I do not watch local TV

As titled, I don't.

The contents are largely derivative, acting is bad (I do not blame actors, I blame the fact that acting in Singapore isn't quite what it is overseas), the actors just have a pretty face (most of the actors are from talent searches where looks are initially very important).

For the longest time, there hasn't been anything scripted on local tv that is quote worthy, however, recently a TV show changed that quite abit. I am still not watching the show, but I do feel that the quote more or less touches hard on the subject. It is basis of this blog.

The acting still sucks especially from Chow Chor Meng  (sorry bro, I liked you when you were in Don't Worry, Be Happy, but I felt your acting seriously declined, but what do I know about acting eh?)

你以为着急赚钱的人只有我一个吗？
你去问一下其他的年轻人，有谁不着急？

服完兵役，念完大学23，24岁，一转眼30岁就到了。
在这短短几年时间，要结婚，要买房子，要生孩子，没钱行吗？
现在一间组屋至少30，40万。就拿最基本的开销来说，如果你在市区工作，一天来回地铁两三趟，偶尔赶时间搭个德士 ，光是交通费每天就要$6 - $7块钱 。吃顿午餐，最省最省$5-$6块钱。去个连锁咖啡店喝杯咖啡$6-$7块钱，$6、$7块。
这还不说，为了响应政府号召，早结婚、早生孩子，那我得赶紧去交个女朋友。如果不陪吃、陪喝、陪看戏、偶尔陪出国，外加送一点名牌礼物，就算我长一副明星脸也未必有女孩子要跟我。
有一些人还要读大学，贷款、分担家里的开销呢？等到要结婚的时候，摆一桌酒席$1000块开始起跳，拍个婚纱特辑$3000-$4000块钱，这都是钱钱钱啊！
我们这代年轻人不追求什么生活品质，就算是维持最起码的生活，不去赚一点钱行吗？你们也不想养一个儿子，等到结婚的时候跟你要钱摆喜酒，等要建立家庭的时候跟你们要钱买房子。

是，我承认我的手法是有一点极端，我有错，但是我的错是因为这个社会造成的！

The translation as follows and the comments:
You (the kid's dad) think I'm the only one anxious about earning money? Why not you ask the youngsters today, who isn't anxious? (you mean its the prerogative of adults to be anxious about money? kids are only there to spend money) 
After NS*, graduating from university around 23-24 years old, we'll turn 30 at the blink of an eye (not so much of a blink, but for this time period the amount of things to do is highly in-proportionate.) 

During this short period of time, we have to get married, get a house, have baby(babies), can we do all of these without money? (this right here is the basis of this blog.

The cost for a HDB is at least $300K-$400K now. ( now a 4 room hdb costs about $280k-$600k depending on location and grants). But its actually much more if you factor in HDB loans and CPF Accrued interest

Let's talk about the most basic need for spending, if we were to work in the city(town), a trip back and forth via MRT is $5-$6. (I live in the west and a train trip towards the city is about S$1.80 - S$2.00 one way)

Occasionally, we take a taxi when we rush for time is $6-$7. ($6-7 for about a 10 min journey, not to mention the nonsensical surcharges, and the fact that they are raising fares due to taxi companies being unable to rent out their taxis fully)

For lunch, we need at least $5-$6. (I can swing the lowest of $2 if I want)

Drinking cup of coffee from a franchised cafe is $5-$7 (Starbucks/Coffeebean? Why would a kid who is so concerned about savings buy $6 coffee when he can get the same at $1.10 each) 

As if that's not enough, we have to follow what the government's campaigns, get married early to have babies young. (govt have been doing that for awhile now, but the cost of living is not helping. Funny thing is last time they were pushing stop at two, which they quickly found to be detrimental in the long run.)

I have to get a girlfriend first. And with that we will incur expenses from meals, drinks, movies and go overseas occasionally, plus gifting a few branded goods. If not even with the face of a superstar, no girl will want to be with me. (this is also some what of a social problem these days, guys who spoil girls and girls who likes to be spoilt are at fault.)

Some of us still want to further our studies, what about loans, mortgages and helping out with the family's finances? (at a certain point, you have to reduce your contributions to your family, your new family is important too right?)

And when it's time to get married, it cost at least $1000 per table. (its actually $1,200 now assuming 4 star hotel banquets, remember to pre-plan this 2 years in advance!!)

