What Really Is Contentment?

Last week, many of you may have read a Straits Times article about Dr Lee Wei Ling on "More Than Life Than The Pursuit of Happiness". In the article, she said:

" Happiness, in whatever form one sees it, becomes more elusive the harder one tries to pursue it. That's why my personal aim is much more realistic: All I ask for is calmness and contentment. These at least are partially within my control."

In case you do not know, Dr Lee Wei Ling is the daughter of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, who's Singapore's first prime minister and minister mentor. Contentment is not easy to achieve in life. But I can see that most people who are contented are happy in life. They don't compare with others, they don't seek happiness from things that are superficial. There is this inner happiness and peace in those who are contented in life. Don't get me wrong. Contentment is not being lazy. It is also not an excuse to not improve or work hard.

Writing a financial blog is not about the pursue of money. It is the pursue of freedom. I have never set myself out to pursue money but its more about learning how to create a system where money grows so that it takes care of itself later on. This lets me have more time for the more important things in life such as spending time with my loved ones and living a fulfilling life that makes a difference. As the saying goes, why work for money if you can have money work for you? Contentment is part of the freedom equation. If we keep seeking more things or more money in life, there will never be an end. We will never achieve freedom even if we work all our lives if we live like this. It is not wrong to be rich but to be blinded by material things will leave us feeling empty.

Anyway, I saw another article written by Dr Lee Wei Ling which is so profound but yet easy to understand. What do we really seek in life? Read on and find out more...

Article written by Lee Wei Ling

In 2007, in an end-of-year message to the staff of the National Neuroscience Institute, I wrote:

‘Whilst boom time in the public sector is never as booming as in the private sector, let us not forget that boom time is eventually followed by slump time. Slump time in the public sector is always less painful compared to the private sector.’

Slump time has arrived with a bang.

While I worry about the poorer Singaporeans who will be hit hard, perhaps this recession has come at an opportune time for many of us. It will give us an incentive to reconsider our priorities in life.

Decades of the good life have made us soft. The wealthy especially, but also the middle class in Singapore, have had it so good for so long, what they once considered luxuries, they now think of as necessities.

A mobile phone, for instance, is now a statement about who you are, not just a piece of equipment for communication. Hence many people buy the latest model though their existing mobile phones are still in perfect working order.

A Mercedes-Benz is no longer adequate as a status symbol. For millionaires who wish to show the world they have taste, a Ferrari or a Porsche is deemed more appropriate.

The same attitude influences the choice of attire and accessories. I still find it hard to believe that there are people carrying handbags that cost more than thrice the monthly income of a bus driver, and many more times that of the foreign worker labouring in the hot sun, risking his life to construct luxury condominiums he will never have a chance to live in.

The media encourages and amplifies this ostentatious consumption. Perhaps it is good to encourage people to spend more because this will prevent the recession from getting worse. I am not an economist, but wasn’t that the root cause of the current crisis – Americans spending more than they could afford to?

I am not a particularly spiritual person. I don’t believe in the supernatural and I don’t think I have a soul that will survive my death. But as I view the crass materialism around me, I am reminded of what my mother once told me:  ‘Suffering and deprivation is good for the soul.’

My family is not poor, but we have been brought up to be frugal.. My parents and I live in the same house that my paternal grandparents and their children moved into after World War II in 1945. It is a big house by today’s standards, but it is simple – in fact, almost to the point of being shabby.

Those who see it for the first time are astonished that Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew’s home is so humble. But it is a comfortable house, a home we have got used to. Though it does look shabby compared to the new mansions on our street, we are not bothered by the comparison.

But I personally think the hard times will hold a timely lesson for many Singaporeans, especially those born after 1970 who have never lived through difficult times.

No matter how poor you are in Singapore , the authorities and social groups do try to ensure you have shelter and food. Nobody starves in Singapore ..

Many of those who are currently living in mansions and enjoying a luxurious lifestyle will probably still be able to do so, even if they might have to downgrade from wines costing $20,000 a bottle to $10,000 a bottle. They would hardly notice the difference.

