Category: day2day

##methods: itemize+subtotal ] exp-recon s/s

Posted on by tiger40490

Methods or techniques?

Favor abbreviations or Chinese words when the cell is overcrowded

In many cases, I need to present a subtotal of itemized amounts. I use several different tabulation methods.  Each method features (or makes do without ) borders, subtotal, table heading, color. Perhaps too many different methods creating cognitive overload, but might be a small daily workout for the brain.

Now I try to minimize tables, and use colors more often. If you must avoid background color and use font color, then light colors are more identifiable.

— Method-simple1:  category of similar items without border or subtotal, with a heading like “~~refunds”
Used in pending amounts
Used in div+interest section

This is similar to simple2, but cleaner because it doesn’t add even more borders  .

— Method-simple2: 2-column table without heading, without subtotal
Used in cCard balances

This is similar to simple1, but space-efficient because it doesn’t add heading rows

— Method-special1: Subtotal is an estimate and comment, not updated automatically
Used in FSM section

— Method-special2: Subtotal cell is placed far away.. takes some getting-used-to.
Used in outflow colored sections

  • One colored section for outing ePayments
  • One colored section for tax-like ePayments
  • One colored section for transfers to family members

— Method-special3: Itemized amounts are textual comments of the format “$123 fruits”, not added up by s/s
Used in banknotes section

PayNow and QR how2 #scan-n-pay

Posted on by tiger40490

PayNowQR is one of many payment modes in the PayNow ecosystem across banks. See https://www.abs.org.sg/consumer-banking/pay-now. (In BOC mobank, PayNowQR leads to PayNowUEN.) Beside PayNowQR, there are also PayNowToNRIC/PayNowToMobileNum, PayNowUEN etc.  I think those systems can use computer.

  • Each person can designate one bank account to receive PayNowToNRIC (BOC)
  • Each person can designate one bank account to receive PayNowToMobileNum (#104)
  • ^^ Many people choose the same bank account.

QR scanner is a smartphone feature (as far as I know). The procedure is lengthy.

  1. first get the QR code if it is not already on a hardcopy.
    • to do so, you may need to log in on the payee’s (billing organization) system.
    • Sometimes the QR code is generated based on your input and will last only a short while
  2. Now you are ready to scan the QR code. Take out your phone
  3. For many banks, don’t use the Scan-n-pay feature. Instead, log in on the banking phone app.
  4. For DBS, bottom menu -> pay-n-transfer -> scan-n-pay, not PayNow. It still ues payNow behind the scene.
  5. some PayNowQR includes the amount, but you should verify it.
  6. Note you may require up to 10 OTPs and many signings on the hardware token. I think this is a penalty for users of hardware token.

— choose between PayNowQR, PayNowUEN, FAST,,,

  • If QR is available but not recipient account number, then PayNowQR is the only choice
  • For recurring payments, I prefer online banking bill-pay. I can save my unique account number (required in each transfer) in the billing organization
  • For recurring immediate payments, I prefer FAST or save UEN as a registered payee. Still need to enter reference number for each transfer.
  • .. FAST is usable on computer or phone
  • .. UEN is usable on computer or payNow… no real advantage though many people are blind.
  • For safer one-time payment, I prefer QR.  In some payment system like SNEC, the payment reference number (unique to your purchase) is error prone. Fat finger would lead to payment to other people’s account.

— for individuals, PayNowToMobileNum will show payee name (Jason.Fu confirmed). Need token to add new payee.

doses@delight #lifestyle升

Posted on by tiger40490

These doses of delights can improve my mood and xpSelf’s wellbeing, although they mean nothing to the rmSelf. A few factors:

  • low amount is fine .. much lower than bonus, or investment windfalls
  • high frequency of delight

— eg: monthly interests iFF substantial
— eg: stock dividends paid out (not DRIP)
counter-example: many mufu dividends come from NAV liquidation…. not a dose of delight.

— counter-example: MB cashback.. not so delightful because I don’t see the itemized cashback
DBS multiplier is better. Monthly cashback as MB, but the algorithm is much simpler.

— eg: linkpoint .. happens at higher frequency (more delightful) than MB ccard cash back, which shows up only once a month.

— eg: tiny lifestyle 升

(hidden)factors]household saving rate as reported

Posted on by tiger40490

https://www.dbs.com.sg/personal/nav/are-you-saving-enough.page?pid=sg-dbs-pweb-nav-featured-cardtile-others-are-you-saving-enough claims that the average Singaporean household in the survey saved 55% of the total income including employer CPF contribution + nonwork income reported on tax forms. This figure is highly questionable.

