BEST - business simulation game

I wish to introduce you to the BEST business simulation game.
You can click here: http://easyapps.sg/besta/
Watch the video to learn how to play the game.
It develops your skill in running a business and is suitable for undergrads studying business and management.
It is free and fun. You can win a prize in the contests every night.

Tan Kin Lian

Excessive charges by SingTel

I am moving my office. Singtel wants to charge me $120 to move 2 telephone lines and 1 internet line. Actually, they are not moving any line. They are just changing their computer records. Why do they have to charge so much? I am writing to the manager of Singtel to get a written explanation.

They also want to charge me an additional $40 every quarter to retain my number. Why is this necessary? Are they incurring additional cost to retain the number? Are just finding an excuse to charge their customers to boost their profit? I am asking them for a written explanation.

I search their website for a statement on corporate social responsibility. I could not find any statement. The search button returned "no document found". At least Singtel is honest in declaring that they do not believe in corporate social responsibility - so they can charge their customer anyhow without feeling guilty about it.

Tan Kin Lian

Bad experience with M V Land

I continue to have bad experience with M V Land. They want me to pay them a deposit of $2,000 to allow me to move my furniture into the building. If I refuse to pay, they will stop my people to move in the furniture. This is highway robbery and holding people to ransom.

They probably feel that they need the deposit in case I cause damage to the building by moving their furniture. But they owe me $60,000 in renovation subsidy which they have paid to me. So, why do they need me to pay this $2,000 deposit? They are causing a lot of unnecessary work for themselves and for their customers. The arrogance of this developer is beyond belief. They act like the government.

Tan Kin Lian

SGEP Editorial

Read the new editorial in SGEP
www.easyapps.sg/sgep

Poor yield from Vivo-life policy

Dear Mr. Tan
I got a quote for a Vivolife policy from an agent. I did my calculation. Apparently, the effect of deduction on the 25th yr is far from your benchmark. I also calculated the actual yield of return which is roughly 2%.

I wondered whether is the current market now offers this kind of policy to me? As in most of the company offering roughly the same amount of deductions as well, hence offering even lower yield of return?


REPLY
I have looked at the benefit illustraiton. As this policy requires the premium to be paid for 15 years, it is better to calculate the yield at the end of 15 years. The situation is worse than what you have calculated.

Taking the cash value at the end of 15 years, I found the yield to be between 0.2% to 1.1% The reduction in yield is 3.6% to 4.1% from the gross yield. My benchmark for the reduction in yield, to cover the cost of insurance and the investment service, is 1.5% for all durations. The deduction from the Vivo-life policy is far too high.

Is is better for you to invest in a low cost investment fund, such as an indexed fund or exchange traded fund, as explained in my book on financial planning. If you need insurance, you can buy insurance under the SAF group insurance scheme. Do not invest into any life insurance policy that provides a poor return.

Guaranteed Life Annuity

Dear Mr. Tan
I am 50 years old. I do not invest in shares and keep my money in the bank to earn a low rate of interest. An agent has told me about the guaranteed life annuity from NTUC. The agent said that it gives a return of 3 – 5% per annum and I can terminate the annuity anytime and get the principal back plus interest. If you retire early U can also start the annuity payment early. Appreciate your advice.

REPLY
Please ask them to give you the benefit illustration. You can send it to me.
You should also buy my book on financial planning, to learn about better choices. See this brochure.   http://projects.easyapps.sg/iShop/public/common/File.aspx?file=43

Potential fraud

I have been receiving this message regularly. I believe that it comes from a crook.

Dear Account User,

Due to anonymous registration of our email service,there would be removal of all unused Gmail Accounts.You will have to confirm if your E-mail is still active by filling out your login info below after clicking the reply button, or your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons.

Customer ID:
Pas word:
Country/Region:

Note: This email is only for Account owner.
Thank you for using Gmail !

Them Gmail Team

North South Expressway

The Government is spending $7 to $8 billion on the North South Expressway. This is a lot of money. The money is better spent to improve the feeder services, e.g. to bring commuters from their homes to the MRT station or bus terminal with a shorter waiting and journey time and capping the cost at the current level.

If the feeder service is improved, like in Hong Kong, many people will prefer to take public transport to work, rather than drive their cars. If 30% in the current cars are taken off the road, there will be no need to expand the road network and expressway for the next 10 years or more. It will be a better solution over the long term, and is environmentally sustainable.

Tan Kin Lain

Why are insurance agents wealthy?

All around the world, insurance agents have thrived on the ignorance of consumers. They used the risk of premature death to get consumers to part with a large part of their savings to be invested to get a poor yield. The consumers are not aware that they can buy term insurance to cover the premature death for 7% of their savings and invest the 93% to get an attractive long term yield. Buy putting their savings with the insurance company, they stand to lose 40% of their savings.

The difference of 33% make the insurance agent a top income earner and give a lot of profit to the life insurance company - but make the ignorant consumer that much poorer.

The insurance agents are trained to tell all types of stories to get consumers to part with their savings in a low yield policy, such as insuring the child, protection against critical illness and health. The consumers are not aware that they are paying far too much for the insurance, and that they can buy the insurance at much lower cost, if they buy a pure term or critical illness rider (covering a short term). Most consumers need insurance fo 25 years only, as their accumulated savings will be more than sufficient to provide for their financial needs, without insurance.

By insuring for the whole of life, the consumer becomes poor for life. My remarks apply to whole life or investment linked policies that take away 40% of the accumulated savings over a 25 year period. It does not apply to a life insurance policy that takes away 20%, which is a fair rate to give away for the insurance cover and the investment service. If you can find an insurance policy that takes away 20% after 25 years, it is all right to buy that insurance policy.

My new book, "Get Value on your Life Insurance" shows how much is taken away from you - based on the popular life insurance policies sold in the market today. Most of them vary from 35% to 50%, which is far too  high. If you have bought a life insurance policy, you will probably find it mentioned in a case study in this book. The book will be available on 15 Febuary 2011 (tentative).

Read my book on financial planning for guidance on how you can buy term insurance and invest the savings on  your won - if you cannot find a life insurance policy that takes away less than 20% over 25 years.

Tan Kin Lian

Low yield on Endowment policy

A consumer is unhappy about the low yield on a 20 year endowment policy that has matured. The insurance company did not revised the bonus rates during 2010, although the financial market has recovered. He asked for my views. Here is my reply:

Dear
I believe that this yield of 2.96% on your policy is probably what is paid for similar policies offered by several other companies during the same period. It may be slightly on the low side, but is not significantly lower. The only exception is NTUC Income that offers a yield that is probably between 4% to 5% for the same period.

You are unhappy that there has not been a revision of bonus rate for the past year. I am not aware if other companies have increased their bonus rate for the same period. I suspect that most of them still keep to the same bonus rate.

It will be difficult for you to get the insurance company to increase its bonus rate or for an external party, such as CASE, to make them do so.