Being wealthy is not a sin. It cannot be in a capitalist market economy. Enjoying the fruits of one’s own labour is one’s prerogative and I have no right to chastise those who choose to live luxuriously.

But if one is blinded by materialism, there would be no end to wanting and hankering. After the Ferrari, what next? An Aston Martin? After the Hermes Birkin handbag, what can one upgrade to?

Neither an Aston Martin nor an Hermes Birkin can make us truly happy or contented.. They are like dust, a fog obscuring the true mean ing of life, and can be blown away in the twinkling of an eye.

When the end approaches and we look back on our lives, will we regret the latest mobile phone or luxury car that we did not acquire? Or would we prefer to die at peace with ourselves, knowing that we have lived lives filled with love, friendship and goodwill, that we have helped some of our fellow voyagers along the way and that we have tried our best to leave this world a slightly better place than how we found it?

We know which is the correct choice – and it is within our power to make that choice.

In this new year, burdened as it is with the problems of the year that has just ended, let us again try to choose wisely.

To a considerable degree, our happiness is within our own control, and we should not follow the herd blindly.

The writer is director of Singapore’s National Neuroscience Institute. And also Lee Kuan Yew’s daughter…

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Related Posts:
1. A generation of instant gratification - The cause of unhappiness

Life Insurance Cash Value That Should Be Known

There are many people who want to know about the life insurance. There are some benefits, but there must be many policies that should be followed. If you want to get the best insurance, you can find the insurance that will give you more benefit. You can find the best insurance such as the whole life insurance. It will provide you the life insurance cash value. This term needs to be understood. You can find the complete information about the cash value. It will make you more sure when you want to make the best plan with the life insurance.

The life insurance cash value can be the asset for your life. It will very help full when there is the problem with the financial condition. It will protect you when you get the problem when you want to pay your education, the hospital, and the others financial problem. You can take the cash value any time. There are the benefits and there must be the policies. You should know about the policies and the cost of the insurance. You can ask for the company about the information, especially about the benefit and the cost. So, you can choose the best cost for the life insurance.

The benefit of the life insurance will be getting not only when you still alive but also after your death. It will help the financial condition of your family or the beneficiaries. Many people know about this benefit and you should consider about it. You will get no regret if you get the information about the life insurance. You can get the life insurance cash value without the risk. Then, you can get the cash value without the penalty. You can imagine how much of the benefit when you follow the life insurance.

The superiority of the life insurance cash value

There are some benefits that you may get when you have the life insurance. The first is about the liquidity. It will be the best thing for you because you will get the money easily. You only need to call the company. The company will send the check to you. You can take the money by using the check of the company. It is simple and make you get the easiness when you really need money or in the critical condition. When you take your money from the company there will be no fees.

The next benefit is about the risk. There is no risk of the life insurance with cash value. It will make you feel ease when you have the life insurance. You will get the benefit without any worried. There is no risk for the principal and for your gains. It has happened because there are no similar fees that associated with the variable policies. It is the best thing for you because when you get the life insurance, there is no risk that will make you get suffer or lose out. You can choose the life insurance for the best protection.

The next life insurance cash value benefit is the tax free income and the tax free growth. The life insurance does not only give you the protection but also giving you more benefit. When you have the life insurance, you will free for the tax. You don't need to pay for the tax especially for the income and the tax for the growth. You will be easier because of this benefit. So, you should not to be afraid to get the best life insurance for your life. There must be the good benefit for your life.

Many people lack of information about the cash value

There are many people who have the life insurance but because there is the lack information about the life insurance, they do not know about the life insurance cash value. If you still do not know about the cash value of life insurance, you need to call your insurance company about the cash value. The payment of the company will be different. You may get the cash value or the replacement cost coverage. You can claim your belonging when you have the good document from the company. So, you should make the list of the insurance adjuster.

The information and the document will help you to know about the amount of the payment that will be received from the company. The life insurance cash value is important to be known. You can use it when you need the money. Then, you can take the money from the company easily if you know the policies. You should be smart about the life insurance. You can take the benefit maximally. There are many benefits that you can find for the life insurance. The cash value of life insurance the best offer for people with the life insurance.

