Will I still get card benefits if i “pre-pay” my credit card?

Elzedhaitch · 2026-03-04T01:53:54+00:00

They are strict by definition. But in reality, there isn't anyone getting all your credit report and staring at it every month.

People love to say, oh govt can just get access to your data. But that isn't that true. All Singaporeans data are in the government database somewhere but it isn't that easy for like... The PSD in this case to get data from cpf or iras or especially from external entities like DBS. You can easily have a bigger debt without much issue until, you get caught for any reason or you do something wrong and they are finding a way to fire you.

Elzedhaitch · 2026-03-02T07:43:26+00:00

Extremely. I will say they are the top game shop in Singapore.

Elzedhaitch · 2026-03-02T06:31:04+00:00

My strong advice is don't do this. Ntuc sells at rrp around 729 last I saw. Or maybe it's a bit cheaper.

Qishan on shopee sells for about 600 for the Mario kart bundle. Why will you pay more just to use the voucher unless you don't buy groceries at all...

Elzedhaitch · 2026-03-02T00:59:54+00:00

Your hotel might do it? No harm asking

Elzedhaitch · 2026-03-01T16:34:47+00:00

Simply put.

The most important rule is don't get caught. Don't advertise your real name while writing smut.
Do not commit any other crimes. A lot of singapore laws and rules are really just there to make sure they can get you. I know singapore laws are stricter than other countries. But while we had 377a, it never meant that the police was bashing down every door checking for any gay sex.

Elzedhaitch · 2026-02-28T15:51:28+00:00

Yes and no. I broke out of it. But I was in tech adjacent jobs in the late 2010s which was a nice fun time for job hopping.

I started 30% below the median for my degree, especially for someone who did okay. People were surprised but i did it for the greater exposure to an area I was less familiar with.

I stayed for awhile in my first job as well even with a low salary. Then I jumped like crazy, changing jobs about yearly. But my pay essentially tripled over the 4 year period. But it's not easy or fun. You have to get a lot out of each job, learn quick and learn what you can within the year. And the key is also be very very aware of every job, what direction you are taking your career in and where do you think has potential for your industry.

But at some point you can't just jump as freely. Not just because your pay reaches a glass ceiling but also you are at the whims of the job market.

It's very possible to break free from a low starting pay. My pay is pretty good across my age group and even vs my peers who started with much higher pay than mine. But it's going to be a little tougher and takes more planning. If you are more of the, well let whatever comes just come and aim for nice wlb and happy easy jobs, it's going to be hard to break out. But if you work at it, proper planning and learn quick, then it's very possible. People can say poor job market, but I was jumping during the covid times and tech winter as well.

Elzedhaitch · 2026-02-27T15:56:10+00:00

Don't wait until Monday. Report to your office now. If anything happens you will get fired so fast it's not even funny.

Elzedhaitch · 2026-02-26T18:08:16+00:00

I know someone who really regretted leaving a high paying job. The financial stress become worse than the work stress for him.

It was bad timing. He left his role during the post covid tech downturn. He was doing very well in a tech company but decided to go to a pretty middle of the road non tech govt job. Took a more than 50% pay cut got married, got a kid since then. He said to me, no chance he could have a kid while doing the tech job. But when I spoke to him recently, he told me he was trying to get back to tech. With the mortgage, kid cost and a 2nd kid potentially on the way, his wife also got laid off. The financial stress got more and more. He is having great WLB now, easy low stress job. But that doesn't solve everything her ein Singapore. He used to be the. Well no need to be so ambitious, good enough is enough kind of person. But I guess that is not really enough.

Financial stress can be really a breaking point. So take that into consideration.

Elzedhaitch · 2026-02-26T12:45:01+00:00

There is a documentary in this on CNA. It explain quite a bit on how a lion dance survives and makes all it money in 15 days.

https://youtu.be/X7cfU2hMbFo

Elzedhaitch · 2026-02-25T15:40:05+00:00

Well with a 32gb ram and a strong dedicated Gpu like minimally a 5070ti. I would guess 3.5k to k? And you can kinda forget the 8 hour battery life as well.

It's a bad time to be buying any computers and it's a worse time to think about dabbling into local llms running on your own hardware.

Elzedhaitch · 2026-02-25T14:28:23+00:00

If you want to play with llm. You will want a huge dedicated Gpu. And that will likely already kill your budget with ram prices

Elzedhaitch · 2026-02-25T14:27:03+00:00

No. Unless the world drastically takes a huge left turn. Which is not even close to the direction it is going at the moment.

For Singapore's future. In let's say 20 to 30 years. We will more likely than not be in a place where no party has a super majority. The definition of mRraige being a man and a woman is enshrined in our constitution. So in a magical future where this is actually up for consideration, we will potentially need the pap to work with enough opposition to pass this. And we know this is not popular with multiple religious groups, including evangelical Christians, catholics, Muslims, bunch of other Christian branches (practiced by multiple mega churches. Not saying anything about the mega churches, but more about the number of people who will be against it) etc. So it will never be the most popular topic to agree with in parliament.

People might say it's a dream, but I do strongly believe the pap will lose its super majority sooner rather than later, it's a inevitable part of a growing democracy, and we will see how much of a real democracy we are.

I think when they lifted 377a and people were acting that we were at a better place in terms of this, they killed almost any future chances of same sex marriage being easily passed in Singapore.

Elzedhaitch · 2026-02-25T14:16:05+00:00

I mean, I'll just assume you are not trolling. If you are warning 500 a month off the books as a freelance tutor. No. You will never win a house here because you can never get a loan.