A wedding photo shoot will cost at least $3000-$4000 ($3k is the basic ones, mostly a size-able wedding photo shoot album costs about $4500 and up)

And all of these requires money, money and MONEY!!! (actually its whats afterwards that requires money.)

My generation of young adults don't demand a quality lifestyle. Is it even possible to not earn some money now, even if we were to live a life of the absolute basic? (this is not true, youths these days do not know the true value of money including myself. Otherwise, thrifty-ness shouldn't come as a challenge to them, kids these days are all about brands and it is also very accessible to own them. For eg, plenty of 0% installment plans for luxury watches and jewelry that do not cripple you right away but eat you like a slow disease). 

You don't want to have a son to have to ask you to pay for his wedding and his house, do you? (Although no choice really, we need our parents help as much as we can get right now to do these things).

Yes, I admit that what I did to earn money is a little extreme (I don't know what he did).

I've made mistakes and I'm at fault, but my fault is because of what this society has made it to be! (I didn't watch the show to see what he actually did, so can't comment)

* for non-Sg readers, Singapore has conscripted army for all boys. It mostly occurs between their first tertiary education (junior college/polytechnic/ITE ) and their university education. It typically lasts 2 years. 
For girls: after you've completed tertiary education, you can start your university studies
For boys: after you complete tertiary education, you take two years to serve NS before resuming university or starting to work.

Kids these days don't have it easy just like how our parents. Although it's a different kind of hardship, it is still difficult nonetheless. In the past, the struggles might be about poverty and low income related. But now, it's mostly about keeping up with others.

Our parents are always asking us to save up save up, it's a good concept but the rate of savings is always not enough. You need to learn to earn more money using your own money.

Out there, there's a lot of get rich schemes, short cuts to money, windfalls, etc.. But as some people say, as easy as you can get it, you also can lose it just as easily.

As far as making extra money goes, I think everyone should follow these few rules, most of them are quite self-explanatory:
- don't do anything illegal
- don't hunt people around you (for sales esp)
- you must be able to sleep well at night
- you must be able to sleep well at night 
- you must be able to sleep well at night
- don't believe in rumours and do not buy on rumours
- don't believe in get-rich-quick scams
- do your homework when you are investing in anything
- always keep track of the money/expenditure for long term
- do not get into a lot of debt (some debt to free up cash flow is useful), even personal finances also require certain leveraging.

Although the saying: to buy the rumours and sell the news. But this only works when you position yourself ahead of retail stock investors and your position is able to make use of herd mentality to drive up prices.

Are you able to drop 10k on a share and wait for it to rise overnight? High returns also means high risk, there is no two ways about this, otherwise no one will be hedging.

But if you look at yourself, you are more likely unable to position yourself as such. Hence you should read up on value investing and really do some homework to generate the yields long term. Instead of studying what Warren Buffett buys today, you should see how he accumulates his wealth over time. He and Walter Schloss study a certain investment through and through. He know when will the shares of a wonderful company be truly cheap (under priced) and buys them to keep for long time. Think Coca-cola company, Gillette and IBM. That's what value investing is. He realised that Coke will be in business for a long long time.

Famous investors say a lot of things. But the one thing they all repeat and repeat and practise themselves without fail is: sleep well at night. Don't invest till you are so afraid and keep yourself awake at night. Its not worth it most of the time.

Cost of living will carry on to go up there is no doubt about it. Always remember your end goal. Your financial health at old age. You do not want to be working after retirement age.

Photo credits: draken from club snap

Don't call us poor

I was watching this show the other day. You could catch on Toggle (disclaimer: not affiliated), you need to sign up to their account and also for some computers might need to download microsoft silverlight which is just a web based player (guess they hate quicktime, apple owned).

This documentary series delve into lives of various Singaporeans with low income and their lives in one of the most expensive cities to live in according to BBC, Singapore.

You can follow the lives of various people.

The one that gave me the deepest impression is Hong Chuan Chuan.

I am not here to judge her, but I feel that her children are suffering the worst. I do not believe giving her money will aid her situation in anyway and if anything, worsen the situation.

For good or for bad, everyone should give this a watch to get another perspective in life not seen often.

some Club's wisdom

such is life and life is such.

Housing your goals

This post is assuming you know the rough idea of CPF repayment and interest rates.

This post is not about investing, studying markets like them gurus, although it involves investing your CPF money, but you do not need to do anything. Or provide any money, the risks involved is only based on govt ruling.

