Cancer can "kill" you financially

Apart from hospital insurance which cover your medical bills during your hospital stay and maybe cover some outpatient treatments, critical illness insurance now is also very important.

Why?

1. Drugs are expensive.

In a basic hospital plan, chemotherapy or radiotherapy are usually covered. But not the drugs and injections that have to be taken regularly. These drugs and injections are expensive! Furthermore, many drugs even though they are effective, they are still in experimental stage or in clinical trial. Which means even if you have a comprehensive medical plan, it will not be covered. You will have to bear the cost yourself. The monthly medical cost for cancer patient is about $5,000 a month, just for the drugs and injections. These drugs can usually extend your life by at least 10 years, meaning you will need $600,000 over 10 years.

http://www.healthxchange.com.sg/News/Pages/Discoveries-in-cancer-by-Scientists.aspx

2. Survival rates of cancer patients are increasing but they may have to stop working.

You need money to sustain your living. You can keep paying the medical cost and your living cost provided that you can continue to work as usual. Of course I'm assuming here if your salary is enough to cover the drug cost and living cost. If your salary is not even enough, you are starting to eat your savings already.

Most of the time, if you are diagnosed with critical illness like cancer, you may have to stop working. Because you need to cut the stress and you need your body to recuperate. Of course you can use your savings to live, but how long will it last? Your mind and body is surviving, but what about your finances? Will your money survive if you are still going to live for a long time to come?

http://www.healthxchange.com.sg/News/Pages/Women-Have-Better-Cancer-Survival-Rate-Than-Men.aspx

Here is an example of a cancer patient who still work but have to cut down the working hours and took a pay cut. Now he only work 3 days a week to cope with his cancer. You just can't abuse the body anymore by working endlessly if you are critically ill. You will have to change your lifestyle and this affect your finances!

http://www.healthxchange.com.sg/News/Pages/He-Stopped-Working-12-hour-Days-to-Cope-With-Cancer.aspx

Just for the 2 above reasons, you should understand that critical illness insurance is important. It is because critical illness insurance will pay a lump sum amount to you, if you are diagnosed with a critical illness such as cancer.

So if you have a $1 million critical illness coverage, we will give you $1 million cash if you are diagnosed with critical illness. Then you can use this money to pay all the drugs, injections even alternative treatments all over the world so you can get better. You also can use the money to cover your daily expenses without worrying about working to get the income.

With critical illness plan, you are in the best position to fight cancer!


Cheers! Have a great day.

You don't have to believe

Really!

You don't have to believe, just to know that certain thing is working.

Just like insurance. You don't have to believe it.

You just need to know that it will take care of you and your family financially if something unexpected or unfortunate were to happen.

Don't argue with me whether you believe or not about insurance and making this the critical factor in your buying decision. Because it is never about that.

The most important point is always "Do you really really love your self and your family?".

Insurance is about love in action. Planning ahead for rainy days so that you and your loved ones will never have to face financial devastation if something that you don't want to happen, happened.


Cheers! Have a great day.

Dollar cost averaging

Taken from TODAY newspaper.

One of the ways to grow your wealth is by investing. But many people do not really know how to invest. Even people who are used to investing have a dilemma during economic uncertainties.

The article point out 2 things about investor dilemma, which are:

1. When investor are waiting for the best opportunity to enter the market, they may miss out on potential gains when the market turns around and prices start to rise.

2. On the other hand, investors who enter the market in a lump sum risk losses in the short term if prices fall after that. In addition, they may not have enough liquidity to offset their losses.

So the current volatility in the market may provide excellent opportunity to pick up investment at dicounted prices, but it also means that the prices could plunge even more.

Then what should we do?

The article said that the solution may be dollar cost averaging, which involves placing a fixed amount at regular intervals, into a particular investment.

This means the investors will buy more units when prices are low and less when prices are high. This helps to smooth out the investment costs and risks presented by fluctuating prices in the market.

