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

Experimental Unit Trust: Update 2

In April 2026 I decided to start an experimental unit trust portfolio on POEMS focused exclusively on Amundi Unit Trusts with the following target allocation:

• 40% MSCI World
• 20% Prime USA
• 20% Emerging Market

This is the 4 month update. The market has gone up and down but on average the portfolio profit has increase in absolute $ value. However, the average buying price continues to go up and the percentage return continues to go down.

Today's S&P500 futures are red as the Iran war continues to drag on and probability of a Fed rate hike increases. Hopefully, the monthly DCA strategy will still be profitable at the end of the year. 

Dividends Collected: August 2026

 

With STI ETF, banks, Comfort Delgro, Capitaland Ascott, paying dividends in August, August is traditionally a peak month for dividends. At about $35k, it was only $2k higher than 2025, so this year is more about slow and steady growth.

UOB Credit Card Waiver Criteria

 

Thanks to milelion for alerting the internet to the UOB Credit card fee waiver criteria. 

If you hold multiple credit cards with UOB, to qualify, you must spend:

S$5,500 on credit card charged w/ Annual Fee, or

S$22,000 across all UOB credit cards, or

S$3,000 in overseas spend across all UOB credit cards

UOB publishes criteria for credit card annual fee waivers - The MileLion

Its good to know that your spending on one UOB card can help you get waiver for other UOB cards. My hotel bookings (either paying on the hotel website or making a reservation where payment is only made at check in) easily hit S$3k a year so that explains why my waiver for my Krisflyer card was successful.

This means that I can apply for another UOB card to use in the occasional months that I hit my $1.2k spending cap on my UOB Visa Signature. I'm currently looking at UOB Preferred Visa. If I read the milelion review correctly, it seems that NTUC Fairprice online or via app payment qualifies for 4mpd, which the UOB VS doesn't have. That's pretty useful as I don't have a 4mpd card for online groceries yet.  

Topped up some SG stocks this week

 Apart from adding to my experimental unit trust portfolio (Amundi MSCI World, Prime USA, and Emerging Markets), I bought Frasers Centrepoint Trust, Frasers Logistics Trust, and Comfort Delgro this week. I have sizeable positions in these 3 counters and plan to hold them for a long time. Once in a while when prices look decent, I buy a little bit more.

Anytime Comfort Delgro goes under $1.30, its worth buying. EV Robo-taxis and buses are inevitable and CDG will be in a strong position to take advantage of this.