I personally love a good crunchy apple (might irritate people with the crunching though, sorry neighbour) 1. It's healthy, 2. stops hungry pangs for those on diet, 3. better at keeping you awake & alert than coffee (read this somewhere) 4. cheap & easy to get (giant sells gala apples for $2.25 for 5)

IT Show is coming 14 Nov -17 Nov. You can try there to get better deals? I'm not sure you can find something powerful & brand new with $600 though unless you are looking for something 2nd hand. Less than $1000 might still be possible for brand new. Edit: My notion of powerful might be different from yours. Bought a brand new asus laptop last dec for around $1100. Do keep note of your requirements and also consider if the budget is more important or if flexibility is more important, so that you are firm during your purchase. For reference, I tried to think like you and budget $1000 for a brand new laptop / tablet. I've bought a laptop last year with a firm notion of what I need it for, home use only, rejecting a tablet as more of a "want" than a "need". However, 7-8 months down the road, I realised that I should have bought a tablet with keyboard instead, as it more useful for work. I work in the design industry, so a tablet would be more convenient than stacks of paper. It'll also conveys a more professional hi-tech feel. Still Ok for me not to buy the tablet this 1-2 years but based on the digitalisation in my industry, looks like I have to get a tablet soon. So do think carefully about your needs. And make your your 'needs' are really 'needs' and your 'wants' are really 'wants' (or at least won't turn into 'needs' within 1-2 years)

If the couple divorce, it will depend on if they are in a hurry to sell the flat. If they want to get rid of it fast, you can negotiate with them or their agents for a slightly lower price. I’m pretty sure divorce is considered personal and not required to be informed to potential buyers. If you are thinking of Feng Shui, ie unluckiness, doubt it’ll make much of a difference. P/s if it’s every couple that stays there, will break in 1-2 years then maybe there’s an impact after some time? Only can find out if you speak to nosy... I mean friendly neighbours. For death. Seriously no idea. It might turn some people off. But I doubt it will drop to the level like Hong Kong. But this brings up an interesting question. Are the owners or agent obliged by Singapore law to tell potential buyers if a death (whether natural or not) has occurred in the house? I’ve only read of this requirement for the US and HK.

I'm reading this question as "should I take a loan to invest?" Personally, I won't recommend it; as it investments itself has a certain risk, you will be doubling the risk by taking a loan for investments. Leveraging should only be done if you know what you are doing, and the risks involved. It will also be good if you have a bale-out plan (i.e. extra funds), just in case your leveraging fails. Since you are on internship (which wouldn't last forever), I would suggest that you take this time to 1. organise your budget, 2. learn how to cut your budget to the bare minimum, and 3. read up more on investments. You can start after you sort yourself out and start after your internship. 1 & 2 would be really helpful when you start to get a proper salary, as your expense will be kept at $1200, the rest of it all will be for savings & investments (maybe a little extra for parents).

Not really answering. I'm adding more questions to this post for the gurus out there. Are the investment accounts really referring to Investment company type investments, i.e they are investing for stock yield? Or are they investing in companies that can help with their growth? (e.g. companies can manufacture parts they need, companies that are working on future technology that can be added to their future release?) If it's the 2nd, it would make sense, I think. Asking cause I've read some US reports that highlighted how Apple was working on new AI & AR technologies. Also there are reports on how some big tech firms are using technology from smaller firms instead of competing with them (eg amazon)

I have no idea. So far I have not bought a phone. Still using the iPhone 7 I got at a lucky draw 2 years back, even though it has a crack across the screen. Bought a laptop last year for $1200 and regretting it now. Should have bought a surface pro instead. It’s more practical for work.

I don't GIRO my Payments, as it is better to review statements before payments, so you can dispute transactions in a timely manner. GIRO will tend to make people lazy to look at statements, so they might not catch errors in time. (I don't think there will be late payment if your payment is recorded as paid through GIRO though) I will set a fixed date to pay all my credit card bills, e.g end of the month. Usually, this will be before the payment due date. It works for me partly as I don't wait for the bill to make my payments. I will record my own transactions on Seedly app. During my set payment date, I will cross check my recorded transactions against the card recorded transactions and pay based on what I have spent instead of what is on the bill. So sometimes, I will end up paying more than the bill, as I've included the payment for items in the following month's bill.

I was looking at it, but decided to go with Singtel's SIM only plan. $25.35 for just the basic package (5MB +10MB).

My immediate reaction to your post is; “Come on who are you kidding! A design job without OT? That’s like KFC without chicken!” Onward to solving your problem; I suggest that you flag it up to your boss to ask for more design related jobs. Behind their back you look for another job with preferably a better salary. Alternatively if there is a new project you could volunteer yourself to take the designing for the new job. Sometime you’ve got to ask for something to get it. Noticed this was posted late last year. Hopefully your situation has improved, otherwise it’s time to make a move. (But remember to quietly get the new job first before resigning)

Depends on how close they are. what they are trying to do; 1. Make you envious, 2. Start of progress to sell you MLM 3. try to attract you (>vo) If 1, can ignore cause it’s probably a sign of insecurity. If you are really close, you can act “wow” and ask for treat, but pity them inside for their insecurity. If you really dislike this person, try to sell them some product. If 2, ignore, if you ask for treat they might invite you for an MLM event. But... if free meal... 3? Up to you. Actually there is a possibility that they don’t know what they are doing is showing off. Cause after reflection, I realise did this before, but it was regarding my savings not salary. I was actually sharing cause I was feeling abit insecure about my financial situation (after retrenchment exercise in 2008) didn’t think it was considered “show off”. My friend later privately told me not to talk about money during meet ups. So if you think this is a possibility and you are close enough. You can remind them nicely. Maybe you could phrase it like “don’t make yourself a target.”