My favourite WFH money hack? I simply reduced all my nonessential expenditure and consolidated the extra savings from my WFH routine (vis work in office), and regularly buy or do regular savings plan in a variety of bond-focused unit trusts with monthly dividends, as well as equities.

Sharing more:
With DBS multiplier interests being cut, I simply moved the money I don't intend to touch out of the multiplier account to a mix of Digiportfolio, REITs and fairly OK credit-rated income-focused bond fund unit trusts. This way, I raise my monthly "interest" payout to compensate for the muted DBS multiplier interest rates.

While my payment of credit cards is always very stable and reliable, I choose pay by interest-free instalment for purchases above $100, so that I have more cash in hand at any point in time and can use that to RSP my income-generating unit trusts to pay off these mini instalments. Bills and expenditure are very easy to monitor when you don't spend a lot.

I don't sleep with air-con, so that my children can. Also eat their leftovers.

I never spend more than what I can afford, eat/take out only 1-2 times a week, and always try to save about 10-20% of my salary, which is near the national household median (I am the only earner). I'm a single dad of 2 kids and have a very litigious-minded and mad ex-wife, so I have also very unnecessarily spent a ton of money on lawyers to handle her madness. WFH made me work longer hours and on weekends. Further, I got no investment or finance background. So if I can still save and do money hacks and make my savings generate fair recurring income, so can most folks.

Other very lucky breaks - dumped a ton of CPF OA into the STI ETF during the 2020 market crash, so am now taking "accumulate" or DCA approach in that area. Emptied out most of life savings to buy bank shares during 2020 dip and exited at 20-35% profit less than a year later. Dumped the earnings into multiplier account, Digiportfolio, income funds unit trusts and large market cap REITs - and reinvest dividends.

Other hacks:

• Cut down on food delivery expenditure, or cut off completely.

• Reduce expenditure on beverages from food courts, coffeeshops; instead either live healthily by drinking water or getting your beverages from the supermarket.

• If you don't already have them, invest in a hot water pot/dispenser, a toaster oven and a rice cooker. These can be used to make simple drinks and meals. Get your food from the supermarket, and set a target of 5-8 home-cooked meals a week to reduce cost of buying takeouts or ordering deliveries.

• Spend less on new clothes given WFH is part of the new normal. If there are bulk discounts, buy some of the same presentable clothes because you are after all going to appear on Zoom anyway.

• If you don't already have it, invest in a fan to keep cool while WFH. Use your air-con for an hour and turn it off for 2 hours, versus using it for 3 consecutive hours, then use the fan instead.

• Cancel your gym memberships. Just go to the playground or fitness corner and bang out your dips, pull-ups, inclined rows, step-ups, burpees and mountain-climbers. Jog around your neighbourhood or cycle on the park connector. Most of us live in HDB, so walk up the stairs. Stay active and healthy without spending too much.

• Move your recurring payments (bills, season parking, utilities) to your POSB everyday credit card to get cashback, and also check the boxes of your DBS multiplier account.

• Use the above savings and do dollar cost averaging with your - based on risk profile and appetitie - Digiportfolio, bond fund unit trusts, equities unit trusts, or stock market equities.

All the best! Don't survive, but thrive!

Hi, I've been in and out of the digiportfolio for about 4 times and am on my 5th. It's more reasonable to keep your digiportfolio for at least a year or two. Dividends are reinvested, which means you will grow and compound, and the people managing it have been quite active. I personally believe the capital and dividend gains will definitely beat savings interest rates and may be an annual gain of at least 3% if you are super conservative.

The purpose of buying into this digiportfolio is for you to passively dump your money while being fully aware of (i) the risks you are exposing yourself to (but that is managed with diversification via the bundle of component ETFs), and (ii) your ultimate goal for this investment (e.g. either you revisit it after 10 years or you exit when you surpass the 10% threshold within 2 years; depends on what you really want).

I was quite disappointed by the unfortunate timing of the recent tinkering that included Hang Seng Tech ETF just before the China dip. So can only hope things get better.

Before the recent latest portfolio rebalancing, the fluctuations for the "highest risk" (fast and furious) Asia Digiportfolio was about 4-5 percentage points from the principal sum invested, all within the space of 6 months.

As you might wonder why I've been in and out of DigiPortfolio. I was just depositing large sums of money I short-term borrowed at 1% (from another bank, 0% interest for 6 months, 1% admin fee, great deal there), and entered into the DigiPortfolio of the mornings when its component STI ETF and SG REIT ETF hit dips (they're always fluctuating and typically correlated to DJIA movements the night before), back then when those components had higher weightage. And then I will exit after a dividend cycle or two (of the component ETFs), and at about 4-5% growth in the portfolio within 5 months. So the earnings will be about 2-4% of the vested sum within that short period of time - a low bar, but I've low expectations. As a non-investor/finance-trained person, it is generally not advisable to do this kind of thing.

I was previously on the now-defunct Smartly roboadvisor, which was a s**tshow in its final weeks, as funds were locked in before they killed off the company and refunded investors at losses during the onset of COVID. DBS DigiPortfolio (Asian and Global) are decent tools at the moment - they might have overtinkered the balancing but even the professionals get it wrong with other people's hard-earned monies and still sleep well at night. They are continuing to iterate the platform for better user experience, and I believe very soon, they might even incorporate auto-savings function (daily, weekly, monthly, or any interval) just to differentiate themselves from the competition, right product manager?

All the best!

• Is it mathematically more logical to (i) frontload a downpayment to minimise loan amount and tenure, or (ii) invest the monies to generate passive income p.a. of around 3% while servicing a loan?

• In relation to the previous question, what lifestyle and financial considerations should one take in making such a decision?

• Post-Mah Bow Tan "HDB as investment" era, what should the financial considerations be for an owner of a HDB flat whose flat is fully paid for, but the flat is approaching 40 years of its 99 leasehold? Can and should a HDB flat ever be treated as an investment? If so, is it in reality more of a depreciating asset or an appreciating one?

• Based on data, notwithstanding macroeconomic trends, at which point in its leasehold is a HDB flat no longer an appreciating asset but a depreciating asset?

• The internet has "gurus" that talk about owning/living in a condo as an investment, even if that requires leverage. From a purely financial standpoint, is this a viable and more stable investment strategy, versus living within means, having less leverage and making (lower-risk) investments?

• Like to ask about the CPF versus bank loan approach to buying property in your 40s. What are the main considerations for this demography of people?

It may be inconvenient to renovate one room at a time. Suggest to talk it out, plan it well and renovate the entire house at one go. There will be debt, but think about the lack of interuptions once you move in, versus moving in and out when it has to be renovated bit by bit. When you talk stuff out, best to align your priorities - debt, peace of mind, other material matters. All the best!

• Is it mathematically more logical to (i) frontload a downpayment to minimise loan amount and tenure, or (ii) invest the monies to generate passive income p.a. of around 3% while servicing a loan?

• In relation to the previous question, what lifestyle and financial considerations should one take in making such a decision?

• Post-Mah Bow Tan "HDB as investment" era, what should the financial considerations be for an owner of a HDB flat whose flat is fully paid for, but the flat is approaching 40 years of its 99 leasehold? Can and should a HDB flat ever be treated as an investment? If so, is it in reality more of a depreciating asset or an appreciating one?

• Based on data, notwithstanding macroeconomic trends, at which point in its leasehold is a HDB flat no longer an appreciating asset but a depreciating asset?

• The internet has "gurus" that talk about owning/living in a condo as an investment, even if that requires leverage. From a purely financial standpoint, is this a viable and more stable investment strategy, versus living within means, having less leverage and making (lower-risk) investments?

• Like to ask about the CPF versus bank loan approach to buying property in your 40s. What are the main considerations for this demography of people?

Hi, I've been in and out of the digiportfolio for about 4 times and am on my 5th. It's more reasonable to keep your digiportfolio for at least a year or two. Dividends are reinvested, which means you will grow and compound, and the people managing it have been quite active. I personally believe the capital and dividend gains will definitely beat savings interest rates and may be an annual gain of at least 3% if you are super conservative.

The purpose of buying into this digiportfolio is for you to passively dump your money while being fully aware of (i) the risks you are exposing yourself to (but that is managed with diversification via the bundle of component ETFs), and (ii) your ultimate goal for this investment (e.g. either you revisit it after 10 years or you exit when you surpass the 10% threshold within 2 years; depends on what you really want).

I was quite disappointed by the unfortunate timing of the recent tinkering that included Hang Seng Tech ETF just before the China dip. So can only hope things get better.

Before the recent latest portfolio rebalancing, the fluctuations for the "highest risk" (fast and furious) Asia Digiportfolio was about 4-5 percentage points from the principal sum invested, all within the space of 6 months.

As you might wonder why I've been in and out of DigiPortfolio. I was just depositing large sums of money I short-term borrowed at 1% (from another bank, 0% interest for 6 months, 1% admin fee, great deal there), and entered into the DigiPortfolio of the mornings when its component STI ETF and SG REIT ETF hit dips (they're always fluctuating and typically correlated to DJIA movements the night before), back then when those components had higher weightage. And then I will exit after a dividend cycle or two (of the component ETFs), and at about 4-5% growth in the portfolio within 5 months. So the earnings will be about 2-4% of the vested sum within that short period of time - a low bar, but I've low expectations. As a non-investor/finance-trained person, it is generally not advisable to do this kind of thing.

I was previously on the now-defunct Smartly roboadvisor, which was a s**tshow in its final weeks, as funds were locked in before they killed off the company and refunded investors at losses during the onset of COVID. DBS DigiPortfolio (Asian and Global) are decent tools at the moment - they might have overtinkered the balancing but even the professionals get it wrong with other people's hard-earned monies and still sleep well at night. They are continuing to iterate the platform for better user experience, and I believe very soon, they might even incorporate auto-savings function (daily, weekly, monthly, or any interval) just to differentiate themselves from the competition, right product manager?

All the best!

My favourite WFH money hack? I simply reduced all my nonessential expenditure and consolidated the extra savings from my WFH routine (vis work in office), and regularly buy or do regular savings plan in a variety of bond-focused unit trusts with monthly dividends, as well as equities.

Sharing more:
With DBS multiplier interests being cut, I simply moved the money I don't intend to touch out of the multiplier account to a mix of Digiportfolio, REITs and fairly OK credit-rated income-focused bond fund unit trusts. This way, I raise my monthly "interest" payout to compensate for the muted DBS multiplier interest rates.

While my payment of credit cards is always very stable and reliable, I choose pay by interest-free instalment for purchases above $100, so that I have more cash in hand at any point in time and can use that to RSP my income-generating unit trusts to pay off these mini instalments. Bills and expenditure are very easy to monitor when you don't spend a lot.

I don't sleep with air-con, so that my children can. Also eat their leftovers.

I never spend more than what I can afford, eat/take out only 1-2 times a week, and always try to save about 10-20% of my salary, which is near the national household median (I am the only earner). I'm a single dad of 2 kids and have a very litigious-minded and mad ex-wife, so I have also very unnecessarily spent a ton of money on lawyers to handle her madness. WFH made me work longer hours and on weekends. Further, I got no investment or finance background. So if I can still save and do money hacks and make my savings generate fair recurring income, so can most folks.

Other very lucky breaks - dumped a ton of CPF OA into the STI ETF during the 2020 market crash, so am now taking "accumulate" or DCA approach in that area. Emptied out most of life savings to buy bank shares during 2020 dip and exited at 20-35% profit less than a year later. Dumped the earnings into multiplier account, Digiportfolio, income funds unit trusts and large market cap REITs - and reinvest dividends.

Other hacks:

• Cut down on food delivery expenditure, or cut off completely.

• Reduce expenditure on beverages from food courts, coffeeshops; instead either live healthily by drinking water or getting your beverages from the supermarket.

• If you don't already have them, invest in a hot water pot/dispenser, a toaster oven and a rice cooker. These can be used to make simple drinks and meals. Get your food from the supermarket, and set a target of 5-8 home-cooked meals a week to reduce cost of buying takeouts or ordering deliveries.

• Spend less on new clothes given WFH is part of the new normal. If there are bulk discounts, buy some of the same presentable clothes because you are after all going to appear on Zoom anyway.

• If you don't already have it, invest in a fan to keep cool while WFH. Use your air-con for an hour and turn it off for 2 hours, versus using it for 3 consecutive hours, then use the fan instead.

• Cancel your gym memberships. Just go to the playground or fitness corner and bang out your dips, pull-ups, inclined rows, step-ups, burpees and mountain-climbers. Jog around your neighbourhood or cycle on the park connector. Most of us live in HDB, so walk up the stairs. Stay active and healthy without spending too much.

• Move your recurring payments (bills, season parking, utilities) to your POSB everyday credit card to get cashback, and also check the boxes of your DBS multiplier account.

• Use the above savings and do dollar cost averaging with your - based on risk profile and appetitie - Digiportfolio, bond fund unit trusts, equities unit trusts, or stock market equities.

All the best! Don't survive, but thrive!

How can bond funds (or unit trusts that comprise a portion of junk bonds) be part of a diversified investment portfolio, and what are the considerations to take to optimise a portfolio with bond funds of varying credit ratings?

I think it's still cheaper to cook at home. From experience, the per meal cost price for homecooked is around $2-5, and the outdoor equivalent is $4-15. It also depends on how you manage and rotate your ingredients. I avoid buying beverages, fruits, sandwiches and pizza when I do dine in.

I consider myself a novice investor who has been investing in Sg listed equities and a bunch of bond funds, but like to share. First, depends on your objective. You want passive income or something you can cash out on in the distant future? If passive income, suggest unit trusts, followed by equities with sound fundamentals. For growth, you can consider the digiportfolio for starters, and later move on to certain blue chip equities.

I never focused on percentage. Just list down what you have to spend on to live with comfort and dignity, then segment them into essentials vs nice-to-haves, and voila, you got your budget. Then look for alternatives of better value. Keep building up the surplus, i.e. whatever's left of your unspent and untouched income, and that's where you apply the percentages. Annual expenses are also averaged out into monthly figures, so that helps with the budget and setting aside money for the yearly expected expenses.

Personally, I like to invest at least 70% of the monthly savings, because everything else has already been budgeted for.