Credit Breakdown 20130416

A Blogger Table Caption

Credit Card	Local	Online	Cycle	Min	Cap	Tips
UOB ONE	3.3% rebate	5.33%	Quarterly	$300, $800, $1500 for 3 months	$30, $80, $150	none
Maybank Family and Friends	5% off Toys R Us, NTUC	none	Monthly	None	none	None
POSB Everyday	2% off ezlink topup	none	Monthly	None	none	well, i got it for 5% rebate at Carrefour which closed down. think its time to cancel the card.
Standard Chartered Manhattan	0.5%, 1%, 5% rebate		Quarterly	$0, $1000, $3000	$200	Spend only in 1 month, reaching 3k Tier
Metro UOB	5% rebate at Metro	none	Monthly	None	none	None
Taka DBS	3% rebate at Takashimaya	none	Monthly	None	none	None
Citibank Clear 500	none	none	Monthly	None	none	just for discount as and when a citibank card is needed
CIMB	0.5%	1%	Monthly	None	none	None
OCBC Frank	0.5%	6%	Monthly	$500	$60	None
Robinson OCBC	5% rebate off robinson	none	Monthly	None	None	None

Manhattan Credit Card tips 20130416

Met up with Slash last night and was sharing some tips with him on using credit cards.
Slash has been using Standard Chartered Manhattan Card, but not in a very effective way.

Manhattan card is a very powerful card. but it has to be used in the correct way.
http://www.wowmanhattan.com.sg/benefits.html

Cash back for Manhattan is calculated quarterly. you have to find out when does your quarter starts and ends. i told slash, that with Manhattan Card, you will need to pick a month in that quarter to whack.

If you attack with Manhattan card monthly and below $1000 ($999), here is the total rebate in 3 months.
$999*0.005*3=$14.985
Not saying this is bad, but this is offered by ANY credit card by default. do note that some citi cards offer only 0.25% rebate.


If you attack with Manhattan card monthly and go above $1000 but below $3000 ($2999), here is the total rebate in 3 months.
$2999*0.01*3=$89.97
this is better than most credit cards already.

Why do you attack only 1 month with the Manhattan card? cos when it goes above $3000, the minimum rebate you will get is $150. as there is a cap of $200, try to spend above 3k but below 4k for maximum rebates.


 in my case, which month to whack is decided by the sales going on. but if you do have a choice, try to do it on the last month. why?

here is a slight explaination on the difference between discount and rebates.

5% discount on $100 = $5
Hence actual cash you pay is ($100-5) = $95.
Effective discount = 1-(Payment/item value) = 1-(95/100) = 5%

rebates is slightly more complicated.
5% rebate on $100 = $100 + 5
Hence actual cash you pay is $100.
Effective discount = 1-(Payment/item value) = 1-(100/105)=4.76%

One good point about Manhattan card is that, they will give you the cash rebate on the last month of that quarter. in that quarter itself.

so if you do it on the first or second month, it will look like this.

Actual cash you pay = $4k
Rebate = $200
Effective Discount = 1- (Payment/item value) = 1-(4000/4200) = 4.76%

But if you do it on the last month, it will look like this
Actual cash you pay = $3800 after rebate deduction.
Effective discount = 1-(Payment/item value) = 1-(3800/4000) = 5%

The next question will arise, how do i clock 3k in a month? i dont spend that much. :) you can always look for me to help clock that amount. if you not comfortable with that (boooo~), you can always pay your telco and ezlink cards in advance. personally i have 3 ezlink cards which are linked to my UOB ONE card and i rotate them when i have already hit my requirement for that month.

21th March 2013

Coming close to a year since i last blogged.

Nothing much really changed. I should be doing up my website and selling stuff but that is still in progress. actually selling on another site will be a better option. but will still do the website as i need something to interest me and keep me motivated. why is selling on another site a better option? traffic. the amount of human traffic that can go through the site is alot higher than just a website or blogshop can generate. also, ppl who will target your website or blogshop are likely to be collectors who are very much informed on the pricing, hence, harder to make a sale. Still in debt to my good friend. sort of cleared half, then it rebounded.

Got alot more lego since i last posted. i think that is where went wrong. I'm too focused on getting rebates that i end up spending more than i save/clear debts. and everything is done in the name of stocking up. sales wise is ok. more or less a consistent $300 a month can be generated. so what actually went wrong? the bulk of it i think will be credited to my UOB one card which had me spending a constant $1500 a month. Even though this card has the highest amount rebate in terms of general local spending. keeping up with quarterly rebates is very nasty, especially when they claim that you spend short of 3 bucks and drop your rebate by 1 tier, which is half the rebate. (-_-)

Lets do a break down of my monthly then followed by the cards that i have and how to reallocate expenditure.
Mobile/Home line - $100 (online)
Home Broadband - $100 (online)
Transport - $100 - 150 (local)
Looking at this, something must be awfully wrong. Bills and transport comes up to $300 max. so what happpened to the other $1200?

