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Kamet Capital Partners Pte is on a hiring spree as the Singapore family office tops $1 billion in assets for the wealthy clients it serves in Asia.

Kamet has hired seven people since April, bringing total headcount to 25, Chief Executive Officer Kerry Goh said in a phone interview Thursday. Two more staff will be added by September, said Goh, whose firm runs money for four families.

Among the new recruits are Wilson Er, a portfolio manager from Rockpool Capital Ltd. in Hong Kong, and David Law, a money manager and analyst at Mizuho Asset Management Co. in Singapore. Er, Law and two analysts join the investment team, while three others will help with administrative needs of the families, who are from China and Southeast Asia, he said.

Kamet’s growth underscores the boom in Singapore’s family-office industry, which counts billionaires including James Dyson and Haidilao International Holding Ltd. co-founder Shu Ping, who have opened offices to manage their fortunes in the city state.

Singapore is battling a deep recession triggered by the Covid-19 global pandemic that forced the government to impose a partial lockdown that shut most offices through June 1.

“We are buying and investing a lot for our clients, especially during the Covid period where we saw opportunities in equities and alternative assets,” said Goh, who used to manage client portfolios at Julius Baer Group Ltd. in Zurich. Kamet is also looking to invest in a health-care business in Thailand during the second half of the year, which would be its third private investment since the virus spread, he said.

Kamet’s clients are mostly first-generation entrepreneurs of businesses that include technology, consumer goods and hospitality.

The family office is an investor in Doctor Anywhere, a Singapore-based startup for remote medical consultations that raised $27 million during a Series-B financing round announced in March.

(Adds a recent investment in last paragraph)

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The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) failed to manage undercover money-laundering operations that move millions of dollars of illegal drug proceeds each year through a network of government fronts, according to a report from the inspector general (IG) published Tuesday.

The IG’s findings add to concerns about the potential for abuse of the important crime-fighting tool that was laid bare in the recent indictment of a former star agent, Jose Irizarry, for allegedly conspiring with the same Colombian drug cartel he was hired to fight.

A new report from the inspector general accuses the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration of mishandling multiple investigations. 

While Irizarry’s alleged crimes aren’t mentioned in the report, criticism of the undercover operations he helped lead dates back years. The new report cites a number of deficiencies in the department, including weak oversight from the Justice Department of what are supposed to be tightly monitored stings, loose record-keeping to evaluate results and lax control of confidential sources working for the cartels. The audit also faulted the DEA for failing to submit annual reports to Congress about the undercover operations.

For decades, so-called attorney general-exempted operations have required approval at the most senior levels of the Justice Department. Through them, the DEA becomes an active part of money-laundering schemes with the aim of targeting high-level traffickers. Agents follow the money by opening front businesses, buying property and depositing funds into banks to facilitate transactions on behalf of drug trafficking organizations.

DOJ PROPOSES LEGISLATION TO HOLD BIG TECH ACCOUNTABLE FOR ‘ILLICIT ACTIVITY’ ON SITES

The extent of the DEA’s involvement moving dirty money is unknown but believed to be only a small part of the annual $64 billion in drug trafficking activity in the U.S. The 72-page report is redacted to exclude the amount and size of financial transactions carried out by the undercover operations.

The DEA agreed with the inspector general’s 15 recommendations and said it has already updated its policies twice since the audit period to improve oversight of the money-laundering operations. It has also added annual training conferences for investigators involved in the program.

“Significant progress has been made in recent years and that effort continues today,” the DEA said.

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In delivering the report Tuesday, Inspector General Michael Horowitz acknowledged the potential for abuse.

“The risks associated with undercover money laundering are significant and therefore compliance with department policies and statutory requirements are critical,” Horowitz said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Aiming to help users keep track of their finances, Microsoft Excel has announced the launch of a new premium template Money in Excel. Managing and keeping track of personal finances can be difficult at times, and for several reasons. Sometimes, managing personal finances can be difficult in the absence of the right tools.

Microsoft Excel launches Money template

Well, Excel users can already keep track of their budgets, which requires users to manually update a spreadsheet once or twice a month with the recent transactions, and obviously, it can be a time-consuming process. Now, Microsoft is making it easier for users to track and organize their finances using Excel.

