I'm not investing in US stocks at the moment, but from what I read, some people will choose to reinvest their dividends. This way, they won't get taxed for their dividends, and they will also be able to buy more shares.

I think this highly depends on your current income and how much of it you're allocating to your savings. There's going to be quite a bit of planning to do. Are you paying for your school fees on your own? Do you need to save as you go? How much more can you allocate to savings for your future BTO? Assuming that you'll be paying for your wedding with your savings, that brings you down to 5k (probably a bit more since you still have a few more months to save)? Even if you successfully BTO next year, you'll still have to wait at least 3 years before you collect the keys and make any big payment. Don't forget renovation costs. Your HDB loan will only be lower if you're still studying full-time (likely working part-time?) at the point of assessment. That might just play well for you since you're likely to get more from the EHG with a lower household income. Your timeline actually ain't that bad, you just gotta prioritize and ask yourself if you'll benefit from getting a degree. I finally decided to get a degree after working for 5 years and unfortunately, I have to save up for it as I go. It's also eating into the amount that I'm saving for my BTO, though I haven't had any luck with getting a ballot. Even though it limits what I can do right now, I know it's an investment that'll be worth it. Oh yea, it definitely also depends on which field you're interested in!

Sometimes I feel that it's just a status symbol now since there's nothing spectacular between releases. But to be honest, Apple's ecosystem is really pretty solid, it is super easy to transfer any information between your iPhone and whichever Mac you're using. I don't have one myself, but I've also heard that the Apple Watch is one of the best, so it supports a seamless lifestyle. It helps that the products are really intuitive and user-friendly, at least for me. Like Cedric mentioned, Apple products can last quite a while. Even though I've recently switched to the Google Pixel 'cus I couldn't stomach the crazy iPhone prizes, I'm definitely waiting to see how well my Pixel can serve me in the long run. Another thing I realised is that iPhone's resale prices are generally higher than other brands, which might be a factor for some people?

OCBC 360! I was on Frank previously and it was pretty useful in helping me save money with the saving goals feature. Switched to OCBC 360 for the bonus interest rates, also because I got a credit card. Even if you don't have CC with OCBC 360, having money going in monthly gives you bonus interest. And since you won't be spending money on that account, you'll definitely be able to unlock another bonus interest by having your balance increase by at least $500 from the previous month. The saving goals features are available in 360 too so it's pretty helpful!

If you've made no prior nomination or will, your CPF proceeds will go to the government. I'm assuming here that you may be donating other assets to charity too, or have specific people you would like to have those assets; which means you'll need to make a will so that all assets will be distributed according to your wishes.

Hi anon! Truth is, stress from work is never going to end, and it's only likely to increase as you have more work responsibilities. It's important that you still speak to your family and partner about what's troubling you at work though. Otherwise, the feelings will pile up and it might only make the situation worse. Doing so also allows them to know what you're going through at work, while they might not be able to help with the situation, at least they can offer support. It takes a lot of effort on our part, at least for me, to compartmentalise work stress. I know that I became a lot more impatient with people around me due to work, so I'm constantly reminding myself to be mindful. All the best and jia you!

I was in a similar situation previously too! Unfortunately, my reason to consider giving up my savings plan was not to invest on my own, but more because I needed to replan my finances to fund my part-time studies. When I bought the plans, I was (still am) considered low-risk sort of person, and that was probably why I felt that those plans were attractive. But I was setting aside $500/mth for those savings plans, on top of my regular savings and that was a little too much for me to handle. It was a painful process, but in the end, I decided to surrender two of them. That cost me slightly more than $2k since I've been holding them for 1-2 years. I kept the first one though (4 years in), partially because I couldn't bear to lose that much anymore and I could still keep up with the premiums. This may not be as helpful as the rest since I'm also super new at this. But I feel it'll be helpful to evaluate if you're able to keep up with the savings premiums on top of your own investments? Also, if you're new to investments like me, do you have the time to manage your portfolio such that you'll get better returns?

If you have an OCBC debit account as well, you can use your debit card to pay! It's important to know your billing cycle, so you'll know when the bill will be ready for payment. If you're worried, you can always set a recurring reminder to check your account. You'll also receive a credit card statement, (mine's by email, I can't remember if that has to be triggered or if it's automatic), but this should serve as a reminder as well. This takes a few days for the bank to process though, but usually, there's quite a lot of time to make payment. I personally don't like to use GIRO to pay my credit card bills as I like to check through every entry in the statement.

I suppose this depends on the culture at your workplace, is it more sensitive towards such topics? Also how close you are with these colleagues? I recently gone through something similar and to most of the colleagues, I told them that I had my own appointments. But to the closer ones, I did share that I was going for a job interview.

I'm not at a masters level yet as I am pursuing a part-time bachelor's degree, but I assume it will definitely be more vigorous. Working full-time while studying part-time is downright tiring. It involves sacrificing time that you'd have spent with your family and friends, sometimes even your hobby. If for some reason, you tend to end work late or have late meetings, rushing to school can take a toll on your mental capacity to be attentive in class. Plus, I'm not sure if the same applies for masters, I find that some of my modules are very touch-and-go. Like for example, maybe a full time degree would let students run a 'real' campaign for a public relations module? But for us, it was just on paper. If I had the chance to start over and have enough finances to fund a full time programme without having to work, I'd take it. Good luck though!