— Issue: What’s the average Singaporean? I guess the authors meant that average household expenditure is $X and average household income is $Y, so 100%-(X/Y) gives 55%. This doesn’t mean a typical household saves 55%.  If we tabulate the savings rate of 1000 households, we get a distribution (bell curve histogram). Given this histogram,

( issue: ) is it valid to find a population average? I can only speculate

  • low-income households save less (in general but not always),
  • younger households save more for housing and raising family,
  • pre-retirement households may save more as their grown-up children have left
  • retiree households may have negative savings rate or possibly excluded from the calc

It’s questionable to compute aggregate statistics across any two distinct categories.
— Issue: most Singaporeans in the survey would have 30%+ of monthly income locked into CPF (compulsory savings scheme)

I would guess the alternative statistic of “savings rate as percentage of take-home salary” is much lower among Singaporean families with kids. The median might be 10-20%
— Issue: is mortgage payments considered savings or an amount spent? For the P+I,

  • I feel the interest portion is definitely an expenditure.
  • The principle portion is more like investment (savings)

— issue: is rental and dividend income captured as income? I would doubt it.

In conclusion, it’s hard to have any confidence in these numbers. My target is Brbr, focusing on non-investment expenditure.

exp-recon s/sheet: goals,priorities

Posted on by tiger40490

 

Tcost (and mental energy required) is formidable, but long-term Value is also very high , as explained in long-term roti@burn-rate trac . Therefore, I hope to reduce the tcost while maintaining the “value” —

  • Leave the unexplained amount as “PersonalExp”. In contrast, “ATM}” amount can be easily computed from 104 account. Note these two amounts overlap to some extent but are not identical.
  • .. sugg: move the non-electronic spending items to a category “PersonalExp”
  • — tcost tips:
  • sugg: incremental update, to spread out the tcost
  • Sugg: earmark 2 focus hours to reach Completion. Then 2 more hours of optional fine tuning can be put off to a less busy time.
  • — generic tips for Excel
  • Tip: ctrl-backtick to toggle between show-formula vs show-result
  • tip: categorization: use grouping tables + background color + text effect
  • — generic tips for online banking
  • DBS + MB ccard balance — look at available balance without OTP

In terms of approximation, I guess the two big areas are personalExp (see above) and NTUC card-spend. Luckily NTUC sums are easy to track electronically. Therefore, we have a promising solution !

  1. — disambiguation
  2. exp-tracking … is the overall goal and objective. There are many practical methods to achieve it.
  3. exp-recon .. is the method and monthly process. I devised it by trial-n-error.

— estimates .. For all the estimates [including total banknote spend], the goal should ideally be a verifiable number. Otherwise, it’s a phantom target.

For example, there’s a MaybankCCardSupermarket sum. This is a best-effort approximation of a verifiable amount (I just don’t have time to verify.) If between EOD 30/1 to EOD 22/2 this sum is $999, then it means “All supermarket transaction between 31/1 and 22/2, charged to the Maybank ccard should add up to $999”

— snapshot frequency/interval
— paper banknote spend
— annotation on a cell
* excel comment .. highly visible:) but legwork:( + often covers up another cell 🙁
* theCellBelow as a comment box … plenty of space:) but takes up real estate 🙁
* #trailing comment .. but too long sometimes 🙁
— the recon(reconciliation) cycle

  1. compute curBal – prevBal + incoming === outgoing.
  2. classify outgoing items into
    • transfers to family members
    • investments… read the important blogpost on exclusion/inclusion criteria
    • bx
    • tax-like outlays. There’s a separate blogpost
    • otherOutlays

After that step, goal is a good-enough understanding of the otherOutlays. Here comes the recon, which often reveals that there’s $462 unexplained amount, whereas the typical unexplained/month is below $100. That’s a great opportunity to to dig deeper and identify mistake in the calc of curBalance, prevBalance or incoming. These mistakes are not uncommon. See basic principle.

The recon is as valuable as the math self-check I taught my son. Recon is more valuable than retracing the steps.

==== priorities: Given my limited t-budget, the priorities of this s/sheet are
* YY1) short-term iquid_NAV snapshot
* YY2) long-term couple NAV tracking .. not easy. Basically, the exp recon /system/ is not designed for this trendline.
* XX) burn rate recon/verification, categorization, (short-term)trending, (long-term)projection

LG2: these secondary priorities below can be computed relatively easily on the s/sheet.

  • monthly savings amount [3]
  • cumulative transfers
  • cumulative investment
  • cumulative incomes
  • non-essential outlays each month
  • short-term trend in liquid_NAV? Complicated by transfers to CPF/SRS and with eqMufu etc. During the years without these complications, the trendline would make a nice graph.

Q: focusing on YY, why is aggregate asset snapshot such a high priority? I want to spell out this “statement of principle” to share with others.
A: Fundamental principle of “absolute” burn rate accounting — start from /realized/ incomes (much easier to track) +  total asset snapshots (basically YY). From there, work out aggregate realized outgoing amount, then Explain the outgoing using high-level, recurring categories of expenses.

YY doesn’t require complicated system. /Transparency/ and simplicity can greatly enhance accuracy and reliability and are extremely valuable.

— [3] Tracking monthly savings amount .. a G10 priority. U.S. (and Sgp) pff advice is “Strive to Uphold monthly savings goals” but I don’t need such self-discipline.