My UOB ONE - feb statement
15 Feb 2013 TOY OUTPOST PTE LTD SINGAPORE SG SGD 17.90 (local)
15 Feb 2013 BRICKS WORLD SINGAPORE SG SGD 61.74 (local)
15 Feb 2013 PAYPAL *CHROMEBRICK 35314369001 DE EUR 92.93 SGD 158.72 (online)
15 Feb 2013 SINGTEL-MYBILL SINGAPORE SG SGD 125.59 (online)
15 Feb 2013 STARHUB LTD EPAYMENT SINGAPORE SG SGD 34.20 (online)
16 Feb 2013 TOY STATION SINGAPORE SG SGD 37.90 (local) 18 Feb 2013 ITACHO @ PS SINGAPORE SG SGD 46.70 (local)
18 Feb 2013 BRICKS WORLD SINGAPORE SG SGD 39.69 (local)
19 Feb 2013 Amazon EU AMAZON.CO.UK LU GBP 192.33 SGD 379.96 (online)
19 Feb 2013 PAYPAL *GMARKETINCS 4029357733 SG SGD 159.00 (online)
22 Feb 2013 BRICKS WORLD SINGAPORE SG SGD 59.90 (local)
25 Feb 2013 EBAY.COM.SG SGD 5.04 (online)
25 Feb 2013 PAYMENT AT AXS (57060006) SGD 1,509.35 CR -payment for bill, never pay earlier
27 Feb 2013 BRICKS WORLD SINGAPORE SG SGD 223.80 (local)
27 Feb 2013 BRICKS WORLD SINGAPORE SG SGD 35.28 (local)
27 Feb 2013 EZ-LINK PTE LTD SINGAPORE SG SGD 50.25 (local)
11 Mar 2013 SINGTEL-MYBILL SINGAPORE SG SGD 65.00 (online)
13 Mar 2013 UOB ONE CASH REBATE BILL REDEMPTION SGD 80.00 CR
They claim that i didnt hit the 1500 in the dec bill, i asked them to make an exception even though i know that i have clocked enough amount. (after this month, i'll be dropping my rebate tiers)

local 533.47 online 927.51 2/3 of my spendature is online. its likely that i'll drop my local spending on my UOB one card down to 300 so that it pays for my transport and part of my local spending if any. I'll be switching over to OCBC frank card. which will allow me to get more rebates but spend less. So now i have been using credit cards for close to 2 years now, and its time to start looking at individual card's performance and terminate those that are not really needed.

UOB ONE - 3.3% rebate off all spending, but calculated quarterly. capped at $30, $80, $150.
Maybank Family and Friends - 5% off Toys R Us, NTUC
POSB Everyday - well, i got it for 5% rebate at Carrefour which closed down. think its time to cancel the card.
Standard Chartered Manhattan - 5% rebate when you spend above $3000, cap at $200
Metro UOB - 5% rebate at Metro
Taka DBS - 3% rebate at Takashimaya
Citibank Clear 500 - just for discount as and when a citibank card is needed
CIMB (killed) - 1% off online spending, 0.5% off local spending
OCBC Frank (applying) - 6% rebate off online spending. cap at $60 per month.
Robinson OCBC (applying) - 5% rebate off robinson.

Well, have to use the new card first and see how everthing works out. meanwhile have to be going more packing, sorting, listing.

