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Worth spending 10 minutes reading it..... Yahoo news: 3 Big Money Mistakes Singaporeans in Their 30s are Making When you’re in your twenties, if you aren’t lucky enough to have a trust fund or a business to inherit, chances are you’re either scrambling to find a job or to find yourself. But you should have everything figured out by the time you’re 30… right? I’m not sure if it’s something in the water, but it seems like lots of the 30-somethings around me still haven’t quite gotten their act together. In fact, despite earning a lot more than they were in their 20s, it seems like more and more 30-somethings are getting mired in debt. I have a sneaking suspicion the following money mistakes have something to do with it. Let’s find out. Spending too much on their weddingsSpeak with a typical Singaporean 30-something in a relationship and there’s an 80% chance they’ll start talking about marriage and complaining about the high cost of wedding banquets. In fact, it’s become standard practice in Singapore to spend an average of $50,000 on a wedding, with many going up to $90,000. Truth be told, many of the grooms-to-be I’ve spoken to haven’t even been that keen on splashing out on a lavish wedding, gloomily stating that it’s their fiancees who want a dream wedding and they have no choice but to go along with it. Shane, a 30-year-old bank analyst, is going to tie the knot next year. “While I would prefer to have a smaller, more inexpensive wedding, my fiancee has a very large family and wants to have a hotel wedding banquet, so I’m bracing myself for the cost,” he says. Falling deeper into consumer debt instead of digging themselves out of itIn countries where young people move out of their parents’ homes during university or at least once they get their first jobs, the 20s are a time of being broke and paying off student loans, while in their 30s most start enjoying greater financial stability. In Singapore, however, for many people the opposite is true, as they continue to live under their parents’ roofs until well into their 20s. It is only when they start working, which can be as late as the mid to late 20s for those who have advanced degrees or males who do national service, that they are suddenly forced to bear the financial responsibility of supporting aged parents or purchasing property. That, and the persistent lifestyle inflation that dogs the young and upwardly mobile, has resulted in high levels of consumer debt amongst 30-somethings. Penelope, a 34-year-old HR executive, has recently run into cash flow issues. She goes on overseas vacations twice a year during the school holidays together with her husband and three kids to locations such as London and LA. Each time, the family spends close to $10,000. While she was mostly credit card-debt free in her 20s, she now has a credit card balance which she rolls over each month. “My family has grown, but my husband and I continue to be the only ones bringing in money. As a result, our spending has increased quite a bit.” she says. It’s not just those with kids who face credit card debt. Albert, a 31-year-old bank executive, carries about $10,000 worth of credit card debt, which is more than 2 months’ worth of salary. He survives by paying only the minimum sum each month. Most of his debt was chalked up while spending on food, drinks and entertainment. In fact, a recent report showed that one in five credit card holders in Singapore now pays only the minimum sum each month. And a fast-growing segment of the population with revolving debt consists of women aged 30 and above. Orchard Road might have something to do with it…. Overcommitting to houses and carsIn your 20s, most of your peers are still living at home and taking the MRT. But once you hit the big 3-oh, you look around and realise that more and more of your friends are buying property and driving cars. This sudden shift has led to many 30-somethings committing to property and car purchases that are really a bit more than they can afford. Many of the 30-somethings I’ve spoken to who’ve recently started paying for their own properties have admitted that their finances are tight and leave no room for error or accident. While the TDSR framework aims to stop people from overstretching themselves, it fails to consider their day-to-day expenses, which can amount to quite a bit. In addition to paying her home loan installments, Belinda, a 30-year-old bank executive, also gives her parents $1,000 a month, spends about $1,000 a month on her car and has personal expenses of about $2,000 a month. She depleted most of her savings to make the downpayment on her new condo unit and is now treading dangerous waters. “Basically, I can’t afford to stop working for many years to come,” she says. “I’m not really worried about losing my job as things are going well at work, but then again anything is possible.” (Names have been changed to protect the identity of respondents.) Link: https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/3-big-money-mistakes-singaporeans-160000290.html

As above. Please leave contact number.... if possible the price. Thanks.

