Planning Financially for Life’s Milestones: Ways A Personal Loan Can Help

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We all have dreams of what we want to achieve in life.

They could be lofty aspirations such as being the next Steve Jobs, #goals such as starting your own baking business, an ambition to rise up in the corporate world, or even practical objectives like settling down with the right partner and raising a happy and healthy family.

No matter our desire, Singaporeans are generally realists at heart. We know that realising these milestones and dreams usually require adequate financial resources — in addition to perseverance and drive.

In short, we need a plan that will help us get to our goals.

One of the ways to bulk up on financial muscle includes taking a personal loan… wait, what? Hear me out first — when taken responsibly with sufficient planning, a personal loan can help to plug some of the financial gaps.

Read more: Personal Loans in Singapore — What Does It Mean To Borrow Responsibly?

You’ll need to ensure you’ve done all your financial “homework”, such as calculating your budget, your future expenses, how much you’ll actually need to borrow, and the affordability of your monthly loan repayments.

Ready? Here are some of the ways a personal loan such as the Standard Chartered CashOne Personal Loan can help you achieve some of life’s biggest milestones. You can find out more information about the Standard Chartered CashOne Personal Loan on MoneySmart’s website by clicking here, or by visiting the product page on Standard Chartered’s website by clicking here.

 

Getting married

Congratulations! You’ve found “the one” and you’re ready to make it official.

Technically, in Singapore, to enter into a civil marriage, you’d only need to register your union with the Registry of Marriages (ROM), which can cost just S$42 if your solemnisation ceremony is done at the ROM itself.

However, most of us opt for customary marriages too, which involve booking a lunch or dinner venue for our guests, or even a large banquet hall in a hotel (ah, the good old pre-Covid glory days). Other costs include the wedding gown and suit (plus shoes), wedding rings, wedding photography, preparing red packets for the wedding entourage/Justice of the Peace, booking of a live musician, event day videographer, event day photographer, makeup artist, florist and so on…

That’s why we have popular articles on Singapore wedding banquet price lists and even on wedding ang bao rates for guests to refer to.

While I’d like to say that how much you pay for your wedding is totally up to you, in reality there are social pressures such as needing to please parents/in-laws/business associates, or wanting a “dream wedding”.

Even if you’re banking on “recouping” the wedding costs with ang baos, it can be tough, especially in these uncertain times (but the ongoing pandemic is a good reason if you prefer a smaller-scale wedding).

If you worry your savings may not be enough to cover the additional costs, you can consider taking out a personal loan once you’ve done all of your calculations. For example, the instalment tenure of the Standard Chartered CashOne Personal Loan ranges from 1 to 5 years, which can help couples feel less financially stressed out after their big day.

 

Building your first home

It’s common practice for newly married couples to live together shortly after — whether it’s with their in-laws or new home.

Mortgage aside (there are home loans for that), you’ll need to budget for home renovations, purchase your home appliances and furnishings, insurance and so on. Depending on the type of home and extent of your renovation/choice of furnishings, this would likely be a low to medium 5-figure sum.

Read more: Home Renovations in Singapore — How You Can Budget For It

While a renovation loan certainly comes in handy, do note that anything that is not included in your renovation quotation from your contractor or interior design firm (even if it is within your loan limit) will not be covered by a renovation loan. Renovation loans typically don’t yet factor in your furnishings and appliances, as well as other miscellaneous items such as electronics, digital lock, smart home, decor items and so on.

Oh, and the maximum limit for a renovation loan is up to 6 times your monthly salary, or up to S$30,000, whichever is lower. If you’re renovating a 5-room resale flat with extensive hacking, flooring, carpentry, plumbing and electrical works, that S$30,000 is likely not enough.

Hence, you may want to consider getting a personal loan such as the Standard Chartered CashOne Personal Loan, which can be repaid over tenures between 1 year to 5 years, to help you with these additional costs. Oh, and one thing a personal loan has over a renovation loan is flexibility — you can use the cash disbursed for any purpose, even if it’s to fulfil your shared dream of owning 3 cats and a dog.

 

Starting your family

You’re now ready to start your family, but you’re not quite sure of the costs involved. It never hurts to be prepared, especially financially, so that you can be 100% focused on taking care of Baby.

The journey begins about a year to 9 months prior, where you’ll need to kick start the process of pre-pregnancy screening, getting pregnant and going for prenatal scans. There’s also the cost of prenatal supplements, maternity insurance, optional test and even prenatal classes so you’re better prepared for The Arrival.

During delivery, there’s the option of natural or Cesarean delivery, both of which have different costs. And then there’s Baby’s costs, which include vaccinations, other medical fees, insurance, clothes, bedroom, toys, milk bottles, car seat… not forgetting consumables such as diapers, milk powder and so on.

