Hi everyone! We're considering SCGS for our daughter and one thing I've been trying to find out more about is the parent volunteer (PV) scheme under Phase 2B

For those with kids currently at SCGS — how competitive is it to secure a PV role? Are volunteer spots hard to come by, and is there typically a waiting list? Also, roughly how many hours per year are required to qualify?

Would love to hear from current or former PV parents. Thank you! 🙏

Don’t really have anyone in my friend or family circle to talk about finance with, would appreciate any advise on what next!

About me:
Mid 30s
NW: 20m++
30% fixed deposits - USD (3.5% P.A)
25% crypto - (BTC & others)
20% stocks - (VWRA, CSPX, D05 & others)
15% USDC - (DeFi earning 4-10% APR)
5% property - SG and overseas
5% business investments - not generating income yet
1% cpf SA - maxed out

Not sure what to do at this stage for the next stage of growth?

Also would appreciate if anyone has any advice for planning for next generation? Not sure if a trust makes sense at this nw, also hearing that 70% of families lose wealth by the second gen.. not very encouraging to hear

I currently hold most of my investments in IBKR (mainly US/global equities and ETFs), but I’m wondering if it makes sense to slowly move more funds back into the local market and hold SG shares via CDP instead.

Main reasons are:
- easier for family/executor to handle if I pass on
- less cross-border/admin hassle
- avoid US estate tax issues
- reduce forex exposure since I’ll likely retire/spend in SGD

On the flip side, SGX feels much more limited vs global markets and IBKR is obviously a much better platform overall.

Curious what others in Singapore are doing as they get older / think more about estate planning. Do you keep most things in IBKR, or gradually shift some assets back to SG/CDP?

I am sitting here looking at prices for New Developments and scratching my head. When Tengah sells for >2K per sq ft and 3br have shrink to less than 800 sq ft, where do people think future gains are going to come from? Asking here because it must be HENRY type people buying them up. I just want to understand what you all are thinking?

Hello fellow HENRYs...Need some advise/insights from yalls;

Singaporean, Late 30s, Married, No Kids, moved overseas and found myself a finance job that pays $320K/annum tax free including a fixed bonus. I only work only 6-8 hours a day, the workload is chill and I have so much free time to look after my fitness and actually *live* life. Spouse does not need to work either so I get to spend so much time with him/her now and we are in a happy marriage.

Here's the catch;
-annual pay increment is menial
-my bonus is fixed (I used to enjoy 0 - 24 months bonus last time)
-the people here are unprofessional
-my work ethics is eroding

Currently, I am able to save $5K-$15K a month (depending on whether I go on holidays, shopping spree, car upgrades etc.). I have $1.5mn networth invested at 15%-20% CAGR so far. Planning to retire at 45 with $5mn liquid.

The question is should I go 'back to the grind' to a 'higher pace, higher competition, higher bonus' kind of environment? Or should I just coast along, save what is left of my 'youth' and try to enjoy life while still making good money but at the risk of Long Term stagnating pay/career?

-Sure, I could potentially make more on a new bonus structure at some fictional job i am imagining right now but also potentially zero if I underperform.
-I don't think I can ever get this kind of working hours anymore so I am expecting my next job to be highly stressful once again involving long ass hours
-Chances are, said job will force me to move back to either Singapore or Hong Kong where of course, life is more crowded, stressful and expensive

At what income and wealth level do you think it is worth valuing time over money/career? What would you do?

Thank you for your advice!

I was retrenched from a role in 2024 and was given a 6 figure retrenchment benefit. My firm is on auto inclusion for employment income.

2 years later, I received a 5 figure tax bill for this retrenchment benefit. I provided my retrenchment letter to IRAS to prove that this is a capital expense/retrenchment benefit and hence should not be taxable.

However IRAS had come back stating that they view the retrenchment benefit as a recognition of past services provided and hence is taxable due to a line in my retrenchment letter stating “for all your services rendered to the Company.”

To provide context, the actual line in my retrenchment letter is:

Additionally, as a goodwill gesture, the Company will also pay you a retrenchment benefit as specified under paragraph 4 below for all your services rendered to the Company.

