Eye Laser YAG Treatment @ Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Orchard

Couple of months ago, my aunt and I accompanied my mum to Mount Elizabeth Hospital at Orchard for her left eye YAG laser treatment. We reached there quite early at around 1pm, way before the scheduled time for the laser treatment at 2.30pm so that we had ample time to look around for the exact place for registration. The waiting time for registration was very fast. We took a queue number and waited for about 10-15 mins for our turn. To be honest, the waiting time in private hospital is far much faster than in government hospital. In government hospital, the waiting time could be up to 2 hours even if you have made an prior appointment. After the registration, we had quite a bit time before 2.30pm so we walked around the hospital. I happened to see a list of procedures fees near the lift lobby and took the above picture. This picture provides a rough estimated fees for various procedures for people who are interested to know.

Few years ago, my mum had a left eye cataract surgery performed in a government hospital. Couple of months back, she complained about the blurred vision on her left eye. We went to an eye specialist private clinic located in my neighborhood through my aunt recommendation. After checking, the blurred vision was probably due to the "Not so good" artificial intraocular lens used in the cataract surgery which was done a few years ago. A YAG eye laser treatment was recommended by the clinic ophthalmologist (Eye consultant in Mount Elizabeth Hospital @ Orchard). It is a 5-min painless eye laser outpatient treatment to improve eye vision. After the laser treatment, my mum vision has improved and she is able to see things clearer and brighter.

As for the cost of the hospital eye laser treatment, we were quite surprised that we didn't have to fork out any cash because my mum has a NTUC enhanced incomeshield basic plan that would only cover 50% of private hospital bills. This means that the other 50% of the hospital bills would have to be paid in cash. As you can see from the below hospital bill pic, the total bill is SGD $717.78. $394.78 is deducted via Medisave and the remaining $323.00 is claimed via NTUC hospital insurance plan. Balance of $0.00 means no cash payment is needed.

Investment Brokerage In Singapore

Early this year, I opened a brokerage/trading account (DBS Vickers) with DBS bank. Basically, a brokerage firm allows you to buy and sell shares on the stock market. They charge commission fees for each buy/sell transaction you make. I have chosen DBS because it is the largest local bank in Singapore and our local banks are generally very safe and stable.

Most brokerage firms allow you to hold your stocks with the Central Depository Pte Limited (CDP). After you buy and sell stocks via most firms, the stocks themselves are held by you in your CDP account. Currently, there are only two brokerage firms – Standard Chartered and SAXO Capital Markets that hold your stocks in custodian accounts, meaning the custodian account (e.g. Standard Chartered) owns the stocks on your behalf which means that they have certain rights over stocks that you have bought. If the firm goes bankrupt (Slim Chance), you will lose all your stocks because it is technically not in your name.

Below are the commission fees across different brokerages in Singapore.

In order to get a clearer picture of how much you are paying in total for commission and related fees, I have came up with the following breakdown below for buying a stock. The commission of minimum SGD $18 is only applicable if you are using DBS Cash Upfront Account for payment, otherwise it would be SGD $25.

Investor who went through 2 failed start-ups now runs million dollar e-commerce platform

Co-founder Name:	Mr Henry Chan
Age:	31
Qualification:	University degree
Past Working Company:	SingPost
Started Business In:	2014
Business Industry:	E-Commerce
Company Name:	ShopBack
Initial Business Captial:	$30,000 with 6 founders
Current Company Annual Sales:	$180 million

Article URL: http://business.asiaone.com/news/personal-finance/making-good-cashback-formula

Blood Pressure Monitor Review

HEM-7111

Few years ago, I bought an Omron basic blood pressure monitor (HEM-7111) from a Polyclinic. It was selling at S$78 (After 20% discount) for a basic function blood pressure monitor. It is working well now. Recently, I saw a better Omron blood pressure monitor (HEM-7121) from National Healthcare Group (NHGP) website selling at S$98. I don't see HEM-7111 anymore and I guess it probably phase out.

HEM-7121

HEM-7121 is a Standard blood pressure monitor as compared to the Basic HEM-7111. To get a good deal in NHGP website, you have to wait for on and off promotional period of blood pressure monitors to enjoy around 20% discount. After 20% discount, it is about S$78+. Alternatively, you can watch out for discount at Guardian, Wastons and NTUC Unity. The typical discount for HEM-7121 is 20%. Anything less than 20% discount, I would suggest you wait for a while more for the 20% discount.

I would recommend to get HEM-7121 which is the Standard Omron blood pressure monitor as compared to the more premium ones like Deluxe HEM-7130 which cost S$138 without discount. That's a difference of S$40 between the Standard and the Deluxe version. The Standard version is more than sufficient for typical usage because you just need to get the blood pressure reading. For more information on the comparison between Omron blood pressure monitors, you can visit the Omron website and click on the Products Comparison to see the overview.

Personally, I would recommend 2 brands which is Omron and A&D. I have both at home and they are good and working well. There are a lot of other brands out there like Beurer, Rossmax, Guardian, Medicare, Braun. Omron blood pressure monitor can be bought from Guardian, Watsons, NTUC Unity. A&D blood pressure monitor can be bought from a shop called Assisted Living at Novena Square 2.

There are generally 2 types of automatic blood pressure monitors which is the Arm and the Wrist. Arm blood pressure monitor is preferred because the reading is more accurate as it is closer to the human heart. One thing to take note when buying blood pressure monitor is the size of the given arm cuff. A medium arm cuff is typically 22-32cm. If you have a larger arm, you would probably need to get a larger arm cuff size of 32-42cm. You can measure your arm size first and check with the store assistant on the cuff size of the blood pressure monitor you are buying.


