Finding a job for older people

Many older people lost their jobs and found it difficult to get a new job. My friend, who has suffered this episode, gave this suggestion on how to get a new job:

a) Be ready to try a new way to get a job. Do not just stick to the old, way, i.e. respond to a job advertisement, as your chance are lower compared to younger people competing for the same job. Some HR managers have a prejudice against older people.

b) Look for a temporary job near your home and be prepared to accept a modest salary, or even an hourly rate for part time work. Many firms need people for short term projects, e.g. to replace another worker who has resigned recently. The firm may not be willing to take you for a full time job, but they might be willing to try you on a temporary or part time job.

c) If this is a job that you are not familiar with, be willing to work for a few days without any pay. After all, this is what training is about. If you go for formal training in a school, you have to pay the school fees. If the firm take you in for training, you do not have to pay this fee. The firm might be willing to give you an allowance.

d) If you do the temporary job and is able to demonstrate a responsible attitude and ability to contribute better, based on your experience, the firm is likely to invite you for a full time job. If you find the firm or the job to be not suitable, it is all right to move to another job after completing the project.

He has tried this approach and it worked for him. He like to share this experience to encourage other people to give it a try.

Abuse of computer

Many people may not be aware that it is a crime to impersonate another person fraudulently, or to steal another person's identity to commit fraud.


IMPERSONATION
An impersonator is someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another. There are many reasons for someone to be an impersonator, some common ones being as follows:
Legally: An entertainer impersonates a celebrity, generally for entertainment, and makes fun of their recent scandals or known behavior patterns. Especially popular objects of impersonation are Elvis (see Elvis impersonator), Abraham Lincoln, and Lenin. Entertainers who impersonate multiple celebrities as part of their act, can be sorted into impressionists and celebrity impersonators.
Illegally: As part of a criminal act such as identity theft. This is usually where the criminal is trying to assume the identity of another, in order to commit fraud, such as accessing confidential information, or to gain property not belonging to them. Also known as social engineering and impostors.
Political decoy, used as a form of protection for political and military figures. This involves an impersonator who is employed (or forced) to perform during public appearances, to mislead observers.
Causing people to fight, or dislike each other for social, business or political gain.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impersonator

IDENTITY THEFT

Identity theft is a form of stealing someone's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name. The victim of identity theft (here meaning the person whose identity has been assumed by the identity thief) can suffer adverse consequences if they are held accountable for the perpetrator's actions. Organizations and individuals who are duped or defrauded by the identity thief can also suffer adverse consequences and losses, and to that extent are also victims.
The term identity theft was coined in 1964 however it is not literally possible to steal an identity—less ambiguous terms are identity fraud or impersonation.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_theft

MISUSE OF COMPUTER ACT, 1990 (UK)
The Computer Misuse Act 1990 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, introduced partly in response to the decision in R v Gold & Schifreen (1988) 1 AC 1063 (see below). Critics of the bill complained that it was introduced hastily and was poorly thought out. Intention, they said, was often difficult to prove, and that the bill inadequately differentiated "joyriding" hackers like Gold and Schifreen from serious computer criminals. The Act has nonetheless become a model from which several other countries, including Canada and the Republic of Ireland, have drawn inspiration when subsequently drafting their own information security laws, as it is seen "as a robust and flexible piece of legislation in terms of dealing with cybercrime”.


Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Misuse_Act_1990

MISUSE OF COMPUTER ACT, SINGAPORE

Unauthorised access to computer material
.... any person who knowingly causes a computer to perform any function for the purpose of securing access without authority to any program or data held in any computer shall be guilty of an offence .....

Unauthorised modification of computer material
.... any person who does any act which he knows will cause an unauthorised modification of the contents of any computer

Unauthorised use or intersection of computer services
any person who knowingly secures access without authority to any computer for the purpose of obtaining,
directly or indirectly, any computer service; intercepts or causes to be intercepted without authority, directly or indirectly, any function of a computer by means of an electro-magnetic, acoustic, mechanical or
other device  ....

Unauthorised obstruction of use of computer
....  Any person who, knowingly and without authority or lawful excuse -- interferes with, or interrupts or obstructs the lawful use of, a computer; or impedes or prevents access to, or impairs the usefulness or effectiveness of, any program or data stored in a computer,

Unauthorised disclosure of access code
 .... Any person who, knowingly and without authority, discloses any password, access code or any other means of gaining access to any program or data held in any computer shall be guilty of an offence if he did so for any wrongful gain; for any unlawful purpose; or knowing that it is likely to cause wrongful loss to any person.

Source: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/apcity/unpan002107.pdf

18 April 2012
Editor
Forum Page

Straits Times

I was recently in China to handle a business transaction. I opened a bank account, received money into the account, made a ATM withdrawal and transfer some money to Singapore. I was impressed with the efficiency of the banking system in China. All the transactions were handled electronically with a bank card and a PIN. There was no need to verify my signature on the transactions, and no need to write any check.

My first experience with the banks in China was 20 years ago and the system then was backward.  China has made a lot of progress in the banking system since.

In contrast, the progress and development have been slow in Singapore. We are still using checks for many business payments. There is still a heavy reliance on signatures and documents that have to be sent in hard copy by post to the banks. I still receive many notifications from banks and other financial institutions by post which are often missed among the junk mail that flood my letter box.

I have my personal and business accounts with DBS Bank and can attest to the difficulty of using their internet banking facilities. It is so troublesome to make a payment electronically that I had to resort to writing checks quite often.

To make a electronic payment through my business account using the DBS IDEAL system, I have to enter 5 codes and go through 6 webpages to create a payment transaction and enter 3 codes and go through 2 webpages to authorize it. DBS Bank explained that this system was useful to make it easy for large companies to use batch processing to make many payments daily. They seem to forget that small companies also need to make payments and should not be required to go through this complicated process.

They also told me that there is a committee looking into the New Generation Payment System that will address the issues that I have raised. I recall reading about this project a few years ago and there is still no news about the implementation of this system. Does it have to take several years to streamline our payment system?

Tan Kin Lian

Fair distribution of wages

Lucky Tan writes about the need for a fairer distribution of wages. His story about the public transport strike in Los Angeles is insightful. The commuters of LA supports the demand of bus drivers for higher wages, as they are part of the community. We need to emulate the American's concern for their fellow men, rather than adopt the Singaporean attitude of being self-centered. http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2012/04/our-income-gap-reflects-power.html

Hougang By-election - when will it be called?