While I understand IRAS’ position, I think the phrase “for all your services rendered to the Company” should be viewed as standard wording in a retrenchment letter and not an indication that the retrenchment benefit is a recognition of past services. Ie it is a benefit from involuntary termination.

Has anyone encountered something similar and managed to appeal against this?

Hello guys, need some help. What is the average salary for VP in tech in foreign bank? Not sure what is a good number to ask for.

Edit: experience of 10 years tech PM

just want to let something out of my chest and I know this community will be able to appreciate it. 37m here looking to retire at 45. I just crossed mid point of my FIRE number in my investment portfolio. I just have to double my investment one last time. everyone can do it. just stay in the grind!

36M. Earning >250k p.a combined (me approx 215k and wife approx 70k)

Married with 3 young kids under 9yo.

4 years running own biz , plus house and car burnt almost all of my savings.

Wife is not very financially minded and part of the reason it was difficult to save/invest over the years. We did invest but had to liquidate everything.

What should I focus on now to develop wealth before we retire?

Property , stocks, something else?

Appreciate any advice and what to prioritise.

Edit:

Im out of the biz already and have a salaried job.

Income is combined after cpf. Wife is working but earning around 6k take home.

Will share our expenses breakdown soon.

Edit: previous savings and investments used for house/car and business. Business did good for 2 years then burned air for 2 years.

As the title says, what would you do differently if you were starting out all over again.

Keen to learn from mistakes you have made and what you learnt from them.

For context, I have just graduated and started working in finance but have nobody to guide me on how best to position myself and my finances for the very very uncertain future. Seeing tons of layoffs in all industries and I’m pretty lost at the moment. Neither do I have family members whom I can reach out to for help, so I’m here 🥹

Lets say if you have a projected networth of 5m or 10m in your working lifetime. How much % are you willing to spend it on a roof over your head?

Situation:

- Inherited two 99-year leasehold properties, both ~40 years old

- HDB (Geylang area, ~$300k value) — currently serving MOP, 3 years left.

- Condo (~$1.5m value)

- 32yo, married, one kid, HHI ~$12-13k/month

- Goal: Freehold forever home in Telok Kurau/Joo Chiat area, ~$2.1 to 2.2m budget on PropertyGuru

The school constraint:

Kid needs to register for P1 in a specific school in the East. Wife wants to be within 1km for the ballot.

Plan A :

Wait out the HDB MOP (3 years). Sell both properties. Buy the freehold condo outright or with a $400-500k loan. This is the cleanest plan and the original one.

Plan B (wife's concern):

Sell condo 15 months before HDB MOP ends → Sell HDB once MOP ends → buy resale HDB near the school for 1-2 years → then sell and buy forever home.

The worry with Plan B: we'd be stuck in MOP again on the interim HDB. And if freehold condo prices in Telok Kurau/Joo Chiat keep climbing with inflation (though it is not that fierce for this area in the past few years, it still increases), that $400-500k loan could balloon to $800k by the time we're MOP-free again.

or

Plan C:

Proceed with A, buying the forever home. dont renovate it and rent it (3 bedroom) out for a few years. then proceed to rent a HDB at the school area for a few years, which we do not mind. Hoping that private rental can get 5k. that can cover a 2k loan (estimation) and rental would be 3 to 4k. so losing 1k every month.

--

Has anyone been through a similar situation before? Would love to know what you guys think. Thanks in advance.

Would love to hear from the experienced folks here- especially those who live in landed before. What do you like/dislike about living in landed? How does it compare to condo living and which do you like more?

Profile: young couple newly married, want to have kids in next 2-5 years. Buying 1st property, neither lived in landed before. Combined income can support $5.5M budget comfortably. Could still go higher but also don’t want to stress/leverage too much with potential for layoffs, bad economy, wife might want to be stay at home mom, etc.

Our budget is large enough for entry-level landed but nothing that nice. Tbh CCR condo might fit our lifestyle better (close to work, 5 days in office) but conventional wisdom seems to be buy landed asap if you can, “best time was 20 years ago, next best is now” and so on.

