This is a new low (or is it high?), OCBC

So I recently made a trip to London for business, and took Uber from the airport to my hotel. I was charged GBP56.85. On that day, the average spot rate was 1 GBP = 1.7585 SGD (retrieved from poundsterlinglive.com) 

When I checked my OCBC credit card bill, the SGD equivalent was $103.98 - translating to a conversion rate of 1 GBP = 1.829 SGD.

Holy shit. A FX charge of 4%.

It's amazing how upfront commissions for wealth management products have gone down over the years - in Singapore, you can transact in unit trusts at 0% front-end load, or in stocks for 0.08%. And banks are still ripping off customers by sky-high FX charges.

I quickly checked the bill for my Uber trip back (hotel to airport) - the GBP 46.05 fare translated to SGD 84.10, effectively a 3.87% FX rate given that the average spot rate was 1 GBP = 1.7582 SGD.

That's what most banks are - institutions licensed to cheat customers in a legal and legitimate way.

UOB Mighty FX versus YouTrip

I started travelling quite frequently to Hong Kong and China for business last year. Wanting to save on FX fees - or should I say, avoid being ripped off by credit card FX surcharges - I went to apply for two solutions, UOB Mighty FX and YouTrip. 

Over the past few months, I have used both and have become quite familiar with them. Here is a side by side comparison of the two.

Signing up - YouTrip > UOB

My experience with YouTrip was quite smooth. I downloaded the app, signed up with my personal particulars and mobile phone - and the card arrived in slightly more than a week. It was easy activating it as well.

For UOB, the experience was nowhere as pleasant. At their website, I was informed that I had to open a UOB One Account (a multi-currency account) first. I was supposedly promised that it will be an easy process as I could retrieve my personal information using MyInfo. As a new UOB customer, applications submitted before the cut-off time of 9pm were supposed to be opened instantly. 

My application was submitted after the cut-off time. It was supposed to be processed the next working day, but I heard nothing from them for two weeks. Here is a timeline of my application process:

19th Aug (Sun) - application sent

2nd Sep (Sun) - chaser email sent

6th Sep (Thu) - second chaser email sent

10th Sep (Mon) - UOB replied, saying that they are still looking into my application

12th Sep (Wed) - I asked what the standard turnaround time for account opening is, since it has been three weeks versus their promised one working day

20th Sep (Thu) - UOB replied, saying that they are still looking into my application

A few days later, UOB called me and asked me to visit the branch personally. I was quite irked, as I detested wasting time walking and waiting in bank branches. I demanded an explanation on why my account opening took so long, and they said during my application, I left one field blank. I retorted that if this field was so important, their system should have made it mandatory in the first place! And it didn't explain why this caused such a huge delay.

UOB, you liar.

Foreign Exchange rates - YouTrip > UOB

This should obviously be the most important consideration for most people. UOB Mighty initially promoted themselves as having zero FX fees. I scoffed at that and went to do a comparison myself. To my surprise, it was true - using 13th Aug rates, they basically had zero spreads (or perhaps just a couple of pips). That was what got me to sign up in the first place. I was even prepared to discard my YouTrip, given that their FX spreads were around 0.31% (that was during September 2018). 

Subsequently, UOB stopped saying that they had zero FX fees, and sneakily added in spreads. By that time, they should already have gotten quite a large customer base, hoping that most will still continue to use them. Their spreads are now slightly higher than YouTrip's, though the significance isn't too great if you are changing a few hundred dollars worth of foreign currencies.

Other fees - YouTrip > UOB

YouTrip's fee structure is quite simple. 0% transaction fees, no minimum account balance, and a S$5 admin fee for cash withdrawals overseas. A dormancy fee of S$5 per month will be charged per month if the card has not been used for 12 consecutive months. 

Similar to YouTrip, UOB also has 0% transaction fees and a $5 admin fee for overseas cash withdrawals. They have an annual fee of $18; this is waived for the first three years and subsequently waivable if a minimum of 12 Mastercard transactions are performed a year. While the fee is lower compared to YouTrip's dormancy fee (which translates to S$60 a year), it is much harder to satisfy. And from 2019, UOB announced that there will be a minimum balance fee charged on account balances below S$1,000. I am not sure how much the account fee is and whether the S$1,000 includes foreign currencies equivalent - I contacted them a few days but haven't received a response yet (unsurprisingly).

I can't say I like the way UOB does things (adding on FX spreads and implementing minimum account balances only after you have signed up). It leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

User interface - YouTrip > UOB

I like YouTrip's user interface (which I suspect is modelled after GrabPay). It is clean, simple, and clear. Transactions are displayed in the app immediately, so you can have a very quick view of what you have just spent on. As it is essentially a debit card, your balances and historical transactions are obviously very important.

