Maximising benefits from cashless payments - OCBC 360 and NETS FlashPay

Disclaimer: I am not paid by any companies mentioned here to write this. I am writing this purely because it is really a productivity improvement to maximise benefits from cashless payments. All computations are in S$.

Possibly the best savings rates in 2014 -- OCBC 360 Savings Account

I had signed up the OCBC 360 account 6 months ago and had been reaping the full benefits from the account - 3.05% p.a. interest paid monthly on account balances up to $50,000 when you satisfy 3 conditions, which essentially are promoting cashless payments.

1. Your employer credits your salary into the OCBC 360 savings account through GIRO. (1%)
2. You perform 3 online bill payments a month. (1%) 
3. You spend at least S$400 on your OCBC credit cards (combined). (1%)

#2: These bill payments include your own OCBC credit card(s) or non-OCBC bank credit card(s) payments. If you sign up for GIRO payment of bills (e.g. credit card, utilities, town council, income tax, property tax, etc.) you literally can ignore the tracking of payment status of these bills.

#3: If you charge your recurring bills from utilities, handphone, internet, town council, etc. to your OCBC credit card, these amounts will still count towards the spending requirement.

Why am I sold?

There are certain expenses that I will definitely incur, so I should maximise my benefits from these expenses.

Assuming you have these monthly recurring bills:

• Utilities ($100)
• Handphone ($30)
• Internet ($40)
• Town Countil ($50)

Total: $220

What this means is that out of the $400 minimum spend, I will need to spend another $180 to qualify for the bonus.

This is where we start to look at NETS FlashPay

Other potential monthly expenses:

• Public transport - Train/bus ($80)
• Food court
• Medical 

Depending on our consumption, the amount varies, but the important thing here is the Auto Top-Up facility by GIRO or Credit Card. 

By linking to the top-up to your OCBC 360 account, every top-up will count as 1 bill payment.

By linking to the top-up to your OCBC Credit card, every top-up will count towards the $400 spending requirement.

Most optimised approach is to top-up with an OCBC credit card because it is very easy to get 3 bill payments if you have 3 credit cards.

Caveat: Top-up service fee is $0.25 per top-up, but waived until 31 Dec 2015. If you sign up now, you even get $5 cashback, which means you are paid to sign up. $5 will cover 20 top-ups. Just choose to top-up the maximum of $50 each time, and $1000 (20 x $50) cashless payments through FlashPay will probably last a year.

Note 1: OCBC Frank credit card has auto top-up activated before they send the card to you, so if you try to set up the auto top-up, it will fail. I learnt it the hard way.

Note 2: Auto Top-up only works at tap points at MRT and buses only, not at NETS merchants.

Which 3 credit cards?

1. NTUC Plus card for Link Points
2. Frank card for 6% rebates for online purchases if you spend $500 on the card, capped at $60/month. (particularly useful when you buy air tickets)
3. Titanium card for the NETS FlashPay top-up because currently only Mastercard is supported, except UOB Visa.

More perks for NETS FlashPay

1. 5% for Comfort cab expenses (min $30 a month), suitable if you take cab a lot. There is a transaction fee of $0.30, so to breakeven and benefit, you use FlashPay when $0.30 is less than 5% of your cab fare, i.e. $6, inclusive of booking fees and ERP charges. Unless your cab ride is less than 5 minutes, I am quite sure you will have to pay at least $6. You can also sign up for CAB rewards to get points everytime you use EZ-link or FlashPay to pay cab fares. Get $5 voucher when you accumulate 1000 points. If you sign up now, you get 800 bonus points, which is worth $4.
2. Some food court stall with NETS terminals accept NETS FlashPay too. Even hawker centres has a pilot set up! Beo Crescent and Clementi 448.
3. General Practitioner (GP) Clinics that have NETS terminals accept NETS FlashPay too. For me, I visit Ma Kuang (TCM) and they accept NETS FlashPay.

Lucky Draws:

1. $5000 cash until 31 Dec 2014.
2. Win a unit at Stratum Condo and 20 winners get $1000 cash.

Conclusion:

• I benefit from OCBC 360, which is a maximum of $1525 a year ($127/month), based on 3.05% of $50000.
• I benefit from NETS FlashPay by charging my previous cash expenses to the credit card by choosing to auto-up my FlashPay card by Credit Card.
• Saves time topping up cards, payment bills, etc. 
• My time savings are spent on personal development, researching for investment opportunities, and sleep.

SKII Facial Treatment Mask

I found a website selling these masks had a steal S$11/piece and decided to try it out. Initially I had my doubts because of the discount but I guess the supplier had some means to get the stock from Hong Kong at a lower cost.