Although as of posting HDB loan interest rates is 2.6%, I consider it to be 0.1% more than the prevailing CPF Ordinary Account (OA) interest rate (currently 2.5%). 

Flat price basis $300,000.00 (before grants).

Now, I was talking to my friend about getting HDB loans vs Bank loans, given the risk averse nature between me and my future wife, we would prefer the HDB loan rates and seeing the extra paid for interest versus the bank loans to be considered as for covering the risks of the ever changing market interest rates, which we have no way of keeping abreast of as neither of us are into finance and investment related.

My goal in future is to do achieve the following:
- pay for HDB with as little interest as possible
- meeting the minimum sum so that I'll be able to withdraw my CPF money timely
- really retire and enjoy life like they show in TV shows rather than be working at an old age

Firstly, basis assumptions on only owning one flat and the interest rates on all accounts remains the same or adjusted slightly.

CPF minimum sum requirement is adjusted to be less than 4% annually.

- pay for HDB with as little interest as possible
Assuming we do not get any help from parents, although if cash rich enough, its better to owe parents money than govt bodies.

Although you can have a loan tenure of 30 years, its still not worth it considering the extra interest rates. If your house is less than $400k, we current PMET salaries, it is not that difficult to scrimp and save for 10 years to repay everything.

What about the kids? From getting flat, the kid will come about 2-3 years living in, you will only have to live frugally for 8 years of the child's life from birth. I believe, these are the times where the kid spends the least of your money compared to when we are talking about puberty clothes, increase in materialism, social events your kid goes to is on you, tertiary education, vacations will be more frequent and costly as your child ages.

Now that you have taken on the life of suffer-first-enjoy-later, you still cannot give HDB every single dollar you have every month. You have to keep some for yourself in rainy days and still have a loan, so the cost for striking a balance is now transferred to your HDB loan interest rate. How much are you willing to pay to keep yourself cash rich for this period of time till you complete payments of the HDB flat.

Its not as daunting as it sounds, various things will help you get through,
Firstly is to first gather some cash aid from parents, as mentioned before, you would rather owe parents than owe bank or owe govt bodies. And also with HDB loans, you are able to make early payments and it is also some what less complicated.

Secondly, you have to set aside some cash and start early payments by 2nd year onward. The main aim is to help you minimise your money that is gone into the HDB loans and CPF and other nonsense that we do not understand like accrued interest.

- meeting the minimum sum so that I'll be able to withdraw my CPF money timely
A lot of people think that reaching the minimum sum is the end goal, but that's not it. Minimum sum is just sort of a major checkpoint in your CPF money.

However much the minimum sum is, you have to keep ahead of it as much as you can. The more you do that the more you can withdraw from your CPF accounts before the minimum sum is transferred to your Retirement Account. 

The main thing you have to do is grow your CPF money to the point where at 50 years old (assuming you are working with monthly contributions) you have more money than the minimum sum. Here's how.

1) Before paying for your HDB, you take all the investible CPF money to buy some investments (more on that in future). Remaining $20k will be in your account (combine with spouse, you will have $40k). This money, will be used to pay your HDB down payments and a few early payments that you are comfortable with.

2) After that, once your HDB down payment is made, sell your whatever CPF investment and bring the money back or you could wait for it to mature if the returns is more than 2.5%

3) Now with this extra money back into your CPF, you can use your monthly CPF contributions + some of your cash to pay for the house monthly repayments.  (For money completely set aside for interest rate growth, you can transfer this into your Special Account (SA), not a bad deal for risk free 4% annual interest rate. 

4) with this plan, you can get quite a handsome sum due to compound interest by the time you are 50 years old. 
Quick Maths for Basic 25 year old PMET; salary of $3000-$4000 per month
Sum in SA: S$27,000.00 (after this plan, this sum quite attainable at the age of 28-30)
Annual contribution: $2700 (easily attainable in by 28-30, and surely will increase, but assume $2700 for every year)

With the 4% in SA, you do not need to do anything, just your pay alone and with the magic of compound interest, you will have $184k. 

This is not inclusive of your increased contribution due to pay increase, self top ups and the additional 1% for the first 50k in your combined CPF accounts.

Now assuming you keep this up for another 10 years, you will have more than $300,000!!! By working another 10 years. assuming you still have the same pay, you will gain $100k just on compounded interest. It seems magical but its not.

“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it ... he who doesn't ... pays it.

