High cost of living and low wages

In this article, Leong Sze Hian pointed out that Singapore ranked as the 10th most expensive city in the world and the wage level of the people ranked at 42nd. This is why many Singaporeans had to work hard and for long hours just to earn enough to pay for the cost of living.

Pursuit of justice

Lucky Tan wrote this article about the pursuit of justice in Singapore.

Challenges facing Singapore

Here is an excellent article by Lucky Tan who writes about the problems that will be faced by Singapore in the near future, as we have many of the characteristics of America that has caused huge challenges to their government. I agree with his views as stated in this article.

New rules on evidence

The Ministry of Law is seeking public views on several changes to update the rules on evidence to be submitted in court. I welcome this move to move with the times. It is an encouraging step.

There are many other areas on updating our laws and enforcing our laws. I hope that the Ministry will be more active in these areas, as the administration of justice in Singapore leaves much to be desired.

Mobile website for FISCA

FISCA is now trying a new website that is suitable for access by mobile phones, and also through the browser. You can access it at http://fisca.mviso.com. Try it with your mobile phone.

New scam on motor insurance claim

A consumer approached me on this problem. He had a minor accident 8 months ago. He decided not to make any insurance claim and carried out his own repairs. He has now received a large claim from the other vehicle with a witness report that placed him in the wrong. The claim was inflated and the witness was probably ,making a false statement.

He submitted the third party claim to his insurance company - but the claim officer rejected the claim as he did not make a report at the time of the accident. He is now in a dilemma and does not know how to handle the third party claim.

His only recourse was to engage his own lawyer to fight the claim, but it would be costly. It was likely that the claim was fraudulent but it was quite sad that his insurance company was not assisting him on this matter.

New scam on time sharing

A consumer shared this story with me. He bought a time sharing unit several years ago. The marketing company disappeared after collecting $7,000 from him. He wrote off the loss.

Recently, he was contacted by a service company who claimed to act for the developer. The told him that he had outstanding service payments on his time sharing unit and that the unit had some residual value. He was convinced to pay the fee to this service company to terminate the contract and claim back what was due to him.

After paying the service fee, he did some research and found that the service company was not connected with the developer. He had been scammed again.

Consumers should be careful and not attend presentations or meet people that they do not know. There are too many scams happening around. Some Singaporeans are easy targets due to their naivety.

Labour churning has social and economic cost

Here is an excellent article in Yawning Bread.

Most Singaporeans will not have much idea of the economics of the foreign worker recruiting system, since our daily lives are far removed from this issue. What I can’t figure out is whether civil servants at the Ministry of Manpower know much about it. If they don’t, the question would be: But isn’t it part of your job to know? If they do, then: How have you managed to ignore the injustices, and social and economic consequences of such a dysfunctional system for so long?


Read more.

Fallacies about Singapore Welfare System

At risk of simplification, this static thinking about our social welfare can be roughly summed up in a few statements: Singapore is not a welfare state and should never be, because the Western welfare state is doomed to fail and social welfare is fundamentally un-Asian. As a small country with no natural resources, we have no choice but to define our own style of social welfare, which by and large has worked over the years. So why fix it if it ain’t broke?  
Underlying these statements are four powerful ideas about social welfare and Singapore society. In the spirit of critical reflection, let us now examine the truth in each of them. [Ng Kok Hoe].


Read his article here.

Financial system gets less stable

When you go out to buy your next television set, it is likely that you end up with something better than your existing TV sold for the same price. Like many things around us, man made systems tend to improve over time - if you take Boeing's newest aircraft, The Dreamliner, you will expect that to be build with more safety features than the old Boeing 747.


There is however one exception, our financial system - it seems to get less stable with each passing year and generates crisis, turmoil and recessions much more often that in the past yet we seem to accept this all encompassing system because most of us are born into or do not really understand what goes on in the banking system. Here is an interesting video that explains quite clear how money is created, how it drives the economy and why we are seeing so many crisis and so much in stability in the current system [Lucky Tan].


Read this article.

Look back at the Pinnacle Notes

Here is an interesting article written nearly two years ago, about the Pinnacle Notes Series 3. Here is another explanation.

Retirees should keep the mortgage

In a low interest rate environment, it is better to keep the mortgage and cash in the bank, or keep invested.
See this article.

How to solve the messy CPF Life scheme

Many people find it difficult to choose among the four options given by CPF Life. Many of them do not like the CPF Life scheme for reasons that are peculiar to their personal situation. Here are my suggestions on how to get out of this messy situation.

Financially sound retirement

Read this article about how to prepare for a financially sound retirement. Several tips refer to the tax situation in America which does not apply to Singapore. Some of the other tips, e.g. do not have debts, how to spend within  your means - are relevant. 

Class action on Pinnacle Notes

An important decision on the class action for the Pinnacle Notes in the USA will be decided soon - the hearing will start on 28 September.


By GRACE LEONG (Business Times)
A lawsuit involving allegations that Morgan Stanley & Co Inc sold rigged Pinnacle Notes as 'safe, conservative' products to a group of Singaporean investors including Singapore's oldest credit cooperative, costing them US$154.7 million in investment losses, is making its way through federal court in Manhattan.


A hearing is scheduled for Sept 28 in which the US District Court for the Southern District of New York will decide whether the case can proceed in the US or whether it should be dismissed and heard in Singapore, The Business Times has learned.


If approved, the Singapore investors will seek class-action status.


NOTE:
Under a class action (in the USA), any compensation received will be shared by all investors in the class, including the investors who were not involved in lodging the original complaint. There is no provision for a class action suit in Singapore.

Volatile gold and silver prices

Gold an silver prices can be quite volatile. Gold dropped 8% in 3 days and is expected to rally. However, there is the risk that it may drop much further. The drop in silver is more severe. This is an example of a speculative and volatile market. Be careful.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-09-27/gold-rallies-after-biggest-three-day-drop-since-lehman-collapse.html

Here is a bearish view:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/44667027

How to use private bankers

In some countries, financial advisers or private bankers can advise their wealthy clients on tax and estate planning, so that they can minimize the tax payable on their income or on the estate that is transferred to the dependants.

It is difficult for these advisers to help their clients in market timing or stock selection - as this is speculation and a zero-sum game. In fact, after allowing for the cost of transactions and fees, it is a negative sum game for the clients.

The best way to get a good yield on the investments is to invest in an index fund and to invest for the long term - to average out the good and bad years. There is little that the advisers can help the client to achieve a better yield.

I have seen many cases where the investor who had relied on the financial adviser to pick the manage the investments on their behalf - only to be disappointed with the bad results. The financial adviser probably did their best, but when the market is volatile, some investors will be at the wrong end, and the results can be disastrous. For each winner, there will be a loser - and after deducting fees and expenses, most investors (actually speculators) will be worse off.