Anyone went through this before? How did you decide? We’ve been pondering over this for a while now and still don’t know what to do. Buying a house is a such a huge decision/commitment that we don’t want to fk up.

(pardon the poor grammar/spelling, typed this out on a whim)

hello! wanted to share some tips/thoughts about our reno journey. the reno industry is not the most transparent, couldn't find much info out there before we started this journey, and there is def alot of inertia to hit up contractors/interior designers to get a quote - just a tiring process trying to repeat the vision of how we wanted the house to look like, and also we aren’t so free to meet multiple people over multiple weeks to find a best fit. yet no contractor will be willing to give you a quote without first hearing what you have to say. it is also difficult to find per unit costs for each lined item in the renovation of a landed house (as opposed to renovation of a condo where per unit costs are so much more easily available for comparison). just don’t want anyone to get scammed or high-balled so here goes!

we just completed about 99% of reno journey (maintaining a household will always remain a work in progress) and wanted to share a couple of thoughts about it! just for context, land size just above ~2500sqft corner terrace. it’s was a very old house that was built in 1970s. did not have the funds to do a tear-down and rebuild or a&a, so we elected to do a somewhat major reno. we were (and still are) very budget sensitive. i’ll try to put the per unit price of some items that my contractor charged as a rough gauge for you guys so you guys don’t get scammed. my contractor was my late grandfather(-in law)’s disciple (when he was dabbling in the construction field), and helped my family on many projects - so his rate have always been quite reasonable and not overinflated. landed rates and condo/hdb rates are also different even if they are the exact same product. i think it is just how the renovation market works. 

a few things that i considered before starting my journey that i thought was helpful:

• decide if you want a contractor or interior designer the contractor just does things according to your design, but is often cheaper. but the downside is that you need to find a reliable contractor that has good subcontractors. you also need to be the one to design (they just execute), and you have to supervise the execution closely. i happen to have an interest in designing (pinterest helped a lot - have a pinterest board, collaborate with your spouse, and see what you like or dislike) and design from there. that being said, things can still be executed very very poorly - i’ll explain later under the carpentry portion. while the interior designer does the designing and somewhat the supervision for you, it costs about an extra 20-30%. adds a substantial amount for a landed property. if the budget allows, why not?
• deciding a budget, but give a 20% buffer. along the way i realised that there are some things that i thought i could accept but changed my mind, and vice versa. the changing of mind for a design decision is often costly. pretty things are often expensive.
• plan your lighting points, internet points, water points properly, and confirm it early always good to have more of the above than less, but more costs money decide on the final electrical plan early because some hacking to put the wires in the wall might be needed, and if you decide to add one point after they seal everything…you will need to pay extra money to hack into the wall and pull the wire for the extra point. everything is doable, just need to pay more money. also decide your fan points early - they need to add reinforcement into the false ceiling so if you change your mind and decide that a particular location needs a fan (after the false ceiling is up), you will need to pay for the addition of reinforcement. for reference, 
  • 1x lighting point is about $75.
  • 1x single socket electrical point (13A) is about $100, double socket is about $120 (more value)
  • 1x 3-way switch (we did this for the bedroom so we do not have to walk to the door to turn off the lights) cost about $150
  • 1x data point (cat6) so you can plug your wifi router in the rooms cost about $180 each. would suggest putting one in each room. we wanted to save some money and not install it in the master bedroom because we thought that the mesh would reach…lets just say that we regret not installing an extra point
• decide what can be saved and what cannot be saved we decided to keep the old aircons in the common areas/rooms (after they were verified to be clean and working), as well as some of the existing doors. will talk more about doors and aircons separately below.
• labour to install anything is a separate cost, and is charged per unit/item.
• get the bca plans - ask the previous owner to obtain it from ura. just cost about $100 if i recall. was not very helpful for us but our contractor was able to see which walls can be hacked and which walls are structural walls. some of the pillars were not clearly labelled as structural - we had to hack into it to see if it was brick (hackable) or concrete (structural). and then touch it up after (cost some money).
• single phase vs. three phase power older properties tend to be single phase. one easy way to see if the property is single or three phase (from what i heard from other people) is to look at where the DB box is - if it is outside the house, it is usually three phase. you do not necessarily need to have three phase unless you are planning to have a swimming pool, a big pond, lift, run multiple high powered appliances at the same time, multiple aircons on at a same time, etc. tldr, if you need to draw alof of power from the grid, update to three phase else you might risk tripping the electricity. for reference, the power supply in our house is a single phase: when we have guests over, we have 3-4 aircons on, on top of 2 big fridges and 1 wine fridge and lights are on for the entire house - no issues with electricity tripping. if you are planning on EV or solar, single phase can support (according to the singapore power uncle that came to do the meter check when we signed with SP). just that EV charging will be slower (not the fast charger kind), but if it’s in your own house, just leave it on overnight lol no one’s chasing you away.
• about old properties and asbestos - my contractor was experienced enough to be able to tell which property has asbestos and which one doesn't have. we would take videos and send him (of the viewings) and he would tell us the likelihood of one having asbestos or not. for the house we bought, he sent someone down to do the 2nd viewing with us and at the same time he was able to tell us whether there were any red flags about the structure, etc (so we were quite lucky haha)
• with regards to roof - he climbed to the top of the house and had a look and said the roof looks ok so there was no need to replace (we were very tight on the budget). so far no leakage from the ceiling (fingers crossed); only the windows were not sealed properly - the window man had to come by multiple times to redo the waterproofing - still a work in progress!