On the whole, this approach can help investors reap the benefits of staying invested while mitigating the risk of market volatility.

Thank you to TODAY for the article.

I in my opinion also agree that dollar cost averaging is a good way to invest.


Cheers! Have a great day.

Prevention is better

What do these things have in common?

Image from mariasmover.com

Image from prweb.com

Image from watersafety.com

Image from masterfireandelectric.com

Image from gerocarnews.com



You guessed it. All these items are "Prevention items".
Items that you must have before you need it, so that you can prevent unintended things to happen.

Example:
1. Umbrella.
You need the umbrella before it rains, so that you can prevent yourself from getting wet. Agree?

2. Helmet.
You need to wear the helmet before you ride the bike, so that you can prevent head injury in case you fell from the bike. Agree?

3. Life jacket.
You need to bring the life jacket before you get into a boat ride, so that you can wear it and prevent yourself from drowning in case the boat is sinking. Agree?

4. Fire extinguisher.
You need fire extinguisher in your home before anything happens, so that you can use it and prevent damages in your house in case there is fire. Agree?

5. Air bags.
You need airbags in your car and make sure it's properly installed before you start any journey, so that you can prevent your self from injury in case accidents happen. Agree?

There are many more examples that I'm sure you know of and these items are all important.
Do you know why?
Because most people like to be safe, they like certainty.

Let me give you example. If I give you a free holiday on a ship (cruising around the open ocean), would you like to go on the ship that have life boats or ship that do not have life boats?
I'm pretty sure the answer is very clear.

As you can see, all the items above are important. But they all need to be in place BEFORE you need it. Let me ask you, how can you get a life boat if your ship is sinking in the ocean, in the middle of no where? You can't!

Just remember Titanic. They only bring a few life boats because they are overconfident with the ship. Thinking that it will never sink. Then you know the result, majority of the people died.

Insurance is the same like all the above items. It is very important to have before anything happened, so that you can prevent financial catastrophe that can happen to you and your family. If you wait and then something happened, it's going to be too late.

Life is full of uncertainty, that is why all of the products above are there, to help people and give people peace of mind.


Cheers! Have a great day.

Spartacus "Andy Whitfield"

Just something different from my normal post.

I'm sure many of you know Spartacus TV series. This guy is the main actor, Andy Whitfield.
I was so impressed by his acting in the series that I like it so much. I watched the season 1 about 6 months ago and I just recently watched the season 2. Then I realized that he is not the main actor anymore. Of course I was just thinking that maybe he refused the role. But the reality turned out to be even worse. He died in September 2011 because of cancer, and I didn't even know. I was so shocked and sad. Because he looked so strong in Spartacus. You will not have the slightest idea that he can fall sick. Just take a look!

                                                       Image from tulsaworld.com

Andy actually want to be in season 2 of Spartacus, but because of the illness, he had to withdraw him self from the role. Then he went everywhere to try and find cure for cancer. Doctor even told him that he only had 3 to 6 months to live. But in the end he managed to live on until 18 months. He left behind a spouse and 2 young children.

Please have a look at the preview of his documentary about cancer. It is about his battle against cancer. They are also trying to raise money so that they can complete the documentary. He wanted this video to help other people who also suffer cancer like him and hopefully to be able to find the cure in the future.

Be here now! that is Andy motto. Enjoy and live the moment because we really never know when our time is up. But of course do not forget to take care your loved ones.

Andy, we missed you. I'm sure that your wife and 2 kids are very proud of you. Rest in peace. God bless.


Cheers! Have a great day.

Funny conversation

Sometimes, this is what happen when insurance professional (I) ask their prospects (P).

Conversations (of course this is just a short version):

I: Sir, would you like your medical expenses to be paid by us if you are hospitalized?
P: Yes of course, I would like that.

I: That's great. What if we give you a monthly income for a lifetime if you got an accident or illness that left you unable to work?
P: Wow, of course I would like that too.