5th June 2012

started to use some apps on my phone and it gave me a revelation. i was trying to figure out how to make expense "go away" so that the final number will show a clean picture of what i have. but the options only show uncleared/cleared/reconciled/void. THEN it struck me. expense spent cant never be removed. what is spent, cannot be unspend. you just have to accept it and move on with it. even if you can sell it at a higher price and generate income, its in your income and your expense will always be there. at the same time, i was trying to find a way to make the app show me what i have spent, how much on each card, when do i have to make payment. looks like the function isnt there. the app only shows me how much was the expense and income each month. so i have to continue with the old means of writing down how much is spend using each card and post-it to my phonetop. Looks like after my debts all settled, i will have to be looking into forms of passive income. Seagull called me sometime back and ask if can put money on my side to generate income. but i didnt agree. something wasnt rite. now then i realise. when Seagull put money with me to generate income, to him its passive income. but on my end, it is active income. i have to make trips, top up stock, monitor market, forecast client needs. also, sometimes my profit comes in the form of lego bricks. i doubt Seagull will appreciate it if i pass him 10kg of bricks as profit. Looking at all my forms of income with reference to rich dad, poor dad quadrant. Self-employed: got work got money - Active Employed: can slack but still got money - Active Business: if slack = no money - Active Passive Investor: no work also got money - PAssive Self-employed: could have been insurance. but nay... Employed: Currently employed under JOS, pay-wise, not very good but then its stable and it has alot of time-gaps for me to do other stuff. Business: My toyout post box, ebay. recently added bricklink into the system. and up-graded the ebay system. so ebay will cost me some money to maintain, but i save more on time as well as having unlimited listings. previously i can only list 30 items. on the day that i made the subscription, my total listings went up to 113. the number will increase once i get my inventory straighten out as well as list out the loose pieces seperately. Investor: NONE (when i should be doing my best to put more in here) Ran into Seagull then other day and he was commenting on my post of my "bad" friend. well, let's elaborate more on that topic. the reason why i say that its "bad" of the friend to lend you money is that in that way, you develop financial dependence on him, leading you further from your own financial independance. there are step to accomplish in order to be financially-free. jumping to higher steps without managing the lower steps will not lead you higher up to financial freedom but position you for a higher, harder fall. First, get your expense sorted> get all debts cleared (for giant debts like housing and cars, put in a long term plan)> Generate more income> convert excess resources into passive income. You may argue that if you have more income, step 1 and step 2 will resolve itself. well, there is a reason why ppl who buy 4D never get rich. go figure. of course, while all these are in progress, do take note that you need a fall back of 3-6 months of your monthly EXPENSES. dont bother to only calculate your BASIC expenses. you wont hold back one. Seagull asked if my "bad" friend wants anything back in return. well, the debt has grown to a very large amount, so we worked out something, every month that i'm not able to pay the instalments, i will have to give him a minifig. well, cost-wise its cheaper than paying bank. but relationship wise, makes me feel like a slave. maybe the friendship itself began as a form of financial partnership, so there isnt really much to complain about. when you own ppl money and when they ask for favours, it becomes hard to turn them down; so basically, i'm a hunting hound also. though there are different aspects to it, the minifigures i was asked to hunt for can be sold for higher amount of money. so should i help them hunt or ?

2012 summary so far

On 4th May 2012, i started my ebay store with ebay.com.sg After years of collect gachapons and later on moving on to lego, i have amassed a large number of toys. whether its for profit or damage from getting the pieces i want, i have been trying to sell them off for some time. My box in PS have a high profit margin but sales is slow. My blogshop isnt working very well, with organizing of the stock being messy. Trying to set up a webpage again, but somehow its not turning up in searches. in the end, i decide to keep doing the webpage as an interest as its taking me time to get used to setting up webpage via google. So finally decided to set up a ebay store also. a basic store will cost me ard $5 a month. being in ebay.com.sg will wavier all listing fees. now all i have to do is to get organized and list all my gachapons extras. A few month back, i started listing my lego parts in bricklink for sale. i cant say that there is profit, but it does reduce my number of bricks (in lego, there are never spare parts, there are only parts that you havent got the chance to use yet. >p) Work - hmmm... a slight increment in pay this year. with less than 1 month's bonus. at a point of time, was wondering to upgrade and move on, but being in this position allows me alot of free time to do my own stuff. so for the time being, i need to focus on selling my stuff first. Plans - Plan to learn to write smart phone apps, not so much for making money, but as an interest, well, if it does generates income, i wont mind. >p ppl must always be learning and doing new stuff. Mindset - Recently i listened to this audio tape, Mind Over Money. and realise that i have certain money order deficiencies. I'm a hoarder, i keeps things to make myself feel better. I have "bad" friends who lends me money to buy. I will change, i will become debt free.

15th Mar 2010

First day of work on my new job.

not that i'm giving up on my ambition to become rich, but i need to at least put some money in my pocket and have all my debts cleared before they snowball over me.

Sometimes its hard to really put down what you wanna do and go to what you have to do. well... if what you have to do, can allow you to become good at what you wanna do. then i dont see the reason why not?

The road of life is long, the road to becoming rich is slightly shorter, how much shorter will depend on yourself, but dont get lost along the way.

BIG MONEY small money

In rich dad poor dad, they mentioned that, purchasing assets that generate wealth should come before repaying debts. that i agree, but i think when talking about debts, there's a distinction between debts and bills. Bills are necessities you'll need to pay for your daily living.

hmmmmmm.... being in the finanicial industry, i'm seeing a better picture on finance and interests. if i dont pay my singtel bill on time, they will charge me additional $5 for late payment. $5 dont really seems to be alot, but taking into consideration that my monthly subscription is only $7, its an additional 70%.

When you stop seeing small money as money, no matter how much BIG money you earn, will only be going to paying things that make other ppl rich. When you stop seeing where your money goes properly, you'll just lose all of it.

Make it a conscious effort to track your financial status properly.
If you cant pin point it, at least just try to keep of record of all the things you're spending on, no matter how big or small. even a Old Chang Kee currypuff of $1.20. from there, cultivate the habit of keeping track of your finances.