Becoming a parent
The greatest journey in life started the moment I first heard from my gynaecologist that I was going to be a mother. It was a whimsical, clueless, overwhelming yet heartwarming feeling having a baby growing inside me through those nine months.
When Noah was born, another wave of emotions splashed over me. Holding on to his tiny little hands grasping tightly onto me, hearing his cries when he needed me to feed him and seeing his first smile, I knew that this journey would be unforgettable.
Sweet burden
During my pregnancy I wasn’t working already as I was a flight stewardress. Even with all the kisses and cuddles every single day, slowly the financial burden crept in. My baby started to have eczema problems, and the medical bills were piling up.
Apart from my husband being the sole breadwinner of the family, we were blessed to have our parents support in both time and money. Eventually, things got better for us. My husband received a promotion and I started earning from being a mom blogger.
Our bubbly, oversized baby had a tremendous transformation as well, and became a big brother! We welcomed our second baby boy, Christian, this year at the end of May. With all the preparations for maternity, labour and post birth, once again it was time for us to choose which bank we should choose to set up his CDA.
“CDA is a special savings account for newborns with dollar-for-dollar matching under the government’s Baby Bonus Scheme. CDA can only be opened with 3 banks, with POSB being one of them. Parents can save up to 12 years in their child’s CDA, and use the savings to pay for educational and healthcare expenses of all their children at Baby Bonus Approved Institutions (AIs).”
Choosing POSB Smiley CDA
The decision was made within seconds. When Noah was born three years ago, there were only two choices for parents to pick from, and we had to select another bank that we didn’t have an account with. It was inconvenient depositing money every time we received the baby bonus from the government.
Both my husband and I have had savings accounts with POSB since we were kids. We enjoyed the convenience of being able to deposit into the CDA via funds transfer service with internet banking, we could even track our spending through our POSB mobile banking app anywhere we are. So, having Christian’s CDA under POSB was the perfect choice for us.
Simple to save
Being a parent of two now, we had more to worry about especially if both of them get ill or injured. The good thing is that my husband and I both own a PAssion POSB debit card and we use them a lot.
From household expenses, supermarket Passion card rebates, minor family medical bills, to Noah’s child care subsidiary school fees deduction, it was our handy card on the go. Knowing that now with Christian’s POSB Smiley CDA account, and me being the POSB Smiley Child Development Account Trustee, I get to earn 3% cash rebate on the medical spend*. This benefit may not be an instant help to us but the “savings” will make a huge difference in a long run.
Simple to earn
Other than the usual deposits, now with the POSB Smiley CDA account, Christian will be able to earn 2% interest per annum on his CDA balance. That’s being given free on top of the baby bonus money from the government.
Simple to enjoy
The moment Christian’s POSB Smiley CDA is opened, we were informed of the free gift from The Greatest Child bookstore consisting of a set of 4 adorable books and 2 years free membership. They were little Christian’s first books! The books are “Baby’s first words, Baby’s first colors, Baby’s first numbers, and Baby’s first animals”. As he becomes more curious about his surroundings the books have come in handy for bedtime stories!
POSB SMILEY CDA has taken a huge load off our wallets in terms of saving through discounts and benefits! Find out more at posb.com.sg/cda and follow us to sign up for POSB Smiley CDA at https://www.babybonus.msf.gov.sg/parent now!
The article is written in collaboration with POSB Smiley CDA.
Deposit Insurance Scheme: Singapore dollar deposits of non-bank depositors and monies and deposits denominated in Singapore dollars under the Supplementary Retirement Scheme are insured by the Singapore Deposit Insurance Corporation, for up to S$50,000 in aggregate per depositor per Scheme member by law. Foreign currency deposits, dual currency investments, structured deposits and other investment products are not insured.
*Terms & conditions apply.