In its recent blog post, Microsoft wrote:

“From helping you track your monthly spending to alerting you about subscription price increases, Money in Excel makes it easy to manage your money. We hope that by using Money in Excel, organizing your finances becomes a more manageable and empowering experience.”

What is Money in Excel

Money in Excel is a downloadable template for Microsoft Excel. Using this template, Microsoft Excel users can connect their bank, credit card, investment, and loan accounts to Excel. This way, Excel users can import their banking transaction and account information into a spreadsheet, further eliminating the need for manual data tracking and updating.

How to get started with Money in Excel

The Money in Excel template is available to download for Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscribers. All you need to do is go to templates.office.com. Search for ‘Money in Excel’ and click the download button.

Once Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers downloaded the template, all they need to do follow the on-screen prompts to connect their financial accounts using a third-party plugin. Upon the completion of account information verification, their latest transaction history will start to reflect in their workbook.

How does it work

Money in Excel automatically imports transaction data from all associated accounts into one workbook, and users simply need to click the ‘Update’ button if they want the latest transactions to reflect in the workbook.

What’s more, the ‘Snapshot’ sheet enables users to track their spending habits with the help of graphs and pie charts. Money in Excel notifies users about an increase in their subscription fees, changes in bank and overdraft charges, among other things.

Personalize your finance management

Money in Excel also allows users to personalize the automated tracking of their finances.

“We know people often choose Excel to manage their finances because it allows them to take a more personalized approach. With this in mind, we designed Money in Excel to be easily customizable to suit your needs and goals.”

Excel users can add their own transactions and remove the existing ones. They can also copy the relevant transactions into a new Excel sheet and perform quick calculations. Interestingly, users can also create their own charts and tables and add them to the workbook.

Recently, Microsoft added a new Excel function STOCKHISTORY that enables access to historical data.

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• Managing a dual-income household can be tough, as sometimes one partner makes more, or there may be different opinions on how money should be spent. 
• Financial planner Marguerita Cheng says there are a few steps every couple with two incomes should take, and it starts with a conversation about money and your collective goals.
• Once you and your partner have a clear vision on what you want, you can start to plan your individual goals and how you use your incomes.
• Sign up for Personal Finance Insider’s email newsletter here »

Relationships aren’t easy, and managing two incomes can be just as hard.

In order to meet your goals — both collective money goals and individual goals — you’ll have to start making sure that you and your partner are on the same page about your spending, saving, and plans.

Whether you regularly talk about money or are approaching it with your partner for the first time, there are a few key rules to follow. 

1. Set up an effective way to talk about money

Talking about money with your partner may not come easily, but it’s something you’ll need to do to align your goals and create a financial plan that works for both of you. Some couples find “money dates” helpful as a way to sit down and talk finances, and others like a shared spreadsheet. While the way you talk about money is as unique as your relationship, the conversation has to happen for you to get on the same page.

“Sometimes when things are too vague, the silence is uncomfortable for people. And other times when things are too personal, that can be hard, too,” says financial planner Marguerita Cheng of Blue Ocean Global Wealth in Gaithersburg, Maryland. In her sessions, she generally starts the conversation by asking about how each person in the relationship how they view money, what goals they have individually, then focusing on what goals they have collectively. 

From her side of the desk, Cheng says it’s important that both people are heard and included in the conversation. “Some people don’t want to know all the details, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to be included,” she says. She says making sure that both partners have an equitable voice is key. 

2. Have a common goal

It might be helpful to talk about goals and priorities, and see where you both overlap and where you differ. Then, you can start to make concrete plans for those agreed-upon goals, and make compromises on the different goals.

While often easier said than done, Cheng says that most people are able to make agreements. If not, a financial planner could be an objective opinion on the best path forward. “It’s not that the financial planner is taking sides, our role is to show them why. Then, it’s the clients that have to determine their priorities.”

3. Know you can (and should) have individual goals, too

When both people are making money, not everything in a couple has to be done jointly, Cheng says. In her opinion, even married couples should continue to invest independently and have their own goals within the context of their relationship.

