How to Spend Money

 

I found a useful article and using this blogpost to remind me of the reference.

This year, I have gone on 5 short overseas holidays to nearby destinations (Japan + Australia) so far with one more in November and one more in December. As I have mentioned, of the 7 trips this year, 5 were in economy, 1 was biz class redeemed with miles after I cleared a waitlist, and the final biz class I bought during a sale.

I find myself preferring this over few but longer holidays to further destinations like Europe/USA.

This article: "If money doesn't make you happy, then you probably aren't spending it right" in the Journal of Consumer Psychology uses the 'adaptation theory' to explain why

• It is better to spend money on experiences rather than things
• It is better to spend money on more 'small' experiences than fewer 'big' experiences.

The article explains that we adapt to things quickly. So having many 'new' but smaller experiences (eg: short holidays), will lead to greater overall happiness and satisfaction. For econs students this is probably a variant on diminishing marginal utility - you combat diminishing marginal utility by breaking up the consumption. A 10 day holiday will probably not make you twice as happy as a 5 day holiday (unless you hate flying and the fact that you have to fly twice causes great unhappiness).

Finally I am looking forward to SQ's Time to Fly sale starting next week. I plan to buy a couple of tickets though I need to manage my expectations because the miles redemption sale this month was worse than last year (15% discount instead of 20% discount) and who knows if the sale could be worse. That's why I already bought my biz class ticket to Sydney when it was on sale earlier, because the price dropped to lower than what I paid in 2025 and no guarantee that the Time to Fly sale will match that.

Experimental Unit Trust Portfolio: Month 6

 

I started an experimental unit trust portfolio to test out the strategy of blindly DCA low cost Amundi Unit Trusts every month no matter how high the stock market gets. In the last update, I shared that as stock markets climbed, my average buying price increased and percentage return dropped, though fortunately the profits in $ value increased.

This month, my average buying price continued to increase but interestingly the % return and $ return both increased. The most significant change appears to be Amundi Prime USA which is probably the main reason for increased % return.

Previous update:

https://buyaftercrash.blogspot.com/2026/09/experimental-unit-trust-update-2.html

Adding some Bond ETFs (YTM 6.2%)

 

With interest rates and Treasury yields hitting highs, my investment grade bond ETFs (LQDE & VDCP) have taken a hit, with iShares reporting a 4.47% YTD loss. However, the higher yields appear attractive as long as you believe that the US$:S$ will remain stable. iShares LQDE is reporting a weighted average YTM of 6.2%. 

My view is that it is good to diversify and not just hold everything in S$ assets. No one knows what will happen to Singapore in the future. US has been around for 250 years despite all its problems, so in all likelihood it will continue as a going concern in the future.  US is probably a good example of being 'antifragile', you can have problems in government but stock market still hits all time highs.

Dividends Collected: Sep 2026

 

On track for $20k monthly passive income this year.

UOB Preferred Visa - 3 card strategy

 

I had previously written about how I was late to the Miles game since realistically, it was better to think about reaching Financial Independence first before thinking about optimising spending on credit cards. 

I have since moved from 1 credit card to 3 credit cards and I'm sharing my strategy. I'm sure there are many other miles "experts" out there with more cards and more optimal strategies so I'm not saying this is the 'best'. Please DYODD as usual.

Stage 1: 1 card strategy: 1 x 4Mpd card with highest spending cap.

So I spent most of my life with one credit card, the UOB Visa Signature (Privilege Banking version with permanent fee waiver) which gives a capped 4mpd. 

The "downside" was:

(1) "lost miles" when you bust the cap 

(2) non-qualifying categories (online shopping did not qualify for 4mpd)

Stage 2: 2 card strategy: Add a card with uncapped 3Mpd for SQ air tickets and 2.4Mpd for additional categories

This led to a lot of 'wasted potential miles' every time I bought SQ air tickets (especially when buying multiple tickets for family holidays)

So my next card was the UOB Krisflyer Credit Card for SQ tickets. Scoot tickets also give 3Mpd but again, less than a year after getting the card, Scoot introduced a 2.x% credit card surcharge. If a mile is worth 2 cents, do the maths to see if 2.x% is worth it.

