Excelsior Financial Blog

More than 220,000 people topped up their CPF or their family's accounts by over $4 billion in 2021! (Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/community/4b-in-top-ups-to-cpf-accounts-so-far-this-year-numbers-of-those-topping-up-for ) The CPF scheme is the Singapore government’s way of safeguarding the financial stability of Singaporeans. CPF monies can be used for retirement planning, to purchase homes, and also to pay for various insurances (term life, hospitalization, mortgage, long-term care, et al). However, some people still have an issue with CPF because the money that goes in, can’t come out until they are much older (55 years old specifically). Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/1fzyz-bmKBw   So why are more Singaporeans topping up their CPF? We explore a few reasons below:     1 - Better Low-risk Interest Rates One of the key reasons that Singaporeans may consider topping up their CPF is the rate of return that it gets - Ordinary Account 2.5%, S...

The start of the year always seems to zoom by in meetings and resolutions, and before you know it, we’re almost at Chinese New Year again. Credit: Unsplash / Ari He Lunar New Year is always a time of celebration and reunion, and despite the COVID-19 restrictions in 2021, we still managed to find cheer amidst the gloom. This year, I’m sure we’ll all still manage to find some way to reconnect with relatives and friends over this festive period. Before we dive into festivities, let’s get ready our new outfits, angbao money and Chinese New Year goodies. Aside from spring cleaning, are you still at a loss as to how you can prepare for the upcoming Lunar New Year? Check out this list of 5 things to prepare before Chinese New Year . 1.     Schedule visiting slots This may just be the most important part of Chinese New Year preparations, amidst our current pandemic situation. Spend a little time before the festivities start, and figure out who’s going to be visiting ...

We’re two weeks into the new year—have you taken the time to map out your 2022 yet? It’s the same story every year. When 1 January rolls around, most of us feel pressured to come up with New Year’s resolutions and grand plans for the rest of the year. Credit: Unsplash / Myriam Zilles But how many of us have actually looked back on 31 December and can proudly proclaim that we’ve successfully completed all of our resolutions? Instead of stressing out over trying to hit goals that seem increasingly far-fetched as the year goes by, let’s take some time now at the start of the year to set goals that we can confidently achieve . We’re not looking at a list of steps that will leave you reeling. We’re looking at three prompts that’ll get you thinking more deeply about what you want to achieve this year. Prompt #1: Reflection As much as we’re excited to see what this year brings, it’s important to reflect on the past first. Get a good idea of what were the good points you want t...

  Top 5 CPF Hacks For You The Central Provident Fund (CPF) is a government scheme initiated to help members prepare for their retirement. Over the years, many initiatives have been introduced to enable people greater flexibility in deciding how funds in their CPF accounts are used. There are 3 accounts in the CPF, namely the Ordinary, Special and Medisave accounts. In this article, I put together the top 5 hacks you can do to ensure your CPF is well utilised. Photo by  Rowan Heuvel  on  Unsplash 1. TOPPING UP THE SPECIAL ACCOUNT Starting with the Special account, the Special account currently earns you interests of 4% per annum. This is a decent return for something relatively lower risk. You can do a voluntary cash top-up of your Special account up to $14,000 per annum (maximum $7,000 for self and $7,000 for family members). Not only does this ensure you have more funds in your CPF during retirement, the cash top up qualifies you for tax reliefs when you do a volunt...

  4-3-2-1 Approach to Financial Freedom I speak to clients on a daily basis regarding management of their wealth. One common trend I observe is many people aspire to reach financial freedom at some point in their lives, but most are clueless how to get there. Financial freedom is the point in your life when your work becomes an option rather than a means of survival. In this article, I outline some broad strategies on how you can get started along this journey towards financial freedom. The 4-3-2-1 Approach Photo by  Jason Hogan  on  Unsplash One simple rule of thumb I tend to adopt is going by the 4-3-2-1 ratios to budgeting. This ratio allocates 40% of your income towards expenses, 30% towards housing, 20% towards savings and investments and 10% towards insurance. While this is by no means a hard fixed rule, it is a useful guide to ensure you are not over-allocating resources towards any one single area while neglecting the rest. For a young person who has yet to a...