The Most Cost Effective Way To Plan Your Travel Without Compromising on Quality

Travelling is the most common hobby which we as Singaporeans have. I see most people travel at least once a year and increasingly people are travelling multiple times a year. I love travelling also and its really to see more of the world outside as we live in a really small city in Singapore.

In this article, I'll share how I plan my travel for this coming year and some tips you could follow to really get some good deals out there. Its not about getting the cheapest option to travel as it would mean compromising on quality but its about finding the most cost effective way to plan a good relaxing travel experience.

Booking the flight

When it comes to travelling, booking the flight is always the first step. I use the website skyscanner to search for flight to the destination I want. Its easy just key in your destination and dates and click search and this website will search for the best flight across almost all airlines in the world. You can also filter base on your budget, preference for direct or transfer flights or the airlines you want.

Flexible on your dates? You can also choose to find the lowest flight tickets for the whole month by searching using the whole month as shown below:

After selecting the month (eg June), click search and it will show you a calendar view of the lowest flights available for the whole month:

That's it. You can find the best deal for your flight by using the method above.

Another tip is all airlines have several promotions at certain periods. You can subscribe to email alerts on the airlines website and you will get notified when there are promotions ongoing.


Booking the Hotel

The next major step for your travel plan is to find a good hotel to stay in. Trivago is a good website I always use to find the best deals out there. This website search for hotels in any destinations and then compares the best price across all other hotel websites such as Expedia, booking.com, hotels.com, Agoda and many more. Most of us may just search our hotels on one website such as Expedia but with Trivago, you can compare across all websites with just a click.

For hotels, besides the price as a comparison, I always emphasize on the location as well as the reviews. To me, staying in a good location will save time and also good reviews means a better stay and better travelling experience. With Trivago, you can sort the hotels by ratings and even see them on a map view.

After you find a hotel in a good location with good reviews, just select view deal and it will take you to the website which has the best deal to book your hotel.

Getting good hotel deals doesn't just stop here. If you own credit cards, banks do offer special deals for hotel bookings also. For example, Citibank card holders get 10% off hotel bookings on Expedia with any Citi card. Do note you can get this offer only if you book through the URL www.expedia.com.sg/citibank with promo code CITIEXPSG. I'm sure other bank credit cards do have such promo also so do check out the banks website for more information.

*Apply for Citi Cash Back card and get $300 worth of vouchers here

Buying travel insurance

The next thing to consider is travel insurance. To me this is quite important to get a peace of mind and its not too expensive also. NTUC is so far my favorite travel insurance as I've made claims before due to an unexpected cancellation of trip and they refunded me for all the expenses I incurred on flights and all that. NTUC almost always have discount on their travel insurance plans. The highest I've seen is 45% discount while most of the time is around 30%-40% discount.

FWD is another increasingly popular travel insurance which you can consider. They are the cheapest so far in the market but I'm not sure how good the claim process is? If you've claimed travel insurance from FWD before, do leave a comment below to share your good or bad experiences.


Getting internet in a foreign country

Wifi/data is extremely important for us now who can't live without our phones. Its also important when we need to use it to navigate around in a foreign country. If you're travelling in a group, you can consider Changi Recommends portable Wifi device which is quite affordable in my opinion. This device can connect multiple devices at a time to use the internet. Its as low as $4 for Asian countries including Japan and sometimes they offer promo with 2 free days off which they have currently. The best thing about Changi Wifi is you can collect and return the device  at the airport in all terminals.

Another alternative is to use your own Telco's mobile roaming plans. Singtel offers data roaming at $5-$12 per month for 1GB of data in up to 9 different countries. If you're travelling to multiple countries, this is a good choice. Starhub also has this happy prepaid card which has data roaming plans you can choose. I used this when I went to Australia 2 years back and it was quite affordable with good coverage.


Book travel attractions and transportation on Klook

While you're planning your travel, you would also need to book transportation or maybe local travel packages to enjoy your travel experience more. I always book any additional travel plans I need through Klook where I get can discounted tickets to attractions and transportation options.

For example, if you're going to Tokyo, you can book the train tickets on Klook at a discount and collect at Tokyo's airports on the day you arrive. You can also book Disneyland tickets in advance at a discount.

