Matthiaspeaks

If you are still thinking that banks are giving very low interest (less than 0.05 to 0.1% pa). it's really time to relook into a new saving account to make the best out of your savings.

There are already a few "savings account" out there that gives much higher interest as long as you hit some of their criteria such as depositing your salary into their account.

I guess banks are feeling the pain of losing their regular savers over to the "more savvy saving accounts" and this time round, Maybank had launched something similar known as SaveUp Account.

Since they are a little late than the other banks, in order to make it more attractive, they are offering more criteria for you to meet such as car loan, housing loan and education loan.

But of course, please do your Math properly in order to get the best deal for your money. Do not blindly get those loans just to get those interest!









Picture taken from http://info.maybank2u.com.sg/saveup/index.aspx

Chance upon this FJELLSE bed frame that is below $100 from Ikea Singapore.

The price is really attractive (comes with Slant Base somemore) and it looks quite nice and probably will appeal to minimalists or landlords who are getting double bed frame for their tenants!

However, I had heard from a local mattress manufacturer that Slatted Base may not be ideal for pocketed spring mattress since the individual pocket springs may sink into the gaps more easily and thus a flat base was advised when getting a bed frame.

Here's some photos of the Slatted base that comes with this FJELLSE bed frame. And it does seem that the slatted base are quite far apart.

 

But I am still trying to convinced myself what the local mattress manufacturer said is really true. 

Maybe some of the readers who are using slatted base and pocketed spring mattress can share your experience after years of sleep.







 

Guess what, after receiving my repaired LG G4 yesterday, one of the very first thing to do was to start setting up the whatsapp back up (since one can't be sure if a boot loop will start again since the handphone still get really hot when I start downloading and installing all the rest of the lost apps into the phone from Google Play).

After losing everything in the whatsapp (which was a nightmare), I had now set a daily back up rather than doing it manually (which was my original setting that I had forgotten to back up ever since the last back up a year ago).

For readers whom had not done a back up before, you may go to the settings-->Chat-->Chat backup.

And you may choose to set it this way below. Using wifi instead of data may help to cut down on data usage (especially most people are sharing long video files now in whatsapp groups).

Take note to set the options as boxed in Red. However, if you prefer a monthly backup instead of daily, you may switch from daily to monthly too.

And remember to check the box for "Include Video".


Hope this helps and have a great weekend!

Do share this with your friends and loved ones!

Just as I was about to touch on this (since our BTO flat is coming to completion really soon and we are getting the HDB loan), Bank of China (BOC) had dropped a bomb as one of the best options to justify the CPF wipeout has became harder to achieve.

But before we continue, let's refresh our memory on the current CPF interest rate below. Based on the interest, one will need to decide whether if they put their CPF into better use or just use it to pay for new flat. And the easiest choice is simply to justify the wipe out is to ensure that you keep a certain amount of your savings in a place that generates more returns (or interest) than CPF.



And now let's look into BOC's Smart Saver savings account. Basically, this is one of the savings program which is gaining popularity in Singapore (which I believe that had led to the bad news which you will be reading later).

It is a good trend since savers can enjoy higher interest rate by trying to fulfil certain monthly criteria set by the bank such as crediting one's salary, spending a specific minimum amount using the bank's credit cards and paying bills. And for BOC's Smart Saver, you can actually beat CPF's interest rate if you hit their criteria.



However, from this December onward, one will not be able to hit the maximum 3.55% p.a. interest (which is more than the 3.5% p.a. interest which CPF is offering for the first $20 000 in your OA account) that easily anymore unless you are able to bank in a salary of at least $6000 cash and spent $1500 on your BOC credit card bills every month.

This is actually three times of the existing requirement below.



You may find out more about the BOCs Smart Saver revised interest rates in this link.


Since the revised BOC's Smart Saver's interest rates is no longer competitive against CPF and the flat is going to be completed soon, it seems that we will need to decide quickly on whether to use up all the CPF or to keep some in the OA to earn better interest for retirement.


As the banks are getting more and more competitive and are launching similar savings accounts, let's hope that we will be able to find one that is able to match up to CPF's interest with no lock down periods!

But for those couples that still have some time before the BTO's completion date, hope this post helps and good luck!



PS: If anyone has any alternative options to share, feel free to comment!





1st picture taken from: https://www.cpf.gov.sg/members/aboutus/about-us-info/cpf-interest-rates on the date of post

2nd & 3rd pictures taken from: http://www.bankofchina.com/sg/pbservice/pb1/201510/t20151023_5857863.html on the date of post

The most regretful decision of the day was that I should have sync whatsapp to google drive.

Getting the right mattress may take some effort.

But here's a gentle warning which might help you save some money when choosing the bed frame too.

Remember this, King/Queen/Double are all not SI units!

Unlike cm that stays the same length wherever you go, "these sizes" may vary.

The Queen size mattress in Singapore & Malaysia is different from the Queen size mattress in other countries! I believe the Caucasians and Africans will required a longer mattress of the same width since they have a taller built. Their feets will be sticking out if they are to get the "Queen Size" mattress meant for our local market.

The same thing goes to the other sizes too!

You may be surprised that Singapore's Ikea Single Bedsheet can actually fit a locally made Super Single mattress too.

With online shopping gaining more popular than ever, some of us may be planning to purchase mattresses or bed frames online.

A photo of a Double or Queen size bed frame can be easily confused. Therefore, if you really found a nice bed frame that you love, make sure you have the measurements of your mattress checked and double checked to ensure that it fits the bed frame before purchasing.

If you have gotten a slight larger bed frame (unlike the one below), one may purchase a bed frame fitting topper to lay over the mattress to cover the gaps if necessary.


However, if the problem is the other way round, you may really need to find another bed frame that is able to contain your mattress.

This post was sparked off when I saw this double, queen or king size (I seriously don't know) mattress that is sticking out of the bed frame in the clearance section.

I guess this mattress may end up in the clearance section for obvious reasons.

And not to forget, if you love a very thick mattress which gives you the euro hotel feel, be prepared to put in extra effort in finding the fitting bed sheets as "queen size" bed sheets out there may not be able to cover your mattress fully.


Therefore, it may be wise to select a mattress of a standard size (unless you are really that tall) that is not too thick and always make sure the measurements (cm x cm) of your mattress fit your bed frame and vice versa!  


The standard sizes(cm) in Singapore are as follow:

Single - 91x190
Super Single - 107x190
Queen - 152x190

King - 182x190





*Image taken from: http://www.smooth.com.au/smooth/entertainment/ikea-furniture-fails?page=8&app=smoothfm%2525253Fsmooth953%25252520smooth915%25252520and%25252520if(Length((database()))%2525253C60%2525252CBENCHMARK(36783535%2525252CMD5(0x41))%2525252C0)

Here's the battle scars of a 22 yr old mattress which had served well for 19 years before it start to sink in noticeably.