-Albert Einstein

For this to work, you must understand that you must reduce some cash flow/get help from parents to pay up your HDB flat asap in order to reduce interest on your HDB loans as well as the confusing accrued interest. 

General rule of the thumb, for your money to grow, your own money must have higher interest rates than your loans.

CPF OA - 2.5%
HDB loan - 2.6% (OA + 0.1%)
CPF SA - 4.0%

As you can see, so long your money surpasses or is equal to the prevailing minimum sum, you are able to beat any minimum sum adjustments (which is increases) with no effort on your part.

- really retire and enjoy life like they show in TV shows rather than be working at an old age
Alot of people sees the minimum sum to be the end point in accumulating money in CPF. But that should not be the case if you are earning 3-4k in your twenties, 5-7k in your thirties and so on. You should aim to have a substantial amount in your CPF above the minimum sum. That way, when the time comes, you are able to take out a bunch of money till only the minimum sum is left. This minimum sum will then go into your CPF life or whatever scheme for your retirement account.

The key indicator is find out based on your current contributions annually, how much will your end figure be at 50 years old. This should give you a good gauge of how much you need to contribute towards achieving the figure you want. Yes, use cash to top up CPF is foolish (for now), but when you are old and no energy, you definitely wished you had work harder when you were young.

Last point
This is a long windy post, perhaps the main takeaway is this, learn the formulas for loan payment and concept of compound interest. You can take your time with accrued interest concept (although this is never to your advantage since you are loaning/using money from elsewhere). For loan payment and compound interest, time is of essence. Mai tu liao. But just make sure you are very sure with what you are doing. My method may work due to my circumstances but may not work for you. So better use excel and work it out in actual dollars to put yourself in the real perspective. You maybe paying lesser now, but at the end of the day, these numbers really do add up.

Weekly Budgeting

"Aiyo!"

Thats my reaction when I calculated how much I've spent for one week. For people who wants to make changes to their financial habits, instead of starting to look at stocks and shares trying to be the next oracle of tanjong pagar, I say you can...

Instead,if you follow me and carry a notebook around, you could start logging all your expenses. It includes everything you put money out for from your NETs and cash only. trip to trip doesn't count and items paid for using credit cards do not count.

After one week of logging, it puts alot of things into my prospective. I can now see what I spend on and perhaps try to cut on that one thing.

For this week, I spent a bit over $300!! Is quite high, but I spent $160 on valentine's day prep. Its costly but again, I'm not budget ken, I'm just cutting corners to afford for NICE THINGS in life. Although these nice things are for my girlfriend.

Feb and Mar are months which I bleed the most amount of money. Events include my girlfriend and mine's birthday, CNY, valentine's day, my mum's birthday.

Boomz...planning a sydney drive to melbourne trip. Fingers cross.

Stupid things to waste money on in Singapore

We own stuffs, that's the definition of civilisation, owning is partly what makes us who we are. We are the person with the porsche, the bmw, the guitar, the pink bag, the black shirt, the boat shoes. All the things we carry makes us who we are, it tells others about us and our behavior.

There are plenty of things you can own that is good in the sense that it is forever classic, it outlasts trends (not in the sense that I comes and goes once in the 80s and now again like silly bucket caps). These are the things where you will use now, your children might be using them too. They apply to anyone be it they are a guy or girl. 

A good watch for instance, you can keep them, pass it on to your children and hopefully with good servicing their children. One such good example would be a simple rolex watch. I have heard stories of it being bought in the 60s and it keeps good time till this day. Regular servicing and everlasting good looks, you can own this watch forever.

However, recently,  due to rise of social stupidity with many people inventing more things to seemingly add ‘convenience’ to our lives, on top with marketing techniques to blind us, here are a few things that is just stupid to spend money on. Its not stupid to own it as it may be a gift. But some things are just too stupid to spend money on.

Hand Sanitizers

This is seriously stupid to sling outside your bag like a key chain. Are you that anal for cleanliness? I see plenty of guys put these on their bags and it makes them look like a Dora-the-explorer fan. The solutions inside have small plastic balls that exfoliate or smell good? So what is this thing now, a facial scrub? So many questions to ask people who carry this.

Only people that carries this are people with small kids and even so, I wouldn't recommend it either! If you have a child, please use something that really sanitises, such as dettol branded sanitizers?

This bottle itself looks like it is here to clean stuff, it definitely cost less and works much better. You can slide it into any bags you carry instead of flashing to the whole world your stupid sanitizer. 

