Constantly looking for sales in Singapore? Do your ears perked up and also eyes gleamed when you see discount rates or warehouse sales current? Well, there is absolutely nothing incorrect in that due to the fact that every Singaporean likes an excellent sale!
Exclusive online sales clubs have found their location in Singapore which offer huge discounts in their day-to-day sales because basically, there are a lot of bargain seekers in Singapore, an area that seems to be having sales throughout the year. From tiny retail electrical outlets to established chain store or countless blogshops and also private on-line sales club, customers remain in for a great price cut almost everywhere.
Sales in Singapore are seasonal in nature. Considering the end of the year, brand names will be getting rid of stocks as well as this corresponds well with the yearly Singapore Christmas Sale that is embraced by every brand name and also store as they capitalise on the Christmas buying. As soon as that is done, we get to completion of period sales as well as in Singapore, consumers are not decreasing even after their Christmas shopping spree as a result of better discounts.
As Singaporeans commemorate the New Year with aplomb, one expects the shopping euphoria pass away down however the begin of the year just brings after even more anticipate shoppers in Singapore. January still sees several stores clearing their stocks and also holding last price decrease sales. While they are bringing in brand-new collections, it is these period where brand names get ready for the Lunar New Year with just what else, the Lunar New Year sale !! With most of Singapore’s populace composed of the Chinese, this is one sale that will see lots of earnings for sellers.
It gets much better as completion of May gives Singaporeans what is perhaps the biggest and most awaited sale in the fiscal year; the Great Singapore Sale! Beginning at the end of May as well as running all the means through July, this mega sale is an island-wide event and also almost every brand name as well as shop will be whipped into this whirlwind of big price cuts, severe decrease of rates as well as absolute deals.
You could be sure that on the internet shops are not lost in all this, with the discount rates in their everyday sales easily matching a few of the biggest bargains you could discover in the stores. Yet this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of clothing sales, as there are customer electronic sales in Singapore such as the Harvey Norman Sale, Courts Mega Sale along with the huge IT Fairs that occur as soon as every 3 months.
Foxysales, a Singapore based on-line purchasing store, permits Singapore Sales, less expensive, Shopping Singapore with great option, far better discount rates describing that Singapore online buyers favor to patronize a regional on-line store.
I wrote a previous blog on money management where I shared some tips on how to identify where you are wasting money and then gave my own personal formula (via an downloadable excel spreadsheet found here) the gauge all of your spending. If you are coming from that blog, then you are in the right place. If you are just looking at this blog for the first time, it may be prudent to go back and check out the previous one I wrote or at least download the excel spreadsheet because you will need it for the next step.
Step 2 – Formulating a simple budget that you will actually follow.
It was told to me early on in life by a very wealthy mentor of mine who I respect dearly that if I couldn’t manage $1, then I couldn’t manage $1 Million dollars. This is so true, I meet people all the time who’s personal finances are garbage even when they are making great money in their career.
It all comes down to money management and budgeting. Again, this is another common thread among all wealthy people I have ever met; they all have a budget based on a formula that uses money as a tool never spending it emotionally. Here is what to do.
Take that excel spreadsheet you just downloaded. (or get it here)
The idea here is very simple. Manage any and all money that you get. EVERY SINGLE CENT! If you know what your monthly income is, it becomes very easy to budget, if you are like me and get paid in lump sums sporadically then disciplining yourself to a system like this is crucial!
Ok so here is how it works: For every dollar I take in, it gets split up and put in to different bank accounts. Each bank account represents a different aspect that I am saving for. In my case I have 8 Bank accounts. I explain what I use them for and the benefits.
Wells Fargo Checking / Savings account – This account is used for daily spending, and paying bills. Think of it as your most active account, all money is deposited here before it goes to other accounts.
For daily spending and bill payment, I like Wells Fargo. The important thing to remember here is to bank with a bank that is convenient to for you with lots of locations and low fees across the board. As of right now, I pay NO FEES with Wells. I think B of A is the worst, and Chase Bank is in the middle when it comes to big banks.
Discover Bank # 1 – Taxes (This is where I said aside money for taxes every year)
Discover Bank # 2 – Emergency Fund account (Save for a rainy day)
Discover Bank # 3 – Long Term Savings (Use for large purchases like a house or car etc.)
I use Discover bank because they give you the highest rate of return for a savings account. 0.95% to be exact and…
No minimum deposits
No Account Fees
Open as many accounts as you want
Capital One 360 # 1 – Annual Expenses account (Money set aside for annual expenses like car insurance, property tax etc.)
Capital One 360 # 2 – Vacation Fund (Saved money for Vacations)
I use Capital One 360 because they pay a pretty good rate of return on money in savings and my account doubles over as my top pick for a travel debit card that has
Now take some time to look it over the excel spreadsheet. If you need to open a couple accounts, don’t worry, this can literally be accomplished in an hour, follow the links above to use my recommendations, or feel free to open up accounts where your want to.
Keep in mind that I am a 1099 independent contractor that means I pay my own income taxes each year. If you are a W-2 employee, then you can zero out the taxes line because your taxes are collected before you get paid. Personally I set aside 18%-20% a year for myself, you may pay less or more depending on how much you make and what your tax liabilities look like.
Enter all of your monthly and annual expenses. (You will see some numbers starting to populate)
Replace my bank accounts with your banks and match them closely as possible, meaning if you have a normal B of A or Chase Checking and savings account, that should be your main account at the top. If you have an E*TRADE, Schwab or IRA, replace my Wealthfront account with yours etc.