To avoid speculation, you should learn how to invest for the long term. Read my book on financial planning (www.tankinlian.com/ishop) or attend the financial planning talk organized by FISCA (www.easysearch.sg/fisca).

Advisers acted honestly but gave bad advice

Many people had bought a bad financial product from an agent or adviser whom they know and trusted. They learned later that this was a bad decision.

The adviser might have acted honestly but gave the wrong advice, due to being naive. The advisers desperately needed a job, e.g. they have just graduated. They were taught about the positive aspects of the financial product (e.g. life insurance policy or structured product) but did not know about the negative aspects (i.e. the high charges and high risk). They honestly sold the financial product to their friends and family members thinking that they are giving good advice.

When they learned later about the negative aspects, they felt quite bad about letting down the people who trusted them and left the business quietly.

Their agency managers knew the full picture, but exploited the ignorance of the newcomers. Some advisers or agents, who later learned the tricks, decided to continue the game and make a lot of money for themselves.

I do not wish to imply that all agency managers or experienced advisers are dishonest. I know of a few who are honest and acted in the best interest of their customers. But there are dishonest or naive advisers as well, so consumers should be wary.

Life insurance book

The life insurance book is now available at a reduced price from i-shop
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=375

Order here: www.tankinlian.com/ishop

Unscramble the words

Here are some familiar words that have been scrambled. Can you rearrange the letters to get the correct words?

tseiyco
crposse
nalruta
neetpsr
uspelim
crupoed
sgutisd
teliwsh
atnesgr
rlatehe


Additional scramble words and the answers can be found here. 

Word Power - test your vocabulary

This book contains scrambled words. You can test your vocabulary by rearranging the letters to form the correct words. Suitable for children and adults.

The answers are found here.

Consumer Protection and Fair Practices Act

This Act is administered by the Consumer Association of Singapore. Some bad business practices may be disallowed under the Act, e.g. forfeiture of life membership of gym. Read the legislation here:
http://www.case.org.sg/cpfta.htm

Read the details of the unfair practices here.

Here is a specific practice that may be relevant to the gym membership:

11  Taking advantage of a consumer by including in a consumer agreement terms or conditions that are harsh, oppressive or excessively one-sided so as to be unconscionable       Bullying a consumer by using oppressive terms in the sales contract       Example:       Consumer signed agreement for some renovation works. Consumer changed his mind the next day and was willing to compensate contractor on any cost incurred. Renovation company insisted that consumer must pay a termination charge equivalent to 80% of the total renovation sum as stipulated in the agreement

Distribution cost

A consumer came to see me about her investment. She wanted to invest her salary for retirement. A financial adviser sold her an investment plan. Later, she learned that it was a life insurance policy. She did not realise that the benefit illustration contained a number called "distribution cost". This was defined to be the expenses of the insurance company.

As the monthly savings is large, the distribution cost amounted to $40,000. The financial adviser did not explain that this amount is taken from her savings to pay commission and expenses of the company. The consumer realised it after contributing for 18 months (as the charge is only shown after 18 months). By that time, it was too late for her to stop the policy. Even if she terminated the policy, there is a surrender charge that takes away the balance of the distribution cost. It was a big shock to her - to lose so much of her savings - representing her hard earned saving for 18 months!

Many people bought a life insurance policy without knowing what the distribution cost really is. To learn about it, they should attend the FISCA talk on life insurance. Be aware, so that you do not lose so much money.

Dealing with the global crisis

I expect the global economies to go through a difficult time over the next two years. Many analysts and economists are worried about the debt crisis in USA and Europe and the slowdown of the economies in the advanced countries.

We should be prepared for a difficult time for the Singapore economy. We can expect more people to become unemployed.

If I were the Finance Minister, I would implement the following measures:

• Allow unemployed people to make monthly withdrawals from the CPF account. The amount should be sufficient to meet their monthly expenses. This can be for a period of 12 months and may be extended.
• If there is insufficient balance in the CPF ordinary account, allow negative balance to be accumulated (with interest at 2.5% per annum). The negative balance will be recouped from future contributions, when they find a job. If it remains negative at the time of retirement, it can be a charge on the property that has been purchased with CPF funds
• The monthly repayment of the mortgage loan can be deferred during the period of unemployment.

If the unemployed people are not required to sell their property during this distressed time, the property market need not collapse - which was what has led to the problem in the USA and Europe. 

Tan Kin Lian

Live streaming of talk on life insurance

This talk will be streamed live at 9 pm tonight (Friday 23 September).
http://tankinlian.blogspot.com/2011/09/life-streaming-of-talk-get-value-for.html 

Teaching character and values in schools

 I welcome the decision by the Minister of Education to teach values and character in the school syllabus. This is an important lesson to be taught to your young people. It gives them the confidence and guidance on their future decisions.

I advocate teaching of the values of honesty, fairness, positive attitude, courage and public service. These are the values that have guided the important decisions in my life. With these values, I am confident of spending my mind on many issues. They guide me on differentiating what is right from wrong, good from bad. These values form my personal character.

Different people may wish to give different emphasis to other values, such as respect, compassion, care for others and innovation. It is all right for them to choose these other values. I believe that these values are already embedded in  my five core values.

I chose my five core values because I found them to be rather lacking in our society and will make an important contribution to improving life in Singapore.

Tan Kin Lian

Forfeiture of Lifetime membership of Gym

Hi Mr. Tan,
Did you notice the series of letters to ST Forum on the lifetime membership of a fitness club. Some people paid thousands to get the lifetime membership, to have it revoked later (presumably without refunds) because they forgot to pay the annual admin fees of a few dollars. The fitness club makes it not so easy to pay the fees (eg. no giro payment).


I wonder if this can be classified as a scam. But it definitely highlight another issue of prepaying for a product/service.


REPLY
I think that this is an unfair contract term. There is a law against such unfair contracts. I believe that this law is being handled, in some ways, by the Consumer Association of Singapore (CASE).

Active discussion in Facebook

If you wish to discuss some of the issues posted here in my Facebook page, you can create a profile by following the instructions here,

Successful claim for refund

Here is a case 2 years ago, where the people who attended a trading course and paid large fees were able to get a refund, due to misrepresentation. http://www.asiaone.com/Business/News/My%2BMoney/Story/A1Story20090319-129590.html

Be educated and savvy on financial matters

Why do people refuse to pay $20 to attend a 6 hour financial planning workshop organised by FISCA and yet pay $5,000 to attend a 3 day training course on forex trading or get a free talk by a financial adviser who sells them a financial product that takes away more than $5,000 in commission?

When the investor gets conned of their savings and they come to FISCA for assistance, it is too late. There is little that FISCA can do at that time.

Be wary of high pressure selling

It usually starts with an invitation to a free seminar held in a posh hotel. The invitees are treated with an impressive presentation and free food. After that, the hard pressure selling comes in - and those who are not strong willed ends up signing for an expensive purchase - for a $5,000 training course on forex or property investment, or a $20,000 time sharing unit, or a $50,000 land banking plot, a $20,000 wine investment or whatever is being sold.

