Investing in Crowdfunding Sites can make Big Bucks? (Moolahsense)

Mention the word "crowdfunding" and I can easily tell you what are the companies that provide such services. There is Moolahsense, New Union, Coassets, Funding Societies, Capital Match, Fundnel, Smartfunding, Invoice interchange, Fundedhere and much more in the market. 

So what exactly is "Crowdfunding"? According to Wikipedia, "Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and of alternative finance. In 2015, it was estimated that worldwide over US$34 billion was raised this way. (Source: Wikipedia)


To put it in easier terms, Crowdfunding is having a large group of people pool the money together for a certain purpose. It can be to support a charity organization without asking for any returns back or to lend money to a corporation with principal and interest returned which in this case is done via Moolahsense.

Moolahsense is a platform that allows individuals to invest their money for returns higher than bonds and for corporations to borrow money instead of banks who may not lend to them due to some reasons. The minimum amount required to be an investor on the platform is $1000. There are other crowdfunding sites that allow as little as $100 to get started. 

How it Works for Investors
When a campaign is available on the platform to invest, you will be able to find out information about the company to help you decide if you want to invest in. The important information to look out for is as such

• Company Name
• Paid up Capital
• Income Statement
• Target Rate
• Repayment Frequency
• Tenor
• Guarantor

Based on the information provided which may or not be accurate, you will have to make your own judgment on whether if you are willing to accept the risks for the rewards. The usual scenario is that the higher the risk of the company, the target rate or the interest that you get in return is higher. 

Personal Methodology
For me, I have invested in 4 different campaigns. Out of these 4 campaigns, 2 has matured, 1 has defaulted and 1 is still ongoing.

Ever since I used the platform, I have probably seen more than 30 different campaigns on offer from a large variety of companies ranging from listed to SME. To decide if I am willing to invest in it, there are a few key things that I take note of which are 

• Target Rate
• Repayment Frequency
• Tenor
• Guarantor
• Turnover
• Debts
• Cash in the bank
• Cash flow from operations

When all these information is in line with my criteria, then I will go ahead to invest in them. Generally, I would prefer offers with shorter tenor, low debt, high frequency of payment and positive cash flow from operations. Do take note that investing blindly without doing proper research is similar to gambling. And do not invest money that you will be needing it in the near future. 

Do you invest via crowdfunding sites as well and what are they? Go ahead to comment about it and don't forget to subscribe via email or like our Facebook Page for the latest updates! Do also let us know what you would like us to blog about next!

Personal Experiment in Gambling 4D, TOTO and Big Sweep (Singapore Pools)

A few months ago, I started this experiment of gambling 4D, TOTO and Big Sweep. The purpose was mainly to understand the process of gambling and understand what are the odds of winning. This post is mainly for educational purposes and not to encourage gambling. One can gamble if they have excess cash. Although it is hard to define what is excess cash which to me I define it as money that one is willing and able to lose without losing sleep at night.

*Disclaimer: For those who know me, I am not a gambler in the first place so even after the experiment has ended, I have not gambled 4D, TOTO or Big Sweep ever since. 

For those who do not know, Singapore Pools is a legalized platform for one to gamble in Singapore with the various gambling options such as TOTO, 4D, Soccer, F1, Motorsports, horse-racing and Big Sweep. The objective of gambling is to make a guess or prediction such that if it is correct, you will be rewarded for it. And it was only in November 2016 that one can place bets online without having to go down to the shop physically. For more information of this, you can refer to the news article "What you need to know about the new online betting rules in Singapore" by The Newpaper.


The Experiment
For this experiment, since I do not have the time to go down to the Singapore Pools outlet often to place bets, I went for the online method. In order to place bets online, you would still need to physically head down to one of their outlets and purchase a top-up scratch card. The top-up scratch card will contain a code for you to insert into the website to add credit to your online wallet.

At the counter, indicate to the staff that you would like to purchase a top-up card for online gambling. It comes in the denomination of $50, $100, and $200. Since it was for an experiment, I went for the cheapest option of $50. 