Rebirth, or Looming Fizzle? The Station Wagon Had a Pretty Good Year in 2018 In the absolutely superb 1949 war film Twelve O’Clock High, a doctor stationed at a U.S. Army Air Force base in WW2 England uses an interesting comparison when describing a character’s mental breakdown. “Have you ever seen a light bulb burn out? How bright the filament gets right before it breaks?” A similar phenomenon could be at work in a certain vehicle niche, one which gets more press than actual sales warrant. The lowly, reviled, and suddenly revered station wagon, now referred to in terms meant to dispel the stodgy family hauler image of decades past. Never mind that BMW just announced its 3 Series wagon won’t make a return trip from Europe. There’s wagons aplenty these days, and it’s this writer’s firm belief that you’ll never have a better change to bring home a competent non-light truck cargo hauler. It’s now or never. While wagon variants allow automakers to rack up additional sales of a given nameplate, the wagon community remains a small one. Loyal and passionate, but small. And what room there is for growth depends on your level of optimism. As Bloomberg notes, 2018 was a great year for wagon sales, simply because consumers suddenly found themselves with choice. Buick has the new Regal TourX, Jaguar has the new XF Sportbrake, Volvo has the tony V90 and V60, Mercedes-Benz has the dignified E 450 4Matic wagon and disgruntled AMG E63 S wagon, Audi has the A4 Allroad, and Volkswagen will still gladly sell you a modest Golf SportWagen. All of this choice resulted in a bigger niche than years past. Some 212,000 wagons left U.S. dealer lots in 2018, representing a 29 percent sales increase compared to five years earlier. Still, wagons amounted to less than 2 percent of the new vehicle market last year. That’s plug-in car territory. This group of buyers, described by Buick marketing director Sam Russell as “almost violently opposed to being mainstream,” doesn’t want to be seen driving an anonymous crossover. And let’s face it, it’s easier to sculpt a sexy wagon than a high-riding, bulbous crossover. Thing is, though, wagons sales are a slim wedge of the overall volume of a particular nameplate. As sedan sales falter, wagons, despite their snob appeal, won’t pick up enough of the slack. All a wagon can do is delay a model’s discontinuation, if we’re to assume today’s market shift continues uninterrupted. If sedans disappear from our streets, so too will wagons, despite wagons being a happy middle ground between sedans and crossovers. A sad situation, if the worst-case scenario comes to pass. While Bloomberg reports Buick’s TourX sales “increased steadily” over the past 12 months, Volvo’s gorgeous V90 is now available by custom order only, and Jaguar’s XF Sportbrake, while sultry, has to contend with the fact that no one’s interested in buying Jaguar cars these days. Even the brand’s crossovers can’t keep sales in the black. Despite the recent uptick in wagon interest and availability, it’s hard not to see this phenomenon as a tired light bulb valiantly burning its way towards destruction.

To create awareness for the less informed..

