Another small accomplishment

because of work, for the past 2 - 3 weeks I didn't work on my Java learning skills to allow me to rest while I was travelling on train. So I took up reading as a habit, and within a week, I finished another book!

This time, it was "David and Goliath" by Malcolm Gladwell.

The main gist of the book was to ask people to critically assess whether an obvious advantage or disadvantage, is really what it is thought to be.

Small accomplishment!

I just finished reading the following book~!

But what's the big deal with finishing a book?
Isn't there a lot of people who reads book?

Well, for me, it's a tough habit to keep at.
Reading usually makes me fall asleep faster than anything.
It's a surprise I managed to go through hundreds of pages of psychology textbooks by riding on my adrenaline.

So, first book completed ever since I started this blog!
Small celebration. Yeah!

This book was meant to give me insights on how to focus in my everyday life.
But instead, I got more from it.
It talks attention in the psychological and biological aspects, about being mindful, what does a leader needs, about looking at the bigger picture such as global and futuristic issues.
I'm not so good in giving a book review, but it's not bad.

Making time for those who matters

Even when I'm caught up with work, and have been doing OT for the past few work days... I would still make time for my family. Especially when today's my sister's birthday, and it would be the first time her partner and my partner gather around a table to have a private dinner.

I like that I put them on my priority list.
And I'm glad that my Dearest put them on her priority list as well. =)

It's just a gentle note to self.

Make time for those who matters...

Here's a video that I saw on Facebook which I found quite apt for this day.

Who would you most like to have dinner with? The answers from these kids had me tearing up!From Masterfoods in Australia....
Posted by Marcus Leshock on Thursday, February 18, 2016

Financial considerations for my future with Dearest

Valentine's day has just passed!

Dearest and I didn't really celebrate it, but we spent quality time with each other =)

Part of it was an impromptu discussion on our financial needs for our wedding and BTO, both of which would be coming in early 2018.

Here's a rough calculation of the budget that we think we would need:

Wedding

• Banquet - $30K

• Bridal package - $5K

• Actual day costs (Photographer, Videographer, etc) - $5K

• Wedding band - $1K

Total = $41K

Renovation

Total = $45K

Furniture

Total = $25K

Summary

Total = $101K

Wow~!

A whopping $101K cost that we both have to prepare for our wedding and our house.

Of course, this is still a rough estimate, and there are other things that we haven't take into account such as the hong baos that we are going to get back during the wedding banquet.

Based on our current savings, we could barely cover this cost when it really comes. haha..

Maybe when the date draws closer, the budget will be a bit more clear.

Will come back to this when we are really planning for it! =)

Archiving my progress in learning Java

It has been around 3 months since I have started on my journey in learning Java through the e-book, ThinkJava (ver 5.1.2).

Though the questions are fun and sometimes challenging, it also means that I have experienced my frustrations in testing my codes and running into trouble with them, without knowing what is wrong, or how to do certain things.

Whenever I felt that I need some guidance, I would turn to Google. However, solutions for this e-book seemed to be quite hard to find. Some of the solutions can be found from a Google Code Archive I found off Google, but the solutions are not that well-organized until I could easily maneuver the site to find the right solutions.

Therefore, in lieu of this gap of information on the web (or my lack of ability to search through the web), I have decided to create a new blog to archive my solutions!
It's both for me to keep track of my progress, and for those who are in the same predicament as me, lost and wandering in the sea of Java codes.

And so...

Here it is! ThinkJava Solutions

It can be access through the horizontal bar in this blog also.

The BEST Savings Account!

With the new year just starting out, it's perhaps time to review whether my current savings account is still the best!

There was a time when all the hype was about OCBC 360 Account, which grants you over 3% p.a. interest rate.
I rode on the wave quite early, but it seems like the wave is dying now. haha..
Other banks such as UOB and BOC has since created 'new waves'.

Instead of diligently checking the updates from every possible bank in Singapore, I usually surf around the local forums and those finance blogs to get a sense of what's hot at the moment.

