It’s happening. Own assets or get left behind. The US treasury is signalling that it cannot tolerate high borrowing cost for long term bonds. This while the Federal Reserve is standing still, not intervening. When it does, it will be literal money printing.
Back in May, YouTrip ran a travel promo where users could get 3% cashback, capped at S$12, after spending S$400, supposedly limited to the first 4,500 eligible users.
I joined the campaign shortly after it started and deliberately used YouTrip for my travel expenses. I hit the S$400 requirement within just a few days.
What made me think I had qualified was that the app had a visual progress bar/counter showing my progress and indicating that I was eligible for the cashback. So naturally, I continued using YouTrip instead of another card because I thought I had secured the promo.
Fast forward to the end of July, when the cashback was supposed to be credited.
Nothing.
No cashback, no notification saying I didn’t qualify, no update at all.
I emailed YouTrip customer service and their response was basically that the promotion was only for the first 4,500 users, and apparently I wasn’t one of them.
This is what I don’t understand.
If the app was already tracking my spending and showing that I had met the promotional requirement, why couldn’t it also tell me whether the 4,500-user allocation had already been exhausted?
More importantly: how can customers independently verify that 4,500 people actually received the cashback?
From the customer’s perspective, what’s stopping a company from running a “first X users” promotion, getting thousands of people to spend more using their service, and then simply telling anyone who asks that they weren’t within the first X?
I’m not saying that YouTrip literally didn’t pay 4,500 users**,** I obviously don’t have evidence of that. But the complete lack of transparency makes the promotion feel very questionable.
At minimum, I would expect one of these:
Otherwise, the progress bar feels misleading. Showing someone “you’ve met the requirement” is very different from telling them, two months later, “actually, too bad, you weren’t fast enough.”
Did anyone here actually receive the May YouTrip 3% travel cashback promo?
Would be interesting to know when you hit the S$400 spending requirement and when the cashback was credited.
Also realised they now have a new campaign for their anniversary for the first 3038 users this time. Well, good luck to YouTrip users.
S$18 an hour. That's what five months of AI content work on the side actually pays once you divide it out honestly.
28M, normal office job, about S$4.2k take home. A friend runs a chicken rice stall in a coffee shop near Toa Payoh and his Instagram was basically dead. I'd been experimenting with AI image generation in my free time, so I offered to create social content for him using a consistent AI character as a sort of brand mascot since he didn't want to be on camera himself.
The total across five months is S$1,900, and here is the actual split. My friend's stall: first month I did free because I was still figuring things out and felt weird charging for half baked work. After that we agreed on S$300 a month, so four months at S$300 is S$1,200. Then separately, one of his suppliers runs a small agency and needed a batch of lifestyle images for a bubble tea brand's Instagram stories. One time project, S$700. So that's S$1,200 plus S$700, S$1,900.
I logged hours loosely and the total comes to roughly 105 hours across the five months. S$1,900 divided by 105 is about S$18 an hour. Private tuition pays S$30 to S$50 easily. Even GrabFood can clear about S$18 with way less mental overhead. So the hourly rate is nothing to shout about.
The biggest reason the rate is so mediocre is the reject pile. Roughly one out of every three images I generated had to be thrown away. Lighting would be off, fingers would look wrong, or the character's face would drift slightly from the reference even with consistency settings on. My workflow was Notion to track deliverables, APOB AI for the character because once you nail down a face it stays put from image to image (they offer free credits each day, which covered all my early experimenting), and Canva for the text overlays and final sizing. The face consistency was the whole selling point since every post features the same “person,” but getting there meant generating three images to keep two. That rework is where all the hours went.
To be straight about it, the character across all these posts was created with AI, not a photograph of a real human. My friend knew from day one and was completely fine with it. The bubble tea agency knew too. If you ever do this kind of work, it's important to be honest about that.
I also tried making short video clips twice and gave up. The character's face drifts across frames, expressions floating in a way that looks off if you watch closely. Still images are where the consistency actually holds up. Video right now, at least in my experience, means a lot of unusable takes and I wouldn't promise it to a client.
On the practical side, S$1,900 across five months is way under the personal income tax threshold so no IRAS issues. No CPF obligation since this is casual freelance, not formal self employment. I kept simple records anyway just in case.