Blood Pressure Readings

Systolic
The top number, which is also the higher of the two numbers, measures the pressure in the arteries when the heart beats (when the heart muscle contracts). This is the reading/feeling when the cuff is inflated while you are taking your blood pressure.

Diastolic
The bottom number, which is also the lower of the two numbers, measures the pressure in the arteries between heartbeats (when the heart muscle is resting between beats and refilling with blood). This is the reading/feeling when the cuff is deflated while you are taking your blood pressure.

Samsung Washing Machine Review

Samsung WW70H5200EW/SP

Last year, I bought the above Samsung 7kg washer from a Harvey Norman store near my home. It was selling at a promotional price of S$649 exclusive of S$30 delivery charge. After some negotiation with the salesperson, he agreed to waive off the S$30 delivery despite he having said the S$30 cannot be waived initially. I still felt that it was a bit over my budget so I did not make the purchase and went home to consider.

I went to google and research on the price of the above Samsung 7kg washer. During that period, Courts was having an island wide promotion (S$70 off minimum purchase of S$599 and above). I captured the screenshot of Courts promotion and walked down to Harvey Norman again. I told the salesperson that Courts was selling S$70 cheaper. He did not believe me at first until I showed him the screenshot of the Courts promotion. He told me to wait and went to verify with his boss. After a while of waiting, he came back and told me that they could offer me S$70 cheaper. Eventually, I paid S$579 (S$649 - S$70) inclusive of free delivery + free installation + free disposal of old washer.

The salesperson kept persuading me to pay extra for extended warranty which I felt was not needed since the washer included a warranty. It is not worth paying S$100+ for an extended warranty for a few hundred dollars item unlike an aircon which is in thousands. I guess the salesperson gets a cut of commission for getting customers to sign for extended warranty.

Differences between Top-Load and Front-Load Washer

2 of the reasons I chose a front load washer over top load washer are clothes last longer as the front load washer is gentler and front load washer uses less water because it uses gravity to drop clothes into water, hence not all the clothes have to be soaked in water. See the below pic that I have found on the internet on the difference between top-load washer and front-load washer

Water Efficiency

In Singapore, there is a Water Efficiency Labelling Scheme (WELS) on electronics like washer to show the products' water consumption, type, brand and model. Products with the most ticks are recommended as they save more water. See the below pic for WELS sample label.

Sample

The Samsung WW70H5200EW/SP 7kg washer has 3 ticks which is excellent in water efficiency. See the below for the WELS label.

WW70H5200EW/SP

Samsung Washer Digital Inverter Motor Technology

The Samsung WW70H5200EW/SP 7kg washer uses the Digital Inverter Motor Technology. The Digital Inverter Motor is brushless, so it runs much cooler and uses less energy than motors found in conventional washing machines. Brushless motors have a small number of moving parts, giving them a longer lifespan. That’s why Samsung can back the motor of our next-generation washing machines with a 11-year parts warranty.

Washer Capacity Guide

The following guide will help you work out which capacity washing machine is right for you. Just check out the quantity of items each drum can take and compare that with your family’s daily washing needs.

5 kg washing machine

General guide for capacity: 25 t-shirts

6 kg washing machine

General guide for capacity: 30 t-shirts

7 kg washing machine

General guide for capacity: 35 t-shirts

8 kg washing machine

General guide for capacity: 40 t-shirts

9 kg washing machine

General guide for capacity: 45 t-shirts

10 kg washing machine

General guide for capacity: 50 t-shirts

Conclusion

The Samsung WW70H5200EW/SP 7kg washer is a good buy given the price and benefits. It is easy and simple to operate. The motor running sound is much quieter as compared to other washers. I like the beautiful digital LED display that shows the remaining cycle time, all cycle information and error messages.

Asus Laptop Review

ASUS K401UB-FR004T

• 6th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-6500U Processor 2.5Ghz (4M Cache, up to 3.1GHz)
• Windows 10 Home (64-bit)
• NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 940M with 2GB DDR3
• 14.0" LED-backlit Slim Full HD 1,920 x 1,080 Display
• 8GB DDR3 RAM (12GB RAM after Upgrade)
• 1TB HDD + 24GB SSD
• Weight: 1.65kg
• 2 Years International Warranty

Freebies

• RAM upgrade to 12GB
• USB 2.0 external DVD Writer
• Wireless Mouse
• MS Office 365 Personal
• Asus Carry Case
• McAfee Anti-Virus (12mths)

About Me

Hi, Welcome to my first blog in 2016. I am a IT Professional in my early 30s who has worked for a few MNCs in Singapore for close to 10 years. I started off as a IT programmer and gradually moved on to an analyst role.


Education

I was a Normal Academic (NA) student who went through 5 years of secondary school education instead of a typical 4-year Express path. I went on to pursue my studies in a local Polytechnic for 3 years and graduated with a IT diploma. Later on, after the completion of my National Service, I landed on my first job as an IT programmer. After 2 years of savings from my job, I furthered my studies as a part-time student in a local private university for a year and graduated with a Bachelor Degree in IT Computing.


Turning Point

Last year, I became frustrated and less motivated over the course of my work that forced me to re-examine what is my life purpose. I had no definite answer to the question. I started to ask myself what have I achieved in my career for the past 10 years. After some time of thinking, my answer was it was all about chasing towards earning more and more money as well as for the job security. The work passion slowly diminished over the course of work throughout the years. Then I asked myself, what is my true passion. I had no answer thus I kept reading articles and google for life purpose. One day, I stumbled on an article from http://personalexcellence.co/blog/my-purpose/  After reading it, it gave me trickle of thoughts of what I wanted to do. I have always like to share my experiences/reviews in buying and comparing things to get a good deal and also share inspiring articles that I have read. This is the reason why I set up this blog. Articles are in the pipeline, stay tune to my blog. :)