Here are my monthly financials for July 2022.
Top 3 Income Sources
Interest – S$317.26
This is made up of the coupon payments from Singapore Savings Bond and interest from Singlife and Dash PET.
Singlife and Dash PET have not increased their rates even though the interest rates have been rising. The contribution of Singlife and Dash PET will start dropping as I start converting them into SSBs. SSB allocation has been tight as they are oversubscribed.
Other – S$270
I got S$200 credits on the LifeSG app and I sold my old phone for S$70 as it keeps lagging. I will be using the credits to top up my mother’s CPF next year.
Dividends – S$240.24
These are dividends from STI.
Top 3 Expense Sources
Electronics – S$285
Bought a new phone to replace my laggy Redmi Note 10.
Investment – S$200
S$200 of it is my monthly DCA into STI ETF using POSB Invest-saver.
Groceries – S$43.45
This is for groceries.
CLL’s Infrequently Curated Videos
The Riddle That Seems Impossible Even If You Know The Answer
This video demonstrates a strategy to “game the system” at a problem that is seemingly random. The prisoners will have to follow the said strategy to increase their chances of survival as compared to picking boxes at random.
What the hell are NFT’s?
It is crypto bear season and NFTs are less hot right now. So, what are NFTs actually? When we look at NFTs today, they are mainly pictures of “art”. Do you know that you actually don’t own the NFTs. At their current state, most of them are just URLs pointing to a file on a centralized server. If NFTs are fully decentralised, even the image will be hosted on a decentralised server on the blockchain. However, they are done using links as hosting an image on the blockchain is extremely expensive. An analogy given by the creator is quite apt where he says that buying NFTs is like buying a planet from a party that doesn’t have the authorization to do so. It doesn’t actually mean anything.
Do People Want Crypto MMO’s?
MMOs and crypto are still unproven concepts. It is fun to think about fighting some mobs and getting paid for it however, it is similar to dreaming about striking TOTO.
The game has to be fun and incorporate crypto in a meaningful way. There need to be players that play for fun and not just play to earn. The money needs to come from somewhere as playing the game needs to create some value for someone. Or else it will be like games like Axie Infinity where once there are no more new players to increase the demand for tokens, the token price will crash. It will only be worth the time of individuals living in a country with a lower salary. It is typically not worth it for many people to play the game to make money.
The inclusion of crypto in MMOs is also quite forced, they are there mostly to build hype and for a money grab. A completely new model is required as if the game can work without crypto, it shouldn’t require crypto.
How Primitive Building Videos Are Staged
If you have been watching YouTube, you would have seen some videos displaying primitive technology building impressive structures. However, it is proven that it is all an act. These individuals see that it is very profitable by making these videos. These videos can get millions of views. Going by an average of US$2 per 1,000 views, they can make US$2,000 from ads if their video hit 1 million views. The creations are more and more exaggerated with elaborate sculptures and large pools. Even the pools are dyed to give them a blue colour.
Is Obesity A Choice? (Science Explained)
It is commonly thought that it should be easy to lose weight as long as you exercise and have a proper nutrition plan. Are all obese people lazy and choose to be fat as they have low self-control? However, there are many other factors involved. It can be determined by genetics/biology and our environment on top of what foods we choose and how much we exercise. Here are some factors that are mentioned in the video.
| Genetics/Biology | Environment |
| Metabolic Rate | Food Environment |
| Hunger | Socioeconomic Factors |
| Medications | Marketing |
| Neuroendocrine | Social Factors |
| Pregnancy | Workplace Factors |
| Menopause | Sleep & Stress |
| Disabilities | Depression |
It is not as simple as what we commonly think as calories in and out.
Your Favourite Youtuber Is Being Scammed
Besides making money from ads, many content creators make money from sponsored content or affiliate programs. For new creators, they will usually take whatever they can and they can get exploited by these companies. They are sometimes asked to do sponsored posts that get paid on only pure commissions. In many cases, it is essentially almost free advertisement as the number of sales made will be very little. The withdrawal policy can also be iffy at best where you have to trust the numbers given by the company and the minimum withdrawal amount can be unattainable for most small creators. Small creators also lack legal resources to read contracts and they can sign off their future profits to some company that promises them the sky but doesn’t provide much value.
Money Manager App
I am using an app called Money Manager to track my income and expenses. It is a free tool available on mobile available on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
As far as I know, the data collected from the app is for tracking the ads you view and interact with on the app.
Please check out their privacy policy on what information they collect and what is it used for.
Personally, the value this app brings to me outweighs the value of the information I provide to them.