This is where UOB lags behind. The UOB app is very slow, and has a rather primitive design and user interface. Also, historical transactions take days to be reflected in the app, something which I do not understand. 

Account size - UOB > YouTrip

UOB Mighty FX, being linked to a bank account, has no limit to how much balance you can have. YouTrip, however, is not a bank and they have limits on how much "deposits" they can take in per customer. Currently, it is the equivalent of S$3,000. 

S$3,000 worth of foreign currencies should be sufficient for most trips, unless you plan to stock up on certain currencies when they look attractive. If not, you can always top up and convert on a need-to-use basis.

Number of currencies - YouTrip > UOB

UOB offers 10 foreign currencies = AUD, CAD, CHF, CNH, EUR, GBP, HKD, JPY, NZD, and USD.

I should highlight something important about CNH transactions for UOB. A few months ago, I made a CNH transaction but was charged in SGD instead (with a hefty 3% FX fee). When I emailed to ask, I was told that CNH is unavailable for point-of-sale transactions, online transactions and overseas ATM cash withdrawals. (Doesn't this seem to cover everything?)

So I asked their customer service staff and was given this reply:

"We wish to share with you that CNH currency is offered only for investment purposes (buy/sell CNH)."

I practically rolled my eyes when I saw this reply. So unless you are some FX speculator or trader, just don't touch their CNH. 

YouTrip offers 9 foreign currencies = AUD, CHF, EUR, GBP, HKD, JPY, NZD, SEK, and USD. If you were to ignore UOB's CNH currency, this will make them equal. 

However, these are only the currencies that YouTrip allows you to convert anytime. They also support 140 other currencies. 

That's a lot of currencies.

I haven't tried any of the 140 before, but I assume that they will be converted at roughly the same margins.

I am not too sure about whether UOB will apply their preferential FX rates for unsupported currencies though. From my experience with their CNH, I strongly suspect that they will apply their normal rates (i.e daylight robbery rates). 

Interest - UOB > YouTrip

UOB actually offers some interest on certain currencies. The rates are published here. 

As of 6th Feb 2019, the interest rates for the following currencies are:

• CNH = 0.20%
• USD = 0.05%
• AUD = 0.05%
• NZD = 0.05%
• CAD = 0.05%
• GBP = 0.05%
• JPY = 0%
• EUR = 0%
• CHF = 0%
• HKD = 0%

YouTrip doesn't offer any interest at all. But the rates offered by UOB are not really that attractive anyway, so it doesn't make much of a difference. CNH may be higher but as mentioned in the previous point... there is no point.

Functionality - YouTrip > UOB

The main steps in using either card are 1) topping up your balance in SGD, and then 2) converting it into the foreign currency of your choice. 

YouTrip makes it extremely easy. You can top up your SGD balance via another credit card - once this is saved in the app, topping up can take as little as five seconds. Of course, YouTrip pays dearly for this convenience for customers - they most likely have to absorb the credit card charges for every top-up. My guess is that it is most likely a flat fee plus a percentage, so if people keep topping up small amounts, their transaction costs can balloon.

Because of the ability to top up via another credit card, YouTrip, which is supposed to be a debit card, can function essentially as a credit card. This is assuming you only top-up and convert it when you need to use it. And this is one of the biggest advantages in using YouTrip. Don't expect to get credit card points from the top-up though; YouTrip top-ups should fall under exclusions by most banks.

Converting your SGD (or any other currency) to another foreign currency is also very simple and honestly, dummy-proof. Again, you can probably do it in five seconds.

For UOB, there is a bigger hassle in the whole process, which is hampered further by how slow the app is. If you are using UOB Mighty only for foreign transactions (as I do), then chances are that you wouldn't deposit a lot of money with them. To top up, you will then need to login to your main internet banking account to do a FAST transfer before going back to UOB Mighty to do the conversion. At least the conversion process is also quite simple and straightforward.

Conclusion - get YouTrip

From the points above, it is quite clear that YouTrip is more competitive, more convenient, and more user-friendly compared to UOB. If you do not need to change large amounts of foreign currencies before the trip, YouTrip is definitely my preferred choice.

However, even if you were to use UOB Mighty, you will not be seriously disadvantaged given that their FX rates are only slightly higher than YouTrip. Just make sure that you do not touch their CNH, and do not use them for any foreign currency transactions that fall outside the scope of their supported currencies. Of course, you will need to make sure that you maintain the S$1,000 minimum account balance as well as 12 Mastercard transactions a year.