All that is needed is for the promoter to get 5 people to sign up and they will earn enough income to pay for the expenses of the event, the advertisement and the commission payable to the many well dressed marketeers who are trained to identify and work on the gullible investors.

Like some other people, I have been the victim of this type of marketing a few times during my life. Fortunately for me, the amounts of the purchase are quite small. My biggest purchase was a massage chair costing $6,000. Quite likely, the real cost would have been only one third of the price that I paid. In this case, it was not an impressive talk at a hotel, but a glib talking sales person at a sales booth.





  

Request for assistance - insurance claims

This FAQ shows the information that is needed by Tan Kin Lian in providing assistance on insurance claims.

Charges for property courses

Dear Mr Tan,

Just read your blog on some of the forex exchange training courses.

Will you be able to touch on the property investment as well? Almost everyday I see advertisements in the Straits Times promoting about property investment courses (where they claim that you can invest with little or no money and own 3 properties with 1 property). These courses are also not cheap at all. People who are unable to buy properties of their own can get together in a group and pool their resources and invest together. 

I have never attended any of these courses before. I'm not sure if this is the legal thing to do in S'pore. Please advise if you can also look into this area besides financial investment.

JL


REPLY
 I did not realize that people pay money to attend property courses as well. It seems to be another way to give away money!

Request for assistance on a bad investment

Here is a guide on the type of information that needs to be provided by the consumer who wishes to seek the assistance of Tan Kin Lian to seek compensation due to the failure of an agent or adviser to give the relevant information on a financial product.

$5,000 for a forex training course

An investor shared this experience of attending a foreign exchange training course. He paid $5,000 for a 3 day training course. The course could have been completed in half the time, but was stretched for 3 days to justify the high fee. He found the training techniques taught at the course to be not successful.

He later obtained a training DVD from another source, for free. It teaches him how to trade using candlesticks. He found this to be more useful. 

Foreign exchange training courses - misleading statements

If you have attended a foreign exchange training course and have paid several thousand dollars, and found later that you were misled, please write to kinlian@gmail.com. I am helping a friend to lodge a complaint about these courses and more evidence is needed.

Save on interest payment

It is important to have an emergency fund that can be used for your unexpected payments. This can save you a lot of interest payment.

Suppose you need $5,000 in an emergency - for medical expenses or disruption in your income. If you borrow $5,000 on your credit card, you have to pay interest of $100 a month (2%) on the roll over. If it takes you 2 years to make the repayment, you would have spend an additional $2,400 in interest payment, on top of the $5,000 that you borrowed (and have to repay).

If you have emergency fund that you can draw down, you can save on the hefty interest payment. But you should have the discipline to repay the borrowing back into your emergency fund - just like you have to repay an external lender.

You should  build an emergency fund of 6 months of your earnings. If you earn $5,000 a month, your emergency fund should be $30,000. You should keep the emergency fund in liquid investment, such as fixed deposit or short term bond. You should avoid investing it into a life insurance policy or structured product where there is a high upfront cost (which becomes a penalty on early withdrawal).

Remember - building up the emergency fund is your top priority - above buying a car or other discretionary expenses.

Foreign exchange training courses

Dear Mr. Tan,
I am a Singaporean PR with a background in the financial services sector. I am quite appalled at much of what goes on here in terms of mis-selling of products and services by the finance-related sectors. I am glad that you have managed to take on some of these issues and wish that the various authorities here in Singapore would be more active.

For the last couple of years I have had various dealings with such groups as MAS, ABS and CASE in my efforts to have some of these bad practises stopped and have had periodic successes.

However there is one issue that I just can't seem to make any headway on that I feel is something that somebody really needs to tackle and that is the selling of "get-rich-quick" type foreign exchage trading courses. This activity has been going on for years here and is essentially an on-going fraud that takes place in full public view, most notably via advertisements in the Straits Times.

The groups behind these schemes have made millions and millions of dollars here carrying out an activity which would be banned in most countries. It saddens me every time I open the newspaper when I see these advertisements because I know that it means yet more people will today be conned out of their hard-earned savings, or taken into debt, in order to attend one of these courses.

I would like to urge you to try to tackle this issue. I think that if you could do so you would be doing the Singaporean people a great service. Many millions have been swindled, but lets not let this practise go on for yet more years. I have realised that my efforts with the MAS, CASE, ABS etc are coming to nothing in this area so I realise it needs somebody of your status to be involved in this if anything is to change.

Please let me know if you would be interested to look into this issue and I would be very happy to help in any way I can starting by briefing you on what I believe are the illegal practises carried out by these groups in full public eye,

Concerned

Social inequality in Singapore

Yee Jenn Jong is a non-constituency Member of Parliament from the Workers' Party. He writes regularly on social and economic issues. Read this article on social inequality in Singapore.

Social insurance - to pay for large medical bills

My friend asked me to help publicise an appeal for a little girl called Chloe who has a rare disorder called Pompe Disease and needs $200,000 to $300,000 a year to be treated. This is a lot of money and is likely to be beyond the means of compassionate, ordinary people.

This issue raises the following questions:

• Should something be done to help people like Chloe who are borne with a rare disorder? 
• Should the state take this burden from the parents?
• Can a solution be found using private insurance?

I must first rule out private insurance as most people are not likely to take up insurance against the unexpected and undefined risks of life - until it happened. There are other problems associated with the profit motive of insurance companies, leading to dispute on claim settlement or unfair rejection of legitimate claims.

The best approach is through social insurance, i.e. insurance provided by the state. It should cover all  eligible people and be funded by taxation or compulsory contribution (that can be adjusted based on actual experience) or a mix of both sources of funding.

Some issues to be considered by the state are:

• Should the social insurance pay for expensive treatment that boost the profit of pharmaceutical companies?
• Should there be a cap on the amount that are to be funded by the state?

Some possible approaches that are helpful are:

• The compensation should be for the actual cost of treatment and can be subject to a cap of say $100,000 and should be used under proper guidance.
• The cap may not be sufficient to meet the needs of serious cases, but it does help to provide some relief to the parents. It may be possible for the pharmaceutical company to reduce the cost of the drugs. 
• More importantly, there could be many cases where this type of compensation would be helpful to the parents.

It may be difficult to design a social insurance scheme, but this should not stop us from giving attention to this matter. If nothing is done, then the burden has to be met by the parents or family members (who may not have the financial means) or the patient will not be treated due to lack of funds. 

It is not a good approach to leave these problems to charity. Apart from the high cost of collecting and accounting for the donations, there is the risk that some of these cases may be exploited by unscrupulous people who wish to make a personal profit from the effort. (However, in Chloe's case, I find that the donations will be administered by the hospital).

