Excelsior Financial Blog

Credit: Photo by S&B Vonlanthen on Unsplash (Disclaimer: This article is not tax advice. You may want to consult a qualified tax advisor for your specific tax circumstances.) So you have just welcomed a newborn into your family and received the IRAS text message about tax savings and child relief/rebate. Congratulations! In the tired fuzzy haze of the early newborn weeks, it is easy to overlook apportioning this tax relief to your greatest advantage. As a new parent, you are entitled to tax relief through the Qualifying Child Relief (QCR) or Handicapped Child Relief (HCR). In Singapore, there are few ways to reduce tax, and the QCR is one such means. New parents can reduce their chargeable income by $4,000 per child (or $7,500 for HCR) until the child is 16 years old. By default, IRAS equally apportions this relief (50/50) to each spouse. This works well when both parents are joint income earners in similar tax brackets. However, there are some scenarios where parents m...

Did we just spend the entire (almost) February feasting and celebrating with utter disregard for the weighing scale? If your 2022 New Year’s resolution was to lose weight, are you further or closer to that seemingly unachievable goal? Fret not because I’m with you on this! In fact, here are 5 tips that you can adopt to bring you out of the self-guilt. Spill tea: these tips are truly for the lazy-to-exercise city dweller #1: Sleep Early Skip Supper Obviously if you hit the sheets two-hours earlier, you avoid the temptation of late-night snacking. No brainer for doing the math; less intake equals less gains. Not only that, we all remember our mothers’ nagging at us to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep each night, right? Sufficient sleep helps reset the body and keeps our cortisol levels in check. So, if you don’t intend to exercise for calorie burn, try reducing the calories by sleeping earlier! #2: Drink More Water Aim for at least 8 cups of water daily. Drinking water increas...

So you’ve visited all your married relatives and friends - from your parents to your 13th Aunt’s neighbour from Batu Pahat - just to get the highest Ang Bao collection yield this Lunar New Year. So what is the next step (apart from summoning your mahjong kakis or going on a spending spree)? If you’re unmarried, the CNY period means an injection of cash! Spend some of your Ang Bao loot, by all means, but do consider setting aside some of it for the future. Parents with children should help their children with systematic savings of the Ang Baos received from their friends and relatives. Wouldn’t you be ecstatic if your parents handed you a seed fund for your 21st birthday? By saving just $100-500 of your Ang Bao collection every year from birth till age 18, the average person can accumulate between $1,840 - $9,190 if they use a bank’s savings account, yielding around 0.25% per annum. Money in the bank is very well safeguarded (the Singapore Deposit Insurance Corporation even insu...

Amidst the bustle of Lunar New Year celebrations, it’s once more the season of love. Whether you’re celebrating with that special someone, or with your ride-or-die besties. After all, romantic love isn’t the only kind of love we can celebrate. Credit: Unsplash / Amy Shamblen Yes, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and if you’ve been too busy to plan ahead, don’t fret. Here are 10 date ideas for Valentine’s Day 2022 sure to impress your boo and besties. For the aspiring fitness influencers These are the ones who can’t wait to head out into nature, or work up a sweat. What better way to get your hearts racing, than with a good workout? 1.       Cycle through the new Changi Bay Park Connector Some say it looks like Jeju Island, so you can get your cardio in while channelling your favourite K-drama couple. Credit: Instagram / @mark9plus1 The new Changi Bay Park connector spans 3.6km, with gently swaying lalang near Changi Bay Point that mak...

Passive income is a key path to financial freedom. While active income allows you to trade time for money, passive income allows your money to work for you. When your passive income outgrows your expenses at some point, technically you are financially free. Sounds simple enough? Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/D3_u5E6E2Hg The challenge for most people is they tend to see passive income as a single source of income. For example, some may invest in dividend stocks and the income from the dividends become a source of passive income. Others may decide to invest in real estate and treat the rental income as a source of passive income. The above is fine, but by concentrating your income stream from a single source, you bear the full downside risk of the asset class.  The recent stock market correction is a good reminder, where a substantial correction in the markets can cause investors to panic. I speak to clients on managing their wealth on a daily basis, most tend to overestim...