Be an affiliate of TKL Cloud

Register at http://tklcloud.com/book/41

Have you made your PIC claim?

I recently realized that I spent about $8,000 in legal fees (register a patent), and in data center and cloud computing that is eligible to claim under the Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) under IRAS.  I will be submitting a claim for 60%, or nearly $5,000!

Purchase of computers, printers, copies and other automation equipment also qualify for PIC.

If you want to learn how to make this claim, attend my FREE 1 hour talk. http://tklcloud.com/book/41 

Tommy Wong book promotion (final week)

Dr. Tommy Wong, author of the book series 'Wisdom on How to Live Life', is offering a promotion on all his books during the month of May 2013.
Further information on his books can be found on the following websites:

Wisdom on How to Live Life
Wisdom on How to Live Life (Book 2)
Wisdom on How to Live Life (Book 3)
Wisdom on How to Live Life (Book 4)
Wisdom on How to Live Life (Book 5)
Wisdom for Spiritual Living
Minimum Wage for Low Wage Workers

Order here: http://tklcloud.com/ishop/8

Use TKL Cloud to run your business more efficiently

Attend this FREE 1 hour talk and learn how you can run your business more efficiently using the web applications on TKL Cloud.
It also covers how you can claim the Productivity and Innovation credit from IRAS for your eligible expenses.
http://tklcloud.com/book/41

If you are interested to be an Affiliate to market the service, you can earn $900 for each sale. You can also register for this session. It is a good way to earn a regular income and build up your business.

Who is guarding the guards?

Hi TakKL,

You may be interest to read this article on guard…. J

https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2013/05/24/who%e2%80%99s-guarding-the-guards/

REPLY

The focus on security is ridiculous, in Singapore as well.

Mindless people applying mindless instructions.

Productivity and Innovation Credit

Many small businesses are not taking advantage of the Productivity and Improvement Credit scheme to use computer software and to buy computer, IT and innovation equipment and for staff training. They can claim 60% cash from the Government or 400% tax credit.

Details here
http://www.iras.gov.sg/irashome/picredit.aspx

Expensive place to retire

Hi Mr.Tan,
I found this article interesting and shocking. 
http://money.msn.com/retirement/wealthy-nation-cant-afford-to-retire
 

"According to the study, the annual household income required to lead a "comfortable" retired life in Singapore is the third highest among Asia's major economies, behind Australia and Hong Kong, at $48,773. This figure is 68% higher than what was needed in 2011, the survey, which has been running for eight years, found."

Run your business more efficiently

If you run a small business and wants to find an easy way to manage it more efficiently, read this

Accounting
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=820&IID=827

Payroll and leave
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=821&IID=828

Activity booking
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=822&IID=829

These web applications are designed to be very useful to use, so only the basic functions are kept here. No frills. Lower training cost. My affiliates can provide the training and implementation.

The applications are free for three months trial.

TKL Websites

Buy my book
www.tankinlian.com/ishop

Use my consulting service
www.tankinlian.com/consult

Attend FISCA talks
www.fisca.sg/events

Run your business efficiently
www.tklcloud.com/cud

Am I good to go yet?

Am I good to go yet? Besides writing a will, an elderly person should also make other preparation, to relieve stress for the family.
You can register for this free talk.
http://tklcloud.com/book/40

Workshop on puzzles - during June school holidays

Send your child to this workshop during the school holidays. Give them the chance to develop their mind and have a fun time.
http://tklcloud.com/book/admin/file.aspx?key=c4e05e3f-e96b-473c-bb6c-c9b802001b62

Book here: www.tklcloud.com/book/26

Too lazy to find out for themselves

Hi, Mr. Tan

I was reading your article on the distribution cost of insurance and the reactions most honest and hardworking Sporeans gave you when you shared with them the actual amount of money some policies are taking away from them as distribution costs.

 

It seems to me that Sporeans are too tired or too lazy to find things out for themselves. They prefer to have things done for them. This may explain why they are easy target for scams and are taken for a ride easily. Sometimes I feel that even the government is trying to take Sporeans for a ride.

 

This may be one reason why Spore as you put it aptly "stinks" nowadays. People are finding it hard to eke out a living. As such most of them are too tired to think about the bigger scheme of things after a long and hard day's work. They know they need insurance but they are unable or unwilling to spend time to source for a good insurance policy. This is why investment linked policy are a favourite (since they can have cash back ie savings, get coverage etc etc) kill many birds with a stone, not knowing that the one who get killed is most probably themselves if they end up getting a raw deal.