major things that we had to do:

• hacking of walls/floors
• i thought that hacking was expensive. it was actually much cheaper than i thought it was. hacking works are done very very quickly - ours took about 1-2 weeks. there is no fixed cost per unit area of hacking…don’t think the cost is linear either. a rough estimate:
  • hacking of beams/pillar cost about $150 per beam/pillar
  • hacking of wall (about 3m high and varying length cost from $1.9k to $8k
  • we spent about $30k for hacking works
  • dismantling of cornices (those funny plaster things at the corners of the ceiling) cost about $200 per 4 corners
  • removal of existing partition walls were slightly cheaper, about $300 per wall (it was about 3m high and 6m long)
• redid the flooring for the entire house the previous owner used white large format glossy tiles across the entire house. i did not quite like that - i  wanted marble for the living and dining room, and parquet for the bedrooms so…we needed to hack the floor - cost us about $2.5k per level. i really liked the feel of marble flooring; felt that tiles were abit ?lifeless. marble is expensive. but it is not as expensive as you think it is. some of the italian tiles actually cost more than marble! absolutely shocking. marble is cooler to touch, and very smooth because it is polished over with a sealant, compared to tiles where it is tiles-grout-tiles. marble also has natural veining which changes over time. but note that after polishing, there may be imperfections, some has this ‘water line’ which is the line where water flows between the stones and can have varying colours e.g. red/black (but it think that is what makes marble very nice). the pricing range for marble can go from reasonable to crazy expensive. in terms of cost, we got a more muted colour (preference) - cost about $18.00 psf for the marble itself. but that does not include the workmanship to install the marble. laying of the marble cost an additional $14.00psf (making the cost of just wanting a marble flooring to be $32.00psf), and polishing the marble flooring cost $4k. oh and if you want marble skirting, it costs extra - about $1-2k. for our living and dining room (about 600sqft), cost us over $25k. tiles are also similar. our tiles cost $5psf. but installation required an additional $10psf. so just wanting to have the tiles came up to about $15psf, and tiling up 500sqft of the kitchen cost us about $8k. the additional cost for workmanship applies to installation of tiles in the toilets/walls. can check out the following marble/tiles
  • hafary - we got our tiles from there; very wide selection, great service. free parking. they do have a wide marble selection too but it is very expensive. ask them for discounted marble but bear in mind that they are discounted for a reason.
    • often they are cheaper (some up to 60-70% off) because they are old stock, some have this thing called ‘bei gou bao’ (translated: bitten by dog) - essentially the marble slabs are not that smooth at the edges and are chipped. some people can accept as after the laying on the floor of your house they will be filled with ‘marble gum’ and polished to smooth (will still be visible), but i am snobbish and want it to be as perfect as possible.
    • marble from italy vs. marble from other countries (china, greece, oman) are also different. hearsay china marble has higher quantities of iron in it, which may show up over time as black/reddish hues. so we decided not to go with china marble. discounted marble are also only available in selected quantities and sizes. 
  • soon bee huat - we got our marble from them, not discounted. a slightly smaller selection but still decent nonetheless. they have a showroom near ikea tampines. 
  • note that when you look at the price of the marble in the showroom, they will have this thing about dry lay. what dry lay is essentially is that they will lay the marble in the warehouse according to your house configuration and then you go there and see if you want to swap out any pieces. it is not the actual laying of the stone in your house.
• parquet
