Hi Anon! Congratulations on embarking on the first step in taking charge of your retirement. In assessing whether you should do a top-up (Voluntary Contribution) into your CPF, here are some notes and factors I would consider: 1. Liquidity The first point I would like to flag here is that any contributions to your CPF are one-way . There is no way to withdraw the monies thereafter; even though you may use them for very specific applications (e.g. OA monies for Housing, MA for Medical treatments, etc). So please consider your current liquidity scenario before even thinking of topping up. 2. Current Cash & Cashflow The next important point to note would be your current cash situation. a. Have you paid off all outstanding loans/non-good debt? The interest charges from your loans (e.g. Credit Card debt / Student Loan) will erode any tax relief / interest yield from CPF. b. Do you need the cash in the immediate future? You need to plan what the immediate milestones are for yourself. You may need the cash to get married (wedding banquets are expensive!), or place a downpayment for a home and also for renovation. Consider how much these costs, factor in your cash inflows, and consider whether you still have enough set aside for topping up into CPF. Having said that, compound interest works wonders for you the earlier you start. So yes, if you have the factors above pinned down, I would definitely recommend topping up into your CPF-SA. (Do kindly note that you are eligible for tax relief only if you top up into your SA ) You may consider topping up less than $7,000 in the first year of your working considering that $7,000 is more than 20% of your total income earned in the first year. Hope this helps!

Hi Anon! I would say that SCB Jumpstart is a gift to all aged between 18 - 26 years old. So yes, definitely you should open the account now for this low-hurdle savings account. Additionally, if you have idle cash above the capped amount for DBS Multiplier, then yes, it makes sense to transfer them to the SCB Jumpstart account. However, it is worth inspecting deeper into your overall portfolio, and also understanding what your objectives (and timelines) are to better guide your decisions with your cash. After all, savings accounts are not the only way to get returns on your money; and in fact, there are instruments out there that can provide better returns (with risk).

Hi Johnny! There are a number of options for you if you decide to pursue further studies. However, you should first ask yourself: what is it that you would like to do in future? This should serve as the guiding principle for what you would do next. A common choice in your scenario would be to take the 'N' and 'O' levels as a private candidate, which would then open up more options in terms of further studies (e.g. Polytechnic Diploma, Pre-university, or even a Private degree).

Time in the market is better than timing the market. If you are sure of your investment objective and timeframe, and have also checked off all other major personal finance essentials (e.g. clearing bad debt, setting aside emergency fund), then there is no better time than now. On investments, returns are never guaranteed, but your costs are. Always seek to minimise costs. Hope this helps :)

Hi Sarah! Just sharing my thoughts as a layperson (i.e. I am not a Financial Adviser, nor a guru, but just another consumer like you :)) I personally do not think the offering is enticing at all. To be fair to Grab, I will assess it based on the 4 advantages/USPs it has shouted about on its product page: 1. Seamless Purchase: Get an instant quotation and purchase directly from the Grab App 2. Convenience: Store your own and your travel companions’ profiles for easy future purchase 3. Competitive Pricing: Premiums start as low as S$2.50 per day 4. Loyalty Rewards: Unlock discounts and offers for your next purchase Seamless Purchase To be honest, many insurance companies (and insurance comparison sites) today offer Mobile-optimised sites or even dedicated Mobile apps (e.g. Aviva or FWD). Convenience Similarly, the feature of storing traveller profiles is not unique to Grab alone; hence this is not unique to Grab. However, given the extensive reach of the Grab in mobile phones across Singapore, I must give merit to Grab here for this point because it reduces the hassle of installing another mobile app; although there is a workaround to this by simply using your mobile web browser and visiting mobile-optimised sites. Competitive Pricing Sure, the pricing is competitive. But looking at the price factor alone (and excluding benefit comparisons), this offering surely isn't the cheapest. Furthermore, as Chubb has engaged Grab to be the distributor of this insurance, there are bound to be marketing and advertising dollars that have to be borne by consumers for the business line to be profitable. Loyalty Rewards I couldn't find much information regarding the Rewards that may be earned with Travel Insurance transactions, but I believe it is the current 10 points per dollar payout. Using the redemption that provides the most value for these points (i.e. $25 Grab vouchers for Transport or GrabFood), you are looking at around 2.8% cashback - which is decent, but not worth pursuing if you simply want the cheapest single trip travel coverage. Hope this helps! :)

