Redeeming Air Miles for First Class Travel - Is it Worth It?

Have you ever wanted to travel luxuriously on a plane in a first class cabin? I think at some point in our lives, we would have thought of travelling first class but do not want to spend the money on that expensive first class tickets. Another way is to redeem air miles so that we do not feel its so painful to travel first class.

Luxury travel is being shared widely on YouTube and I've seen quite a few of those videos. Its quite interesting to watch the level of service provided in first class cabin. Below is a video of Singapore Airlines A380 First Class Suite flying from London to Singapore.

In the video, we can see that first class ticket comes with access to the first class lounge and also a first class cabin in the plane itself with fine dining food. The level of luxury is really top notch and its a dream for many. However, if we look more carefully, how much does it cost to enjoy this first class experience? The YouTuber actually said he used 115,000 Krisflyer Miles and paid an extra 200 GBP just for a one way trip from London to Singapore. 

Now, with all the hopes of redeeming the air miles to enjoy this first class experience, is it really possible to earn enough miles for this? I would say not many people will be able to reach this level of miles. For example, with the American Express Singapore Airlines Krisflyer credit card which earns 1.1 Krisflyer miles for every $1 spend, this means we would need to spend about $100,000 just to redeem a one way first class ticket from London to Singapore. This is just insane to me. 

Let's maybe look at a nearer destination like Hong Kong and see how much miles it takes to travel first class. A quick check on SIA's website indicates that it cost from 75,000 to 140,000 miles for 2 way first class ticket from Singapore to Hong Kong. 

Its still quite a lot of miles to accumulate to me just for that 4 hour flight. While luxury travel is a good to have, cashback on the other hand puts money in our pocket and gives us instant savings straight away. 

With cashback credit cards, I do not have to spend more money to earn miles just to spend money again to redeem miles on a good to have travel. The cashback I earn is a straight savings for me on my regular spending and its fuss free too. Cash back credit cards like the Standard Chartered 1.5% Unlimited cashback credit card earns 1.5% cashback on any eligible spend with no minimum spend required and no cashback cap. If we spend $100,000, we'll get $1500 cashback in return. Its as simple as that. 

Singsaver is running a CNY promo where you'll get instant cashback of $250 if you apply for the SCB unlimited credit card and do not have any existing credit cards with Standard Chartered bank. Check out other cashback or airmiles card here too. Promo ends on 31st January 2019.

So, is first class travel really worth it? While the luxury experience seems really good, it still seems too much to spend just for that few hours of enjoyment up in the air. Even using miles to redeem that ticket, it may take a long while unless we take advantage of some scheme to let us earn miles faster or you charge your company's expenses to your credit card. Alternatively, charge all your expenses to a cash back card and get instant cash back to offset your expenses. Cash is king!

The race between Team AirMiles and Team Cashback is currently neck and neck. It's going to be a close race to the finish! 

If you've already picked a card on this page, make sure you complete the entire application process to be eligible for $1,000 in cash ang pow. Follow the steps here. 

Every card application counts! 

Homemade and Handmade CNY goodies

Chinese New year is just around the corner. I like CNY as its the festival to spend quality time with our family with good food surrounding each family reunion table and lots of goodies too.

Recently, I got to find out about Poon Confectionery where we can purchase CNY goodies online and have it delivered right at our door steps. Poon confectionery was started in 1971 back in Pahang, Malaysia and they recently expanded to Singapore to offer the same delicious goodies to us.

Their CNY goodies are homemade and handmade which makes them different from the ones we buy at retail shops outside. Being homemade and handmade, the goodies do taste quite different from the ones I've tried before. I got to try the Almond cookies, Green pea cookies, pineapple tarts, peanut love letter and salted egg chips all with courtesy of Poon Confectionery and cnydelivery.com.

The cookies were so soft and tasty and to be honest its quite different from the ones I tasted before anywhere. The cookies are quite brittle and breaks easily which makes it extra tasty when eaten. I like the pineapple tarts especially as the pineapple filling is fresh and the outer layer is soft. I must say they really know how to make goodies and being handmade is really different from machine made.

A close up shot of the green pea cookies shows the texture of the cookies itself where you can definitely see its not machine made as its not in the best of shape but taste the best. Check out their website at https://cnydelivery.com/ and see what they can offer. They also offer free tasting at their retail shop located at 502 Macpherson Road, Singapore 368204. Feel free to drop by and have a taste of the delicious handmade cookies.

* The CNY goodies are with courtesy from Poon Confectionery and cnydelivery.com. All views on this article are from SG Young Invesment. 

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Cashback vs Airmiles, Which Is Better? - Deal of the year 2019

I am always looking out for good deals and playing the cashback game has enabled me to spend smarter plus get the best value out of my money. This is definitely one of the must do if we want to manage our finances well. How about Airmiles for those who are playing the miles game? Does it let you redeem free air tickets easily or enable you to upgrade to business class or even first class for a more luxurious travel?

