Compare apples with apples and learn something.

Many readers think that I don't take enough fruits and vegetables and I have been making an effort to increase my intake. 

I enjoy a particular brand of apples a lot, Envy. Crisp and sweet, it is probably more expensive than some apples but, hey, I am learning to be nicer to myself.

Envy apples sell out quickly and many times I find them sold out at the NTUC Fairprice in the HDB estate near my place. So, when I saw them on sale at a branch in a shopping mall this morning, I bought some.

This evening, after dinner in a warm and crowded kopitiam near my place, I popped into the NTUC Fairprice I usually patronise just to enjoy the air conditioning. Clever, right?

Then, I saw the apples. 

Ah, new stock has arrived, I thought to myself. Out of habit, I looked at the price and, then, I looked again.

Sure or not?

I was pretty sure I paid a higher price just this morning.

Anyway, I bought a pack, came home and checked. You know lah, we should compare apples with apples, right?

AK so witty? I also say.

See the difference?

OK, magnified for the optically challenged:

Alamak. How come like that?

Now, I know. 

Moral of the story:
"Don't buy fruits from NTUC Fairprice found in more atas locations."

A 10% difference is a big deal. 

Well, to me it is, anyway.

I know. It is hard for me to change my ways.

Comparing apples with apples, I learned something this evening.

Related post:
What a visit to NTUC Fairprice could teach us?

Sell 2 condomiums to buy 1 landed property?

Hi AK,

I chanced upon your blog recently while searching for landed property and found your blog very interesting.

I would like to have your opinion on my property search.

I am in my late 40s and owns 2 condos in the OCR with my wife.

One of the property is fully paid off and rented out. The other property where we live in, still have a loan of $800k for 20 years.

I am confidence of paying off the loan when I reach 55 because of the rental and we have a combine income of more than $20k per month.

We are considering selling off our 2 condos and purchasing a landed property. I did my sum and conclude that we still can have the similar loan of $800k if we purchase a landed home at $2.2 mil.

Now my Questions

1) Does it make economic sense to swap 2 condo for 1 landed if everything remain the same or similar? interest rate, loan tenure and amount etc.

2) Although with the landed, I will have no more rental income. But I will still be able to reduce the loan significant when I reach 55 with my CPF withdrawal.

3) Any pitfall that I need to consider seriously? Like is it realistic to have a $2.2mil landed?

Thanks in advance for any advice (professional or unprofessional) :-)

Best Regards

B

Hi B,

Welcome to my blog. :)

Financially, I believe that you are in a comfortable position now and buying that $2.2 million landed property doesn't seem like a demanding thing. It is affordable.

However, you did not mention how much you have in your emergency fund or what are your plans to help fund your retirement if you were to purchase the landed property.

Like you said, buying the landed property would mean giving up your rental income and it could also mean drawing upon your CPF money (which is really meant for retirement funding) to reduce the loan for the landed property at age 55.

I am just raising some pertinent questions and you don't have to tell me anything else if you don't feel comfortable to do so.

In closing, I just want to say that it is probably OK to up our consumption level if we have certainty we will avoid financial hardship later down the road.

Best wishes,
AK


Related posts:
1. Do I need a bigger home?
2. 2015 passive income all gone.