Tan Kin Lian

Practical Guide on Financial Planning - discount

This book is available at a discount of 33%
http://projects.easyapps.sg/iShop/public/common/File.aspx?file=43

Demystifying child insurance plans

http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-54272820110120

This article, posted in Reuters, explain why child insurance policies are not good for the child or the parent, but is good mainly for the distributor (i.e. the agent who earns a big commission).

A better way to save for the child's future is explained in my book, Practical Guide on Financial Planning. The parent should save in a low cost investment fund, i.e. an indexed fund or exchange traded fund.

Easysearch Portal

I have developed many useful applications. They can be found in this portal, www.easysearch.sg. When you have some free time, do try these applications. You can also see many of the mobile applications that I have developed from www.tankinlian.com. Click on the link for the mobile and web applications on the front page.

Guidance on your Financial Planning

Some readers asked me to recommend a financial planner to guide them on their financial planning. I know a financial planner who charges a fee of $200 per hour for that advice.  Most consumers find that to be too expensive.

There is another way that you can get the guidance for $50. You can carry out the preliminary work  by generating your personal financial plan using this tool and consult one of the experts listed in this FAQ.

By educating yourself with this financial plan, you can avoid wasting a few thousand dollars buying a bad insurance policy offered to you by an agent. This message is most important for young people who have just started work, as you will be targeted by many insurance agents.

Social and political issues

SGEP now has a good summary of the social and political issues affecting Singapore. It is taken from the blogs, local and international media. Do visit it daily to keep abreast. There is a further summary in an editorial which is written every few days - with special effort put in by the co-editor C H Yak.

Can a Malaysian resident be insured under Private Shield?

Dear Mr. Tan,
I worked in Singapore for more than 20 years as a permanent resident. After my retirement, I returned to Malaysia as the cost of living is lower. I have been insured under Enhanced Incomeshield from NTUC Income for many years and has continued to pay the annual premium after I retired. I wish to keep this insurance for the rest of my life, as I intend to use the medical facilities in Singapore in the future. 

There is a chance that my permanent residency in Singapore will not be extended. If this happens, can I continue to be insured under Enhanced Incomeshield? Is there a condition that it is only available to people living in Singapore?

REPLY
If you pay the premium and it is accepted, you have the right to make a claim under the policy. There is no restriction on residency. The only restriction that I am aware of is that the hospital treatment must be in Singapore (and this appears to be your intention anyway). I understand that under some circumstances, you may be able to claim for hospitalistion outside Singapore, but I am not clear about what the situation is.

It is best that you read the policy condition with a fine comb and let me know if you find any wording that may be cast doubt on the extent of the cover. If you find the wording, you can send them to me for my interpretation.

I will also try to get information from other sources and will let you know if there are some problems that I am now not aware of.

Financial planning - sample at age 35

If you are 35 years old, you are likely to have just started a family. Are you having a good financial plan to take care of your family and your own savings needs for retirement? It is still not too late for you can make a review of your financial situation and change your plan for the future.

Here is a sample financial plan for a person at age 35. You can study it and understand the importance of getting a good yield on your investment (i.e. at least 4% p.a., compared to 2% p.a.). You should also study the yield that you are getting on your life insurance policy, especially if it represents the major portion of your personal savings. You should also see the monthly income that can be generated from your savings, AFTER adjusting for inflation.

You can do your own financial plan, using your past and monthly savings, and see how much you can have at retirement.

Low procreation - failure of Singapore leaders

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/1/22/focus/7841290&sec=focus

Low procreation is a real threat in Singapore with the footloose and fancy-free young reluctant to sacrifice their comfortable way of life and leisure time to bring up the next generation.

TWO eye-catching headlines this past week read: “One million residents – or one in three – are single” and “Fertility rate sank to lowest in history”.

They may sound alarming but are just an update of Singapore’s long-term demographic plight, which appears to be deteriorating sharply despite a strong economic surge.

Take care of your customer

I used a server at a data center operated by a company called Skydio two years ago. Their service was excellent and their charges were reasonable. Skydio was bought over by another company X a few months ago.

I had a difficult time with X. Due to the inexperience of their staff, I encountered several problems. On each occasion, their staff were focused on pushing the responsibility to the customer, rather than solving the problem, and tell the customer about the additional fee to rectify the problem. When asked, the staff were not aware about the fees. In most cases, the fees are rather high. I consider that they are holding the customer to ransom, as the server is critical  for the operation.

Recently, I transferred my domain name from a previous hosting company to X. I only wanted to reduce the hassle of managing my domain names at several places. What should have been a simple operation turned out to be a nightmare. The staff of X did not handle the transfer completely. It resulted in my website being down for 2 days and my mail server down for 5 days. During this time, I had to call their support center and sales staff on more than 1 dozen occasions. They did not reply to several calls or e-mails. When we got through, their staff kept saying that there would be additional charge for each service.

I finally agreed to pay a ransom price of $54 to update 3 records to rectify the problem. This is additional cost that I would not have to pay if I had remained with the previous provider.

Many companies in Singapore are focused on increasing their revenue at the expense of the customer. This is why the cost of doing business is so high in Singapore. I wonder if some of these companies give hassle to the customer on purpose, so that they have the opportunity to levy additional fees. The culture of fleecing the customer or the public seemed to be quite prevalent in Singapore.

It is a simple matter for me to change the service provider at the end of the contract or even to incur the additional cost of early termination. But I wanted to share this experience, so that our leaders are aware about how bad things have become in Singapore over the past decade.

Tan Kin Lian

Should lawyers be held accountable?

Dear Mr. Tan,
In recent years, many consumers have been cheated on land banking plots, gold bars, spas and other scams. Most of these scams involve legal documents that were drafted by big name law firms in Singapore and were created to help the creators of these scams to avoid prosecution. Surely, the lawyers know that they are abetting their clients to cheat the public?


When the scams finally failed, the culprits have absconded with the money and could not be found. However,  the law firms that were involved with these crooks are still around. Can these law firms be charged for abetting the crime? Should the government authority take action?

REPLY
Yes, it is the duty of the Government to stop crime and protect the general public from being cheated. The lawyers who were involved should be held accountable to explain their action. The Law Society should also act against these law firms, so that the public can have respect for lawyers as people with honor and integrity and use their legal training in the interest of justice. They should not be acting for crooks to cheat the public.

Harassed over an old case

A consumer received a letter from a lawyer acting for a motor workshop for a motor accident that occurred more than 6 years ago. The consumer was not clear about the validity of the case and sought my advice.

I advised the consumer to take the following steps:

• Ask the lawyer to state the facts of the claim clearly in writing
• To ask them to confirm that they have a valid case
• To ask them for explanation on the delay in submitting the claim
• To send the letter to me.

It seemed that lawyers can be acting in a manner to harass the public. It is quite sad that a consumer can be saddled with this type of situation in Singapore and if they get legal advice, they can be charged an unexpected large bill. They do not seem to be any agency that the consumer can turn to for help and advice. 

