it is not entirely "convenient" per se.

On my first trip, I had to wait 10 minutes for the bus. Due to this long waiting time, I was late for my appointment by 5 minutes as I still had to walk a certain distance to get to where I wanted to go.

On my return trip, I faced some dilemma. The bus was crowded and there was only standing space left. When I had about 5 stops left to my stop, I was sort of "forced" to move to the back as that was the only way new passengers could get in.

I did not want to block the way yet at the same time, had to lament the fact that after 5 stops, I would have to SQUEEZE my way out of the bus. So yes, the bus is cheap but it does put you in a tight spot (literally) at times.

Great World City Experience

I spent the morning at Great World City today.

I went to Toast Box for breakfast. It was then that I realised that the people in front of me were Japanese. Yet, they managed to converse in English to the auntie who was serving them in Toast Box. After eating some really great nasi lemak at Toast Box, I proceeded to walk around Great World City.

While I was passing by starbucks, I noticed another pair of Japanese. I looked into starbucks and couldn't help noticed that there were hardly any locals at all.

At Cold Storage, I couldn't help noticing that majority of the people there were expats or foreigners. Even the staff did not look like they were from Singapore.

It felt pretty weird shopping around in a place where I was literally the only local around. (Okay, I must be exaggerating a little). Perhaps there were a few other locals around.

Oh well, with 5 million people in our country, I would expect to bump into some foreigners. But to bump into an entire shopping centre that is filled with them makes me wonder whether we are a segregated society where certain groups of people can only be found at certain places.

Portfolio Update

With NOL increasing in price quite a bit over the past few months, I decided to let go of my remaining holdings of NOL at $1.93. With the liquidation, I have one less stock to monitor in my portfolio. Monitoring so many stocks at a go can sometimes be a bit challenging.

As the stock market rises further, I also intend to slowly liquidate my stocks to build up some spare cash so that I can buy when the opportunity presents itself. These include stocks like Pac Andes, Innotek and Kingboard. I seriously hope that the prices will continue to rise so that I can cash out of these stocks and place my money elsewhere.

I bought into Capitaland a few months back. Capitaland has also declared dividends recently. I expect the dividends to come in around May and that should help to boost up my income a bit.

I will continue to focus my purchases on stocks that give good dividends.

Know of a stock that gives a good dividend? Share it with me and the readers here.

COE prices skyrocket

COE prices skyrocket

Last week, I posted a short article Time to Buy a Car? on COE prices increasing because of the government's move to restrict the supply of COE.

On 24th Mar 2010, the news reported that COE prices have skyrocketed to $28,389 for cars of up to 1,600cc and $36,089 for cars above 1,600cc.

It will definitely not be surprising if the prices continue to climb higher as that is what the authorities hope to achieve. With a limited supply of COE and a high demand for cars, bidders will have no choice but to push the prices higher.

I remember the days when COE prices were going for less than $1,000. The COE for my car was around $14K which is pretty cheap compared to today's prices.

How the ordinary Singaporean is going to afford a car is now a big question mark. With prices so high, I think most people are better off taking public transport. Couple it with the ever increasing HDB prices, the cost of living in Singapore is definitely going up.

Why People Buy Cars

I guess the better way to deal with the problem is to look at the reasons why people drive:

1. Convenience (Public transport is inconvenient)

2. Comfort (Public transport is not comfortable)

3. Status (Singaporeans value status and one is deemed to have made it if they drive a car)

Let me expound on the points further...

For convenience- Family with kids, pregnant women, old folks, rushing for time. All these play a part in people's decision to buy a car. If public transportation is not convenient enough for me, I will opt for the car.

For comfort - Buses can be old, dirty and smelly. Good thing they have removed the noisy TVMobile. During peak hours, when one is weary from work, "fighting" with the crowds just to get on and off the bus or train is a headache. The Singapore weather is also a killer. Hot and humid weather means you get sweaty just by waiting at the bus stop. When it is cool, it usually means that it is raining and one can prepare to get their feet soaked wet.