Tan Kin Lian

Mobile optimized website

Dear Mr Tan,
My company is launching an exciting mobile marketing platform to local companies and entrepreneurs to help them reach out to large and increasing mobile market in Singapore.

Qrion Entreprise specializes in designing mobile-optimised websites that can be saved as mobile apps by customers.

We would like to seek for a business opportunity with your esteemed organisation to market your events, mobile applications and book publications on a mobile platform that people can access while they are on the move. One of the key benefits of this mobile platform is that interested parties can call/ SMS/email the organizer directly from their mobile phones.

We strongly believe that harnessing mobile platform to publish events will gain popularity as more people are getting themselves connected to the internet wirelessly through portable devices such as smart phones and tablets.

Qrion provides the enabling platform for event organisers to design their mobile websites with our easy-to-use Mobile Site Creator and Content Management System. We can also design mobile websites upon customer request.

You can view our sample mobile website indicated below (Note: please view by smart phone or tablet):

- Event Publicity (http://eventhub.mviso.com)
- Products/Services Showcase (http://raffles.mviso.com and http://meiosis.mviso.com)

If it is convenient, we will also appreciate very much if you can mention our mobile marketing services in your public blog.

William Ng
Director
Qrion Enterprise

Outsourcing and drop in standard

I went to Paris for a board meeting. The company arranged for me to be picked up at the airport. I was to look for a person holding a sign with my name.

When I arrived, I could not find the pick up person. I searched for him. He arrived 15 minutes later and was clearly not a local person. After driving for some time, he appeared to be driving me to the wrong destination. I checked with him and gave him the correct address.

I reported the matter to the hotel for investigation. Apparently, they have arranged the pick-up to a contractor who must have outsourced it to a third party (who used an immigrant to do the work).

This was probably done in the interest of brining down the cost or making a bigger profit margin. This has led to a drop in standard and quality. There is a need to have better control on outsourcing!

Buying a property on dual income

Many people depend on dual income to calculate the affordability of their property purchase. This is highly risky as any one party may lose the income, causing financial difficulty. Read this article.

Tip: when you use dual income to calculate affordability, you should apply a discounting factor for the dual income. I suggest a discount of 30%. You should take only 70% of the dual income to calculate the amount of the property that you can afford to buy. 

Buying gold bar at inflated price

Mr. Tee had a friend who introduced an attractive investment scheme to him. The friend, whom he trusted, told him to invest in a gold bar. It promised to pay 2% interest every 3 months. After 12 months, the company promised to buy back the gold bar at its full value. This allowed him to earn a return of 8% for 12 months. There is also a certificate for him to take out the gold bar from a trusted third party if the company did not honour the buy back promise.

At the end of the period, the company did not buy back the investment. Mr. Tee took out the gold bar and found that he had paid for the gold bar at a price that is 50% higher than the real value of the gold. He was not aware that the price, quoted in $ per gram, was much higher than the price in USD per ounce that was quoted in the world market.

Fortunately for Mr. Tee, the value of the gold had appreciated, so he did was somewhat compensated. But, he could have made a larger gain by investing in gold directly, rather than investing in this scam. The friend who sold the investment to him was honest and did not realise the scam. She had also invested her own money and found out later about the scam.

There are many investment scams of this kind. They distract the investor with some gimmick, such as an attractive yield and a buy-back scheme. There is usually a catch that the investor was not aware of.

Life insurance - past and today

I have been asked many times about why I find life insurance policies to be a bad investment, when I had been selling life insurance for 30 years.

The life insurance policies sold during my time gave a yield of about 5% per annum. The expenses were low and high rates of bonuses were distributed to the policyholders. This was an attractive yield.

Today, the yield for most policies is about 2.5% per annum. This is unattractive when it is possible for the consumer to earn more than 4% per annum from other types of investments, e.g. in an index fund or exchange traded fund.

If you can find a life insurance policy that gives a yield of 4% per annum today, it is all right. But 2.5% is too low.

High reduction in yield

A life insurance company in Singapore specialised in selling investment linked policies (ILP). They also advertised regularly to improve their corporate image - as caring for their customers.

In my book on life insurance, there is an example of a typical policy that is sold by this insurance company. The projected cash value based on an investment yield of 5% gives a net yield of 1.2%. The reduction in yield is 3.8%. Based on an investment yield of 9%, the net yield is 4.8%, giving a reduction of 4.2%.

Any investment that takes away more than 1.5% in yield (to provide the investment service and insurance coverage) is bad for consumers. The reduction of 4% is far too much.

The difference in payout at the end of 25 years, based on a reduction of yield of 1.5% (which is far) and a reduction of 4% (which is far too much) is 40%. If your cash value at the end of 25 years is $200,000, you should be getting $280,000 under a fairer contract. Most consumers do not even know the difference! The insurance agent does not tell you about this.

You can find a few examples of this type in my book, Get Value from your Life Insurance.

The Finnish education system

Here is an interesting comparison of the Finnish system and the Singapore system - may by a Singaporean who now works in Finnland.

Live streaming of talk - Get Value for your Life Insurance

CHANGE OF DATE.
Live streaming of Talk - Get Value for your Life Insurance
Channel http://www.ustream.tv/channel/straight-talk-with-mr-tan-kin-lian
Date: Friday 23 September 2011
Time: 9 to 10 pm
Click here to get the handout for the talk
Questions can be submitted via on-line chat and will be answered at end of the talk.

Why employers prefer to employ foreigners

Dear Mr. Tan,

There are a few reason that companies like foreigners than singaporean. A lot have been pointed out - just name a few here.

 

1) lower cost for compaines

2) no ns liability

3) foreigner willing to work longer hours

 

But I think the main reason is employment agnecy. The facts is that if the companies wanted to employ a staff, they would out source to the employment agency to get the employment done. But here is the different, employer do not need to pay the employment agency to hire if they get the foreigner as foreigner pays thousands of dollars to comes to singapore to work. If the employer wants to get a singaporean to work, then they have to pay for the services rendered by the agency - up to 1 month of the pay.

 

Solutions: Government should pass a law that required  all employer to pay the agency a fix amount of dollars to employment agency if they engaged their services. And all successfully employed person have to pay up to a month of their salary to the agency as well (can be pay in installment) . Thus this two combination works out to be almost the same income for the agency, which they would switch their mindset to get singaporean employed.

 

What is your view on this, Mr Tan.

William

Many people put their savings in a life insurance policy as a form of investment. Unfortunately, the policy is a bad investment, as it takes more than 10 years to break even, after paying off the commission and other expenses and finally gives a poor yield - not enough to cover inflation.

It is easy to invest your money on your own. You can open an account with a stockbroker and buy any of the following:

• Exchange traded fund, e.g. STI ETF 
• REITS (real estate trust)
• Blue chip shares, e.g. DBS, SingTel, SPH, SIA, Starhub

It cost your $3,,000 to buy 1,000 units of the ETF. You may have to save for a few months (in your bank account) before collecting enough money to buy the ETF. 

