If only Singaporeans stop to think

Here is another good blog
http://ifonlysingaporeans.blogspot.com/

Moderating the Internet

Some countries are addressing the issue of injurious remarks posted anonymously in the Internet.
http://ifonlysingaporeans.blogspot.com/2011/12/moderating-internet-free-speech-comes.html

Where bears roam free

Here is a bold blog
http://wherebearsroamfree.blogspot.com

Dangerous to trade in forex

Dear Sir,
Actually I wrote to you to know about X (who runs a forex training course). Somebody told me he is good, somebody told he is not good. I am confused. I got your site and I think you will know and give me a helping kind comment.

Somebody saw his video and testimonial and told me he is good. After that I see his some presentation video. I think good. But in the internet blog I see some bad reputation and scam about him. That's why I am confused. I already made decision for join with him. 

Do you have any personal experience about this guy. However people already make his course, do you know anybody, who already done his course? What should I do? Is forex trading is really good or profitable?

REPLY
I advise people not to attend expensive forex training courses, as they spend a lot of money on the training, and later they go to lose more money through trading.

I do not wish to comment on any specific person. I have given my views to you. You can now decide what you wish to do. Wish you all the best.

Caught by the new property ruling

My friend had been caught by the new property ruling. He was in the process of selling sell his private apartment (to downgrade to a HDB flat) when the ruling came suddenly into effect. He said:

You are correct the new ruling should not affect my HDB flat purchase. In fact, I might even enjoy a lightly lower price. However, with the unexpected negative sentiments towards private property, it is likely my targetted selling price will suffer a big drop.

Last month, a buyer brought his family and relatives for second viewing. They really liked my apartment, and agreed on the price. However, he wanted to show the S&P contract to his lawyer before paying the 1%. Unfortunately, he subsequently had problem getting a loan for this property.

Recently, my agent re-contacted another local buyer. I have been confident he would pay my target price, but today, I think it might go well below it.

Financial well-being of employees

This article shows how the fees charged by an investment fund can affect the payout received by the investor at the time of retirement. Many employees have been charged high fees that were not told to them. The law in US now the employer responsible to ensure that their employees are given a fair deal.

We have a similar situation in Singapore, where too many people are getting a poor deal on the financial products that they invest in. These products take away too much of the investment returns. In many cases, the fees are higher than the 1.5% that is quoted in this article as being bad for employees. Who will look after the interest of the ordinary people in Singapore?

I have been doing my best to inform people on how to select a low risk, low cost investment fund that is good for their future. This is explained in my book on financial planning and in the educational talk given by FISCA.

There is very little that I can do, if the Government does not recognize that it is responsible for the financial well-being of the people.

http://www.cnbc.com//id/45600486

Taxi booking (TABS-4)

I have launched a trial of the taxi booking system (TABS-4) for the past 4 months. The results are encouraging. There is interest in this new mode of finding a taxi. You can use this system to book a non-Comfort taxi and avoid paying the high fares.

Read this report:
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=599

Taxi booking - flow chart

This is the flow chart of the taxi booking system (TABS-4) using the smart phone. It shows the process for customers and taxi driver.

http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=600

Speaker's corner - protest against rising cost of living

Prabu Ramachandran is speaking at Speaker's corner on Saturday 2 pm to protest against the rising cost of living. He is asking for people to show up. More details can be found at: http://www.facebook.com/events/289906641048185/

Key challenges faced by Singapore

On the plane to Jeddah, I met a Singaporean lecturer. He recognized me and told me, in his soft spoken way, about the four challenges faced in Singapore:

• Transport. Many people spend up to 3 hours daily on transport. This is a big waste of productivity.
• Housing prices. It is too costly.
• Medical cost. The cost of medical treatment for his mother was so expensive that he had to downgrad from a private property.
• Education. It is too stressful and costly.

I replied that these challenges affect everybody and is a real test of whether the Government has build a good environment for the people. 

Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty

This is the Government's approach towards controlling speculation in property - impose complicated regulations. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/1170002/1/.html

There is a simpler approach. If the Government offers HDB flats at controlled prices, and the HDB flats have to be sold back to HDB at the controlled prices, similar to the situation prior to 1980, there will be no need to implement these complicated regulations. It would also address the root cause of the problem - providing affordable housing to the people. 

Tax on Financial Transactions

This article gives a good explanation about the implications of a tax on financial transactions. I disagree with the views of the writer, who is the senior editor of CNBC. I agree with the views of several economists, including Keynes, Krugman and others, who argue that it will reduce financial speculation and give revenue to governments. But, we will need an international agreement on the rate of tax, so that it can be implemented worldwide.

http://www.cnbc.com//id/45583134

A lesson in Greek economics

I received this story by e-mail.

It is a slow day in a little Greek Village. The rain is beating down and the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit. On this particular day a rich German tourist is driving through the village, stops at the local hotel and lays a €100 note on the desk, telling the hotel owner he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night. 

The owner gives him some keys and as soon as the visitor has walked upstairs, the hotelier grabs the €100 note and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher. The butcher takes the €100 note and runs down the street to repay his debt to the pig farmer. The pig farmer takes the €100 note and heads off to pay his bill at the supplier of feed and fuel. The guy at the Farmers' Co-op takes the €100 note and runs to pay his drinks bill at the taverna. 