The insurance company will determine the settlement of the customer by using the formula. You need the high consideration about the life insurance cash value. There are the depreciations of the cash value. The amount of the cash value is depending on the combination assumed wear/tear and adjuster's opinion. It is the worst thing that may happen to you for the cash value. It can happen, but you can make the best step with understanding the policy. The life insurance is the good choice for you that want to get the life protection. It can help you for the financial.

Life insurance cash value is one of some benefits that you may find for the life insurance. The cost that you should pay to the company will be different depending on the policy. You need to know about the policy of the insurance company. You can count the benefit and for the bad thing that may happen. The life insurance will make more benefit than lose out. You can choose the best company for your life insurance. You can make the best plan for your future. It is not only given the benefit, but it will give you the benefit for your family.

There are many types of the insurance. Life insurance is only a kind of the insurance that you can find. Life insurance cash value is one thing that you should know about the life insurance. You can ask the information from the company before you take the decision on the life insurance. You can start your life insurance start from today to get the best protection.

How to get health insurance if you missed open enrollment

If you missed open enrollment and didn't sign up for health insurance by Jan. 31, 2016, you may have to wait until next year's open enrollment period, unless you have a life event that makes you eligible for a special enrollment or you qualify for Apple Health (Medicaid).

Such events include, but are not limited to:

• Losing health insurance, including an employer plan or individual health plan
• Losing Apple Health (Medicaid) because you no longer qualify
• Giving birth to or adopting a child
• Permanently moving to a new area where your current plan doesn't provide coverage
• Your employer not paying your COBRA premiums on time
• Your COBRA coverage ending or reaching the lifetime limit
• Your dependent turning age 26 and losing their coverage on your employer plan
• Getting married or entering into a domestic partnership
• Getting divorced or ending a domestic partnership
• Cancelling your Washington State Health Insurance Pool (WSHIP) coverage
• Your health plan no longer being offered for sale in Washington state

Most special enrollment periods are limited to 60 days from the qualifying event. Keep in mind that you won't qualify for special enrollment if you voluntarily cancel your health insurance or if your insurer cancels you because you didn't pay your premium.

If you don't qualify for special enrollment, here's some resources that may help you afford medical care.

Next year's open enrollment for individual and family coverage starts Nov. 1, 2016.

National CashFlow Competition 2016 - Board Game Competition is Back Again!

Have you ever thought that you could have a glimpse of your future in Singapore and understand how making the right financial decisions can affect your life indefinitely? Do you think that making decisions on buying a house, buying insurance, investing in stocks, bonds and even starting a business is too much to handle? 

As a young person growing up in Singapore, inevitably we will have concerns for the future. Now, with a newly designed board game called Asset Finesse™ (AF), we can experience making financial decisions for our future. The best thing is when we make a wrong decision, we can learn from it and not make the same mistake in our real lives.

A locally designed board game: Asset Finesse

Long time readers of my blog would remember I went for a board game competition event last year which was organised by NTU interactive investment club. The event saw more than 500 participants from 44 different schools coming together to play a locally designed financial board game and compete against each other to see who can survive in the harsh financial world. In the game, players get to make decisions on investing in stocks, starting a business, starting a family and buying a house, investing in bonds, insurance, unit trusts and many more. It was heartening to see many people coming together to learn more about how financial decisions actually affect their lives in the future. 

This year, My blog SG Young Investment will be the official media partner for National CashFlow Competition 2016. I am a supporter of financial literacy and I think NTU has done a very good job is bringing financial literacy to more people out there. 

We all have the opportunity to play this board game again. It doesn't matter if you're a student, teacher, adult, young or old, all are welcome to participate in this competition which will take place on 19th March 2016. 

See the number of people who came together to play the financial board game last year

Adults come and play too

Students learning how to make financial decisions carefully

A time to play and get to know more people

Besides having fun, there are great prizes to be won too. 

