Its time of the year again to declare our earnings for the past year to IRAS and we have till 18 April 2012 to e-file.

We all hate to pay taxes, but this money does help to pay for the improvements in our living environment.

There are a few ways to pay our income tax, GIRO is the easiest way to do it as the money is automatically deducted from our bank accounts.

However, many people wanted to use their credit card for income tax payments instead as they wanted to clock reward points or cash rebates on the credit card. This is the best of both world especially when your income tax runs up to thousands of dollars.

However Standard Chartered had declared that:

With effect from 18 March 2012, please note that payments made to IRAS via Online Banking using your credit card will cease to earn points and CashBack. Further, with effect from 21 April 2012, payments made to all billing organisations via Online Banking using your credit card will also cease to earn points and CashBack. [more]

Not sure if other banks will follow suit in time to come. Lets hope that they don’t!

I have used Standard Chartered Internet Banking as an example, other banks should be quite similar.

Steps To Pay Income Tax By Credit Card Through Internet Banking

1) Login to your Internet Banking and Select Bill Payment

2) Add a new bill payment payee

3)  Select the payee name (IRAS-Income Tax) from the list

4) Bill account number: Your Tax Reference Number

5) Payee added successfully

6) Select bill payments and select IRAS-Income Tax under pay an existing payee column

7) Select your credit card at “Account to be paid from” and enter payment details

Thanks for contributing to the country :)

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Interest Rates (Photo credit: 401K)

There are lots of banks in Singapore offering savings account of different interest rates. The interest given out by some of the banks have fallen by quite a bit.

As a large part of my savings are deposited in savings account, I like shift my savings if there is a better deal on the market.

As you can see below, the rates being offered now are much lower than in the past years. I can see that it can only go lower in time to come due to the possible market downturn in near future.

Standard Chartered eSaver and Citibank Stepup have reduced their interest rate through the years and I have removed them from my list.

I like to do some homework to be current on the bank that offers the highest interest rate for savings account so that I do not lose out on the potential interest which I could have earned.

I am happy that my favorite CIMB StarSaver Account still offers the best interest rate!

High Interest Savings Account Singapore 2012

CIMB StarSaver Account Interest Rate

Plus! Savings Interest Rate

Maybank iSAVvy Savings Account Interest Rate

Standard Chartered BonusSaver Interest Rate*

Earn 1.88% p.a. on your savings for the first S$25,000 in your Bonus$aver account when you charge a minimum of S$500 to your linked Bonus$aver World MasterCard credit and/or debit card(s) each month.

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Image via Wikipedia

All members of CPF (Central Provident Fund) will receive interest rate of 2.5% p.a. on their OA (Ordinary Accounts) for the period of 1 APRIL 2012 TO 30 JUNE 2012.

Interest Rate For Ordinary Account (OA)
  
All CPF members will continue to receive a risk-free interest rate of 2.5% on their Ordinary Account savings from 1 April 2012 to 30 June 2012.

The computed CPF interest rate, derived from the major local banks’ interest rates for the three-month period, 1 November 2011 to 31 January 2012, worked out to be 0.16% per annum.  However, members will receive the higher rate of 2.50% as legislated by the CPF Act.

Extra Interest of 1%
  
In addition, an extra 1% interest will continue to be paid on the first $60,000 of a member’s combined balances, with up to $20,000 from the OA.  The extra interest from the OA will go into the member’s Special or Retirement Account to enhance his retirement savings.

Do remember that the money in CPF is still your money and some of you might have used part of your CPF monies for investments such as Unit Trusts.

Maybe its time to have a look into your investment portfolio and see what returns it has made so far. If the returns are lesser than what the CPF are offering, you might want to park your monies back into CPF to earn the risk-free interest!

[Source]

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I was notified that Maybank eCard Platinum Card has been renamed to Maybank Visa Platinum with new product benefits.

As such, I would like to share with you the new features of Maybank Platinum Visa Credit Card.

If you are a movie junkie and karaoke lover, this credit card suits you the best.

Exclusive Privileges

1) Enjoy 1-for-1 Movie at WE-Cinemas

• Limited to the first 100 ticket redemptions per week at WE-Suntec and WE-Westmall for Maybank Cardmembers
• For Box Office purchase only
• Maximum redemption of 2 free tickets per visit

2) Get High With 1+1 Karaoke at K Box

• Cardmember and 1 guest get free entry. At least 1 standard drink has to be ordered each
• Applicable for the following sessions:   Monday to Friday “K Happy Session” (check-in between 2pm – 7pm) and Sunday to Thursday “K Golden Session” (check-in after 7pm)

3) Everyone Loves 1-for-1 Coffee at Spinelli Coffee

• Get a free regular 12oz latte with purchase of any regular-priced item
• Limited to 4,000 latte redemptions per month across all participating outlets
• Participating Spinelli outlets: • China Square Central • Forum The Shopping Mall • HarbourFront Tower I • IBM Ph 2 Building • Orchard Central • Peninsula Hotel Shopping Centre • Straits Trading Building • Velocity @ Novena Square • King Albert Park • Far East Square • Great World City • The Heeren Shops • One Raffles Quay • Singapore Changi Airport T2 – Level 2 • Singapore Changi Airport T2 – Level 3 • The Strategy • Plaza 8 @Changi Business Park

Apply yours now!