Stupid rating: 2/5 - by hanging it out of your bag, you are inviting others to open the bottle and use it and leave it hanging like the teat of a cow's udder. Only useful if you have kids and stuff, but no need to show off.

Bucket hats

Kids, thank me later if you are actually reading this. This is the stupidest things I've seen these days and it makes you look like a crack pot. Sorry if you love this trend now.

This was a thing in the past during the 80s to 90s and thank goodness it stopped. Now its being worn by kids and it is seriously silly looking. The only acceptable usage is for military jungle hats.

Silliness rating: 4/5, people who have outgrown them in the 90s are now 40 years old and I bet they find it silly looking. At least revive something worn by the generation who is dead or almost dead such as the slick looking dapper styles.

Daniel Wellington watches

Obviously trying to con girls with this

This is the reason why teens should listen to their parents and or do their homework when buying watch is precisely this reason. The style of this watch is no-doubt great, but it is actually a cheap piece of poop plated in gold and marketed to kids to eat up their parents money. 

Another honeytrapping mechanism

Its very easy to fall for their traps when they get golden white pretty guys to pose wearing it. This watch houses a regular japanese quartz that costs retailers $10. The Bauhaus inspired style dial is not 100% original and I believe, for every watch costing $230,  they earn 50% for pure profits, 45% for marketing and overheads, 3% tax and charities, and the balance is the cost of the watch.

For less money, you could be getting yourself these:

Orient Bambino -  less than $210 for automatic/$150 for quartz

For the same money, you could get this:

Seiko SKX007, which is a watch that is durable of trends and the times and affordable like nobody business

The weekends are here, have a good weekend ahead everyone!

Manlines: Start wet shaving today to save money/face

Guys must pay attention, girls also get your guys to pay attention to this life changing post! I think this is one of the only things in Singapore where it is literally better and cheaper to make the switch. You can quote me and any wet shaver (no matter the face type):

Wet shaving has many advantages over cartridge shaving and it costs half as much every year.

Whats the difference between these two pictures?

A

B

Picture A depicts a woman shaving with a cartridge/multi-blade razor  (carts for short), and he is probably using those aerosol shaving gels/foams which is in fact feminine wash and does nothing.

Picture B is how a man should shave. Straight edge (SE)/double edge (DE) razor with a shaving brush to lather proper shaving cream on the face.

KNOW THE DIFFERENCE!!!

Shaving is a thing a men must do, do not be a sucker to advertisements and marketing about shaving from companies like Gillette/Schick or what have you.

In Singapore, it is accepted widely to use a cart shaver, but it's fine. I used to be shaving with carts till I discovered proper shaving ie, SE/DE razor, I'll refer to them as razors for ease of typing this. Albeit I have never understood the notion of the shaving gels and foams. With carts being advertised to be so sharp and smooth gliding, all I did use was water to wet my face and shave two pass, up and down.

I know army give Gillette fusion and is very generous, but once you walk around NTUC to find that the cartridge refills in-fact are more expensive than the handle itself! This is atrocious, the printer situation all over again.

A quick search online shows the many advantages of DE Razors, for myself, these are the advantages I've seen and felt:
1) Areas which I shave have significantly better skin
No matter how many people works in the R & D dept of Gillette, they will never achieve a nice shave in a cartridge if all they care about is fitting 10 blades into one cartridge.

The truth is, all you need is love one blade, gillette developed two blades as the first cart razor, it's idea is to cut the remaining hair left behind by the first blade. I believe this is because they didn't make blades very sharp back in the days. But now, with them being literally razor sharp, after the first blade passes through, what is left is the top layer of skin to be mowed off by the second blade and third and forth and fifth

The one blade razor ensures only facial hair is bladed off your face. And you will not shave parts of your face that has no hair right?

With the regime of shaving a DE razor, you put on proper shaving cream (which I'll touch on later), after shave/toner and moisturisers, your face just feels great. ( I know girls will always harp on guys to put on moisturiser) This brings me to my next point...