This is beer money, not career money. It covers maybe a few nice meals or a month of transport. It's definitely not replacing a salary and I wouldn't tell anyone to quit their job for this. The workflow is faster now that I have the character set up and know what prompts work, so the ongoing hours per month are lower. But the dollars per hour are still mediocre compared to almost any other side hustle in Singapore.
The main value honestly was learning the tools and understanding what content gets traction. Whether S$1,900 was worth 105 hours versus just doing tuition, probably not on pure dollars. But I picked up a useful skill, helped a friend whose weekend crowd has picked up a bit, and I have a reusable setup if another gig comes along. Not life changing money, but I learned something and I'm not mad about it.
Disclaimer: I got lucky. Don't follow my lead. Don't buy ILPs. I'm not an FA. None of this is investment advice. If anyone is interested enough, you can go dig through my post history and find me writing (multiple times) against buying ILPs. I also remember writing several years ago about why I decided to keep this ILP instead of surrendering it.
8 years ago, a friend from university reached out. He was upfront that he just started working as an FA, and asked if I wanted to meet for a chat. I obliged. He was not pushy, and gave me several days to consider. I eventually bought the original AIA Pro Achiever (1.0 version) with him at $300 per month. I vaguely remember that we discussed a few options and agreed on a slightly higher risk allocation (increased allocation to tech and emerging markets).
A quick note before we continue: This is the original version of the AIA Pro Achiever. I understand it has since gone through several revisions and is now sold as AIA Pro Achiever 3.0. I don't know what difference there are, and have no interest in spending time to find out.
A couple years in, I started reading up more on how to invest and jumped on the IWDA+EIMI train (VWRA did not exist at that time). I overhauled all my insurance policies (sold to me by another university friend), terminated my whole life policies and bought term life from a different agent. Basically this sub's mantra of "buy term and invest the rest". But for various reasons, I kept this ILP. It was performing decently, I didn't need the money, I could afford $300 per month, the fact that I can shift fund allocations whenever I want (never did in 8 years), sunk cost fallacy, etc etc. It's the only ILP I still hold.
By then, the friend who sold me this policy had left the industry, and I met up the agent who took over my account. I recall the new agent trying to tell me to shift my allocation away from tech as it was performing badly (this was during the COVID crash). He also mentioned how he had helped his other clients to rebalance their allocations so they didn't lose as much money during the crash. But I didn't vibe well with him, so I declined shifting my allocations and didn't contact him further. Less than a year later when the markets rebounded to all time highs, I couldn't help but think about how his clients would have missed out on one of the fastest market recoveries in history.
I continued paying $300 per month until 2-3 years ago, when I switched to paying annually. Fast forward to today, the policy is reaching its 8th year anniversary soon, so I decided to check how this policy is doing. To my surprise, it performed way better than I expected. In fact, if you ignore the surrender penalty, it's actually beating the 8% projection in the policy illustration.
Regardless of how you look at it, 9% p.a. is really good. Of course if I had put the money into IWDA or VWRA, I would probably have gotten around 12-14% p.a. with the added benefit of full liquidity instead of being locked in.
But this is exactly what an ILP is supposed to be. For people who don't know how to or don't have the discipline to invest on their own, 9% p.a. is a fantastic deal.
I must say this wasn't what I had expected when I logged in to the AIA app today. Again, no idea what has changed in the newer AIA Pro Achiever policies or other ILPs, so YMMV.
This policy has another 5 more years before reaching year 13 when I can surrender without a penalty. So I guess stay tuned for an update in 5 years.
I know this sub is generally against ILPs (and for good reason). But perhaps if someone has already sunken cost in, depending on the policy, it's not always the worst decision to just bite the bullet and hold on. Does anyone have any similar positive experiences with ILPs? (please show receipts so people don't accuse you of shilling)
Addendum: Because people keep harping on this, yes I know no ILPs will beat the market. But for the vast majority of people outside this sub who don't know how to invest themselves or don't have the discipline to, a 9% return is way better than putting money into fixed deposits or savings accounts. This is also less than 10% of my total investments (excluding property). The rest of my money are all in all-world indexes in IBKR.