Read more: Baby Budget — Cost Considerations That Come with Having A Baby in Singapore

All in all, you might need to budget at least S$10,000 to S$20,000 for your newborn. If you’re worried about falling short (afterall, we only want the best for our children and loved ones), one way to get almost instant cash-in-hand is via a personal loan.

For example, the Standard Chartered CashOne Personal Loan can be disbursed in just 15 minutes², and it can be repaid over tenures between 1 year to 5 years, for a peace of mind.

 

Being “future ready”

We’ve seen, especially in recent years, how important it is to be adaptable and to constantly upgrade our professional skills. For example, reskilling to prepare for deployment to another role in a company or undertaking training to expand our job scope or to prepare for a shift to digitalisation.

There are many opportunities available for us to become “future ready” while still pursuing a full-time career. We could be nominated by our company to go for a course/higher education (and possibly serve a bond), apply for a training programme that is eligible for grants and subsidies, self-study for a certification with available resources found in the library or online, and so on.

If study grants or subsidies aren’t available, we’d likely have to use our own savings for our future betterment (taking into consideration the return on investment, of course). However, not everyone has the luxury to slowly build up their self-improvement fund — and some opportunities don’t come knocking twice.

A personal loan might come in handy in this instance — to help with course fees as we level up our skills for a better future (and higher salary?). For example, with Standard Chartered CashOne Personal Loan you can get a loan of up to 4X of your monthly income (subject to a maximum loan amount of S$250,000) upon approval if your annual income is S$30,000 and above.— if you’re planning to take a part-time Master of Business Administration degree (based on a salary of at least S$5,000/month), that should be enough to cover a good portion of the tuition fees.

 

Starting your own business

Recently, one of my friends finally started her home-based tiramisu business after much encouragement from her friends and family. As it is purely online, with no physical shop or commercial kitchen, she only needs to pay for her ingredients, packaging and petrol (for delivery) — but there are still costs involved.

If you’re thinking of setting up a brick and mortar business or more complex e-commerce operations, there are additional setup costs involved, that may or may not include rental, equipment, web hosting and design fees, service fees to an e-commerce payment portal, company-related fees to the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, taxes, manpower and so on.

Budding business owners can apply for financing schemes and loans from agencies such as Spring Singapore, as well as SME loans or business loans (but there may be restrictions or limits). You may also want to consider getting a personal loan, such as the Standard Chartered CashOne Personal Loan.

 

About the Standard Chartered CashOne Personal Loan

Benefits include:

• Interest rates starting from 3.48% p.a. (Effective interest rate (EIR)* from 6.95% p.a.)
• Loan can be repaid over tenures between 1 year to 5 years
• Get cash disbursed into any existing bank account of your choice within 15 minutes²
• Allows for a change of instalment tenure (with a conversion fee of S$50 for each change)

Promotion includes:

• Up to S$2,400 cashback upon approval¹ in CashOne Personal Loan Cashback Online Promotion

Terms and conditions apply.

Find out more about the Standard Chartered CashOne Personal Loan and apply here.

 

*Effective Interest Rate (EIR) is calculated taking into consideration the first-year annual fee of S$199; and is based on average loan amount of S$20,000 for 5 years tenure.

¹Click here for CashOne Personal Loan Cashback Online Promotion Terms and Conditions

²Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) Limited’s CashOne Personal Loan / Credit Card Instalment Loan Disbursement Terms and Conditions is applicable if an applicant makes an application for a CashOne Personal Loan (“CashOne”) or a Credit Card Instalment Loan (“Application”), successfully submits a completed Application to the Bank and the Bank approves such an Application. The transfer of funds to the applicant’s designated Standard Chartered Current/Cheque & Save Account(s) or non-Standard Chartered Current or Savings Account (each account a “Designated Account”) (“Loan Disbursement”) is subject to (a) the applicant successfully submitting a completed Application to the Bank; and (b) the Bank approving the Application which must satisfy the Bank’s eligibility criteria, including our credit and risk management policies, as well as prevailing laws and regulations. The Bank reserves the right to reject any Application which does not fulfil our criteria at our discretion. If the Bank is unable to process the Application or the Loan Disbursement due to system failure, system outage, malfunction, delay or any other circumstances whatsoever, whether within our reasonable control or otherwise, the Bank is not able to provide Loan Disbursement within the time periods(as stated in clauses 3 to 5 of the CashOne Personal Loan / Credit Card Instalment Loan Disbursement terms and conditions), and the Bank disclaims all liability arising for any such delay including any loss, damage or inconvenience caused to/incurred by you the applicant, or any third party arising from or in connection therewith. Click here for the full CashOne Personal Loan / Credit Card Instalment Loan Disbursement Terms and Conditions which apply.

All views expressed in the article are the independent opinions of MoneySmart Singapore Pte. Ltd. All information provided is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be construed as advice or an offer for any product or service. Standard Chartered is not liable for any informational errors, incompleteness, delays, or for any actions taken in reliance on information contained herein.