You can learn about these investments by attending the FISCA workshop on financial planning. Details can be found here.

Investment banks hire risk takers

This article explains the difference between commercial and investment banking. There was a law in USA called the Glass-Stegall Act that required them to be separated. It was a good and sensible law, which was unfortunately repealled.

Risk taking is the same as gambling. When you bet in a casino, you are taking a speculative risk. When you trade stocks or currencies, you are also gambling. It makes no difference whether you gamble in a casino or work in the trading desk of an investment bank. There should be a law against banks engaging in gambling!

Critical year policy

Many policyholders bought a "critical year policy" in the belief that they can stop paying premium after that period. They were disappointed to learn that they had to pay premium for longer than the expected period and cannot get the insurance company to honour the "promise". What has happened?

If the policyholder read the actual policy document, he would have found that the word "critical year" is not mentioned in the policy. It was actually a marketing presentation. The insurance agent took the dividends paid in the past and assumed that the same rates would be paid in the future, and also that it was possible to accumulate the dividends to earn an interest rate of 6% per annum.

The actual rates of dividends paid were lower than projected, due to the low investment yield. The interest rate credited on the dividends were also lower than the 6% projection. With both impacts, the accumulated dividends were not sufficient to stop the premium payment.

There was an example of this policy given in my book, "Get value from your life insurance policy". You can buy the book here. You can also learn about some of the other policies to avoid.

Immigrants and fake degrees

Hi Mr Tan,
The community is beginning to experience such cases of fake degrees involving the Chinese (perhaps, immigrants) which hardly occurred in the past.....
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/18-chinese-nationals-jailed-over-fake-degrees.html

Hope that the govt is able to weigh the consequences.  I am sure Singaporeans do not need such acts/behaviour to be around to influence our students/next generation or to cause any damage to our image.  Cheers.
Eugene

Relevance of Dr. Tommy Wong's books

Tommy Wong's book, Wisdom to Live your Life, is relevant to the people who have lost money on the mini-bonds and other credit-linked notes.

Tommy talked about the greed in the materialistic world where the following people make a lot of money (and in the process made other people poorer):

a) politicians

b) top CEOs
c) bankers

He also talked about how to find happiness in the spiritual world by living on certain principles. This came give some comfort to those who have been made poorer by the greedy financial institutions.

His book has relevance to the situation in Singapore. It is easy to read. You can buy his book online here.

Buying the right life insurance policy

A lady in the mid 30s was sold a whole life policy with premiums payable for 30 years. It covers $100,000 payable on death, permanent disability and dread disease. The annual premium was $3,850. The agent said that it was a good policy, as the premium stops after 30 years, and the policyholder will remain covered for life.

The cash value at the end of 30 years was projected to be $161,000 on an optimistic basis (assuming an investment yield of 5.25%). This looked attractive, compared to the total premium paid of $108,000.

However, if the policyholder were to set aside 5% of the premium to buy the cover against premature death or dread disease and to invest the remaining 95% of the premium to earn a yield of 4.5% per annum, the accumulated amount at the end of 30 years would have been $233,000. This would have been 45% higher than the cash value payable under the policy.

When the accumulated saving is $233,000, you do not need the $100,000 of life insurance protection that is paid under the policy. This type of honest advice is not given by the insurance agent who sells the limited premium policy.

You can read a few more examples of this type in my book entitled "Get value from your life insurance policy" which can be ordered here. You can also attend the talk organised by FISCA.

Consultation with Dr. Tommy Wong

Dr. Tommy Wong offers consultations on personal growth and happiness, based on the concepts in his book, "Wisdom on how to live life".

If you are highly stressed with life and need some guidance on how to deal with your problems, have a chat with Dr. Wong.

Loss of $100,000 within a few days

Two years ago, a retired couple approached me for help. They trusted  $200,000 from a retirement gratuity to a relationship manager of a local bank. The RM told the couple that the bank would lend them $800,000 and the total of $1 million would be invested in certain currencies to earn a higher rate of return, compared to the interest payable on fixed deposits.

The RM invested the money in A$ which fell by 10% within a few days during the global financial crisis. As the total investment was $1 million (including the $800,000 lent by the bank), the investor suffered a loss of $100,000 within a few days. As they were not able to top up the loss, the bank closed their position and they realized a loss of $100,000.

They could not lodge a complaint with the bank as they had signed documents that absolved the bank from responsibility for the investment loss. Their mistake was to trust the RM who was not really experienced in managing this type of investment. The RM had to meet certain sales targets to sell the investment products. It was also a mistake to invest with borrowed money (i.e the $800,000).

There is also another bad aspect of this type of investment. If the A$ had gained 10%, the investor would NOT have earned $100,000. At most, the investor would have earned a slightly higher interest rate, due to the unfair nature of these "dual currency investments". If there is a gain, a major portion would be pocketed by the bank that issued the financial product - which may not be the same bank that sold the product. If there is a loss, the investor takes the full loss.

Tan Kin Lian

Risky investment products

This letter talks about the risky investment products that are being sold in the market. It is important for consumers to be savvy to avoid these products. Attend the talks conducted by FISCA to understand what are the products that you should avoid.

30% of Singaporeans are cynics

Hi Mr Tan,
This is a valuable article.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/30-per-cent-of-singaporeans-are-%E2%80%98cynics%E2%80%99--study.html

As it stated "....Since the study did not find any significant relation between a cynic and demographic factors such as race, education and income, it means that cynics here cut across the entire cross-section of society...."  It will likely be another "put on hold" scenario.  Hard to expect changes from such report/research.....!

Eugene


MY VIEW
Singaporeans have learned, through the years, that their main source of information through the mainstream media, is not honest and not reliable, and have learned to be cynical. To correct this situation, we have to embrace honesty and fairness in presenting the facts, and not slant them to serve certain political aims.

Private bankers

Private bankers manage the wealth of people with more than US$1 million in assets and earn a fee for their services. The increase in the number of high net worth people means more business for private bankers. However, the supply of private bankers outstrip the demand, leading to high cost and thin margins for the banks. Some banks have started to trim down their numbers of private bankers.

A more important factor is the inability of the private bankers to create wealth, especially in an environment of global recession and falling asset prices. In good times, it is easy to create wealth during a bubble, but it is not real wealth. In bad times, the fictional wealth have to be paid back.

These high income jobs of private bankers have a bigger harm. They make the real jobs, e.g. teachers, nurses, policemen, factory workers - look unattractive. There are insufficient number of people willing to work in these essential services.

The challenges facing the world today - falling birth rate, high unemployment - can be traced to the growth of the financial services sector that takes away too much profit from the real economy. To solve these challenges, we have to start with finding the appropriate measures to control the excesses of this sector.