This is an interesting analysis by Alex Au
http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2012/04/21/lee-hsien-loong-and-the-art-of-making-the-worst-possible-move/

Negative mindset

A writer asked me for information to write an article on the Financial Advisory Industry Review (FAIR) led by MAS. I provided the information. They asked me for the mailing address to send a complimentary copy of the magazine containing my article. I asked for a soft copy but they replied that the cannot send me a soft copy because it is their "company policy".

I do not accept this type of "company policy" and replied that if they insist on this policy, they will not get any further help from me. They then explain that they cannot send the soft copy to me because of "copyright issue". I asked what was the copyright issue for an article that was written by me?

I suspect that the "copyright issue" was for the whole magazine, which I was not interested anyway. I only wanted a soft copy of my article.

I want to share this story, because it is quite common, and in the culture of Singaporeans, to be negative and to find ways why something cannot be done. They should and can think out of the box and look for ways that it can be done, and get a different outcome. In this instance, they can send me a soft copy of my article, and not the whole magazine!

The paranoid fear, the excessive cautiousness - that is the stamp of our culture. It is a trait that should be removed and replaced by a positive outlook.

How to be positive

If there are two points of views being promoted by X and Y, and I agree with Y, I will state why I agree with Y. I will not state why I disagree with X.

Most Singaporeans, due to our culture. will find it natural to give reasons to disagree with X and even to pass judgement on X or his views. This is why most Singaporeans are negative by nature. They do not realize that they are not qualified to judge other people.

I want to point out this difference, and encourage Singaporeans to be positive in our outlook.

Message from an accused person

Dear Mr. Tan,
I am writing to you to request your kind assistance to talk to our Prime Minister Lee in looking into recent commercial sex with minor. I am one of the person was charged and feel very depressed and stressed. Do you think we deserve to be shamed over in internet and newspaper. Our career and life has been ruined and we are not giving any second chance. 

I really hope you can urge our government to look into our law - is it fair to the man? The prostitute lie and her identity still get protected. All of us are been cheated by the pimp and prostitute. We did not purposely go for under-age girl. I really hope you could stand up and speak for us. 

We, as the accused, are not in position to speak for ourself and how we are going to survive in Singapore after all this shame?  Frankly speaking, I already planned to leave Singapore after this issue is settled. We are not given a second chance and condemned once we are charged.

Dear
I have already posted this article in my blog.
http://tankinlian.blogspot.com/2012/04/i-am-concerned-about-decision-taken-by.html

I have also sent it to Today paper. I hope that they will publish it. I have also asked Temasek Review Emeritus, a social blog, to publish this article. 

I am sure that someone will bring this to the attention of the Prime Minister, as I know that someone is monitoring my blog. So, you can be sure that the message has gone up to him.

I wish you all the best, and hope that this issue will be forgotten without too much harm to the people who were charged.

Tan Kin Lian

Call center customer service at Amex

Here is one person who is willing to think differently from other people.

http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/04/19/american-express-customer-service/?section=money_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28Top+Stories%29

A bad product to skim off the high net worth person

A person in the last 20s, who is in the high net worth category, was offered a single premium life insurance policy. He has to invest $250,000 in the policy to cover $1,500,000. At the end of 30 years, the cash value of the policy would have been $500,000 (and it was not guaranteed). He asked my view about this policy. Here is my reply.

If you invest the same $250,000 in the Straits Times Index ETF and it earns an average yield of 5%, your investment would grow to $1 million at the end of 30 years. The chance of premature death during this period is 5%. The chance of surviving 30 years is 95%.

It does not make sense to give away half a million dollars in this single premium policy when the chance of a higher payout is only 5%. It is better to invest the money in the ETF. If you really need insurance, you can buy term insurance for $1,500,000 by paying an annual premium of $1,800. Over 30 years, your total cost would have been $54,000. Why give away $500,000?

The insurance agent was able to hoodwink the consumer by telling him that this investment product is specially designed for high net worth people, like him. It does not matter whether you are high net worth or not. Just look at the yield on the investment and compare it with what you can earn by investing in the ETF. The result is probably the same - the insurance policy will take away 40% (or more) of what should be yours.

The distribution cost for the policy was $36,000. This is the amount that the insurance agent and his agency manager would have earned by selling a bad product to you. And it comes from you, upfront. You are paying more 15% of your savings upfront for this bad product. Why should you give so much to an agent who sells a bad product to you?

I strongly encourage consumers to attend the educational talks organised by FISCA. If you do not spend the time, you are likely to lose a lot of money by investing in the bad products. And you deserve to be ripped off!

http://easyapps.sg/assn/Org/Event.aspx?id=5

Spend time to safeguard your own financial future

I passed this message to my children, who are too busy working, and cannot find the time time to attend an investment talk directed at consumers. It may also apply to you.

I am giving a talk on investments on Sat 28 July 2 to 5 pm at SMU. You can get more details and register here
http://easyapps.sg/assn/Org/Event.aspx?id=5

I advice you to attend this talk. It is important for your financial future that you understand how to invest in the correct products.

If you do not attend, you are likely to lose a lot of money by investing in the bad products. There are many bad products being sold by banks and insurance company. They make a lot of commission for the sales person and for the bank and insurance company , and will make you poor.

A typical product should earn (say) $500,000 for the investor (who invest in ETF) but when the same money is put into any other product, they will get only $300,000. So, $200,000 is a lot of money to lose - and tens of thousands of people are buying the bad product that take way 40% of what should be theirs.

Tan Kin Lian

Educational talks organised by FISCA

Here are the educational talks organised by FISCA for the next few months. They cover financial planning, investment, insurance and property. I advice consumers to attend these talks and avoid making bad investments.
http://easyapps.sg/assn/Org/Event.aspx?id=5

Act responsibly in looking after the public interest

I agree with the concern expressed by Raymond Lee on the conduct of the Committee of Inquiry on the breakdown of the MRT trains. http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120419-0000095/MRT-inquiry-seems-to-be-moving-on-the-wrong-track

The COI is supposed to be a fact finding exercise, but has turned out to be a "finger-pointing" exercise. It reflects the bad culture in Singapore that we should be ashamed of - pointing fingers, unwilling to take responsibility. Our leaders should avoid setting a bad example.

