Travel Blog, Itineraries & Guides, Hotel Reviews
Bangkok is one of the most popular cities to visit in Southeast Asia. The cultural experience, cuisine as well as shopping opportunities are simply phenomenal that most folks don’t know where to begin. If it is your first time to visit the Thai capital, there are certain things you need to be mindful of when deciding how and when to fly there.
Here’s a short checklist to help you get started in terms of arranging your flights:
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Virtual reality has transformed gaming across the world. Essentially, this is an interactive experience that takes place in a simulated setting. Generated by computers, it is widely considered a technological triumph. And if there’s anywhere that offers innovative tech, it’s Japan. Unsurprisingly, it is leading the way in VR experiences. If you’re planning a holiday here, why not check out its best VR parks? Our guide can help you to select which one to visit.
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With Singapore Dollar interest rates rising steadily over the past year as reflected by the one month SGD SIBOR Rate, Citibank’s Citi Maxigain Savings has become one of the better CASA accounts to go for to earn decent interest, especially since it does not require clients to credit their salaries there. Just to illustrate roughly, if you had qualified for the 12th counter and assuming the current SIBOR Rate of ~ 1.64%, you would have been earning 2.51% p.a. with the MaxiGain. This is all the more compelling when you consider what some corporate retail bonds are yielding at the market. Temasek’s 5 year SGD bond which pays a coupon of 2.7% p.a. is currently yielding only 2.42% p.a. and that comes with interest rate risk.
The adage that all good things must come to an end rings true for the Citi MaxiGain Savings, at least to an extent. It was only a year back when I first wrote about the Citibank MaxiGain Savings Account. Citibank recently announced a slew of changes to the terms and conditions of this CASA product. These are:
Before: Base interest of 80% of 1 month SGD SIBOR for the first S$150,000 balance
Perhaps the change that hurts the most is the fact that one of the things that made the MaxiGain such a great account – its ability to at least track interest rate fluctuations – will be diluted somewhat. A change of 80% of SIBOR to 70% of SIBOR equals roughly 0.16% p.a. This is not a biggie in the greater scheme of things. Based on current SIBOR and assuming you are within the S$150,000 ceiling, this is equal to roughly S$20 of foregone interest per month. However, if you consider this feature’s ability to track current interest rates, this presents a somewhat noticeable potential loss. 1 Month SGD SIBOR reached its all-time high of roughly 3.50% back in late 2006. If it were to reach that level again, the reduction in the base interest multiplier certainly reduces the capacity to potentially earn more as interest rate rises.
Before: Daily end balance of S$10,000 was needed in order to earn base interest
Again, this will limit one’s ability to maximize the interest in this account. In the past, while S$10,000 was the minimum to earn base interest, most people started with S$15,000 anyway as this is Citi’s minimum relationship balance required to avoid any fall below fees. The revision puts those clients who are maintaining between S$15,000 to S$70,000 in a bit of a bind. Typical folks that fit within this profile are young professionals who have been in the workforce for a few years or people who maintain multiple “high interest” kinds of accounts and put anything extra into the MaxiGain. With the changes effective 2019, the MaxiGain won’t be as good a deposit product unless you have at least S$70,000 to spare.
Another segment of clients affected are those who are relatively new into the account. A common tactic for those who opened the MaxiGain back then is to park S$15,000 first and wait for the counter to reach somewhere more respectable (i.e. the 6th counter) before they start pouring in the rest of their savings. With this revision, there’s now a bigger opportunity cost involved. Now, you’ll have to start by parking S$70,000 (instead of S$15,000 before) and earn only the base interest (roughly 1.14% p.a. considering current SIBOR levels) while waiting for the counters to progress.
Before: No cap on the amount that can earn bonus interest
When the revision kicks in, any amount over S$150,000 will earn a customary 0.05% pa. Prior to that, any extra balance could have earned max 1.20% pa bonus interest which is still ok considering there aren’t a whole lot of conditions attached to this deposit product. After the revision on the 02 January 2019, it will make little sense to park more than S$150,000 into the Citi MaxiGain Savings.
Have you ever noticed that some folks on social media seem to be professional country hoppers—and you want to know how they do it? Surprisingly, few are trust fund babies equipped with unlimited funds to support their holidays. Instead, these world travelers are usually frugal and smart when it comes to traveling on a budget. No matter what your financial situation, it’s easier to travel the world than you think. All it takes is a little planning, some flexibility, and willingness to get a little uncomfortable at times.
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The idea of travel has evolved rapidly in the last ten years or so that tools I used in the past – such as my notebook, guidebook, map and even compass – have relegated somewhat to being old-fashioned. So many tools have come up in recent years to make the idea of putting your life in a suitcase a reality. Guide books are now found as e-books and can be read over a tablet or phone while modern-day apps tell me exactly how to get from point a to b without having to ask a stranger for directions or look like a screaming tourist with a large paper map in tow. I suppose one of the main hurdles now is getting oneself familiar with these tools and the best way to use them. One tool which can easily be integrated to daily wear is the smart watch. Whether you are an android or iOS user, there are definitely advantages to be had by using a smart watch to help you with your travels. Check out the smartwatch infographic and read my top picks of the available options.
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Sky Premium is an exclusive membership programme officially launched on 23rd August 2018. Think of it as a luxurious version of the typical discount or privilege programme. With Sky Premium, members can access around 200 establishments spread across categories like travel, wine and dine, shopping and wellness. Through the online portal, members can enjoy unique perks and there is even an option to buy products from Sky Premium’s online store. Membership in this programme costs S$1,200 per year with the actual membership card coming with 1 gram of 24k gold.
Merchants under Sky Premium’s Travel pillar include Banyan Tree Group, Antarctica XXI and White Sharks Project. Under the Wine & Dine, merchants include BAM!, The Lighthouse and Peach Blossom.
Specific examples of privileges include:
Aside from the website, members can access the perks and privileges of Sky Premium anywhere using their mobile phones through the app. There will also be a monthly newsletter with the latest happenings, promotions as well as new merchants being added to the programme.
Members can also clinch invites to exclusive, closed-door events. These include masterclasses and prestigious members’ parties like cruise-ship soirees, fashion shows and more. Other than this, there is also the ability to earn points through bookings and reservations generated through the Sky Premium platform.
Editor’s Note: Singapore has quite a number of consumer-oriented membership programmes that have become successful over the years and Sky Premium is perhaps the most prominent one so far that specifically targets the well-heeled. Some of the food and dining privileges look interesting but the website provides scant details so far of the travel-related benefits. It would be good to know what these are eventually. Then again, one would probably have to be among the privileged few to find out.
Expats know that living in a foreign country can make day-to-day tasks twice as complicated: shopping for groceries can easily take hours and tracking an undelivered package can quickly turn into a frustrating game of hide-and-go-seek. Filing taxes can be complicated enough when filing from within your own country but as an American expat you’re required to file taxes both in your country of residence and with the IRS back home. The task can seem daunting. How should you report your foreign income? Your investments? Do you need to file for your spouse even if they aren’t an American citizen?
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Renewing one’s driver’s license in the Philippines used to be a major hassle and took up a good part of a day. There was also a time when the LTO itself ran out of actual licenses and had to make the motorist return another day just to get the actual ID.
With these unpleasant experiences in the past, I was not too excited to get my driver’s license renewed earlier this week. My license expired late last year but as I constantly missed being back in the Philippines during a working day, it took me a couple of months to finally do it.
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