BE AWARE
I just received this under my door. The hp no is no longer in service and no one answers the tel line.
When I called Muhammadiyah, I was shocked to find out they had already DISCONTINUED this door to door collection and they have actually made a police report.
Someone was using their logo and slip to make false collection.
Source: Azian Ismail
If your salary takes a hit in 2016, follow these steps to survive a drastic pay cut in Singapore.
First published on 30 March 2016. Updated on 10 November 2016.
Everyone wants to get a raise, and there are some indicators that pay raises will happen in 2016. But with layoffs on the rise, some experienced and highly trained Singaporeans might experience the opposite, and end up with lower-paying jobs.
Given the poor economic situation in Singapore, even those who don’t lose their jobs may face pay cuts. If your salary takes a hit, here’s how you can survive the rest of 2016 with as little sacrifice as possible.
1. Manage Your Loans Quickly
Debt management will get harder, so address it fast.
In an ideal situation, your debt ratio should not exceed 50% – this means the total repayments you make on loans, every month, should not go beyond 50% of your monthly income.If your debt ratio exceeds 50%, you should consider the following:
2. Review Your Long-Term Financial Plans and Insurance
Your previous long-term plans, such as your retirement fund, will have to be changed to suit your current situation. You will have less to invest, and you may even need to liquidate (sell) some assets to pay off loans you can no longer service.
It’s best to speak to your financial advisor or a wealth manager about reviewing your portfolio. Even if you need the money right now, don’t sell stocks, bonds, etc. without a proper consultation. You may damage your wealth by selling the wrong asset at the wrong time.
With regard to insurance policies, inform your financial advisor that you may have difficulties meeting premiums. Don’t just allow your policy to lapse. Not only will this leave you uninsured, it could lead to the unnecessary loss of payouts. You are in not in a position to afford either of those.
3. Upgrade and Keep Seeking Greener Pastures
Do not stop looking for another job that pays as well as your previous occupation. Remember, downturns in the job market don’t last forever.
One of the worst things you can do is give up, and sink into a lower paying job for the next few decades of your life. Keep on the lookout. Write a job hunting plan (e.g. at least one interview a week, at least an hour a day sending resumes) and stick to it.
Take advantage of government aid, such as the SkillsFuture programme, to upgrade yourself. Ask a recruiter or your immediate superior which skills are most needed in your industry. This opens up the possibility of promotions, while helping to make you less dispensable.
4. Make a Progressive Budget
Identify your three main, controllable costs (e.g. transport, food, children’s tuition). Start by trying to reduce the amount spent, in each category, by just 5%. The next month, reduce it by 10%, and so on.
Few people can reduce a specific category by more than 30%, but try your best anyway. After about four to six months, you will find you are spending far less than you used to.If you try to create a stringent budget and try to follow it from the outset, chances are you will fail. It takes time to adapt to a different lifestyle. Using this approach will also be gentler on your family, if you are the sole breadwinner.
5. Reduce Your Access to Credit for the First Three Months
If you have credit cards or lines of credit, call the bank and have your credit ceiling lowered to match your new income. Do not permit yourself to have a credit ceiling of two to four times your previous income – this has the potential to mire you in debt if you lose control.
It is also a good idea to close down some credit lines. Again, it takes time to adapt to a new, more deprived lifestyle. It is common for people who have taken drastic pay cuts to overspend in the first three months. Don’t allow yourself to start taking expensive loans, in order to maintain your lifestyle.
You can work your way back to your previous income level, but the way will be harder if you get enmeshed in debt.
6. Learn to Use Thrift, Wholesale, and Discount Sites
Auction sites are a lifesaver when you are on a budget, in terms of buying things for less or making money. Learn to use eBay or Carousell to make extra money off things at home instead of discarding them. You can also get better deals from wholesalers in Taoabo or Aliexpress, compared to retailers.
If you are shopping for groceries, check out online grocers to compare prices. Maximise savings at your favourite supermarket by using membership cards or cashback cards optimised for groceries.
7. Work to Stretch Your Income
Just scrimping and saving should not be your only method. Try to find alternative sources of income. If you had specialised qualifications before, you can try to put yourself in the market as a consultant – businesses may not be hiring, but they might be happy to give you a contract for one-time projects.
Remember that you don’t always need special skills to stretch your income. Sometimes it’s the simple things – like helping someone update their database – that sees all the demand.
Source: www.theonlinecitizen.com
<Written by Joseph Tan Kheng Liang>
The PAP has gotten worse since the last GE!
One of the most recent landmarks in the Singaporean political calendar was the ‘watershed elections’ of 2011. The term watershed was used because it seemed highly probable at that point in time that the PAP would lose several GRCs. Lee Hsien Loong even apologised and cried in public.
The key question is this: How has the PAP changed for the better since then? The clear and simple answer is that the PAP is back to their own arrogant ways and Singaporeans are not going to benefit from this! Let me give you some examples to illustrate.