With increased competition, the deals out there gets even more attractive for consumers like us. I could even order food for free through Grabfood when they had the $18 promo code for first time users. Free Grab rides were even possible when there were lots of promo codes. Besides all these freebies which emerge out recently, the best thing offered is still free CASH! Banks have been actually giving out free cash for the longest time and with so many banks in Singapore, we can always rotate around and continue getting free cash.

Deal of the year 2019 - Team challenge Starts Now!

For the year 2019, the competition heats up with a special challenge by Singsaver among the financial bloggers. Yes, I am part of this challenge and you can be part of this too. As a run up to Chinese new year in February, lots of Ang Bao $ will be given away for this challenge. All who participate in this challenge will be entitled to guaranteed rewards up to $200, bonus angbao of up to $50 and special giveaway of $888 cash.

This challenge is called team Airmiles Vs Cashback - Which Team are you in? I choose to be in team cashback as I think its a safer, easier and sure win way to be smarter with our money.With cashback credit cards, getting cashback is easy as often there are no hidden conditions to fulfil, no minimum spend required. You get instant cashback on your spending to offset your next credit card bill automatically. Its that simple.

For now, let me introduce the cashback cards available for this challenge and the perks that comes with each application:

1. Citi Cashback credit card

• $200 vouchers for new Citibank customers
• $30 vouchers for existing Citibank customer

2. Standard Chartered Unlimited Credit Card

• $150 cash + $100 cashback = $250 for new SCB customers
• $50 cash + $20 cashback = $70 for existing SCB customers

3. AMEX True Cashback 

• Singsaver Exclusive: $150 cash for new and existing AMEX customers
• $20 CapitaVouchers from Bank if you apply via MyInfo
• 3% cashback for first 6 months

4. HSBC Advance

• $150 cashback for new HSBC customers (T&Cs Apply)
• $100 cashback for existing HSBC customers (T&Cs Apply)
• Bonus 5% cashback on contactless payments

5. UOB YOLO

• $50 cash for new and existing UOB customers

6. OCBC 365

• $100 cashback for new OCBC customers

The sign up bonus are attractive as usual. The difference is this time there is a mechanism that if Team Cashback or Team Airmiles win, those who sign up for the respective card will receive additional angbao. The angbao bonus starts with minimum $20 for each person who applied for a credit card in the winning team. It can go up to $50 bonus for each person if total card applications is more than 1000. I'm not the only blogger participating in this challenge, there are probably 5 other bloggers who are also in this so its quite possible that we can get more applications together. 

So which cashback credit card is good?

Personally, I've tried 2 of the cashback credit cards above. They are the AMEX True Cashback and Standard Chartered Unlimited credit card. The AMEX true cashback credit card boost a high 3% cashback for any spend for the first 6 months, up to $5000 total spend. This will come in handy for the upcoming Chinese New Year spending or if you're planning to buy some stuff for the start of the new year. For $5000 spent, you will get back $150 cash in your credit card statement. For every application now, you will also get $150 instant cash reward. Sounds like a good deal isn't it? 

For the Standard Chartered unlimited credit card, I still own this card and I must say this is the most fuss free cashback card I've ever had. It gives 1.5% unlimited cashback on all eligible spend with no minimum spend required. Basically, I just use this card to pay for everything and I will get cashback for every dollar I spend. For each application now, you will get $250 cash & cashback instantly, which is the most attractive offer among all the cards here. If you don't have this card and are new to standard chartered, then this deal is really good for you.

I'm also considering the HSBC advance card which gives 2.5% cashback if you spend more than $2000 per month or 1.5% cashback for any spend below $2000, no minimum spend required. HSBC has good offers with partners such as Golden Village to offer special rates movie tickets at $9.50 on weekends or $7 on weekdays. We can also get Gold class tickets at $24.50 for weekdays and $34.50 for weekends. This is good for those who love to watch movies at the cinema. 

Bonus: Ang Bao & $888 Cash Giveaway for 2019 Team Challenge - Cashback vs Airmiles

The team challenge will run from 7 Jan to 31st Jan 2019. The status of the Ang Bao per application will be updated daily at this link as seen in the image below. As long as either Cashback or Airmiles wins, the minimum Ang Bao payable is $20 and up to $50 per card application. Do remember to check the link daily.

Share this with your friends as the more applications we have, the more Ang Bao each one of us will get!

To stand a chance to win $888 cash, comment and tag 3 Friends on this post on why you think Airmiles or Cashback is better. The top 3 most creative answers from the winning team will each receive $888 cash!

Apply for a cashback credit card and join the team challenge

If you do not have a cashback credit card or looking to get other bank's cashback card, this would be the best time to do it with such good deals on the table. Personally, if you do not have any cashback credit cards at all, the Standard chartered unlimited credit card will be the best for you. Its $250 cash given to you instantly after you apply for the card and additional Ang Bao $ if cashback team wins. I am quite confident that cashback team will win as its a more common credit card among the masses in Singapore as compared to Airmiles cards.

Let's make cashback team a winning team to start off 2019 with good luck and prosperity!

Apply for your cards here today.