Solutions

Let's examine briefly on of the most space taking issue in Singapore: Motor vehicles. Roads seems to take up the most space in Singapore, it is one of the key features of our highly urbanised nation. Most roads cannot be stacked up and that is a concern given the lack of space.

In our highly dense population, there are many cars in our country as well, this causes congestion. And in a car, if there is only 1 driver, the car takes up the most amount of space as there are 4 empty seats. Please note this is not a tree-hugging environmental post. There will be no pictures of birds soaked in oil.

Every day, almost every main roads and highways will be congested. It forces some to give up driving and take public transport but for most people, their destination is not very accessible. One thing I do not like is how charges or other fancy words is always implemented to tackle these issues.

- Too many people taking trains and causing it to over load and break down. Adjust fares (please look at SMRT's balance sheet every year)
- Car park operators deals with rising costs? Increase rates (despite making profits year on year)
- Too little taxi during peak hour? Taxi company operating costs increasing? Taxi drivers complaining lack of business? Varying percentage surcharges in place 16 hours a day on top of regular taxi fares.

Let's look at some solutions in place dealing with road congestion:
- COE:
Abstract - "Between 1975 and 1990, the growth rate of the car population was as high as 12 percent per annum before the recession of 1985. To ensure that Singapore roads would be smooth-flowing, the government undertook a combination of usage and ownership measures."
source: source article titled: Certificate of Entitlement

This system has been in place for more than 25 years now, has it worked? I would think it worked but is it natural or is it an instance of overkill where you try to shoot down  a housefly with an automatic rifle?

Year 2006 - 2007 private vehicle population increased by about 7%.
Year 2010 - 2011 private vehicle population increased by about 1.8%
Year 2015 - 2016 private vehicle population reduced by: 2.9%
Source

While on the off hand, it seemed that it worked, but the underlying problem is still persistent or else you will be driving on smoother roads.

What is happening is that despite cars population decrease, there is an increase in Rental cars population.
Year 2006 - 2007 private rental vehicle population increased by about 19%.
Year 2015 - 2016 private rental vehicle population increased by about: 74.79%

Another possible explanation for the decrease in 2015 - 2016 would be the de-registration of the 10 year old cars from 2006. The problem is only being scratched that the surface, like de-rusting without adding primers to ensure the rust problem doesn't come back.

The problems foresighted or faced back then still persists till today. If you are a patient with a doctor feeding you expensive medicine for 25 years without proper cure, will you change your doctor?

+++

ERP was another solution to tackle the congestion issues. Though started mainly in town area, it has since been planted at highway at various heartlands in Singapore, for instance, the ERP at Clementi can cost up to $3.

Now there are also developments to bill ERP using GPS and satellite. Without being fanciful, isn't that tracking your vehicle position at all times? Why is the application not used in crime fighting or tracking traffic jams from the sky?

It is true that the ERP system works to a certain extend, but it doesn't help the situation. People who need to drive into town have to consider this whereas people who are affluent would not be bothered.

To some people, when a problem can be resolved with money, then it isn't a problem anymore. The poor salesman to make ends meet has to have a car to drive around to conduct business. The rich people who drive into town to do their daily shopping can buy multiple cars just because they can. It does not stop the problem of congestion, it doesn't solve the problem. The only thing reducing the car population is that there aren't many people who can afford to own cars.

Solutions should stop the issue completely, it may not be immediate but it should stop it from recurring. The solutions are being proposed all over the internet. By strictly issuing COEs and not having people bid for it, you can properly control Vehicle population. Too many cars on the road? don't issue so much, cut down the COE payment issue. It is a mockery to be paying 3x the price of a new car as compared to other countries,

I hope the relevant authorities can look into long term solutions that resolve issues at the root cause.

Efficiency

Efficiency comparison:

"In August, the Land Transport Authority and SMRT announced plans to lower the speeds of escalators at train stations, following a recommendation, to make it safer for senior citizens.

Work began in August to modify 233 escalators in 42 of 54 stations along the North-South and East-West lines. It is due to be completed by 2021."

Quoted from: 64-year-old in coma after MRT escalator fall, published Nov 16, 2016, 5:00 AM SGT

Versus

Blink and you'll miss it: Japanese sinkhole repaired at speed – video

Think about the above, both of them are also 'public' transport. I feel that public transport should have some form of social responsibility in terms of providing service and not be profit driven nor should it be a publicly traded equity (at least it used to be, now it is privatised) 

In SMRT's defense, the escalator incident is allegedly user's unstable footing that caused the fall.

The repaired-in-48-hour-sinkhole sunken again a few days later and was repaired again.

Is Housing Expensive?

Housing is cheap, but the cost of money is expensive.

Lets look at how much you will pay (assume split half with spouse)

Take a S$300,000 HDB for example (loan amount will be S$270,000):

10 years loan:
Monthly payment: $1280
Total interest paid in 10 years: $36,910

15 years loan:
Monthly payment: $907 (-$373)
Total interest paid in 15 years: $56,352 (+$19442)

20 years loan:
Monthly payment: $722 (-$185)
Total interest paid in 20 years: $76,543 (+$20191)

25 years loan:
Monthly payment: $613 (-$109)
Total interest paid in 25 years: $97,472 (+$20929)

In short, 3 things:
1) it costs $97,472 to borrow $270,000 from HDB
2) it costs about another $127,000 to borrow the money from CPF to pay loan HDB due to accrued interest which you have to pay your own CPF
3) based on my own views and understanding, if wrong, please let me know, don't sue me.


Don't listen to people who tell you to spend all your CPF money on paying your house unless you are able to pay and still meet the minimum sum when you reach 55. Whether you can reach or not is another matter.

Done and DONE

2nd Season
My posts awhile back are quite rage-y and hate-fueled. I put this on my lack of sleep. But its mostly my nature of being a grouchy irritable guy.

Anyways, here's a restart, why?

Because I believe we in Singapore have a identity, a culture, a lifestyle. It is very derivatives, mostly from western culture (more on the culture thing later), but I hope to take the best or preferred choice for me. Sometimes I tend to do things just for the heck of it.

Somethings will be oddly racist, stereotypes exists like smoke with fire. (I personally have good friends of all races, we make jokes about each others race with respect and FOR HUMOUR ONLY)

Not hateful but I'm born bred Singaporean, I don't like it when I turn on the TV (which I hardly watch due to bad programming), some foreigner professor in local Universities will talk about Singapore. The worse is when they speak out unfavourably, or worse when they talk about sensitive subjects and when people watch it, they think these foreigners represent our views as a country.

