Money Matters

Are You Depending On Your Bank Savings Account For Your Retirement?

by FinancialDex
September 23, 2011September 23, 2011
Money Matters

Have you checked out your local banks’ websites (notice the ‘s’ for the banks) and their revised interest rates for having a normal savings account with them?

If you have not… please do check them out now and come back to this post later… because if you have always depend on your savings account to plan and fund your retirement, it’s time to think twice and plan otherwise!

For The Privileged Few Who Keep Their Earnings In The Banks

I do know of a few friends and acquaintances who are earning way beyond their means and they are good with their personal finances and planning as well, therefore even though the Banks are not giving them “that good” interest rate, their own earning abilities will help them through…

But if you are still working towards being like them… you can consider taking on these few suggestions to help you make your money work harder! They are not guaranteed to work for everybody but if you are persistent enough, they may just work well for you along the way!

A Lesson First – What Does The Interest Rate Work For Your Money In The Bank?

Back when some Local Banks can still offer an interest rate of around 1% per annum, if you manage to have $10,000 with them, you can see a good $100 being given to you as a form of interest at the end of the year. And if you keep that amount + interest for another year, you will have an additional $101 being added on. May not seem significant but if you do the calculations, the additional amount will just keep increasing as long as you do not touch the money!

The additional and increasing amount that’s being given to you is due to the Magic of Compounding Returns and because of the number that’s being attached as the Bank Interest Rate.

Secondly, if you want to know how long it will take for this $10,000, you can use the Rule of 72 to calculate the estimated number of years needed with that interest rate. Simply take 72 to be divided by 1 (the interest rate) and you will simply get 72 years! Don’t look too shocked as yet!

Now… When The Local Banks Decide To Lower That Interest Rate To An Even Lower Rate

When the interest rate is lowered down to just 0.1%, your $10,000 is just making you $10 a year (instead of the usual $100) and it’s also taking 720 years for that money to double! You can look shocked now!

So is this how you want your hard-earned money to work harder for you? If not, it’s time to make some adjustments and take on some of these suggestions…

How To Make Your Money Work Slightly Harder…

#1 Put Your Money Into Fixed Term Deposits With Local Banks or Foreign Banks

You can start shopping around for Fixed Term Deposits with different banks. Not all banks offer the same interest rate throughout, so it’s advisable for you to check out the different rates being offered. For example, I have came across Banks from India (but having their offices in Singapore) that offer slightly higher interest rate as compared to local banks.

#1.5 Put Your Money With A Foreign Country

This little tip is shared by one of my clients who operates a business in Vietnam. Because he works and stays there most of the time, he is able to open a bank account over there and guess what… the interest rate for their savings accounts is, on the average, a double digit per year!

If you do have the chance to work overseas for awhile, it’s advisable to check out this opportunity! But do take note of the terms and conditions attached to it.

#2 Put Your Money Into A Single Premium Plan With An Insurance Company

You may not get a double digit interest rate but you will definitely get higher interest rate as compared to a Fixed Term Deposit, given that you are comfortable with setting that money aside for a longer time frame.

Why We Need Sites Like Dealio.com To Help Us Save As We Spend

by FinancialDex
August 3, 2011
Money Matters

Are you crazy about online shopping and thinking of getting a new Tablet to pamper yourself? Have you checked out Circuit City which seems like a good site to buy these new gadgets? And have you checked out Dealio first, where you can get some good Circuit City promo codes to bring down the purchasing price even further?

We Can’t Avoid Online (Or Any Form Of) Shopping…

With the ease of getting onto the Internet and also the ease of buying (almost) anything online, it’s a fact that we cannot avoid online shopping any longer. From the conversation that I have with some of the working clients before, it seems like majority of them will also use shopping as a form of destressing from the daily toll of working life…

And it’s hard for Financial Planners to stop them from doing so because most of them will be guilty of that action as well. As such, what we can usually do are to advise on ways to budget out their spending so that they still have enough to plan on their financial needs. Thus with the excess savings, they can just spend on doing what most like – shopping (in any form)!

The Enticement Of Online Shopping – Discounts

One good reason why online shopping is popular is because of Discounts. Many major brands have created their own online stores and will entice anyone who visits the site to join their newsletter and bombard them with numerous discounts (and they must redeem within a short time frame) through the emails.

Therefore there are times when a Want suddenly becomes a Need because of such enticement and there is a strong urge to get it before anyone else. Should the item they want be sold out, some would just try to get the alternatives through other online stores…

That’s Why We Need Online Services Like Dealio To Help Us Save Further

A Relook Into CreditSesame.com With Regards To Loans

by FinancialDex
August 1, 2011March 15, 2015
Money Matters

With the property market a very hot topic now, along with it comes with many questions especially from first time buyers with regards to loans, e.g. pre approved loans, refinanced loans and etc.

And because I am not from Banks, it’s very hard for me to give them a proper answer, so I decide to relook back into a site that I have previously came across and reviewed as well – CreditSesame.com.

CreditSesame Gives Quite A Good Overview Of What Refinancing of Loan Is All About

Because of the lack of availability of its tools in Singapore, I cannot take advantage of what CreditSesame can offer, but once you are over at that site, it does give you a good overview of:

– What is Refinance

– The Benefits of Refinancing

– How It Works

There’s even an overview of a typical Refinance Process which I believe is applicable to most banking institutions (even for those in Singapore)

But if you can create an account with CreditSesame and make use of the services, you can consider using it to help you find the best mortgage rates and help you to save big as well.