I am also concerned about the use of expensive lawyers, which will ultimately be paid out by the taxpayers and the commuters.

I ask our government leaders to act more responsibility in discharging their duties, in spending public funds and take care of the public interest.

Trademark suit by Subway

I welcome the decision by the court to reject the trademark suit launched by Subway against a small entrepreneur. See http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC120419-0000048/Subways-suit-against-Subway-Niche-dismissed

I am glad that the judge found that the plaintiff did not suffer any commercial loss due to the use of the word "Subway" as the new of another outlet.

In the past, there has been too many cases of legal suits for infringement of trademarks, copyright and patent. It is refreshing to know that the unjustified cases cannot succeed in court.

Charged for an offence that they were probably not aware of

I am concerned about the decision taken by the public prosecutor to charge the 44 men for having commercial sex with the the under-aged girl.

I am not defending the actions of these men. Rather, I am questioning the decision to charge them, based on the evidence that was available. According to what I read in the papers, these men were enticed by an online website that showed the girl to be 18 years old. If she was below 18 years, she must have deliberately lied about her age. Surely, she is the bigger culprit?

Let me give you this analogy. I bought a piece of cake and gave it to my friend. My friend died from food poisoning after eating the cake. I was not aware about the ingredients in the cake. Should I be charged for homicide, being the person who delivered the cake? Was I responsible to check that the cake was fit for consumption, when I had no reason to suspect otherwise?

For a person to be charged for a crime, there must be evidence that he knew of the crime or had to duty to find out. Did the police had grounds to know that the 44 men knew that the prostitute was below the legal age? If they had the duty to find out, how could it be done? Quite likely, the prostitute would not want to show her real name by producing the identity card.

Did the police ask each of the 44 men for their side of the story? Was there any reason to reject their excuse that they did not know her real age? Should these people be let off with a warning? Could they pay a penalty without being charged in court and without admission of guilt?

In Singapore, a person is condemned by public opinion when they are charged in court, regardless of whether they are eventually convicted. We are destroying the reputation and careers of 44 people by taking this drastic action. Is this the type of outcome that is desirable for the future of Singapore?

I wish to repeat that I am not condoning the action of these 44 men and that action should be taken to protect our under-aged girls. But this is probably a bad case to act on. And it may be unjust to the people who are involved.

I hope that the police and public prosecutor will review this matter and find a better solution - before more people and their families are harmed unnecessarily and excessively.

Tan Kin Lian

Develop an express bus service

The public transport system is getting to be very bad, with frequent train breakdown. COE prices are soaring. The roads are congested.

I have suggested for the past four years that the Land Transport Authority should introduce express bus services to connect the different towns. This can complement the train services. This network will be supported by local feeder services, operated by small buses, to take passengers from their homes to the bus interchanges (and train stations) and back home.

It is time for the Land Transport Authority to implement this alternative solution. It can be ready quite quickly.

Commercial sex with under-aged persons

The new headlines recently are about 44 men who were charged with commercial sex with a minor. See
http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC120417-0000064/44-men-charged-with-having-sex-with-minor

I found this definition in Wikipedia.

Commercial sex with under-aged persons

Any person who obtains for consideration the sexual services of a person under 18 years of age (in other words, has commercial sex with such a person) commits an offence and may be punished with imprisonment of up to seven years or a fine or both. The term sexual services is defined to mean sexual services involving sexual penetration of the vagina or anus of a person by a part of another person's body other than the penis or by anything else, or penetration of the vagina, anus or mouth of a person by a man's penis. It is also an offence for a person to communicate with another person for the purpose of having commercial sex with a person under 18. These offences apply to acts that take place in as well as outside Singapore.

It is a crime for a person to:

• make or organize any travel arrangements for or on behalf of any other person with the intention of facilitating the commission by that other person of an offence under section 376C (that is, offences relating to commercial sex with a minor under 18 outside Singapore), whether or not such an offence is actually committed by that other person;
• transport any other person to a place outside Singapore with the intention of facilitating the commission by that other person of an offence under section 376C, whether or not such an offence is actually committed by that other person;or
• print, publish or distribute any information that is intended to promote conduct that would constitute an offence under section 376C, or to assist any other person to engage in such conduct.

A person who is guilty of the offence may be punished with imprisonment of up to ten years, or a fine, or both.^[

Financial Advisory Industry Review (FAIR)

COMMENT POSTED BY A READER
Dear consumers,
 if you want your views to be considered please go to the www.mas.gov.sg to offer your feedback. If you don't want to be conned by insurance agents anymore this is an opportunity to tell the panel what you like to see for the future industry. It is easy to give your views. Just answer according to the questions asked. 
There are 5 areas to be changed. 

• Ban commission and move to fee based. 
• Remember fee based is NOT on top of the commission embedded in the product. 
• If it is fee based the products will have no commission and you pay fee only if you agree. 
• It is transparent. 
• It is told to you UPFRONT plus the advice you will receIve.
• You can reject if you feel the fee is too high.

Compared to commission driven model fee based puts your interest first and most of the times it is cheaper than the commission. 
You get value for money. If you worry about having to pay all the fee upfront you can arrange to pay by installments as if you are paying the regular premium. 
Zhummmeng

Rich and powerless

Dear Mr. Tan

I was pleased to read your article on Singapore's "Culture to Avoid Responsibility". I believe you may be interested in an entertaining article which expands very well on this famous notion.

The rich and powerless of Sentosa Cove

http://www.emmanueldaniel.com/?p=369

Submission to the FAIR review panel

I sent this submission to the review panel set up by MAS on the "Financial Advisory Industry Review (FAIR). See www.fisca.sg.

http://www.easyapps.sg/assn/Org/file.aspx?id=219

DBS Bank makes life difficult for its customers

DBS Bank really makes life difficult for its customers. I have to make a payment through internet banking to a friend. He gave me his DBS bank account.

I login to DBS  i-banking and have to create a payee. I went to look for my mobile phone, which is usually not kept with my desktop PC. This is one unnecessary hassle - on top of entering a user name, PIN and a 2FA token number.

I tried to register the payee. DBS bank asked me for the type of account and gave them 3 choices - Autosave, Current, Savings Plus. I don't know why DBS Bank has to ask me this information, as my friend did not tell me what type of account.