In 2011, they promised to work harder and apologised for their mistakes, mainly due to a liberal immigration policy and an infrastructure which did not keep up. 5 years later, they have come up with arrogant tactics and a completely befuddling “ownself-check-ownself” governing philosophy.
We have seen numerous cases of lack of transparency in recent times, including the Hep C outbreak at SGH which was not made public until a later stage, we had the case where residents in Sengkang felt cheated after plans to build a columbarium was labelled as a ‘temple’ instead.
When the trains have new problems such as mysterious ‘signalling fault’, there was no sound or trace of apology from their favourite fixer Khaw Boon Wan. Instead, he chose to pretend that everything was fine, celebrating openings and gatherings on his Facebook page.
Looking at the by-election of 2016 (which was caused in part because of the actions of their own MP), ministers and even junior MPs took the liberty to ‘whack’ their opponent’s character. When another by-election took place 3 years before, they resorted to no such thing with Lee Li Lian.
Their jokes even continued abroad! Mainstream media was so proud that Pinky got invited to a US State dinner but did not boast as much when he later ended up offending China by commenting on their territorial dispute and later prove their foreign policy lapses by offending Trump!
If the average man thinks that these issues do not affect him, look at the price increases: parking charges and waste collection charges (which Leong Sze Hian dug and found an increased surplus)! Even though there is a drop in transport charges, it is not as much as the drop in oil prices!
Ask yourselves: has the PAP given you a better life since the last General Elections? If the answer is no, the PAP must be very thick-skinned to tell us that they wish to check themselves! Is this even right given their recent track record?
I can only conclude that they have gotten worse and need someone like the SDP to keep them in check!
Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com
By: Ivan
I am a graduate of SMU, and have trouble finding a job for 2 years.
I am wondering if there are any opportunities here because I have been looking on craigslist, indeed, jobsdb, regionUP, all for jobs but I suspect most of them are fake or just recruiters trying to collect resumes for the companies which are not even hiring.
I have a Bachelor’s in Accountancy and Finance from SMU.
At 29 years of age, I don’t see much opportunities in the PMET sector especially for males.
I don’t know why. But I think employers generally prefer females in the accountancy sector because they will not shout out as loud as males, and are generally perceived as more meticulous than men.
I am deeply worried that my 2 years of unemployment gap will affect my future career (if it even exists now).
Right now, I am feeling that local government do not support unemployed workers, and just cover it up with the news saying that unemployment is low. Truth is many people are underemployed.
I tried approaching friends and family, but none of them have opportunities for me. Instead they keep telling me supposedly helpful advice like “have you tried this… or that” etc.
Almost implying that it’s my fault that I did not hang on to my previous job.
Also, I don’t have much faith in the governmental national job bank. Seems to be touch and go in this pro-business government.
Globally, I do sense restructuring trend affecting many young people like me, especially in Spain, Greece and other cities. In some cities like NY or London, people at my age are being paid peanuts or working for free as interns, just to get a foot into the door of corporations.
In fact, one may argue that Singapore has real jobs but only as casino croupiers and waiters.
That is not a career many want, yet they do it just to get by. This is highly unhealthy for the economy to keep ‘pushing down’ the burden to the young. Singaporeans are smart and good, why should they be ‘cheap’ and devalued by our own government?
If businesses are so powerful already, why is the government not empowering the people to balance this?
Why is the employment market ‘rosy’ in Singapore when there are so many people complaining on your website?
I feel the government has failed us all. Especially my generation who graduated in the post-recession.
Source: http://theindependent.sg
Satellite images show that several Rohingya village in Myanmar’s Rakhine State have been burned to the ground in recent weeks, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Saturday.
The New York-based rights group urged authorities to invite United Nations investigators to look into the destruction of a total of 430 buildings in three villages in the northern Maungdaw district between October 22 and November 10.
“New satellite images not only confirm the widespread destruction of Rohingya villages but show that it was even greater than we first thought,” Brad Adams, HRW’s Asia director, said in a statement.
According to HRW, the damage took place in the villages of Pyaung Pyit, Kyet Yoe Pyin, and Wa Peik.
The allegations come at a time of heightened tensions between the authorities and the ethnic Rohingya community that has seen the government arm non-Muslim civilians in Rakhine and renewed crackdowns on the Rohingya.
Troops started pouring into Maungdaw in October after the killings of nine border policein three attacks along the country’s northwestern border with Bangladesh.
Security crackdowns have led to at least 3,000 Buddhist Rakhine fleeing their homes in Maungdaw township, with dozens of fighters allegedly being killed in the fighting.
Most people in the area are Muslim Rohingya, a stateless minority whom Buddhist nationalists vilify as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh – even though many have lived in Myanmar for generations.
Source: www.aljazeera.com