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Image by .coomb. via Flickr

I bet payment by NETS sounds familiar to you if you live in Singapore.

NETS Is Most Common Mode Of Cashless Payment

Not all shops accept credit cards but almost all shops in Singapore accept NETS as a form of cashless payment.

You can even make bills payment at SAM and AXS machines using NETS.

I rarely make cash payments nowadays unless there isn’t a choice for me to do so.

Since so much money is paid out using NETS, why not find a way to have cashback since the money is meant to be spent anyway.

XtraSaver Account Debit Card

I found out that XtraSaver Account Debit Card offers 0.5% CashBack on all NETS transactions.

This means that I can save 0.5% off anything by using XtraSaver Account Debit Card to pay off the bill through NETS.

0.5% Cashback on S$100 is S$0.50!

S$0.50 is nothing?

These few months, my Singtel UOB Credit Card bill comes up to about S$550 due to some installments payments. I paid off the bill through SAM machines using XtraSaver Account Debit Card and I was able to get about S$2.75 back in Cashback!

Save Money

I had saved S$2.75 off the S$550 bill payment!

It is important to save every cents possible, every cents saved is cents earned!

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Image via Wikipedia

After I sold my car a few years back to save money, my main mode of transport is by public transport such as bus and MRT.

It  really is about 10 times cheaper taking public transport, from S$1000 reduced to about S$100 per month. Imagine the amount of money saved just by taking public transport.

However, the transport fare is getting more and more expensive. Recently, Public Transport Council had approved a 1 per cent public transport fare hike which was effective last month on 8th October.

On Friday morning, the PTC announced that from Oct 8, adult card fares for buses and trains will increase by 2 cents per journey.

Senior citizen concessionary fares will increase by 1 cent per journey. There will be no change to child and student concessionary card fares.

On average, the PTC said the fare hike works out to about a rise of 15 cents per week for 85 per cent of commuters.

read more

My solution to save money on public transport is by using POSB Everyday Card to pay for transport fare.

It is a credit card as well as and ez-link card, by using the EZ-Reload feature which will auto top-up when the fund runs low, you can get 2% back in rebate.

I do not need to worry about the need to top-up the fund when funds run low and get 2% rebate at the same time :)

POSB Everyday Card will remain to be my main way of paying for transport fare until i can find better rebate elsewhere.

Cheers!

Image by BankSimple via Flickr

Is it not exciting to know that you can save money on everything that you spend money on?

There are actually multiple ways to do so, however I only stick to one that I am most confortable with.

I can save 2% on all that things that I spend money on by using Standard Chartered XtraSaver Debit Card with comes with their XtraSaver Account.

You might think that 2% is nothing, or an amount too small to bother about it.

But hey, its your money!

Money that you worked your ass off to earn it!

Money Saved Is Money Earned.

The actual amount of money earned is actually the money you are able to save at the month’s end. It is important to realise this fact.

For S$1000 paid using XtraSaver Debit Card, you get back S$20 cash back at the end of the month.

Compare this with S$1000 saved in a POSB savings account, which offers only 0.05% p.a. interest, you get S$0.04 per month!

Nowadays, all my expenses are concentrated on this card as it gives me 2% cashback automatically, it beats all other cards because I don’t need to get headaches about what things to redeem.

Save money, Be happy.

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• When it comes to money, are you a spender or a saver?
• “Pre-paid debit cards are a rapidly growing financial services phenomenon mostly out of sight to many…”

Financial education is very important in one’s life. No matter how much you do not like numbers and calculation, its still a “must have” skill in this area.

Everyday you are making financial decisions, no matter big or small, and it does impact your future financial wellness.

Have you given much thought about these key financial decisions in your life?

• Managing Your Cash Flow
• Buying A House Within Your Means
• Taking Charge of Your Healthcare Costs
• Securing Your Retirement

CPF board is launching “Are You Ready?” to educate Singaporeans on planning for their financial decisions in the areas listed above.

There are now 2 free talks available for registration for young working adults and those reaching 55 soon.

Click here to register 

Are You Ready?

Remember, the best investment is in yourself :)

Withdrawing funds From POEMS is easy.

How To Withdraw From POEMS?

You can Submit online withdrawal form via POEMS > STOCKS > ACCT MGMT > Online Forms.

When you reach the online withdrawal form:

1) Enter the amount to be withdrawn
2) Choose one option on how you want to withdraw your funds
3) Click the “submit” button by scrolling to the bottom of the online form

Cheers

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Yes, its true, the stock market is addictive.

After my first contact with shares, I find myself keep going to POEMS website to check the stock prices.

Especially in this volatile market for the past few weeks. When I notice the price of the stock that I am interested in drops, I bought some only to find them dropping even lower :<

I realise that it is unhealthy to me to do so.

Sometimes I really wonder if I had made the wrong move to touch the stock market. But I know it is a learning process for me. Even If I had made losts, I would treat it as paying school fees. But it is only paper lost if I didn't sell them away.

Investing is the only way to grow wealth and it is important not to be greedy. Only use money excess money that you can afford to lose.

I invest in books to grow my knowledge, I invest in stocks to grow my money.

Work -> Save -> Invest -> Work -> Save -> Invest

Stock Market is exciting, but living a good life is even better!