Matthiaspeaks

It is important for one to save and there are many savings accounts out there in Singapore for you to choose from. In the past, foreign banks used to offer higher interest rates than the local banks. But they probably need to do so in order to attract people over to save in their banks since they usually do not have as many ATM machines or branches in Singapore as compared to the local banks.

However, things had changed since April 2014 when the OCBC 360 savings account was launched. Interest rates from local bank had become easy to attain and there is no more concern such as to maintain an incremental balance in the savings account in order to enjoy higher interest rates (it is almost like a fix deposit account).

Although there was a revision in the bonus interest rates for OCBC 360 in May 2015, let's not dwell too much on how good the previous interest were since there is really not much we as consumers can do now. Let's be thankful that OCBC did not totally cut off all the bonus interest for OCBC 360.

For those who had heard about OCBC 360 and thought that it is not suitable for you because you are not working or do not have a salary-based job, please continue to read the post as this account still has it's perks!




As what OCBC say above, yes we can really do more with OCBC 360 savings account and this is especially helpful for someone who is able to achieve criteria 1 and 2, that are fairly easy to hit, if you read the later part of post carefully. Criteria 3 and 4 are optional and not advisable to attain if your current lifestyle and financial plans do not require them. Criteria 5 is an interesting one and particularly useful for self-employed or those who are not working.
 
1. Crediting a salary of minimum $2000 through GIRO into OCBC 360.

 
Earn 1.2% interest per year or 1.2/12 = 0.1% per month on your savings by asking your HR to credit your salary to OCBC 360 of minimum $2000 cash. For high income earners who had hit the $60k cap, you may consider to split the salary credit (min 2k each) and deposit into your family members' or spouse's (self-employed or not working) OCBC 360 accounts. 

There are some companies that are tied down to a specific bank for various reasons and their employees' salaries have to be deposited only to that specific bank. If you are working in such companies and and the HR can't credit your salary to OCBC 360, this savings account might not be the best option for you. But you may consider to achieve Criteria 2, 3 and Criteria 5 to enjoy a 2% interest per year or 0.1666% interest per month by continue reading.

 2. Arrange 3 different bill payments (full or partial) a month using your OCBC 360 account

 

Earn 0.5% interest per year or 0.5/12 = 0.0416% (round down) per month on your savings by paying your bills to different credit cards (exclude JCB and Amex cards that are tied to certain banks) or different companies (such as insurance premiums, telcom bills, LTA fines etc).

For those who do not have 3 different bills to pay for yourself, you may consider to help out with your family's expenses. Therefore it is actually really easy to fulfill this requirement if you had caught the keyword "partial" in this section.

3. Spend $500 a month using any OCBC credit cards (optional) 



Earn 0.5% interest per year or you can divide the interest by 12 months which is 0.5/12 = 0.0416% (round down) per month on your savings. This is optional since not everyone spends so much a month. Do not try to hit this amount just to earn the interest. The maximum interest you are going to get out of it is only 0.0416% x $60 000 (This is the max amount covered for this bonus interest) = $24.96.

OCBC Cashflo Credit Card is an ideal credit card to complement this bonus interest requirement. Split the credit card spendings into 3 months or 6 months installments (depending on where you do your purchases) for your necessary big expenses such as medical bills, overseas holiday, wedding, renovation, furnitures or electrical appliances. While paying the monthly installments, you get to fulfill this criteria of $500. For example, a TV cost $3k and it gets split into 6 months of $500 each. In a way, you need not worry about not hitting the $500 credit card spending for 6 months.

Remember, you are using this card to purchase what you actually need and not what you can't afford!  

4. Getting insurance or investment plans from OCBC (optional)



Earn 1% interest per year or 1/12 = 0.083% (round down) per month on your savings. This is also optional since such plans might not be useful to you and you may be able to find better options for insurance or investment elsewhere. Forcing yourself to take up insurance or investment products that you do not require is going to really costly! 

5. Making sure that you increase your account balance every month (Capped at S$1 Million).


Earn 1% interest per year or 1/12 = 0.083% (round down) per month on your savings difference from the previous month. This is an interesting new bonus interest from OCBC 360 that was launch in May 2015. So the catch is that you need to ensure your previous month's balance in your OCBC 360 is lower than the current month's.And this has to take into account of your average daily balance between the current and previous month. Therefore it is not easy in the sense that you can't simply transfer a large sum of money on the last day of the month. The sum of money has to sit in the bank for the entire month as the bank look at the average daily balance difference.

In the nutshell, so long as top up an OCBC 360 account on the first day of the month and transfer the funds out to on the first day of the next month, you will earn 0.083% (round down) on the top up (capped at $1 Million). If you and your spouse or family members have OCBC 360 accounts, you may want to re-look into how you can earn the difference by making transfers timely between the accounts (to earn this additional 1% interest).  Check out this table:



If your OCBC account has not been a year old, you get to enjoy free waiver of the service fees of $2 when it falls below $3000. So you may even consider transferring out all your savings out and top it back the next month! So the question is where should you transfer this account? It can be your family members' or spouse's OCBC 360 or other banks' incremental accounts (such as CIMB StarSaver (Savings) Account).

The current fix deposit account usually offers an interest rate from 1.3% onwards depending on the amount and also the duration. However, in order to avoid getting your savings "stuck" especially when you need to liquidate your savings for medical fees, school fees, wedding etc, one may want to combine criteria 2 and 5 to earn a 1.5% interest rate per year by planning your funds transfer properly monthly for your OCBC 360 account or your closed ones.