What has Singapore become? A place for professionals and crooks to go around to make money at the expense of the general public?

Tan Kin Lian

Read a PDF at TKL website

The TKL website is built as a PDF centric website. It uses PDF to contain information. Most of the PDF are created from Microsoft Word and can have attractive layout and images stored in a single document.

When the user click on "View" to see a PDF, by default it is displayed at the maximum zoom level. I prefer the 75% zoom level. I learned that you can set the default zoom level as follows: Go to Adobe Acrobat > Edit > Preference > Page Layout, and select this zoom level. All future PDFs will be displayed with this default.

Scam e-mails

I receive this type of rubbish e-mail several times a day. I hope that the authority of the various countries will one day pass a law to declare this type of activity to be illegal, i.e. an intent to cheat. This will help to reduce the incidence of such activities, even if the authority is not able to catch the culprits.

Your mail ID was given 650,000.00 GBP In our Premier Oil Promo, Send Your
Names
Address
Age

Engage a lawyer

Some consumers receive a shock when they get a bill from a lawyer for the legal or litigation work. The fees are exorbitant and way above what the consumer expected. Here are a few tips on how to avoid this dilemma.

www.tankinlian.com/latest.aspx

http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=376

Explanation on Financial Planning Projection

You can get a financial plan from this link.

You can get an explanation for the projection here. If you do not understand the projection, you can consult on e of the two experts listed in the FAQ. They will give an explanation of the key figures in the projection. If you understand the figures, you will be able to make a better decision on how to manage your own financial future.

Remembering Dr. Goh Keng Swee

Dr. Goh Keng Swee was the deputy Prime Minister in the 1970s. He was the person responsible for building up the economic and social foundation that contributed to the success and vibrancy of Singapore today.

I know Dr. Goh personally and wish to point out his great qualities:

• He is frugal and does not waste money
• He uses his common sense and do not rely on advice of consultants and bankers

The bankers wanted Singapore to open up its economy and internationalize the Singapore dollar. Dr. Goh knew the risk of allowing these bankers to have their way. They could play the currency and destroy an economy. Dr. Goh would also not spend tens of millions of dollars in paying consultants to advice on decisions that can be made by common sense. He is frugal anyway.

It is quite sad that many or our leaders today are willing to pay a lot of money in engaging consultants or paying for expensive infrastructure, so that they do not have to decide and take responsibility for their decision. The big expenses, whether by the state or the commercial enterprises, must surely be reflected in the higher prices that are paid by consumers, adding to the huge increase in the cost of living. I wish that Dr. Goh is still around to stop these wasteful expenditures.

Tan Kin Lian

Highway construction

My friend from Europe told me this story. 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, it's here".

Tan Kin Lian

North South Expressway

The Government has announced the plan to build the North South Expressway. It will cost $7 to $8 billion and will be ready by 2020.

I believe that an elevated expressway will be less costly and take a shorter time to build .Many cities have adopted the elevated rather than the underground approach. Are we spending too much money, when there is a cheaper option?

12 years ago, I wrote to the Minister of Transport to propose a second level for the Central Expressway. He replied that it would be difficult to build the access roads to the elevated expressway. I may not be a road engineer, but I believe that it can be done. It would be easier, quicker, less costly and more practical to have a second level CTE.

Unfortunately, this type of decisions are taken by the policy makers and the  planners, without much discussion with the people who have to pay for it (through our taxes and cost of living) and to use it daily.

Tan Kin Lian

A good life insurance policy

I have often been asked, "is this a good life insurance policy?"

If this policy is being sold to you by an agent, you can be 90% sure that it is a bad policy. The agent (who can also have a title such as financial adviser or consultant) is likely to offer you a policy that requires you to pay a big monthly premium and gives you a poor yield. But the agent will sound impressive, as he or she has been specially trained in marketing and telling (exaggerating) the benefits of the policy.

Here is a simple test: if the policy provides pure protection (i.e against death or critical illness), ask the agent to get you a comparison of the premium rates charged by other insurance policies on similar policies. You should pay an annual premium of not more than $500. If the agent is not willing to provide this service, or does not give a fair or clear comparison of the comparable products, DO NOT TRUST THE AGENT!

If the life insurance policy is intended to give you a return on your savings, you should calculate the reduction in yield on the policy. This is the difference between the gross yield used in the projection (which could be 5%, 9%, 5.25% or 3.75%) and the net yield produced by the cash value. If the policy is for a long term, take the cash value at 25 years. If it is for a shorter term, take the cash value at that shorter duration.

You can calculate the net yield using an Excel spreadsheet of financial calculator, as explained in this FAQ. If the reduction in yield is more than 1.5%, YOU MUST REJECT THE POLICY!

You will find, in nearly all cases, the reduction in yield to be much higher. It is typical for the reduction in yield to be 3.5% to 5% per annum. This leaves you with a gain that can hardly keep up with inflation.

Here is an example of how the consumer is usually deprived of a decent yield:

• If a consumer saves $500 a month over 25 years, the accumulated premium should be $295,000
• If the reduction in yield is 1.5%, the cash value should be $237,000
• If the actual reduction is 4%, the cash value is $168,000

In the above example, your accumulated premium should be $295,000. By giving a cash value of l$168,000, the insurance company is taking away $127,000 from you over 25 years. This is too much to take away. A fair amount for the insurance company to take away (i.e .for the insurance cover and the investment service) is $58,000, leaving you with a cash value of $237,000. 

Do not buy a life insurance policy that pays you only $168,00 when the minimum that you should get is $237,000.

Tan Kin Lian

Cancelled credit card

Dear Mr. Tan
My wife cancelled her credit card with Standard Charted Bank in 2006.  It happened that there was a $25 credit in her favor.  So, for a few years, the bank kept sending monthly statements to her indicating that.  She eventually went down a year ago to a Standard Charted Bank branch (Marine Parade) to close her credit card account.  The bank sent her a cheque of $25 subsequently.  A few months later, she received a new Standard Charted credit card in the mail, unsolicited.  She cut up the card immediately.  Then, the monthly NIL return statements started to come in monthly.  

Today, she received a statement indicating a bill of $480 for the credit card annual fee.  She then had to spend 25 minutes waiting and talking to an Standard Chartered Bank operator about the whole incident and asked for the card to be canceled again!

Prepare your personal financial plan

You can prepare your personal financial plan (it's free) here.
The plan will be sent by e-mail to you.
You should study it carefully.
You can click on the link in the PDF to view the FAQs that can guide you.
You are also given two experts that you can ask to explain the financial plan for you.
http://projects.easyapps.sg/life21d/Planning.aspx

What's so free about Singapore?

SGEP had an interesting editorial, entitled "What's so free about Singapore anyway?" The editor talked about several restrictions faced by people in Singapore in their daily lives. I want to give a different meaning to the word "free". In fact, there are so few free things in Singapore that we have to pay for many things .... Remember the phrase, "nothing is for free!".