If you're new to Klook, you can get $5 immediately on Klook using my link here. Now you can book your travel experiences easily without any hassle.

Get additional cash back on Shopback

To push it even further, we can get additional cash back through Shopback. Shopback is my favourite cash back site to use not just for travel but for online shopping and almost any other things as well.

You can get cash back on flight bookings, hotel bookings as well. Look at all the places you can get cashback below:

I've got almost $50 in my Shopback account for me to cash out so far. You can use my lin6k to sign up and get $5 in your account straight away. I get $5 in return too.


Summary

Planning for travel becomes easier with all the resources out there. Let me summarise the complete travel plan below:

1. Search flights on skyscanner
2. Search for hotels using trivago or check your bank credit card privileges
3. Buy travel insurance with discount
4. Get wifi/data with Changi wifi or your Telco's data roam
5. Book travel attractions and transportation with Klook ($5 giveaway here)
6. Use credit card to pay for all the above to earn miles or cashback (Get $300 worth of vouchers when you apply here)
7. Get additional cashback with Shopback ($5 giveaway here)

That's a comprehensive travel plan! Any other ideas? Leave your comments below.

Latest Comparison of High Interest Savings Accounts in Singapore - May 2019

There have been numerous changes to the banks' interest rates in Singapore lately. As interest rates rises for loans, good news for savers who have savings in the bank as the interest we can get on our savings account is increasing as well.

However, the interest on normal savings account is still not increasing but the banks have come up with more creative ways to attract customers and offer higher interest with some small conditions. Let's take a look at which are the best high interest rates account in Singapore today?


OCBC 360

This is the bank account which I have most of my money in right now. They have revised their interest rates upwards without me not having to do any additional thing from before so those who already own this account will be happy to hear that as well.

The conditions is simple for this account. Let me summarise it:

1. Salary credit of at least $2000 to OCBC 360 and you will get 1.2% on first $35,000 and 2% on next $35,000. 
2. Spend at least $500 on OCBC credit cards and get 0.3% on first $35,000 and 0.6% on next $35,000
3. Increase account balance by at least $500 as compared to the previous month, get 0.3% on first $35,000 and 0.6% on next $35,000
4. Insure or invest with OCBC Bank and get 0.6% on first $35,000 and 1.2% on next $35,000

In summary, those who hold more than $35,000 to $70,000 in OCBC 360 account will enjoy much higher interest than before. As you can see, just by having salary credit will earn you 2% for the next $35,000 in the bank account which is quite a decent interest rate to me.

$70,000 savings in OCBC 360 account with salary credit will get you interest of $1120 per year just like that. This is close to $100 per month free money.


CIMB Fastsaver

For those who have extra cash lying around, CIMB fastsaver account is a no frails account which gives up to 1.5% interest with no conditions at all.  It was 1% previously for first $50,000 in the account but they revised it to include 1.5% for the next $25,000.

• First $50,000 - 1% p.a.
• Above S$50,000 to S$75,000 - 1.5% p.a.
• Above $75,000 - 0.6% p.a.

This is quite a good account which I am using also. No salary credit, no credit card spend or anything required at all to earn that higher interest.

Standard Chartered Bonus$aver - $100 account opening special

The next account gives pretty high interest for those who can meet its conditions. With salary credit of at least $3000 and spending of $500 per month on a SCB card linked to the bonus$aver account, you can get 1.78% interest on the first $100,000. If you can spend $2000 per month with the salary credit, then you get a very substantial total interest rate of 2.78%. 

• Salary credit of at least $3000 with monthly credit card spend of $500 - 1.78% p.a.
• Salary credit of at least $3000 with monthly credit card spend of $2000 - 2.78% p.a.

Furthermore, there is a special account opening deal of $100 cash when you open an account. You can apply for the bank account through this link to get your deal. This deal is in partnership with Singsaver. 

You can pair this savings account with the SCB unlimited card to get additional unlimited 1.5% cashback on all eligible spends. You can apply for the card here and get $100 cash + up to S$120 cashback from SCB. 