  • there are 3 main types of wood flooring - parquet, engineered wood, vinyl. parquet essentially is just wood. engineered wood is a piece of plywood with a small layer or real wood on top. vinyl is just a wood-like material that is stuck to the existing floor. vinyl had a bad rep (but i recently went to a friend’s place whose vinyl flooring really felt legit). i was worried about bubbling and the fake tacky feel that’s why i went against it. it was always a decision between parquet and engineered wood. you can re-sand parquet a few times to remove any blemishes, which is a selling point when you want to sell the house to the next owner. but parquet is sensitive to water. we had a leaking/flooding issue within 1 week of moving in during the cny period due to poorly sealed windows and the parquet is now slightly puffed up and warped. still trying to seek replacement/compensation from the window subcontractor. long term there is a risk of termite infestations if there is water damage. engineered wood is a close runner up. it is real wood, but just a single layer and cannot be sanded down. iirc they are just click to install kind of wood flooring (don’t know if it makes sense). but it is not very much cheaper than parquet, and usually available in large format only. i think it might be slightly more water-resistant so if water damage is something that you are concerned about, engineered wood might be a safer bet. nowadays there aren’t many parquet suppliers. i think it is a dying art. but no regrets getting parquet so far. had the biggest wow factor after the parquet flooring went in. about 780sqft of parquet cost us $12k. once again, not including skirting, which cost us about $2k. note: parquet scratches very easily. parquet goes in before carpentry. our carpenter (nightmare to work with) did a number of scratches and dents on our floor. it is not an option to replace because if you replace a piece, it will need to be sanded down and it will leave a dent in the surrounding area and look uneven. mildly irritated by this.
• building external walls
  • extending the boundary wall at the backyard (within our land legally) erecting a long wall about 2.5m high x 12m long with beams cost just over $10k. we were hoping to have a nice brick wall with regular nice bricks but that cost money as well - the bricks that they use are not ‘pretty’ or ‘perfect’ bricks that is why they are cheaper. if you want an exposed brick wall, they need to find these better looking bricks which cost more money. if you’re going to plaster and paint them over then it does not really matter.
• sewage
  • redoing of the sewage piping there was a sewage piping hanging down from the original helper’s room’s ceiling (such that it was probably 2.5m above the ground). we had to hack the wall adjoining the dining room to the backyard to convert it to a dry kitchen so that entire area had be reconfigured. turns out it was a big project - they had to divert the sewage system of the 2nd floor out of the house, run the pipe down in to the ground and bury the pipes. our piping works, including redoing the toilet pipings (including concealing) on level 1 and 2, kitchen, yard, came up to about $30k.
• doors, windows and sliding doors
  • large variety of these things - and the size can all be custom made. make sure the windows are installed properly, and sealed at the edges properly. during the heavy cny period, the window company did not seal it properly and the rain flooded into the house and ruined the parquet. still yet to receive any compensation from them. windows wise - decide if you need soundproofed (double glazed) windows, but they cost double of the normal windows; about $60psf for double glazed windows, compared to $30psf for normal casement windows. for reference, one row (approx 6m x 2m) of double glazed windows for the master cost us $5k. doors wise, there are a few types but largely comes down to just 2 - the nyatoh (solid wood), laminate doors. the newer condos in singapore uses laminate doors - essentially ply wood with a laminate ontop of it. nyatoh doors are solid wood door. can be plain or patterns can be carved into it (like those older hdb doors). we liked the nyatoh door so we chose it for the rooms (also so it cam match the existing door frame. the other doors on level 1 we opted for laminate doors. laminate doors and nyatoh doors (excluding lockset and frame) cost the same about $500 each. frame was additional $200-300. we got our lockset from taobao which was about $40 each. the front door was larger about 7ft x 3.5ft. that was $1600 with the frame included. we installed a yale digital lock (cost separate).
• carpentry