For status - In Singapore, the car is associated with STATUS. Isn't that what all the Channel 5 and Channel 8 shows have inculcated in us since we were young. The TV ads for cars are also too alluring and thus people are wired from young to desire for the biggest and nicest car.

A Better Way to Deal With Traffic Jams?

But is there a better way to deal with traffic jams and the clogging up of roads? So far, the government has implemented a slew of measures to prevent the overcrowding that is taking place on roads.

We have the COE and ERP that have been put in place to curb the amount of congestion of roads. But have these policies worked?

This is clearly a case where the government has decided that the only way to control the problem is to let the highest bidder pay for the right to use a car. After all, the reasons why people chose to drive a car cannot be easily answered even with the best public transportation system in place.

How High COE Prices Will Affect One's Personal Finance

For many potential first time car owners, they will probably have to put off the decision of buying a car. With COE prices at nearly half a year's wages for the average Singaporean, is it worthwhile to use up 0.5 years of wages to obtain the COE for a car that you can only drive for 10 years? That is a question lots of young adults will have to answer for themselves. Or perhaps they should put off the decision of buying a car only when they have started a family.

For those who cannot live without a car, be prepared to pay higher prices for the years to come. You might want to cut down on other expenses (e.g. holidays, luxury goods) and start saving up the money for the next car that you want to purchase.

Invitation to blog@IM$avvy

Dear friends,

I have been quite amazed at what this blog has achieved in such a short period of time. I have gotten countless of offers for help from readers. I have gotten lots of encouragement from strangers. And now I even got an offer to blog at CPF's IM$avvy.

I have been considering about the option and was wondering whether it would be too heavy a committment to commit to. Besides, I don't get paid. But nevertheless, I think it would be good exposure for me.

The email that was sent to me earlier this month is attached below (I have omitted certain sensitive information):
_______________________________________

Hi FF,

We will like to invite you onboard as IM$avvy Blog Corner Financial blogger.

IM$avvy is an initiative by CPF Board to provide an interesting and interactive portal for working and young adults to get information on financial matters such as financial planning, retirement, property and investment. One of our main goals is to increase awareness of our younger generation on the importance of financial planning so that they can start planning early and enjoy a secure retirement. In addition to having a blog on our website, we also host a forum, an info hub, webcasts and many more. To better connect with our target audience, we have established our presense on social networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter and FriendFeed! You can visit our website: www.imsavvy.sg to find out more.

Currently, we have 8 resident bloggers and we are looking for more talented writers and subject matter experts like yourself to join us. We will prefer bloggers contributing new posts at regular intervals e.g. once or twice a week and committing to do so for a period of one year. Alternatively, do let us know what is a comfortable arrangement for you. We can also look into publishing your current and past blog entries on IM$avvy Blog Corner instead of limiting to only submitting new posts. You can refer to the file attached in this email for more general information for IM$avvy bloggers.

On the average, each post has about 2,500 page views. IM$avvy Blog Corner will be a good channel to raise the profile of your blog. At the same time, you can take this opportunity to interact with our members. Participation of our bloggers are on a voluntary basis and there is no fee paid to them.

Do let me know your interest and we can discuss this further. Feel free to contact me at tel: XXXXXXXX for any enquiry.

Look forward to hearing favourable news from you.


Best Regards,
XXXXX

____________________________

Filing of Income Tax

The dreaded time of the year is upon all those who earn greater than $22,000 again. The time has come for the annual income tax filing.

This year, it will be a bit more tricky for me to file my returns. My previous employer was auto included in IRAS so I did not have to file any returns except when claiming for reliefs.

This year, I am on a self-employed status. Thus, I need to fill in my income that I have obtained from various trading activity, tuition (which I just started), etc. This gives me a big headache and I hope to settle the filing of my income tax soon.

Is filing income tax a big headache for you? What kind of problems do you face?