The prizes this year are:

Gold: MacBook Air

Silver: iPhone 6S

Bronze: $200 Cash (3 winners)

The registration fee is only $10. Participants will get an exclusive NCF 2016 t-shirt, a goodie bag and refreshments throughout the day! 

Click on this link to register for the competition: https://goo.gl/BgLrNZ

*Registration closes on 11th March 2016 so hurry and sign up now!*

You may just be the next person to win away one of these great prizes. 

There will also be a weekly Facebook quiz on their Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/joinNCF/?fref=ts

See you there!

Whole Life Insurance Cash Value for Your Best Plan

Life insurance can be the best thing for many people. You can choose this plan for your life protection to the life insurance. There are many kinds of the insurance. One of them is the whole life insurance. Before you take the decision to get the insurance for your life, you should know about the life insurance. There must be the good information about the whole life insurance cash value. You can examine this kind of the life insurance. There are the basic policies that you should know about this insurance.

There is the definition about whole life insurance. The whole life insurance can be the insurance with many policies. The life insurance will pay to your beneficiary and it can be, the better plan for you. The whole life insurance has been divided into two types. The first is the participating and the second is non participating. In the first type, there is participating that has the whole life insurance cash value and also earn dividend. The next type is the non participating that has the cash value of whole life insurance but no dividend.

The policies of the whole life insurance

The policies have been changed by the company and you may get the death benefit from the company. The cash value will be the good plan if the company work goodly and does the policy efficiently. You should consider about the life insurance policy. You will get the benefit from this life insurance. There are some policies that you may find from the life insurance company. There is the graded premium life that has the lowest cost for you. It can help you to get the cheapest cost for the life insurance. It will be proper for you that want to get the whole life insurance, but not for the full premium outset.

The next policy that you can find is the limited payment for the whole life. You will have the whole life insurance cash value after the period. Then, you can pay the cost to the company only for the specific time. You do not need to pay the life insurance for every period. It will very helpful for you. The cost that should pay to the company is more than the normal or the regular insurance so you need to consider about this policy.

There is the other policy that you can choose. You may find the single premium for the whole life insurance. The benefit of this whole life insurance is only needed to pay the cost to the company once. It will force you to pay the cost in the big number but only once. You should consider about the whole life insurance cash value. It may make you only get a smaller benefit than the others.

The whole life insurance will coverage your life. There are many companies that offer you about the life insurance butt you should consider about the policy and the benefit. The policy of the whole life insurance may force you to pay the cost with some options. You can choose the best policy that will be proper with you. You will get the whole life insurance cash value if you follow the life insurance. It will give you the best benefit when you are still alive. You can take the benefit and take the cash when you need.

The benefit of the whole life insurance cash value

You can take this insurance cash value when you need, for example, when you get an illness, for the education, and many others. It will depend on the policy of the company. You should get the information as much as you can about the company before you take the whole life insurance for your entire life. There is the other kind of the life insurance such as the term insurance, but it will be simpler if you choose the whole life insurance. The term insurance will give the temporary benefit, but the whole life insurance will give you benefit from your life.

There are many benefits of the whole life insurance cash value that you may get if you have the whole life insurance. You can take the cash value from whole life insurance for the fund college, retirement, financing, and for critical illness. You will get the best protection to the whole life insurance. There is the sign for the tax benefit. You should not be worried about the inflation because the whole life insurance provides a hedge that against the inflation.

Whole life insurance cash value is very interesting for you when you get the life insurance. You can choose the whole life insurance. It will make you get many benefits. The benefit not only when the death, but you can take the benefit when you still alive. You can find the best company that will provide you the best life insurance with the good policy. Then, you should consider about the policy. You can make the best decision in choosing the life insurance. There are information from the company and you can ask for the people of the company.

The consultation about the whole life company is important for you when you when to get the best life insurance. There are many kinds of the insurance that you can choose. It will be better if you find the review about the insurance. The whole life insurance that has two types. It will make you get more benefit than the other type, but it will depend on your necessary. Whole life insurance cash value will give you the benefit to your life and your death. It is not only gives the benefit for your beneficiaries, but also will be protected goodly with this life insurance.