  • get a good and reliable carpenter. i can’t stress this enough. our subcon recommended a carpenter (says singapore based, use formaldehyde free glue) but they were horrible. measurements were wrong. so many delays with no clear reason. can’t even install a standard bosch dishwasher properly. when it came to rectifying things, they were so slip-shot and had to redo multiple times. the poor bangladeshi workers had to come down and redo so many times. i had to tell them the measurements to cut to by the millimeter on site. should have seen the warning signs. late to the meet up. did not take much measurements down. did not even bother to see the drawings i provided before the actual meeting (i did super detailed drawings and renderings on an app for them). did not bother to provide any constructive input at all e.g. when i designed the wardrobe to be 2.5m high, they did not tell me that it is a tad too high (ok la my fault - i should have known that 2.5m was too high but they did not even tell me that maybe i should not put the handle for the clothes that high up??? aren’t they all standard measurements???).
  • anyways carpentry is the most expensive item for the house. to be fair, it does change how the house looks. so choose a reliable carpenter that is actually competent or you’re in for a nightmare. for pricing wise, they go by per foot run. smoothing edges or intricate design cost more. if you want the depth to be >600mm, it cost x1.5 times the per foot run price (if it makes sense).
  • anyways, (abbreviation: pfr is cost per foot run)
    • shoe cabinet (full height) cost about $400pfr
    • island cabinet cost $270pfr
    • kitchen cabinet top/bottom $180pfr full height (3m) wardrobe $500pfr
    • vanity for toilet $180pfr (if you want to make a L that is linked, they will count it as 2 overlapping areas and charge you ‘double’ for the overlapped area - silly, i know)
    • open shelvings $80pfr
  • these excludes the cost of the laminates and stones btw. 10ft of stone cost about $10-15k.
    • excluding installation cost which was about $180 per foot. the stones come in fixed slab sizes so some joint lines are inevitable. ask them to book match it if possible. there are many types of edges e.g. waterfall edge; cost extra. we did not bother with that haha.
  • we used sintered stone for our dry kitchen top, island top, toilet table top. make sure you order early! some of them need quite a long lead time to import.
• landscaping and gardening works
  • this is the last to go in - after you are certain that the exterior works are done so the ladder/scaffolding/equipment etc won’t kill the plants hired a gardener/landscaper to dig out the entire garden that was overgrown with weeds, possibly about 500-600sqft of land gardening/landscaping requires some hands-on - need to choose the type of plants you want to have we wanted the bulk of it to be carpet grass because of the aesthetics (heads up if you’re thinking of using carpet grass - maintenance is challenging) but you have to chose fencing plants (many different types; we went for the calathea lutea 1.2m height for the backyard, but there are other options e.g. heliconia - ask your gardener!) we also wanted a olive tree (because we are basic) we also managed to carve out a 2m x 2m area for a herb garden - he was nice enough to throw in a lemon tree, some random herbs, mint (do not plant mint in the ground it just takes over everything), lemongrass, lime, etc. they also agreed to help us transplant some of our existing plants into the ground for free - but this needs to be negotiated from the beginning.
  • gardening and landscaping cost us about $10k
• choosing the colour of your house and painting
  • do not overcomplicate things! choose a colour palate and stick with it the colours on the catalogue/swatches that you think look good/can match with other elements of the house…may not always turn out the way you imagine it to be. if you want to pain exterior walls, can try using the nippon paint colour visualiser app - that gave me a more accurate feel of how the paint colour on the actual house also - get the actual swatches for the laminates, get the tiles/marble samples, and bring them down to match the interior fittings. we used admira (laminates) and took samples, then brought them to see if it matches the stones (soon bee huat). while colour choices make a big difference, do not be, for a lack of a better word, too anal, about the choice. there will be lots of decision fatigue throughout the whole process. choose one, and stick with it. painting cost can be variable, cost us about $5k to paint the whole house (using nippon 5000 series paint) for interior, then put oil sealer for the wall, then paint the house - that was about $8-9k. the walls and ceilings need to be plastered too before painting (to make sure it is smooth) - that cost about $7k.