Ponzi demography

Hi Mr. Tan,

I came across this term, "Ponzi Demography" in some blogs with links to the original article. Thought you might be interested to have a read.

http://www.theglobalist.com/storyid.aspx?StoryId=8321

"According to Ponzi demography, population growth — through natural increase and immigration — means more people leading to increased demands for goods and services, more material consumption, more borrowing, more on credit and of course more profits. Everything seems fantastic for a while — but like all Ponzi schemes, Ponzi demography is unsustainable."

Hang Lian

Talks by FISCA

FISCA has three talks on financial planning and life insurance over the next 3 months. You can register for the talks here. http://easyapps.sg/assn/Org/Event.aspx?id=5

Here are the details of the Life Insurance talk. Apart from life insurance, it also explains the government insurance schemes.

The financial planning workshop (6 hours) also give details about investing in shares, REITS and ETFs.

Ask young people (e.g. your children or your friend's chidren) to attend the talks, so that they can make the right decisions right at the start of their career and avoid the bad mistakes!

Advantage of declining population

The writer points out the advantage of declining population - it re-distributes power from the owner of capital to the owner of labor, and forces employers to give better working conditions to the workers. It also gives a better life to the people - less crowded public transport and highway and more living space.

The rapid increase in population in Singapore in recent years has indeed worsened living conditions in Singapore.  It is a policy that is bad for the people.

http://www.populationpress.org/publication/2003-4-browne.html

Call on PM Lee to act wisely

I call on PM Lee to appoint the elected MPs to be the adviser to the grassroots organisations. My reasons are stated in this Facebook posting.

Bad clients

Somebody posted a few comments about bad clients who take advantage of good agents. I wish to ask this person to give more details about the bad behavior of the the clients. 

Life of the Medieval Peasants

I did some research on the life of the medieval peasants and found this interesting account. The peasants had a harsh life because they have to pay rent to their lord (who owned the land) and tithes to the church.

And here is the story of the Peasant's Revolt.

Life Insurance Talk - 8 Oct 2011

I often get question from the public asking my views on the life insurance policy that is being sold to them, or for my views on whether they should continue their existing life policy. My answer is - attend my talk on life insurance. The next talk is organised for 8 Oct. You can register here.

You may be spending a lot of money on your life insurance policies - say 10% of your income or more. Surely, you want to know if you are getting a decent return on your savings, or being taken for a ride? Attend the talk and learn how to make the right decision.

This is most important for young people. so get your children to attend before their friend sell them a policy that gives a poor yield. If you remain ignorant, you will be wasting a large chunk of your money! Education is power!

Bike sharing around the world

Here are some successful schemes.
http://www.bbc.com/travel/blog/20110909-travelwise-bike-sharing-around-the-world

I hope that Singapore can start a similar scheme.

Private developers are now worried about over-supply

SINGAPORE: The Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore (REDAS) has raised concerns over a potential oversupply of private homes in the near term, especially with the uncertain global outlook.

It is urging the government to review its land sales programme to ensure that new supply is introduced only when the market is confident of absorbing it.

With the possibility of demand for private homes dropping due to an economic downturn, developers are pointing to the need to rein in supply.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/1152072/1/.html

Complex challenge facing world economy

MARSEILLE, France - G7 rich nations vowed tough measures Friday to get the global economy back on track but were short on detail and admitted the problems were so complex that a unified response was impossible.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world_business/view/1152211/1/.html

Conclusion - the world has to go through a very hard time. The US is trying a new stimulus package, but the American Jobs Act may not get the support of divided Congress. The European countries are not implementing any stimulus package.

TKL Election Posters

The contractor should have removed all the election posters. But he might have overlooked some of them. If you see any of my poster still not removed, please send an email to kinlian@gmail.com with the location of the poster. Thank you.

How to unify the people of Singapore

This article in TKL Facebook summarises the views of readers on "how to unify the people of Singapore. Do go to www.facebook.com/kinlian to participate in the active discussions.

How to increase the birth rate in Singapore

This is a summary of 75 contributions in my Facebook page on this topic. Do visit my Facebook daily and contribute to several topics that have been created each day.

Making HDB flats affordable

Most respondents to two surveys like to see the HDB flat prices lowered for first time buyers, even though it may cause a drop in the prices of existing flats. Read this article in Facebook.

If you wish to make your comments, you need to register your profile in www.facebook.com and go to "like" www.facebook.com/kinlian. After that, you can add your comments easily.

Facebook page for Tan Kin Lian

Many social issues are now being discussed actively in my Facebook page. You can also see the views of many readers there. My Facebook page is:  www.facebook.com/kinlian.

If you wish to contribute, you can register a Facebook profile on www.facebook.com, click on "like" in my page and post your comments.

Join now. It is a great place to discuss issues that concern your future, and that of your children.

Discount on TKL books

You can get a discount on TKL books from iShop, compared to the normal price in the bookstores. The popular books are Financial Planning, Life Insurance, Intelligence Quiz, Tangram, Shape Quiz. Order here.

Investing in life insurance policies

Some people asked for my advice about specific types of life insurance policies that is being sold to them. I suggest that they attend my talk on life insurance - as it gives examples of the yield on the popular insurance policies that are being sold in Singapore.

It cost only $30 to attend the talk and can save you $5,000 to $10,000 in lost premiums due to the commission that you have to pay to the agent. Do not expect to get advice for free, without effort - as it will lead to a big loss for you.

Click here.

Six investment scams to avoid

This article describes 6 investment scams to avoid in USA. I urge readers to learn the lesson and be aware that many similar scams can be found in Singapore. You should be careful of all types of shady investments and avoid them. The best bet is to invest in an indexed fund (or ETF based on a market index) for the long term. All other types of investments should be avoided, unless you are really an expert and able to carry out your own evaluation. Do not trust a financial intermediary who is interested to earn the commission by selling the investment to you. Some of them may not be aware that they are selling you a scam!

Greater inequality

My Facebook survey showed that 86% of the respondents prefer to have "modest income with greater income equality" instead of "high income with greater inequality".

In this Facebook note, I have made a few suggestions on how to achieve greater income equality - high marginal tax rate on the very rich, minimum wage policy and unemployment benefit.  Without these measures, like in Singapore, we will have a high Gini index. We have to implement these policies, like most advanced countries, to reduce the Gini index and to reduce the stress of living in Singapore.

Solving the housing problem in Singapore

I suggest the following approach to solve the housing problem in Singapore.

HDB should build a large number of flats for rental at affordable rentals that are lower than the current market rates. I suggest the rentals be set at the following level.

• 4 room flat $1,200 per month
• 3 room flat $900 per month
• 2 room flat $600 per month

These flats are to be built in the new towns and have modest finishes. They are to be given for rental to Singaporeans, with priority for those who have served National Service. It is easier and faster to build flats for rental - as the tenant is less fussy on their requirements, compared to a family who has to spend a large sum of money to buy a flat. 