When we watch TV, don't we tend to scoff more than agree? That's a bad sign.

Singapore Culture???
Do we really have a culture as Singaporeans?

Whatever culture means on Oxford dictionary, culture to me means whenever someone says, "That is so Singaporean", "typical Singaporean".

We derive our culture from many other cultures, it is no shame in that, it is how culture starts. Look up the origins of Christmas on google. We should extract the best or preferred ways, fuse it with a bit of Singapore flavour and we are good to go. Over time, we shall explore more on this.

People say we are a young nation, we do not have any culture or history. Damn right we don't! Neither do we have the plague or all the bad things that happen in history. We do not have the history...YET! We are literally history in the making, we all are. People who brag about their history tend to behave as if they worked hard for it or choose it. They are born into it. Nothing to be proud about. Taking pride in something and being proud about it is completely different things.


Anyhow, lets get going.

friday 13: sniffing out the bullshits for you

Be very mindful when reading up project details of EC, they are also done up by Singaporeans like you and I based on publicly available information.

Nonetheless let's see the bulls**t found:

A few ECs launched in end 2015 in Choa Chu Kang area marketing the completion of a Hillion Mall which is an integrated shopping mall in Bukit Panjang, despite them both being very far from the respective EC's, it is still described as being 'nearby' it.

screen shot of Sol-Acres website.

Not to say for certain it is a bad property, but see the updated on Sep 28, 2015? It says upcoming Hillion Mall will be ready by 2016.

Today (May 13, 2016) if you go look at the site of Hillion Mall, it is like looking at a tree in a forest and say it is ready made furniture.

Some articles/web pages:
Straits Times article published on June 28, 2015, 5:50 am
Bukit Panjang transport hub delayed

From the mall's developer's web
Hillion Mall Project

Are these developers going to come off as didn't properly fact check? or are they trying something else?

Executive Condo as Investments?

I'm sure many people will tell you that EC is an excellent investment and that property always go up and never go down. But being the cynical person that I'm lets look at the maths as numbers never lie.

Consider buying an EC for investment to sell once it is privatised. Lets say for instance, you bought a nice swanky 3 bedroom unit in Yishun for $800,000 which is the price range for most EC, let's not talk about $ psf because the numbers are generally misleading.

misleading how?
simple, you cannot sell half of your unit right?

Back to topic, for $800k, most people will hold out for about 5-10 years before. I've seen some people say 5-10 years, it gets confusing but it does not matter. Let us say 5 year (to make it more advantageous to those who say it is profitable.)

On year 5, you sell the unit for $1,000,000. Ka-ching! It is a profit of $200,000 or 25%. But is it real profit? 


But hold your horses houses, let's put some things into perspective for you. For $800k to be a million in 5 years, the compound interest % is about 4.5% Meaning to say, every year, the value of the $800k unit goes up by 4.5%

It is something like this:
Bought: $800k
Year 1: $836k
Year 2: $874k
Year 3: $913k
Year 4: $954k
Year 5: $997k (or close to a million)

Lets put in the amount of money you have to fork out before you talk about selling it or realising it for profit.

When you buy a EC, you can only take bank loan, being the friendly neighbourhood banks, they will offer you a 3 year fix rate loan for 30 years or rather, but lets put the interest rates at 2% fixed for 30 years which is an extremely attractive and un-do-able interest rate, to skew things in favour of buying an EC, lets keep the interest rates low.

This is the loan repayment for a $800k flat at 2%, by year 5, you will have paid $5300+ for interest only which is very low.

so far, the costs for 5 years of EC ownership is: $805300

what about properties agent's commission? 1% commission for selling at $1 mil is $10,000.

Now, your cost is about $815300k.

We can go further to add renovation costs, maintenance costs, utilities and many more to up the costs for owning an EC for 5 years before selling. If the interest rates is 2.5% fixed 3 years and increased to 3% for year 4 and year 5, you have to pay about $1500 more just for interest alone.

If we were to factor in a low inflation of about 2-3% annually, the unit is actually losing money rather than earning when you sell it for a million.

It doesn't matter if you do not see it the way I see things, but given a very positive scenario, we are barely making a profit from buying an EC, so I hope more buyers will just take into account of these following factors that property agents do not mention when trying to market you an EC unit.

So far I have never seen any property agent able to confirm true profits of EC using maths. Then again, I have not met much property agents.

Yet on the other hand, at it's high point, BTOs bought in Punggol were selling for 3 times its purchased price, even if held for 10 years, it is more than 10% annually. If it sold for twice it's purchased price, holding for 10 years, the rate of return is more than 7% not to mention HDB loans are at 2.6%. If that is not good debt, I don't know what is.


In closing
As always, it is a good mental exercise to do some maths every now and then when it involves a large sum of money. Especially your own money!

Things aren't what they always seemed to be, do not take people's word for it.

About the Stock Market

Most Chinese in Singapore would have heard of or are avid fans of the variety show "隐藏的歌手 Talent Singer"

The premise is very simple, each episode revolves around a famous singer plus a few voice imitators. Each round they will be randomly assigned to a closed booth and they will be cued to sing bits of the famous songs from the episode's guest star singer. At the end of the singing, the audience together with various talking celebrity guests will try and guess which is the real singer and vote who they think is the real singer. Upon revealing the votes, the lest voted will be 'disqualified' from the next round of singing and guessing.

Most part of the show revolves around the reactions of the celebrity guests as they talk it out who they think is the bona fide singer. Each episode typically have one 'best friend celebrity' in the mix. More often than not hilarity ensues regardless of their guesses/votes/outcome.

If I could not explain it clearly, please look at the video below. Even non-mandarin speaking people can figure out what is going on more or less.

Apart from the entertainment this show brings about, I would like readers, to understand that this is exactly how the stock market works.

In each episode, it is not uncommon for the original singer to be voted out midway. As more often than not, singer's voice change over time and modern music recording techniques tend to alter the voice through sound engineering and manipulation (aka auto tune).

The people involved:
The singers (original singer and imitators) = the stock counters, their voices are the company's balance sheets/income statements/annual reports.

The celebrity guests = the various stock brokers, financial institutes, big banks who provides commentary on which they think is the real singer.

The rest of the audiences = general investors


How it is the same?
No matter how these singers guess, never have all of them been able to be consistently correct. Even those industry veterans who supposedly have a very good ear for sound, they are able to guess wrongly. And some case, be very very wrong when they even cock-surely declare one particular booth is most definitely not the original singer when it really is.