If there are some areas where you will need to set up new bank account, leave them blank for now
Now enter in your monthly income at the top in the yellow (total monthly Colum)
By now you should see some of the boxes populating. I will explain what’s happening here
The Breakdown.
Ok by now you probably have a good idea of what I am driving at here, but I will explain anyway. This formula is partitioning all of your income into different savings columns to give you a well rounded and financially savvy money management system.
The breakdown as seen in my excel sheet looks like this.
I earn $100
$20 (20%) is saved for taxes and taken right off the top (Skip step if you are a W-2 employee)
Now I have $80 Left
$40 (50%) Goes to my living expenses, i.e. rent, mortgage, car payment, food, gas etc.
$10 (10%) – To the emergency fund, after all shit happens.
$10 (10%) – Long-term savings fund. This could be for a future large purchase like a car or house down payment.
$8 (8%) – Annual Expenses Account – Like car registration or medical/life insurance. Things that get paid once per year
$7 (7%) – Vacation Fund – To broke to take a vacation, do this for a year, and I promise you that you will have enough to take a vacay!
$10 (10%) – Long-term investment account – YOU NEVER TOUCH THIS MONEY! This is for your retirement. You may be thinking I’m way to young to start saving for retirement, but the difference between starting this habit at 20 years old compared to 30 years old will mean a difference of hundreds, yes I said hundreds of thousands by the time your retire. So don’t fuck around with this one, set the 10% aside and forget about it.
$5 (5%) – For me it goes to an active trading account that I personally trade. If you have no desire to learn how to actively trade, you can simply put this money towards some other kind of investment short term to medium term, but this money is not for bullshit, it’s money set aside for short-Medium term investments with a bigger return on the short side.
Conclusion
This whole idea was adopted after first reading the age old book The Richest Man in Babylon. When done correctly you will learn to pay yourself first and then save and invest the rest of it leaving a little hear and there for having a good quality of life.
My parents generation saved about 20%-30% of there income on average. My generation saves a measly 5%-10% and knowing that we are going to need a least a cool million to retire on (4 times as much as my parents will need) we need to get on this today. There is literally no time to waste.
Again, if you are in debt, or not making a lot of money, apply this formula anyway. Rework the numbers to make them fit your situation. If you are in some serious debt, check out my blog on &^%&^%&*^%&* if you are just not making that much or spend money stupidly, then I challenge you to try this for 90 days. If after 90 days you don’t feel like you have a better handle on your finances and that you are heading in the right direction, comment here and I will jump out of an airplane to promote what ever you want me to.
Money is a tool. It is only emotional when you don’t have enough of it. It controls you, or you control it, simple as that.
I have written many blogs on personal finance, today I am going to speak specifically about investing, but not investing from the standpoint of a 40-something somewhat wealthy person with savings in the bank, a house and a stable career he or she has been in for over a decade.
This blog is aimed towards Millennials. If you a person age 18 to 34 then listen close because applying the small techniques that I am going to share in this blog could mean the difference between your financial success and failure later on in life.
Before I get in to the Nitti gritty of this, I want you to know that if you feel like you are broke at the end of each month, living paycheck to paycheck or simply just not making enough to meet your monthly nut and save a little bit at the end of each month then this blog is for you.
You could also be one of the thousands of recently graduated college students on the job hunt drowning in school loan debt wondering how you are ever going to get ahead.
Or, maybe you are doing ok financially and you are just looking for more ways to become savvier with your money.
Whatever category you fit in, what I am about to share is going to help you tremendously! Enough said, lets jump in to it.
Step 1 Gauging where you are.
I have never met a wealthy person who did not know where they were at financially. People who have built real wealth have some type of formula they use to save, invest, pay taxes and to live. This has been one constant that I have experienced with every wealthy person I have met that didn’t inherit the money or get lucky.
What you need to do is figure out where all your money is going. I think you would be surprised to find out that you probably waste about $20 a day on bullshit. What I mean is you may have a daily Starbucks Frappuccino habit, or maybe you never cook at home and eat out 3 times a day. What ever it is everyone has their vices and they are costing you greatly.
So, first thing is first, write down all of your expenses. Everything. From monthly fixed expenses like Rent, mortgage payments, car payments utilities etc. right down to your varying miscellaneous expenses. This will allow you to see where all of your money is going.
Remember we cannot fix a problem until we can recognize there is one, and this is going to help you gauge where you are at financially.
In part 2, I am going to share with you the simplest budget you have ever seen that anyone can follow even if you think you are to broke to save. In fact, I am going to share with you my own personal excel document that you can use to do this exercise.
Shortly after I returned home from my wedding in Costa Rica, I felt motivated to do something with all of the footage I had collected for the year leading up to our beautiful wedding in Costa Rica and the entire week of fun that we had in Central America. I wanted to make something that Keeley and I would always be able to look back at to remember this time in our lives and show to our kids one day!
This entire movie was shot on cell phone cameras and Go Pros! Coupled with my limited video editing skills, I put together a 40 minute movie that tells the story of the entire year leading up to our marriage and I think it’s pretty epic.
In the movie, you will go on a journey with us and all of our friends to around the world, surfing, skydiving, dodging volcanoes and eventually see the moment that changed our lives forever.
I hope that you like it as much as I do! Now enjoy, and let me know what you think! Thank you in advance for watching and for everyone who was a part of this and helped make this happen!