Whole life insurance cash value is the best thing that you will get when you make the plan for your life with the whole life insurance. There are the other kinds of the insurance, but this insurance will give you the permanent protection and benefit. There is the term insurance that will give you the temporary benefit. You can choose the best one that will be proper with your necessary. Then, you can make your life easier with the whole life insurance. You should understand about the whole life insurance with cash value. There are many companies that you can find, but you need to find the best company that will give you more benefit with better policies.

Medical Need for the Pre Existing Travel Insurance Plan

The need for the travel insurance service today can be said as the important one especially when you have the high frequency of travelling. So many choices of the ways of travelling can be found too and that gives the easiness of taking it than in the past time. However, that does not mean that you have naturally the pleasant service of travelling for making you feel satisfied. That is why you will need some additional features for gaining the better travelling moment. One of them is the pre existing travel insurance.

The presence of the service at the same time also can be the sign of the need of the modern people for more safety during their travelling time. The safety means that all of the schedules relating to the travelling have been composed in the right places. The pre existing travel insurance can make the travelling done in line with the plan. If you have the travelling purpose for business for example, it will be so help you for getting the success on your business too.

The Special Service of Pre Existing Travel Insurance

What is actually the special aspect offered by this kind of travel insurance? The special aspect can be connected into its capability for handling the bad condition relating to your health. That is at first. Since the people who have the worse health condition than the common people will need more attentions, the special life insurance during their travelling like this pre existing travel insurance will be needed for making sure that all is in the right condition during the travelling time.

Since this kind of special insurance has the higher risk and so you also must pay the higher payment for getting it. That is actually in line with the special help can be gained at the emergency time. You do not need to compare between it and the common insurance since its specification is different. The claim for getting the service also is relatively easy to be composed since it can be cleared from the beginning of attending pre existing travel insurance especially by mentioning the special bad condition found.

However, even if this pre existing travel insurance can give the special covering for some kinds of diseases, there are also the limitations for that. The insurance can be claimed only when you are legally in travel. It means when you do not have the permission for taking a travelling time because of some diseases for example the insurance claim cannot cover the bad condition like that. You must follow the available procedure found from the beginning of attending the insurance.

The Strategy for getting Pre Existing Travel Insurance

The pre existing travel insurance actually can be called too as the medical travel insurance based on the reason that it is focused into the insurance for the bad health condition. However, there is also the special procedure for getting it. Your travel for example must be in a long time with the special risk that cannot be detected from the beginning. That is the simple policy must be understood when you want to sign of proposing it. The coverage also can include the cancellation of the trip based on the health condition detected under some conditions that must be included during the claim to be accepted.

When you want to propose this special kind of insurance, you must be sure that the insurance company chosen is the large company that covers the wide area including the traveling abroad. Some of the companies can give the service only for domestic travelling. It will be better for you to choose the wider one especially when you have the possibility for taking the travelling into abroad instead of taking the domestic travelling only. The pre existing travel insurance will be so useful when you choose the most appropriate one relating to your purpose of travelling for example.

You also must be sure that you understand about the terms proposed by the company. The different company sometimes has the different policy. Without understanding the policy term from pre existing travel insurance you will have the chance of getting your claim refused because that does not be included into the term when the insurance can cover the bad condition during the travelling time. For making sure about your understanding, it is better for you to get the help from the more expert people as the consultant before you are choosing one kind of the available insurance near you.

Pre Existing Travel Insurance and the Health Condition

The pre existing travel insurance can be chosen by people who have the bad health condition since it can be used for covering their possible worse condition during the travelling time. Some kinds of psychological conditions also can be covered by it like the depression and the anxiety conditions. So, you do not need to feel afraid for proposing the plan about taking a travelling time just because you have such kinds of bad conditions. You can choose it as the part of your preparation done.

However, you must know too that the pre existing travel insurance gives the similar service into everyone. It means that there is not a special service can be proposed just because you have the special condition too. That relates into the similar amount of the payment and the coverage. The balance between the risk and the coverage is the first thing considered by the pre existing travel insurance company when they make a decision about your life insurance proposal.