This has happened all the time, it gets to be even more ridiculous when they try to refer to previous rounds or build confidence based on previous round's results.

The audiences, being non-professionals, will be more or less swayed by the celebrity guests' discussions and votes. Evident by the tabulated results.


Of course, no way is this show going to teach you how to pick stocks, but this show is one of the best ways to show you how the stock market behaves and reacts. It is a good lesson to follow and learn from. Literally, learn how to listen and siphon through the noise.

"Oil price up, stock market will go up"
"Oil price up, USD will go down as commodity is opposite of currencies"
"USD up, stock market will go up too"

These are the three most common fairy dust, magic bean, medicated oil sales pitch used. If history is any indicator...(you complete the sentence however way you want to).

Just so you know...

Analog-y: Specifications of Consumer Electronics

Although I preach a lot about being analog, but do take note that being analog does not mean shunning technology. In fact, for my age of 27 as of writing, I have lived in the transitional period in advancements.

Classrooms changed from chalkboards to use whiteboards with printing functions, nowadays, classrooms uses laptops/tablets to conduct lessons. It is engaging to say the least as it brings aesthetics to the students which I think is helpful for creativity growing up. 

Technology is inevitable:

"kids are born into an era where from infancy, they see more camera lenses of smart phones than actual human faces."

The question is:

Have we ever stopped and think if "it" is necessary? By "it" I meant these technological advances. Again, I do not mean the capability of advancement, I meant the constant need to upgrade. 

At times, I blame the marketing department for promoting useless things for profit (case in point: but that in essence is the hardest thing to do in marketing right?) Lets quickly look at some of the things where our judgement is clouded due to specs. I'm not going to lay out any specs as you can look it up yourself, I'm just going to write based on my own personal experiences.

Now when people buy any consumer electronics, they will look at the specs and price before looking at the actual product, as if they will be tested in some user qualification and proficiency exam next week or otherwise the product will be taken from you.

Phones

This is the most commonly argued topic every 6 months when a new phone comes out, this versus that. Apple vs Android. 

I have used an Apple iPhone 5S and a Samsung S5 concurrently before. Apple is my personal phone just because I get android phones provided by office. I use them both for work and entertainment, whichever is within grasp. I have to say, the overall user experience after owning them for 1 year is quite clear, Apple being the older design (iPhone 5S Oct 2013, Samsung S5 Apr 2014), does perform more reliably and simpler to use.

The iPhone just works, it does not list out it's specs to compare with other phones, it just works. The Samsung, although initially faster, starts to lag after 8 months of usage. No point having a super computer spec-ed phone when it is so laggy after 8 months of usage right? Not to mention Apple's bloat ware do not hinder as much as Android and Samsung's (I seriously hate Samsung's and Singtel's ultra useless bloatware and you still glitched and gave away private information of other customers)

That being said, Androids are easy to use for emailing and watching videos. But for communication , Facebook, games, general app usage, charging speed, form factor, function factor, shelf life, and reliability over a long time iPhone takes the lead. 

Television

When I was young, TVs were fat and phones can be used as a weapon. Now TVs are slimmer than brick phones, and have Android systems within it. 

720p, 1080p and recently Ultra HD 4K (I wonder what funny names will they come up next, cosmic clarity/reality vision/real view 12K Super Duper Ultra HD abbreviated SDUHD)

When I stand in an array of TV, I really could not discern between 720p or 1080p much less UHD 4K which is it's trade name, when in fact Ultra HD 4K is technically 2160p (you know that right? Or are you a sheep that buys whatever people tell you to?) 

It is the same with music players, the media format and quality is just as important as the medium, no point having UUUUUHDTV when you plug it into normal TV or watch 1080p movies. It's like loading nerf gun rounds to a Barret M82. 

"Isn't it funny when your TV has more resolution than you in life?"

Computers

Nuff said, all generic windows laptop lags, just suck it up and pay for new one. And Apple is intimidating to use for windows users. 

*whipsers: anyone mentioned Linux? 

Laptops used to dominate IT Shows but now it is like the airline industry in an eternal arms race. Portability vs specs vs hardware vs software, it has come to the point where most 'flagship' laptops offer the same programs with plenty of bloatware by their own company. 

There is also the case of focusing on packaging, cased in full aluminium alloys and has all the curves. Best is to understand your own usage when choosing laptops.

Portable Music Players

This is where sky is the limit, audiophiles gone wild, high end audio equipment starts being portable and everyone is taking it to the streets with their custom IEMs and super expensive Music players listening to songs that weren't even recorded with that much clarity in the first place. 

It bugs me out to see people listen to Meh-gan Trainor's: Like I'm Gonna Lose You in loseless format when it is very autotuned by computers in the first place.

Jazz I can understand if fans want to hear Gonsalves catch his breath between breaks, but I find it to be very pointless and the fun of listening to music is lost when listeners are trying to catch such clarity but forget the music.

Fridges

Do we need 5 doors and 20 storage drawers? What is this? An 'apothecary' fridge to store the 100 varieties of drugs and substances? Not much advances have been made in energy efficiency, yet we get fridges that makes ice in 20 gradations of crush-iness.  A fridge is a fridge, open, put your stuff inside, close.

+++++

Sometimes we get are mesmerised by the sales pitch that we forget we look exactly like that with better skin condition.

That all being said, there is also the factor of phasing out of products or discontinuing support for older products to consider when buying new stuff. But that is how the money world works. For example, a street lamp post : at 5 years of age, it is removed entirely with the ground cemented then again drilled to install the same design but new (probably refurbished) street lamp post with another bulb. It is pointless but money changes hands and it makes some people rich so they are ok and we as ordinary folks have no choice but to suck our own thumbs and watch. However, do not change out your iPhone every time a new one is released. 

Then again, this is not applicable if you genuinely have an interest in Tech. This is only for the good ordinary folks. What do you think?

Thrown-back for real: using flip phone

So recently I got tricked by this

Whoever came up with this, I hope you fall down everyday and only get flesh wounds that hurts in the showers.

Anyhow, I am one of the victims, I blame myself for that too. Now I do not have a iPhone to use, I felt quite naked at first, I have another android phone for work, but it is those low end for the basic stuff, I am not a iFanboy but then it is simple to use and neat looking.

This iPhone has done quite a few nonsense with me and every time, a reset would be able to quickly resolve it. This time, I wasn't able to restore my phone at all. This is the saddening part.

So I had to use this phone for the next few weeks until apple comes up with a good fix or I get a new iPhone.