“I think when people know their part they’re planning as a couple, but they still have their identity as an individual investor, that’s okay,” Cheng says. It’s not only important to avoid conflict over how to invest and how to plan for the future, but it can also help both earners feel a sense of autonomy. 

“I never make the one client who is aggressive [with their investments] more conservative to suit the conservative client. And I don’t make the client who’s conservative aggressive to suit the aggressive client,” Cheng says. “Then you have two people who didn’t get what they want. So the solution is to plan these goals as a couple with the understanding that each one is an individual investor.” 

4. If there’s an income imbalance, address it

According to an Insider and Morning Consult survey, 88% of millennials in long-term relationships have some sort of financial imbalance. Of that 88%, 66% said that money caused stress in their relationship. If there’s an imbalance, it’s important that it’s addressed.  

Discussing how you can each cover expenses with your income is an important step to addressing it. Cheng suggests dividing expenses among your incomes proportionally if you like to keep your expenses and accounts separate.
“Maybe the higher-income-earning spouse pays the mortgage and a lower-earning spouse pays the utilities,” she says. 

No matter how large the disparity, both partners should have an equal opportunity to be included in the discussion and an equal chance to be involved in creating shared goals. 

5. Know how to effectively use your 2 incomes

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for managing two incomes, Cheng says, but there are some general guidelines that work for most. 

“Especially talking about rent or having or a mortgage, you want to make sure that you are not over-committing,” Cheng says. Her rule of thumb is for couples making two incomes is, “don’t rely on two incomes to cover your rent,” she says. “Then you’re not going to be able to go out and do the things that you want to do.” It can also add more financial stress if one partner loses their job, or if costs like property taxes, insurance, or utility bills go up.

It’s not possible for everyone to follow this rule, Cheng says. “In urban areas, costs of living can be high and you may not be able to get by on just one income for the rent.” But, the closer you can stick to this rule, the better off you’ll be for it. 

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Managing personal finances can be a daunting prospect for most people, but having the right tools can help make it less challenging. While millions of people use Excel to track their budgets, manually updating a budget spreadsheet every month with the latest transactions can be a very time-consuming process. As organizing and tracking finances becomes a critical task for many of us, we want to help make managing your personal budget in Excel a more seamless experience. Today, with the launch of Money in Excel, we’re embarking on a journey to simplify your day-to-day money decisions to help you stay on track of your longer-term financial goals.

Money in Excel

Money in Excel is now available to Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers in the U.S.

Download now

Manage your money—without ever leaving Excel

Money in Excel is a dynamic, smart template and add-in for Excel that allows you to securely connect your bank, credit card, investment, and loan accounts to Excel and automatically import your transaction and account information into an Excel spreadsheet.

If you’re a current Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscriber, simply go to this link to download the template. Once downloaded, open the Excel template¹ and follow the on-screen prompts to connect your financial accounts using a secure third-party plugin supported by Plaid² (Plaid currently supports most major U.S. financial institutions). Once your account information is verified, the workbook will be updated with your latest transaction history³ and is now ready for use.

Now, let’s look at how Money in Excel can help simplify the task of managing your finances.

Keep track of your money

Once your financial accounts³ are connected, Money in Excel will automatically import your transaction information from all your accounts into one workbook. You no longer need to spend hours manually setting up a personal finance spreadsheet from scratch; Money in Excel does it for you in just a few seconds. And every time you want to update the workbook with the latest transactions, just click the Update button and get the latest snapshot of your transactions and accounts without ever leaving Excel.

Get closer to your financial goals

Once your transaction information is imported into Excel, it’s easy to track your spending habits to help stay on course and get closer to your financial goals. Use the “Snapshot” sheet to get an instant glimpse of how you’re spending across various categories such as groceries, household items, rent, and more. With the help of easy-to-read graphs, you can quickly track how your spending compares month over month. And to help ensure you are not caught unaware of any unwelcome transactions, Money in Excel will alert you to increases in your subscription fees, changes in bank and overdraft charges, or any big purchases that were posted during the month.

