Cheated of a few years of hard earned savings

A few years ago, a university professor approached me. She was a foreigner and had come to teach in Singapore. After a few years, she had saved about $80,000 from her salary.

An independent financial adviser recommend to her to invest in an investment plan from company Z. She did not realize that company Z was an insurance company and the investment was actually a investment linked life insurance policy and not a mutual fund.

The financial adviser had explained to her the detail of the investment. She was attracted by the bonus units that were offered under a promotion.

As she held a doctorate in economics, she knew what to look for. She was also very careful in scrutinizing the investment. The fund charges looked quite reasonable.

She received a monthly statement from Z that showed the progress of her investment. It all looked quite all right.

She got a shocked when the investment passed 18 months. She found that the investment started to deduct 4% of her monthly savings. The deduction during the first 18 months was a modest sum, which was acceptable.

When she checked with Z, she got a bigger shock. The 4% deduction would continue for 25 years, making a total of 100% of her annual savings. As she had invested about $50,000 a year, the amount that she would have lost when she terminated her investment was $50,000. This represented more than half of her hard earned savings for three years. This was the savings that she wanted to give to her husband to start a business in their home country.

How did she missed the high surrender charges, when she was very careful in scrutinizing the investment?

She found out that she had signed many pages of the benefit illustration to acknowledge that she was aware about the investment - but the page containing the fund charges was not given to her. The financial adviser had deliberately removed this page and asked her to signed all the other pages. She was not able to prove that she did not get the page containing the surrender charges.

She filed her complaint with the MAS, with company Z and with the financial adviser firm. She pursued her complaint through various sources, including FIDREC.

Recently, I checked with her about the outcome of her case. She replied "I did not win". She have lost $50,000 and could not get her money back. She was cheated by the financial adviser and by company Z. MAS did not lend a hand to address this issue.

Should I continue my life insurance policy?

Hi Mr. Tan
I took a life insurance policy a few years ago from a friend. I now realized that my savings is earning a terribly poor return. Can you advise me, should I continue the policy or terminate it? If I terminate it, what about the life insurance cover that I will be losing.

REPLY
You can read this book to find your answer. If you still could not get the answer, you can send the policy for me to look at, but I would need to see the benefit illustration.

http://c-pearl.com/cart.aspx?ID=8

I am not able to give an assessment based on incomplete information. You will need to gather the relevant information before approaching me.

Getting fired from your job

Getting fired from a job will now become more common in the future. Are you prepared for this happening? What should you do?

Take some advice from Dr. Tommy Wong. His book cost only $4 and is quite easy to read.
http://c-pearl.com/cart.aspx?ID=37. You don't have to spend a few hundred dollars to see a doctor to handle your depression.

Individual views about political parties

You can now view the positive and negative comments for each political party by clicking on the "View" here: http://sg-pulse.com/Party/scoreboard.aspx

Those who cared for the people of Singapore

One person who really cared for the people of Singapore is JB Jeyaretnam. Most of us, including me, did not realize it earlier. I only realize it after he passed away.

There is another person who also cared for Singapore. This is his son, Kenneth Jeyaretnam.  KJ spent a lot of time and money to bring up the case about the unauthorized loan to the International Monetary Fund. 

He also write in his blog about the lack of transparency and accountability in the management of our international reserves and the use of our government budget.

We must give him our support. I hope that he will get a chance to be elected into Parliament this time round.

Popular books on insurance and savings

The most popular books (apart from the Free books) are Medical Bills for the Elderly ($4) and Financial Planning for Young People ($6). You can order them at http://c-pearl.com/cord.aspx

Location, location, location

Dear Mr. Tan
Happy National Day.
I am a real estate salesman. At the start of my career, I learned that the three most important things to look for when you buy a property are location, location and location.
I like to share with you, another part of our life where location is important.
A long time ago, an Englishman left his country to work in a British colony in the Far East. His wife could not accompany him. A year later, she heard rumors that her husband was keeping another woman.
She sent a letter to him. It arrived a month later. "My dear Michael, I received news that you are having an affair. Tell me if this is true and what does she have that I do not have?"
His reply reached the wife a month later. "Dear Sally, you must know that it has been quite lonely for me here. I want to confess that I am keeping another woman, but don't worry. She has what you got, no more. But ... she has it here.".
So, Mr. Tan, you can see how important location is, when it comes to a woman as well.

REPLY
Hahaha.
Enjoy the holidays.