I introduce you the Samsung E1195.

This phone used to be ideal for army camps where no camera phones is allowed, and I had it as I was going to ORD from my NS. So I had this phone for just in case. Anyhow, this phone has a feature I hadn't experienced in a long time.

The crazy long battery life.

It was 3/5 bars yesterday night, and even after sending some SMS (yes, SMS, cannnot whatsapp) and making few calls, it still remained there till now almost 20 hours later. I might have misplaced the proprietary charger but I am not quite worried about draining out. I believe this phone's last battery bar can last longer than an iPhone's full charge battery due to its lack of functions.

This isn't anything to do with being Analog, the tactile buttons are hard to get used to and I prefer qwerty typing. But it is all I have now, this phone takes the normal sim card but the iphone 5s uses a nano sim card, but I just put it there and it fits quite snugly, if it comes loose, I'll pop the back open and adjust.

The clamshell phone may seem obsolete but it is just targeted at another group of phone users who only talk and text a little. The speed dial helps as well, being forced to go back to basics may not be a bad thing afterall.

However, this period of throwing back is not to brag on the social media, in fact, I do miss the iPhone and will be more appreciative of it. This will be dubbed as the iPhone crisis that hit me in early 2016.

Analog: is it Minimalism?

Being analog is just a name I gave to this way of life, some people may have been unknowingly been analog their whole life. 

It is not about shunning technology or modernisation, in fact, it embraces true innovation.

It is not being beggar-like frugal, but it is about having a happy wallet that sustains your hobbies and keeping yourself happy.

It is not only minimalism or de-cluttering, it is about not even wanting/having to buy things you will throw out later.

Why it isn't minimalism?

Analoging is a complete way of life, it just starts off in one wonderful session that kickstarts everything, packing parties is a good idea (quite honestly the best ones I've come across in a long time), but it doesn't do two things:

- it doesn't really stop you from buying unwanted things

- it doesn't convert you into a minimalist

Call it mimicry or adaptation, this is an embellishment of the way of life, we do not let others dictate how we live, neither do we want to be miserable while de-cluttering. 

Yes, it is good to have packing parties and all then blog to show others about it, but if you do not fully believe in the minimalist system in the first place, deep down, you are crying miserably as you rid of your favourite LV handbags or limited edition watches that you store in the safe. Probably two possible outcomes:

- you will go buy it back or something similar as you regret ridding it in the first place

- you become a full minimalist but the start is not ideal, it is like having stockholm syndrome to your new you. Or to sound worse, cutting off your arm and learn how to live 1 handed.

"People (not just kids) today glue themselves to their phones, taking away their phones permanently does nothing. I can spend days without wanting to look at my phone even though it is in my pocket, fully charged with internet data."

How to Start?

Although I say that being Analog is not something you can instantly kickstart or turn on like a switch, it still has to start some where.

Honestly, I would say that I don't even know as I cannot tell you how to live your life. You can start by wet shaving, but if you are in a situation whereby it is not convenient for you, either have better time management or don't do it than be miserable.

I'm not so sure about girls, but if you are a guy, seriously, go out get a proper mechanical watch (quartz is fine too if it is a good quartz piece). Stop buying overpriced stuff like Daniel Wellington or watches from any fashion brand.

It is better to believe it in your mind and let your body catch up to it than the other way round. You can do packing parties, take ideas from other minimalist websites but please treat it as means of complimenting your life than as a fall back plan to get rid of too much stuff you shouldn't have in the first place. 

"If you buy things you do not need, soon you will have to sell things you need."

- Warren Buffett

Where it isn't Minimalism?

This is a big part of being Analog that I love. Some of the things I do is also hobbies, for instance, wet shaving, fountain pens, and watches. Having one or two of it is bare minimum, having 3 or 4 is a small collection and with watches, sky's the limit. 

I feel minimalism is about having bare minimums, whereas being Analog embraces spending money on your own obsessions and hobbies but within reasonable limits of course. You can buy if it makes you happy and you can afford to throw it at $0. That is where I think each of us have to personally believe in this ideology before practising it. This is very much self-discretion, for instance, an Analog guy could have a shelf of whiskey, watches and still be an Analog-er. He gets by, no worries on his savings, he does not need to sell them to raise money for emergencies. That is a wonderful life to live. 

Also, a big part of being Analog is about being honest to yourself, no pretentious-ness, no wanderlust (in Helvetica fronts no less), no escapism, and manage your own expectations. If you love branded stuff, it is ok, but do not expect yourself to completely turn it off in a day, and throwing stuff away or fire-sales is not going to curb it either. you must come to a point where you have it but really do not feel the need to carry it anymore.

Price vs Value

In full disclosure, I own a LV wallet, because after searching around, I find LV to make incredibly durable wallets. mine looks like new after 5 years. I do not like buying a $20 wallet every time it spoils, being Analog also embraces quality. I think that as a guy, you have to have the taste to carry something of quality and class. being analog is most definitely not being a beggar. Also buy owning and using something for a long period of time shows that you can take care of things and is not fickle minded (I do not set my wallet on fire, but I do not baby it much either, I just don't sit on it).

In these days, sometimes good quality things comes with a certain price. For instance, 30 - 40 years back, no one gives two shits about a Rolex submariner. They may be expensive, but it is not as expensive as it is today with inflation factored in. (Inflation is about 4-5 % annually, and Rolex ups the prices at 7-10% annually, so in about 25 years, it is literally twice its 'expensive-ness'. 

"Price is what you pay, value is what you get. "

-Warren Buffett again

Everyone prices things differently, you should not let anyone price anything for you much less a retailer. If in your mind, an item priced at $100, never buy it for more than that, How close or lesser your price is to the item's value depends on individuals. 

As you imagine, I can go on forever, but this is so far I'll go for now...

(that's what she said!)

Have fun

Simple Tactic I Learnt

Last week was Chinese New Year in Singapore so I was quite busy packing up and stuff. On top of that, my family decided to throw out as much things as we can because we will be moving house in the next few months' time.

The thing about packing is, you scold yourself for being so wasteful and more often than not, the reasons not to throw away certain things is because of the price you paid for them or it's lifespan or usage hasn't been utilized completely.

I saw a TED talk about minimalists about two guys who live the minimalist lifestyle (check out their web), everything is about living a meaningful life. Being in Singapore and my general distaste for being pretentious as their entire website is almost in black and white, I do find the ideas they present to be useful most of the time. Their way of life is about important things only, de-clutter, being really rich.

