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Singapore Budget 2013 - Wage Credit Scheme (Update)

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In my last post , I mentioned that I am eligible for the Wage Credit Scheme, but today when I looked at this article from IRAS, seems like I am not eligible. Basically the government will co-fund salary increment, but only for employee whose Gross Monthly Wage is S$4000 or below. So how do they derive Gross Monthly Wage? My monthly salary is S$3300, and I usually get 3 months bonus a year, and I have a S$500 allowance for each year. Total basic wage = 3300 x 12 = 39600 Bonus = 3300 x 3 = 9900 Allowance = 500 Total = 39600 + 9900 + 500 = 50000 Total divided by Number of Months Worked = 50000 / 12 = 4166.66 Meh. I was happy for a while...
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Furious World Tour - Bangkok

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Other than Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsey, Furious Pete is the next guy I want to see on a Food + Travel show, enjoy! Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
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Singapore Budget 2013 - Wage Credit Scheme

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Today I came across this scheme at our budget website . It seems that our government will help businesses pay their employees a higher salary increment for 3 years by topping up an extra 40%, but this only applies to employees whose monthly salary are S$4000 or lesser, which also means I am eligible, Yay... I wonder if it is capped at S$200 since the picture shows only that amount. Anyway, I don't think my employer will pay me that much, I'll probably get S$100-S$150 increment for 2013 depending on performance. So let's say I get S$100 increment from my employer, and our government tops up 40%, I'll get a total of S$140 increment for 2013, sounds like not bad huh. The thing is, what happens after 3 years? From the 4th year onwards, employers will need to cough up that extra salary increment from their own pockets? I don't think they will like that.
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Google Glass - Say Delicious in Thai

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Wow, voice command, GPS and... translation!?! 1:47 "Say delicious in Thai" - Aroi Maybe I should get one.
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Bought Sheng Siong at S$0.65 on 01 Apr 2013

Today it closed at S$0.67, I think it will go higher later on. It's giving out dividend in May, let's see...
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This Really Puts Us in a Bad Light

Source ICA warns individuals not to enter sham marriage to bypass immigration laws SINGAPORE: The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority has warned individuals not to enter a marriage of convenience to bypass immigration laws. ICA said it will not hesitate to take action against those who have submitted their applications under false representations and have their immigration facilities revoked. It highlighted a case which involved a Singaporean man and a China national. 35-year-old Quek Mu Lian met 28-year-old Yu Dan during a holiday to China in January 2012. Quek, a heavy gambler and unemployed at the time, was tempted to make a quick buck off Yu when she told him that she was keen to stay in Singapore for a longer term. He then abetted Yu to enter a marriage of convenience, and asked her for S$15,000. They registered their marriage some five months later, and Yu obtained a long-term visit pass under Quek's sponsorship. Both were arrested on December 6, 2012 and c
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Bought SembCorp Industries (U96) at S$5.15

I have been thinking about what to buy next after selling my SingPost a week earlier, and I have been looking closely at SATS, M1 and Sheng Siong, but unfortunately, all 3 were at peak prices and that really made me rethink my decision. Then I decided to check out some GLCs, and I saw SembCorp Industries at a 3 month low price, wow, felt like I found a piece of S$50 note on the ground. And without thinking too much, BAM, bought it at 5.15. And the best part is, they will be paying out dividend in May, info as follow, Record Date: 02 May 2013 Payment Date: 14 May 2013 Include Dividend: From now until 26 Apr 2013 Exclude Dividend: 29 Apr, 30 Apr, 01 May is holiday, 02 May, resume normal trading on 03 May.
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Oracle LPAD Function in Derby

Recently I had the opportunity of working with Derby 10.9 and I needed to convert some queries written in Oracle to Derby, and I hit this wall; Oracle has this lpad function which can add zeroes to the left of a string e.g. lpad('tech', 8, '0'); would return '0000tech' Basically what the above meant is you pass in a string called "tech", it will fill up from the left with 0s, and make sure the final string is of length 8. So how the heck do I make it work the same way in Derby? Took me one or two hours to figure it out... ij> select myname from mytabletest; MYNAME ---------- tech ij> select substr('00000000'||myname, length(myname)+1) from mytabletest; 1 ------------------ 0000tech As you can see, there are 8 zeroes, you adjust it according to the final length of the string, so if you want a longer length with more zeroes, just add more zeroes. By the way, the myname field is a varchar(10). So what happens if myname i
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Long-Term Visit Pass - Plus (LTVP-PLUS)

http://www.ica.gov.sg/news_details.aspx?nid=12665 Good news for those of us who cannot get PR for our beloved spouse, because the Singapore government has come up with a enhanced long-term visit pass called LTVP-PLUS or LTVP+. I'll sum up the key points in the FAQ provided by ICA so you don't have to go through one big page. Do let me know if I missed out anything or correction is required by dropping a comment. GENERAL LTVP+ will be in effect from 01 Apr 2012. LTVP+ holders will enjoy extended duration of residency, public healthcare subsidies and easier access to employment. No separate application required for LTVP+; an application for LTVP will automatically include your spouse for LTVP+, if eligible. LTVP applications submitted from 01 Feb 2012 will automatically be considered for LTVP+. The first approved LTVP+ will grant 3 years residency and subsequent renewal will be 5 years. Current holders of LTVP will be considered for LTVP+ on next renewal. If holde
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How to Marry a Thai in Singapore

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You should refer to here -  https://www.rom.gov.sg/reg_info/rom_marriage.asp Please spend some time to go through and understand the information on that section (legal provision, other information, filing of notice, solemnization and etc), if your still not sure, feel free to drop a comment here or you can use their FAQ . The ROM website did a really good job of putting together the information that you need in a well-organized manner. I've done it once and I think the guide is very easy to follow. The only hiccup I've had with my marriage is during the  Appointment for verification & Statutory Declaration where both of us were required to read out a wall of text and my wife had difficulty getting past the first few lines and the counter guy got fed up and told my wife to stop. Definitely my oversight as I didn't arrange for an interpreter beforehand but luckily, there was a licensed interpreter at the scene and we managed to get her to do the interpretation fo
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Commission Calculator for DBS Vickers SG Stocks

Made this little tool to help me calculate the costs of buying or selling a stock, just enter number of shares and price and it will show both buy and sell costs at the same time. Can even choose by cash upfront, online or phone and it will calculate using respective rates. Cash Upfront ONLINE By Phone Shares: Price: Value: Commission: Clearing Fee:
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