In any case, the packaging states that it is made in japan, and after multiple usage, my skin had not become worse. After 10 minutes, the mask managed to hydrate and retain whatever was absorbed in my face for a day. My skin has been quite difficult to handle because it is a mix of combination and dry skin type - some parts are dry while some parts are oily and some parts are just right). Sometimes when I get allergic reactions to products with collagen, the salesgirls just shrug it off as sensitive skin, but it really is about the ingredients.

Radiance. What causes your face to shine, other than good lighting, is the amount of water on your skin surface. This is what I had derived after many years of skin care. This is the only scientific reason I can convince myself to want to maintain a good complexion at a low cost. Drinking lots of water and eating lots of fibre are the pre-requisites before any skin care products can improve any skin condition.

Compared with traditional masks, this SKII facial treatment masks is soaked with pitera. It's a really pungent smell if your nose had not adapted to it. The texture is slightly sticky, but I attribute this sticky texture to its amazing quality to hold moisture in the mask. The mask is noticeable heavier than other masks. By other masks, I refer to masks in the cheaper price range. 1 mask is stated to weigh 20 ml on the packaging. The most the skin can absorb is probably 5 ml.

How do I "ration" 1 mask to make my purchase value for money? You may need to experiment and waste a bit of "juice" (what I call the combination of whatever the mask is soaked in). After taking the mask out, I will usually have about 1/3 of the juice in the packaging, and I will use an air-tight clip to seal it and keep it in the fridge immediately. I will then place the mask on my face for 20 minutes which is usually about the time the masks start to dry up, and then rub the balance juice on my arms and legs. Over the next 1 week, I will apply half teaspoon of juice on my face every night. I use a small disposable plastic spoon that people normally use for yoghurts.

The result? Continuous radiant and smooth face every day at a low cost. The effects stays for a few weeks after the 1 week of continuous usage, but you will realise that after a while, you will need more juice to pump up your face.

Osaka Grand Front Bornelund Kid-O-Kid

Situated on the 3rd floor of the Osaka Grant Front just outside JR Osaka Station, Kid-O-Kid is a playground by Bornelund - a maker of educational toys. The marketing concept was to attract the parents and children to the playground to try out their range of toys and then (hopefully) purchasing a set home later. Their designs were also very attractive in terms of colour, shape, concept (animals are little toddlers' favourites) and the mechanics behind it develop motor and fine motor skills, making the playground suitable for babies aged 6 months to 12 years old.

Entry charges were relatively high for per minute charges. 600 yen for 30 minutes, 100 yen for every subsequent 10 minutes, 500 yen per adult entry. 1-day pass is 1,700 yen for 1 child and 1 adult, which was still relatively high, but when you read more into the table, they also had a monthly pass which was more cost effective at 4,400 yen for the size of the playground.  

大阪府大阪市北区大深町3番1号 グランフロント大阪 ナレッジキャピタル 3階
JR大阪駅 ／ 地下鉄 御堂筋線 梅田駅 ／ 阪急・阪神 梅田駅

Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) Account

I had been reading about the mechanics of the SRS account, and I finally decided to open an account and completed my first trade.

Compelling motivations for the decision:

(All calculations are based on present value)

1. Maximum contribution of $12,750/year for Singaporeans, i.e. 31 years of contribution to accumulate $400,000. 31 years is just the ball-park figure for a round number for illustration purposes.
2. Tax relief on contributed amount. The tipping point is actually if you have to pay 7% or more in income tax because if you are in the lower brackets of income tax, the money you keep could probably earn a 5-6% yield in the stock market. If you pay 20% tax, then the savings will be more. How you calculate this is savings is $12,750 x tax %.
3. At retirement age, $400,000 will be distributed over 10 years, which is $40,000/year or $3,333/month. Only 50% of the amount withdrawn are subjected to tax, and assuming tax rates remain, and the first $20,000 are tax-free, then the $40,000 is tax free because 50% is $20,000. 
4. As dividend from SGX stocks are tax-exempted, you can continue to earn dividend as you buy stocks with this money that is locked in the SRS account.
5. If you are terminally ill or disabled and cannot work, you can withdraw all the money at a 5% penalty, before retirement age. It's better than nothing when you are desperate, but health insurance definitely comes first before putting excess money into SRS.
6. No mandatory contribution like insurance premiums. On years where you don't have excess because of unforeseen circumstances, then you don't contribute.
7. Finally, paying stocks with SRS does not incur any additional steps on the online brokerage. 

I bought blue chips with my first contribution to the SRS account and I am looking forward to hatching eggs 30 years later.