The rental rates can be adjusted yearly based on the change in median income.  The above rental rates are lower than the current market rates, and can be considered as a subsidy to make it easier for Singaporeans to provide affordable public housing.

Renting has its advantages. It gives flexibility to the family to choose a flat that is close to the place of work or to move to a new rental flat when they change their job. By living close to the workplace, the worker will educes the time and cost of travelling and traffic congestion.

Families who rent the flat can invest their spare savings in shares or real estate investment trusts or other suitable investments and do not need to tie their investments to the home that they occupy. 

When Singaporeans know that they can have a flat that is available at a reasonable rental, they do not need to panic and rush in to buy a property at its inflated price. This will help to stabilise the property market and preserve the value of the HDB flats that have been bought earlier, i.e. does not cause a drop in their values.

We also need to allow the use of CPF savings to pay towards the rental of the flat (up to certain limits), similar to the use of CPF to buy a flat. I do not know how to handle this tricky issue. I hope to get some views.

Tan Kin Lian

Financial issues affecting Singaporeans

You can read the key financial news affecting Singaporeans in the FISCA website, http://easyapps.sg/assn/Org/Information.aspx?id=5

You can attend the talks given by FISCA by registering here:
http://easyapps.sg/assn/Org/Event.aspx?id=5

Emergency Fund

Every person should build up an emergency fund of 6 months of earnings. If you earn $5,000 a month, the emergency fund should be $30,000. This fund should be invested in a liquid form, e.g. keep in the bank account, fixed deposit, money market fund or invested in short term bonds. The return is low, but it is more important to have the flexibility to withdraw the savings in an emergency, without any loss.

This emergency fund is needed to meet your cash needs during unemployment, unexpected medical bills or other emergencies. If you have an emergency fund, you will not have to borrow money on your credit card and incur 24% in interest charges.

This tip is important for young people. You should build up the emergency fund early. Do not spend all of your income away. Put aside savings for this emergency fund. It may mean that you should not buy your car or pay too much for your flat.

Tan Kin Lian

Gini index

The United Nations measure the Gini index as the ratio of the average income of the top 10% (richest) compared to the bottom 20% (poorest) in the country. A higher index shows a bigger inequality of income. Here are the findings:

High income countries
Japan            24.9
Germany       28.3
Canada         32.6
France          32.7
Australia       35.2
UK               36.0
Israel             39.2
USA             40.8
Singapore      42.5
Hong Kong   43.4

Low income countries
Indonesia       34.3
Russia            39.9
China             46.9

We have seen unrest in China and Israel about the high cost of living. Both countries have high Gini index. I have included Australia and Canada as these countries are rated to provide a good standard of life for their people.

America is considered to have high income inequality. Singapore is worse than America.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality

Impact of Income Inequality

Let us look at two hypothetical countries, X and Y

X - 90% of the population earn an annual income of $40,000 while 10% earn an average of $120,000 (3 times).
Y - 90% of the population earn an annual income of $40,000 while 10% earn an average income of $240,000 (6 times).

In X, the top 10% earn 25% of the total income. In Y, the top 10% earn 40% of the total income.

Which country give a better life to its people? Most people would probably say that country Y is better - as 90% of the people l earn the same income as X, and it gives the opportunity for the remaining 10% to earn much more.

But this reasoning is wrong. The higher income earners of Y can afford to pay higher prices for property and other products and services and push up the cost of living - which creates a negative impact on the remaining 90%. This is why "the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer".

A country with a greater income equality will allow more people to earn enough to meet the cost of living and raise a family. This is why a low income country with greater income equality gives a better life to the people, rather than a high income country with greater income inequality.

It is the inequality of income and the high unemployment rate (a main contributor to the inequality) that leads to unrest that has been seen in many countries during the past year.

Read this article about income inequality in America.

This article compares the Gini index of Singapore with other familiar countries.

Tan Kin Lian

Income inequality in USA

I wish to quote the following article from Wikipedia about income inequality in America, and explain in a separate article why it cause greater to people at the lower income level (compared to a society where the income distribution is more equal). I will also show the how Singapore fare in the Gini index, i.e. it is worse than America.

Quote from Wikipedia:
Income inequality is the extent to which income, most commonly measured by household or individual, is distributed in an uneven manner. While there seems to be consensus among social scientists that some degree of income inequality is needed, the extent of income inequality and its implications on society continue to be a subject of great debate, as they have been for over a century.

A study by the Southern Economic Journal found that "71 percent of American economists believe the distribution of income in the US should be more equal, and 81 percent feel that the redistribution of income is a legitimate role for government." 

Data from official sources indicate that income inequality has been increasing since the 1970s. As of 2006, the United States had one of the highest levels of income inequality, as measured through the Gini index, among the high income countries.

In 2010, the top 20% of Americans earned 49.4% of the nation’s income, compared with the 3.4% earned by the roughly 15% of the population living below the poverty line. This earnings ratio of 14.5 to 1 was an increase from the 13.6 to 1 ratio in 2008 and a significant rise from the historic low of 7.69 to 1 in 1968. 

Looking back even further to 1915, an era in which the Rockefellers and Carnegies dominated American industry, the richest 1% of Americans earned roughly 18% of all income. Today, the top 1% account for 24% of all income.

Tips on life insurance

Someone wanted to know about  asked about life insurance. Here are the options:

Live streaming,
FISCA Talk

Low interest rate is harmful

America, Japan and Europe have low interest rate for many years. It was thought that low interest rate would reduce cost to business and encourage more businesses to be created to create jobs for the people. It did not seem to work well.

The low interest rate has caused asset prices to increase, especially property prices. It has made housing more expensive and out of reach to ordinary citizens - although the low interest rate helps to remove the pain of paying the mortgages.

At a certain point in the future, the housing prices will collapse. It happened in Japan, USA and Europe. This is why the banks are shaky, as they have lent too much on the inflated housing prices. There seem to be no escape from the disaster down the road.

There is actually a solution - and that is to get away from the concept of marking to market of property prices. I shall not go into much discussion here - as it requires a totally different approach. It may be necesary to avoid the global disaster.

A more fundamental question is - could the developed economies have adopted a different approach (instead of low interest rate) to grow the economy and create sufficient jobs for everyone? The answer is "yes" - and that is to get everybody to work less, so that the available work can be distributed to all those who are willing to work. There will be more time for social life. Life is not just work alone.

How can work be better distributed? This is another interesting question and requires a more detailed discussion. At this juncture, I only wish to bring out this concept. Maybe, some economists have already written about it, and we can share their thinking.

