Tag: personal-finance
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5 Financial Resolutions for 2026
It is 2026, and a new year brings a new beginning. 2025 taught us many lessons. In a year, we can accomplish massive things. But we usually don’t. New beginnings are precisely the best time in our lives to enact changes that benefit us. Professor Katy Milkman of The Wharton School calls this the fresh-start…
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How much should I save for retirement?
One answer is 10x your annual income by age 67. That is the answer given by a Fidelity report. It may seem like an insurmountable task. Luckily, we have the power of time and compounding on our side. Savings milestones by age The Fidelity report suggests the following milestones: That’s a hefty list. I don’t…
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Debt doesn’t just cost interest. It sacrifices opportunity.
One thing is for sure. Debt is costly. If I take a $50k loan to fund my wedding, at 5% for 10 years, I would pay $13k in interest. But if that $50k had been saved or invested at 5% for 10 years, I would have ended up with $81k, or over $31k in interest.…
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Your lack of financial knowledge is a risk
I recently went to get my car serviced. The mechanic told me I needed to replace my brake pads as they were less than 3mm thick. I said yes, but I had no idea if he was telling the truth. He could have been ripping me off and I would be none the wiser. Luckily,…
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“Are you doing okay with Money?” The Checklist for Financial Health
How do you know if you’re doing okay with your financial situation? This is a simple question with a complex answer. But I’m here to provide a straightforward 6 point checklist to ascertain your financial health. If you answer yes to all 6 questions, you’re in the pink of financial health! This isn’t new or…
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We can learn a lot from financial disclaimers
Financial disclaimers actually contain the most important lessons in investing. Morningstar is a well-known investment research and financial services firm famous for rating mutual funds (a.k.a. Unit trusts) across the globe. They publish an excellent report called Mind the Gap, which shows the difference between investment returns and the actual returns that investors experience. Let’s…
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Should Singaporeans invest their CPF?
What I do: I would invest my CPF-OA, if it wasn’t wiped out for housing already. I don’t invest my SA. Your CPF Ordinary (OA) and Special Accounts (SA) can be invested. A summary guide is available here. Should you invest your OA? Only if you are financially savvy. Should you invest your SA? No.…
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Why can’t a finfluencer offer you Financial Advice?
Recently, MAS warned 5 content creators that they were providing financial advice without a license. Three questions follow: What is financial advice? MAS offers guidelines on what constitutes financial advisory service. “Generally, MAS considers a particular communication, whether oral, online or in print, to be financial advice if it expresses an opinion on the merits…
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Debt is okay, sometimes
What I do: Like many Singaporeans, I have a housing loan. You borrow money, you pay it back later, with interest. That is debt. People hate it. “Some debts are fun when you are acquiring them, but none are fun when you set about retiring them.” Ogden Nash Good and Bad Debt There is good…
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What is risk?
Volatility is risk The risk of an investment is measured by its volatility. This is an investment’s Sharpe Ratio. In short, it is how much return you get per unit of volatility. Cash has the lowest volatility, which is to say, none. Bonds have “medium” volatility. Stocks have “high” volatility. Hence, cash is considered the…