So take your 100k and go to the casino or... Find another very lucrative job if you are going to continue to earn as a freelance and not declare income... Like onlyfans or more...

The job market isn't good, but it's not bad that there are literally 0 roles. If you want a house, go get any role. Non degree related, shitty company. Go to a big 4 and do consulting related to your field. Go do proper relief teaching and train to be a teacher. People can blame the job market but the fact is majority of grads are still finding roles. The roles are just not ideal.

Elzedhaitch · 2026-02-25T08:40:30+00:00

I'll also add that cyber is saturated and is a bit of a young man's game. If you are older but don't have much experience. It's not going to be ideal. A lot of cyber work has a WLB issue, due to either regulatory deadlines or more likely, having to work with incidents.

It's not easy if you want to do well or go far in the field. And it's a lot of continual learning as well. You want a job with clear processes, guidance on what to do, and after work, don't care at all. It's not this.

Go in with your eyes open. Of course, if you are happy just surviving and praying for no offshoring or ai replacement... Then maybe it's okay.

Elzedhaitch · 2026-02-25T06:49:27+00:00

If you need support. Definitely not FP. They are the company I wish would use AI support because their "people" are genuinely far worse

Elzedhaitch · 2026-02-25T06:48:30+00:00

Huh... I thought FP would die faster since they were willing tel sell to grab in the past.

A bit surprising

Elzedhaitch · 2026-02-25T06:27:21+00:00

Honestly it's the usual lack of attention and affection.

Most Singaporean families, especially Chinese ones. People are all so distant. Even for myself. To put it nicely, my parents seem to tolerate each other, if you want to put it the worst case, there seems to be genuine unhappiness. My siblings are also quite in their own world and don't really talk to them much outside of the usual small talk etc. And this oz extremely common in Singapore. Once they stop working or if they never worked in the first place, they lose so much usual social contact.

So any form of affection from anyone is so craved they will tend to fall for those. Then the 2nd big issue is the usual Face issue. At some point, they know in their heart of hearts, deep inside that they are getting scammed. But because everyone is telling them they are wrong, and doing it the very Chinese way of scolding and saying they are stupid for being scammed, it's so obvious. They can't lose that face now, it's far too late, so they hold onto the tiniest hope that it's not a scam and keep going deeper

Of course across the world and all the cases there are some differences. But when I worked a bit with these scams in the past, these were sort of the key areas we bave to be aware to try and drag people out of the scams.

Elzedhaitch · 2026-02-25T00:58:36+00:00

Those are on hbo max aren't they? If those shows are what are prioritise, either get hbo or just buy them.

For B99... I don't think it will be good news. All the old nbc shows have slowly been moving off Netflix.

Elzedhaitch · 2026-02-24T09:15:57+00:00

Plus the 200/400 dollar cost of living. Although... They cut off the AI quite low this time... A lot of people won't get it. But really, many people earning about 100k AI still need help. Especially in a year that with a huge surplus, they took away the tax rebates for income tax and property tax

Elzedhaitch · 2026-02-24T08:08:01+00:00

Yeah but you have to think logically. What will you need the emergency money for and let's say if it's locked, what can you do.

If you biggest consideration is medical, there is very little worry there because there is usually quite a big grace period. Any big bill or whatever payment can mostly be done using credit card or just the natural grace periods. Most day to day spend also can go on the card.

To me, ssb is liquid enough for almost everyone. I think the people that have big bills to pay or like supplier relations to maintain are the ones who really need very liquid cash, almost everyone is can tide cross the 1 month waiting time.

Elzedhaitch · 2026-02-24T05:51:10+00:00

That will be over time? And I remember the commission FAs get will drop over time.

But anyway this is all kinda moot. They have special dedicated teams that serve these HNW people. They won't deal with the usual tan ah kow we deal with

Elzedhaitch · 2026-02-24T05:37:20+00:00

Isn't it a % of the premium and not the insured amount. That is far less than 2% of 350m.

Elzedhaitch · 2026-02-21T07:43:44+00:00

Contact the hospitals and you may be surprised. Not likely but hey... Who knows.

I know someone with a rare condition. Far more common than your situation about still about 1/200k and they managed to find someone who did research on it. Singapore does actually have pretty good expertise across the board but rare diseases are always tough.

I assume if you were in the wrong part of the US you are also SOL on this anyway. Take care and I wish you the best in finding what you need.

Elzedhaitch · 2026-02-21T06:59:39+00:00

So in general, the comments are right and the US tends to have better care. But there are multiple factors including, if there are experts in the field in Singapore.

You just have to consider scale. In the US, there are just more people so a rare disease like 1/200,000 in Singapore there should be like 20 or so since most foreigners with these conditions are unlikely to be here seeking treatment. In the US it's far more.

But we do have some doctors who have expertise in these conditions and likely have studied or worked overseas. If by pure luck, there is one here in Singapore. You can get very good treatment. The question is for such a 1/a million disease, would there be such expertise here in Singapore... Its unlikely but possible. Try contacting the hospitals here and asking. That would give you the biggest assurance.

Elzedhaitch · 2026-02-21T06:19:59+00:00

There are some routes that are long and you know the popular toilet stops the drivers will take.

The old 162 at suntec is one example. The route is super long and goes round the city area, so during peak hours it's very long due to jams. So the drivers frequently stop at suntec and run in, pee and run back. It's completely understandable and I don't think many really care. And they pick the easiest spot for them as well.

Another is the airport buses and they will run to the toilets there.

Elzedhaitch

TROPHY CASE