The increment between successive liquid_NAV snapshots is a /nominal/ savings amount. It excludes II (monthly investment amounts). Even if I add the II, the savings amount is still highly inaccurate. In fact, tracking the actual savings amount has proved to be t-expensive and /unrewarding/ legwork with poor leverage. In contrast, exp recon decent leverage despite high tcost.

##[22]wise consumer: hallmarks

Posted on by tiger40490

— showcase of HallmarkA: why avoid branded colleges
If a branded top-quality middle school costs $20k/Y over 2Y, then many would be able to afford it, but could the brand give the parents esteem for decades?

In contrast, a branded college does make the parents proud for decades, and makes the graduate stand out in over-crowded dating markets, but look at the price tag. If the 70k/Y price tag is clearly /affordable/ to you, then you won’t need to be a “wise consumer”. For most families, however, 300k over 4Y is too high, so these families need to assess the benefit/cost.

Those with insider info often realize the benefit is not so high.

— (hallmarkA) At a fancy restaurant you taste something very nice (and expensive) . Later you find out it is similar to a cheap supermarket item that you have never tried.

The fancy restaurant version is subtly different (therefore expensive) but to the first time taster, the supermarket version is equally delicious. Even if company pays, I would still prefer the cheaper version.

— (hallmarkI) mass market .. How relevant (to me) are mass market statistics? Many mass market surveys are increasingly irrelevant to me, as they reflect ordinary people’s
* commute conditions
* work hours
* reported work stress, burn-out
* workout, nutrition, BMI
* savings, retirement plann, mtg, rental burden

These so-called “mass market profiles” are increasingly different from my profile. Therefore my buying priorities are different, too. Am in an exclub defined by myself, not based on FOMO.

— (hallmarkI) exclub/miswanting..

Property agents, car salesmen, college admission offices, luxury product sales/marketing teams … make huge efforts to impress on us the differences between the haves vs the the have-nots.

Some of them in their unspoken hint are careful to position you, the prospective buyer, as above average in the local market but somewhere below average among “my clients”. They like to describe their existing clients as filthy rich, indirectly setting role models for the rest of us.

That’s a form of mental manipulation and brainwash. However rich you are, there are always some “existing clients” who are better off! Exclub.

Now in my late 40s it’s becoming increasingly clear that those “haves” have acquired a lot of white elephants. For example,

  • car is not an asset.
  • wines, fancy electronics are not always good for their children’s wellbeing
  • branded college is not necessary, but a conducive environment is.

— Two hallmarks of a wise consumer

  1. hallmarkI (vague): knowing what things are truly important to yourself.
  2. hallmarkA: knowing what unpopular/unconventional Alternatives are Actually Acceptable to yourself

Some examples that help explain the hallmarks

  • [AI] eg: free books
  • [A] eg: refuse to buy sports merchandize. Use simple substitutes instead.
  • [AI] eg: avoid branded sports shoes. Try the low-cost shoes and trust your own feeling of comfort
  • [A] eg: slightly dented fruits

ccard overseas: prefer local i.e. foreign currency amt !!SGD

Posted on by tiger40490

My card is issued in SGD. When I buy something priced in a foreign currency, there may be two choices — FF) charge the foreign ccy amount or SS) charge the equivalent SGD amount. Always prefer FF.

Conrad MidTown told me the “equivalent SGD amount” is high, because their FX rate is bad.

HSBC.sg told me IFF you charge in SGD, there could be a separate “DCC” transaction. No DCC if you pay the foreign currency amount and HSBC converts that for you.

Q: while cutt nonessential spends,where Not2cut #rich-n-frugal

Posted on by tiger40490

Trigger: I decided to cut burn rate on tuition, piano learning, Siloso hotel … to keep burn rate under 4k/M.

Q: so where DO we allow ourselves to spend more? A lifestyle creep question.
A: PEK trips, hote, dining out, healthy fruits and salad, blogg infra,

I think for many individuals, this question is extremely tempting and powerful. You probably feel deprived if you see a windfall investment gain (or bonus), small investment gains accumulating, or months of consistent savings accumulating … but somehow unable to spend it.

Many wealthy families are frugal.

This is yet another example of “time-honored but tough guideline”, as explained in the open blog.

— Singapore past reserves … is a semi-relevant case study. PAP government refuse to spend the reserve. I think every year’s investment return is split 50/50 so half of this return is spendable, but none of the principal.

As a family, it’s important to recognize we are not a country, so I want to be much more frugal with my reserve.

PAP government was proven right when the past reserve had to be deployed (not depleted) in rainy days. Without the fiscal discipline over the decades, the reserve would have been depleted.

— plowback .. see [18]invest salary{high earn`phase #plowback
At the moment, I don’t see a lot of worthwhile plowback choices. It’s easy to become infatuated with the “plowback” notion, and waste money:

  • tuition fees? questionable