Happy Birthday, Not

The thing about being in group chats is when someone wishes you happy birthday.

So I was hoping that no one from my JC group chat will remember my birthday last week. However, at 716pm, someone triggered it. Damn, I even removed my birth date from all my social media accounts, hoping that no one will remember it. Oh well, these are my JC friends who have known me for two decades, so I can't expect none of them to remember.

I groaned, and waited for the wishes to come from the rest... sporadically. Am I supposed to thank them one by one? Can I just thank all of them - those who have replied (so far)? What if more wish me after I have thanked them? Do I have to thank the rest too?

In the end, I waited till it was almost midnight, and just sent a simple message to thank them all. I hope I didn't sound too patronising.

A lesson for you, honey

For dinner last Saturday, I planned to make honey-roasted chicken. I dug through the larder to look for honey, and found a bottle... which had expired eight months ago. 

It's my mother again, I thought. Sometimes she just refuses to throw away expired stuff. Since she was overseas, I thought this was a good chance for me to discard it and buy a new bottle of honey.

This morning, I chanced across this video by AOL, titled "Don't listen to expiration dates on food labels". And near the end of the video...

"For honey? No need to toss this item. This natural sweetener can last you a lifetime."

I gulped. 

A short while later, my mother opened the larder to look for honey, and saw the new bottle. 

"You bought a new bottle of honey? You finished the older bottle?"

"Uhh yes. I was having a sore throat last week so I drank quite a bit of honey, and finished it," I said with a straight face.

Something I will probably remember for a lifetime. Honey never expires.

Gasp; could I have been UNDERcharged by a bank?

Since 2004, I have been tracking my expenses fastidiously. When one of my credit card bills came this month, I went to match it off with my expenses - and found one entry missing. It was at a coffee joint, for $19.30, paid using Apple Pay.

This was surprising - banks seldom make such mistakes. Banks will only "accidentally" charge extra, after all. I thought, maybe I didn't use this credit card, and went to check all my other credit card bills. Nothing came up.

So I went to dig out the actual receipt which I fortunately haven't discarded - and discovered that the credit card number (the last four digits) didn't belong to any of my cards.

I was astonished. How could this have happened? I was very sure that I used Apple Pay for this, so how did another credit card number appear on the receipt instead? The items I ordered were also correct, so the possibility of me taking someone else's receipt by mistake is out. 

Hmm, doesn't this mean that it is entirely possible that we will get charged for someone else's expenses by accident too?

Heng ah!

So Lim Swee Say recently made headlines with his infamous "Heng ah!" comments on him not being a Malaysian or Mainland Chinese. Not surprisingly, China and Malaysia were both rather pissed and fired back at him.

It's true that he shouldn't have said that - such comments should obviously be kept to oneself. But there is a big element of truth in what he said. For one, I know that personally, I am very glad that I am born a Singaporean and not any other nationality. This of course includes China and Malaysia.

Horoscopes

In the past, whenever my classmates discuss excitedly over their horoscopes, I would look on in disdain and can hardly contain my disgust. How can the alignment of a bunch of stars and planets determine our fate and life? It's utter crap! One classmate in particular brought this to an extreme, loudly proclaiming that she detests all Virgos because they are all "<fill in the negative characteristics associated with Virgos>".

Today, I saw this on Facebook.

The most accurate horoscope ever.

Wow. This gotta be the most accurate horoscope ever.

Summing up 2014

Summing up 2014:

I used the elliptical 49 times, spending a total of 1,925 minutes and burning 24,894 calories. 

I climbed the stairs at my place 42 times - that's 4,566 storeys in total. 

I started intermittent fasting this year, during March. Basically, I limit my food intake to 600 calories on the days that I fast (usually twice a week). For the whole of 2014, I fasted 56 times. Out of this, I exceeded 600 calories on nine occasions. 

Countries/places visited include Hong Kong, Hanoi, Taipei, U.K, and Hua Hin. 

I spent around S$6,000 on toys... and 35% of that was spent in December alone. 

My working week consists of around 75 hours on average. 

I don't think 2015 will differ by much.

D-I-Y lah

I had lunch with a friend recently, and she mentioned that just several days ago, she was taking a taxi with her two kids. The taxi driver appeared to be rather odd and eccentric - his driving was a bit unsteady, he didn't seem to have his eyes on the road most of the time, and he kept on having his head bowed down, as if he was doing something at his waist level (she suspected that he was peeing into a bottle, but also clarified that there was no pee smell in the taxi).