Pulse of the Citizen

Here are the ranking of the political parties in Singapore.
http://sg-pulse.com/Party/scoreboard.aspx

Take part in this contest to guess the share of votes of the PAP in the forthcoming general election and win $500.
http://sg-pulse.com/Party/Contest.aspx

Pulse of the Customer

Give your feedback on 5 service organizations in Singapore and win a $12 book prize.
http://sg-pulse.com/register.aspx

You can view the scoreboard of the service organizations here:
http://sg-pulse.com/result.aspx

Here are the most recent feedback
http://sg-pulse.com/recent.aspx

Swing of votes against the PAP

What happens if there is a 6% swing of votes against the PAP? How many seats will the PAP lose?

According to this calculation, the PAP would lose 14 seats.
http://sg-pulse.com/Party/PDF/2

To monitor the likely swing of votes against the PAP, take a look at the contest tracking. It currently indicates a 6% swing of votes against the PAP.
http://sg-pulse.com/Party/Contest.aspx

Tracking of Contest Results (PAP share of vote)

The Contest (Guess the PAP share of vote) now shows a tracking of the number of entries and the average of the entries. This is useful information and may track the likely swing of votes against the PAP.
http://sg-pulse.com/Party/Contest.aspx

A high chance of winning $500

Mr. Tan
You are giving a cash prize of $500 to the closest entry. If only 100 entries are received, each entry is worth $5 to the participant. This is really attractive, as the chance of winning is quite good.
http://sg-pulse.com/Party/Contest.aspx

REPLY
That is true. However, if there are 1,000 entries, each entry is then worth $0.50. It is still quite good attractive.

And there is an incentive for those who participate earlier. If several people gets the correct answer, the prize is shared among the first 5 people who submit the winning entry. ($100 each). So, it is better to submit earlier to be in front of the queue.

I expect many entries to be submitted when the general election is announced, so it is better to be in front of the queue.

Contest - guess the PAP share of votes

A total of 7 entries have been received for the contest - Guess the percent of PAP votes.
The average is 54.4%.
How about giving your entry now? You stand a chance to win $500.
http://sg-pulse.com/Party/Contest.aspx

Pulse of the Citizen - latest ranking of political parties

The National Solidarity Party (NSP) is now at the top of the scoreboard of political parties, followed by the Workers Party. Guess which party is at the bottom?
http://sg-pulse.com/Party/scoreboard.aspx

You can view the latest feedback of the political parties here:
http://sg-pulse.com/Party/latest.aspx

Pulse of the Citizen - first 5 entries

Based on the first 5 entries, which are the most popular parties and the most disliked parties?
You can read the scoreboard here:
http://www.sg-pulse.com/Party/scoreboard.aspx

You can read the individual entries here and the reasons given by the contributor.
http://www.sg-pulse.com/Party/latest.aspx

And here is your chance to participate in the Pulse of the Citizen.
http://sg-pulse.com/Party/resp.aspx

Soft Launch - Pulse of the Citizen

This website is now ready. You can submit your views now.

www.sg-pulse.com/party

General Election 
Which party will you support in the general election? Why do you support this party? Which party do you dislike the most? Tell your reason, so that other citizens can understand your stand.

Participate
Click on [Participate] to submit your response. You do not have to give your name. We need you to give a valid email address to prevent the same person submitting many responses. We will reject responses with fake email address.

Volunteers needed - Pulse of the Citizen

I am creating a website to provide information that is useful for citizens to follow the developments towards the general election. The information could be the manifestos of the political parties and the profile of their candidates.

I need volunteers to help me to search for the information from the Internet, put them into PDF and pass them to upload into my website.

This website is called Pulse of the Citizen. It will be up soon at sg-pulse.com/party.

If you have some free time and wish to volunteer, send an email to kinlian@gmail.com.

Contest - Guess PAP's share of total votes in 2015/16

This PDF shows the total share of PAP votes during the past elections. The latest in 2011 was 60.1%.What will the share be in 2015/16?
http://sg-pulse.com/Party/PDF/1
Wait for the contest form to be ready.

Contest rules:
http://sg-pulse.com/Party/page/6

Database strategy

Your database is a valuable resource. Are you using it effectively to manage your business and increase your profits?

http://tklcloud.com/Consult/service.aspx?ID=14

My favorite You Ya

When I was in my early 20s, my favorite singer was You Ya. At that time, the hotter favorite was Theresa Teng. You Ya must be about six years younger than me.

Theresa Teng passed away 20 years ago. But You Ya is still active in the entertainment scene. She must be around 60 years now, but she still looked quite young and pretty.

Here is You Ya.
https://www.youtube.com/watch…

I met You Ya in Singapore in 1995. She was about 40 then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6CVbvmW3Pg

At my request, my friend invited her to perform at a concert in Singapore. My son, who was 12 years old, went up the stage to present a bouquet of flowers to her.