The things they talk about can be embraced in other aspects of your life, such as work, relationships, etc. They provide actual activities to de-clutter or clear away the extra stuff which I think is good rather than being just idealistic and vague. It is not a "see the light" or "feel with your heart", rather it is more of a "try it!" and "see for yourself"

Within the TED talk, the speaker, Joshua, gave a simple method on transforming your life which I find to be extremely effective. *Disclaimer: the below described though is taught by them in the TED talk, but the actual described is how I did it, derived from their talk, How much I derive from their talk is up to you.

To clean out your room, you have to get rid of stuff, like I said earlier, you don't know which. Fret not, this method is to help you find out.

1) Apart from stuff you most certainly will use everyday, pack the rest into boxes, label it, and stack it up outside of your room.

2) Make sure the boxes are being labelled correctly and accurately.

3) Go on live your life as usual, when you find that you need something stowed in the boxes, you take them out, after using, put it back and stack that box under the other boxes. If you need that same item again, you ask yourself, is it important or are you too lazy to take it out and live your life without it.

4) In two weeks time, you should have certain things taken out completely and some still left in the box.

5) Put some of those expensive things or relatively unused items on sale on Carousell or wherever.

6) When it is 1 month since you first packed it into the boxes, those things not posted to sell online or unused can be thrown away completely.

7) When things posted online for a month or so and still no interest, you can throw it away or give to salvation army too.

Please do not recycle stuff into art project as it takes up space and wastes time.

Now CNY is over, you can just start this packing. The fact you need a massive spring cleaning is a sure enough sign that you have too many things.

How Analog are You?

This post despite being presented in the digital format, is about asking how analog are you?

I am one of those born in 1989, in my formative years in school, I have seen chalk boards become white boards and now you have digital boards. Computer lessons from once a week became heavier than the textbooks. Our phones are way more powerful than the computers Nasa used to send Apollo 11 to the moon.

-Rant-
Kids nowadays are very into nostalgia, vintage, and this word I hate a lot, THROWBACK. What the hell is with circa? Does everyone who puts a Facebook photo captioned circa 2010 deserve a slap to their faces with a vintage ping pong paddle? Circa meant the approximation of a certain year. If the photo is in a digital format, I bet there is a timestamp as well. It is not circa 2010 when it is just 5 years ago and when you know when it is taken.
-End rant-

Back to analog, I realised these stupid throwback lifestyles and nostalgia, come with a cost, reasons cited are like its out of production, it is rare, it is vintage and the list goes on. The one true reason it is expensive is because it is in demand. And when there is demand, people will keep increasing its price till people cannot afford it anymore. (maybe the real rant ends now).

Amidst all these costly things, there is some good and gold to be found by adopting certain aspects of these lifestyles.

Being Analog is about doing things the old way because it is these few things (in bold are the key features of analoging):
- Cheaper in the long run
- Requires a proper skill (not a craftsmen's grade but some practice)
- Is indeed better than it's modern counterparts
- It is used by you on a daily basis
- Items used are extremely durable
- Still in production and within reasonable grasp
- It is cool

Some of these features above can also be easily confused for your hobbies or interest or if overdone, is more of an hobby/interest/addiction than a practical analog solution. Again, hobbyist and purist are of another level, the first feature of being Analog is not to brag about it on Instagram, the most important feature is that it is cheaper and better. 

For instance, film cameras for daily taking of photos would not be Analog as digital is much faster and much much much cheaper. Not to mention an entire film wasted due to light exposure.

Most of these things I have discovered from their own interest groups, although they are beneficial, but these groups also have a constant Gear Acquisition Syndrome or known as G.A.S. which is very easy to be trapped by. I will mention the traps I have encountered so if you are thinking of switching, you would not fall into them. Maybe except when starting out.

Lets look at some of the things I have Analog-ed.

Wet Shaving

photo credit: blacklapel

I am particularly fond of this as it meets all the above features of being Analog. Wet shaving is using a straight razor or double edge razor as opposed to  cartridge razors. A quick google search will tell you, single blades is more than enough to shave and 2 or more will cause nothing but skin irritation, tugging, razor bumps (though I have not had that even when I was using carts).

It is much much cheaper, but the financial benefits comes about after 1 year of usage without constantly procuring new gear, only the bare necessities.

This is the one analog where I would suggest starters do a lot of reading on (as with all analogs), but for this, it is okay to buy a slightly expensive razor handle starting out to get the comfort not found in cheaper razor handles durability so that it will last longer.

Traps: I do not shave more than I have to for the sake of shaving, I do not hoard tons of razor blade or splurge on expensive dead animal's hair. Only buy as much as you need and nothing more. Shaving cream and brush can be expensive but it is not all that important for it to exceed $20 for both. My omega synthetic brush costs SGD 6 and the Nivea shaving cream costs SGD3.50. Not even SGD 10.

Finding the right handle/blade combination is quite a challenge as it is very subjective and no one can definitely say what is right for you, but trial and error should not lead to excessive purchasing. Which is why I cannot understand why people buy blades to last them a life time of 3 times a day shaving but never use them.

Debatable is usage of straight-razors, which is some what time consuming and requires honing of the blade (a super skill), it is hard to straight edge fast and in the dark as it is literally Sweeney Todd at your face. The only benefit to the laymen of straight edge is the extremely close shave finish it gives.

Mechanical Watches

photo credits: moving2nd instagram

Mechanical watches are rendered obsolete but I feel that it is still a very special thing. Other than the wedding ring, I consider this to be the only other men's jewelry. I have a deep love for watches, it is almost an addiction. If you have a manual winding watch, you get to interact with your timepiece in a way no one else does with their G-shocks that is merely a piece of circuit board and a screen. If you have a good watch, you can keep it and pass it on to your children and along with that, your legacy.

Traps: of course buying more than one watch, I am guilty of that. I am so into watches that I start to admire the one-watch-man.

Extremely debatable, you can go out get yourself a cheap SGD 90 Casio G-shock and change every time it spoils in about 3-10 years time and it will still be cheaper than buying a proper automatic watch. But you do not have a beating heart inside it.

Writing in a Notebook

photo credit: Jetpens

This is one of the new things I picked up recently along with fountain pens. I work in shipping, I have to keep writing down stuff. I actually write them on recycled paper from one sided prints, but then felt that I needed something more substantial and writing down notes in the phone may be good with reminders, but it is the motion of writing with the pen and paper that commits stuff to memory.