Why Refinancing Your Loan Is A Good Idea

How PNC Bank Is Helping Customers To Save Money With New Accounts And With Virtual Wallet

by FinancialDex
March 5, 2011
Money Matters

I was doing my research online for resources that I can use to implement my Six Accounts strategy and I ended up finding this bank from Pittsburgh – PNC Bank and its special announcement: PNC Bank Announces New Accounts To Help Customers Save, Manage Money and Avoid Fees. And after going through the details on how PNC Bank intends to help their customers save money, I just have to share!

What’s So Special About This Announcement And With PNC Bank?

Though it’s quite common for you to say that Banks have new accounts introduced every now and then and there’s really nothing special about it!

I do agree on that but this time round, what PNC Bank has done is something quite different (personally this is what I feel as compared to what I am having in Singapore)! This is because PNC Bank listens to what their customers and consumers wanted through their research and thus the new accounts are created. And this is what they wanted from their usual banking:

The Assistance From The Bank to:

Manage Their Money
Avoid Mistakes
Save
Use Credit Wisely
Get Rewards

Just basing on Managing of money and the use of Credit wisely, it’s not always an easy task but somehow I feel that PNC Bank is beginning to do a good job on it with their Virtual Wallet system and its incorporation into the new accounts.

For More Details On The Announcement On How PNC Bank Is Going To Help Customers Save Money, Watch The Short Video Below:

A Bit Of Highlights On Their Virtual Wallet System And How It Ties To The Six Accounts Strategy

If You Are Into Shopping, Always Do It With Sites Like Savings.com

by FinancialDex
December 2, 2010December 3, 2010
Money Matters

Have you started to use discounts and coupons sites like Savings.com and GreatDeals.sg to help you in saving more money in your shopping? If not, read on to see why you would need such sites especially if you do online shopping.

Creating More Budget For Your Financial Planning

If you are serious about your Financial Planning, you would know an important factor in doing well, is to have enough Budget.

And to have more Budget than before, a common area is to look into your daily expenses and seeing how to reduce them in a sensible manner, without affecting your inner feelings (the urge to ask yourself if it’s worth doing all this).

For most people’s daily expenses would definitely include some form of shopping – either going online or to the shopping mall. And to enjoy the moments of shopping and yet not hurting your pockets, would be to do it at times when there’s discounts!

So what happen when there’s no discount but you have the urge to do some shopping to enjoy some ‘therapy’?

Though you can’t demand shopping malls to have discounts for you, there’s always the online shopping malls that you can turn to and the Coupons and Discounts Site like, e.g. Savings.com

If you have been doing a lot of online shopping but not been using sites like Savings.com to give you more discounts, it’s never too late to explore such avenue.

So How Do Sites Like Savings.com Work?

In simple terms, Savings.com displays the best deals you can find on those online shopping sites without you going to each of these sites on its own.

For example, if you head over to Savings.com, you will be able to see discounts and coupons like:

15 Signs That You Are Going To Have Credit Card Debt Issues

by FinancialDex
September 30, 2010
Money Matters

Are You Holding On To Any Credit Cards?

(Image courtesy of LotusHead of sxc.hu)

If so, have you been making payments (in full especially), for your credit purchases, on time?

If you are not and just making the payments for the bare minimum and having signs that you are going to default the next few payments, then these are some signs that you are going to have Credit Card Debt Issues!

The Problems Associated With Credit Card Debts

With all the perks offered for having Credit Cards, there’s also the negative side to having them especially if you are one of those who have issues making full settlement on time. Time also has a part to play because of the existence of the interest rate and this interest rate is compounding!

To have an interest rate compounding on your outstanding debts can be quite scary in the long run… Imagine just have a debt of $1,000 and an annual 24% per annum Finance Charge imposed on this amount. And there’s the common practice of using 2% (24% divided by 12 months) per month to compound.

So your actual outstanding loan per month will be like this:

First Month $1,000 + $1,000 x 2% = $1,020
Second Month = $1,040.40
Third Month = $1,061.21
Fourth Month = $1,082.43
Fifth Month = $1,104.08
Sixth Month = $1,126.90
Seventh Month = $1,149.44
Eighth Month = $1,172.43
… Twelfth Month = $1,269.07

From the mere of $1,000, the debt grew to $1,269.07 at the end of a year. And what I have shown you is just a simple illustration of a small loan debt (is your usual debt usually this small?) and that you are not going to make any further credit card purchases (is it possible? are you able to avoid the temptation?).

Along with a growing Debt, there’s also the other problems like:

Your Credit Score being affected – you may not be able to take up loans in the future (even if it’s a time of emergency)
Your Savings Affected (together with your Financial Objectives) – if you do not get out of this situation fast, your long-time savings may get used up fast, resulting in you not achieving your Financial Objectives.
No Peace Of Mind – just think of the number of letters you will be receiving for late bill repayment or even personal calls checking on your financial situations.
Lifestyle Affected – at times like this, you may find it hard to ask for loans from your friends or family. It’s not their fault. They do have their own financial commitments.

If you do not wish to be facing such issues, you must be aware of these: