First Car Before Graduation

[Musicwhiz]

I can't see the point of this RazorTV article in ST. To make people feel envious? Or to let these "lucky" undergraduates boast about their spankingly beautiful cars? Yet another blatant sign of materialism being "promoted" by our dear ST!

Sep 16, 2010
First car before graduation
By Shivali Nayak, Multimedia Journalist, RazorTV

UNDERGRADUATES are not just chasing degrees these days. Some of them they are also chasing milestones, like owning their first car before graduation.

One such person is Nur Ilham, a first-year student from National Institute of Education, who has yet to graduate but has already gotten his first car. The 21-year-old owns a Chevrolet Aveo 5 that cost him $57,000 and is fully paid - by him. He had worked part-time to finance his car payments.

Other undergraduates are even luckier. First-year undergraduate Asri drives a Volkswagen Beetle, while final-year Electrical and Electronic Engineering undergraduate Wong Kah Wai drives a Lexus. These cars cost well over $100,000 each, all paid for by their parents.

RazorTV staked out the car parks at Nanyang Technological University and National University of Singapore, and found many luxury cars on campus - all owned by students.

[yeokiwi]

City dwellers are like that. They can' run away from being materialistic.
I think the rich kids' parents are worse if they paid the cars for their kids.

Even I am a billionaire, I will make sure my kids take public transport to school.

[d.o.g.]

The case of Nur Ilham is interesting. On one hand, since he worked and paid for his car, he has a work ethic, one of the basic ingredients for future success. This is most promising. On the other hand he is also lacking one of the basic ingredients for future success - money sense. He put his money into one of the worst liabilities of modern Singapore society. This is most depressing. Normal assets just depreciate after you buy them. Cars require continued expenses in the form of fuel, insurance and taxes. Cars are not just a poor asset, they are an impoverishing asset.

Certainly, he is free to spend his money as he sees fit. And he may feel that the mobility and status a car affords are worth the expense. But that money, invested wisely, could easily buy him several more cars over his lifetime, if he was willing to delay that "car owner" feeling for 15-20 years. In fact, he could conceivably put that money into dividend-paying stocks today, and just spend the dividends on taxi rides. After enjoying 15-20 years of "free" taxi rides he would probably have not only his original capital but also a handsome capital gain.

More seriously, it is not clear whether his education has suffered as a result of his part-time work. Certainly he is more worldly than his peers, but if he is planning on a teaching career he would be wise to concentrate on becoming as good a teacher as he can be. Otherwise, if he fails to fully develop his potential as a teacher, he may ultimately handicap himself in future, when his performance limits his ultimate success. Of course, if he doesn't want to be a teacher, but just wants a formal academic qualification, that's a different story.

As usual, YMMV.

[momoeagle]

Some people believe that since life is short, there's no point saving all the money up.

After all, in the long run, we are all dead. Live to enjoy our short life, not be a millionaire scrooge.

[Musicwhiz]

Some people believe that since life is short, there's no point saving all the money up.

After all, in the long run, we are all dead. Live to enjoy our short life, not be a millionaire scrooge.

Well, there has to be good balance between enjoying life, and saving enough for retirement and/or emergencies. I feel the problem arises when young people over-indulge in a lifestyle they can ill afford, using future money which they have yet to earn. These days it's pretty easy with credit cards and credit lines; and there are young adults who literally binge on stuff like bling which they want but don't need.

Does it make life more satisfying and fulfilling? Maybe. But then again there are ways to enjoy life without all the material goods.

Getting a car is, as d.o.g. said, one of the worst assets you can acquire from a financial standpoint. But if it's a necessity in your work in order to help you earn income, or is used to ferry disabled parents; then it becomes more of an asset rather than a liability.

Just my 2-cents.

[Piaget]

Some people believe that since life is short, there's no point saving all the money up.

After all, in the long run, we are all dead. Live to enjoy our short life, not be a millionaire scrooge.

Well, there has to be good balance between enjoying life, and saving enough for retirement and/or emergencies. I feel the problem arises when young people over-indulge in a lifestyle they can ill afford, using future money which they have yet to earn. These days it's pretty easy with credit cards and credit lines; and there are young adults who literally binge on stuff like bling which they want but don't need.

Does it make life more satisfying and fulfilling? Maybe. But then again there are ways to enjoy life without all the material goods.

Getting a car is, as d.o.g. said, one of the worst assets you can acquire from a financial standpoint. But if it's a necessity in your work in order to help you earn income, or is used to ferry disabled parents; then it becomes more of an asset rather than a liability.

Just my 2-cents.

True.. only if the job requires it. If I'm not doing sales, will not even had gotten one! Getting 1 before graduation is like digging your own grave!

[ssian]

Hi, i'm new here.

I have just graduated not long ago and i don't own a car.
All my life, i've been quite thrifty for i saved quite a sum of money in my savings account but then the money isn't growing much in a way.

I read about dividends-paying stocks from dog's reply but how do i go about buy such stocks.
I know some knowledge on ratios etc and how to tabulate and assess the information and stuff but i'm lacking the technicality as to how to go about purchasing and/or holding such "assets" or "account"

Any kind soul is able to enlighten me on how to go about owning or buying such "paper"

Can pm me or msg here

i got to know of this website via Musicwhiz's blog. Cheers

[yeokiwi]

1) Open a CDP account. All your Singapore shares will be held in this account.
2) Open a stock trading account with brokerages (Phillips Securities, DBS Vicker Ballas, Kim Eng, GK Goh, OCBC Securities etc..). Typically, if you do not have a CDP account, they will probably help you to apply and so you can skip the first step.
3) Apply for Electronics Share Payment(EPS) to link your bank account to the stockbroker.
4) You will be given an internet trading account for trading. You may be assigned a remisier too.
5) Login to your internet trading account to buy/sell stocks.
6) Login to bank account to pay for your purchases.

I think you just need to visit stockbrokers' offices and they will explain to you everything.
The websites below have more detailed info to open a stock trading account.

http://www.poems.com.sg/
http://www.eq.com.sg/page/site/public/index.html
https://www.itradecimb.com.sg/app/home.z

Besides that...
Buy a book first?
"The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham.

[PassiveReturns]

I read about dividends-paying stocks from dog's reply but how do i go about buy such stocks.

Hi there, I think you may want to start with some Reits/Trusts/Blue Chips listed on SGX and build your way up from there. But first, you need to open a CDP account to safekeep your stock ownership, and then find a stock broker for your online transaction of buying/selling your stocks.

[ssian]

Thank you all for the prompt replies.
So it's a must to engage a broker for any transaction right ? from passivereturns posting.
I'll read up more on the links you have listed yeokiwi
Thank you all once again.
This is a nice place to be and reading all the write-ups.