I have 4000$ invested into Amundi Index MSCI World.
I am planning to invest 15000$ one shot now and was thinking of the Amundi Prime USA fund as well.
Apart from this, I am planning to DCA $1000 every month into either of the 2 funds.
Which fund should I go for the lumpsum investment and monthly DCA? Is there a x% y% split I should follow? or in the long run it doesn't matter.
just graduated from university and the tfl is kicking in. reality hits and i realise everyone around me are privileged enough to have their degree fully paid by their parents
they made it sound like a $30k loan is terrible so now im anxious because im wondering if a $30k loan will set me back by a lot compared to my peers ... im doing slow monthly repayments (not enough cash on hand to pay in full and because im considering bto which adds to the worries) i know i can pay it back but having a debt (and a potential housing loan) just unsettles me especially since i feel like im alone in this
is a $30k student debt crazy? what can i do right now? get me out of this mindset please
My CPF is neither here nor there. Assuming I don’t get an increment, I’d contribute about $1k to my OA each month. Turning 35 in 2 years should set my OA balance to $68k
At 25% downpayment - the maximum price of a flat I can afford is $272k which is wild because no flat is going at the price.
Now that I computed the fact I can’t get a resale, would it be wise to invest OA? Since I only need to pay 10% of BTO price upon signing of agreement for lease.
Then I can accumulate OA while the flat is building to finish paying the remaining 15%.
Any thoughts?
Sure, I have that much spare cash.
Hello this is Pet10003, your favorite DBS uncle
Today will be a very interesting case study on how lower yields affect risk assets and banking stocks in general. BTC has risen shapely in tandem with Gold and Silver which rarely happens, as they have an opposite relationship (one is risk assets, one is safe haven).
So how is it possible that both BTC and PMs go up while Semis and banks drop?
Yields have a very interesting relationship with DXY and interest rates and bank NIMs. When treasury steps in to buy bonds as they plan to do, bond price go up, yields drop - and in particular the 10, 20 and 30 year. Because US bonds are now more expensive and less attractive to investors, money flows out to other foreign currency bonds that give higher yields, and DXY drops - hence PMs go up.
Also, because safe haven treasury bonds are now less attractive due to lower yields, money flows into risk assets such as BTC and ETH which give it a boost
Bank NIMs are influenced by overnight interest rates which are fixed, but long term mortgage rates stretching 10 to 20 years are more influenced by long term bond yield rates rather than overnight fed interest rates. With NIM compression, bank stocks will drop and we are seeing that right now with US banks.
Our local banks are now entering a technical phase with declining MACD and RSI, coupled with declining US yields, could potentially see short term downside at their current price levels.
A short term down cycle presents a nice buying opportunity, as with the latest MAS stance to attract more wealth into Singapore, I expect fee income to increase for our local banks. Get ready for a short term pull back and accumulate for long term gains.
I’ll see you again after the pullback. Take care
Disclaimer: this is uncle talk and not financial advice hor. For financial advice, pls speak to your local coffeeshop uncle
Curious how everyone here tracks their FIRE progress. Spreadsheets? Apps? Some combo?
What works, what's annoying, and what do you wish existed? Not asking about investment strategy — more about the tracking/planning tools themselves.
First-time poster, am completely new to this 😬
Spoke with a CP Global rep; the firm has 2 funds, local (est. 2013) and offshore (est. 1990s). Local buy-in is ~100k, offshore buy-in is 25k, annual returns for each are abt 10-15%. Worst annual return for the offshore fund across 10 years was 10.2%. Offshore fund invests across a basket of currencies, commodities, and indices. AUM ~1.5bn.
Given that CP Global is MAS-licensed and annual returns look solid, am tempted to invest with them but can't find much info abt them. What red flags should I look out for / further questions to ask? TIA!
Edit: linking another post on CP Global that I found on this sub
41, single, retired and living in a paid 3-room HDB. Assets below, in SGD.
Liquid:
SRS:
CPF:
Equity allocation is currently 60% of total assets, excluding HDB. Intend to redeem 30k of SSBs to invest gradually in VWRA over the next few months.
