Weekend Reading: 29 August – 4 September 2015

This week’s articles and my reflections on them are detailed below. And as usual, any feedback would be warmly welcomed. (To understand the genesis behind this weekly series, click here.)

How You Should Be Behaving In The Stock Market

Most of the time, you would be better off just investing and forgetting about the market. The more you look at how much the prices of your holdings have fallen, the more likely you will “buy high, sell low”.

The longer I stay in this investing journey, the more I am inclined towards a simple, mechanical strategy to navigate the markets and obtain decent returns. And below are some simple pointers from various bloggers that I found useful.

3 Investing Lessons I Learnt From Reservist (Cheerful Egg)

Top 5 Points That Show You Anyhow Invest (Don’t Anyhow)

Simple Strategy For This Market Correction (A Pen Quotes)

Singapore Savings Bonds

Yes, the SSBs are here and I will be applying for it. There’s a simple guide to applying below and of course, GMGH also explains why the SSBs are better than most insurance products out there. Basically, a higher interest, no penalties and no lock-in period.

At the same time, as what The Boring Investor mentioned below, don’t forget about the SGS bonds. They are a typical market instrument that could prove to be just as rewarding as well. Instead of a step-up, you get about 3% interest a year. The trade-off is no principal guarantee so you can make a capital loss although you can’t rule out a capital gain too.

Easy Step By Step Guide To Applying For Singapore Savings Bonds Online (StockBrokerPlaysPoker)

Singapore Savings Bond just raped the GE 2% “Guaranteed Saver”(GMGH)

Getting The Best of Both SSB & SGS (The Boring Investor)

Credit Cards & Savings Accounts

Getting the right credit card paired with the right savings accounts can easily save you 2% of your expenses in a year. It’s a hack that a frugal person like me simply can’t do without.

Granted, banks can easily change terms and conditions in the blink of an eye. But as customers, we can always vote with out feet. Instead of using the OCBC Frank Card, why not switch to the OCBC 365 card if the pattern of your expenditure is similar to mine?

As for saving accounts, in spite of all that has been written so far, I still believe that OCBC 360 trumps the UOB One account for most people, even though the UOB One is probably more suitable for a self-employed like me. Will be writing on that soon. I have a huge backlog of posts!

Time To Ditch And Burn The New OCBC Frank Card (GMGH)

Great For Big Savers – UOB One Account (SimplyJesMe)

Others

MediShield LIFE Part 2 – Private Integrated Shield Plans (BigFatPurse)

If you can afford it, you are recommended to get a private integrated shield plan in addition to the compulsory MediShield Life.

You never know if you would prefer “more atas” care when you’re sick. As for who to buy it from, I personally feel that you can’t go wrong with NTUC Income. And I like the fact that according to Louis, NTUC Income’s comparative advantage is in their cheaper plans.

Reflections On My $50K Savings Journey (Bully The Bear)

For the bulk of us, the path to financial freedom begins with savings from our income. Without savings, what’s the point of talking about investing?

And obviously, the more you save, the faster the path. It definitely helps if you can save significant sums like $50k in a year and LP’s reflections on his journey is very useful to a budding self-employed person like me.