Here are five under-used, high-impact moves to jumpstart your finances.
Habits will start compounding in the new year, sit back and reap the rewards at the end of the year.
This article was written by a Financial Horse Contributor.
When you set rules once (e.g., automated DCA with valuation bands, a weekly cash-ladder maturity, and a 24-hour delay for large purchases), you remove dozens of future micro-choices that typically leak money.
Front-loading tax-advantaged contributions early in the year buys you more months of compounding and a larger after-tax base working for you.
It’s also the most efficient time to realign portfolio risk with your goals.
1) Budget Blitz
Jolene thought she was “pretty frugal.” In one afternoon she called her telco, broadband, and two subscriptions.
She used a single line: “I’m reviewing costs today—if you can match the current promo, I’ll renew 12 months.”
Telco matched a new-customer deal, broadband waived a fee, and she dropped a duplicate cloud plan. Net result: S$210/month saved—without changing her lifestyle.
Action plan:
Grab your last 3 months of statements and circle anything that repeats. Call or live-chat each provider.
Ask for (1) price match, (2) removal of unused add-ons, (3) annual plan discount.
If they say no, be ready with a competitor quote.
Add all the monthly savings at the end—you want S$150–S$300+ per month. That’s S$1.8k–S$3.6k a year, equivalent to owning S$45k–S$90k of assets yielding 4%.
2) A 26-Week Cash-Flow Ladder
Shawn hated the feeling of watching cash sit idle. He split his buffer into 26 equal chunks and placed them into short-term instruments that mature weekly.
Every week, something comes due: bills get paid first, excess rolls to the back of the ladder. When a surprise expense hit, he didn’t scramble—one rung matured that Friday.
Action plan:
Decide your “sleep-well” cash (e.g., 6–12 months of spending).
Divide it by 26 and schedule a weekly maturity for each tranche (short fixed deposits, T-bills, or money-market).
Pay expenses from whatever matures next; reinvest the rest. You’ll always have fresh cash each week, but the rest keeps earning.
BTW – we share commentary on Singapore Investments every week, so do join our Telegram Channel (or Telegram Group), Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date!
Financial Horse also share great tips on Twitter.
Don’t forget to sign up for our free weekly newsletter too!
3) Valuation-Banded DCA
Mei used to buy the same amount of an index fund every month, then panic when headlines screamed “expensive.”
She kept DCA, but added bands: when valuations looked cheap, she bought double; when rich, she bought half and sent the other half to her cash ladder.
Over a few years, she ended up owning more units at better prices—without “calling the bottom.”
Action Plan:
Pick one valuation gauge per asset (e.g., forward P/E for a broad equity index; P/B for REITs).
Define three bands from history/sector medians: Cheap → 2× your base, Fair → 1×, Rich → 0.5× (park the other 0.5× in cash).
Automate the transfer and review bands quarterly—not daily. If any position drifts more than ±5 percentage points from target, redirect new money to what’s underweight.
You’re still DCA-ing; you’re just letting price influence size.
4) Tax-Timing
Priya always planned to contribute at year-end, then missed deadlines.
One January she flipped the script: she set up automatic monthly contributions to her tax-advantaged buckets (e.g., CPF/SRS equivalents, approved donations, deductible insurance).
Her tax bill dropped, and those dollars started compounding earlier instead of waiting until December.
Action plan:
List the reliefs you’re eligible for and their cut-off dates.
Automate contributions now, not later.
In drawdowns, spend from the lowest-taxed pot.
5) Income Upgrade Plan
Daniel spent weeks cancelling S$9.99 subscriptions but ignored the bigger lever—his income.
Some important tweaks:
- He made sure to put together a monthly or quarterly one-page “wins memo” to his boss
(“Here’s the revenue saved/earned; here’s the plan I can deliver next quarter”) and asked for a structured comp review. - Updated his LinkedIn and spoke to recruiters about new offers + gain knowledge on industry market comp trends.
By landing a raise, this dwarfed all the small budget cuts.
So make sure to work on your income upgrading plan, instead of just passively sitting at the bylines.
Download your Financial Jumpstart toolkit:
Money Grows on the Tree of Persistence
None of this requires luck.
It’s just short, repeatable actions stacked in the right order.
You’re not relying on motivation—you’re engineering outcomes for the next 12 months.