Dead Christmas Trees To Be Used In The Making Of Engine Oil? “Motor” oil is the lifeblood of any car – unless you drive one of those battery-powered slugs. The lubricating fluid has typically been made from crude oil found underground, or a man-made mixture that creates a synthetic oil. Now, your dead or dying Christmas tree might be the way of the future to create your next oil change. A company called Nexcel has developed a motor oil made entirely from waste, which includes chewing gum and Christmas trees. A myriad of waste items have been recycled in the lab to yield properties required for crucial chemical additives. If Castrol wants our old Christmas trees, will the company be paying a “core charge”? If so, we will need to pay an environmental deposit when we purchase a tree? Castrol innovation business, Nexcel, has produced automotive-grade engine oil using nothing but waste products. Chewing gum, used fryer oil, batteries, bathroom sealant, and even a Christmas tree have been recycled and have yielded vital properties for the ambitious program, which demonstrates the significant potential of re-refined oil. “The project showcases the sustainability potential of waste” says John Ward-Zinski, Nexcel’s sustainability director. “This was a hugely demanding project, completed over the last year. It’s one which we hope will open the public’s eyes as to the importance of recycling and sustainability. Few people would think that discarded Christmas trees and old chewing gum could have a commercial or environmental value, but our engine oil shows this is the case.” According to the press release we received, Nexcel’s ambitious project has been inspired by the company’s innovative sealed-oil cell, which provides vehicle manufacturers with efficiency benefits and promotes used oil collection and re-refinement. “Our system has already been utilized by our technical partner, Aston Martin, for use in the visceral Vantage AMR Pro at last year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. At that event, the car became the first to tackle the legendary hill climb using re-refined oils,” continues Ward-Zinski. “In 2016, Nexcel and Aston Martin also achieved a podium finish in the competitive VLN Championship at the most arduous racetrack in the world: the Nürburgring. Sustainability, and therefore re-refinement, are of growing global significance; hopefully this project helps demonstrate the extent of what is possible.” Hopefully, the price of an oil change will decrease after Christmas because of a dead tree surplus. The most significant challenges of the project included the yielding of phenols and catechols from the waste to be used as antioxidants, forming the basis of the chemical additives required. Nexcel’s experts worked with a zero-waste goal, and after significant research, analysis of component properties and trial and error, the blend consisted of 180 chewing gum pieces, 500ml of used fryer oil, one gallon of RTV silicone sealant, 14 household batteries, 1-liter of used engine oil, and an old Christmas tree. Extraction of components from these waste items enabled Nexcel scientists to produce 1-liter of automotive engine oil. Finally, a good use for this stuff. “Re-refinement of used oil can create a high-quality product when blended with new additives, but bulk feedstocks made up of many different types of used oils can complicate the process and reduce the yield. Nexcel’s oil-management system avoids this by segregating used engine oil, keeping it in the cell during collection,” says Ward-Zinski. “For this particular project, we wanted to make the oil from waste materials, and the challenge lay in the creation of the chemical additives. However, with creative utilization of modern technology there is huge potential in recycling. It could even help prevent the traditional Christmas tree tip-run needle-drop, from which no car interior has ever recovered.” - https://www.turnology.com/news/motor-oil-trees/

Some sharing. My daughter, age 12, started this hobby of making slime. Now she is 13 now she is hooked into making slime. She males slime and sell to people who orders at Carousell. Her friends in her class and some sch mates also order customised slime with choice colours. I helped her to get her slime making ingredients from art shop or carousell Anyone here loves making slime or your own children make slime? Do share. Cheers and thank you.

Just curious.....hehe Mod pls remove this poll if found inappropriate, thanks

amidst the claim of FW that their issue can't be helped by MOM. now, ...the art of dodging bullets..