I: Good. What if we promised you that we will take care of your loved ones financially if God forbid you are not around anymore to provide for them?
P: Yes, definitely. Because I love my family so much. I want them to continue living with enough money, so that my kids can go to a good school in the future and my wife can take care of the household.

I: Fantastic. You are a great husband and father. From the fact find that we did together, I understand that you have this surplus amount of money that you can set aside every month to get the insurance that you need so that you can achieve all the things that we said just now.
P: Yes, I understand that. But I think I want to use the money for something else first, maybe save it to buy a car or go for a vacation. And I think I'm still very healthy now, I don't think I will get sick or die. I'm also very careful that I'm certain that I will not get into an accident. So I can wait for all that insurance stuff.

I: But Sir, as we can see from your finances, you do know that you have outstanding home loan, credit card debt, your university debt and you are also supporting your parents. If something were to happen to you, you do know that your family will be left with all the debt and there will be no one supporting your parents. Is that okay with you?
P: Hmmm.......hmmm......hmm......Ya I understand, it's just that I still think that I won't get sick or die in the time being. I know it........I just know it..... Maybe I will plan next time....


As you can see above, this is how sometimes the conversation will turn out.

People want what insurance can give to them. They really do. But they still have this mind set that "bad things" only happen to other people and they can afford to wait and always want to use their money for other things that are more "exciting".

I'm not saying that you should not spend for yourself and your family. I believe that you should enjoy the moment but also plan ahead for the future.

But unfortunately, too many people fail to plan for the future because they are too short sighted.
They think that they are some kind of "God" who knows the future, they know when they will get sick or die.

Anyway, I will just move on from these kind of people and do what I do best to help others who really love themself and their family.


Cheers! Have a great day.

Is money = love?

Many people that I saw told me that they do not see the urgency to plan. Most of them don't even want to think about unfortunate things that can happen to them and bring financial ruins to them and their loved ones. Even though it's clearly shown to them.

They also told me that they know how to care and love their family in their own way. They said that they do not need to have insurance to show that they love their family. Insurance payout is not love.

To me personally, money is not love. Just by giving money, it doesn't mean love. But to me, leaving behind a financial burden to your family is definitely NOT love.  That is called ignorant and stupidity.

That's why if you really really really really really love your family, show them that you are commited to what you said. If you love them and you know that you don't have enough if something unfortunate are to happen, go and get the insurance that you need! Whether it's to pay the outstanding house loan, the medical expenses, the living expenses and etc.

Getting an insurance is a real show of commitment of your love!

Let me ask you, "Do you want a husband who said I love you, but never buys you any gifts, any flowers, bring you for dinner, walk in the park, help with the household, kisses/hugs and etc?".

To me that is one crappy husband. Saying love but no action.

But that's what most people out there are doing. Do not follow them!

You are people of value. You know that you care for your loved ones. You know that you want to provide and give the best to them.

If you still have parents, spouse, kids and people that love you, please plan! If you dont want to do it for your sake then do it for their sake!

Can you imagine, if you got ill or got into an accident and you cant work anymore, who is going to take care of you? Your loved ones definitely will. Your parents will take their retirement money to support you, your spouse will have to find work to earn for you, your relatives and friends may try to raise donation for you, your kids will have to be taken care by a maid and etc.

Do you know how much burden you give to others if you are being ignorant? Don't you feel ashamed?



Cheers! Have a great day.

Image from mamaroo.com

Selling money on a discount

Yes that's what we do somewhat. We give you money much more than what you give us. It's like selling money on a discount!

Example: You put $1000 into an insurance plan, we give you $1,000,000 instantly when something happens (let say you are disabled and cannot work). Which means you buy $1 million with only $1000!!!

That's the miracle of insurance. The one and only financial product which can do that.

If you put that $1000 into blue chip stocks and something happens to you tomorrow, it may worth $2000 or $500 or still at $1000. Depends on the market condition.