Gold bar at an inflated value

My friend asked me about investing in gold bars 3 months ago. I advised him to avoid it, as I do not understand how it worked. He had already invested, but did not tell me at that time. He told me today that the company that promoted the label "TGL" did not honor their promise to buy back the gold bar at the invested value and had since ceased operation.

He is now stuck with the gold bar which has depreciated by about 15% in value, compared to his original investment. He had since learned that he had paid for for the gold bar at a price that was higher that its market value. The person who had sold the gold bar to him, being a friend, was also not aware about the inflated price and had also invested a lot of her own money.

I recall another case about a lady who was quite keen to invest in 2 kg of gold bar at $140,000. She sought my advice, I asked her to calculate the value of the gold bar by converting from kg to ounces, apply the world price expressed in USD in ounce and convert to SGD. She found that she would have lost nearly 20% of the invested sum, as the gold bar was priced at an inflated price. She decided not to invest in the gold bar. I must have saved her at least $20,000, by avoiding this bad investment.

I had asked her to make a donation to FISCA in return for my advice, if she found it to be valuable. Perhaps, she felt that my advice was not worth while so she did not make any donation. I am not able to recall who she was.

Tan Kin Lian

Here are my past blogs on investing in gold bars:
http://tankinlian.blogspot.com/search?q=gold+bar
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=186

Let the State subsidise first 2 kids

Published in Straits Times Online Forum


THE total fertility rate in Singapore dropped to 1.16 last year, way below the replacement level of 2.1 ("Fertility figures hit all-time low"; Tuesday).

The decline in fertility rate has been observed for more than two decades. The Government had implemented many measures in past years aimed at increasing the fertility rate, but these have failed.

The Government has now opened its doors to immigration to increase the population and compensate for the low birth rate. While this is necessary in the short term, we need to find a better solution to produce more babies and raise them here.

The key reasons behind the low birth rate, based on public feedback, are the cost and stress of raising children, the long working hours and financial insecurity felt by many families due to the uncertainty of jobs, and the cost of living.

I suggest the following measures to address the concerns:

• Each family, comprising both parents who are Singapore citizens, should be allowed to raise two children with the cost largely borne by the State.
• The cost should include delivery of babies, nursing care, childcare and schooling fees, and medical expenses of the child.
• The mother should be given an adequate allowance if she has to stop working to look after the child, until the child goes to school.

The system can replace the generous parenthood tax rebates that are now given out. As the previous approach has failed to produce the intended results, we should now try a new approach, in the long-term interest of our country.

Tan Kin Lian

Marketing of personal loans by banks

I received two calls on my mobile phone for marketing people of the banks selling their personal loans. I told them that they are not allowed to call my mobile phone for their marketing of their products. It is terrible that the marketing people can disturb the public in this manner. Don't we have some ethics and respect for people's privacy? I don't know why our banks now behave in this despicable manner, and why the authority stand by and allow these type of practices to continue without restraint.

Tan Kin Lian

NOTE
I receive marketing information by e-mail regularly I do not object to this mode of marketing. I can delete off the materials. But, marketing by mobile phone is objectionable and is an invasion of privacy. I hope that our MPs  know the difference between what is acceptable and what is not and they have time, within the busy schedule and multiple duties, to do their duty as MPs.

Lower fees for ETF

 

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704511404576086233014308722.html

 

A price war is cutting expenses to the bone on index-tracking exchange-traded funds and mutual funds. And that suits Harold Evensky fine.
"It's great," said the Coral Gables, Fla., financial adviser, who makes those funds a mainstay in his portfolios. "My clients get the benefit."
For a long time, traditional index funds were the vehicle of choice for cost-conscious investors, but now the ETF marketplace holds the lowest fees and most intense cost competition. Industry giants including Vanguard Group, BlackRock Inc., Charles Schwab Corp. and State Street Corp. are racing to see who can cut expenses the fastest, vying for ...

Trust and integrity

Hi Mr. Tan
Heard about this, but don't know how true is the report. There is a brokerage remiser whose clients defaulted on $1m stock losses, remiser could not pay, so his firm sued him for $2m. The incident happened during the recent financial crisis 2008.

This means the poor remiser has to pay $1m in interests within a span of two years. Owing to lack of consumer protection here in Singapore, this means we have to scrutinize all contracts with a fine comb, at the bottom in small wordings, there may be predatory terms that would bound us unfairly. A warning to all property mortgagees on mortgage loans, with its complicated tructured loans, now we may have to engage lawyers to assess them, better pay to have peace of mind, we don't want to be ridiculed for not going in with eyes open, should something untoward happens. We are living in a world where trust and integrity have gone to the dogs.


My views
I think that interest may take up 10% to 20% but the rest of the money is for paying legal fees. Lawyers can be very, very expensive. The court should impose some cap on the legal fees in such matters. It cannot be "charge as they like".

Financial planning at retirement

Most people think that the young people should have a financial plan, as they have a lifetime ahead of them. They may overlook the importance of a financial plan for a person who is approaching retirement. Having accumulated their savings, they now need to know how to invest the savings to get a good return. Is a life annuity the answer?

Here is a sample financial plan prepared for a retiree at age 60. It shows the amount that the retiree can get assuming yields at various rates of interest. You should take the yield at 4% and compare the amount, before adjusting for inflation, with the amount payable by a life annuity. If the life annuity pays an amount that is better than the payout under 4% yield, it should be all right to buy the life annuity. This assumes that the life expectancy of a person at age 65 is about 20 years, which should be quite correct.

You can also use the financial planning tool to calculate the amount that is relevant to your own personal situation.

Tan Kin Lian

SGEP Editorial

A new editorial will be posted in SGEP later today. It is written by my co-editor, who had put in a lot of work and time to write this excellent summary. It is blunt and direct and focus on the important issues that citizens should consider at the forthcoming general election.

Avoid all types of unregulated investments

Hi, I was approached by a marketing person from X offering the purchase of a plot of 100 sq m land at Romford, London. In your opinion is this a scam and is this X a reliable company?


REPLY
My advice is to avoid all types of unregulated investments, including land banking plots. ALL TYPES!

A broad mind - look for what is right

In the musical "Fiddler on the Roof" two Jews in a village were arguing over a matter and they approached the rabbi to solve the dispute.

The rabbi heard the first Jew and said, "you are right". He then heard the second Jew and said, "you are right". A third Jew, who was observing the event asked the rabbi, "How was it possible for the first Jew to be right and the second Jew to be also right?". The rabbi replied to the third Jew, "you are also right".

The rabbi looked for what is right and not what is wrong. This is called "a positive mindset". Many Singaporeans are not aware that of this approach and only know how to look for "what is wrong".

Tan Kin Lian

A narrow mind and judgmental

Many Singaporeans have a peculiar mindset that is probably produced by our environment  - narrow minded and judgmental. Let me illustrate it with this example.

I wrote a blog about the unrest in Tunisia. I had visited Tunisia on two occasions and found a great deal of similarity in the political structure of Tunisia and Singapore, which I described in my blog. I was aware that there must also be many differences, but I did not cover them because of my ignorance and my intent to focus on the similarity.

Someone criticized me personally in another blog, arguing that I was "wrong" in judging the situation between Tunisia and Singapore. This person followed a certain mindset:

• Interpret what was not there, i.e. that I had implied that the situation was exactly the same in both countries, and attacked the interpretation
• Pass judgement, that I was "wrong"

I like to ask my readers to be broad minded in reading my views. If you have a different perspective, you can express your own views. You do not have to pass judgment on my views, especially when you have not clarified what my views are. Who are you to judge?

Tan Kin Lian

Make tax system simpler for rented-out property

My letter on tax for rented out property is published in the Straits Times
http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_625248.html

Financial plan

Prepare a financial plan for your own personal situation. It is suitable for a young person who has recently started work and also a person who is approaching retirement. Learn the difference to your retirement income if you are able to earn a higher yield on your investment and also the impact of inflation. The application is available here, www.easysearch.sg/life21

Book - Get value from your Life Insurance

Here is the flyer for my book, "Get Value from your Life Insurance". The book is expected to be launched in mid February 2011.
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=375

Neale Donald Walsch and Tommy Wong’s books

If you like Neale Donald Walsch’s books “Conversations with God”, the chances are that you will also like Tommy Wong’s books “Wisdom on How to Live Life” because both sets of books are written in amusing dialogue format and both advocate similar spiritual concepts.

Tommy Wong’s books are currently on promotion and can be ordered here.

Beautiful cloud formation

Watch this beautiful cloud formation in Australia. Contributed by Mike Hansford.
www.tankinlian.com/latest.aspx

www.gothere.sg

A few people have recommended the use of www.gothere.sg. I tried it and found it to be very good, perhaps better than Google Maps Singapore. You can enter, for example, "Promenade MRT to Marina Bay Sands" and it shows the map, bus service, travel time and fare.

Distance based fare

I benefited from the new distance based fare on a bus trip from Marina Bay Sands to Stamford Road (to change to the MRT line). In the dark, I got down the bus 2 stops ahead of City Hall MRT. Realising my mistake, I took the next bus for the 2 stops. On alighting the bus, I found that the fare charged by the second bus was $0.00 as the fare for the total distance travelled was already covered by the fare deducted from the first bus.

Although this would appear to be a good idea, I felt that it was unnecessary and wasteful to incur the expenses of changing to the distance based fare. It would have been sufficient to increase the transfer rebate under the old system. The high cost of changing the system must be reflected in the higher fares that commuters have to pay over the long run.

Tan Kin Lian

Countdown timer at pedestrian crossing

The countdown timer at pedestrian crossing is now quite common in Singapore. It is useful in telling the pedestrian the time left before the light change from green to red.

I first saw the countdown timer in China about 20 years ago. I felt that it was a great idea and should be implemented in Singapore. Someone wrote to the newspaper to suggest this timer be installed. I remembered the official reply at that time - it was unnecessary and could be counter-productive. I could not understand the reasoning at that time, but felt that it was typical of the kind of convoluted thinking that was quite common in Singapore.

The official view was quietly changed many years later, and we now see the useful timer in many places.

Tan Kin Lian

New tyres at the rear

If you change two new tyres, put the new tyres at the rear of the vehicle and move the old tyres to the front.
Video

Google Maps Singapore

I had difficulty in using the journey planner from SBS and SMRT. A friend suggested that I use Google Maps. I tried it and the experience is positive. This is what I did:

• I searched for Google Map Singapore
• I select the destination, i.e. Marina Bay Sands, MICE
• I chose "Direction" and picked the nearly MRT stations, i.e. Promenade and Marina Bay.
• I found that it is better to take the bus from Promenade, as the walking time to the station is 1 min and the journey is 3 mins. I would have to walk 5 mins to the bus stop at Marina Bay stations

Well done to Google. They really know how to provide the best technology and make things simple to the public. Our planners in Singapore should attend Google school.

GOOGLE MAP ON ANDROID
I tried the same approach with my Android phone. It worked in the same way. I now know how to use this app on the mobile phone. It is wonderful.

Tan Kin Lian

4 year SGD Interest Rate Linked Structure Deposit

My wife showed me a brochure of the above structured deposit from a local bank. It comprised of 9 pages of detail. I told her not to invest in any complicated structured product, as she may not be aware of a catch.

The structured deposit offers an interest rate of 1.2%, 1.3%, 1.4% and 1.5% during the 4 years respectively. It gives the bank the option to call back the deposit at any half year period. The investor stands the risk of being locked up with the low yield if interest rate increases and the risk of being redeemed if interest rate drops further. There is no way that the investor can estimate the chance of either event. This structured deposit is not covered by the Government guaranty on deposits. There is a risk of total loss, in the event of failure of the bank. While this is small, the paltry yield does not merit it.

It is better for the investor to buy a government bond which will probably give the same yield with lower risk. It is a neater arrangement.

I hope that our banks and corporations will issue a straight forward corporate bond with a yield that is higher than government bond, and avoid all the complicated structures and options.

Tan Kin Lian

SAIL policy

Dear Mr. Tan,
I am 55 year old and not working. Is NTUC SAIL plan suitable for me? Thanks

REPLY
I am not familiar with this policy. Here are some negative comments about the policy, but I am not sure if the comments are fair or accurate:
http://tankinlian.blogspot.com/2010/02/get-benefit-illustration.html

Journey planner to Marina Bay Sands

I have to attend a dinner at Marina Bay Sands. I tried to use the journey planner from SBS and SMRT to get to Marina Bay Sands from the Promenade or Marina Bay stations. It was quite a hassle to use these complicated planners. I do not understand why the Land Transport Authority allows these two operates to operate different websites with different structures. Perhaps LTA should build an integrated website and make it easier to use.

Beware of scams

I receive this type of proposal often. They are scams. Sometimes, I get several in a day.

Good day dear Friend,
I am Sir Jonathan Yishai Baruch presently undergoing medical treatment in
doctor's hospital Bahamas. I worked with the British Oil Industry, East
London for over a decade and I was married for fifteen years without a
child. My wife died after a long illness that lasted for two years. I
vowed to use my wealth for the down trodden and the less privileged in the
society, and I am contacting you in regards to my proposition. I am
looking for a God fearing and trustworthy person who I can bequeath the
responsibility of making judicious use of my wealth in helping the down
trodden and under privileged one's in our society and the world at large,
while this will be of immense benefit to such an individual as well.
Unfortunately the doctors here have just confirmed my situation that I
will not live long I have decided to give out my money to the poor. I
deposited the sum of 20,000,000 (Twenty Million Great British Pounds) with
my Bank, this money is still there. This is purely intended to bring
succor to the helpless and as such, a well trusted personality is required
so please, get back to me using my direct contact below if you consider
yourself competent and qualified to fit the above described profile and if
interested to commit your time and resource to this project.

Letter to SGEP

Do you have a letter to write to SGEP? You can give your views as a citizen or resident of Singapore. If you have sent a letter to the main papers and they do not accept it, you can send the letter to SGEPortal@gmail.com.

Manage the financial needs of elderly parents

The Sunday Times have a good article on how you can manage the financial needs of your elderly parents.

I wish to focus on the option called "do it yourself". First, you can ask your parent to generate a financial plan using the available savings. This free service can be found in Prepare Your Financial Plan in this website. This financial plan will show you the retirement income (based on 20 years draw-down) after age 65, at various yields. You can compare the income against what is offered by other investment choices, such as a life annuity.

Your comparison should be based on the income "before adjusting for inflation" as the other options are also unadjusted. Pay special attention to the fact that the retirement income depends on the yield that can be obtained from the investment.

You are likely to get a yield of at least 4% by investing in an indexed fund over the next 20 years. This is explained in my book on financial planning. Your parent should also attend the educational talks organised by FISCA.  Even if your parent wish to invest in a life annuity, it is a good idea to get the benchmark to compare if the life annuity offers an attractive yield.

Tan Kin Lian

Property Tax and Income Tax

The Government has introduced a progressive rate system for owner occupied property. Perhaps they should extend this system for rented out properties as well, and remove property income from the income tax returns. This will relieve the tax payer from the complexity of computing the net rental income from properties, after deducting the expenses.

Tan Kin Lian

Red Nano

Someone told me that Red Nano, funded by SPH, had ceased its operations due to high expenses and lack of revenue stream. Is this correct?

Gerald sent this to me:
http://www.techgoondu.com/2011/01/09/the-quiet-death-of-rednano-sg/

Confusing banking services

I just sent this feedback to the customer service of DBS bank


PHONE BANKING MAILER
Recently, I requested for Phone Banking service.

I received a mailer showing the ner PIN/password.

I find this mailing to be confusing.

This is a message below "For ATM card" indicating that I have to sign an acknowledement slip to be sent to you. I waited for this ackowledgement slip but it did not arrive. As an existing ATM card holder, I wondered if my request for Phone Banking PIN would have affected my existing ATM card

I just called your hotline and spoke to your staff. It seemed that this confusing message does not apply to me. If this is the case, why do you put this message into the mailer. How do you expect your customer to be able to know that it does not apply? Your banking services are now quite complicated. Do not make it worse by giving a mailer that adds to the confusion.

Tan Kin Lian

Tunisia and Singapore

SGEP has a story about the overthrow of the government in Tunisia and the President Ben Ali had fled the country. This development has significance to Singapore.

I visited Tunisia on two occasions in recent years. I asked my host about the government. They had one party in power for more than 20 years and the same President in charge. They had regular elections. The ruling power has strong links to the trade union movement, the grassroots organisations and many other institutions in the country. The similarity between the structure of government of Tunisia and Singapore struck me at that time.

I asked my host how do the people feel about the President? It was a mixed feeling. He was a strong leader and is quite well respected. But there was a hint that it was also accompanied by some kind of fear and unease. Does this sound similar?

I thought that President Ben Ali and the ruling party had control over the military, the police and the power in the country. So, it was a surprise that he had fled the country. Read this article.

Tan Kin Lian

More news and pictures about Tunisia.
Election in Tunisia
Atmosphere of represssion

M V Land does not use e-mail

I sent a fax to the directors of M V Land to complain that their management officer does not answer telephone or reply to e-mails. Three days later, the projector manager replied to me by fax. He claimed that they checked their web database and could not trace my e-mail. I asked him for the correct e-mail address that I should use in the future. He checked and replied to me, "Sorry, we do not have an e-mail address. It is better for me to communicate with them by fax."

They did give an e-mail address to my staff who asked for it earlier. It seemed that nobody in M V Land bothered to check the e-mail. If they do not use e-mail, how can they handle so many customers who have to go through them to sort out the requirements imposed by them, such as getting a renovation permit?  No wonder their customers (i.e. purchasers of their property) had such a difficult time with them.

Tan Kin Lian

Minimum wage and loss of jobs

I am baffled by the argument put forward by NTUC trade union leaders and their MPs that a minimum wage will cause the low income workers to lose their jobs. I find their reasoning to be convoluted and  ridiculous. When the low wage workers lose their jobs, who is going to do the cleaning job and other manual tasks?

If the union leaders are really concerned about protecting jobs, they should press the government to stop the inflow of unskilled foreign workers. The manual work has to be done, and business will have to pay a decent wage to local workers to do these work.

There is the argument that a minimum wage will create a black market using illegal foreign workers to do the work at the expense of local workers. I do not agree. It is easy to prevent such abuse in a small place like Singapore. If the authority is serious, employers will not dare to flout the rules.

Some people said that local workers are unwilling to do the manual work. This is also not true. The local workers, especially the elderly poor, are now doing these work now, but are not getting a decent wage. If the wage is increased and the job is made more dignified, more people will do the work.

Some people fear that a minimum wage will increase the cost of living. This is only partly true. Wage is only one factor. A bigger component are the salaries paid to top managers, high rental on properties and profits to shareholders. A higher wage bill will put pressure on the other components and will not raise the consumer prices by the same extent.

There is also the uncertainty. The MPs argued that nobody knows what will happen when a minimum wage is introduced. I also find this reasoning to be baffling.They only need to look at the experience of other countries. The minimum wage policy is not perfect, but it usually does more good than harm. That is why nearly all countries in the world adopt it. Only in Singapore, do we have capable leaders who think in a convoluted way.

Tan Kin Lian

Work for less than $4 an hour

Mark Woon wrote in the Straits Times that fast food outlets, like McDonalds, pay students less than $4 an hour. At this rate, the students have to work many hours to earn enough to  pay for their meals. Some students do not have allowance from their parents and depend on part time work to earn money to meet the high cost of living in Singapore.

I continue to be baffled by the reluctance of our policy makers and trade union leaders to impose a minimum wage in Singapore. I am sure that the businesses can afford a minimum wage of $6 an hour. While this increase their business cost, they should reduce the high salaries paid to their top managers and reject the exorbitant rentals on their business premises.

It is a question of finding the right balance. By exploiting workers (including students) with low wages, the bigger portion of the earnings are taken away by other parties.

Tan Kin Lian

Krisflyer - another complexity

I recceived a statement from SIA showing that I have x Krisflyer miles and y Elite miles. I searched their website for the difference between these two types of miles, but I could not find it. I search for the telephone number to call, and I could not find it. This is another example of the complexity that we have to deal with. There was only one past occasion that I redeemed my air miles (previously, I allowed them to expire) and I had a lot of trouble navigating their complex website. I still have trouble now, and need to call their hotline for assistance.

SME Services

This portal allows a SME to handle its accounting, payroll and corporate documents.
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=367

Investing for the Long Term

This article shows that when you start and when you finish is also important:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/01/02/business/20110102-metrics-graphic.html

There is a statement: After 60 or 70 years, returns are relatively stable, but this time frame is longer than the relevant horizon for many retirement plans. Actually, this is the real time horizon for a person who starts saving at age 25 and dies at age 85 (i.e. a period of 60 years). There is no need for the investor to cash out of the market at retirement, as the investor needs only to withdraw a monthly sum to meet living expenses.

ACRA - Secretarial

Does ACRA require a qualified person to be the company secretary? Can any of the directors or staff, without any secretarial qualification, take the duty of secretary for fulfilling ACRA requirements?

Book- Get Value from your Life Insurance

Here is the new cover for my book on Life Insurance. I am using cartoon for the cover and the same characters to illustrate the key messages
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=359

Financial Planning statement for a 25 year old

This financial planning statement has been prepared for a 25 year old. It is suitable for a graduate who has just started work. You can use this sample statement to learn how to interpret the figures and the impact of different investment yields and inflation on your future income. You can go to this website to prepare a similar statement based on your personal circumstances. www.easysearch.sg/life21

Buying car insurance online

Dear Mr Tan

My car insurance was due for renewal and my current underwriter quoted $1267. I went to NTUC Insurance and they quoted $1461 (seems they are not the cheapest as I thought). By chance, I saw a banner ad for AVIVA on Yahoo!SG and got an online quick quote for $1047, which is a saving not to be sneezed at. A little googling throws up both good and bad points, but I decided to sign up with them. Right or wrong decision, only time will tell.

My comment

It is easy to get an online quote from Aviva (www.aviva) or Direct Asia (www.directasia.com) for your car insurance. They can usually give you significant savings. If not, you only wasted a few minutes, but you got a good benchmark to compare against your current insurer.

Cool the property market

Further measures have been announced.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1104498/1/.html

Mobile roaming fees

The fees for voice and text will be lowered.  But no news on data roaming.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southeastasia/view/1104549/1/.html

Unregulated investment products

My book, Practical Guide on Financial Planning has a chapter on the unregulated investment products, such as wine investments, land banking and ponzi schemes. These investments are unregulated by the authority. The seller promises high yields, which are not legally binding. Many people have fallen prey to these scams and lost a lot of money in the past one or two years, after my book was published. Many people are still falling prey to these scams. They are also buying life insurance policies that give them a poor yield, even though these cases are explained in my book.

I advise you to buy the book and read it over two times, to get an understanding of what to look out for, and what to avoid. It can save you many thousand dollars and a lot of heartache.

You can enjoy a 40% discount on this book here.

Tan Kin Lian

Quality of Life

Singapore has a high per capita income but that is not reflected in a high quality of life for the people.
www.tankinlian.com/latest.aspx
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=366

Supremehealth and Total Shield

Dear Mr Tan,
I met an agent from Great eastern who introduced their health insurance plan (Supremehealth). It seemed to have many advantages compared to the other plans.

Do you ecommend to go for private hospital compared to the government hospital? I have not stayed in the hospital before, and do not know their treatment, facilities, doctors and others.

Is there a need to buy Total shield on top of Supremehealth? What about the riders to include my wife and children?

REPLY
Go to this webpage
http://www.tankinlian.com/Information.aspx

Type in "Medishield:" and click on Search.
Read the FAQs

Register of Electors

Ready for inspection:
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_623774.html

Talk by Jacques Attali

“We are not yet out of crisis” said Dr Jacques Attali, French professor, writer, economist and public intellectual 

The fundamental cause of the global economic crisis is the absence of a ‘global rule of law’ to control the global financial market, according to Dr Jacques Attali, President of PlaNet Finance, an international non-profit organisation that promotes microfinance in some 80 countries.  
“The global crisis is the result of global demand for public and private debt,” he said, adding that “The excess of debt has created a lack of trust.” 

In the advanced Western economies, the debt crisis has revolved primarily around the inability of the private banking sector to respond adequately to the excessive demand for loans. Insolvent banks that have had their liabilities absorbed by the public sector have also caused in turn rising public debts. Elaborating his thoughts on this subject, Dr Attali said that microfinance could be one of the solutions to the global crisis, as it creates employment opportunities while reducing poverty without incurring huge debts.  

An honorary Member of the Council of State of France, Dr Attali was the keynote speaker at the public talk “Is the Global Economy Still in Crisis?” The talk was held on Thursday 13 January at the Ballroom, Raffles Hotel. Referring to the US economy, which is the world’s largest economy, Dr Attali observed that “the economic situation in the US is worse than ever before, especially as the US debt is still 350% of the GDP, and with 650,000 Americans still homeless.” 

Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo, who was present during the event to introduce Dr Attali, noted that “Taking a long term view towards a common destiny is the mission of the new Eurasia.”

Directors of M V Land

I am looking for the names of all the directors of M V Land (developer of Midview City) and of their parent company. If anyone has the information, please send the list to kinlian@gmail.com.

Editorial in SGEP

The editorial in SGEP has been updated to summarisz the content in the portal. Visit: www.easyapps.sg/sgep

Land banking in the news in Malaysia

Dear Mr Tan,
This is to bring to your attention of this article in the Sun newspaper in Malaysia
http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=56280

Wine investment

Hi Mr. Tan,
A year ago, I made a wine investment with a local company called (name deleted). They told me that I could see good returns after holding the wine for three years. I checked the materials online and learned that many people have been holding the wine and this company has not sold of the wines for them yet.

I went down to their office and told them that I wanted to sell off my wines immediately. They said that I must hold the wine for 3 years. I argued that there was no such terms in their contract. They then said they would help me to sell the wine off. I threaten to bring the matter to CASE but they replied that other investors had already done so, to no avail.

I just can't believe they are operating like a legalized "scam" company. As long as they get their sale done, they don't bother to look after the investor, and would only call to sell more wine with promises of high returns.


They are still giving seminars and talks at Suntec at an investment expo. Many elderly folks are being cheated. hope you would be able to advise me on what I can do.

REPLY
Many people are caught in this type of situation. You can make a police report, if you feel that they have cheated you. But, I do not know what else you can do.

Gold investment

View posted in my blog:
Hi Sir,
My parents recently invested in this company 'The Gold Label' who promises a return of 1% every month. It has since closed down and a portion of their money has been wiped out. They do have some 'gold bars' as collateral though, but the value of the gold is merely 70% of the actual price they paid for. What is your take regarding Gold instruments then? Is there any way to help regulate such schemes? It seems like a Ponzi scam to me after my parents told me, but it's too late now.

My comments
So sorry to learn that your parents lost money. It is quite sad that people are allowed to operate scheme that was designed to cheat the public. The various government agencies claim that this is not their responsibility. It seems that no agency is responsible to stop this type of fraud, even when it was brought up to their attention.

I have written about this type of fraud a few times in my blog. I also helped an investor to avoid exactly the same kind of investment. But there is only so much that I, as an individual, can do. The government has the responsibility and the resources, and they do not want to act. It is quite sad.

Midview City - a bad experience

I have bad experience with the poor service provided by the management office of Midview City. They do not answer telephone calls or reply to e-mails. Even a fax to their directors remain unanswered. Nobody bother to return a call.

Their poor service has caused me to spend $3,500 (which could be avoided) and waste two months of valuable time to start my renovation. My experience is set out here.

Another owner wrote to tell me that he had experienced good service from the office, but he asked me not to post his e-mail. I wonder why? Several other owners have told me that they had bad experience similar to mine.

My bad experience with Midview City is reflective of the situation in many organisations in Singapore, including our government agencies. The staff are too scared to take initiative and follow the rules set by their directors blindly. They worry about "what can go wrong" rather than "what is fair and right for the customer". They are so busy with paperwork and following rules that they cannot answer telephone or reply to e-mail.

They are scared to be  held "responsible" for what is put down in writing, i.e. e-mail. Even senior people are scared to take responsibility - preferring to push the buck to someone else.

Tan Kin Lian

Sample financial plans

You can view the sample financial plans for a person age 25, 35 and 65 here: www.tankinlian.com/latest.aspx.
You can carry generate a financial plan statement for your own personal situation here: www.easysearch.sg/life21

Convoluted - the Singapore way

Singapore policy makers have a convoluted way of handling issues. For those who are not familiar with this word, it means "Extremely complex and difficult to follow."

 I have mentioned the CPF contribution rate that requires a person to refer to 6 brightly colored booklets of 19 pages each. How about setting the CPF contribution rate at 16%? It does not require many complicated tables.

How about workfare - which is lauded by our MPs as being better than a minimum wage. Here is the convoluted WIS (in case you don't know, it meas Workfare Income Supplement). I hope that our MPs, who love workfare, are able to understand how much is being paid to the low income workers. http://mycpf.cpf.gov.sg/Members/Gen-Info/WIS/WIS_Scheme.htm. Why can't the supplement be paid monthly and depend only on the income of the worker for that month?

What about GST Offset Package? Here is the table: http://www.gstoffset.gov.sg/GSTCredits.htm The table is simple, but figuring out the category that a person falls under require some research, i.e. the annual value of a house or the assessable income. What's wrong with giving every person a flat $300 or whatever amount?

There are many more of our convulated practices all over the place. Many of us experience them all the time. We give up trying to understand them. Each set of convoluted practices is designed by a large team of highly educated experts who can spend long  hours to produce the complex tables and web calculators. They can spend the time because this is their job. They forget that every citizen has to do his daily work and live his daily life, and do not have the time to figure out the complexities that are created by five, ten or more agencies.

Welcome to convoluted Singapore.
Tan Kin Lian

Rechargeable torchlight - handy for the house

The electricity in my home tripped yesterday. I was able to get my rechargeable torchlight, placed next to my bed, to locate the control box and turn back the switch. I also use the rechargeable torchlight to move around the house in the dark, instead of turning on the main lights. The rechargeable torchlight has a locator lamp that can be turned on at night. It uses rechargeable battery and can save on battery cost. This torchlight is available at $6.50 (discounted price, $5) in www.tankinlian.com/ishop.

Torchlight

Buy the right life insurance policy

Are you getting a good yield for your savings in your life insurance policy? You can follow the calculation shown in this article.

If you find that it is giving a poor yield, there is nothing much that you can do now, as you have already incurred the upfront cost. If you wish to terminate the policy, you should carry out the calculation here to see what is the yield over the next 5 years.

If you want to know how to plan for your financial future, you should carry out the calculation shown here. You will get a 2 page statement (in PDF) and guidance on how to read the statement. There is reference to several FAQs in my website. You can also consult an expert who can guide you on this matter.

Letters to SGEP

Do you have any views to share about the social, economic and political priorities in Singapore? Send your letter to sgeportal@gmail.com. The letter must bear your name and email address, but you can ask for a pseudonym to be used. It must be within 400 words. They will be published in the SGEP portal. Let your voice as a citizen be heard!

Going beyond the limit

I asked my staff to show me the formula for calculating CPF contribution. She passed me 6 brightly colored booklets, each with 19 pages. For someone who is not familiar, it takes a lot of time to understand how to calculate CPF contribution. There is a risk of making a mistake. To avoid this problem, it may be necessary to send someone for half day training in calculating CPF contribution.

Do our policy makers realize that all these complications take up a lot of time of the staff and that salaries are high in Singapore. This is so wasteful. I do not know why things have to be so complicated in Singapore!

Tan Kin Lian

Insurance needs of disabled persons

Disabled persons have a higher need for insurance, but insurance companies are not willing to offer insurance at the standard rates to the disabled persons. The disabled persons may have to rely on personals savings and loss control.
http://tankinlian.com/latest.aspx
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=362

Franchise business proposal

A reader asked for my views on this franchise business proposal. I am  not familiar with the business, but I know of many people who invested in the bubble tea franchise and lost their capital. If you have any inside knowledge of this franchise, please share it.

FRANCISE OF HEALTH PRODUCT

Franchise fee: 15k (3years)

Royalty fee: 5 - 6 % on sales

Marketing fee -1.5% on sales

 

The development manager/partner said that the total estimated cost is about 150k to 180k, with a breakdown for legal fees, misc fees, renovation, rental for 3 months, insurance etc.  It is a healthy food franchise. 

Long term pass for baby

Dear Mr Tan,

I have friend that just move to Singapore, and also have baby. However, they face a difficulty in Singapore to get the long term pass for their baby. The imigration officer ICA mention that the baby should go back to home country and can't stay in Singapore more than 3 months, so the parents and baby should move in and out from Singapore every three months.

Do you have any information and idea, how to solve this problem, so parent and baby can together without each 3 month to renew the visiting pass. The parents are foreigners on long term visit pass (LTSPP), but they are keen to become Singaporean Citizen.

COMMENT

If you know how to solve this problem, please send e-mail to kinlian@gmail.com

Dr. Jacques Attali's talk

Dr. Jacques Attali's talk will be held tomorrow. Here are past postings in this blog:
http://tankinlian.blogspot.com/search?q=attali

My views on "globalisation" are set out here. I believe that it has to return to some form of protection. I wish to hear what Dr. Attali's views are. A few readers of my blog have sent their views to me. They are also attending the talk. I look forward to meeting them, but they have to look for me.

Russia - Landscapes and buildings

Here are some beautiful landscapes and buildings in Russia. Contributed by Mike Hansford.
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=361

DBS notes investors appeal court ruling

DBS notes investors appeal court ruling

By MICHELLE QUAH

THE investors who lost millions and their court case
over their investment in DBS High Notes 5
are now appealing against the High Court decision
to dismiss their claim.


BT understands that the 21 investors
who brought the case against DBS Bank
on behalf of 192 other individuals
have made an application to the Court of Appeal.