I entered 4 fields of information and tried "Autosave". It was rejected. I had to re-enter the 4 fields of information and tried "Current". It was rejected. I re-entered the 4 fields of information and tried "Savings Plus". It was rejected again.

I had to e-mail to my friend to ask "what type of account is it"?  MAS makes it difficult for a customer to change a bank account. If it was not so troublesome, I would have switched away from DBS Bank already.

This is life in Singapore - so troublesome, so costly, so inefficient.

Tiger Airway Customer Support Portal

A passenger wanted to give a feedback to Tiger Airways. He had difficulty in giving the feedback and did not receive any response.

I went to the Tiger Airways website to look for an e-mail address to send the feedback. There is no such address. There are only telephone numbers to call.

After searching through the webpage, I managed to find a link to a customer support portal.

I clicked on this portal and had a difficulty time. The customer has to answer about 20 irrelevant questions before he (or she) could give the feedback. The space for the feedback is insufficient.

If you like to know what I mean, you can click on this link and find out for yourself: http://gethelp.tigerairways.com/pages/intro.php

The customer said that Tiger Airways staff did not bother to check the portal and give a reply. He did not receive any auto-reply or any actual reply. The feedback got lost.

Tiger Airways is not the only organisation that make it difficult for their customers to give feedback. It is typical of many organisations in Singapore. They seem to follow a pattern of making life difficult for their customers.

If you want to know an easier way to give your feedback, try this portal developed by TKL Associates:
http://www.easyapps.sg/corporateportal/ Try it and let me know if you find this new method to be better. I hope to interest corporate organisations to use this portal.

No response to customer feedback

Dear Mr Tan,

There is something that I would like to share with you and your readers which is regarding my experience flying on Tiger Airways. What I want to share with your readers is that I was surprised that a multimillion dollar revenue company like Tiger Airways does not seem to provide any real recourse for passengers even though on the surface they have a web portal for passenger feedback. I still remember it was in the news when passengers complained and that was when Tiger announced that they intend to beef up their customer service and installed a web portal for passengers.

It unfortunately became my turn to send my feedback through their web portal recently and simultaneously wrote in a letter of complaint to them. It was disappointing when I called them up to check on my feedback after 10 days of silence, the reply was that they have no record of it on their portal (The web portal does not send an auto-reply on receipt of feedback) nor received my letter.

I called their customer service officer and after much persuasion, directed me to an email address  groups@tigerairways.com (I'm not sure if its even functional as even that did not manage to get through, from what she said) and said there is no other ways for my letter to reach them. I just want to make people aware that even if feedback channels exists, but it may non -functional as from what I experienced. A quick check on the internet shows that other passengers also have the same problem of getting no response from feedback and that is quite disappointing. I'm amazed that a company of that status and revenue, we can still expect such functional lapse.

Courage to state the truth

Hi Mr Tan

I refer to your blog post “Higher wages will not lead to loss of jobs”. I am pretty sure many economists would agree that we need a radical “shock” solution to narrow the big income gap here (our Gini coefficient is the highest amongst developed countries). 

However, it takes the stature of Prof Lim (he is a relative of LKY) to boldly speak the truth, whilst all the economists in our local universities cower in fear of the establishment. As I see it, Prof Lim has given a robust rebuttal of the criticisms levelled by our ministers.

I suspect a few ministers actually think Prof Lim’s suggestion may in fact work, but, sadly, the “loss of face” factor is hindering acceptance of the proposal. It would have been better (and refreshingly frank) for the ruling party to have openly said:

“Yes, the indiscriminate massive immigration and ultra-liberal work visa policy in place for the past several years is wrong. It has led local companies to be hooked on the heroin of almost unlimited cheap foreign labour. It has resulted in businesses that shouldn’t be here in the first place (because they rely on cheap labour) to be on artificial life support. We know we were wrong and we endeavour to right this wrong.”

Difficulty in using DBS Ideal

I wish to share this letter, which I wrote to DBS, about the difficulty in using their DBS Ideal for business customers. All I wanted was to use the internet banking payment to reduce the need to send out checks. The trouble that I went through was unimaginable. The customer relationship manager is very helpful in solving my problem, but the underlying pain was in the process - which must have affected countless customers. I write to create awareness of this kind of problem which is creating a lot of unnecessary work and hassled, wasting a lot of expensive time.  http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=635

Culture to avoid responsibility

A Malaysian lady, who migrated to UK, told me. Her son worked in Singapore for one year after graduation. He told her that his colleagues in Singapore do not want to take responsibility, and prefer to find ways to let somebody else deal with the problem. He asked, "why do Singaporeans behave like that?".

I said that this is due to our environment and culture. Even our ministers behave in this manner. They like to define what is their responsibility and what is not. It seemed that for many grey areas, or what is defined as "falling through the cracks", many people want to avoid the responsibility - if they can get away with it.

I have observed this behaviour for some time. It seemed that an outsider could also see it, if they are perceptive. Many Singaporeans would take this behaviour as natural.

If we want to make progress, we have to start taking responsibility. If there are grey areas, we have to take responsibility collectively. This may not fit into our key performance indicator measurements, but what is more important, is to get the right things done!

Use discretion at immigration checks

I met a Malaysian lady who had migrated and lived in UK for several years. She related her experience going through security check at Singapore airport. She had a lipstick which was detected at the screening gate. She had to go through a lot of hassle over this matter.

She said, "I left Heathrow Airport with this lipstick and they did not give me any trouble over it. Heathrow has many times the passengers compared to Singapore and had to deal with bigger security threats. The security officers were able to identify what was important, and what was not. Why did Singapore give so much trouble over a lipstick, which clearly was quite innocent. Couldn't the officer exercise some discretion?"

I agreed with her. There is a tendency in Singapore to follow the books blindly, without exercising any discretion or common sense. This is a part of our culture that needs to be corrected. Someone called it the "kiasu attitude". It is quite a serious weakness.

Sky Habitat in Bishan

CapitaLand has launched a new condo, called Sky Habitat in Bishan. Details of this project can be found in http://skyhabitatpreview.com/.

The project has 509 units. During the first launch, a total of 180 units were offered and 70% were taken up, i.e. 120 units. This represents about 25% of the total units in the project.  See this report, http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC120415-0000079/70-of-Sky-Habitat-units-launched-this-weekend-sold

The average price of a 3 bedroom unit is $2 million. I have advised consumers to use a buy a property up to 60 months of salary. To be able to afford this investment, you have to earn a salary of $33,000 a month. This should be based on one person's salary. If the combined salary is used, there is a risk that one person may lose the job and caused financial difficulty in making the monthly payment.

Some rich families are able to pay a large part of the cost of the property for their children. In this case, the formula has to be modified. If the parent pays 50% of the property and reduces the net cost to $1 million, the monthly salary should be $16,700.

I hope that the rule of thumb of 60 months salary will help buyers to make a prudent decision.

We need to raise wages and reduce the income gap

Lucky Tan made a strong argument in support of Professor Lim Chong Yah
http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2012/04/breaking-out-from-cycle-of-cheap-labor_15.html

Set a long term target

It is a good idea to set a long term target, such as the target to achieve an inclusive society in 10 years time, as suggested by DPM Tharman,
http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC120415-0000012/An-inclusive-society-in-the-next-10-years

The advantages of a long term target are:

• The person who sets the target may not be around to account for any failure to achieve the target
• It is possible to give the reason that the situation has changed since the target was set
• The target could be re-defined along the way, so that it is not the same as the original target.

We had an example earlier of the target to achieve the Swiss standard of living within 15 years. We did manage to achieve the high cost of living in Switzerland and nowhere near the standard in quality of life.

I find the target to achieve "an inclusive society" to be in contradiction to the current practice of "differentiating" access to primary schools and public health care. I do not understand how a society can be inclusive and differentiated at the same time. I am not convinced that it is possible to be inclusive among the citizens, while differentiating the non-citizens living in our community. As far as possible, we should treat people equally in their daily lives - if we really aim to build an inclusive society.

Hefty fee to witness a document

12 April 2012

Editor, Voices
Today Paper

I have to sign a legal document, involving a foreign transaction, in front of a notary public in Singapore. I approached a legal firm and was told that the fee is $40 to witness each signature on each copy of the same document. The total fee for four copies is $160 plus GST. I guess that the actual work would probably take less than five minutes of the lawyer's time.

I checked with another lawyer and was told me that this is the standard rate recommended by some authorized body. I am puzzled, as there is a competition law in Singapore that is supposed to prevent collusion in setting unreasonably high fees.

I do not understand why a lawyer needs to charge $160 to witness a signature on 4 copies of the same document and why this simple task should only be done by a lawyer.

Tan Kin Lian

Higher wages will not lead to loss of jobs

I support the recommendation by Professor Lim Chong Yah to raise wages by 50% over three years for the grossly under-paid workers. For those earning $800 a month, the revised wage is only, $1,200, which is still below any sensible minimum wage required to meet the high cost of living in Singapore. Professor Lim's suggestion is quite moderate.

I disagree with the view of a Minister who claimed that the revised wage will lead to structural unemployment and a loss of jobs in Singapore. This statement is rhetorical and is not supported by economic common sense.

There are many domestic jobs that have to be done in the country. Raising the wages to a minimum wage does not result in a loss of jobs, except through mechanization. There are many jobs that have to be done by people and cannot be replaced by machines. Any such loss of jobs will be minimal.

There will be loss of low paying, manufacturing jobs. Most of these jobs are carried out by foreigners, and not by Singaporeans, who cannot afford to survive on these wages. The removal of these jobs, and the reduced reliance on foreign workers, will help to reduce the over-crowding and demand on our public infrastructure.

There will be some loss of jobs, but the overall impact will be positive for Singaporeans, if Professor Lim's suggestions are implemented.

There will be an increase in the cost of living due to the higher wages. However, the impact is likely to be small, as the wages at the lower level do not form a large component of the total cost. The excessive profit margin and earnings of the highly paid managers have a bigger impact. Professor Lim has suggested a freeze on the earnings of the higher paid people.

It is also likely that the cost of rental, which now forms a significant proportion of cost, will reduce when wages are increased. Consumers will not pay the higher prices, so rentals and profit margin will have to moderate to make up for the higher wage cost.

I am disappointed that our ministers, who earn astronomically high salaries, continue to oppose moves to give decent wages to workers and reduce the big income gap in Singapore. It is time for Singaporeans to speak out against these bad policies.

Delay in withdrawing money

I was at the Maybank branch in Penang to draw out some money by check from my own bank account. I had to show my passport for identification. There was some delay in paying the money to me, as the supervisor had to verify my signature with the Johore Bahru branch, where I kept my account.

Here I am at the counter in person with my passport, and still they have to follow the bank rule blindly to verify the signature. And it was an archaic way to verify the signature. Furthermore, the signature could not be retrieved through their multi-million dollar system!

Wages and housing in Penang

My Penang friend told me that the starting salary for a non-graduate in Penang is MYR 1,300 and for a graduate is MYR 2,000. They can buy a low cost house or flat for MYR 80,000. This represents a ratio of 60 months for the non-graduate and 40 months for the graduate, and is based on 1 person's income. This is affordable.

In Singapore, a HDB flat cost about 70 months of the combined income of two working parents. This is too high.

Better security in Penang

I was in Penang two years ago. My friend told me that there were many snatch thief and car breaking. He was especially cautious and did not leave valuables in the car. He also took special care to look after his belongings in the food center - in case someone runs away with them.

I was in Penang yesterday. Another friend took me to the food center in Jalan Macalister. She told me that the situation has improved considerably and Penang is now quite safe. She does not have to worry about crime, except in some places that should be avoided.

The improved condition was due to the new Police chief in Penang, who made special effort to deal with the high incidence of crime previously.

Remove immigration form

At the immigration checkpoint in Penang, I asked for the Immigration form and was told that it is no longer required. What a pleasant surprise! Congratulations to the Malaysian Government for getting rid of this useless form.

The Immigration form was created over 30 years ago, in the days before computer system. It was necessary to track the movement of foreigners into and out of a country. When computer systems were introduced and passports could be scanned on entry and exit, this form was not necessary. A few countries got rid of the form - the European Union and Dubai. Other countries simplified their form - UK, Australia and China.

Singapore continued to use the old useless form for foreigners entering into the country. It is time for Singapore to get rid of this useless form. We should move to the modern age and be bold to recognize what is no longer necessary.