Also, this card gave 2.4Mpd uncapped (nerfed from 3Mpd less than 6 months after I got the card!) for online shopping at Amazon and Lazada (but NOT redmart and NTUC Fairprice). Good for expensive Amazon purchases like laptops.

Stage 3: 3 card strategy: Add a card that gives 4Mpd (capped) for additional categories like online spending that includes Redmart / NTUC Fairprice

Before getting a 3rd card, I was concerned about waiver criteria. Does the waiver criteria get more difficult the more cards you get? Fortunately, UOB has published their waiver criteria and for multiple cards, it depends on total spend across all cards and the waiver criteria doesn't change whether you have 2 or 3 or 4 cards.

BuyafterCrash: UOB Credit Card Waiver Criteria

Since I meet the waiver criteria, I have applied for the UOB Preferred Visa, which is a 4Mpd with a $500 cap for google pay contactless and a separate $500 cap for online shopping including NTUC Fairprice and Redmart.

Summary 

UOB Visa Signature: Main card for contactless payments and overseas forex spend.

UOB Krisflyer: Main card for SQ air tickets and Kris+ payments. Secondary card for online shopping if UOB Preferred $500 spending cap reached.

UOB Preferred Visa: Main card for online shopping. Secondary card for contactless payments if Visa Signature cap reached.

In practice, its pretty simple. When I am at a physical location, UOB Visa Signature is the card I use unless there is a specific Kris+ bonus offer that gives >4Mpd (and even if I "forget" to use Kris+, a regular 4Mpd is totally fine with me). Not easy to bust the $1.2k contactless spending cap.

Online shopping, UOB Preferred Visa details will be auto-stored as default, just need to press buy. I should not bust $500 of online shopping so nothing to think about. In special months when I am buying a laptop or expensive tech, I'll just have to remember to use UOB Krisflyer with no spending cap.

Buy Property Sure Huat. 2026 Edition

 

I seem to be getting flyers from various property agents with my Condo's valuation printed on it. I always treat this as purely entertainment value as there is no way these sky high valuations are accurate. However, the flyer from Propnex takes the cake as my condo's valuation is supposedly $5........

Moral of the story? Buy property sure Huat?

Krisflyer Redemption Sale - worse than last year.

 

If there's one certainty in life, its that your Krisflyer Miles will continue to be devalued, whether directly (increase award cost) or indirectly (reduce the sale prices). Which is why I never understood why those influencers want to flex that they have a million miles in their account. The value will erode over time. I emptied out all my miles last year at the SQ redemption sale which was a 20% discount on redemption tickets, which was worse than the previous years' 25% discount.

This year its even worse with only a 15% discount AND fewer flights are eligible. Previously, all flights to Kansai had promos. This year, only the less desirable 2.10pm flight (arriving 9.35pm which means you will reach your hotel near midnight depending on your destination) is available for redemption.

I am still thinking about this ticket to Osaka. As you can see from the date, this is within the cherry blossom season so at least that's a plus that the cherry blossom season is not a blackout date.

On the other hand, with the reduced redemption discount, I think that my miles might be put to better use waitlisting business class saver awards to Australia. I managed to clear the waitlist last year, so I am trying my luck again. 

2027 Travel Planning

SQ is having a 'sale' at the moment, which is unusual since their Annual Time to Fly Sale is scheduled for October. But I was pleasantly surprised that the sale prices of business class to Australia are really good (I bought tix at the 2025 Time to Fly Sale) so I bought some now. It makes me suspect that Time to Fly Sale is a little bit of a sales gimmick. 

Also a quick note. I entered a SIN-SYD itinerary a few days ago when the sale started. For some reason today the price dropped by $200 and was therefore lower than the 2025 prices so I grabbed it. SIN-SYD is their A380 route with plenty of biz class capacity