Easily customizable to suit your needs

We know people often choose Excel to manage their finances because it allows them to take a more personalized approach. With this in mind, we designed Money in Excel to be easily customizable to suit your needs and goals. For example, if a certain transaction does not fall within an existing spending category, you can simply add your own. If you want to perform a quick custom analysis, you can copy the relevant transactions into a new Excel sheet and use any of your favorite Excel features to do quick calculations. And while Money in Excel already comes with charts that have been created based on your transaction information—such as one for your recurring expenses—you can always create your own charts and tables and add them to the workbook.

From helping you track your monthly spending to alerting you about subscription price increases, Money in Excel makes it easy to manage your money. We hope that by using Money in Excel, organizing your finances becomes a more manageable and empowering experience. We can’t wait for you to try it out and share your feedback with us.

¹For the best experience, we recommend using Money in Excel on a PC or Mac. Optimal performance when using Windows 10 and Edge/Chrome browsers.
²Plaid is a third-party company that provides permissioned connections to financial accounts, at the user’s direction, to power Money in Excel.
³After granting permission for Plaid to connect a financial account with Money in Excel, Plaid will access the account’s balances, transaction history, and associated account information, like owner name and address. Plaid will not have access to your Microsoft 365 subscription login information and will not share financial institution login credentials with Microsoft. Contact Plaid at privacy@plaid.com or by clicking the support button at https://my.plaid.com/help to learn about options for managing your data with Plaid.
⁴For any additional information regarding Money in Excel, visit our FAQ.

Teaching children how to manage money is one of the biggest challenges parents face. However, if you cannot teach your children the difference between needs and wants, how to budget and how to save, they will likely join the millions of people who have huge credit card debt, get hit each month by big interest payments, and struggle to make ends meet. Below are some suggestions to help you get started:

• Give an allowance.

An allowance is a good first step in teaching children how to manage money. Start with a small amount as soon as your child is old enough to understand the connection between money and purchases. Break the weekly allowance into bills and coins that will allow a small child to actually place the money in boxes, piggy banks or envelopes labeled, for example, “school,” “clothes,” “entertainment” and “savings.”

• Set limits.

Children need boundaries. Setting, and sticking to, spending limits teach a basic lesson: You cannot have everything all the time, and you cannot necessarily get what you want when you want it. This teaches financial discipline, and will encourage the child to comparison shop, and keep an eye out for sales.

• Go shopping together.

Take your child shopping to learn about pricing, brand names, and how to find the best deal for the money.

• Have your child keep a financial journal.

Simply start by listing the weekly allowance on one side of the page, with expenditures on the opposite side. Review the entries with your child each week. Somewhere along the line, give your child a ledger and a dozen No. 2 pencils to encourage more detailed record keeping.

• Establish a savings plan.

Open a savings account to teach your child about making deposits, withdrawals, banking safety measures, and balancing the monthly statement. Have your child contribute a set amount to savings each week. Retain the monthly bank statements to teach your child about the wonders of compound interest

• Enter the market.

Kids already know about Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), Mattel (NYSE: MAT ), McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD), Nike (NYSE: NKE), Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT), and Mobil (NYSE: XOM). Consider buying a small number of shares in such companies in your child’s name as part of the college savings plan. This will introduce your child to the market economy, and, who knows, the kid may even dip into the annual report when older.

• Encourage part-time work.

When your children are in high school, encourage them to work part-time. This will teach them the importance of showing up on time, discipline and the agony of taxes, but more importantly, it will create a sense of accomplishment.

• Set a good example.

As always, setting a good example is the most effective way to teach your children about money management. If they see you doing the right things with money, most likely they will follow your example.

There are many financial web sites that can be used to introduce children and teens to the basics of personal finance, such as Kiplinger, WSJ, Investopedia, Wise Bread, and MSN Money just to name a few. Encourage your child to learn the basic terms, and read widely about financial matters. You will know you have done a good job of teaching the basics of money management when your child expresses bafflement and dismay at the way some classmates handle their money.

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Elizabeth Hamilton, M.Ed, MA, is a teacher with 30 years of professional experience. You can write to her at successfullearner@yahoo.com with your questions or comments.