OCBC 360 is therefore actually a savings account which is worth spending some time on to grow your savings more effciently. Open an OCBC 360 account now if you had not done so. If you had been procastinating for a long time, go down to the branch now! OCBC had many branches that are opened on a Sunday!

If you find this useful, do share this with your close ones! They can be working, schooling, self employed, having a commission-based job such as (insurance agent or property agent) or a home maker. It's good for anyone to relook into their own or family members' OCBC 360 accounts now to see how they can make the best out of their savings!


*All images were taken from OCBC 360's official website on the posted date.

Hello Hello people~ Don't you guys hate the haze?!!!!!!! I miss our clean, green and fine country! ARGHH!! But anyway, there is nothing we can do... haiz.. Except cursing.. :X

Okay Okay... Back to topic. I guess most of you guys own a Air Fryer at home right? No matter what kind of Air Fryer, there is 1 thing that irritates me when it comes to heating up my hashbrown. You can only place 3 pieces of the hashbrown at once! But I wanted to heat up 5 pieces, which means I have to waste my time and electricity to heat it twice.
While staring at the Air Fryer, something strikes me, the height of the Air Fryer holder is actually enough to stack another layer. But of course not directly on top of the other hashbrown, because the hashbrown will stick onto each other if you do that. So I went to dig out the metal stand that our mum usually used it for steaming the food! Anyway, I think it is difficult to imagine, just look at the pictures below and you will understand what I meant.

I have my PohPiah and Samosa stacked nicely.

I can even stack different food together!

Tah Dah!

HELLO everyone!

I am here to present the Tupperware 2015 Jubilee Mooncake and the 50th Anniversary Eco Bottle set!

I shall start off with the Eco Bottle first!
Did you realize more and more people are using the Tupperware bottles around you? There must be a reason why Tupperware bottles are so popular right? Let me point out some of the benefits :)

• Aesthetically the colours attract you.
• Tupperware product provides a lifetime warranty.
• Tupperware uses #5 Polypropylene (PP), which means.. "PP plastic is used to make containers for yogurt, deli foods, medications and takeout meals. While polypropylene is said to have a high heat tolerance making it unlikely to leach chemicals, at least one study found that PP plastic ware used for laboratory studies did leach at least two chemicals."  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/04/11/plastic-use.aspx
• The price of the bottle is not that expensive if you think about the lifetime warranty Tupperware provide.

This is why you see people using Tupperware Eco Bottle around you nowadays!

50th Anniversary Eco Bottle Set

Now moving on to the once a year Mooncake Promotion! 2015 Jubilee Mooncake Gift Set!

Last 2 weeks were such a busy week for us! We don't even have the chance to think about what we want to blog. =( But anyway, Happy Birthday Singapore! Happy SG50! HAHA!

It is time to start sketching the design for our home and thinking about what we want for the house! Although our wedding comes first, but we are more excited about the house rather than the wedding. HAHA! Do you guys feel that way too?? :X
Today, I am going to share what kind of style we want for our home! But Firstly, I am going to show you the floor plan of our home. Our new coming house is located at Yishun Ring Rd, our BTO's project is Vine Grove. I personally like old neighborhood estate, but... we can't afford the prime area :(. So we thought Yishun Ring Rd might be a good choice.

4 Rooms Floor Plan

Kitchen

I love the idea of having a partly open concept kitchen, as I felt kind of claustrophobic when I first look at the floor plan. Imagine having only a long straight pathway towards the service yard, having no communication with the living and dining area. Maybe to some families they prefer it to be enclosed because of the cooking part, but I guess I won't be doing the heavy cooking or frying :P

I have a good news for gout patients! My dad is one of them who suffers from the gout disease for almost 20 years. I always notice him controlling his diet, especially to avoid high-purine foods like liver, sweetbreads, sardines, fish roes and red meat. The fish was his favourite, but there are some fishes he has to avoid eating. Like Ikan bilis and Sardine for example. 

And today I have a good news for gout patients! My mum told me she was going to cook nasi lemak, which means we will have SAMBAL CHILLI! But there I saw my mum picking up the ikan bilis one by one, removing the silver parts on the ikan bilis and their tiny bone. So I asked why would she want to do that? 

She explains that she read an article saying that actually gout patients can consume ikan bilis with less fear if the silver parts and bone were removed. And she tried it for almost a year whenever she cooks anything that includes ikan bilis. So far it proves that it was well controlled on my dad, but of course he doesn't consume a large amount of the ikan bilis at once. But at least he can enjoy the sambal chilli with the nasi lemak! How can a nasi lemak go without a sambal chilli right? :D

I am not sure if this works for everyone, but I feel is a good thing to share about and hope that gout patients still get their chance to enjoy nice food. :D

I have uploaded a video on how to remove the silver parts and bone from the ikan bilis. Hope you guys enjoy!

Process of making the sambal chilli! SHIOK!

I just found out that actually the Tupperware opener has this little clamp that helps you to remove the can cover without making any mess or worry that the sharp edges might cut you. Especially when you are attempting to remove the cover of a sardine can, the pressure of it causes you to spill the sauce or slipped away from your fingers.  I will still assume that it is just a single function opener not until I watched my mum using it today.