Air Miles for Your Kids and Hedging Investment Risk

How to earn air miles with your kids and why hedging risk with gold can be a smart strategy

Author

Tim Phillips
May 04, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

💳 Card & Miles Hack of the Week

It’s no secret that travelling with kids is expensive. That’s especially true when your kids turn 2 years old, as that’s when you have to start paying pretty much a full adult fare for them when you fly.

So, for those of us in Singapore, it’s useful to know that you can actually earn KrisFlyer miles for your kids (aged 2 and above) when you purchase tickets for them.

Singapore Airlines runs a KrisFlyer for Families programme that allows you to start a KrisFlyer frequent flyer account for your children once they turn 2 years old. They can then earn KrisFlyer miles for all revenue flights, just like you would.

Even better, we can link our accounts to theirs and then transfer their KrisFlyer miles to us (for a small nominal fee). It’s not going to completely offset the rising cost of travel but every little helps, especially if you’re redeeming miles for flights.

For a detailed breakdown of how to get your kids a KrisFlyer account with Singapore Airlines, check out my TikTok post on it here.

Considering Gold in 2025? Here are the facts…

Here are the issues we’re facing right now: tariffs, inflation, & volatile markets… What’s going to happen to your money?

Prices may climb higher. Retirement plans could be forced to change. If not now, then maybe a few years down the road.

And inflation? It may be eating away at your savings every day.

Check your grocery bill. Your utilities. The dollar’s power is not going as far as it used to.

Through it all, gold stands firm. Imagine a vault, deep underground. Rows of gold bars. Shields against market uncertainty.

While the dollar weakens, gold has historically retained its value. It doesn’t just hold its value — it can potentially grow.

Learn the IRS-approved strategies to diversify your savings with gold and silver. Request your free Gold & Silver Kit today. And get details on a special BONUS SILVER* offer for new customers.

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🎯 Personal Finance Quick Action

The price of gold has pulled back substantially this week as individual investors revert to a “risk-on” mindset when it comes to stocks. Indeed, many stock markets have recovered a bulk of their losses following President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff surprise.

However, there’s still strong long-term demand for gold for a host of reasons; de-delloarisation of the global economy, the broader weakening of the US dollar, and the still-strong chance of a recession in the US this year.

As a defensive asset, it’s worth having a small allocation to it in any portfolio so that when “risk” assets like stocks fall, it has a relatively low correlation to them and should (in theory) provide some ballast.

Of course, while it’s hot right now, gold can certainly lag over periods as well. But, any lull in prices could be temporary.

Regardless, most investors have been found to be under-allocated to the “yellow metal” and most portfolio constructors recommend a gold weighting anywhere from 5% to 15% of an overall investment portfolio.

Overall, getting our portfolios up to a weight we’re comfortable with is something that is certainly worth considering in the medium term.

📈 Market Money Moves

India and the UK are looking to secure a free trade deal in London, at the same time that both countries are looking to clinch their own bilateral trade agreements with the US.

Talks between the two started in January 2022 but the urgency of striking an agreement seems to have accelerated progress.

Tim’s Take: This trade deal is a great example of where the world is headed in terms of trade deals. Contrary to popular opinion – that free trade is dead given President Trump’s tariff war – the reality is that the makeup of trade deals are changing.

Instead of grand multilateral trade deals, like the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade deal that was signed by 15 Asia-Pacific countries in 2020, we are going to see much more of these types of bilateral deals (i.e. a deal directly between two countries).

That’s been no more obvious than the US government negotiating individually with all these countries it’s slapped minimum 10% tariffs on. One of the biggest appeals of bilateral trade deals is that they’re a lot easier to strike, foregoing the need for drawn-out negotiations and having to take into account multiple stakeholder interests.

Beyond that, India is set to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of this “balkanisation” of global trade. The country is much earlier at its development phase than China – with a much lower GDP per head than its neighbour – and, crucially, a much younger population.

It’s not surprising to see that, following a plunge on the back of “Liberation Day” on 2 April, India’s Nifty 50 Index has recovered and is now up over 4% since the start of April.  

👋 How I Can Help

Introducing Miles Consulting from Tim Talks Money

I’m excited to announce the launch of my Miles Consulting service! Through this service, you’ll get:

  • ✨ Exclusive 60-minute one-on-one consultation

  • 📊 Comprehensive credit card spend audit

  • 📝 Personalised miles report

  • 💳 Maximise sign-up bonuses

  • 🚫 Avoid the pitfalls

  • ✈️ Expert Singapore Airlines insights

  • 💡 Optimise for couples/families