2) It's an activity not a chore
I look forward to shaving as a event of the evening similar to winding watches rather than a chore
With the hustle and bustle of urban life, fast moving pace and many of the technology that surrounds us, we have to learn to appreciate some analog things in life

I will typically shave at night, after a shower (which is the best way to prep the face btw). From whipping up the shaving cream to a nice thick lather, application, first pass all the way till I finish the routine with toner + moisturiser combo, my face feels great

3) It saves alot of money
Let's do some simple maths here, I have shaved on both before, I will show you the costs breakdown over a year.
Starter kits:
DE
Edwin Jagger Safety Razor - $59 from Taka (this is a very good entry-mid level handle used worldwide)
Omega brush - $6.50 from Mustafa
Palmolive shaving cream - $2.50 from Mustafa (I've used for 4-5 months already and not 80% squeezed)
Shaving bowl - $2 from Daiso (any bowl you can find also can use, even direct apply to your face and lather with brush is also another practise)

Cart
Gillette basic 2 Blade shaver + 2 refill cartridges - $16
Gillette Aerosol Foam shaving cream - $7

Expendables - items that finishes and requires replacements periodically
DE
Razor blades - $1.20 to $2 for a pack of 5 Gillette 7 O'clock razor blades which is good blades for the price (uses 2 blades a week, so buys a new pack every 3 weeks)

*Razors can buy other brands or types to try them out and they do not exceed $3 for a pack of 5 blades

Cartridges
Razor cart refills - $15 for a pack of 4 refills from Gillette, you are pretty much stuck with the same kind of blade for which ever handle you use (you change once a week because its too expensive to change the blades twice a week, refills lasts you every month or so)

Shaving foams from cans lasts about 3 months

See the price difference in expenditure plotted over 52 weeks:
DE shavers spent: S$137
Cart shavers spent: S$250

On top of that the sudden bump in the DE Razor bar was because the user decided to spend $30 on a body shop shaving cream and he has plenty of both shaving creams left.

Not only do DE shavers get to change the blades they use regularly, they also get new shaving creams and still spend a little over half as much as cart shavers. Also by changing blades regularly, shavers will not experience the tug or pull from a dull blade.

4) Razor shaving is manly
If you still not convinced, and you feel that roger federer's shaving on TV is the way he shaves in real life then so be it.

But shaving with either a DE or straight edge razor is the way our grandparents did it, its also the way indian barber - high end male grooming saloons does it


Tools of the trade (purchase-able in Singapore shops
You are going to need a few things to get you going, as mentioned above, but here's a few items that are low priced (there are always cheaper stuff but they might not be as good):

Edwin Jagger DE89 - $58 to $60 at Taka departmental store, men's grooming section *the Edwin Jagger secton in Taka is actually owned by what he wants as well.
Also can be bought from Whathewants, which has brick and mortar stores around town at the same price.

Comes in black, chrome and ivory coloured handles. If you like, you also can get the gold plated one but that won't really last.

Another honorable mention is:
Rimei Safety Razor - $4 to $5 from pasar malam

Cute blue box has a mirror and enough space to hold a few blades inside you can pack for travelling

You can get them from these kinds of shops that sells everything you need for your house.

Not the boy

The rimei razors is one the better ones out there that does not rust after awhile and shaves quite well. Can use this if you are not comfortable with a $50+ handle which is what I did at first.

Razor blades:
This one is another part of shaving that affects the outcome and your feel. Everyone's combo is different.

I personally used Gillette 7 o'clock as it is sharp, lasts 3 shaves, and easily available. This pack costs about $1.20 and has 5 blades inside. For razor blades, almost all provisional shops will sell a type or two.

Be cautious when buying the razors, some of them can be of same name, but because of its different country of origins, perform differently. Your mileage may vary (YMMV) is a common term in wet shaving forums.

Another one raved online is the feather's razor blades

They are made in Japan, and japan has the samurai sword that is basically what Jedi uses before the light saber, so its quite aggressive for some. But if you are a daily shaver, look out for this one.

Shaving brush:
I bought mine from Mustafa, which is quite a mecca for wet shavers in Singapore. The omega (no omega watch, but got omega brush) branded one costs $5.90 or $6.50. They work fine with time and there is no need for you to use those expensive boar/badger hair brushes that costs hundreds of dollars, not that I'm sour grapes, but I do not see the need to because I'm stingy.

This is not the exact one but you get the idea.


Shaving cream:
I use palmolive shaving cream from Mustafa, a big tube costs $2.50. I have been shaving for almost 4-5 months (2 shaves a week) and I have not even squeezed out 80% of the tube.

Final Pass
My post is not to teach you shaving techniques, but rather how you shave. If you are keen in wet shaving, there are plenty of tutorials online and most importantly is to start slow and do not apply pressure. Gravity acting on the razor + sharpness of the razor is sufficient to cut the facial hair and leave your face and natural oils on.