Because of that reason, the help can be gained from this kind of insurance is actually similar in some other insurance types too. So many companies also can be found as offering this insurance nowadays. The difference can be found only in the case of its relation with its specification. The specification as the kind of insurance for travelling becomes its added value to be noticed. That can give so many difference consequences relating to the practice or even the way of proposing the pre existing travel insurance.

Your Complete Guide To Buying A Property In Singapore

Buying a property can be confusing for many first time buyers in Singapore. What should we do first and how should we find the property we desire? With so many rules governing the property market, it takes some knowledge to be able to make the right decisions. Making the wrong decisions can be costly where we end up forfeiting the property if we cannot get a loan or can't afford to continue paying for the property along the way.

With this, I will try to write down the step by step procedures to buying a property in Singapore and give you some tips which will get you the best cost savings for your property purchase.  Let's start off with the first step: Searching for a property.

Property Hunting

Do I need a property agent in order to search for a property to buy? This may be a question that is on many property buyers' mind. Gone are the days where we need to rely solely on property agent's expertise to find us a property. We can be our own property agent these days. How can we do it?

Simple... we have online platforms where we can find properties easily. One such platform is from SRX property. I can key in the area where I'm interested, the property type, the price and even any MRTs or Schools which I want the property to be near to.

Once you click search, one whole list of properties which match your criteria will appear and you can select the properties which you're interested in. You can see the price of the property, a virtual tour of the entire property and other important information such as price per square foot etc.

There are other platforms such as property guru which also offers similar search engines for property hunting. If you find a property agent to search for the property for you, you will have to pay some extra money. Most property agents charge an average of 0.5%-1% of the property price. Searching on platforms is completely free of charge.


Accessing your affordability - Can I Afford A Loan?

So now, you may have found some properties which you're interested in but can you afford it? Accessing your affordability is the most important part of the property buying process. Nowadays, it is very difficult for anyone to buy a property with cash. Most of us have to take a loan for it.

Getting a loan can be tricky with all the cooling measures in place. Did you know since 2010, the government has introduced about 8 cooling measures to cool the property market? We need to know these before we can make better decisions for our property purchase.

The amount of loan we are eligible for has been reduced by a significant amount. We can only borrow a maximum of 80% of the property price and still have to meet an income requirement. This is know as the Mortgage Servicing Ratio (MSR) for HDB flats and the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) for private properties and HDB as well.

The MSR is set at 30% of our gross monthly income. This simply means that if our income is $4000, the maximum loan instalment we can have per month for housing loans is $1200. The MSR is for the purchase of HDB flats. HDB flats are also subjected to the TDSR which is set at 60%. This simply means that if our income is $4000, the maximum loan instalment we can have per month is $2400. TDSR includes housing loans, car loans, student loans, credit card debts etc.

If you're still confuse about the cooling measures and how much loan you can get, try the free calculator here.


The Buying Process - Step By Step Guide

After searching and accessing if you can afford the property, its time to take action to buy the house of your dreams. Here I will let you understand more on what you should do to make your property purchase a smooth sailing one and provide you the procedures which you can follow.

HDB (BTO)

Buying a HDB BTO is not much of a problem since HDB will definitely guide you along for this. The Home Loan Eligibility (HLE) letter is the key for HDB BTO if you intend to take a HDB loan.

For the application of HDB BTO, here's the timeline:

1. Check your eligibility to buy, eligibility for HDB or bank loan and check your finances.
2. Submit application during 1 week application period through HDB website or any HDB branches or HDB hub
3. Notification of ballot results will be out in 1.5 months for BTO
4. If you're successful in the ballot, after 1 to 2 weeks, you will be invited for an appointment to book a flat
5. If you intend to take a HDB loan, you need a valid HLE letter during the booking of flats
6. The signing of agreement of lease will happen within 4 months after you book a flat. You are required to submit the letter of offer (LO) if you are taking a bank loan. 
7. Your BTO flat will be ready in about 3 years time

For the bank loan, you can get the LO through an approval in principal (AIP) with any of the banks in Singapore. I can also do the AIP for you with the bank. Just contact me and I'll guide you along.