Remove the Internal Security Act

Times have changed. It is time for Singapore to remove the Internal Security Act. There are more effective ways to deal with our security threats that are not subject to abuse by the authorities.

http://singaporedesk.blogspot.com/2012/04/good-riddance-to-isa.html

Anti-trust action against Apple

It is interesting to know that the Government officials are prepared to take legal action against a very big company, like Apple, for potential violation of the law.

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/04/11/the-apple-e-book-conspiracy-three-days-in-january/?section=money_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28Top+Stories%29

Singapore follows the example of America in adopting a free market approach. We should also follow their practice of ensuring that the free market continues to be fair to consumers.

A better way to deal with the National Service sacrifice

David Lim, who is a permanent resident, wrote in the Straits Times Forum about "mixed feelings" watching his son, who is a citizen, graduate from National Service. He is worried that the increasing measures to "differentiate" citizens from PRs and the increasing resentment towards foreigners will make people like him feel that they do not belong to Singapore. It will also lead to a more ungracious society.

Over the past many years, I have spoken to many PRs, especially those from Malaysia, to ask them to convert to Singapore citizens. They told me that they had strong family and sentimental ties to their home country and found it difficult to make the change. I respected their choice and did not press them.

I am aware about the sacrifice on our  male citizens who had to serve two years of full time national service and continuing calls for reservist training in subsequent years, and who now have to face competition for jobs with foreigners who do not have this liability.

We need to find an effective way to reduce the burden on our male citizens. Imposing "differentiation" on non-citizens is not the only way, and it has its negative consequences. I wish to quote the saying "Two wrongs do not make it right". We should look for another solution.

I prefer the Swiss approach towards compulsory military service. Like Singapore, they are also a small country and wish to protect their independence. They had found a better way to achieve their goal of national defense without the types of issue faced in Singapore.

The solution in Singapore is to shorten the period of national service (to follow the example of Switzerland) and to give a higher allowance to our NS men, so that they will find that NS is not a sacrifice but is an advantage. There are advantages of molding the character of our young men through NS.

A few years ago, a young man from China told me that only a small percentage of males are called up for national service. It is like "striking lottery" as the call-up will lead to prospects of a better life in the future, e.g. to get Government jobs.

Tan Kin Lian

Economic growth of Taiwan and Singapore

http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2012/04/tharman-should-get-his-facts-straight.html

Lucky Tan made some observations about Taiwan and Singapore which are quite different from DPM Tharman.

Later, I will also give my observations about Taiwan, based on what I saw during my previous visit and the observations of a Singaporean who lived there.

Excellent customer service in hotel

I stayed at the Golden Happy Hotel in Shantou,China. The services provided by the hotel is impressive. They provide a computer with access the free broadband internet. I removed the LAN cable and connect it to my laptop and it worked without any difficulty. They provide free Wi-Fi in the hotel lobby without password protection. A hotel guest can get a toggle to get free Wi-Fi in their hotel room.

I saw a sign in the lift lobby informing guests that all telephone calls made from the hotel, including domestic long distance calls, are free. They probably use VOIP outside of Shantou. The sign also said that the hotel guests can borrow a mobile phone from the front desk to use outside of the hotel and make free calls.

This is a most impressive hotel. Instead of finding ways to make more money from their guests, they focus on how to save cost for their guests. They provide comfortable rooms at RMB 248 per night (about SGD 50).

Police post in China

I accompanied my friend to a neighborhood police post in Shantou, China, to lodge a report about a missing document.

While waiting, I saw three large framed pictures showing the map of the district covered by the police post, the photos of the personnel in the post and the photos of the officers who perform the duty of audit.

 I find the arrangement to be quite impressive. It improves transparency and accountability. I believe that similar arrangements should be made in Singapore. 

Efficient bank processes in China

I made a transaction at a bank in China. They have more up-to-date practices. The customer has to enter a PIN number, instead of a signature. The documents signed by the customer are captured in a document camera - shown here.

I am not sure if our banks in Singapore already use similar practices. It is time to learn from China on their updated practices.

Look for what is right, and not what is wrong

This was written on 4 April and scheduled to appear when I am in China.

I have seen many instances of Singapore employers who are unhappy with their foreign maids. The employers shout at the maids for being stupid and not obeying instructions. These employers did not realize that the maids are not as smart as them -otherwise, why should they be maids?. Furthermore, the maids have a language problem and are not used to our culture.

I want to encourage Singaporean employers to look at the positive side. Look for what the maid can do for your family, e.g. keep the house clean, watch the house when you are away, act honestly and diligently and do the simple things that make life comfortable for you and your family.

We do not need to focus on what they cannot do - for example, they may not be good cooks or do not have initiative or may not react in the same manner as the employer. 

If we accept the maids for what they can do, we will find that they are indeed helpful to have around. Life will then be more pleasant for everyone - the family and for the maid.

Tan Kin Lian

Encourage renting to reduce commuting

Sent to Straits Times Forum Page on 2 April 2012 

The recent large increase in our population has put a strain on our roads and
public transport infrastructure.

While the Government is increasing the capacity of our infrastructure, we should
consider ways to reduce the need to commute to and from work.  We can
encourage more people to live near their place of work, including renting a home nearby.

While the government policy on home ownership has its positive impacts, it
also has the unintended consequence of increasing the demand for
commuting. As people stay rooted in their own homes, they often had to
commute long distances.

We should now review this policy and consider some possible measures to encourage
people live close to their place of work:

- allow the owner to rent out a HDB flat and live in a rented home near the workplace.

- allow the owner to buy a new home to replace an existing home, and apply for waiver
of the stamp duty.

- allow the owner to claim the concessionary property tax rate on one property, even
if it is not owner occupied, so that the owner can choose to live in a rented home
near the workplace.

Tan Kin Lian

Differentiation taken to another degree

This was written on 4 April and scheduled to appear when I am in China.

There is a letter in Today paper that suggests that foreigners should be required to pay higher fares than citizens. This is taking "differentiation" or "discrimination" to an extreme.

The person who made the suggestion thought that it is possible to impose this differentiation using the transit card, but he probably forgot that it was difficult to make the differentiation when the commuter opts to pay by cash, and many poorer and older citizens opt to pay cash.