DBS Multiplier Account

The last account worth mentioning is the DBS multiplier account. Previously, they only give higher interest for the first $50,000 in the bank account but this has been revised to $100,000. However, there are certain conditions and it may be a little complicated for those who are new to this account.

Getting higher interest on the first $50,000 is easy as we just have to have our salary credited and have another category such as credit card spend. This will earn us at least 1.55% on the first $50,000 only. For the next $50,000 to earn higher interest, we'll have to have our salary credited plus additional 3 or more categories such as credit card spend, home loan installment, investment or insurance. You can get a minimum of 2% interest on $100,000 in your bank account if you meet the above salary credit + 3 or more other categories. Otherwise, in my opinion, the OCBC 360 still works better to get higher interest for the first $75,000 without having to meet so many categories.


Best Cashback Credit Card

Apart from getting higher interest on our savings in our bank accounts, we can also get cashback for our spending with cashback credit cards. I saw this promo by Singsaver on the Citi Cash Back card which they are giving out $300 NTUC, Taka or Grab codes for new customers. This is surprisingly quite a generous offer to give out $300 worth of vouchers.

Citi cashback credit card offers 8% cashback on Dining, Groceries, Petrol & Grab rides daily, worldwide with a min. spend of S$888 per statement month. You can apply for the Citi cashback card here to claim your offer or view other cashback cards available here.

The offer ends on 9 June 2019. In this battle of the cards, you can get an additional $50 if you "choose" (apply & get approved) for the winning card. You can also get a chance to win a trip to Tokyo per battle! 

All you need to do is: 

1) Apply & get approved for the winning card 

2) Click on "Submit to Win" and write why you think the card will win.

Click on the above image to find out more!

Let your money roll!

I've always try to make the best out of my money with all the deals out there. The interest which I get on a high interest bank account such as the OCBC 360 is far better than what I would get in a normal savings account. It just takes the initial setup to open the bank account and thereafter the interest will be credited to my savings account on a monthly basis. I can get more than $100 in interest per month just like that.

Pairing the high interest savings account with cash back credit cards is a smart way to make our money work harder for us. Hope this article helped you in searching for the best savings account and cashback credit cards out there with the deals you can get at this moment.

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New Rules For Using CPF For Property Purchase and HDB Housing Loans Changes

There are some changes to the rules on using CPF for purchasing of properties and also changes to the HDB housing loans we can take for a HDB property. This can be quite confusing so I will skip all the complexity of it and dive in to talk about who are the people who will get affected. Let's get started.

What the changes means to us? 

In simple terms, what I see is the changes are implemented to ensure we still have a roof over our heads when we are old and also slow down the depreciation of properties which have lesser lease remaining. The changes starts from Friday 10 May 2019 which is today.

When we buy a property, especially for HDB flats, most of us do not look at the remaining lease thinking that even if the lease goes to 0, we will still get to keep our house or the government will pay us to get another flat or we may get an en bloc on the flat. This is not true at all. The government has said multiple times that if the lease goes to 0, the HDB flat asset value will depreciate to zero.

With the above concern, a new rule of making sure the remaining lease covers the youngest buyer up to 95 years old is implemented. Previously, this was at 80 years old. If the remaining lease does not cover the youngest buyer up to 95 years old, they will be offered a loan on a pro-rated basis.

The updated rules will apply to:

• HDB flats: Flat applications received on or after May 10, 2019
• Private properties and executive condominium units: Option to Purchase or Sales & Purchase Agreement signed on or after May 10, 2019
• CPF withdrawals: Applications received on or after May 10, 2019

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/hdb-loan-cpf-rules-buy-property-flats-home-11518170


Young Couples will be affected negatively

Let's see how this affect a young buyer who wants to purchase a resale flat:

Gabriel and Rachel intends to get married in 2019 and plans to purchase a resale flat. They are age 25 currently. They shortlisted 3 HDB properties in Boon Keng, Bishan and Seng Kang. Previously under the old rules before 10 May 2019, they could get full HDB loan up to 90% loan to value.

