You’ve Survived Chinese New Year! Here’s What To Do With Your Angpows
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What should you do with your angpow money?
If you are already an adult and lucky enough to belong in the group to come back from Chinese New Year with a bag full of angpows, read on before you decide to go on a spending spree.
On the other hand, if you are married with children and had spent the entire festive week handing out red packets stuffed with money, now is the time to start thinking about what to do with your children’s angpow haul.
Here is what you should do with that money after the echo of the festive firecrackers have faded.
Don’t spend impulsively! Resist the urge to splurge, try saving
The latest smartphone model or designer sports shoes will surely beckon with attractive festive offers from shopping malls and online stores and the urge to spend that cash is at an all-time high. It takes willpower to resist the temptation and having a plan for all that money will help you stay focused.
Before you make any purchase with your angpow money, ask yourself, do you really need to buy it? If you are using your angpow money to buy an item which is a necessity, then make sure to look for deals online or compare prices before you make the purchase.
Chinese New Year is also the time for family reunions and getting together for a meal with friends and acquaintances. This can lead to a string of expensive dinners and drinks that can eat into your angpow stash if you keep it lying around.
Combined with the temptation of festive season sales, any spare cash you have in hand is in constant danger of being spent. If you physically put the money away in a fixed deposit account for instance, the chances of impulsively splurging the money is greatly reduced.
If you managed to emerge from this minefield of spending traps without sacrificing your ang pow money, here’s your opportunity to put the money to good use.
Resist the urge to spend and put your angpow money into a savings account or better yet, a fixed deposit where your money is untouchable for a period of time.
Do grow your angpow money!
While it is considered auspicious to receive angpows and keeping them for good luck, letting your cash sit around in your drawer is not the answer.
Investing the money is a logical answer but the investing route can be challenging for beginners. Stocks, bonds, retirement plans and even peer-to-peer lending are all potentially lucrative ways to grow your money.
For first-time investors, the investment route may be intimidating, but it’s better to start with baby steps rather than not starting at all.
If investing seems too daunting right now, you can start with something simpler, such as investing in yourself. Using the money to pay for a class, resources to hone a skill or improve yourself is a way to put you in the path to future monetary gains by improving your skillset.
Picking up a new skill can even be life-changing but you need to have the focus and perseverance to follow through, whether it is to finish a course or hone a talent. Otherwise the money you invested in yourself will go to waste.
For many of us, saving the money is the answer. Putting the money away in a savings account for your emergency fund is the logical route.
But how do you safeguard your savings from inflation?
Do save your angpow money!
One way to achieve the goal of saving is to open a fixed deposit (FD).
It pays you a fixed interest rate that is typically higher than a regular savings account until its maturity date and your money can still be accessed in the event of an emergency unlike putting your money in a property investment or even the stock market and other exchange traded funds.
If you have decided that the fixed deposit option is for you and start to shop around, it doesn’t take long to discover that there are many different term options on the market, from one month, three months, six months, one year or even 2 to 5 years.
The shorter the fixed term of the deposit, the lower the interest rate of return and the corresponding amount you earn.
Most angpows hauls today range between RM500 to RM1, 000 which will not earn a significant amount in interest upon maturity, but how about combining your angpow money with your annual bonus?
Even if you are planning on using the money for the down payment for a new car or even a holiday in future, putting it in a fixed deposit account ensures that your money is working for you.
What if there is an FD offering an even higher rate of return?
OCBC Bank is now offering a post Chinese New Year Fixed Deposit campaign that offers up to 4.20% per annum return on your deposit placement simply for you to continue the celebrations!
For a minimum deposit of RM10,000 made during the promotional period (February 20 to March 31 2019), OCBC Bank is offers you an attractive promotional return rate while you save your money.
| Tenure/Term | Interest Rate (% per annum) | Accumulated Returns + Investment (RM)* |
| 6 months | 4.00 | 10,201.67 |
| 12 months | 4.20 | 10,428.18 |
What if there is a fixed deposit promotional rate that puts you in the running to travel to Korea?
You can win an 8D6N South Korea holiday with 4 – 5 star accommodation inclusive of a Jeju Island Tour package when you deposit your angpow with OCBC Bank. There are also other prizes to be won like a Dyson vacuum cleaner, a Nespresso Essenza Mini Red and a Condotti 20” luggage bag. But if Fixed Deposit is not your thing, you can open a savings account with OCBC, either the OCBC 360 Account or OCBC Booster Account with a minimum deposit of RM10,000 to stand a chance to win the prizes.*
*Terms and conditions apply.
