Miles Strategy

 

Someone asked in the HWZ forum about miles and there were the usual doubts expressed whether it was worth chasing miles. Coincidentally, I have just started to learn more about miles collecting, mainly from the milelion website, and my short answer is that if you are going to spend the money, then why not make sure you get some miles from it? For me, I got no interest holding 10 credit cards and min-maxxing the miles, but I feel I reached an easy-to-follow 'middle ground'.

HOW MUCH TO SPEND TO GET AN AIR TICKET?

Again, thanks to milelion constantly scanning the SQ website so I don't have to, I redeemed 3 return air tickets to Japan for 2026 at 43,200 miles each.

If you were a min-maxxer with a 4mpd card, you would be able to achieve 43,200 miles with no more than S$10,800 spend. The MMs will take advantage of promos that increase the mile earn rate above 4mpd, so their average earn rate will often be above 4mpd.

For myself, I only have 2 cards so my effective mpd is less than 4mpd, but it keeps things simple.

UOB Visa Signature - assuming $1,000-$1,200 contactless payments a month, that will give 48,000-57600 miles at 4mpd.  (Bonus activated at $1k spend, max cap $1.2k).

UOB KF Credit Card - assuming $1,000 a month of qualifying transactions at 2.4mpd plus $12k worth of SQ/Scoot/Pelago/Kris+ spending at 3mpd, that will give 28800 +36,000 =64,800 miles. (there are also miles awarded by SIA which are separate)  UOB KF has no spending cap, so the $1+1k/month is more like my estimate of spending.

So very roughly, if I have $3k/month of qualifying spending at maybe 3mpd (average of a 4mpd and a 3.0/2.4mpd card), that will be good for some economy tix to Japan every year when they have their global redemption sale.

Remember your unused miles

Remember that each time you fly Scoot / SQ on tickets you buy, you earn miles from the flight. Very often, these miles alone aren't enough to redeem a flight. But when they are added to the miles you earn from credit card spend, at least they are not 'wasted'. For example:

• Singapore-Sydney Business lite (the cheapest biz ticket) return nets you 9,780 miles.
• Singapore-Tokyo Economy value return nets you 3,294 miles

I selected these examples of actual flights I would take. Sydney is long enough that I would want to fly Biz, but Tokyo flights are short enough to fly economy.

Miles Millionaire: Whats that??

Finally, I note that some influenzas like to flex they are "miles millionaires" and this term appears to have been 'endorsed' by the official SIA Krisflyer instagram account:

While a million dollars invested will grow your networth through compounding, I fail to see how accumulating one million miles will do anything for you. In fact, miles depreciate over time. My strategy is to redeem flights as soon as possible. I have enough in my account to redeem a ticket or two just in case there is some not to be missed fantastic sale, but even then, its way less than 100,000 miles.

Tempting to Min-max?

I will try my best to stick to 2 credit cards and not get influenced by these influencers... though there is certainly a temptation to go up to 3 cards if my spending increases enough to justify a 3rd card (hopefully not).

 

 

Dividends Collected: September 2025

 

Year is coming to an end. So far it appears that I have collected fewer dividends than 2024. It could be an error counting my dividends in 2024, or there was a one-off capital return for some counter.

End Sep 2025 Report

 

Three quarters of 2025 have passed and still no sign of a correction. Despite being in the red with NVO, the portfolio continues to grow. The last 3 years have been very good to investors. Time in market is better than market timing?

SQ redemption sale

 

SQ is having a 20% redemption sale globally with certain blackout periods. Credit to milelion for constantly scanning the SQ website so the rest of us don't have to. 

Looking at Osaka, there is a blackout for the peak Sakura season 12/3-9/4.  But the week after that, there are still plenty of cherry blossoms left (I went to Japan in mid-April in 2024). 

The availability of tickets to Japan is pretty good (eg: Haneda, Kansai have 3 flights a day and redemptions for all 3 flghts are generally available). I have redeemed a couple of tickets for next year.

As my plan is to go for short trips, I will be able to adjust my schedule to accommodate this and I did this successfully in 2024. I can still take Zoom work calls when in Japan since the timezones are not so different.

Strategy: Sep 2025

 

Despite tariff woes and the ICE raid on the US Hyundai plant, Kospi has hit a record high. I have decent exposure to Kospi via my large holding on Vanguard's Asia Pacific ETF VDPX. 

As everything seems to be hitting new highs, I have to be really disciplined about steady DCA of ETFs.  At the same time, I can't help but look at SREITs again and wonder if they are undervalued. I have bought tiny amounts of FLCT and CDLHT to top up my holdings.

Finally, I had some excess cash in my SRS, and while I primarily buy Lion Global All Seasons unit trusts with SRS cash, the 0.53% expense ratio of the JPMorgan Global Research Enhanced Index Equity SGD caught my eye. While obviously more expensive than an ETF, I think its potentially useful addition to my SRS portfolio. It basically tracks MSCI World and the using Magnificent 7 are all represented in the portfolio. In other words, this isn't a dividend fund so the fact that its subject to 30% withholding tax on US dividends isn't too big a problem. 

CPF Life

 There is currently an active discussion thread in HWZ on CPFLife, with reference to Mr 1M65's CPFLife Strategy. 

As I will need to make the decision on this in the next few years, I put a little thought in it and will use this blogpost to record down my preliminary thoughts

(1) There is an opportunity cost after setting aside the FRS or ERS at age 55 as payments only start at age 65 (or later if you want to defer). The opportunity cost arises because at age 55 you should still be mentally active and still able to manage your investments. On a 10 year holding period, MSCI World should outperform CPF Life interest.

(2) On the other hand, setting aside FRS of about $213k+ is not a huge amount and can represent the 'ultra-safe' fixed income portion of your portfolio yielding a decent risk-free interest. For example, after my $200k of SSB mature, I could roll this over into MSCI World instead of fresh SSB/T-bills, since I have $213k FRS sitting in CPF.

(3) Currently, I'm not inclined towards ERS. CPF gives bonus interest for the first $60k. So the ERS amount set aside, you only get 4% interest. From age 55 - 65, I believe that I will still have enough investing ability left to to beat 4%.

(4) Reading various forum posts, it appears that our views are deeply affected by the experience of our parents, grandparents, and other older relatives.  

(5) My parents have hit 80 years milestone and hopefully I have inherited their longevity genes. I hope to stay healthy and fit and collect CPF Life at age 65. 

All this may change as I get closer to 55 and get more information / different views. I'm just writing this down now as a reference point. 

  

Dividends Collected: August 2025

 

S$32.8k for August 2025. In comparison $31.8k in August 2024, so only a marginal increase. However, it's not a perfect comparison because several counters seem to be inconsistent in relation to which month they pay their dividends (while some counters never seem to change)

Since I have been investing in US stocks in 2025 and bought a fair amount of LionGlobal All Seasons Unit Trust (which doesn't pay dividends) instead of channelling most of the money to dividend stocks or interest bearing T-bills, the best I can hope for is marginal growth in dividends this year I guess.