In Singapore, the air miles scene is constantly in flux. There have been multiple “nerfs” in recent weeks and it’s rare nowadays to see an actual improvement to a credit card. However, one has recently been announced – depending on how much you spend.

The DBS yuu card, one of the best miles cards out there, announced that from 1 October 2025, the minimum spend to hit the much-vaunted 10-miles-per-dollar earn rate will be raised from $600 per calendar month to $800 per calendar month.

That does give you the ability to earn 8,000 miles from $800 of spend but we do have to remember that the 10mpd minimum and maximum is actually set at $800. Any incremental spend above this will earn basically nothing.

And that also comes with the caveat that maxing out the rate requires you to spend at yuu merchants, such as Cold Storage, Giant, Guardian, FoodPanda, GoJek, Toast Box, 7-11, and a few others.

A further requirement of spending with at least four separate merchants in each month – in order to earn the bonus miles – will also come into effect.

However, there’s some good news in that SimplyGo will now be added to the 10mpd bracket so tapping on public transport will give you the ability to earn extra miles.

All in, it’s a positive, particularly for those who spend a decent amount at yuu merchants on a monthly basis already.

Giving less of your money to the “taxman” (or woman) should always be a priority when we’re looking for ways to accelerate our savings goals.

Most countries will have specific tax reliefs or rebates on certain contributions that are worth exploring…who doesn’t like to save on tax?!

In Singapore, the main (voluntary) one is the Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS). Remember, this allows you to contribute and then invest it, giving you a “double boost” of tax savings and potential investment returns over the long term.

But it really only makes sense to contribute meaningfully to it once your annual income hits at least $120,000.

That’s because most people in Singapore will already be contributing at least 20% of their gross monthly pay to their CPF, up to the Ordinary Wage ceiling. So, how much do you save once you’re earning over that amount?

Say you earn $140,000 a year and max out the SRS contribution at $15,300 (the annual cap for Singaporeans and PRs), then you’ll be able to save $2,295 in income tax.

If you go up a few tax brackets and you’re on $220,000 in annual pay (while maxing out the SRS cap), then you can save just over $2,900. Of course, we do need to invest our contributions as our funds earn only 0.05% per annum (p.a.) if they’re sat in cash in our SRS.

The SRS can be a nice little accelerator for our wealth journey but we shouldn’t forget the fact that this is a retirement-focused scheme so you won’t be able to withdraw the funds (penalty-free) until you hit the retirement age.

India’s government plans to simplify its GST structure in one of the tax’s biggest reforms in nearly a decade.

Lower GST rates on essential items should boost consumer sentiment in India while also helping strip down the numerous rates of GST in Asia’s second-largest economy.

Tim’s Take: The trade war with the US has put India in a pickle. Initially thought to be a natural beneficiary of any huge tariffs on China from the US administration, it actually hasn’t worked out that way for India.

President Trump’s 50% tariffs against India, which came into effect on 27 August, were sparked by his belief that India sells unencumbered into the US but then imposes huge tariffs on US imports to protect its domestic economy.

Regardless, the tariffs will impact India given it exports around US$86 billion worth of goods every year to the US. Set against this, the latest GST announcement may have been seen more as a reactive move to the impending impact of tariffs.

In the broader scheme of things, though, it’s a positive for the Indian economy – which is infamously known for its red tape and spaghetti soup of regulations. Simplifying the GST rate and bringing it down from double digits in some cases to just 5% will help boost domestic spending.

Thankfully for investors, the Indian growth story is driven in large part by the domestic consumption story. While the MSCI India is actually down 1% so far in 2025 – in USD terms – it has delivered an annualised return of just over 14% in the past five years.

That’s only slightly below the S&P 500 Index’s 14.7% annualised return over the same timeframe.

With more clarity on the trade picture going forward, alongside India’s continued strong domestic economic growth, the long-term prospects for this Asian giant remain undimmed.

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