finally, a proper credit card for whales and not peasants

its the new SCB beyond card

impressive

tldr is uncapped 2mpd local spend, 4mpd fcy spend and 8mpd fcy dining spend

this card is only max beneficial if you are SCB priority private, which is an easy $1.5m sgd

for the longest time, i have been confused by UOB, SCB and HSBC have shit offerings for their credit cards aimed at higher value customers

UOB cards everything cap cap cap

HSBC another cap cap cap player

SCB finally got their shit together

1. high, uncapped earn rates

2. points no expiry 

3. unlimited priority pass for supp cards

4. overseas airport limo

 

all the other things are cute or worthless (to me)

french contemp birthday meal? i hope they expand cos lame to eat the same restaurant every bday

biz class upgrades? with the miles being PRINTED from all the spending on this card, you dont need to pay for tickets. but maybe you like me, always last minute book tickets, so no mile seats available and need to pay cash instead. i understand

accord plus / world elite benefits? good to have, but you probably already have it (ocbc premier), and it probably isnt something worth going out of your way to get

 

earn rates

in my personal situation, this would become my main spending card for everything

my other cards all going to feel a bit sad after i shift almost all of my spending to this card

points dont expire

alot of people say that this is a useless feature

its cos they spend so little money and earn miles so slowly, and then redeem 1 pair of biz class tickets and wipe out their miles balance so quickly, so they never have any balances

for people like me, we have millions of miles. some months we dont travel, another month we redeem half a mil of miles

having miles that dont expire is very important and i immediately toss any card without such feature

lounge for supp card

honestly, lounge access through cards are.. unnecessary

people in this tier are flying biz or first class anyway, so they already have a lounge they can access

however, i think it is a very NICE TO HAVE feature, especially for the supp card holders, in the situations where they are not traveling with the principal card holder, and for some reason are taking economy or budget flights because their travel companions are financially limited, yet your supp card holder doesnt want to struggle completely with them

think your kids going for a holiday with friends

anyway lounge access for supp cards are a rarity these days

its basically only amex platinum, hsbc visa infinite, uob reserve and citi ultima

i have tried to make amex work, but amex in singapore is such a shit card and payment network

hsbc visa infinite is a very underwhelming card and it is subpar for everything, except this feature of lounge access for supp card holders

uob reserve is an all round shit card with 2 points expiry, only decent thing is 2.4mpd fcy

citi ultima is the only card i feel is all right, but a lot of things dont suit my lifestyle with it

overseas airport limo

this is a feature that i really like

i have my singapore to/from changi airport limo already covered by other means

however, i always find myself needing to arrange airport limo at my destination to/from the airport and hotel

at priority private level, this means 5 trips (5 from airport to hotel, 5 from hotel to airport) covered per year

but not everything is perfect and i see they have 1 clause that we need to make 1 eligible investment or deposit yearly to enjoy the card benefits

this is probably NOT a deal breaker, but i will reserve my final verdict for when they give more info on what constitutes an eligible investment or deposit 

probably need to buy a mutual fund with sales charge or bring in like 100k fresh funds, but rest assured, it is probably something stupid

but give and take i suppose

lose a bit on that investment / deposit, earn it all back x 10 by printing miles

 

btw, in my humble experience, this "non-waivable" credit card fee?

its always waivable, as long as you spend enough money

its never waived for benefit hunters that apply for the card and dont put any spending on it, lol

 

people will kpkb say that the local earn rate of 2mpd is weak compared to 4mpd cards, but as  mile lion points out (https://milelion.com/2024/11/25/should-you-get-a-stanchart-beyond-card/) using a 4 card combo of citi rewards, dbs womans, uob preferred and uob visa signature, you get 4mpd on a combined cap of a pathetic $5610 a month

a typical month sees me spend 8-10x of that

big months are 20x that

 

mile lion estimates that one needs to spend at least $23k per year overseas to breakeven on the annual fee (assuming it cant be waived), which is an insultingly low amount to hit

another way is even if you dont travel overseas, if you spend more than 260k in local spend a year, the incremental 0.4 mpd valued at 1.5cpm will cover the annual fees

260k is a single richard mille watch, my friend

 

with the high mpd earn rates, this card is an absolute no brainer to get and i look forward for more details on it about the renewal conditions and public application after it comes out of soft launch

if this card doesnt appeal to you, just understand that it is because you arent rich enough and you dont spend enough

this is probably the best card on the market for whales

rat poison all time highs

ill enjoy the near future watching finfluenzas coping

- admit they dont know crypto

- decide to stay within their circle of competency

- have fun staying poor 

there are few honest, simple truths in the world of finance

and alot of sai

one of those truths is that governments print money as fast as they can

when you accept that fact

you are also forced to figure out what assets can outperform the pace of printing

from a 3rd person point of view

hearing people say they dont understand crypto and therefore know to avoid it

is the same as hearing most people say they dont understand investing and stocks and therefore avoid it

i wonder how many more cycles they need to watch play out to finally swallow their pride

ikigai? more like, its a lie

one popular influenza like to say ikigai ikigai ikigai

not going to say who, but you probably know who

 

 

that chart is not what ikigai means

 

that is what white people writing self help books think that ikigai means

 

 

 

my understanding of ikigai means contentment, with regards to their own life's purpose

 

ikigai is not a singular thing, as one can have many ikigai 

 

maybe for that influenza, his ikigai is doing what he loves, he is good at, that the world needs and what he can be paid for

if doing that makes him feel fulfilled about life, then that is his ikigai

but your ikigai does not need to fall within the holy insection of the above 4 circles

ikigai definitely does not need to be something you are paid to do

ikigai is also not something that the world needs

 

but yes, ikigai typically does involve something that you love 

and interestingly enough, ikigai does not even require you to be good at it

i point this out because it is actually fantasy lifestyle advice porn that most people can find this "ikisai"

if you are one of the rare lucky few, then thumbs up man

for everyone else, it is actually toxic to think that way

 

i dont care for the authenticity of the word and its true japanese original meaning, but the propaganda that people need to find 1 activity that overlaps all 4 circles is actually mentally harmful to most

my free advice:

get a job and that is what you will be paid for

and then find your own ikigai outside of that job

one of my ikigai is talking nonsense on a blog that 20 people read

 

i dont get paid for it

 

it is not what the world needs

 

but i love it

and i dont care if i am good at it or not