1.2k take home pay. What are my options?

[Bleeploads]

I'm working as a landscaper right now and my take home pay isn't much at 1.3k. I'm 26.What are my recommended options for health insurance and an investment plan (if possible).

Currently, these is where my money goes to.

Mom - 100
Transport - 120
Phone bill - 30
Uni loan - 150
Expenses - 300
(Total - 600)

Remaining - 700

The remaining I will set aside for savings (holiday, future wedding, future wants, life & health insurance etc.)

I project that my take home will increase to 1.7k in 2 years.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[JuniorLion]

So you are left with 700$ per month?

 

[Bleeploads]

So you are left with 700$ per month?

That's right!

 

[JuniorLion]

How old are you?

 

[BlueRobin]

I'm no expert in financial planning but I would like to applaud you for spending well within your limit and at the same time give your parent pocket money! I wish you well.

 

[RMCWMR]

The first and most important thing you should do right now are 2 things.

1. Build up an emergency fund equivalent to at least 12 months of your monthly expenses.

2. Buy a health insurance plan. The cheapest one is ok. Its like $200+ a year out of pocket excluding deductions from medisave.

Don't need to think about investing until you have these 2 in place

 

[fr33d0m]

You have a degree. Try to find a better paying job. It beats all the investment you are going to make.

 

[BBCWatcher]

A few comments from me, starting with the expense side:

I'm working as a landscaper right now and my take home pay isn't much at 1.3k. What are my recommended options for health insurance and an investment plan (if possible).

Currently, these is where my money goes to.
Mom - 100

You could take a look at whether it'd make sense to direct some or all of this cashflow into your mother's CPF Retirement Account in order to boost her retirement income. The interest she'd earn that way is quite attractive, and the financial security is quite important, too.

Transport - 120

That's the exact cost of an adult monthly pass. Smart move if it's less expensive than pay-as-you-go fares.

Phone bill - 30

You might be able to knock this down slightly. As an example, Giga (StarHub's alternative no contract brand) offers a $25/month plan with 25GB/month of data, 1000 SMSes, 1000 minutes of outgoing calls, and free incoming calls. As another example, GOMO (Singtel's alternative no contract brand) offers a $20/month plan with 20GB/month of data, 200 SMSes, 200 minutes of outgoing calls, and free incoming calls.

Uni loan - 150
Expenses - 300
(Total - 600)

Any "Expenses" breakdown?

Remaining - 700
The remaining I will set aside for savings (holiday, future wedding, future wants, life & health insurance etc.)
I project that my take home will increase to 1.7k in 2 years.
Any help is appreciated.

I think it's $600 of "surplus" cashflow and $700 of total monthly expenses inclusive of the $100/month that goes to your mother. Correct?

The first and most important thing you should do right now are 2 things.
1. Build up an emergency fund equivalent to at least 12 months of your monthly expenses.

In this case that'd be $8,400 ($700 times 12). Let's round that up to $10,000, actually, since $8,400 isn't much. If saving every penny of the $600/month surplus it'll take about 15 or 16 months to amass $10,000 if today's emergency reserve is zero.

One possible approach here is to save about $2,000 in an ordinary bank account (the best deal you can find), which will take about 4 months at $500/month. Then start buying Singapore Savings Bonds, one per month, which will cost $502 each.

2. Buy a health insurance plan. The cheapest one is ok. Its like $200+ a year out of pocket excluding deductions from medisave.

No, it's not anywhere near that expensive, at least if my age assumption is correct.

Bleeploads presumably has MediShield Life and some MediSave funds. That's not nothing. But let's go ahead and take a look at this idea. The choice of plan is easy: Great Eastern's SupremeHealth B Plus. That's currently the single best "as charged" public hospital B1 ward plan, and public hospital B1 ward plans are the most affordable Integrated Shield plans. (Except for Standard Plans, which are not "as charged.") For someone in his/her 20s (I assume -- please correct me if I'm wrong) this plan costs $69 per year (atop your MediShield Life premium), fully MediSave payable. There's a rider (which I think is a good idea since it caps out-of-pocket costs) called TotalCare Classic B, and it costs $30 per year (late 20s age range), cash payable. So for $99/year ($69 payable with MediSave), that's a lovely coverage upgrade. Yes, I'd do this now -- it makes sense.

Please note this particular plan is best in its category for citizens but not for PRs. If you're a PR, please follow up with another question.

Don't need to think about investing until you have these 2 in place

Agreed.

There's one other insurance product I'd look at: Disability Income Insurance (DII). It should be possible to buy a $900/month or $1,000/month DII policy. (The coverage limit is 75% of current income from work.) Great Eastern, Aviva, and AIA offer DII. One possible problem is that landscaping will likely fall into one of the more expensive DII premium categories since it's a tremendously physical profession, but it doesn't hurt to get premium quotations from all 3 carriers.

