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Showing posts from February, 2019

Optimizing your CPF account

Your CPF account consists of 3 accounts: Ordinary Account (OA), Special Account (SA), and your Medisave Account (MA). The OA is primarily used for providing housing, while SA is used for retirement. MA is used to pay for healthcare. The interest rate on your OA is 2.5%, while the interest rates on SA and MA are 4%. There is an extra 1% interest upon reaching the first $60,000, combined across all three (with at least $20,000 in your OA). In order to optimize your CPF account, the key is to move the lower interest OA money into your SA, to take advantage of the compounding effect of that extra 1% per year. Once you begin working, transfer your OA account into your SA account only a monthly basis, as CPF interest is calculated monthly.   This is an irreversible process, but it forms 1 part of your retirement portfolio.  There's no need to inject extra cash into CPF. Once you hit the SA maximum of $171k (based on 2018 figures) the funds will automatically be channel...

Hotel Review: Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Bangkok

As I travel quite often for work, I’m going to keep a record of all the hotels I’ve stayed in, to serve as a reminder of what works and what doesn’t. It’ll make future bookings much easier. Location:  Right at the Asok BTS, across from Terminal 21 and the Westin.  I think traffic in this area is too jammed, and will likely avoid in the future. Room:   The bed is very comfortable, but the decor is quite old school.  The room feels like parts of it has been modernized, but parts of it are still the same as when the hotel was built.  The whole scheme doesn't gel. The bathroom is also dated and in need of upgrade.  Who uses small tiles like this in bathrooms nowadays?  This is so 1990s. Gym:  It has a couple ellipticals and a couple treadmills.  Not much selection of weight machines and the space is rather crammed.  The decor is seriously old school 1990s, but I think all Sheratons are like this. Breakfast:  The selectio...