 

Same thing when it comes to many things our government is doing or managed to get away with doing. People are just too tired to do anything about it as they can barely make a decent living. Perhaps if they cannot keep their stomach filled up and their bodies warm, they will not be bothered about those higher needs in Maslow's hierarchy of needs. And therefore controlling them and manipulating them will be that much easier.

 

I really hope Sporeans who have benefitted previously and are in a position to do make things better will really rise to the occasion and make a stand. Do whatever they can to educate Sporeans and not let the stink continues in Spore.

 

Mr. Foo

Alnernative systems to set the benchmark

In the early eighties, the Government was debating on whether to build the MRT station. The Minister for Communications, Mr. Ong Teng Cheong, was in favor of MRT. Dr. Goh Keng Swee,  Deputy Prime Minister, was in favor an all-bus alternative. The Government commissioned a team of transport experts from America who advised that an all-bus system was feasible. The Cabinet finally decided in favor of the MRT system.

Most Singaporeans would agree that the MRT system was a better approach, as it was able to carry large number of people quickly, and was not affected by road congestion. Our MRT system was considered to be a "world class transport system" for several years.

Many people did not realize the valuable contribution of Dr. Goh in this debate. By arguing in favor of the all-bus system, he presented an alternative proposal, which was more economical and quicker to implement. This alternative presented a benchmark to compare the cost of the MRT system .

For example, if the all-bus alternative was, say $1.5 billion, the MRT system can be more expensive, but cannot be "too far off". This allowed the cost of the MRT system to be kept under proper financial control. I suspect that this was the key reason who the initial system was kept at a modest cost of $2 billion dollars for the North South and the East West lines. (Note: I am recalling some of these figures from memory, and may not be accurate).

By contrast, the Thomson MRT line was estimated to be $18 billion, and the Marina Costal Highway was $4.3 billion. These sums are staggering.

We now know that people like Dr. Goh Keng Swee played an important role to ensure that the government spending was "value for money". We dearly missed people like him; people who are visionary and courageous, and are willing to argue for alternatives!

Dr. Goh left the cabinet in 1985. Since then, we have seen a gradual deterioration in the quality of leadership in our government and civil service.

Advice on Education Policy

Roger Seow asked:
What will be a better way to save for children's education: Endowment or Education? I notice many parents tend to buy Education policy because it is named for education.

REPLY
be careful about the education policy. Some are all right, but some are horrible.
Here is an article of a bad policy that a customer had bought and decided to stop at a loss of $20,000.
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=800&IID=807

To learn about a better way to invest for your children's education, attend the FISCA talk on financial planning, www.fisca.sg/events.

Why don't you tell me earlier!

I gave a talk on financial planning to employees in a large company. Most of them had served for 10 years.

I told them that the life insurance policy that they had bought is likely to show a distribution cost of $5,000 to $10,000. I explained that it is the money that is taken away from their savings, and is usually two years of their hard earned savings.

THEY WERE SHOCKED. You can see the expression on their faces!

One of them asked, almost crying .... "Why didn't the company arrange this talk earlier, when they start work. It is now too late."

I replied .... "yes, it is too late for you. But can  you tell your younger brothers and sisters to attend my talk now, so that they do not make the same mistake."

I have been actively promoting the talks held by FISCA but too many young people were too busy with their study and work. They do not want to spend the time, or to spend $30. If they make this effort, they can save $5,000 to $10,000 in "distribution cost" and $200,000 over 30 years, i.e the "effect of deduction".

There is a talk on Saturday 25 May 2 to 4 pm held as SMU. This is your chance, not to be missed. The next talk will be held a few months later. (Register at www.fisca.sg/events".

This is also for parents to tell their children, who are teenagers. Act now, and have a proper financial planning for life.

Staggering infrastructure projects

Singaporeans had the impression over the years to think that we have a corruption free government. Recent events should make us re-examine this belief.

Here are some worrisome facts.

a) NParks purchased the Brompton bikes at 5 to 10 times of the cost of suitable alternatives. They are found to be "in compliance" with the standing procedures.

b) Two senior civil servants were charged for corrupt practices in the sex-for-favors trials.

c) We are spending staggering sums for infrastructure projects, e.g. Thomson Line, Marine Coastal Highway, Gardens by the Bay, River in Bishan. We did not get much details of these projects  in the mainstream media lately.