If you like, you could get aftershave (toner does the same and regular toners marketed to women tend to work better as aftershaves have fragrances that might be harmful to skin). There is also some oils/balms for the pre-shave routine which I find to be hallmark in nature as the best pre-shave prep is just to take a shower and wash your face with facial wash.

One thing I noticed about wet shavers is they tend to over spend as soon enough, it will feel like a hobby because its so fun and there is a community for wet shavers.

I have seen some people spend some serious money on $200 razors, $200 shaving brushes, $80 shaving cream, $70 aftershaves $50 shaving bowls, $150 razor and brush holders. These things are nice, but they are really not necessary. Not that its wrong, but this is about being value for money here. No need to drive a proton, or a ferrari, a toyota does the job just as well.

This costs USD 80 (more than S$100)...

Productivity Tips: notebooking

This guy up here, got it together for me. He represents a man in many ways, of many of the amazing things he did, he is also a normal man subjected to panic attacks and woes of family life.

I'm not talking about James, I'm talking about Tony. The crazy, fat, mean, fighting machine of a fictional Mafia boss. My favourite action spy is James Bond of course. And my favourite gangster is none other than Anthony John Soprano. He does a lot of things, he manages stuff, settles stuff and does stuff, albeit it is of illegal means. But he gets it, he here, is a guy who is seeking enlightenment whether he is aware of it or not. Dead or alive.

Anyways, one of the things that strikes me the most about him is he has a habit of taking notes. I mean, you see gangsters/wise guys, you see them hanging around butcher shops, pizza place. Beat up shit, do gangster-y stuff. And in their spare time, bone chicks and all. But this guy, this guy already visits a shrink in his spare time for 6 years, but that is of prevailing circumstances and the greek chorus of the show. But for him, being a wise guy, amongst beating people up and asking for money, he also has a freaking NOTEBOOK. He goes around day to day, doing his gangster stuff. But he writes them in a notebook (although I've only seen him doing it for one episode, but its done that way.)

Anyways, through out history, many great man are taking notes about stuff. Notebooks of Galileo, Leonard Da Vinci, Ernest Hemingway, Darwin, Twain, Einstein, 4d bookies and provision store owners in the old days.

I've decided to use my notebook, not for scrapbooking like a 15 year old girl or scheduling like a secretary of a boss. But to:
- remember stuff to do: write them in, do it, cross it out
- compare prices: write down what you getting and the price and where to get it. Compare 3 at least
- impt dates over a few events, addresses of hard to get places
- credit card bills to pay later at AXS machine
- remember stuff for my girlfriend.

For me I'm using a leather cover fauxdori from evatelier.com to bind in '555' notebooks. I know, the leather cover is crazy, but hey its a nice thing and in leather.

The notebook imitates the Midori Traveler's Notebook system where the books are held in by a elastic band, that you do not need to spend a lot to buy, just go Aries and buy those hairband material and there you have it.

pictures of the actual cover after custom-making my piece to size

(photo credit: evatelier.com/journals)

I didn't like the gay looking elastic band to hold the covers close, so I punched a hole at the spine of the cover and put an orange elastic band through it. There were complains that the Midori's punches a hole in the center of the back cover and put the band through it, this gets in the way of writing. Hence, punching at the spine is better. Now it looks like the Star edition from Midori.

actual pictures of the notebook after installing that elastic band

Did you just read '555' notebooks? Yes. '555' motherfarking notebooks. Like I said, no need to copy ang mohs with their moleskin/midori paper made from trees in Narnia. you just need a good pen and a paper to write on. 555 notebook is about $0.15-$0.30 a piece and are of extremely portable size to carry around.

(photo credit: google image search)

In our parents' days, it is super common in southeast asia and these notebooks is the credit cards facilities people use to keep track of finance records, and IOUs. No one knows the origin behind the 555 numbers. There are stories saying it is 'hahaha' in some dialect but no one can verify.

So guys and gals (guys especially because you have a lot of things going on), get a notebook and write stuff down, don't waste pages doing sketches or pretentious quotes of the day shit. Just write down what you have to do, do it, and cross it out. So just get a good pen, $0.20 notebooks and write down the next thing you have to do.

Maybe in future I'll write about some notebook systems around the place.

Here is an interesting article:
They hate us, cause they ain't us!