Out of the many notebooks simply stapled for cheap to the leather bound USD 100 Filofax, I go a Midori Traveler's Notebook, from the Traveler's Company. It is about SGD 65 and it is a system where you can keep putting in inserts and other accessories in a single leather protecting the inserts like a skin. Part of the attraction is the worn look of leather and the marks on it from use. The leather is much shinier now that I have it for about 5-6 months. There are definitely marks every where and it goes out with me everyday even on weekends and I mainly use it to keep track of my work.

The functions or usage out of this notebook system is endless.

Traps: As usual, MTNs have a huge following but I find them to be more geared towards aesthetics than practicality, they lug around huge amounts of colour pens. Spending more time doing stuff to their notebooks to post on social media than actually using it to improve productivity. There are other forms of notebook using similar systems in different leather or fabric. It is interesting but I feel the best is still to bite the bullet and get the MTN and be done with it.

Part of this traps you into getting more into stationary. Using MTN made me wanna get better pens to write with. That is how I started using fountain pens...

Fountain Pen

photo credit: TWSBI.com

I wrote with G2 like most people, but soon, I found that the refills costs SGD 1.20 each and the grip is getting tacky. So I ventured onto the net and found people raving over uni-ball signos, but that was short lived when I chanced upon Pentel's Energel. The ink's quick dry is great for left handed writers like me.

Soon, I decided, hey, since I'm going to be writing, why not try out fountain pens. And that's it. that's all it took. In an impulse, I bought a pilot Kakuno and now I have about 4 fountain pens and one more on the way. I recently acquired a TWSBI Eco in white as pictured above. Which is one of my nicest looking pens that writes really nicely.

I found pelikan 4001 inks to be very cheap, but over time, one might consider the pilot inks for nicer colour.

Traps: Fountain pens are extremely beautiful writing tools. However they come in many shapes and sizes and materials, this is also another area which G.A.S. affects greatly. Some pens go up to a few thousand dollars.

Canvas and Leather Bags

photo credits: Bulang and Sons

What canvas, what leather? Nowadays, there are plenty of new age materials for bags, touted as lightweight, tough, water-proof and durable. They are a good idea, but I feel that a bag is something you carry everyday, it should be sentimental and warm rather than cold and unfeeling.

Some bags indeed better to use and are cheaper, but they do not age well with use. These new age fabric when worn out are costly to replace and more often than not out of warranty or expensive to ship back.

Nothing beats the look of a waxed canvas with leather trimmings that has been used up badly. They only require to be rubbed with beeswax when you feel like it and the fabric is easily found.

If celebrity endorsement is anything, Tom Cruise is frequently seen carrying the classic Filson 256 Briefcase. Other users include Jake Gyllenhaal, Jonah Hill, Daniel Craig, and Will Graham in Hannibal.

Traps: These bags are getting harder to come by, and good brands like Filson is starting to be expensive and suffer some quality issues from what I read. These bags are meant to be used daily, rain or shine for years and years. If you plan to only get it for less than a year, then it defeats the purpose as part of the bag's feature is its durability. And it that is not tested, it is a waste of money.


What is not Analog
Film camera - They maybe cheap on the onset, but it is quite costly to develop the photos unless you do digital scans which involves using a digital camera to take photo of the film over a light box. Plus you risk ruining a whole roll if you accidentally expose the film to light.

Basket woven briefcases - This is a whole level of stupid on its own. Are you going for a picnic and ants are going to carry your twelve cupcake out of your basket on its plate in a conveyor belt fashion?

Half bike Helmets - To be ridden with your cream coloured Vespa with Italian flag stripes. Not to mention how dangerous it is to not have your jaws and chin protected in case of an accident.

How Analog are you? 
The above are mainly the few things I am analog about. What about you? Being Analog is not some Anti-capitalism or Anti-mass produced items. It is about using something that is indeed better and cheaper, doesn't matter when it is made. It also will lead to a simpler life when you know that the way you do things is so meaningful, literally just like the good old days.

Planning 2016

This year definitely will be the next chapter of my life. I am collecting the keys to my flat this year and also getting married towards the end of the year. So mazel tov!

Here's a few changes I have made to myself which you will also see reflected in this blog. 

- I have been maintaining a simple once-a-week calisthenics work out with a few great guys, it's quite fun and I can feel the significant improvement in my strength. 

- My watch addiction is now very limited

- This is due to my recent start of using a fountain pen. Which has so far been proven to be poisonous and acidic to wallets.

- Not losing sight of my end goals, some stricter austerity measures have been put in place to make sure I save money and do not overspend in the stock market. (Managing your own cash flow is as important as the company's cash flow).

All in all, I'll be plotting my HDB + wedding progress from end March to April onwards. 

- Happy 2016 everyone! -

How I Use My Midori Traveler's Notebook

I found out about Midori Traveler’s Notebook through no idea where, it made me start using notebooks. It made me more productive. After a while, I decided it was time to bite the bullet and get a MTN.

But as I dive deeper, I found that most users seem to be using it for aesthetic purposes and blogging on a paper rather than for productivity. It’s a notebook to help you remember things to do, events that take place. Not for you to bring on your travels in $50 leather bag that only fits one MTN + various colour pens/sticky tape/insert quotes that you find meaningful.

Don’t blame me, I’m a guy, I would be pretty pissed if we spent so much money to go abroad and time spent is “notebooking” (fingers inverted commas).

Firstly, notebook is a means to be productive and save time, by spending time “paper-blogging”, it is quite counter-intuitive no?

Secondly...

search image for photo credit please

Anyways, I saw someone on facebook wanted to know how I use my MTN, it’s boring, but it works for me.

I work in a shipping company, I have to take note of the daily operations of slightly less than 20 ships. Unlike most 9-5 jobs, I work in the office from 9-6 daily, but any other time, I am on call and have to check my email constantly on the go. The only time I get to not do that is if I don't work in shipping. FYI, it costs 2-3 times my monthly salary to operate a commercial oil/chemical tanker a day.

I lug my MTN around every where I go, especially on weekends when I do not have my office desktop in front of me.

This is how it looks like from 9-6. Too lazy to loop it properly. 

Pretty, straightforward, the gap is from the pen (uniball 307 with jetstream refill). It lives in the page as a book mark for the last written page. The stringy book mark is used on the vessel schedule page that changes weekly.

I have 3 booklets inside:

- Week in two pages (credit to Ray Blake) for my personal events, usually is nothing much. I do not record birthdays or anniversaries unless I'm doing something that day. Wishing someone happy birthday is not doing something so I do not write down birthdays.

