TR EMERITUS

By James Oh, Lifestyle Correspondent It is a popular belief that you need to stress your dollars only when the economy is in a crisis. However, the truth is that we need to embed financial management skills in our personal lives regardless of the state of the economic affairs. There is no way that you can avoid from dealing with money in life. As such, we need to realize and acknowledge the importance of this matter in our lives. IN this article, I have listed some of the steps to develop sound financial management skills:- 1. ENSURE FINANCE IS AT THE HEART OF DEVELOPING YOUR VISION AND STRATEGY Without such commitment, you will not only run the risk of flawed planning and poor decision making, but also fail to embed sound financial principles into the management of your daily life as a whole. Do not worry about making mistake as long as you learn from it. Always learn from the master who have a proven track record. Keep on trying out until you truly apprehend its implications in each different scenarios. Here, repetition is the key of mastery. 2. START NOW! It is never too late to begin. Act now to kick-start good financial management in your life. No matter what the current level of your financial management skills, there tend to be potential - almost certainly huge potential - to improve.  You must want good financial management to be at your heart, be committed to it and be consistent in promoting and supporting its application. It takes time to build an empire, so do financial management skills. If you understand the compound interest implication, then you will know the snowball effect on money. Life passes quickly and you might need extra money for the unexpected and the long term. In light of today’s global financial crisis with its high rate of inflation, managing your money effectively has become exceptionally important than before. 3. REINFORCE THE BEHAVIOR THAT YOU WANT REPEATED We must acknowledge and realize the fact that most of stuff we bought is based on emotion rather than rationale. As such, you must not be trapped into it so frequently that it becomes part of our habits. In order to overcome it, you must ask yourself seriously whether you really need it before buying. You must consistently put it into practice and through such repeated positive reinforcement, you will be amazed at its spectacular result. 4. DO NOT CONSTRUE IT WITH CUTTING BACK Learning to acquire sound financial management skills also includes learning when you can make cutbacks. Before that, you need to scrutinize your list of monthly expenses and cut back those expenses which you do not need. Thus, that unspent sum of money may either go to your saving accounts or to reduce your loan. As a result, you will have more money to spend in the long term. Alternatively, you may use that saved amount of money to spend on higher quality product, which in term cost you less in the long run. 5. CONSOLIDATE YOUR LOANS Debts can kill unless you can manage them well. If you are overwhelmed by debt, then consolidation of your loans is most likely to be a feasible solution to you. If you have a good credit rating and negotiation power, you will most likely be able to obtain a more attractive and reasonable interest rate from lenders. In this case, you must make sure that the loan with the lowest rate of interest be utilized first. To reap its fullest benefit, you must also match your payment schedule with your cash inflow. Ultimately, it will leave you with more money at the end of the month to either enjoy a good lifestyle or reduce your other debts. 6. TAXES : KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. Pay attention to new tax laws. They are like a moving target - changing annually.  Make full use of the knowledge to your maximum advantage for instance you make sure that you claim all deductions that you are entitled. Proper tax planning also will help you to reduce your tax liability. 7.   SAVING - THE BEST INTENTION It is always the best practice that we set a certain amount to our saving accounts. In this case, you are more likely to live within your budget while ensuring that a portion of your income is safely held in savings. You never know when some extra cash will come in handy.   8. KEEP IT FRESH AND CURRENT This means regularly reviewing the skills to keep abreast so as fulfill tomorrow's needs. It means acquiring new ideas to use the present resources to improve your wealth. 9. KEEP IT SIMPLE The key to success is being able to get things done. Its role and principles must be easily understood and the benefits clearly defined. Finance needs to be seen as part of your daily solution and not part of your problem. So, practice the steps that I have given you and, not only will you gradually make progress. Ultimately you will be able to face the economic crisis with an increasing confidence.  Please feel free to share with your friends who intend to pursuing sound financial management skills. Wishing you success, James Oh   Other articles by James Oh: >> How to retire gracefully >> Steps to overcome major obstacles of staying healthy (Part 2)   About the Author: James Oh is an accountant by profession and he works as a Financial Controller for more than 10 years with several companies in Singapore and Malaysia. He is a full member of the Singapore Institute of Director and he also obtained a LLB (Law degree) from the University of London in 2003. He is happily married with 3 loving kids. James blogs at http://liftyouup.blogspot.com  Read More →

From our Correspondent The value of flats in the two opposition wards of Hougang and Potong Pasir are set to rise with the introduction of the Life Upgrading Programme (LUP)! Under the programme, lift landings will be installed on every floor, which is a boon especially to senior citizens. While the LUP will make only a small difference to the official valuation of flats in the chosen blocks, property players say their cash-over-valuation - the premium that sellers demand over the official valuation - will rise by $5,000 to $10,000. The LUP was announced last week by the PAP's grassroots advisers in the two wards. Hougang's Eric Low even claimed credit for bringing LUP to the constituency by "relentlessly lobbying" National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan for it though he was not elected. His antics brought an angry rebuke from Hougang's MP Low Thia Kiang who wrote to the Straits Times Forum yesterday lambasting HDB for working through the unelected Eric Low instead of him. The windfall brought by the LUP is likely to sway the residents' towards the PAP, assisted by the propaganda drive launched by the state media, which makes it appears that it was the PAP grassroots advisers who are responsible for bringing LUP to the residents. While the COVs for flats in these two estates may rise, it is doubtful that their value will increase by much with current prices at record high. In such an inflationary market, sellers will have to fork out more for a new place to stay after selling their flats and may not be able to capitalize on their asset appreciation. Many Singaporeans are caught up with the property frenzy which is cleverly made use of by the ruling party to drum in the "fact" that they are the ones responsible for "creating wealth" for them. Unfortunately, few people are able to see the long-term repercussions of continued sky-rocketing property prices. As the median pay of Singaporeans have not kept up with the pace of increase of property prices, they will find themselves in greater debts with higher housing loans to service with the result that they may not have sufficient savings for their retirements. Unless one uproot oneself and emigrate, it will be almost impossible to unlock the capital value of their properties in present circumstances.  Read More →

