DBS bank, 5-months Fix Deposit , 3.80% per annum !

** The promotion had ended on Nov 18th, 2022**

Too good to be true.

I had placed S$60,000 fix deposit so far to enjoy this 3.80% p.a. interest for 5 months.

For such a short tenure period of 5 months, DBS bank is giving out the Fix Deposit interest rate of 3.80% per annum (of course la). Such good rate usually only available for long tenure months like 18 months, 24 months.

Minimum placement: S$20,000.

You can just transfer the monies from saving account to fix deposit account, no fresh funds required.

Do remember to key in the promo code to enjoy the good rates.

SR7M for 5 months fix deposit rate of 3.80% p.a.

SR4M for 3 months fix deposit rate of 3.50% p.a.

I just placed another S$20,000 fix deposit on November 14th, 2022.

Pay increment and bonus payout (Revision 02)

Revision 02: updated on April 23, 2024

For a total of 7 years employment in my current company, I received 50.59% pay increment and 26.39 months bonus.

Pay increment and bonus payout. This is the most important career topic in Singapore, isn't it ?

I am in healthcare life science industry, bio-medical instrument in particular. That says, you deal with instruments with electronic components, printed circuit board assemblies (PCBA), cablings, mechanical parts, housings, LCD display, etc.. She is in architect industry, working with developers, government agencies. My pay increment and bonus are announced in March every year while hers are revealed in August.

Below are our pay increment and bonuses for the past 5 years. 

In short, for total of 5 years, I received 26% pay increment and 20 months bonus while she received 30% pay increment and 18 months bonus.  

For my company, pay increment is rather straightforward.

If you are performing just all right, you get 2-4% pay increment.

If you are at the top tier performer, the 6% is the maximum you can get. 

I am a little disappointed that I have not received promotion for the past 5 years but that's okay. I love my current job. I wonder what's the pay increment for the promotion, 10% , 15%? Hopefully, I will know one day. 

As for the bonus payout, I am satisfied. By far, this is the best payout compared to my previous two companies. Not every companies give employee stock option, hence, this shall be considered as additional bonus only when you sell the stock and lock in the profit, else it is just paper profit.

My wife got very little pay increment or 0% pay increment with the HR excuses of hitting the salary cap. If so, why not just do a promotion and increase the salary cap to the next tier? Nevertheless, with little pay increment or no pay increment each year, she was rewarded hugely with big bonuses (sometimes bonus is even better than pay increment! Do the math!). She quit the job with 19+% pay increment but the bonus is significantly lower.

We both love our job. We both enjoy the work-life-balance too.

No complaint, we are satisfied.

We are ready to continue to work for the next 23 years! : )

Jurong East Breeze (Aug 2022 Build-To-Order)

Keeping the information below for future references as I have a HDB flat at Toh Guan, Jurong East.

HDB | BTO Project Details

Shortly after a year, HDB launches another BTO flat at Jurong East. Located along the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) and Jurong East Central, Jurong East Breeze comprises 2 residential blocks ranging from 22 to 38 storeys. Total 562 units of 2-room Flexi, 3-, and 4-room flats.

Price starts from S$283,000 for a four-room flat. It is a very decent price.

If I am given a choice to purchase a unit here, I will purchase the highest, the biggest unit, S$388,000. You set to gain the maximum profits if you intend to sell next time after the MOP.

Based on the site plan below, there are 8 choices, namely, stack 761, 763, 765, 767, 769, 781, 783 and 785.

I will pick stack 763.

Stack 769, 781, 783 has west-sun facing.

Stack 785 is facing the 6 storey multi storey carpark.

Stack 761 has the facing of electrical sub-station.

Stack 765 and 767 are too close to MRT line.

Hence, my choice will be stack 763. It actually still very close to MRT line, in fact, the whole project is right next to the MRT track.

Two credible investors you can follow

There are two credible investors you can/SHOULD follow.

(1) Mr. Loo, he publicly shared his recent purchases at 1M65 Telegram group, which is good. We can always take some of his figures as benchmark. No harm. I only know him last year.

1M65 FAQ - Loo Cheng Chuan

    Screenshot taken from 1M65 group.

I tabulated the transactions into Excel table, it is more visual. This is not his complete purchase obviously. Only those that he had shown in the group are captured here. 

As you can see his average price of QQQ is about US$297.55. 

His total investment for the past 2 years stood at S$720,000. Sweet!

The second credible investor is ASSI or AK71, probably he was born in year 1971 ? I know this person more than 10 years. That's how/where I learnt all the good finance knowledge. He as well publicly disclose what holdings he has on hands. Good stuff.

A Singaporean Stocks Investor (ASSI)

I had made a quick record at my iPhone Notes for this year sold transaction, so far so good. 

I don't publicly disclose what I purchase immediately, simply because I do not need your scrutinization. :)

I made a count how much we invested in stocks last year while I wrote the blog about net worth. Hence, I have the figures below, dated in August 2021. The figures shall be slightly more by now, after a year. We are just a normal couple, PMET, earning less than S$500,000 a year.

JK Holdings: What is your net worth ? (jkfund.blogspot.com)

Our living cost in Singapore (Year 2022)

I had written the same topic 6 years ago and there are many new expenses now.

JK Holdings: TRUE Living Cost in Singapore (jkfund.blogspot.com)

I didn't know we spend quite a fair bit until I list down all the expenses. I think it will pretty much the same in the next 5 years. A family of 3. My boy is 10 years old. :)

(1) My monthly HDB rental of S$3,300 can cover the living expenses, from item 1 to 13 comfortably as our HDB is fully paid. 

(2) Car loan will be fully paid 3 years later in Oct 2025. That shall free up S$1,300 a month. My car is only 2 years old. :) Honda Civic 1.5 Turbo, a fun car to drive. 

(3) Once the boy enters secondary 1 3 years later, student daycare of S$380 a month can be re-deployed.

(4) Monthly insurance of S1,921, only S$436 a month has no surrender value as they are H&S insurance. The rest of 77.3% ( S$1,485 a month ) can be treated as a forced disciplined savings as they will carry a surrender value.  

The expense excludes personal income tax, holiday trips, CPF MA self-top up, CPF SA child-top up, CPF VHR (Voluntary Housing Refund) to OA, SRS annual S$15,300 top up, etc. .