We’re all painfully aware of how many downgrades many of the miles cards have had in the past few months (I’m looking at you, UOB).

One of the most glaring features of these has been UOB’s propensity to implement “sub-caps” on their cards, that effectively turn them into dual-use cards – i.e. separate caps for contactless and FX spending on the UOB Visa Signature, for example.

From 1 October, one of the most popular 4-mile-per-dollar (4mpd) cards – the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa (UOB PPV) – is moving to two separate sub-caps too.

Instead of being able to earn 4mpd on $1,110 per month of mobile contactless spend per month, now you’ll have a $600 cap for 4mpd on mobile contactless spend and a separate $600 cap for 4mpd on online spend for Department & Retail Stores, Supermarkets, Dining & Food Delivery, and Entertainment and Ticketing.

My new strategy? Keep the $600 per month on mobile contactless as per usual but move some of the online spend you might have put on the DBS Woman’s World Mastercard or Citi Rewards to the UOB PPV.

Primarily, this would be any largish amounts you might spend on Amazon, Lazada, Shopee, Taobao, Deliveroo, GrabFood, Golden Village, SISTIC, or TicketMaster.

If you want it to be more easily trackable, you could just whack $200 to $300 on your Amazon account in gift card credits – to use for future purchases – given Amazon gift card credits are valid for 10 years from the date of issue.

So, prepare for the transition to the two sub-caps once Wednesday rolls around and direct some of that monthly online spend, where possible, to the UOB PPV.   

When we first start building out our investment portfolio, it can be intimidating. Indeed, many individuals might not start investing until they’re in their 30s (or beyond). The most important thing is to just “start” because the earlier you do, the better.

Having said, what you actually invest in when you do start can be just as challenging. Even those of us who are familiar with investing, we may have been exposed more to buying individual stocks rather than looking at the market as a whole.

In that vein, this past week I contributed my thoughts to a BT Thrive article entitled “Where to Invest $10,000 Today?” that looked at where a young person should put their first $10k when investing.

While we might be tempted to buy into that hot stock tip we heard from a friend, the best way to start is to buy into the “market” as a whole via a low-cost exchange-traded fund (ETF). In Asia, we tend to have it wrong way round in that we get into stocks first versus buying the market.

By understanding the stock market and its dynamics, we can better control our emotions when investing. Besides, you’ll be able to stomach a 20% fall in an ETF that tracks a diversified index – like the MSCI All Countries World Index (ACWI) – versus a 50% or 60% drawdown in an individual stock.

Controlling our emotions at the market level first allows us to go into investing into individual stocks later, if we actually want to. Because the reality is that not everyone is going to be interested in researching and following individual companies.

And the truth is, if you do buy individual stocks, you need to understand the fundamentals, financials, and valuation of that company inside out. Not many have the time or inclination to do that.

So, starting out with your first $10k and have at least 20 years until you “retire” or “semi-retire”? Keep it simple, keep it global and keep it equities.

Indian stocks hit a three-week low as President Trump’s newly-announced tariffs on branded drugs hit sentiment for Indian equities.

While many of the drugs imported into the US from India are generic drugs, many investors fear the trade and immigration tensions between the US and India will continue to ratchet higher.

Tim’s Take: India is out. China is in. That’s the general vibe from investors as Chinese tech stocks are on a tear and Indian stocks decline on trade and immigration issues with the Trump administration.

President Trump’s announcement of a 100% tariff on branded, patented drugs entering the US (from 1 October) shocked many investors earlier in the week as he sought to get drugmakers to build drugs plants in the US.

However, India’s drug manufacturers mainly export “generic” versions of blockbuster drugs to the US – meaning they will bypass this tariff. However, the damage to sentiment has been done as Indian stocks fell on Friday to a three-week low.

The challenge for India comes as 25% tariffs were imposed by the US in August and then a US$100,000 fee was attached to the H-1B visa for foreign workers in the US; with the majority who possess one being Indian.

Yet the Indian economy is increasingly being driven by private (domestic) consumption, as it makes up nearly 70% of GDP, and that story isn’t fading any time soon.

For investors, the underperformance of India this year – relative to China – masks a massive outperformance of Indian equities versus their Chinese counterparts over the past 5, 10 and 20 years.

If investors continue to believe that India’s economy will grow, and corporate earnings expand alongside it, then this current funk looks likely to be temporary.