You have a degree. Try to find a better paying job. It beats all the investment you are going to make.

It'd definitely be helpful to boost income, yes, sure.

By the way, I don't think we know for sure that Bleeploads has a degree. Bleeploads has a student loan repayment, but that doesn't necessarily mean a degree was earned.

 

[fr33d0m]

By the way, I don't think we know for sure that Bleeploads has a degree. Bleeploads has a student loan repayment, but that doesn't necessarily mean a degree was earned.

Then, that's an expensive loan to pay.

 

[BBCWatcher]

Then, that's an expensive loan to pay.

I draw no conclusions either way. I'm merely pointing out that a university student loan does not necessarily mean a degree was earned. Bleeploads is under no obligation to clarify, and whatever the past is, it's past. "Onward and upward" now, hopefully. I too applaud Bleeploads for living well within a modest income, and for presumably working hard to earn that income.

For the record, there are rare cases when dropping out is incredibly smart. Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg both left Harvard before completing their undergraduate degrees. Honorary degrees aside, the highest earned degrees they both have are U.S. high school diplomas.

 

[fr33d0m]

I draw no conclusions either way. I'm merely pointing out that a university student loan does not necessary mean a degree was earned. Bleeploads is under no obligation to clarify, and whatever the past is, it's past. "Onward and upward" now, hopefully. I too applaud Bleeploads for living well within a modest income, and for presumably working hard to earn that income.

For the record, there are rare cases when dropping out is incredibly smart. Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg both left Harvard before completing their undergraduate degrees. Honorary degrees aside, the highest earned degrees they both have are U.S. high school diplomas.

I am not judging or disagree.

 

[Bleeploads]

Hey all! I've added more information of myself to bring more clarity onto my situation.

 

[tweeety]

I do agree on finding a better job.

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

How about your education background?

 

[yoongf]

Care to share your uni loan interest rate?

 

[wutawa]

While others may rope u into investment with high yield, i suggest putting your savings into cimb fastsaver(1% pa for 1st $50k if balance > $1k) or maybank isavvy(2.1% pa until year end if balance > $10k)

Your uni loan instalment very low. How many years?

 

[Mecisteus]

I believe you already got a degree because you are paying your Uni loan?

Why is there a gross mismatch in your salary? You need to do something here.

For insurance, just check some term insurances and consider boosting your Integrated Shield Plan.

https://www.cpf.gov.sg/Members/Schemes/schemes/healthcare/private-medical-insurance-scheme

You ought to minimize your cash outflow. So don't fall for expensive insurance plans that may cost like $200-$500 per month.

 

[foxer77]

grab food delivery can earn more than 1.2K. u might need to consider job hopping to other sector in the worse come scenario.


sometime doing what u like dont really help u earn a living.

 

[Nemesismaster]

Get a 2nd hand pmd at carousell at less than $500.this budget will get u a fast n furious model if u spent some time to find. After that zoom your way for orders to get at least 3.5k a month 5 days work 10 hours per day.

 

[Okenba]

Whatever job you are doing or end up doing, do think about progression.
20 years from now, would you still be doing the same job?
Your first investment is yourself.

 

[BBCWatcher]

I believe you already got a degree because you are paying your Uni loan?

The only significance of having a university loan is that Bleeploads borrowed money to pay a university. You can draw no more inferences than that, and that's perfectly fine. Neither graduation nor even attendance are required to incur university student loan debt.

Why is there a gross mismatch in your salary? You need to do something here.

There is no evidence that Bleeploads's salary is a "gross mismatch." However, yes, sure, more income would be helpful.

I would also point out that people make job and career choices based on multiple factors, and many people do not consider salary to be all that important. If Bleeploads is happy, making ends meet, and making reasonable progress toward long-term financial security, great, no problem.

For insurance, just check some term insurances and consider boosting your Integrated Shield Plan.

By "term insurances" I think you mean term life insurance. No, Bleeploads probably should not get term life insurance at this point in time. He/she should if he/she has a dependent, but we don't have any strong evidence that's true. (S$100/month paid to his/her mother is not strong evidence that his/her mother is a genuine dependent.)

The correct Integrated Shield plan in this situation is the one I described in my previous post, assuming Bleeploads is a citizen of Singapore. Total premium = $99/year (of which $69 is MediSave payable). That's a reasonable, justifiable outlay in these circumstances. More than that for Integrated Shield coverage, no.

Get a 2nd hand pmd at carousell at less than $500....

We're getting pretty far off track here (pun intended.) The lack of UL2272 certification is the reason why there are many second hand sales. If the e-scooter lacks UL2272 certification, it'll be illegal to operate in Singapore on public paths starting on July 1, 2020. Caveat emptor.