Tan Kin Lian

Financial issues affecting Singaporeans

You can read the key financial news affecting Singaporeans in the FISCA website, http://easyapps.sg/assn/Org/Information.aspx?id=5

You can attend the talks given by FISCA by registering here:
http://easyapps.sg/assn/Org/Event.aspx?id=5

High dividend shares

Due to the recent correction of the stock market, some blue chips shares are giving a high dividend yield. A telco, Starhub now gives a yield of 7%. The media company SPH pays 6.1%. This is the dividend paid during the past 12 months, expressed as a percentage of the current share price.

The stock market has corrected during the past month due to uncertainty in the global economic environment. When the global economy turns bad, the profit of companies are expected to drop. In a bad situation where the profit profit drop by 50%, the dividend yield will still be more than 3%, which is quite attractive compared to bank deposits and bonds.

The share price may drop sharply during a very bad market. But, if you are investing for the long term and does not have borrowings, you can afford to wait for the stock market to recover. There is no need to sell the shares in a bad market.

Investing in high dividend shares make sense in this uncertain market. Before you invest, you should study the borrowings of the companies. If they do not have large borrowings, you will be quite safe. If there have large borrowings, i.e. high leverage, they may be badly affected by a downturn in the economy.

You should still diversify your investments by spreading the total invested amount into 5 to 10 blue chip shares. If you do not have sufficient funds to diversify in this manner, you should invest in the Straits Times Index ETF managed by SPDR or DBS.

Calculating the yield on existing life policy

Here is how you can calculate the yield on an existing life insurance policy for the next 5 years. It helps you to decide on whether to continue or terminate the policy.
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=557

US regulator files suit against big banks

The US regulator is filing legal suits against several big banks for the subprime mortgages that were sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. More details here:
http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/09/02/mortage_lawsuits_big_banks_to_be_sued_by_federal_regulator_over_.html

I expect that the legal fallout can be quite serious for the global economy.

Tips on critical illness insurance

A critical illness policy is one of the most popular policy, but is not well understood. The insurance agent tells the consumers about the cost of critical illness and the need to buy life insurance to protect against this event. Everybody will have to suffer a critical illness one day, and that will lead to death. But, is insurance the best answer? Read this article to learn about how to make the right decision.

Half Truths about Life Insurance

An insurance agent is taught many ways to convince a customer to buy life insurance, even if the customer suspect that he is not being given a good deal. Here are some half truths told by the agent and what the correct situation really is. Read this FAQ.

US Govt plans to file law suit against major banks

This is an interesting development. The lawsuits are for misrepresenting the risks in the mortgage backed securities. These products caused the global financial crisis and led to heavy investment losses for Singapore investors following the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The US Govt alleged that the banks failed in their duty. 

Pointed replies

How to reply in difficult situations
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=556

Medishield beyond age 85

Medishield insurance (provided by CPF) stops at age 85. The annual premium payable at age 85 is $1,123. I believe that this is subsidised by the younger members and the true cost should be higher.

So far, the Ministry of Health is unwilling to extend Medishield beyond age 85. If it is extended, the premium is likely to be $1,500 to $2,000 a year for the next 10 years. This is likely to be beyond the budget of the elderly people.  When the premium is so high, those who are healthier are likely to stop the insurance. Only those who are in poorer health will continue. The cost could increase more sharply, due to the small pool.

What can the elderly consumers do? Beyond age 85, most people have so much health problem that  it may be impossible to fix them. I know of many elderly people who prefer not to go to hospital, and to let their medical conditions be untreated. They know that their time will be up soon - it is called ageing, and that there is very little that can be done by medical science.

If they want to be treated, they can still reduce their cost by going to subsidised wards, and pay from their Medisave account, or from their children's accounts. They can also try to minimise the cost by staying for short periods and only when necessary.

Tan Kin Lian

Low default risk in ETF

Dear Mr. Tan
I am a retiree. I intend to buy STI ETFs with my savings instead of buying annuities.I would also like your advice on what happens if we put our life savings into ETFs and the company behind it goes bust. Are there any other ETFs worth considering now?

REPLY
The ETF is a trust fund invested in the top 30 companies in the SGX. The fund manager is DBS or State Street. If they go bust, another fund manager will take over to manage the underlying assets (shares of SGX). The risk is very small and it is safer than investing in any single share.

A person's perspective of minimum wage

I asked my blog reader, Hang Lian, about how the minimum wage impacts business and people in New Zealand. Here is his reply.

Hi Mr. Tan,
I did not look into the minimum wage in details. What I know is it's $13 an hour (about $500 a week on 40 hrs). The exchange rates between Spore and NZ is about 1:1. 

As far as I can see, although minimum wages have been applied, the cost of living is not as high as one would expect. Many employers here are SMEs, so I also don't see how a minimum wage could add a lot of burden to businesses, let alone the MNCs.

I think the most important advantage I see is that as long as a person is willing to work, even if he earns the minimum wage, he will be able to live a reasonably comfortable live (without the need to spend too much time working as well). I lived alone for a while when I first came here, and I can say that the minimum wage is quite sufficient to support a person's basic expenses of accommodation, food, transport, etc (in some cases even 2 people). 

In Spore, for those very low income earners who earn less than $1000 a month and in some cases, working more than 10 hours a day, I can't see how this group of people make ends meet. I suspect their quality of live would be greatly compromised.

There are some employers who try to work around the minimum wage policies by paying less, which is against the law.

Of cos a lot of things are also a result of a combination of various other factors, like the general environment, working culture, lifestyle, taxes, labour laws, etc.

Hope that helps.

Hang Lian

Financial Planning Talk by Sam Goh

Here is a new financial planning talk organised by FISCA. The speaker is Sam Goh, who has experience in delivering this talk to several government agencies. Do attend his talk and widen your knowledge. Details can be found here.

Danger for the property market

The property market has gone up too high, due to low interest rate. When interest rate increases in the future after quantitative easing is over, it will cause a drop in the property market. The impact is more severe in a place like Singapore, where property are financed on short term interest rate. When interest rate rises, the impact will be severe.

Let me quote a simple example. Suppose the buyer pays for a property on a 20 year loan at an interest rate of 2% per annum. With a monthly repayment of $5,000, the borrower can afford a property worth $981,000. When interest rate increases to 4%, which is a more realistic interest rate (given that inflation is now 2% to 3%), the monthly repayment will increase by 17%. Some borrowers cannot meet the higher payment, so they have to sell the property. The next buyer can afford to buy the property at 17% lower. So, the property market will drop by 17% due to the increase in interest rate.

What can you do now - to prevent this financial disaster? You should have a 20% buffer. If you can afford a monthly payment of $5,000, buy a property that requires payment of only $4,000. The additional $1,000 is to meet higher repayment in the future.

You may not be able to get the property if you pay 20% less. In that case, it is better to wait for the property market to correct. Meanwhile, you can rent a property. Even if the rental is high, you are paying for it one year at a time. You can wait for two or three years, to see the correction in the market. It will come!

Tan Kin Lian