One thing many people are always on the lookout for is more ways to earn air miles. Now, there’s only so much “discretionary” (i.e. non-essential) spend we can whack on the 4mpd credit cards – things like eating out or shopping online.

However, there is another option out there to obtain more miles and that requires you effectively “buying” miles.

Services like CardUp allow you to do that by putting huge “non-discretionary” expenses – like rent/mortgage payments, school fees, and income tax – on your credit card to earn miles while also paying a small fee to do so.

It does come with one big caveat, though. You can only earn miles for these types of payments with “general spending” air miles cards that give you anywhere from 1.1 miles per dollar to 1.6 miles per dollar.

For obvious reasons, the 4-miles-per-dollar cards specifically exclude payments to CardUp as eligible for earning the bonus miles rate.

You do also need to remember that promo codes for constantly available online for CardUp so be sure to use them as you should never be paying the headline 2.6% fee on transactions.

For example, you can get a 1.79% fee on rental payments with the code SAVERENT179 and a fee as low as 1.65% for income tax payments with a Mastercard credit card using MCTAX25.

Do also remember to use the best general spending card out there which – at the moment – is the UOB PRVI Miles card that gives you 1.4 miles per dollar of spend.

If you’re happy paying a hefty annual fee then you could get up to 1.6 miles per dollar with the likes of the OCBC VOYAGE or UOB Reserve cards.

All in, though, it could make sense to pay the small transaction fee if you want to boost your miles earn rate and (this is important) you’re redeeming your miles on at least Business class to ensure you’re stretching each mile as far as you can.   

In the world of investing, we are constantly bombarded by the next “hot thing”. Surprise, surprise, these products typically carry a sizeable fee that you, as an investor, will pay (and the provider will pocket) once they’re sold to you.

Right now, everything from private credit to hedge funds and private equity (PE) are being flogged to retail investors who might have spare cash lying around to invest.

More recently, PE is being sold as solid “alternative asset” choice for investors. The reality is, though, that the data don’t back up the narrative of these asset classes actually outperforming public markets.

At the institutional level, asset allocation is different and the likes of pensions and endowments have investing time horizons of 50 years or longer (as well as professional investment teams analysing opportunities).

However, for most individuals managing their financial goals, we have cash flow needs and (let’s be real) we can’t keeping our money locked up for decades at a time.

Besides that, data in June showed that State Street’s private equity index – tracking returns from PE, private debt, and venture capital (VC) funds – delivered a 7.08% return in 2024 versus a 25% return for the S&P 500 Index.

Not only that, but the private equity index underperformed the S&P 500 on a one, three, five and 10-year basis, the first time it’s underperformed across all time horizons since 2000.

So, what does it tell us? Well, for retail investors, the whole value proposition of PE is based more on a “sexy” narrative rather than concrete returns for retail investors.

Unlike public markets, retail investors putting money into PE are at a disadvantage versus huge institutional players or sovereign wealth funds that can write cheques for $500 million or $5 billion, typically giving them preferential access to the best deals/companies.

Buying a global equities ETF or an ETF that tracks the S&P 500 Index? Both you and that $100 billion sovereign wealth fund are on a level playing field – you have exactly the same access to the components of that ETF that tracks the index.

So, the next time you’re pitched an allocation to this “hot” PE fund, first take a look at fees (those pesky things providers never really want to discuss) and then whether the performance data actually back investing into it. More likely than not, you’ll find it’s worth giving it a miss.   

Hong Kong stocks hit a four-year high earlier in the week as China’s tech stocks continued on their sizzling rally.

Hype around advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have helped support a huge rally in the tech sector with the Hang Seng Tech Index jumping 4.2% on Wednesday alone.

Tim’s Take: China’s tech sector is back on investors’ radar after a multi-year crackdown on tech giants that was led by the Chinese government.

Advances in the AI space – characterised by DeepSeek earlier this year – have seen a number of names rally hard in the past few months.

Indeed, the benchmark Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong is up over 35% so far in 2025 and this week, shares of Baidu popped over 15% on the back of positive analysts feedback on the company’s new AI model amid evidence that it showed potential to outperform DeepSeek.

There have been a few factors driving this rally. First off if the intense innovation in the AI space from Chinese tech firms. Everyone from Baidu to Meituan and JD.com are figuring out ways to utilise AI and scale it profitably within their businesses.

Second, the unpredictable nature of the US administration is giving global investors food for thought on whether they should have such a massive allocation to the world’s largest stock market. Hedging your bets by ploughing more capital into China seems like a good idea.

Finally, the IPO market is Hong Kong has been red hot so far in 2025 and it’s not only tech companies that are performing well. Names like Labubu owner Pop Mart International and Chinese jewellery specialist Laopu Gold have seen their share prices skyrocket.

Whether all this is sustainable (or healthy) is another matter. For example, in Alibaba’s latest quarter, revenue rose just 2% year-on-year, although AI-related revenue did continue to clock “triple-digit growth” according to the company.

For investors in China, the party continues for now but there are also big question marks around whether the macroeconomic landscape in China will stop it in its tracks.

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