Let's see how the new rules will affect them:

	Boon Keng (Remaining lease 55 years)	Bishan (Remaining lease 65 years)	Seng Kang (Remaining lease >75 years)
Maximum CPF usage	70% Valuation Limit	90% Valuation Limit	100% Valuation Limit
HDB housing loan	63% Loan-to-Value	81% Loan-to-Value	90% Loan-to-Value

As we can see, the couple can only take 63% loan for their Boon Keng property as the remaining lease is only 55 years and they are still young at 25 years old. The remaining lease does not cover them to age 95 so their maximum CPF usage and HDB housing loan is pro-rated. Even if they want to purchase a Bishan property which has remaining lease of 65 years, they can only take a maximum HDB housing loan of 81%. 

For newer estates such as Seng Kang with remaining lease more than 75 years, they can still get the full 90% loan if they take the HDB housing loan. 

Let's put some property price numbers into the above scenario for better visualisation:

	Boon Keng (Remaining lease 55 years)	Bishan (Remaining lease 65 years)	Seng Kang (Remaining lease >75 years)
Property Price	$700,000	$640,000.00	$416,000
Maximum CPF usage	70% Valuation Limit ($490,000)	90% Valuation Limit ($576,000)	100% Valuation Limit ($416,000)
HDB housing loan	63% Loan-to-Value ($441,000)	81% Loan-to-Value ($518,400)	90% Loan-to-Value ($374,400)

If we look at the Boon Keng property, for a 4 room flat price of estimated $700,000, the couple has to fork out $210,000 cash as the maximum CPF usage is only 70% of the valuation of the property. Even for the Bishan property, the couple has to also fork out additional $64,000 cash as the maximum CPF usage is only 90% instead of the previous 100%. 

In this case, for young couples who are age 25 to 30, the wiser choice is to ballot for a BTO or look at HDB properties with lease remaining of >75-80 years. Just make sure the HDB remaining lease can cover you at least to age 95 years old and you're safe from the changes of the new rules. 

Older buyers will benefit from this changes

Good news for older buyers who want to move house to live near parents or live in a better location in Singapore. With the new changes, older couple and buyers will be able to purchase HDB flats with shorter lease and still able to use their CPF for the purchase. Previously, they may only be able to use up to maximum 80% of their CPF for HDB purchase with lesser remaining lease. 

Let's look at one example below:

Gorden and Chloe are both 45 years old. They are thinking of purchasing a resale HDB flat to live near their parents. Their parents live in an old estate with most of the flats only with remaining lease of 50 years. With the revised rules, they will be happy to know that they can use more CPF to purchase the HDB flats with lesser remaining lease. 

Let's look at an example below:

	Before 10 May 2019	From 10 May 2019
Property Price	$430,000	$430,000
Maximum CPF usage	80% Valuation Limit ($344,000)	100%* Valuation Limit ($430,000)
HDB housing loan	90% Loan-to-Value ($387,000)	90% Loan-to-Value ($387,000)

*Applicable limit for buyers who have not set aside the BRS. Usage beyond the Valuation Limit (up to applicable limits) is allowed if the property buyers have accumulated their BRS. 

Note: 

1. Banks also take reference from CPF restrictions when assessing how much loan to lend. 

2. Actual loan amount is subject to credit assessment which takes into account, among others, buyer’s income and age. 

With the revised rules, this couple who are 45 years old can use $86,000 more of their combined CPF savings to buy the flat. Their HDB housing loan does not change. This is because even when the remaining lease is at a low of 50 years, it can cover them till at least 95 years old (45 years old + 50 years).


Changes to CPF withdrawal rules

Previously, CPF members above the age of 55 could withdraw their CPF savings above the Basic Retirement Sum (BRS) if they owned a property with a remaining lease of at least 30 years. This will change with the new CPF withdrawal rules.

CPF members will now need to have a property with sufficient remaining lease to cover them until at least the age of 95, before they can withdraw their CPF savings above the BRS


Summary of changes

While some will be worse of with this changes, others will benefit especially for the older people who are looking to move house. Here's a summary of the changes:

• Property remaining lease should cover youngest buyer up to 95 years old else maximum CPF usage and HDB housing loan LTV will be pro-rate.
• No CPF can be used if the remaining lease is less than 20 years. This has been lowered from 30 years currently. 
• CPF withdrawal above basic retirement sum is only allowed if remaining lease on property covers until at least age 95. 

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