My friend said she was terrified. Not just for herself, but for her kids. So I asked if she tried talking to the taxi driver to capture his attention. 

"No I didn't! I refuse to speak to him, he is such a weirdo!" she cried.  

"Then what did you do?" I asked.

"I prayed."

Somewhere at the back of my mind, I felt like telling her off. When you are able to try something to alleviate the situation, why not do it yourself? Don't just pray and push everything to your God!

If I were God, I would definitely be damn pissed and wish that humans would just stop pushing every little trivial thing to me.

The NS Man's Dilemma

I am sure many people have heard of The Prisoner's Dilemma. While at reservist, I thought of something new - The NS Man's Dilemma.

The NS Man's Dilemma is much simpler than the Prisoner's Dilemma, because it only involves one individual (the latter involves two individuals and shows why they will not cooperate, even if it is in their best interests to do so). For more information, you can read up at Wikipedia here.

The NS Man's Dilemma is presented as such - in many cases, the NS man ends up slacking and wasting his time during reservist. Instead of doing something productive (okay this is subjective), he has to stay in camp, with no access to his smartphone (which means no news, no Facebook, etc - unless he brings in a non-camera smartphone, which is quite rare). Most of the time, NS men end up hiding somewhere trying to look inconspicuous. He would very much like to spend his time doing something else (or at the least, go home). But if he were to highlight to the higher-ups in camp that he is bored and not doing something useful, the odds are overwhelmingly stacked against his favour - that he will be tasked to help out with "sai-kang" (literally translated to shit holes). So he keeps quiet and remains status quo, while trying to make the best out of his situation.

Now that I think about it, the NS Man's Dilemma can actually be applied to many other scenarios in real life. Hmm...

Backdating

While at the gym yesterday, I chanced upon this notice.

I didn't know you can backdate this kind of things.

Hurry up

Chanced upon this article today.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rachel-macy-stafford/the-day-i-stopped-saying-hurry-up_b_3624798.html

It struck a note with me, because of so many eerie similarities between me and the author. (I don't have a kid, though!) Some quotes that can be applied fully to me currently:

"When you are living a distracted life, every minute must be accounted for. You feel like you must be checking something off the list, staring at a screen, or rushing off to the next destination. And no matter how many ways you divide your time and attention, no matter how many duties you try and multi-task, there's never enough time in a day to ever catch up."

"When you live life distracted, you have tunnel vision -- only looking ahead to what's next on the agenda. And anything that cannot be checked off the list is a waste of time."

Maybe I should learn to take a break and enjoy life more. I could totally imagine myself rushing my kid (if I have one) every day, several times a day. "Hurry up and <fill in task here>".

Or maybe I should just not have a kid. That's even easier.

Unexpected Discovery

While doing my weekly stair climbing, on the 23rd floor, I chanced upon something very unexpected. It was the skin of a snake.

Snake skin

It was a pity that the skin was broken when I found it. I found the skin extremely beautiful, actually. The snake was probably only a metre long.

Look at the skin of the head - and more importantly, over the snake's eyes

It was a marvel to look at, especially the eye portion. If you look carefully, you will notice that the skin also covers the snake's eyes! What an interesting discovery.

Which led me to think next:

1) Did the snake climb all the way to the 23rd storey?

2) If so, after shedding its skin, where did it go? Could it have entered the corridor of one floor or even someone's house by accident?

3) If it didn't climb here by itself, did someone discard the skin here? (But why would someone discard the skin here and not just down the rubbish chute?)

I couldn't bear to discard it, so I put it in a ziploc bag and kept it in my room. :)

What the hell is a 'hot dog test'?

On the Straits Times today:

Mr Philip Yeo recounts an occasion when he and Mr Lim Swee Say - then working with him at the Economic Development Board - were queueing up for their boarding passes at an airline transit counter in Chicago. 

As there would be no food on the plane, he asked the young officer accompanying the to get three hot dogs from the nearest food stand.

"Swee Say and I got our boarding passes in less than 15 minutes, then we went looking for our missing officer," said Mr Yeo.

"We found him at the hot dog stand - patiently putting ketchup, onions, condiments, etc etc onto the three hot dogs! I expected him to bring the three 'naked' hot dogs to us. The officer failed the hot dog test. No more future trips with us."

So what the hell is this 'hot dog test'? Is there anything wrong with a subordinate doing this for his superiors? I pity for the guy for being condemned on Mr Yeo's whim, probably having absolutely no idea why he was not selected for future trips.

