Insurance role

Taken from Straits Times Singapore, 27 Dec 2011.

I have said this before, everyone can benefit from insurance. Does not matter in which income category you are. Insurance can also play a part in everybody financial porfolio.

To me, if you are low to middle income earner, you MUST have insurance! It is a MUST. If you are able to fulfill your basic necessities from your salary and still able to save some money, please use a portion to buy insurance. Why? because it will help you to give financial security to yourself and your loved ones. With such a small premium, you instantly get huge amount of money that will cover you in case somethings happen.

Of course if you are struggling to fulfill your basic necessities such as food, kids school fee, house rent payment, etc. You can forget insurance for the time being, because your immediate needs are much more important. Hey, you got to eat right?

Then if you are in the high income category, you still can enjoy the benefit of insurance. Of course we will protect your money and most of all, its about providing more to yourself and your family. Who does not want to give more to their loved ones?

Have a look at the article above. You will see that this investment chief executive really plan his finances properly. I can safely say that he does not need insurance. He got so much investments, from shares to properties all over the world. He makes a lot of profit from buying and selling properties, and on top of that still having 10 to 20 percent return on his investments every year. Can you imagine how much money he has? I can assure you he can pay his own hospital bills if he sick, he can afford to stop working if he is disabled or critically ill and he still have enough money to take care of his family as well.

So why does he still has insurance? US$2 million to be exact.

It is because we really never ever know exactly our future. Tragedy and unexpected event can happen suddenly. So he wants to make sure that he can provide even more to him self and his family, in case something happens. He love his family. He does not mind spending money for insurance, because he knows. He is investment chief! He know that the premium is nothing compared to the coverage that he got.

If you see a man like that, with that financial background, that you think he does not need insurance. Yet he still have it. What does it say to you?

Simply, you must have it as well.


Cheers! Have a great day.

Sh*t happens

Just like the title said, sh*it happens. It does not matter you are a good guy, bad guy, rich guy, poor guy, healthy, sick, young, old, etc. Tragedy does not discriminate anyone. It can happen and that's a fact.

We never know what our future is. Not even what will happen in the next hour.

That is why I like to push people to think really hard about insurance. Because the truth is that most people only like to think good things. They try to put the bad things in the back of their mind. They choose to avoid it. But no matter how you try to avoid it, sh*t still happens. You can see it everyday in the newspapers, hospitals, etc.

No bad things happen in this world because people expect it. It just happens no matter what you think or expect.

It is quite sad that many people that I see everyday think that they are superman, invincible and that bad things only happen to other people.

Do you know what you actually are doing?
1. You are not using the wisdom that God give you to plan for rainy days.
2. You are not being responsible for your self and your family.
3. You are risking your savings from being wipe out if you fall ill.
4. You are risking your ability to earn income. If you are disabled or critically ill, you may not be able to work and your income will stop.
5. You are risking your parents's savings. Who do you think will pay for your expenses if you don't have money and you fall ill or become disabled?


Take a look at this article.
It's an Indonesian family having a stop over in Singapore. They reached Singapore in the morning and suppose to left at night on the same day. They were staying at their relative place at Balmoral and it is a walking distance to Orchard (the main shopping district). So thats what they did, just walked in the designated pedestrian walkway. No harm right? we do it every single day! Walk!

But sh*t happens. Accident. A van crashed into them. 1 of them died on the spot and 1 of them sent to ICU but died also several days later. It's a tragedy. So much emotional loss plus the ICU cost $75,000. Luckily the Indonesian community in Singapore manage to raise the funds to pay the hospital cost.

Money can never ever replace your loved ones or your self. Emotional loss by it self is already a huge burden. Do you in your right mind want your family to have added financial burden? What if the person who passed away do not have insurance? the spouse will have to bear the hospital cost, burial cost, what about the debt left behind such as house loan, car loan, credit card debt? what about the kids education fund in the future?

To see so many "superman" makes me sad. In the end, I will just read more stories like this in the newspapers.



Cheers! Have a great day.

Long term planning

Hi friends, it's been a month since my last post. I just came back from my home town. Hopefully everyone here are doing well.

Now, have you guys plan your finances properly? I am sure many of you have read the report about Singaporeans in a recent survey. They are most unhappy with their own personal savings. Which means they never plan properly.

The biggest problem that they found out is that most people do not develop a budget. They just take their salary and spend first. If there is any money left, then they will save it. But obviously this is the wrong way, because people as human being always have the propensity to spend a bit more. More, more and more. Therefore they have a problem to save.

Other problems are that they do not have insurance (thus when they fall ill, the bills can wipeout their savings at one go), they do no invest in other instruments (they only put money in savings account), and they under estimate how much they need to save (they forgot that inflation will push prices of goods to go up).

Please read this website for the full information.
http://entertainment.xin.msn.com/en/radio/938live/calocalnews.aspx?cp-documentid=5476277


In any long term plan, insurance is a must. I believe this with my heart and soul. This is the only instrument where you can leverage your money. To spend a little bit on paying the premium, but in return you get a big coverage. Which you may really need it in times of unfortunate/unexpected event.

This is another article where you can learn more about planning your financial future.



Cheers! Have a great day.