I have been against unnecessary differentiation in our daily lives. Let the higher income people pay higher taxes and let foreigners pay a levy. After that is done, it is better to better to levy the same charges for transport, health care, education and other basic services needed by the people.

I have also read about the differentiation of GST vouchers according to the type of housing of the citizens. This has turned out to be a source of disputes. Some elderly people live in landed properties, which they bought at a low price several decades ago. They do not have any income and find GST to be a burden.They asked to be eligible for higher GST vouchers,  but the request was repeatedly turned down by the Government. I am saddened by this type of differentiation of GST vouchers.

Showing respect and courtesy

This was written on 4 April and scheduled to appear when I am in China.

There is a tendency for some people to be quite disrespectful when they post comments in the Internet. They make insults and personal attacks and interpret other people's views in a manner that is not logical or reasonable.

Sometimes, I wonder if these comments are from younger people who has not learned how to respect other people's views. Often, they pass judgment about other people that are unwarranted. I worry that this type of behavior could be due to our environment, which promotes the concept of "excellence", "me first" and a self-centered outlook.

But, I have also seen this type of behavior in older people, so it is not a reflection of the behavior of younger people. More likely, it is a reflection of our environment or, what I describe as "our culture".

I do not wish to be critical about our culture, and only wish to point it out, so that people realize that there is a need to show respect for the views of other people, and to avoid insults and personal attacks of a direct nature.  I hope that my views are taken in a positive light.

Make it easy for customers to use internet banking

I hope that our banks make it easier for their customers

to make payments using internet banking.

DBS Bank requires me, as a customer, to register a payee and to 

authenticate the payee with my mobile phone. This is on

top of logging in to the account with my login name, PIN and

the token (2FA authentication).

As I have reached the limit of the number of my registered payees

I have to find one payee to delete, so that the new payee can be

added. 

When creating the payee, I must make sure that I have entered the 

bank account correctly, as the system does not show me the name 

of the payee. After going through so much hassle, it is easy to make 

a mistake at this juncture.

Previously, I have asked DBS Bank to provide an option for the customer 

to make small payments, say less than $500, without the need to go 

through the complicated process of registering, authenticating and 

deleting a payee. The customer will probably choose this option for a 

once-off payment. 

It would also be useful for the name of the payee to be displayed (after 

the bank account has been entered). This is more important than the

requirement to create a payee record.

DBS Bank was not able to accede to my request. I suspect that the 

current practice must be mandated by the regulator, i.e. Monetary Authority of 

Singapore. I hope that the regulator can give their comment on this issue.

Tan Kin Lian

No blogger in China

I will be in China for the next five days. I remembered that China does not provide access to Blog, so you will not bear from me for a while. However, I am scheduling some blog posts to appear over the next few days.

Honest and dishonest behavior

I have been invited on a few occasions to speak to university undergraduates about the relationship between business and society. I asked this question - "Do you know what is honest and dishonest behavior? Will you make a profit by making another person poorer?"

This question always stunned the students. They take it for granted that to make a profit is the right thing to do, and do not realize that there is a line beyond which they are acting dishonestly and cheating another party.

The penal code defines "cheating" as misleading another person or telling untruths knowingly and money or other property has passed. This type of behavior seems to be quite common, under the pretext of "caveat emptor" or "let the buyer beware". It is an excuse for dishonest behavior and worse, it is sanctioned by the state that promotes this concept.

The phrase "property has passed' makes the dishonest behavior a crime that will be prosecuted by the state. If there is no passing of property, i.e. lies told between people, it does not become a crime punishable by the state, but is nevertheless a dishonest behavior.

It is all right to make a reasonable profit for one's efforts and risk. There is a market rate for services and products. It is dishonest to misrepresent the product in a dishonest way, e.g. to state what it is not, and to sell it at an inflated price. This is "cheating" and is punishable by the state.

Our society has become quite dishonest in recent years. It is time to realize the difference between honest and dishonest behavior and to encourage people to be honest. Business corporations and the Government must set a good example for ordinary citizens to follow.

Tan Kin Lian

Easy way to make online payment

I wrote this letter to the Pro-Enterprise Panel. I suggested an easy way for the public to make online payment. I hope that the Panel will encourage government agencies to adopt this suggestion.
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=636

Paying road tax online

A simple matter of paying road tax online turns out to be a nightmare. Here is my story.

As instructed by the LTA renewal notice, I went to www.onemotoring.com.sg. I recalled that most government agencies required to use Internet Explorer, so I remembered to use it - although my default browser is Chrome.

I login to my Singpass and got nowhere, so wasted some time. I had to search the complicated website and after some time, managed to find the link to pay road tax. (I wonder why the notice did not ask me to go to the correct webpage and save me this search!)

I entered the vehicle number, owner NRIC number (got it wrong as I did not include the S earlier) and managed to go to the payment page. There was a message from Microsoft that a pop-up was blocked and it disappeared. As I am not familiar with IE, I had to search through the IE website to find out how to unblock this pop-up - and it took me some time.

I went back to re-enter the transaction and was told that it was blocked by another transaction and I had to wait for it to be completed.

I had past experience dealing with online websites of government agencies, and yet I still faced this type of difficulty, all the time. Now I remember, I forgot to bring my mobile phone to authenticate the credit card payment.

Our government agencies design complicated online processes that waste a lot of time on simple matters. I have given many feedback, but nobody bothers to fix it.

Trickle down economics

Singapore adopts the concept of "trickle down economics" which has lead to wide disparity in income distribution. President Obama explains why this type of economics has failed. http://money.cnn.com//2012/04/03/news/economy/obama-ryan-trickle-down/index.htm?section=money_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28Top+Stories%29

Do the right things and do them right

DPM Teo Chee Hean made this wonderful statement. Here is a response:
http://feedmetothefish.blogspot.com/2012/03/do-right-things-do-them-right.html

Legal action by regulators

I like the legal actions taken by US regulators against businesses that allegedly break the law. It is important for the regulator to look after the interest of the public. I wish that our regulators in Singapore will follow this good example:
http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/02/markets/royal-bank-canada-sued/index.htm?section=money_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28Top+Stories%29

Drop in home prices

In a downturn, home prices can fall by one-third. This has happened in America. It could happen in Singapore.
http://www.cnbc.com//id/46930173