- MTN Ruled notebook - this is where I write all my work stuff. I initially wanted to try bullet journal style, but quickly realise it is pointless. So everything is marked with either a "-" or "•". More important/critical stuffs will be underlined or boxed. when it is done or irrelevant, it gets 3 crosses (one at the front, one in the middle, one at the end). Don't strike it out, so that even if it is over, I can still read it.

As you can see, I printed some chronodex (credit to scription). I only use it when I have a very busy day or if I am sleepy and this helps me not think of what to do next rather than as a daily use thing to show people and blog about it.

- 2015/16 monthly view calendar (credit to Ray Blake again). I'm getting married in 2016 end. I use this monthly view calendar to note down important dates or things coming up. e.g. when we signed for our banquet, when we took our wedding photos, extra points to note. any our-wedding related things.

I cut the edges all at one go using scissors because I don't care how neat the edges are.

As you can see, it is boring, I do use a bit of semi translucent post-it stubs to mark out pages that needs constant referring. Or the current month/week in my two calendar styled booklets. 

I also used an old folder to make the folder thingy, it helps to make writing easy when I have no surface to write on, and it keeps the shape I suppose.

I am not saying that it is stupid to bring out colour pens all the time, it is your hobby/lifestyle to use your MTN as a decorative thing to put on blogs/instagram/facebook/twitter and show people your colourful pages. I see some use it as a wallet on their passport size which I understand, but what I don't understand is keeping paperbags, tickets inside. And also having so much pens that the pens takes up as much space as the MTN. But I do have to say, it is a very beautiful thing and I appreciate beauty...like a vase or whatever.

Broke Kids.

Getaways or Get Away?

This morning, I was pondering in the shower over an article I read a few days ago about a guy who doesn't get why youths these days blow so much of their savings on travel.

For the experience, for the people you meet and the amount of photos post-able in social media.

Seriously, please stop it.

This glam-travel BS has to stop. Spending your savings in a few days. After that only making you come back to the real life and making you want to save more to get away again.

Getaways ... get-away ... escape.

See the underlying meaning? All this, I want to travel, so fun, sunglasses, sand and sea is all a sand-coated veil of escapism at its costliest.

All we see is youth complaining that there is nothing to do in Singapore, but honestly, we are just missing out.

There are plenty of things to do and see in Singapore, if you looked as hard as you did for your air ticket.

This is in Singapore, I kid you not.

Next post, I'll be reflecting on the wiki-abstract of the famous book, The Richest Man in Babylon.

Wedding vs Marriage

Weddings last for a day but a Marriage lasts forever.

We say that all the time together with relationship goals, said as ideals when looking for their "bae", "SO", "HTB", "WTB". Funny yet when together, all of that isn't mentioned at all. Wedding bands that involves both couples, is now replaced with conversations about the shiny engagement ring. Girls tend to be referred as birds because of their tendency to like shiny things. And guys are referred to as blokes probably from sounding like broke. (jk jk lol).

What is the priorities?

What kind of percentage of money do you set aside for things like your house, furniture, wedding, engagement ring, wedding bands.


Just a school of thought, my disclaimer, my fiancee and I pays everything half half unless its things I buy for her or if I don't mind. 

No sound No picture

I tend no to include pictures in my posts unless it is my own, reason being, if the source website for the picture changes or gets taken down, for instance imgur or photobucket, I'll end up with an ugly blog post, sentences with no context.

Plus it is easier to load.

Whatsapp Lagging on iPhone after updating in early October 2015

Just a quick post, in case you have updated your whatsapp recently and finds that it is like shit with all the lags.

I find that these lags only occurs in particular chats with alot of media (whether you downloaded it or not) and long chat history.

Think: group chats of your hobbies, chats with spouses.

I got very pissed off at this update, thinking at this day and age, whatsapp could still get screwed up. But anyways, they did release an update soon after and now the problem is somehow solved.

In the name of change, things always get messed up...I understand the need to change, but some things are really better off as it is, unless it is really ground breaking.

Try: reinventing the wheel.

Buying Flats Series: Buying a flat in Keat Hong (part II)

This is part two of the series about buying flats. There is no right or wrong...if you have the money. But otherwise, please always evaluate your financial situation before jumping in and regretting it later or worse, put a strain in your relationship due to financial woes.

Part (I) Buying Flats Series: Buying Clementi Crest right off the bat

Now we are gonna look at buying a very affordable flat. 

What constitutes as affordable? 

Firstly, instead of looking at the flat price and calculating whether you can afford it, why not do the reverse? When you are about to take up a HDB loan, you apply for HLE (please go read it up what this important document is). HLE will tell you how much HDB is willing to lend you. So if your flat costs much much more than the maximum amount HDB is willing to loan you, you cannot afford it. So simple!

Like previously mentioned, you cannot say that you will strive harder and earn big bucks in future to pay for your high end HDB because HDB will not loan you that much and you have to pay for the difference now in up-front downpayment. Try telling HDB that you will earn big bucks in future, see what they say. So don't tell me you have 25 years to work and pay off when HDB won't even lend you the money because why should HDB believe you?

Now that we have move all those aside. Lets see what constitutes as affordable. Skipping the maths, My HLE shows that I can loan about $496,000 max. Now, this doesn't mean I go out looking for a flat that costs $550k ($496K is  90% of $550K). What we are striving for in life is to reduce debt. It is much more easier to reduce debt than to increase your money. Instead, we look for a reasonably priced BTO at about $300,000?

For me, I chose a 4-room flat as I think it is much more sellable than a 3 room or 5 room and also it is neither too big to clean nor too small for a 4 person family.

There are always these kind of "affordable" price range for houses everywhere in Singapore, lets just go ahead and analyse this one.

Pricing:

This is the pricing taken off the BTO Launch of Keat Hong Axis which is in July 2012 BTO exercise. So probably in today's money, it will be more expensive.

Now for the 4 room being at about $280K on the higher side, a couple can easily afford the place and not put a strain on their wallet. For a couple earning $4,000 each a month, they have about $920 going into their CPF every month. This is $1840 every month into ordinary account only.

The thing about debt you have to understand is compound interest (Also, please read this up to understand the effects of compound interest). And if you understand it fully, you will see why some people who can pay full for their condo say that they no money to pay interest.

The more you can afford a place (meaning you have no problems paying for your flat), the quicker you can pay it off and reduce the interest, which is key if you want to move out eventually.