Write that down

How to save money or sorta

Its one of the hardest things to do, I hate to restrict my life and I love to eat and relax. I am more stingy with myself than when spending on my girlfriend / future wife (for an anniversary, I bought her a diamond ring from Soo Kee costing me S$1500, 2 yrs installment @ 0% int)

Other than her, my money traps are:
Watches
Food
Leather goods
Nitty bitty stuffs that serve no purpose

I shall name them under all nice things as code for things you know I spend on.

Here's how I save money now:

I don't.

That's right, that is exactly how I save money right now. I live from month to month on my pay (I earn $3k plus).

Here's a couple of nice things that want at the moment:
Seiko SARB 033 watch - S$500 (depending on exchange rates)
(photo credit: Seiya Japan, google image search)

Filson original briefcase in Otter Green - $339 (current price at the Denim store)
(photo credit: Hank's clothing, google image search)

If I'm feeling really rich, Midori Traveler's Notebook passport size - $53 for a mofo notebook! (from Kinokuniya), Rakuten may be cheaper
(photo credit: house and leisure, google image search)

Ok, onto the main subject (its the start, y'all don't know jack shit about me, so there'll be plenty of stuff to go around)

How to save money in sunny island Singapore.
Just so you know, when I say save money, I mostly mean cheaper alternatives rather than living like a beggar. I know how people wanna pamper themselves, just that your butt is not that expensive right?

For instance, taking cab, if you want to, use taxi apps such as über to book taxis as it usually has promos for waived booking fees on your end, Mr taxi driver still earns the booking fees, but is paid for by über themselves (i consider this a win-win situation). Get people to put in your code for their first registration, and you get a $10 (accumulative), no-frills voucher to use!

Some things I will not do even though it's free is taking free trains and getting off before 7:45 in the morning. I work at 9 am, this is seriously crap to the general population unless you are students studying in TOWN!!!
From SMRT's web:

Good news! Free early morning MRT rides to 18 designated MRT stations* in the city area before 7.45am on weekdays (excluding public holidays) has been extended till 23 June 2015. 

For those who miss the cut-off timing for free travel by a few minutes, you can still enjoy 50 cents off your train fare if you exit at any of the 18 stations* between 7.45am and 8.00am on weekdays (excluding public holidays).

To be eligible for free MRT rides or $0.50 off train fare, the point of entry cannot be from any of the 18 stations. The 18 designated stations are:*Bayfront, Bras Basah, Bugis, Chinatown, City Hall, Clarke Quay, Dhoby Ghaut, Downtown, Esplanade, Lavender, Marina Bay, Orchard, Outram Park, Promenade, Raffles Place, Somerset, Tanjong Pagar and Telok Ayer.

This is seriously not helping Singaporeans at all unless you work in these areas and have to get to work that early. Maybe coffeeshop helpers, but they get to work before train starts, there are no factories in this areas except Chinatown.

You know who gets to work at these times in these places? Foreigners.

Sorry for being narrow-minded and insensitive towards the lower income group, you benefit from this which is good, but this plan is not built for you, which is why, they do not extend it to heartland areas, otherwise going to school would be free for students. why would anybody want to give students free train rides to school right?

Another tip I know of, is to always have a good feel of pricing even though you are not buying the item. I know a Agnes B bag costs about $500 or so and a Longchamp Le Pilage is about $150 tops if you know where to buy.

That's all for now, keep up.

P.S., I'd like to take this time to say that this is blogging on my own personal account, I am not any influencer or am I sponsored in anyways to post what I want to post. All purchases are as what other consumers pay, I'm no celebrity and I pay for my chicken rice like how any others pay for theirs. None of the above shop names are adverts for them, but mostly, are so far how I am gonna purchase the items from. I will also never ever do shit like telling people I'm a blogger for any preferred treatment, for now. And I don't intend to let anyone know who I am.

Introduction

This is the first post about a guy that will be 26 in a few months time and his strivings to building his family.

He is
- working in a shipping company currently
- has a girlfriend
- applied for Sales of Balance Flats and pending results (that's right, he's also a Singaporean)
- narrow minded
- full of crap
- full of awesomeness
- shaves with a double edge razor and whips up shaving cream

Trying to
- achieve passive income and possibly, financial independence
- start a family with his girlfriend, both of them doesn't know twat about starting one
- adjusting his lifestyle a bit at a time
- go into adulthood and be a manly man

Will have a lot of stuff here, try to keep up, use tags below, hope his blog lasts.