OPINION When Singaporeans protest against the apparent act of "betrayal" by Singapore PR Zhang Yuanyuan who proclaimed her loyalty to China publicly on Chinese TV channel CCTV7, government leaders and agencies are quick to downplay its significance. The PAP MPs dismissed the concerns of netizens as being "extreme" and defend Ms Zhang on the grounds that she is only a PR and not a citizen. In an official reply to a citizen, the National Population Secretariat also exonerate Ms Zhang on the grounds that she is still a PRC citizen. The authorities appear to be completely clueless about the real concerns, angst and frustration of ordinary Singaporeans. Singaporeans are not angry over Ms Zhang's loyalty to her motherland, but rather at the liberal immigration policy of the ruling party which has altered the demographics of Singapore completely over the last few years. Foreigners now make up 36 per cent of the population compared to only 26 per cent 10 years ago. Armed with a diploma from China, Ms Zhang came to Singapore on a student pass. She is more employable and marketable now in China as a result of her education in Singapore. The fact that she disregarded her PR in such a callous manner without expressing even a bit of gratitude to Singapore for giving her the opportunity to work here is a bitter pill to swallow for many Singaporeans who are stunned and appalled by the flashing of her blue NRIC on screen. Are we giving out our PRs and citizenships too easily and cheaply to foreigners who may never understand and appreciate what Singapore stands for? Ms Zhang is not an isolated case. There are many other PRs like her who choose to return to their homelands after studying and working in Singapore for a number of years. The ease at which PRs are given to foreigners is simply unbelievable. In the past, only highly qualified professionals are allowed to become PRs. Nowadays, you can find assistant nurses, clerks, tele-marketeers and even coffeeshop assistants who are PRs! PRs are allowed to live in Singapore for an unlimited number of years as long they are able to find work in Singapore. There is no compulsion on their part to take up the Singapore citizenship. They enjoy essentially the same rights as citizens except that they are entitled to lower housing and education subsidies and they cannot vote in elections. However, they are able to purchase public housing from the resale market. Furthermore, unlike citizens, they have no National Service or reservist obligations and neither do their children if they leave Singapore before the conscription age of 18. PRs can simply pack their bags and return home with their monies earned here when there is an economic downturn. It is an undeniable fact that Singapore needs foreigners to replace its aging and declining population, but we have to be extremely selective in those we invite to take up PRs and citizenships. Do we want to compete with the best talents on an equal footing or the second-rated talents on an unequal footing? Right now, many PRs have little incentive to become Singapore citizens because it offers them no additional benefits other than a token voting right which they may not even exercise anyway due to the rampant gerrymandering and walkovers. To entice more PRs to take up citizenship, the Singapore government must convince them that they will be far better off being a citizen than a PR. A time limit should be imposed on the duration of being a PR, for example 10 years, after which the PR must decide whether to become a citizen to switch back to a work permit to continue working here. PRs who never intend to settle down in Singapore should not be allowed to purchase resale HDB flats which are after all built to encourage Singaporeans to start a family. Means testing should be conducted on PRs and for those who earn beyond a certain limit, e.g. $10,000 a month should be barred from buying public housing. These PRs can well afford private apartments and landed properties and there's no reason why they should be allowed to compete with less well off citizens for the limited number of flats. National Service is one of the major stumbling blocks for foreigners taking up citizenship. Its length can be reduced to a year or less to make it more attractive for second generation PRs to become citizens. Singapore is the richest country in Asia after Japan and we have one of the highest GDP per capita in the world. Being a first world developed country, we should not cheapen our citizenship by giving them out indiscriminately to undeserving foreigners. Only the creme la crop of the world deserves a place in our society. Being a small island with no natural resources, we need to capitalize on our precious human resources to compete with the rest of the world, especially China. Right now, even the second-tier cities in China like Wuxi and Dongguan are catching up with Singapore. Can we stay ahead of China by importing their second-rated talents to replace our own native population? The government should do much more to nurture our own home-grown talents instead of depending heavily on foreigners. Our greatest advantage over China now is our level of English proficiency which explains why so many Chinese students are coming to Singapore to study the language, but that slight edge will dissipate in a few years' time. As China becoming more affluent, wealthy and prosperous, there will be more Zhang Yuanyuans who will prefer to return and work in China after studying English in Singapore. Related articles: >> Official reply from government on the Zhang Yuanyuan fiasco >> Singapore PRC PR proclaimed loyalty to China publicly >> PRC resident hung China flag to celebrate its National Day >> PRC student in Singapore wants more scholarships for foreigners >> PRC prostitutes solicit for customers on Singapore’s cyberspace >> ERA: 40 per cent of resale flats buyers are PRs EDITORS’ NOTE: If you like our work and would like to support us, please transfer your donations via paypal to our account ([email protected]). Any amount will be greatly appreciated! Alternatively, you can also help boost our advertising revenue by clicking on the ads displayed. Thank you! Join our tweet at: http://www.twitter.com/temasekreview  Read More →