With the details on the top-up scratch card, fill in the details on the Top-up cards options under deposit tab on the Singapore Pools website as shown below. The other methods to top up include eNets and Bank Transfer. However, these options require one to pay some fees whereas the Top-up cards method had no fees involved. 

After you have submitted the code for depositing of credits into your wallet, you will be able to see the transaction history the top up amount and also the new amount at the balance. With that, I was all set to gamble online.

The gambling options available online included all except Big Sweep since Big Sweep had serial numbers and can only be purchased offline. Other than that, most of the gambling options that are done at the outlet can be done online too. 

With so many options to choose from, I eventually decided on gambling in 4D and TOTO as even though the odds of winning are lower than predicting the results for Sports and Racing, the rewards were much higher. Below is the comparison table that I did for TOTO, 4D and Big Sweep.

And to ensure that everything was tracked correctly, I created an excel sheet to record my transactions and the bets made which I have screenshot it below for anyone who is interested. It simply records down the bet amount, date of the bet made and other details of the bet.

During the initial phase, I opted for 4D as the gambling option but eventually switched to TOTO as it was not showing results. Lo and behold, I managed to win a bet in TOTO with the prize money of $10. However, as all gambling outcome, everything was eventually "donated" to Singapore Pools.

Learning Points
Through this simple experiment, it showed me that it is possible to "win" in gambling although this "win" is not sustainable in the long run and everything could end up returned to Singapore Pools. It is hard to win although you would have definitely heard stories of people who became instant millionaires with TOTO. 

Do you gamble and if you do gamble, what is the biggest win that you have ever gotten so far? Go ahead to comment about it and don't forget to subscribe via email or like our Facebook page for the latest updates!

Be Rewarded for being Financially Savvy (Finty.com)

The main reason why one would apply for credit cards is due to the benefits of being able to spend first and pay later. The next popular reason for getting a credit card is the rewards one get from using credit cards such as cashback, reward points and miles. 

Besides the usual rewards that are given when you spend with credit cards, banks also do give sign up rewards to entice people to apply for their credit cards. These include $138 cashback, 10,000 krsiflyer miles or 120,000 Capitstar points. There are also luggage bags given away although I rarely see it nowadays.

Besides the reward given to users by the bank for using or signing up for credit cards, there is actually another way to get even more benefits from credit cards. The company that is providing these additional rewards is called "Finty" and their website is https://www.finty.com which you can click here to see more.

How "Finty" works is when you apply for credit cards through their links, "Finty" will be rewarded for each successful referrals which can be tracked by the urls and application reference number. With the commissions earned by "Finty", they give it back to you such that you will return to use their website again and they earn from the difference of what was not given away.  


Below are the steps on how to use "Finty"

Step 1
Decide on the credit card that you would want to apply on this page : https://www.finty.com/credit-cards

Step 2
Click on the apply now button which will redirect you to a page that requires you to input your name and email address. This is for them to send you an email for follow up on the redemption of your rewards given by "Finty"

Step 3
After filling up the contact details, click on "Proceed to Apply" which you will then be redirected to the bank website credit card page and you apply for the credit card as usual.

Step 4
After you have received the actual credit card from the bank, you will proceed to fill up the details form that was sent to your email by "Finty". Usually it will require your application reference number or a picture of the actual credit card. This is to allow "Finty" to verify with the bank whether you were referred by "Finty" so that the bank can pay commission to "Finty" for their effort and "Finty" can then give you some of that commission.

Step 5
The verification will take about a month and if you did everything properly, you will be given the reward by "Finty" either in the form of cheque or bank transfer. These rewards are on top of the sign up rewards given by the bank.

To date, I have applied for 2 credit cards via their platform and have gotten the cash rewards successfully. If you are currently looking to apply for a credit card or thinking of getting one soon, using "Finty" would be a fantastic way to "get more bang for your buck!"

Would you be keen to use "Finty"? Go ahead to comment about it and don't forget to subscribe via email or like our Facebook page for the latest updates!