A misleading advertisement

Mr.Tan, 
The company you headed previously is now mis-leading the public that it can give a return of more than 5% for their endowment and whole life by using the past returns WHICH A VERY LARGE PART OF IT IS DURING YOUR TIME,i.e,. BEFORE THE BONUS CUT AND LOW EXPENSE PERIOD.

Although the advert caries a tiny microscopic disclaimer it does not absolve the company of the intention to mislead the public that their products will return such rates of return. Did you know over the last 5 years their average return is about 5%, the lowest of the industry. Strange, right? for a cooperative.

The cooperative value is now lacking and the only 'cooperative principle'still existing is both the company and the agents are cooperating to mislead the customers.MAS should investigate and stop this unethical practice.

I remember MAS requires disclaimers to be in certain font size so that old folks without reading glasses can still see and definitely not the microscopic size. MAS, do your job.

REPLY
I hope that the new management and the board of directors is aware of your observation.

Long queuing time at Land Transport Authority

My friend, who is a car dealer, told me that she spent half an afternoon queuing up at the Land Transport Office to make a transfer. She asked - why does LTA not employ more staff, so that the people do not have to wait so long? A few foreigners in the queue were extremely angry - the Singaporeans did not complain.

Here are my observations.

1) Our government agencies are short sighted. They wanted to reduce their cost, e.g. by employing less staff, but they pass the added cost to the public, who have to waste a lot of time in the queue.

2) Singaporeans love to queue - the longer the better. After all, they are paid by the employers, so they don't mind.

3) However, my friend is self employed, so she felt the wasted time to be stressful and eats into her ability to do more business and earn more to meet her high operating expenses.

We do have a short sighted government or leaders who do not know what is going on. Our feedback system is bad.

It is quite ironic. I saw a sign at the back of the bus - Land Transport Authority - we keep the world moving. My thought - They can't be the world moving when they are making people spend  a few hours in the LTA queue!

Feedback on service organizations

I have added a few more organizations to track the service quality - Restructured Hospital, Polychinic and Direct Asia.

You can view the latest feedback here:
http://sg-pulse.com/recent.aspx

You can also submit your feedback and win a book prize.
http://sg-pulse.com/page/9

Investors are being ripped off

This article in a British newspaper explained how British expats are being ripped off when they buy financial products outside of the UK. The sales are made in Hong Kong, Singapore and other countries.

But it is not just the expats are being ripped off. The locals in these countries are also being ripped off by the predatory products.

It is time for MAS to wake up.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/11726158/Exposed-the-rip-off-investment-advisers-who-cost-British-expats-billions.html

How to improve the return on your savings

If you had bought a life insurance policy in the past and now realized that it is giving you a poor return, you can find some tips in this book on what to do with the policy:
http://c-pearl.com/cart.aspx?ID=8

Election fever is building up!

The Jubilee weekend is over. More people are now paying attention to the forthcoming general election.

One sign - they are submitting their entries to this contest.
http://sg-pulse.com/Party/Contest.aspx

The number of entries increased by 30% in just one day!

SDP's proposals on CPF Reform

Here are some excellent policy proposals from the Singapore Democratic Party. They are feasible and should be implemented. Vote them in.

http://sg-pulse.com/Party/Info/6

14 day Free Look Period

Dear Mr Tan,
I seek your help and expertise as a veteran in the insurance industry, and would be very grateful for any insight you can offer.

I am a lawyer and I am dealing with a dispute concerning a life insurance policy. My client is a foreigner and is based overseas. He signed up for the policy while on a business trip in Singapore last year. The insurance company forwarded to my client's home address (via normal mail) a copy of the - the quotation, financial analysis reports and the GIRO application form

Thereafter, my client says that he did not receive the Policy Schedule and Booklet from the insurance company. He confirms that his family did not receive the documents either. 

Further, he does not know if his agent/the insurance company failed to issue the Policy documents; or if the Policy documents were misplaced during posting. In any event, my client is now thinking of rescinding the Policy.

- What is the legal position with regard to the Policy, as the 'Free Look Period' was never triggered?
- How can my client rescind the Policy?

Thank you so much.

REPLY

The ruling on the free look period is stated in the website of the Life Insurance Association.
http://www.lia.org.sg/consumers/buying_tips

Specifically, it said:

14-day free look period
All insurance companies grant a "14-day free look period". It starts from the date of receipt of your policy document. During this period, you should review your policy to see if it meets your needs. If you decide not to keep it, give the company written notice of cancellation and the company will terminate your policy and provide the appropriate refund.

