Upgraded my Bacfree BS-1 drinking water filter element from Swiss-Tech to pH-Tech

I have been using Bacfree drinking water filter for more than a decade and it is still functioning very well.

All the years, I had been using Swiss-Tech filter element, which I would replace with a new one after using it for more than a year.

This time, I decided to upgrade the filter element to pH-Tech, because I found out that there is not much price different between Swiss-Tech and Multi-Tech, and that the Multi-Tech is selling at the same price with pH-Tech.

The differences among Swiss-Tech, Multi-Tech and pH-Tech is summarized in the table below:

Basically, Multi-Tech has all the functions of Swiss-Tech, plus an additional function to remove Chloramine in the water. You can read about the danger of Chloramine to our body and health here.

Chloramine can be removed from the water by boiling it for more than 20 minutes. However, my family has been drinking water directly from the Bacfree water filter over the years!

pH-Tech has all the functions of Multi-Tech, plus additional mineral stones to make the water slightly alkaline, and convert the water into mineral water.

When I installed my Bacfree drinking water filter many years ago, Swiss-Tech was the best filter element available, and there were some other filter elements with less functions, which now Bacfree has stopped selling.

Now that I have discovered the availability of pH-Tech filter element, and its price is pretty close with Swiss-Tech, there is no doubt for me to upgrade my Bacfree filter element to pH-Tech from now onwards.

EPF declared 5.45% (conventional) / 5.00% (shariah) dividend for 2019

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF, a.k.a. KWSP) has just declared the dividend rate for financial year 2019.

For year 2019, the dividend declared for conventional account is 5.45% while for Shariah account is 5.00%. The dividend has already credited into members' account, and you can check for it by login into your EPF i-Account.

Year 2019 was the third year of dividend declaration for Shariah account, while dividend for conventional account has been declared annually since 1952. The dividend for Shariah account in all the years from 2017 to 2019 were lower than the dividend for conventional account of the same year.

The 5.45% dividend for EPF conventional account in 2019 is 11.38% lower than the 6.15%  dividend declared for 2018 (last year).

Calculation: (5.45-6.15)/6.15 = -0.7/6.15 = -11.38%

It is 9.00% higher than the 5.00% Shariah dividend declared for the same year.

Calculation: (5.45-5.00)/5.00 = 0.45/5.00 = 9.00%

The table below shows the historical EPF dividend payout rate since 2001, for you to judge yourself whether the dividend payout rate in 2019 is satisfactory or not.

Auspicious dates for opening business in 2020

Here is the list of auspicious dates for opening business in year 2020, which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu.

It can be applied to new business opening, or reopening of business after a break/holiday. (Click the image to enlarge)

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

You might probably also be interested with the auspicious dates for the following occasions in year 2020:

• Wedding / Marriage
• Wedding / Marriage (year 2021)
• Marriage proposal / engagement
• Sign contract / register for marriage
• Having baby
• Renovation
• Moving house / office