Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Change of Blog Address - The Turtle Investor

I have moved! All present and future blog content have been migrated over to The Turtle Investor.

The new website will contain content from my blogs relating to investment, personal finance as well as alternative income. See you there!

- The Turtle Investor  @ www.turtleinvestor.net

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Free Travel on MRT

The pilot programme run from 24 June 2013 to 23 June 2014, whereby free travel is available on the MRT for all commuters who tap out at 16 city areas before 7.45am on weekdays (excluding public holidays).

Even if you accidentally miss the 7.45am timing, you can still enjoy 50 cents off your train fare if you exit at any of the 16 stations* between 7.45am and 8.00am on weekdays (excluding public holidays).



For many of us, this is realistic and a reasonable opportunity to save a lot of money! Personally, the only change to my daily routine would be to wake up 15-minutes earlier, and I would save a whopping $1.75 per day.

How It Works

Based on my original journey from Punggol to Henderson Road, it costs me $2.00 exactly every morning. Check out the fare calculator to see your usual morning trip cost.
However, if I were to utilize the Free Travel scheme, it will only cost me $0.25 every morning.

Important Point To Note

To be eligible for free MRT rides or $0.50 off train fare, the point of entry cannot be from any of the 16 stations. The 16 designated stations are:

*Bayfront, Bras Basah, Bugis, Chinatown, City Hall, Clarke Quay, Dhoby Ghaut, Esplanade, Lavender, Marina Bay, Orchard, Outram Park, Promenade, Raffles Place, Somerset and Tanjong Pagar.

Monthly Savings

Based on a savings of $1.75 per day, multiply that to an average of 20 work days a month for a total savings of S$35! Not bad at all!

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Best Household Credit Card - Maybank Family & Friends Platinum MasterCard

Maybank Family & Friends Platinum MasterCard is one of the best, if not the best credit card for clocking all your household expenses.


Earn cash rebates with the Card that rewards you for what matters most. The Family & Friends Platinum MasterCard earns you cash rebates year round for family-friendly activities: grocery shopping, healthcare, toys and many more.

From the official Maybank website, the benefits immediately catches my attention.

Benefits

Enjoy 5% cash rebates+ at over 200 selected merchant outlets (nice!)
Plus earn 0.3% cash rebates on all your other purchases (good to have!)
No minimum Card spend to qualify for the rebates (even better!)

Key Points

In terms of raw cash rebate, Maybank Family & Friends Platinum MasterCard is as good as it gets with a high percentage rebate of 5%. Furthermore, these include common merchants you find in Singapore, with no minimum purchase! This is even than the Plus! Visa Credit Card that is promoting the "4% off everything at NTUC" that comes with a host of restrictions!

5% rebate from Grocery Shopping 
  • Cold Storage
  • NTUC

You also get 5% rebate for Fast Food Delivery 
  • Canadian Pizza 
  • KFC 
  • McDonald’s 
  • Pizza Hut

5% rebate for Health, Beauty and Personal Care retailers 

Just because there is plenty of advertising in Watsons stores for POSB Everyday Credit Card 3% cash-back doesn't mean it's the best - you're losing out on 2% without knowing it!
  • Unity NTUC Healthcare 
  • Guardian 
  • Watsons

Monthly Savings

On an average spend of about S$300 that I clock on this card, I'm getting back S$15 monthly. Pretty decent amount, don't you think?