BTO Tip: If you're looking out for a BTO soon, you can subscribe to a free alert service by HDB here. 

HDB (Resale)

For HDB resale, the buying process is between you and the seller of the HDB. A property agent may be involved in the process with a law firm compulsory to execute the transactions.

Here's the time line for buying a HDB resale flat:

1. Before purchasing a resale flat, check how much loan you are eligible for. You can engage the services of a mortgage broker or approach the banks for assistance. 
2. Do an approval in principal (AIP) with the bank before you sign the option to purchase (OTP) with the seller. Most AIP are valid for 1 month.
3. Get OTP. You need to pay $1000 at this stage
4. You have only 2 weeks to decide whether to exercise the OTP to buy the property before it expires. Your LO for the loan must be out within this 2 weeks. If you already did an AIP previously, then you don't have to worry about this. 
5. Exercise OTP to buy the property
6. Agent will receive 1st appointment date from HDB
7. After 1st appointment with HDB, HDB will fix 2nd appointment date
8. Before second appointment with HDB, you should proceed to law firm to sign all mortgage documents and pay legal fees, COV.
9. OTP ends 8 to 10 weeks, 2nd appointment at HDB to collect keys

Private Properties (New/under construction)

For private properties which are under construction, these are the properties you buy directly from the developer during sales launch. Here's the timeline for it:

1. Do an approval in principal (AIP) with the bank
2. Get OTP. At this stage you need to pay 5% of the purchase price
3. Within 1 week, developer will send out sales and purchase (S&P) agreement to law firm or buyer
4. You should have LO from the bank for the loan within 3 weeks of S&P date to sign the S&P. You need to pay 15% of purchase price and stamp duty at this stage
5. OTP will end in 8 to 10 weeks

Private Properties (Resale)

For resale private properties, here's the timeline:

1. Do an approval in principal (AIP) with the bank
2. Get OTP. At this stage you have to pay 1% of purchase price
3. You have 2 weeks to decide whether to exercise the OTP to buy the property before it expires. Your LO for the loan must be out within this 2 weeks. If you already did an AIP previously, then you don't have to worry about this. 
4. Exercise OTP to buy the property
5. 1 week before collection of keys, sign mortgage documents, CPF documents and pay 4% of purchase price and stamp duty
6. OTP ends 8 to 10 weeks, collect keys

Tips on buying a property

After researching and writing on topics related to property since 2014, I've got to learn much more about property purchase over the years. From what I see, buying a property isn't the main issue but the issue is with getting the loan approved. Getting a loan is an integral part of purchasing a property in Singapore.

There are currently more than 16 banks in Singapore all with different loan packages and interest rates. When we get the option to purchase (OTP) for the property, do take note that we only have 2 weeks to produce the letter of offer to exercise the OTP. This is a very short time to get the loan approved although it is possible but it will result in a lot of anxiety and stress because of the tight timeline. Thus, before buying a property, it is important to do an Approval In Principal (AIP) so that we know our loan eligibility and get the approval for the loan as well. 

Another thinf tk note is if we do the AIP with bank A, we will be getting the loan from bank A as well. If we want to get the best rates for our loan package, then we should apply the AIP with the right bank right at the start. But, with so many banks to choose from, how do we know which has the best rates? 

I do have tie up with all the banks in Singapore and I know which bank has the best rate for home loans. I have also screened through a selective group of bankers to provide you the best and most efficient service. Furthermore, I also have tie up with various law firms in Singapore to help you save on your legal costs. If you would like to do an AIP for your new property purchase or get a new home loan, you can email me at sgyi@homeloanwhiz.com.sg. I can also advise you on your loan eligibility. You can click on this LINK for more information on the service I provide. 

Buying a property can be a fuss free experience in Singapore if we know the procedures for it. We definitely do not want to be caught off guard and add to our stress and anxiety when owning a home should be an enjoyable process.

Take action and equip yourself with the knowledge in property purchase today!

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