Free $5 for DBS Multiplier Account Holder

Facebook reminded me earlier that 75 people that liked our page have not heard from us in a while (about one week ago only!). Sorry for disappointing everyone as I have been busy playing Monster Hunter World! Hahahaha.

This is for all DBS Multiplier Account holders! CZM and I changed our bank account from OCBC 360 to DBS Multiplier Account last year December when DBS revamped the product. There are many reviews and comparisons done for all the different bank accounts (e.g. Seedly Cheat Sheet: Best Savings Accounts For Working Adults 2018?) so I will not go into that.

What we like about the Multiplier Account is that it is hassle-free and does not encourage/force spending (minimum spend of $X amount on credit card). One simply has to credit their salary to the account + credit card spend of any amount ($1 also can!) or any of the 3 other categories (home loan, insurance or investment).

Back to the free money! DBS has launched/created a closed group on Facebook called The Burrow. In order to get the free $5, you need to do the following 2 things:

1. Own a DBS Multiplier Account

2. Join The Burrow

Once you have done that, you will have to fill up a form by DBS - "Help us identify you as a DBS Multiplier account holder in The Burrow". Free money! The good news is that there is no limit on the number of $5 that will be given out and the qualifying period is from 1st Jan 2018 to 30th June 2018, lots of time for you to decide if you want to sign up for the account and then participate to get the free $5.

Terms and Conditions apply :) Back to Monster Hunter World!

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Automating Capital Growth Through StashAway

A reader asked how does StashAway fit into our strategy of increasing passive income. The short answer is it does not!

If you look at our portfolio, you will see a few counters that are very red. Those are some of my attempts at picking growth stocks as compared to the usual REITs/dividends stocks. When growth stocks do not meet its growth expectation, expect the share price to drop significantly! Personally, I find it extremely difficult to pick value/growth stocks and the idea was reinforced in my mind when I came across another article by Thumbtack Investor - What Makes You Think You Can Win? The Case For TheTrue Value Investor – LTC Corporation & S I2I Limited. Imagine the level of effort required for one to analyze a particular company, understand its business and forecast its growth. KPO just can't do it due to 1. limited/no knowledge in each and every industry/business and 2. limited time, so we have decided to outsource it to StashAway (paying a small fee in the process) while we continue to invest in REITs/dividends stocks for passive income.

The next question is why StashAway? I will share what I wrote on Seedly's Review Platform here:

Pros:
- Fractional shares: every single cent is being invested (make all your money work for you)
- Investment framework which I feel differentiate themselves from other robo-advisors (do spend some time to understand it, how the different regime would change the portfolio allocation, how is the portfolio being reoptimized/rebalance)
- Actively engaging the public (talks and monthly CIO updates article)
- Excellent customer support
- Nice and clean UI
- The convenience of a mobile application
- No minimum amount required to invest (event students can do it!)
- Cheap for a hassle free investment service that provides diversification (as compared to unit trusts/mutual funds and diversifying yourself is not going to be cost-effective unless the sum is significant)

Cons:
- Limited visibility into the transactions in the UI (everything can be found in the monthly statement but that requires the user to wait a few weeks for it)
- Exchange rate (SGD deposit to USD) cannot be found in the UI or monthly statement (this can be reversed/computed from the USD cash flow in the monthly statement)

I find the cons pretty annoying as they have all the data but are not presenting them to the users. Regardless, I believe the pros outweigh the cons, hence the 5 stars review.

On a side note, I would like to share my observation (walk the talk) - I met up with the CEO of StashAway, Michele and asked if he has invested his own money. He immediately logged in and showed me his account. Not so much of a pros/cons but I thought it shows a lot :)

Of course, do not take my word for it, do check out the other 99 reviews (65 + 24 + 11 - 1) too.

$500 per month - 50% probability of getting $934,618 by 2047 (30 years)

After tracking and reviewing it closely for the past 6 months, together with the increment in our salary, we are now more comfortable with allocating more money into StashAway! From $500 per month to $1,000 per month! This is how we will be automating (scheduled monthly transfer) capital growth through StashAway.

$1,000 per month - 50% probability of getting $1,869,384 by 2047 (30 years)

Oh. Back to our strategy! We are greedy and would like the best of both worlds (capital gain and dividends):
1. At least $1,000,000 portfolio in SGX for dividends/passive income (tax free!)
2. Around $1,000,000 StashAway portfolio through capital growth ($1,000 x 12 months x 30 years = $360,000 capital. An annual return of ~5.88% is required for 30 years which seems pretty realistic). No idea what we will be doing exactly with it (drawdown or buy other assets), will think about it when the goal is nearer. lol.
3. $1,000,000 in other assets (property and CPF)
4. Retire and enjoy life :)

What is your strategy?

StashAway Referral Link for Our Readers
Here you go: KPO and CZM Referral Link

Do like any of the following for the latest update/post!
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Salary - You Are Your Best Investment

It is official now! KPO has been promoted and is no longer the smallest fry in the team. lol. The best part of the promotion is not the change in title but the salary increment that comes with it. I was given an increment of more than 20%! Always thought that I would never see such increment unless I change a company.

With this, we have unlocked a few achievements in life:
1. Beating the CPF Ordinary Wage Ceiling ($6,000) - Going forward, we get to keep more cash!
2. CZM and I can no longer BTO for HDB - Income Ceiling ($12,000) - Fortunately, we have successfully applied for one a few years back :)
3. My salary has increased by > 50% as compared to my first drawn salary
4. CZM's salary has increased by > 100% as compared to her first drawn salary

I have a spreadsheet to project our salary increment and track the actual increment which I will be sharing with the readers :) Based on our starting salary and an assumption yearly increment of 5% (I thought this is conservative but CZM thinks otherwise), it would have taken me 9 years and CZM 17 years to reach our current salary.

Ministry of Manpower (MOM) published a summary table on Singapore Median Gross Monthly Income From Work (Including Employer CPF Contributions) of Full-Time Employed Residents. For the year of 2016, it is at $4,056 including the employer CPF. I will be using the 2016 median income as an example in the spreadsheet, excluding the employer CPF portion ($3,467) because who does that! Imagine people negotiating with HR for a higher salary with X% increment based on their current salary including the previous employer CPF contribution. lol.

The cells highlighted in yellow are for you to input manually, everything else is formula linked. The spreadsheet projects your yearly salary based on an assumption of 5% increment. The "Salary Projection" projects based on your first drawn annual salary while the "Revised Projection" projects based on the latest "Actual Salary" specified by you. As you can see, it would have taken this imaginary person 6 years (31-25) to reach his current salary (27-25).

What is the purpose of doing this?

In my opinion, there will never be enough money and there will always be others that are poorer/richer than you. On the other hand, time is limited, we all have the same number of seconds, minutes and hours in a day. When you work, you are actually selling away your precious time to the company/employer. Why not sell it to the highest bidder? One has to take ownership of your own career/time because you are your best investment in life. I have friends/colleagues that complain about their increment (1/2% - losing out to inflation) and bonus and yet year on year they continue to stay in the same company. If your company is not compensating you "fairly" (performance review can be pretty subjective/dark), maybe it is time to look externally? Having said that, I do see people that are less motivated or should I say different priorities in life. Regardless, my advice is to work hard, bump your salary and invest for financial freedom so that you can stop selling your time one day...

You can get the google spreadsheet here - $$$ Salary Projection $$$

On a side note, CZM has taken full control of the Instagram account where she will be posting lots of food and their prices! I doubt she will be blogging anything in the near future. lol.

Do like any of the following for the latest update/post!
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2. Twitter - KPO and CZM
3. Click here to subscribe using email :)