Susan Lim sells home at Sentosa Cove for $39mil 2 March 2012 Straits Times EMBATTLED surgeon Susan Lim has sold her sea-facing bungalow in Sentosa Cove for $39 million, a record absolute price for the upmarket enclave. It is believed the home - a plush residence said to have five bedrooms and an entertainment room - was bought by an Indian national from the energy sector. A few months ago, his purchase would have attracted the standard 3 per cent stamp duty, but the measures that came in on Dec 8 imposed an additional 10 per cent duty on foreign home buyers. So the buyer will now have to stump up about $5 million in levies for the privilege of buying Dr Lim's home. Sentosa Cove is the only place where non-permanent resident foreigners can buy landed homes, although transactions still need government approval. Dr Lim's 15,929 sq ft estate in Cove Drive - likely two adjoining plots that had been merged - was priced at $2,448 per sq ft (psf). That is well above auction prices achieved for 12 vacant Sentosa Cove bungalow plots in the southern precinct where Cove Drive is located. Each plot went for between $656 and $1,039 psf in August 2006, or between $5.56 million and $8.15 million each. They do not include the construction costs. But even taking into account these costs, Dr Lim most likely has made a handsome profit from the sale. The Lim sale smashes the old record of $36 million - or $2,403 psf - paid for a 14,983 sq ft bungalow on Paradise Island in the northern part of Sentosa Cove. Mr Shen Bin, a Chinese national and Singapore permanent resident, is believed to have bought the property in May 2010. Mr Shen is said to be the son of billionaire entrepreneur Shen Wenrong, chairman of China-based steel manufacturer Shagang Group. The island experienced tepid sales volumes last year, so this latest mega-deal could revive the sector. Only 79 caveats - 24 for landed and 55 for non-landed homes - with a total value of $737.6 million were lodged with the Urban Redevelopment Authority last year. And there were only 12 new home sales last year, forcing some developers to look towards renting out completed but unsold projects. The lacklustre 2011 followed a better year when 203 caveats - 62 landed and 141 non-landed homes - with a value of $1.7 billion were lodged. With 75 caveats lodged, 2008 was the only year with lower sales volumes than 2011 since caveats started being lodged for Sentosa Cove in 2004. Dr Lim was in the limelight after she took the Singapore Medical Council (SMC), which regulates the medical profession, to court. She had wanted to block an inquiry by a second medical disciplinary committee to look into complaints of overcharging. There were allegations that she charged a member of the Brunei royal family $24.8 million for seven months of treatment and made false representations in invoices rendered to her. The patient died of cancer in 2007. Dr Lim later gave a 50 per cent discount. After losing her case in both the High Court and the Court of Appeal, she has to bear the cost of her own legal fees as well as those of the SMC. In such civil suits the losing party has to pay a part of the winning party's legal charges. This is in addition to the fees Dr Lim has to pay her own lawyers. She will also have to pay costs for both hearings.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/long-queue-kaw-kaw-042003731.html Kuala Lumpur (The Star/ANN) - Would you wait three hours just to buy a burger from a roadside stall? Many customers are willing to take a number and queue that long just to get a taste of the famous grilled burgers offered at the Kaw Kaw Burger Bakar roadside stall in Wangsa Maju. Loyal customers do not mind waiting for the chicken and beef burgers.

My yesterday flight from Japan to Singapore, the plane made a u turn after nearing taiwan.... went back to tokyo. JAL.... Just tell us maintenance issue... Horrible feeling

I would setup the breadmaker at night, then ny morning I would have freah warm whitebread. But the problem is the bottom end of the bread would always be damped. It would by 4th or 5th day, the bread would have moss. How to resolve this problem? I am using Breville Breadmaker.

Figures taken from "Cost (S$) For Cars Registered in June 2009" from LTA the left figure is for basic car cost inclusive of ave omv,arf,custom tax,gst,COE. the right figure is the dealer selling price with COE. are china cars THAT cheap? let the figures speak for themselves... of course conti makes the profit margin is higher...but for budget car? hmmm CHERY A5 1.6 MT 30,143 50,999 --> 20k profit CHERY QQ 0.8L MANUAL 24,335 35,999 --> 10.5k profit CHERY T11 1.6 MT 33,731 55,999 ---> 22k profit CHEVROLET AVEO 1.4MT 34,709 48,199 --> 14k profit HONDA CIVIC 1.6L 5AT 68,665 82,800 ---> 14k profit HONDA JAZZ 1.5L A 68,485 80,100 ---> 12k profit KIA CERATO FORTE 1.6(A) 44,499 50,499 ---> 6k profit KIA RIO 1.4 AT 2WD 5DR 35,853 42,499 ---> 7k profit MITSUBISHI LANCER 1.6 CVT SPORTS GLX 42,911 50,988 ---> 8k profit NISSAN LATIO 1.5L AT ABS D/AIRBAG 2WD 4DR 54,207 65,500 ---> 10k profit TOYOTA COROLLA ALTIS 1.6 AUTO 51,768 67,988 --> 16k profit

A photo illustration by the Ministry of Transport showing a road junction at Marine Crescent with road signs for "Silver Zone". New road features aimed at improving safety are being introduced in five residential estates, under a "Silver Zone" pilot programme by the Land Transport Authority (LTA). New road features aimed at improving safety are being introduced in five residential estates, under a "Silver Zone" pilot programme by the Land Transport Authority (LTA). Some of these include special road signs and markings, centre dividers and road humps, as well as speed limit reductions to 40kmh along certain roads. Works will start in early August in the first two estates - Bukit Merah and Jurong West - and are expected to be completed by the end of the year, the LTA said in a statement on Monday. The improvements were decided on after studying best practices overseas in countries like South Korea and the United States, and were announced earlier in the Committee of Supply Debate, it added. Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/new-road-features-make-five-residential-estates-safer-el