Spent 20k in 2025 and project to spend 25k in 2026. If equity allocation falls below 70%, spending is funded by dividends, interest, coupons and SSB redemptions. Otherwise, spending is funded by selling VWRA.
Seeking comments on the above. Thanks!
Thanks for all the comments so far. To be more specific, I'm interested in your views on my portfolio composition, the 70% threshold and the withdrawal strategy.
Hi I would like to check for new launch condo.
We only pay the full amount of loan mortgage one year after TOP?
Currently on progressive payment.
Thank you.
Hi my parents recently sold their house to downgrade to a smaller one in preparation for retirement. Both at 65 years old and not much other liquid assets. My sibling and I are both working and will not need their financial support. We do not have any other debt and our monthly expenses is about 6.5k a month
The situation
What I was thinking of doing
Questions
Appreciate all your inputs!
Hi all, 29F recently started to invest. I used to be very risk adverse so I’ve just been hoarding cash in bank accs (which I now know is a huge mistake). My current cash in bank accounts is around ~184K and current salary is 7k (take home 5.6k after cpf deductions)
How much would you DCA monthly into VWRA if you were me? Taking into consideration I already hoarded so much cash, should I just DCA 5k every month? Or is there a better way to do this? Need some tips and advice from the experts thank you 🙏🏻
Aiming for long term growth and returns rather than a quick buck.
Bought into ILP before I learned stocks and ETFs are generally better. Here’s my stats with value slightly changed for anon:
AIA Pro Achiever
Started paying 2022. Agent tell me if quit before 10 years, need pay charges ie surrender values > premiums paid if I quit in 2032
Maturity date in 2098
Paying annually SGD 10K
Total premium paid is 50K, total fund value 63K. Surrender value 25K
Should I just cut my losses and dump the ILP to get back 25K but not have to pay again? Or keep it until no more charge?
So I have 1 Reno loan (DBS), 2 personal loans (Citibank & UOB), 2 credit card outstanding balance (Citibank & UOB).
I have converted my Citibank CC outstanding balance into installments. I'm left with UOB CC outstanding of $3.6K, which I'm paying the minimum. I'm planning to get balance transfer to pay off full my UOB CC.
My question is, should I get Balance Transfer from UOB or Citibank , or new bank? I'm considering Standard Chartered. If I do apply SC, I'll be managing 4 banks.
I tried to read more on Citibank Balanced transfer but it's very vague. I have to call to ask .
Hi fellow redditors, I've been lurking around here but wanted to seek advice on my next steps in life (mostly financially, but maybe also physically and mentally to be well-rounded)...
Brief background:
I have some interests of my own and hang out with family/friends, but somehow life just feels mundane. But I do know it is a privilege to feel this way.
Personally I do think I'm doing average or at best fairly well compared to my peers (many probably don't disclose their financials here anyway), but somehow it just never feels enough. Hence I'm wondering if anyone had a similar financial/life at this age phase and what would they share as an advice be it opportunities or pitfalls?
Edit: Wanted to keep this gender neutral at first cos I feel like it doesn’t have much impact on the point I’m making in this post. But yes I am female and the number of assumptions thinking I’m a guy is so damn high… not sure if it’s the profile of this sub?
Hi everyone, looking for insights from anyone who has financed an Australian property while based in Singapore.
Status: SC+ Aus PR (working in SG)
Monthly Income: ~8k++ net take-home (~S10k gross)
Existing Debt: ~S$200,000 outstanding HDB housing loan, 15++ yrs left.
Target: Residential property in Australia (plan to invest initially, then transition to PPOR)
Questions:
**Singapore Bank vs. Australian Bank Financing**
* Which route gives a higher borrowing capacity after accounting for my existing S$200k HDB gov loan left.
* Any idea what’s the rough borrowing rate via an overseas property loan from an SG bank (DBS/OCBC/UOB in SGD or AUD)? I’m trying to compare it against an expat/foreign-income package from an Australian lender (I have rough numbers).
* is the idea of mortgage splitting across both an Australian and a Singaporean bank for the same property, an option?
**Investment vs PPOR**
* does buying for rental vs for myself make a difference in max loan amount I can get?
Would love to hear from mortgage brokers, expats, or anyone who has navigated this recently. Thx!