Here are my monthly financials for September 2022.
Top 3 Income Sources
Affiliate & Referrals – S$1,200
The Trust Bank referral programme is very successful and I have many users sign up using my referral code. I was lucky enough to get my article ranking in the top few results for Google. Out of this S$1,200, S$75 is from my own contacts while the rest are individuals who signed up after looking at my article. The actual amount to this date is actually S$1,215 (S$35 sign up bonus + S$10 x 118 referral bonus) but for easy calculation’s sake, I will shift S$15 to October.
I would expect this amount to drop significantly moving forward as many people should have already signed up for an account.
If you still have not signed up for a Trust Bank account, you can check out how to get the sign-up rewards here.
Government Grants – S$500
Completed my last ICT this year and received my third milestone NS HOME rewards, S$500 in LifeSG credits, S$3,000 in OA and S$2,000 in MA. I have since transferred the entire S$3,000 in my OA to my SA to continue building up my retirement sum at 4/5%. I did not include the CPF top ups here as I won’t be able to spend them as cash in the near future. The S$500 will be used to top up my mother’s CPF next year for the Matched Retirement Savings Scheme.
Dividends – S$326.23
These are the dividends from QAF, AIMS APAC and IREIT.
Top 3 Expense Sources
Allowance – S$773.90
Paid for my mother’s annual hospitalization insurance, Elemen’s membership and an NTUC frying wok.
Groceries – S$238.32
This is from buying groceries. Since I have the NTUC vouchers, the weightage of grocery buying fell more onto me or else I might have trouble finish using the vouchers by their expiry date.
Investment – S$200
S$200 of it is my monthly DCA into STI ETF using POSB Invest-saver.
CLL’s Infrequently Curated Videos
Almost EVERYONE is Wasting Money on Dash Cams
The content creator bought the most popular dash cams online and did a comparison between them. The result is that all of their quality is not very good and there isn’t much difference between the cheap and expensive models. The reason why they are so similar is that only a small number of companies make the essential parts (chips and image sensor) of the dash cam. And the technology used in many of these dashcams are maybe 5 years old or more. The dash cam companies are also adding more features instead of focusing on improving image quality since they have no control over the components that can allow them to do so.
Most RESTORATION videos are FAKE: how to spot them
These types of videos have gained popularity as people just like to see how a beaten down piece of equipment can be transformed into an almost brand-new item using restoration techniques. With the potential of attracting high number of views, of course there are going to be people who want to take the short cut instead of actually restoring anything. However, this content creator is calling out some of these videos as fake. This can be done via paint to make the items look rusty or even purposely subjecting a normal item to certain conditions to allow them to deteriorate more quickly than normal. He provides some tips on how to spot fake videos.
Vegan Protein Powder Vs. Whey Protein?
This is a short video explaining the differences between Vegan and Whey protein powders. For the average person, both should work almost the same. However, for the Vegan protein, you would need to make sure that you are taking a balanced diet with food from multiple sources to make sure you obtain all the essential amino acids in sufficient dosages. Whey also has a higher absorption rate than Vegan protein. But if you have problems taking Whey (e.g. farts, diarrhoea), Vegan protein can be a good alternative. Meeting your total protein goal is more important than fussing about which kind of protein is more optimal.
The 2 Dollar Curry (Butter Chicken) | But Cheaper
If you have a butter chicken craving or looking some new recipes to try, it is actually quite easy to cook at home at a low cost. The taste outside is nicer, however butter chicken can be quite costly at F&B outlets. I recently tried some butter chicken at Minora Restaurant near Farrer Park MRT and I would say it is the best I have eaten although it is really quite expensive (S$11+). I only took a small mouthful from my friend’s plate as I already ate.
Flexible Eating | Fat Loss While Eating Out
This video is in mandarin so I will summarize the video. The content creator is saying that you don’t have to eat super clean to lose fat. As long as you pick your food wisely, you should also be able to lose fat and enjoy your meals. Out of the food available, pick high protein, low fat, low sugar items. Portion control is also important. This way, you will also be able to eat some unhealthy stuff but in moderation, which makes your diet more sustainable in the long run. If you know that you are going for a bigger meal during dinner, you should compensate by eating lesser for other meals or even skipping one of them.
The following paragraph is not the in the video but this is what I think. I would have to say that you will need to be quite knowledgeable about nutrition plus have a high enough metabolism before you embark on this. First, you need to know the nutrition of what you are consuming (fat, carbs, protein, calories). You don’t need the exact amounts but you need to at least know how to estimate. Secondly, most of the time when you eat out, the food choices have high amounts of fat and carbs so if you don’t have a high enough metabolism quota to play around, it is very easy to exceed your caloric requirements for the day, affecting your fat loss progress.
China’s ‘Collapse’ Explained
There are some YouTube videos claiming that China will collapse in XX number of days. This is clickbait and fearmongering. No one can accurately predict when a country collapses or a crash will come. Undeniably, there are various problems happening in China right now. There is the real estate bubble, zero-covid strategy, mortgage boycott, aging population, currency devaluation and banking problems. However, saying that they will collapse in XX number of days is ignorant at best.
The content creator feels that China is in a position to better control their economy relative to other countries as China’s government has a stronger grip on their citizens and companies. However, the information we have are all released by state media and China does not have a good record of releasing information that might put them in a bad light. They might crash or might not crash, only time will tell.
True Sight : The International 2021
The International 2022 is coming to Singapore this year and this video is a documentary of last year’s competition. The underdogs Team Spirit with only a few years of experience went up against multi-year finalist LGD in 2021. I feel that the documentary did not do the games justice as they were way more exciting. However, you might need to spend over three hours to view all 5 games.
This esports competition is has the biggest prize pool and the total prize money in 2021 was US$40 million. I will just watch the competition online as per previous competitions as the tickets are so darn expensive.
Playing With ‘Playing With Time’
This content creator broke down how another YouTuber created their visual effects videos. To the layman, it might look normal but as a professional, he was able to explain how every shot was made and mistakes that the average joe would have never noticed.
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.