This is rather morbid, but hey everyone has to go one day. Got pic to see....... https://sg.news.yahoo.com/puerto-rico-woman-propped-chair-wake-231708318.html SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — An 80-year-old Puerto Rican woman has been memorialized at her wake sitting in her favorite rocking chair and wearing her old wedding gown. At a San Juan funeral home, the body of Georgina Chervony Lloren was propped up in her red-cushioned rocking chair Monday and wearing the gown from her second marriage 32 years ago. She was surrounded by plants and flowers. Her daughter, Miriam Chervony, said her mother specified that this was how she imagined her wake. She died Sunday. The wake was held at Marin Funeral Home, which is well-known for putting on unusual, thematic wakes. At one wake, a slain boxer was memorialized standing in a makeshift boxing ring. At another, the deceased was propped up on his motorcycle.

Old-school mobiles make comeback with consumers paying top dollar for Nokia brick phones NETWORK WRITERS, WIRES AFP MAY 26, 2014 2:15PM SHARE 21 Nokia Lumia under hammer test1:47 Play video A Nokia Lumia 900 is put to the test of being hammered on with nails and more. AUTOPLAYON OFF Back in time ... handsets like the Nokia 3310 allow just basic text messaging and phone calls. Source: News Limited Nokia Lumia under hammer test Back in time ... handsets like the Nokia... THEY fit in a pocket, have batteries that last all week and are almost indestructible: old-school Nokias, Ericssons and Motorolas are making a comeback as consumers tire of fragile and overly-wired smartphones. LEAKED LETTER: Is this the end of Nokia? With no apps, video calls or smiley faces, handsets like the Nokia 3310 or the Motorola StarTec 130 allow just basic text messaging and phone calls. But demand for them is growing, according to reports out of Europe, where some of these second-hand models are fetching prices as high as 1000 euros ($1500) a piece. The Nokia brick ... tired of your smartphone’s low battery life? You can always go back to using a trusty Nokia 3310 - but it will cost you. Source: News Limited “Some people don’t blink at the prices, we have models at more than 1000 euros. The high prices are due to the difficulty in finding those models, which were limited editions in their time,” said Djassem Haddad, who started the site vintagemobile.fr in 2009. Haddad had been eyeing a niche market, but since last year, sales have taken off, he said. Over the past two to three years, he has sold some 10,000 handsets, “with a real acceleration from the beginning of 2013”. “The ageing population is looking for simpler phones, while other consumers want a second cheap phone,” he said. Niche market ... old-school Motorola phones are also proving popular. Source: News Corp Australia Among the top-sellers on the website is the Nokia 8210, with a tiny monochrome screen and plastic buttons, at $90. Ironically, the trend is just starting as the telecommunications industry consigns such handsets to the recycling bins, hailing smartphones as the way ahead. Finnish giant Nokia, which was undisputedly the biggest mobile phone company before the advent of Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy, offloaded its handset division to Microsoft this year after failing to catch the smartphone wave. But it was probably also the supposedly irreversible switch towards the smartphone that has given the old school phone an unexpected boost. And I found my old sckool toys. I find my 3310 in a bit...hahaha

I want to make a number plate with the Euro fonts but without the blue strip. Any workshop to recommend for this? Preferably in Leng Kee area.

A 10 min video, however quality of video is not fantastic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFqdJT4QhU4

Hey, just asking if there is this gal staying in the same block, and you have the "hots" for her, both you and the gal know each other by sight but never talk to each other before, how to go up and strike a conversation and make friend with her?

Garment comes out some new initiatives to make our roads safer.....and for those with 12 or more demerit pts, there's a reprieve to reduce 3 pts if a test is passed....... http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin...1258531/1/.html

Yahoo report : 'Already Famous' in race for Foreign Language Film Oscar By Jeffrey Oon | Singapore Showbiz

Hi all, need your opinion on this. Should I report this to the authority? Who should I report it to? I

chanced upon this in one motoring website by chance, saw that honda is making loss by selling honda jazz.... take a look below.