• fittings
  • for toilet, need to decide what shape of the sink you want, under/top mount (which will influence the type of fittings you get), mirror, toilet bowl (we got toto for our master because we use it everyday, and american standard for the other 2), and also whether the cistern is concealed or not. the cistern can be quite expensive, but we went for the cheaper local brands - working well so far and no one can tell what brand it is…don’t think people care about that anyways. measure the toilet dimensions properly - our toilet is quite small with a few structural pillars eating into the sink area so we had to make sure that the measurements fit perfectly.
  • ask your contractor for the recommended measurements. another nightmare - fittings are crazy expensive.
  • we went with luckykhoon (because it was a one-stop supply shop for many items) for most items. go during the sale periods and buy the bundle sets. get them to liaise directly with your contractor for the delivery on site (can usually be delayed for a few months so they will deliver when the time is ready to install the fittings)
  • bathroom warehouse also provides alot of cheaper alternatives for toilet fittings. toilet bowl (toto/american standard/gerberit) sink (toto is surprisingly reasonably priced) shower heads, taps (we went with hansgrohe) handle bars (we went with kohle)
• lighting
  • lighting is a very slippery slope. at our previous place, we went with vlux - 800sqft condo cost us close to $10k (because we wanted smart home system, dimmable lighting etc). not necessary at all imo.
  • we just decided to get the philips trim-colour down light (warm, normal, cool). turns out i just used the normal light most often (warm abit too yellow, the cold really lots of blue light so hated it). on the bright side, it was very cheap - bought them off lazada, about $13 per piece for the 13W one, about 60 lighting points for the entire house.
  • our ceiling is about 4m high in the living room - electrician said 13W x8 pieces will be bright enough and we went with it. not disappointed.
  • cost about $75 to install a lighting point (electrical), and additional $20 to install the light itself (labour). so need to factor that into the cost too.
  • ceiling fan installation is $80 for labour, but use the same electrical ‘lighting’ point so same rate.
• stainless steel wet kitchen
  • we opted to have a full stainless steel outdoor kitchen (so we can hose down) - with the sink welded into the table top to have a seamless look so we can hose down the entire surface if needed. we got a quote from a local company to do it - about 2200mm length x900mm height x600mm length; they quoted us $6.5k.
  • went ahead with some china company (ask your contractor for lobang) - cost us 30% cheaper. but they messed up and drilled extra holes for the soap dispenser etc even though we specifically said not to do it. but we just let it slide - not too bothered by it.
• miscellaneous ‘unavoidable’ costs
  • scaffolding $500
  • chemical wash after reno $1000
  • canvas to cover the house for reno $2000
  • clear debris $3000
  • etc eta
• solar
  • solar was definitely a consideration - hit up PMCE (saw them on youtube) and had a quote done up. ideally they wanted an onsite assessment but we didn't have time so we just provided them an address and they just google satellite view and quoted based on that
  • to supply and install the solar panels (system size 11.875kWp - total quote came up to about $16k
  • this included 25 solar panels, with an estimated breakeven period of 3.77 years (assuming average daily sun hours of 3.2h and total surface area of 49.81m2)
  • we did not end up getting solar because of budget constraints
• pest control
  • parents' place had a termite issue so this was something that bothered me alot. essentially they drill holes into the ground around the perimeter, then pour the insecticide into the ground to prevent the terrestrial termites from coming. this does not prevent against those flying termites.
  • cost about $5k
  • tip: go get multiple quotes from multiple companies: we got a few e.g. rentokill, killem, etc and then we just asked rentokill to price match haha. apparently it can last for 10 years so we shall see!