Quick math:
Flat price: $280,000.00
Dwnpymt: $28,000.00 (see if you remove the vowels, you still do not lose the meaning or identity of the word)
Balance: $252,000.00

Loan period/Monthly installments/Total (mthly installment X 12 months X no. of years):
10 Y / $2388 / $286,560.00
15 Y / $1693 / $304,740.00
25 Y / $1144 / $343,200.00

When I saw these figures, I immediately feel that this is literally "长痛不如短痛" a chinese saying that means long term pain is worse than short term pain. I would rather bite the bullet and push for 15 yrs or less. All in all, I pay lesser interest (that you cannot pass on to your future flat buyers). And I also have lesser accrual in my CPF OA and have time to grow the pool of money properly.

This first 10-15 years, your children also do not incur a lot material wants, they can really survive on bare necessities: no need to give expensive gifts, pay for expensive tertiary education, and their holidays, you get the drift. Not to say that young children are cheap, but they do not complain when you give them hand-me-down clothing.

Also, I keep telling people this, it is very easy to find out where couples mis-plan their money. All you have to do is see what banks are providing loans for. Banks do not provide wedding/honeymoon loans but they provide plenty of home and renovation loans.

Always plan your money till at least 2 months of living in your house. This includes money from wedding to your honeymoon to your house renovation and lastly at least two months worth of installments.


There are quite many disadvantages in living in Clementi versus living in Keat Hong that is intangible that you are paying for, I am fully aware of that. In the next post, we will explore how to still afford any place you want (inlcuding Kallang/Whampoa)

Buying Flats Series: Buying Clementi Crest right off the bat (part I)

Buying Flat series: This is part I of the buying flat series, which covers ways to eventually own homes of various pricing tiers as well as the implications that you probably weren't aware of.

When I talk about buying flats, I do not mean it as an investment. When you invest, you stand a chance for something to lose its value. Can you stand to lose the value of the flat you live in?

Oh, right now, some of you are thinking, there is an intrinsic value to the flat, blah blah blah. But let me tell you that when you bought the flat, you are not buying it from a HDB warehouse sale, you are also making a profit for some in the middle. So for a S$300k flat, the cost is most definitely much much lower (by how much, no one knows really). With that in mind, lets just assume that you cannot stand to sell the flat you are living in at all without increasing your debt by a lot.

Over the next few posts, I'll be showing ways to which you can own homes and how to get about it the smart and seemingly-smart-but-foolish-way.

Before we start off, lets just set a few things first. I'm not discriminating areas of Singapore, but Choa Chu Kang costs less than half or maybe a quarter of what housing is in Orchard road.

My end game is very simple, I want a nice flat in along an area that is convenient to town be it for work or play or grow old.

Choa Chu Kang/Yew Tee/Gombak is just very out of the way, there is also nothing there as you can see in this very reddit post or maybe google and it will come up. I live in the west all my life: Bukit Batok to Yew Tee, I spend at least 2 hours travelling everyday to whatever/wherever I want to go in Singapore. It isn't far compared to Europe, but then again, East side people do not need to travel that much and the bus services is much faster and more established than the west.

Lets compare buying and owning 4 room flats.

But anyways, lets look at owning one of the most expensive BTO in Singapore: Clementi crest.

Print-screened from HDB website, the launch is still there to show, but you can google clementi crest BTO and be brought back to this page.

Lets see how much is a 4-room flat selling for:

$478,000 - $621,000!!!

Huat big time!

Let's see what is being said on the web to 'guide' you to own this flat.

Suddenly, typical price of a 4 room becomes $550,000. So $478k is nothing, don't tell people it is less than $500k due to various options like flooring/kitchen fittings/door, and legal and stamp fees. (its an oxford comma, atas ang moh there)

Any how, for $550k, you have to have a $55,000 money either in CPF or cash to pay as down-payment.

On top of that additional monies is needed as you are most likely not going to be able to loan this amount of $495k in your HLE.

HLE - housing loan eligibility letter, it calculates the maximum amount of money HDB will loan to you. Also a means of 'refinancing' your loans by constantly renewing with your new pay, you can reduce loan quantum. Also this is also roughly 30% of how much you going to earn 25 years down the road, in line with MSR (it is not definite but at least it is a good indication). If an organisation like HDB refuse to lend you any more money, I don't see why you should take up more debt by paying more than 10% down-payment.

Now these are all quite technical, HDB has a calculator to calculate roughly how much you need to pay a month for your installment. Lets refer to this picture again.

If you understand how CPF works and MSR, you can roughly gauge if you can afford the place.
$1495 CPF OA monthly between you and your spouse.

This is the monthly allocation rates for CPF.

As you can see only 23% of your monthly pay goes to your OA for you to pay for your flat.
$1495/2 = $747.50 (contribution by you alone)
$747.50 divide by 23% = $3250.

That's it, you and your spouse needs to earn at least $3250 each. This is a very rough yet effective indicator whether you can afford the place or not. With that in mind, lets give you a boost to $3300 a month for easy calculation.

$3300, after 20% of your own contribution, it is left with $2640. On top of that, lets not forget you have to pay cash monthly of $455 or $227.50. If you earn $3300 a month, after you pay for your house, you are left with less than $2500 a month to spend.

This is quite a serious implication. Being this tightly wound to your own housing loans. As much as you think you are going to get increments as you work, you are also equally subjected to lose your job as well. If you get increments, better hope it is more than 3% as you are also accumulating accrued interest in your CPF account as well.

Bottom line
To own Clementi crest 4 room flats, you and your spouse need:
- to earn $3250 monthly each (or total income of $6500, this amount leaves you not eligible for any grant)
- neither of you can lose your job. if you do, the flat still needs to be paid, you will have to fork up $450 cash on-top of your CPF contributions (if I'm not wrong, you can defer some payments), doing so will leave you with $2190. The sole-breadwinner taking home $2190 is really insufficient these days (hard truth). Not to mention, under MSR, earning $3300 and taking home $2190, you are almost touching 30% of your gross income for housing loan.

If this is not a clear enough sign that you cannot afford the place, then you probably had it coming.

*Also, I have not mentioned renovation and furniture costs. So good luck if the couple do not earn at least $5999 each. ($6000 each is the income ceiling).

Otherwise, if you can afford to pay up-front so much cash that you bring the loan amount down to $300k or less, you are good.

This post represents my views and opinions based on the current rulings, there are many many rules/grants/loans and other things to help you work around, but it is roughly there. But nonetheless, do take time to read it. 

Words of wisdom: If you had to do precise calculations to find out whether you can afford anything, it means you probably can't.