Spirit and letter of the law

The law has to be enforced with discretion, so as to avoid damaging the lives of people who were not aware that they were breaking the law.
http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2012/04/legal-plight-of-60-immoral-men.html

Subscribing to the K-REIT rights issue

I wish to share my personal experience of subscribing to the K REITS rights issue and the approach taken to analyze the share. This may be helpful when you have to consider other rights issue in the future. Go to www.fisca.sg

Google Self Driving Cars

We can expect self driving cars to be on the road in the near future. It will be safe and enjoyable.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/storysupplement/google-self-driving-car/?section=money_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28Top+Stories%29

Use Excel to calculate the yield

This article explains how to use Excel to calculate the yield on a life insurance policy - with examples for annual and single premium policy. See www.fisca.sg

One stop service for police licence

It is good for the public to have this one stop service
http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC120402-0000057/One-stop-service-for-all-police-related-licences

By-election in Myanmar

My Myanmar friend explained the background for the by-election that was just recently held in Myanmar
http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC120402-0000045/Myanmar-opposition-claims-Suu-Kyi-win

Under the constitution, the ministers are selected from the people elected into Parliament. To avoid conflict of interest, they have to vacate their seat in Parliament and work on their government jobs on a full time basis. This is why there is a need to have a by-election to find replacement in Parliament for these appointed ministers.

I find this arrangement to be a good arrangement - and hope that, one day, Singapore will adopt this practice. There is one positive aspect that we can be learned about democracy in Myanmar.

Missing people

Some people went missing because they want to leave their family intentionally. Some died and are not found. Some (especially toddlers) may be abducted and do not know how to trace their parents. Read this report:
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/international/singapores-missing-persons-at-least-15-mysterious-cases-in-last-20-years/472607

We need to use technology to find those that are abducted, especially the toddlers.

New ways to work in the future

This article explains several new ways to work in the future. I am already using some of these technology.
http://www.todayonline.com/Commentary/EDC120402-0000009/The-end-of-the-office-cubicle

Low take-up rate for fibre optic network

I have installed the fibre optic network in my home, but continued to use the cable network. Read this report
http://www.todayonline.com/Business/EDC120402-0000032/NGNBN-take-up-rate-set-to-take-off-if-,,,

To move to fibre optic, I have to make a further installation within my home, but I do not know the contractor that should be used and the cost of the work.  I did faced so much trouble with the connection to my home, that I am reluctant to take this final step.

I believe that more home owners may be willing to switch to the fibre optic network, if this final few meters could be resolved.

This is an example of a weakness in Singapore - where most parties focus on their "turf" and nobody takes a holistic look at the entire chain.

Size of home and productivity

Lucky Tan discuss the size of a home in Singapore and our productivity
http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2012/04/singapore-homes-shrink-and-so-will-our.html

Kidnap of children

There is increased fear about the kidnap of children in Singapore. While some children may be kidnap for ransom, the bigger danger is that the toddlers may be taken away, never to be seen again. They may be given away as adopted children or, much worse, may be harmed in serious ways.

Read this report:
http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC120331-0000063/Kidnap-rumours--PCF-staff-to-be-vigilant

We should consider some possible ways to address this issue:
a) Use technology to locate children who are lost (similar to technology to locate a stolen car)
b) Use technology to identify a toddler or a child who may be lost from the parent (similar to tagging a pet?)
c) Set up a website for missing people so that the public can check against children or people who appeared to be "lost"

Any suggestions to deal with this matter?

Importance of Expectations

Read this article about the flaws in the education system in Singapore
http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2012/03/importance-of-expectations-in-education.html

I prefer the egalitarian system used in Finland. It is nice to have an environment where students help each other to learn, rather than compete against each other. 

No fault insurance

Motor insurance in Singapore is complicated. In case of an accident, there is usually a dispute on the party at fault. It  can be protracted and frustrating to all parties. The lawyers come in and legal expenses are incurred.

To overcome this situation, some countries have introduced a "no fault system". It has its advantages and disadvantages. I believe that, on balance, it is better to introduce a "no fault system" in most countries. It simplifies matters and reduces cost. The disadvantage is that some people may be inclined to be careless, but they can be dealt with through other means.

Here is an explanation about the "no fault system" taken from Wikipedia.

In its broadest sense, "no-fault insurance" is a term used to describe any type of insurance contract under which insureds are indemnified for losses by their own insurance company, regardless of fault in the incident generating losses. In this sense, it is no different from first-party coverage. However, the term no-fault is most commonly used in the context of state/provincial automobile insurancelaws in the United States, Canada, and Australia, in which a policyholder (and his/her passengers) are not only reimbursed by the policyholder’s own insurance company without proof of fault, but also restricted in the right to seek recovery through the civil-justice system for losses caused by other parties.
No-fault insurance has the goal of lowering premium costs by avoiding expensive litigation over the causes of accidents, while providing quick payments for injuries or loss of property. The victim's insurance company would only pay out the claim, while the driver-at-fault's insurance company would pay out a claim and charge that party a higher insurance premium as they are now higher risk. While this may disadvantage the victim's insurance company, as the at-fault driver's insurance company can recoup the claims quicker through raised premiums, accidents happen between drivers of both insurance companies with an equal chance of drivers from both sides being at fault, so this in theory should even out.

Critics of no-fault argue that it does not punish reckless or negligent drivers sufficiently, with only raised premiums and a higher risk rating, and no jury awards or legal settlements. Detractors of no-fault also point out that legitimate victims with subtle handicaps find it difficult to seek recovery under no-fault. In response, proponents of no-fault insurance point out that automobile accidents are inevitable and that at-fault drivers therefore should not necessarily be punished; moreover, they note that the presence of liability insurance insulates reckless or negligent drivers from financial disincentives of litigation.

Also supporting no-fault insurance, in regions with high numbers of uninsured motorists, at-fault parties are often “judgment proof” (i.e., unable to pay their liability damages) in any case. Another criticism is that some no-fault jurisdictions have among the highest automobile-insurance premiums in the country, but this may be more a matter of effect than cause (i.e., the financial savings from no-fault may simply make it more popular in areas with higher automobile-accident risk). Furthermore, no-fault systems often grant "set" or "fixed" compensation for certain injuries regardless of the unique aspects of the injury or the individual injured. Workers compensation funds typically are run as "no fault" systems with usually a fixed schedule for compensation for various injuries.