Hi Colin! Short answer: No Spend on DBS Altitude cards will be rewarded miles in the form of DBS points; which can be converted at the rate of 1 DBS Point to 2 miles. The rewarding of these DBS points is governed by the DBS Rewards Programme Terms and Conditions. Within the DBS Rewards Programme T&Cs, it is stated under clause 2.6 (a) that DBS Points will not be awarded for: - .... - Any top-ups or payment of funds to payment service providers , prepaid cards and any prepaid accounts (including EZ-Link, NETS FlashPay, Singtel Dash and Transit Link); - ... Hence, I strongly believe you are out of luck here. Nonetheless, it's best to reach out to a DBS service representative for their official response :)

Hi Anon! It is frankly tough to share an opinion on what you should do given the limited information we have about your current situation. Some additional considerations before you start investing should include: - Have you cleared any outstanding loans? Interest from loans are 100% definite, while gains from investments rarely are. Hence, it is wiser to first clear off your loans. - Do you have an emergency savings fund (e.g. 3-6 months of expenditure) saved up? - What is your investment time horizon and objective? - What does your current portfolio constitute? It is always adviceable to maintain a well-balanced portfolio in terms of global vs local, and risk (equities vs bonds, amongst others) Having said that, placing cash in the bank (especially with the SDIC insurance) carries very little risk, while investing in dividend stocks, as with any other equities, carries considerable capital risk. Hence, I’m not sure if you should be considering these side by side as similar vehicles. Do kindly do your own due diligence before proceeding :)

Hi Anon! It is frankly tough to share an opinion on what you should do given the limited information we have about your current situation. Some additional considerations before you start investing should include: - Have you cleared any outstanding loans? Interest from loans are 100% definite, while gains from investments rarely are. Hence, it is wiser to first clear off your loans. - Do you have an emergency savings fund (e.g. 3-6 months of expenditure) saved up? - What is your investment time horizon and objective? - What does your current portfolio constitute? It is always adviceable to maintain a well-balanced portfolio in terms of global vs local, and risk (equities vs bonds, amongst others) Hope you have all these addressed first before proceeding to invest your first dollar :)

Hi Anon! Firstly, congratulations on starting on your investment journey and trying to make your money work for you. As the OCBC BCIP is a 'Regular Savings Plan' (RSP), I am assuming you are approaching investing based on the Dollar Cost Averaging approach. Without any other information about your current financial status or portfolio, I would simply say that it is better to track an Index as compared to picking individual stocks. A general rule of thumb would thus be to invest in G3B (Equity portfolio) and MBH (Bond portfolio). Ideally, you should add Global exposure into this portfolio as well, but BCIP does not offer these counters. The allocation to Equities should be based on the following formula (110-Your Age). For example, if you are 25 this year, (110-25 = 85%) of your portfolio should be in Equities (G3B) and 15% in Bonds (MBH). Having said that, I would also recommend looking beyond OCBC BCIP because of the limitation in counters that you can buy. You can also adopt a Dollar Cost Averaging approach with other Index ETFs, such as VOO (which tracks the S&P 500), which has historically produced better returns than the STI ETF. One recommended brokerage for this is Standard Chartered that charges relatively low fees in this market. Although this approach is more manual, you should save more in the long run in terms of fees, and also get better returns. However, past performance is no indicator of future results, and also, do your own due diligence! :) Hope this helps!

Hi Ryan! Assuming you only spend $200 on public transport (Bus + MRT), then the short answer is Concession Pass (Adult Monthly Travel Card). With the Citi SMRT credit card, assuming you only use this card for public transport (at $200 a month), the rebate is only 1.7% for spending less than $200. Total Savings: $3.40 Meanwhile, with an Adult Monthly Travel card, you only pay a flat $128 for Unlimited travel on both Bus and MRT rides. Total Savings: $72 (+Bonus extra rides that you may not account for in the month with the Unlimited capacity)