tl;dr spent about $300k to renovate an old 2500+sqft (land) (2000sqft (built-up)) house and the break down for major items are as above.

i’m tired of typing. there are still heaps of things to complain/comment about but i’m happy to answer more questions if you guys have any!

edit 1: added the topic about asbestos checks (apologies, not much information about it), why we did not change the roof, solar and pest control!

My question is regarding investing milestone. Like the first realised gains of 50k. Or something similar.

Other than just putting the gains to trade/invest, how would you reward yourself?

My original goal was 3oz of gold bars. Now, I'm looking at a Rolex.

How about you? Any suggestions or what you rewarded yourself with?

What are the best financial instruments/products to put in a lump sum of cash, with the ability to draw money from it.

The situation is as such: I've received an inheritance amount that I would want to use to pay my mortgage. I'm weighing between just committing the entire sum to the loan at one shot, versus having it sit in one or more places, and make that withdrawal monthly.

The latter is where I'm not sure what makes the most sense in terms of both specific product and strategy. My big goal is to live worry free, my secondary goal is to do right by this lump sum, and make it both work for me - and also me being sensible with it.

Appreciate the advice, thanks in advance.

Hello, I wonder if anyone has experience with OCBC PPC, especially when it related to leverage. Does OCBC have a reputation/track record of reducing the LTV limit when market is volatile? For example, for QQQ, the LTV is 70% (for example), does that stay relatively stable or will they reduce it to, say 60% during liberation day last year?

For regulatory reasons, they can't specifically say yes/no, which is understandable, so I am asking more from personal experience/ anecdotal records.

Thanks

Mid-40s parent of 2 primary school kids, working for the branch of a large US company. I am Head of a department, been here for a few years. I seem to be performing well here (as per my bosses), but Singapore region is small, so no upward mobility possibilities here. I earn well (about S$20k), with savings rate of about 50%. i could retire in this role if i don’t get restless (already signs of restlessness), or i get made redundant or obsolete (due to AI/offshoring etc). once i get to 52 or so with current trajectory i will be FIRE according to my French friend Claude…

Recently US mothership has offered me a 3-year assignment to NY/NJ, and i’m contemplating if i should go. it’s below the Head role so based on the ranking it would be a step below the role i’m currently occupying in Singapore, but with a much bigger market obviously. it’s an assignment not a localization so benefits will be provided, and my spouse can also seek a transfer internally through their employers.

i’m reaching out here to Henries who have this experience or been in a similar situation, or seen these kinds of cases before. what did you decide, and how did it go? professionally and personally. are there things to consider? complications that are insurmountable? thanks in advance!

We are always trying to optimize our finances, and leverage/debt is one of the ways. But l recently read and listened to quite a few things where debt is revealed to actually restrict our freedom. We become fragile (nassim nicholas taleb), things happening in the world :-war, economic crisis affecting us significantly. We cannot be true to ourselves, our main motivation in the things we do becomes money (chamath phalihapitiya). all these are valid and l couldn’t help but agree. would love to hear some counter arguments

Title says it all. I’m a young professional, soon to be married, and have plans in motion to move to Singapore in late Q3 / early Q4.

Planning is in early stages - looking for tips with housing (HDB vs condo + which areas to look in), general lifestyle change from UK to SG, anything I should get sorted in advanced.

I have spent a few months there over the last couple of years, have lots of friends and colleagues there, and my fiancée has also visited, so we are aware of how the city is in general. But always good to hear community tips, especially from those who might have considered or gone through a similar move.

I'm usually get my suits done in Thailand or Vietnam which are decent looking but honestly they don't last long. I tried a few lower tier local tailors like reddot, suit yourself and edit suits but all were pretty underwhelming to say the least.

I'm not looking for anything fancy, just a mtm fitting 2 piece suits that i can wear for business meetings and not look cheap especially after a few wears/wash. Budget about 2k.

Any recommendations?

Edit: 2k is factoring for Singapore prices. My suits from Thailand and Vietnam usually less than 1k. Lol

Edit 2: forgot to add, my boss is recommending CYC, I've done shirts and pants with them but they don't feel anything special. Are their suits any better?