The information I have gathered so far shows that the current Top 3 contenders on the BEST savings account are:

1. BOC SmartSaver

2. OCBC 360 Account

3. UOB One Account

The information given by the banks are usually quite comprehensive, but might be confusing due to the overload of it.

Here's my attempt to decipher what the individual bank is promoting about their savings account, and what is the best option in my situation.

		BOC SmartSaver	OCBC 360	UOB One
Maximum Amt Applicable for Bonus Interest		$60,000	$60,000	$50,000
Prevailing Interest Rate (p.a.)		< $5,000 - 0.25% ≥ $5,000 - 0.275% ≥ $20,000 - 0.35% ≥ $50,000 - 0.40%	0.05%	0.05%
Condition 1	Credit/Debit Card Expenditure	$500 (min)	$500 (min) Credit Cards only	$500 (min) One Card/Direct Visa Debit Card
	Bonus Interest (p.a.)	1.55%	0.50%	First $10,000 - 1% Next $20,000 - 1.5% Next $20,000 - 2% => For $50,000 - 1.6%
Condition 2	Salary Credit	$2,000 (min)	$2,000 (min)	$2,000 (min) *Either Condition 2 or 3 will be considered.
	Bonus Interest (p.a.)	1.00%	1.20%	First $10,000 - 0.5% Next $20,000 - 0.5% Next $20,000 - 1.33% => For $50,000 - 0.832%
Condition 3	Bills Payment	3 bills online/GIRO OR 1 BOC Mortgage Repayment	3 bills online/GIRO	3 bills via GRIO *Either Condition 2 or 3 will be considered.
	Bonus Interest (p.a.)	0.60%	0.50%	First $10,000 - 0.5% Next $20,000 - 0.5% Next $20,000 - 1.33% => For $50,000 - 0.832%
Condition 4	Insure/Invest	-	Financial or Investment products	-
	Bonus Interest (p.a.)	-	1.00%	-
Condition 5	Incremental Acct Balance	-	Increase in Avg Daily Balance	-
	Bonus Interest (p.a.)	-	1.00% of Incremental Amt	-
Maximum Interest Rate (p.a.)		0.40% + 1.55% +1.00% + 0.60% = 3.55%	0.05% + 0.50% + 1.20% + 0.50% = 2.25% (excludes Condition 4 & 5)	0.05% + 1.60% + 0.832% = 2.482%
Maximum Interest		3.55% of $60,000 = $2,130/year = $177.50/mth	2.25% of $60,000 = $1,350/year = $112.50/mth	2.482% of $50,000 = $1,241/year = $103.42/mth

The short answer from the table is that, BOC SmartSaver is the obvious winner~!
The difference from OCBC 360 I can potentially get from BOC SmartSaver in just a month is $65!
I can eat a lot of chicken rice with $65.

However, the long answer is, it depends on what kind of criteria can you fulfill.
My situation is that I would fulfill all the 3 conditions needed to attain the maximum benefits.
But if you can't, you probably have to work out which savings account is the optimal choice for yourself.
For example, if you're unable to hit $500 for credit/debit card expenditure, UOB One is definitely out of the picture.
BOC SmartSaver will yield 1.60%, but OCBC 360 will yield 1.70%.
In this case, OCBC 360 wins.

Things get more complicated when you have way over $60,000, and are deciding on a second savings account, and can fulfill the criteria of the second savings account.

But at the moment, I'm only capable of just one savings account.
The choice is clear, and I have made my choice.
Well-researched and calculated. haha..

Hopefully my wealth will start to grow grow grow~

A Quick Infographic on Buying a Car in Singapore in 2016

I think I should avoid trying to write long and informative blog entries, basically because it's hard for me to allocate time out to write a long one.

So I guess I should just keep the entries short and have quick updates on my progress =)

Anyway, this infographic on buying a car just came up on Yahoo.sg today. I just wanted to keep this image in my blog so that in future when I do decide to buy a car, it's a quick guide to understanding how much money do I actually have to fork out in order to afford one. Right now, it seems near to impossible and impractical. Haha.. poor Singaporeans.

Infographic from MoneySmart

To many more short entries before the month ends! haha..