The publican slips the money along to the local prostitute drinking at the bar, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer him "services" on credit. The hooker then rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill to the hotel owner with the €100 note. 

The hotel proprietor then places the €100 note back on the counter so the rich traveller will not suspect anything. At that moment the traveller comes down the stairs, picks up the €100 note, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the money, and leaves town.   No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However, the whole village is now out of debt and looking to the future with a lot more optimism.   

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is how the bailout package works.

WiFi service provided by Starhub

I have been a subscriber to Starhub broadband service for many years. They offer free WiFi services to their subscribers. I did not use it for a long time, as I was quite confused with many IDs used by Starhub for their services.

Recently, I learned that I had a Hub ID, which can be used to access the WiFi. I tried it at Changi Airport and found the surfing speed to be excellent. This is a good service, which many people may not realize, due to the complexity. Having overcome it (at last), I expect to use it quite often. It is much better than Wireless@SG.

Hike in taxi fares

I like the articles written by Lucky Tan. We both share the same philosophy about what is right and what is good. Here are his views about the hike in taxi fares. He said that it is better to allow taxi drivers to work for themselves, rather than to hire a taxi from a taxi company. What are your views?

http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2011/12/taxi-fare-hikes-and-what-is-wrong-with.html

Balloting for priority

I sent this letter to the Straits Times but it was not published. What are your views?

Editor 

Forum Page

Straits Times

I read the news report about the long queue that was formed that was formed a few days earlier for new launch of Bedok Residences. 

This system is archaic and poses hygiene and social problems and could lead to disputes and disorder. We have also experienced long queues for registration in primary schools and for tickets to popular events. Even online queuing leads to breakdown of the computer systems, due to the heavy demand.

We need to have a more practical way of allocating priority through the balloting system. All interested party should be given sufficient time to register their interest before a closing date. The priority should be decided by ballotting or drawing lots through an electronic system that can be verified to be transparent and fair.

It should be possible for such an online system to be developed that can be shared by any organizer in place of the queuing system. The authority may have to step in to promote such an alternative arrangement, for the sake of transparency and orderliness. 

Tan Kin Lian

Wisdom book - special offer

http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=598

Words from a young mother

Just to say that I'm inspired by your drive and determination! With your positiveness, I'm sure at the end of the day, you are the true winner especially when you truly express your thoughts, statements, missions from your heart.
           
I hope things can really improve and you could help more people no matter which position you are holding on.  I think you are more real than most of them on the top.
        
I came to read more about your info and also scene in the Singapore politics during the GE and the PE. I'm saddened that Singapore is transforming to a money hungry machine, no more culture, values, substances, honesty, harmony and even sometimes integrity.
        
I'm worried for the next generation wat kind of society they are living in, where they tear down good old memories like national stadium, library, and the cement playground with sand now being replace with the sandless ones plastic ones where you can see foam tiles poking out for months.
      
I read about your articles and understand every single bit; there is no public service mentality any more in ALL government sector. they face no crisis and get bonus no matter how bad. But people  who work in private have not smell even AWS bonus for many years.

How can government sector doing better than private? Yes, you mention about wasteful  environment... I definitely agree. I have pick up so many furnitures around my estate and it's enough to have a complete set in my home, and out pathetic Resident Committee is just not doing much about educating this issue.... sigh....

Overall Singapore is not same any more... other monetary gains for some of them, I see the everyone living in fear for the future because they don't know how much they need in THEIR land.


Regards

Encourage the use of eNETS

I have been using Paypal to receive payments for two years. It was easy to set up and worked well. The cost was low.

Recently, I enquired about joining eNETS to receive payment through debit cards. The registration process was difficult. I had to provide a lot of information on their online form. I also had to print out 40 pages of information and sign several documents. I had to get supporting documents from ACRA, certification, etc.

No wonder so few merchants use eNETS. The paperwork is so tedious that most merchants would be discouraged from even trying it. There is really no need to make the process so difficult for a small merchant. I suspect that it is the requirement of the DBS bank and probably of MAS.

I wish that the process could be simplified so that more merchants are encouraged to join eNETS and receive payments through this channel, rather than making payment by cheque.  The burdensome requirements are hindering the process of change to more efficient ways of making payment. I hope that MAS and IDA read this blog and take the leadership to improve the situation in Singapore.

New regulations on financial products

A journalist ask me this question:
Hi Mr Tan,

Are you familiar with the Specified Investment Product rules that take effect from Jan 1 next year?

I would like your thoughts on the new rules as I can see a few potential problems such as raising the cost of selling investment products by forcing many people to go offline when purchasing unit trusts, ETFs etc?

Also, it does seem strange to group plain vanilla mutual funds with more complex hedge funds, structured warrants etc.

My reply

This is creating a lot of wasteful work without tackling the root of the problem. It is typical in Singapore to pass the buck to someone else, in this case the financial adviser or the relationship manager - but how on earth are they going to give the proper advice? Many relationship manager sold the toxic products to the consumers prior to the global financial crisis - because they are not suitable to give this type of advice. But (sigh), this is the Singapore way!