S'porean woman marries dying hubby in hospital Tuesday, Jun 19, 2012 The New Paper By Maureen Koh They registered their marriage 13 years ago, but this couple never had the chance to have a traditional wedding. But as the gravely ill man lay in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the National University Hospital (NUH), deejays from Radio 1003, Singapore Press Holding's Chinese language station, swung into action, and made their wish come true two weeks ago. The radio station's programme director Carine Ang said: "It was such a touching moment... everyone present was moved to tears." It started with an SMS sent to the radio station by Madam Chua Mui Mui in April, wishing her husband a happy wedding anniversary. Madam Chua, 37, also revealed that her husband, Mr Tay Guan Yeow, 44, had felt bad all these years for not giving her the wedding of her dreams. After her message was read out on air, listeners called in with offers to help the couple have their wedding pictures taken. At the time, no one knew that the childless couple - who sell roasted meats at an industrial area in the western part of Singapore - were going through a harrowing situation. Mr Tay was suffering from kidney failure. He had been diagnosed just two years after they registered their marriage, in 1999, when she was 24 and he was 31. Battling his illness, they had put off the traditional dinner and wedding photos. Until Madam Chua's heartfelt message to the radio station. Offers of kindness The offers poured in. But the couple initially hesitated. Madam Chua, explains: "We were a little worried, and then because we had delayed responding to the offers, we didn't think more about it." Then, on June 5, Mr Tay's condition worsened and he was rushed to NUH. Doctors told Madam Chua that he might not pull through. It prompted her to send another SMS to the radio station's hotline. In the message, she asked: "If we want to take wedding photos, would it be too late? My husband has just been admitted to ICU." Ms Ang said the minute their duty deejay received the message, everyone was galvanised into action. She says: "Our hearts dropped. We wanted to do something for the couple, especially because we knew that Mr Tay was a loyal 1003 supporter. "We wanted to do whatever we could to make their wish come true." By 8pm, the team, which included deejay Tan Yan Wei and Ms Ang, had secured a rent-free gown from My Wedding Affair and complimentary photography. A nurse helped take Madam Chua's measurements so that they'd get the right gown size, and the team rushed down to the hospital. There was hardly a dry eye in the ICU when the bride walked in, resplendent in her gown. As she bent over over her husband, Madam Chua asked him: "Am I pretty? Are you happy?" Tears flowed freely as Mr Tay said yes, and handed a bouquet of flowers to his wife. 'I will live for him' Ms Ang said that those who witnessed the simple ceremony included Mr Tay's family members and Madam Chua's two younger sisters. After the ceremony, the groom told everyone: "I'm sorry that we don't have anything to give you." "But if I am discharged, I will definitely bring snacks and roast meats to the radio station." Madam Chua says she believes her husband, who had his left leg and right toes amputated earlier this year, is hanging on for her. She admits that some friends and family members have asked her why she stayed on with her sick husband, whom they view as a yoke around her neck. She says: "I don't get it, how can he be a burden to me? We exchanged vows and there's this line, 'In sickness and in health'. "How can we forget this line? It's never occurred to me that I should abandon him." In a recording that Mr Tay did for the radio station, he said: "This whole life, I loved only Chua Mei Mei. (There will be) no other choices and no regrets. I will love her forever and ever. "Whether it's in life or in death, I will also miss her. Even though I will leave first, I want her to go on living and carry on with her life." To which, Madam Chua says: "Some people have asked me what are my plans for the future. "I don't know. I've not thought about it. Just as my husband is keeping strong for me, I will do the same for him. "I will live for him."

This morning traffic was slow at PIE toward Jurong at the exit to Toa Payoh. Saw this red vios making an illegal left turn at the traffic junction after Kim Keat link. I noticed that some drivers would choose to make an illegal left turn at this junction whenever there was a jam at the slip road leading to Toa Payoh Lor 6. Their move are endanger to other road users, as there are pedestrians crossing the road at that time & they may not expected cars making an left turn.