You may be charged for medical examination expenses and, if you had bought an investment-linked plan, you may suffer investment loss if the unit price has fallen.

I should imagine that it is the duty of the insurance company to prove that they have delivered the policy to the policyholder. The insurance company should have some record that the policy document was delivered, so that the 14 day free look period can start. They should usually send it by registered post or alternatively, if the agent was supposed to have delivered the policy document, the agent should get a signed acknowledgment from the policyholder.

The insurance company can claim that it is the duty of the policyholder to notify the insurance company if they have not received the policy document. If the policyholder was paying the monthly premium, he should have inquired about the policy document that never arrived. I hope that your client can give a good explanation why he or she did not bring up this matter earlier.

How should the new transport minister handle this hot seat?

Dear Mr. Tan
The Ministry of Transport is a hot seat for any minister. Do you think that PM Lee will be able to find another minister to replace Mr. Lui Tuck Yew who will be resigning at the next general election? What are the key tasks that the new minister should carry out to win the confidence of the public?

REPLY
The replacement has to be an experienced and senior minister, such as Khaw Boon Wan, Teo Chee Hean or Ng Eng Hen. There is nothing much that the new minister can do to solve the problem of train breakdown due to the overload and to the poor conditions of the tracks and signals.

The strategy should be to get the support and understanding of the commuters. The following measures can be taken.

a) If there is a train breakdown, all the affected commuters should be credited with $5 into their fare card. This allows them to take a bus, taxi or alternative transport. At least, they are compensated directly for the inconvenience. This will be a heavy financial cost to SMRT, but the commuters might feel "sorry" for SMRT to have to give out these payments.

b) When there is a breakdown, the taxis and private buses should be alerted to provide the alternative transports at the affected stations. They can be informed through the mass media and internet. The travelling public can also be notified.

c) It is important to improve the bus information system, so that more commuters will know how to take buses, instead of relying mainly on the trains. This will help to spread some of the load from the train to the buses. Many commuters do not know how to take buses because the bus routes are confusing. This has to be streamlined.

These are my ideas. Perhaps you can give your views on what needs to be done.

A bad call center

I had a bad experience with the call center of Direct Asia. They must have one of the worst system. They force the customers to listen to many irrelevant messages. And there are more.

I share my experience here:
http://sg-pulse.com/recent.aspx

Do you also have experience with good or poor service? You can share your experience and win a book prize also.
http://sg-pulse.com/page/9

Master of Life on Meaningful Living

Dr. Tommy Wong wishes to invite you to this event https://www.facebook.com/events/891335544283909/

The book is available online at the Pearl Shop
http://www.c-pearl.com/cart.aspx?ID=23

Impact of swing of votes

If there is a 5% swing of votes from the PAP, the alternative parties will win 13 seats. This can be estimated from the "Swing of Votes article in
http://sg-pulse.com/Party/infox.aspx

Guess the PAP share of the vote

I expect more people to be participating in this contest as the date of the general election draw near. I have removed the average percentage, as most people are entering around the average.

Submit your entry early, so that you have a priority when your entry is the correct one.
http://sg-pulse.com/Party/Contest.aspx

Latest scoreboard

The scoreboard for the political parties has changed quite a bit. Guess which party is now at the top of the scoreboard, and which is at the bottom?
http://sg-pulse.com/Party/scoreboard.aspx

How to choose your motor insurance policy

This graphic is a good way to illustrate the different types of coverage under a motor insurance policy. You need to know how the covers differ from one another, but more importantly, how the premiums differ among the covers.

The premium is for my 9 year old Datsun Cefiro insured with Direct Asia after a 20% no claim discount.

Comprehensive - $958 covers damage to my own car (but is subject to an "excess"), loss due to fire and theft and damage and injury caused to third parties due to my fault.

Third party fire and theft - $766 covers loss due to fire and theft and damage and injury caused to third parties due to my fault, but does not cover damage to my own car.

Third party only $690 covers damage and injury caused to third parties due to my fault, but does not cover loss due to fire and theft and damage to my own car.

Under the comprehensive cover, there is the choice of the value plan, the value plus plan and the flexible plan, which covers different groups of drivers and vary the premium accordingly.

Which type of cover will I buy? I will choose the third party only - value plus plan. It will cover my family members as well.

Lesson - your decision must be based on the difference in covers and the premium charged. You need to get the full detail to make an informed decision.





  

My view of Mah Bow Tan

Many people do not like Mah Bow Tan for the reasons given here.
http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/08/09/ten-reasons-why-mah-bow-tan-is-singapore%E2%80%99s-most-hated-minister/

I also don't like his management of the HDB policy when he was the national development minister.

But, I like to say a few words in support of him.

1) When he was in government, he acted decisively and most of the time, his actions were for the good of Singapore.

2)  He did well as communications minister, including the introduction of the ERP and COE. While they were painful to the pocket, they did make the traffic flow smoothly.

3) A few years ago, after I left NTUC, I had a rare lunch at Singapore Cricket Club. He saw me, and walked over to talk to me. He was humble and won my friendship. (Not like the haughty ministers and top civil servants today, who do not even reply to my emails! ).

General election 2015/16

Here are some additional information for the forthcoming general election
http://sg-pulse.com/Party/infox.aspx

Guess the PAP's share of votes and win a prize of $500
http://sg-pulse.com/Party/Contest.aspx

Is Amos Yee a genius?

Some people were surprised that I described Amos Yee to be a "genius". They find him and his use of vulgar language to be distasteful and clearly disliked him.

There is a difference between being a genius and behaving well.

Amos Yee is a genius because he is able to think independently of what is right or wrong and to have opinions of his own. His intellect surpasses most of the people that I know, including the "talents" that occupy our parliament and government.

I do not support his behavior but also do not wish to pass judgment on it.

In some respect, I was like Amos Yee when I was 16 years old. I acted in a way that was unexpected according to the norms of other people.

 Although I was among the top 10 students in Singapore in the Senior Cambridge examination (the precursor to the Oxford GCE O level examination), I quit school to come out to work.

My principal, Mr Eugene Jesudason, called me to this office and asked me to reconsider my decision. The school could offer me a bursary to meet my financial expenses. I could also apply for a scholarship.

I explained that I needed to earn a salary to contribute to my family income. He accepted my reason and was kind enough to call his friend, who was the top man in Great Eastern Life to offer me the starting position of a clerk. It was helpful to me.

I was the "smartest" among the clerks in the office at that time. but earned the same starting salary of $180 a month. The executives, where were graduates earned $300 a month.

I hope that this gives you a different perspective to look at Amos Yee. Here is his latest "genius" video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNA6on-WY3Y

CECA - what are the benefits to outweigh the costs?

Mr. Tan
I heard that Singapore signed a CECA agreement with India and that has resulted in many Indian nationals working in Singapore and have displaced our local PMETs, especially in the IT and banking fields.
What is CECA and how has Singapore benefited from this agreement? I do not see many Singaporeans working in India.

REPLY
CECA is the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement. Details can be found here.
http://www.fta.gov.sg/fta_ceca.asp?hl=6

I also do not know how Singapore benefits from this agreement.

Someone pointed out that the agreement allowed Temasek Holdings and GIC to invest more freely in India. So, the benefit accrues to these wealth funds, but at the expense of Singaporeans who face stronger competition for jobs and an over crowded island.

If this is the case, then the CECA (and other similar agreements) is bad for Singapore. We do not really need to give TH and GIC more market access to make profits, and to pay humongous salaries to their top management. Someone pointed out that TH paid more than $8 billion a year in "administrative expenses". I find this figure to be shocking!

http://www.temasekreview.com.sg/group-financial-summary/group-income-statements.html

My conclusion - there are many things that are hidden from the public. These issues should be more actively debated in Parliament. We do need a change, and to have more independent minded people to be elected into Parliament.

Be broad minded

I find some people to be quite narrow minded. If I make a remark that I dislike white, they will interpret my statement that I prefer black and will find extreme examples of why black is bad and attack me on that point.

Some will even make attack me personally. These are not just IB members, but people with an extreme narrow mind.

They will also make judgment of people based on their narrow mindedness and lack of sufficient information.

I observed this behavior among my younger colleagues some 25 years ago. I advised them to be more broad minded. Actually, I told them to have "a wider perspective" and avoid being "judgmental".

The problem persists today. It must be the outcome of our education system.