Your Life, Your Money.
Your Life, Your Money.
Tips, tricks and uncommon wisdom to help you get more out of your money.
Country clubs are going the way of Chia pets. They’re awesome for a while; then we realize they’re pricey, need too much maintenance, and (after a few years) become as exciting as a Wheel of Fortune re-run. In this article, I examine why interest in country clubs is dimming. And the things you’d better know before joining:
Whether you’re a student with a part-time job or a professional climbing the corporate ladder, you work too damn hard to pay full price for your beverages, movies, meals, spa packages or attraction admission fees when you’re finally off the clock. I’m not saying you have to start flipping tables, start a fight club or protest at Hong Lim Park to show you’ve had enough.
You just need to get your hands on a lifestyle membership card, which can save you hundreds of dollars during the lifetime of your membership. Here are three options that cater to students, professionals, and just about everyone else:
They should invent a new financial term for gold’s recent bust. “Flash crash” doesn’t cut it. Something like “Two bricks slamming your nuts in” would be more appropriate. See, gold’s been rising for 12 years straight. And up till April 15th, 2013, we thought the only way to secure your money further would be to weld it into a battle tank. So what went wrong? And more importantly, when will gold prices recover?
Since the last quarter of 2012, the residential property market has taken a pounding. Seven rounds of cooling measures have taken a toll, and even now, we are seeing a slowdown in the resale market. As such, some investors are turning their eyes toward commercial properties. But they should be aware of the vast differences between residential and commercial investments, especially in the context of 2012 – 2013:
I have nothing against rich people. Hell, I’m hoping to become rich too. And if you ask around, some people would place me in…would place me in the “not poor” category, let’s leave it at that. But that being said, I want to point out that there are some seriously annoying rich people in this country. Not because they have money, but because they like to say the following crap. If you’re one of them, please stop it:
I’m a big believer in field testing my articles. But I can’t do it for this one, because I’m not an expat. It’d be silly to even try thinking like one, ha ha. “You renounced your citizenship and migrated back didn’t you?” Yeah. And also, I’m wearing a beret and carrying a plastic baguette while I write this. If there’s one thing mainstream media’s taught me, it’s that journalism’s not far from method acting (Thanks Noose!) So if I were an expat, here’s the banks I’d use:
You know the problem with budgeting? It requires a lot of discipline. And most people who need to budget lack that exact quality. So when I tell them to control their spending, it’s about as helpful as yelling at a drowning man to try swimming. I’m sick of it. In this article, I’ll cover the only budgeting plan that will ever work for Singaporeans (according to a fact I just invented):
In my day, children were raised on sunshine, sports, and pure grit. The only “play station” was a clearing where the musangs were less likely to gnaw your face off. And if a kid had a five cent eraser with three colours, well, that was the Ferrari of the toy industry. But today, our approach to child rearing’s more lavish. In this infographic, parents tell me how expensive it’s become:
Income inequality measures how much richer the rich are, compared to the poor. It’s a polite term economists created, to replace: “Here’s how far the poor are from ramming sharp objects in your face”. And in Singapore, that distance seems to be…let’s see…oh okay. You all enjoy this infographic, while I book an emergency flight to Mali.
Some Singaporeans asked that land costs be excluded from HDB pricing. The answer to this was a stern no. Too much social welfare, as we all know, leads to laziness, communism, and Satan worship. Or even worse, voting for the Opposition. Besides, HDB loses a billion dollars a year as is. That’s pretty bad, right? Trouble is, that “loss” is irrelevant…as an argument or otherwise:
