5 Smart Ways To Spend Your Angpow Money

Chinese New Year is a festive season where we are in a festive mood and will go house-visiting to our family and friends and, as is tradition, receive ang pows (red packets). Every year the tradition doesn’t change and there is this common saying that goes: “New Year, New me”. So, have you questioned yourself on what you will be doing with your ang pow money? Will you splurge it all or save it all? No idea? READ ON. 🍊

1.Pay off your Credit Card Debts 💳 There is a saying that goes, “don’t owe money when it’s the new year otherwise it’s bad luck”. Pay it off! The compounding interest rate of a credit card means even small debts can quickly snowball. Would you rather pay more interest or spend on something else? Hence, let your ang pow money be the first repayment, and remember to spend wisely until the debt is paid off.

2. Invest your Ang Pow Money 🧧 Most people have a misconception about investments and some even tremble at the thought of investments. If you have not done any investments before, it is never too late to start. You can choose to invest in investment-linked insurance policies, shares, property, or even purchase safe ETFs such as the Straits Time Index Fund for as little as S$100 per month. Of course, the issue with investing is the risk element, so make sure you do your due diligence and research before putting any amount of money into investments.

3. Saving up for retirement 💰 What is the retirement age for Singaporeans now? 65? 70? But the most important question to ask yourself is “What is your ideal retirement age?”. I’m sure most of us want to retire as early as possible. Thus, it is always important to start planning for our retirement early and start saving. Putting your ang pow into private retirement scheme is a good way to kickstart the habit of regularly setting aside some money for retirement.

4. Open a separate savings account 💵 With all that ang pow money sitting in your main bank account, we tend to go on a ‘holiday’ mood and spend even more than we regularly do as this is a festive period. Hence, a good way to manage and maintain your spending would be to bank your money into another new savings account purely for savings. Try to avoid withdrawals and make it a constant good habit to kick start your monthly savings habit. Tips: You can even opt out of getting an ATM card for this account to prevent you from withdrawing too conveniently.

5. Spend it on Self-Improvement 👍 We are now in an era where technology and digital platforms are very popular. Thus, it is important to be equipped with the relevant skills in order to “keep up” with the society. We often feel the ‘pinch’ if we spend our money on courses but we don’t feel it if it’s from a ‘bonus’ source of income. Hence, ang pow money is great for that. There is a variety of certification courses in Singapore. Our government has also implemented ‘SkillsFuture Programmes’ for Singaporeans with $500 credit. Time to enhance your skills and development in this new year! Pick something that will help you in your career and that would be a bonus too!