In the past, we can be sure that the Auditor General would keep a close eye on these matters. But, in recent years, I do not seem to hear about issues raised by them. (I could be mistaken).

Do we have people who are capable of auditing these large expenditures to ensure that they are "value for money" and not just "in compiance" with standard procedures. We are talking about staggering sums of money.

Intelligence Quiz Vol 1

Get a free PDF copy of this book at www.tklcloud.com/cud/gift.aspx

This is based on a famous puzzle purported to be created by Albert Einstein. The book contains a solution to the puzzle and 72 new puzzles of the same pattern.

Lessons from a Bank Robbery

This was written by an unknown author in Chinese and translated into English.

There was this robbery in Guangzhou, the robber shouted to everyone: "All don't move, money belongs to the state, life belongs to you". Everyone in the bank laid down quietly.  This is called "Mind Changing Concept --> Changing the conventional way of thinking". 

One lady lay on the table provocatively, the robber shouted at her "Please be civilised! This is a robbery and not a rape!"
This is called "Being Professional --> Focus only on what you are trained to do!"

When the robbers got back, the younger robber (MBA trained) told the older robber (who in only primary school educated), "Big bro, let's count how much we got", the older robber rebutted and said, "You very stupid, so much money, how to count, tonight TV will tell us how much we robbed from the bank!"

This is called "Experience --> nowadays experience is more important than paper qualifications!"

After the robbers left, the bank manager told the bank supervisor to call the police quickly.  The supervisor says "Wait, wait wait, let's put the 5 million RMB we embezzled into the amount the robbers robbed".
This is called "Swim with the tide --> converting an unfavorable situation to your advantage!"

The supervisor says "It will be good if there is a robbery every month".
This is called "Killing Boredom --> Happiness is most important."

 The next day, TV news reported that 100 million RMB was taken from the bank. The robbers counted and counted and counted, but they could only count 20 million RMB.  The robbers were very angry and complained "We risked our lives and only took 20 million RMB, the bank manager took 80 million RMB with a snap of his fingers.  It looks like it is better to be educated to be a thief!" This is called "Knowledge is worth as much as gold !"

 The bank manager was smiling and happy because his loss in the CINOPEC shares are now covered by this robbery. This is called "Seizing the opportunity --> daring to take risks!"

Spending on public works

We are spending staggering sums on our roads and MRT system. I wish to remind everyone that in some countries, excessive spending on public works is a source of corruption. (I do not wish to imply that this is the case in Singapore). 

I wish to share this joke told to me by a friend from Europe:

The head of the ministry of works of an European country attended a prestigious US business program and met his counterpart from an African country.
One day, the African was invited to visit the home of his European counterpart. It was a grand and impressive house. The African asked the European friend how he could afford such an expensive house.  The friend pointed out to the newly build highway not far away from the home and said "Do you see the new highway? It takes only a small portion of the budget to pay for this house".
The following year, the European visited the African country and was invited to the home of his African friend. It was a palace, much grander and more expensive than his home in Europe. He asked the African how he could afford it.
The African said, "Can you see the highway out there?". The European looked out and said, "But there is no highway. I only see jungle". The African pointed to his palace and said, "Well, the money is spend here", i.e. pointing to his palace.

14 May 2013

Editor, Forum Page

Straits Times

It is quite common for the public to be invited for a 

free preview on a training course to trade foreign exchange, 

commodities, futures and other financial products.

During the preview, the presenter may make some 

exaggerated claims on the effectiveness of their trading

techniques or even offer verbal promises of guaranteed 

success. 

It is easy for the public to be taken in by these exaggerated

claims and to sign up for a course costing a few thousand

dollars.

Their subsequent trading experience is often a 

disappointment. Some have incurred large losses, based on 

anecdotal evidence.

Some of the public signed up after seeing other people

rushed to the signing tables. These could be agents

who were planted to create a false impression.

The authority appears to be reluctant to put a stop to 

these practices,  

I suggest the authority should make it a requirement for 

the preview talks to be video recorded, so that they can 

be accountable for false or baseless claims, which can 

amount to the crime of cheating. 

This could be a sufficient deterrent for the time being.

Tan Kin Lian

President

Financial Services Consumer Association