Where's my car emblem

My mother and I had just parked our car at Serene Centre this morning when I noticed something odd about our car emblem. My first thought was, "is there a sticker over the car emblem?"

Then I took a closer look and started cursing. Some fucker had ripped it off.

We had no idea when or where the incident happened. It could be yesterday, when my younger brother parked at the Pasir Ris jetty car park meant for army personnel. Or the day before, when my mother parked at a public car park in Bishan. 

The irony is that today the Straits Times reported that "Two charged with tearing emblems from cars". It mentioned that the two were each charged with 15 counts of mischief after they allegedly removed the car emblems from a condo and hotel carpark. Their targets were BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, and Fiat.

Maybe it's time I install a video camera in the car. Or better still, run an electric current over the replacement emblem so that anyone touching it will get a nasty electric shock. 

Clearing emails

After neglecting to archive and arrange my office mail box for around three years, I decided that I had better do so before it gets even worse. This was also partially triggered by some additional job responsibilities I got this week, which I really need to be very organised in. So I brought my laptop back over the weekend, something which I haven't done in the past few months. 

Number of emails on my mailbox = 11,785. I spent two hours last night on it and only cleared around 1,300. And these are the straightforward ones - mostly deleted instead of archiving.

I am so screwed. 10,456 more to go.

Update as of 2nd June 2013, 1129pm:

After spending practically the whole weekend (from Friday night till Sunday night), I am finally down to 2,189. I swear that I will tidy up my emails regularly from now on.

Creating time

I have always found myself to be short of time. But recently, I learnt one good way of "creating" time - and that is to sleep early.

When I sleep early, say, by 11pm, I usually wake up early to do stuff. Important stuff, stuff that really matter. For example, to hit the gym when it is practically empty, or to go to office earlier to clear some work. Early mornings are usually more productive because there are less distractions - no one to walk over to your desk and demand that you solve their problems, no one to call you to ask for help, and so on. And because of this, you clear more work, go home earlier, and have more free time.

I suppose most people should be aware of the points above. But one thing that many people miss out is that by sleeping early, you cut your nights short. And what do people usually spend their nights doing? I am generalising here, but chances are that they are less important stuff like surfing Facebook, watching television, or simply just slacking around and not doing anything. At least for me, it is. 

So recently, I have been making a conscious effort to sleep early and wake up early, either to go to the gym or just to get a headstart in office. And I find that my productivity has improved tremendously.

Still or sparkling water?

"Sir, would you like still or sparkling water?"

This is a trap which restaurants like to use. It gives you the impression that you only have these two choices. But either choice will probably make you poorer by around ten bucks, when plain iced or warm water would do. I had lunch with some colleagues today, and one of them came early and fell for it, ordering two bottles of still water. On the same note, compared to sparkling water, still water does sound a bit like plain water, so I suppose this helps to re-emphasise the trap.

I remember falling for it at Seoul Garden several years ago too. At the counter, I was asked if I wanted ginseng or tom yum soup base. Thinking that I had to choose between the two, I went for ginseng - and was promptly charged an additional few dollars. Only after we had eaten halfway did we realise that we could have just opted for the plain soup base!

Maybe I should use it in my job too.

"Sir, would you like to top-up $500,000 or $1,000,000 into your portfolio?"

"Madam, which one do you want? A $1,000,000 term plan or a $100,000 whole life plan? Both cost the same..."

"Boss, I am okay with an increment of either $1,000 or $1,200. Which one would you give me?"

UK = Britain = England?

I have always been confused over UK, Britain, Great Britain and England - are they the same? (Geography was never my forte in secondary school) So I went to Google.

The official name of the UK is actually 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland', which is made up of four constituencies - England (capital is London), Scotland (Edinburgh), Wales (Cardiff), Northern Ireland (Belfast). England, Scotland and Wales form Great Britain together, so Great Britain is basically UK minus Northern Ireland.

Naturally, the next question is, why is only Northern Ireland included in UK? What about the rest of Ireland? It turned out that before 1922, the whole of Ireland was included in UK. But after years of civil war, Ireland became a republic in 1921. Britain then negotiated with Ireland to keep the six counties in the northeast portion of Ireland, and thus, Northern Ireland was formed.

Map of UK. Source: indiancompass.com

C'est la vie

During my trip to Hong Kong two months ago, I bought a lip balm, but couldn't find it when I came back to Singapore. I spent two months looking for it, and even refused to buy a new one despite my lips becoming cracked at times.

Yesterday I gave in and bought a new one. And guess what? Today, I found my old lip balm. Nestled comfortably inside my stationary holder, no doubt thanks to the part-time maid.

Oh, the irony.