It's not only stocks but whatever investment you choose, it will only be worth the market value of the investment. Which can be higher or lower than the money you put in. It's definitely not a good place to create a financial safety net.

Insurance is the only one that can help you in the above scenario. We can take on your risks and provide you with a comprehensive protection and a huge pay out with only a little money.

Can you imagine, if there are no insurance in this world, how many more people out there will be suffering?

You are lucky if you can buy insurance. Which means you still can protect your self and your family. You can get what you want, not what you have in times of need. We the insurance company will provide that for you. Giving you much more than what you have.

I do have many prospects which cannot buy insurance anymore because their health is not good. I feel sad for them. It is because they can only self insure them self. There are no insurance company to protect them. Whatever happens to them, they can only rely on their own money in the bank. If they have $10,000, it's only worth $10,000. But let say if you have insurance, you will have much more than that.

If you can buy insurance, consider it a priviledge.


Cheers! Have a great day.

Ignorance is bliss

Have you heard that statement before? It means that if you ignore things, you believe you can feel happier. Because what you don't know, you believe it won't hurt you.

Many people that I met have that kind of mentality. They will just ignore the reality that bad things do happen in life. They will said "That will not happen to me! I'm just going to think about happy things. So bad things won't happen to me". Even though the facts are there, in front of their eyes! You can just turn on the TV, read the newspaper, browse websites and etc. It's there, everyday, everywhere! Whether it's about illness, death, accident, etc.

I'm totally confuse why people think they are invincible. It does not matter if they want to ignore it or not. When it happen, it happen. By that time, it may be too late to do anything. You are practically screwed and your loved ones as well.

I read this statement in Yahoo answer and I totally agree with this person. He said "Actually ignorance is not bliss. If you are ignorant, perhaps you won't feel bad realities, but still they do exist and cause the problems, and doesn't differ whether you know or not, but one difference: if you know the reality, since you are a Homo sapiens and have a creative mind, you can think of solutions and get over them."

This is the important message that I too want to convey to people. It does not matter if you want to ignore it or not, the problem is still exist. Isn't it better for you to be aware now and plan for a solution to that potential problems?

Of course the potential problems that I'm talking about here are premature death, disability, critical illness, hospitalization, accident, etc. which can cause financial difficulties for people if it were to happen. So I'm asking you to stop ignoring already. Plan for rainy days.


Cheers! Have a great day!

image from http://thecitymadcat.blogspot.sg/2009/11/some-thoughts-in-my-head-1.html
statement from http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100623215630AAMpLDh

Financial planning pyramid

Let's have a look how easy it is to plan your financial. It's as easy as 1, 2, 3 steps.

See, it's very simple right? Am I right? If you can follow this pyramid, you will be good financially.

Step 1: The base is PROTECTION.
As you all know, not all of us are born with a silver or golden spoon. We have to start everything by ourself from the bottom. We start working and save little by little to try build up our savings and then have more money to be invested and to grow that money. Thus the importance of protection. You MUST have insurance to make sure that your hard earned savings will not be lost or wiped out by any unfortunate events, such as getting sick and hospitalised, getting into accident and you are disabled and can't work, diagnosed with critical illness such as cancer and need expensive treatment, etc. You cannot afford not to have insurance!! Make sure you have huge and comprehensive coverage. Also do not forget to have at least 6 months of cash emergency funds for any unexpected expenses.

Step 2: The middle is SAVINGS & ACCUMULATION.
Please go back to step 1 if you have not done it. Only once you secured the step 1, you can efficiently do step 2. Here we want to start having some basic savings. You can have a savings account to handle all your daily cash needs and deposits account for your long term goals. Then you can start to set aside funds for any goals that you want, be it home ownership, education for your kids, vacations, cars, retirement and etc. You can also start endowment plans to achieve these goals.

Step 3: The top is GROWTH.
Once you have set up your basic savings/deposits accounts in step 2 and you have saved a good enough amount, you can start to be more adventurous. Set aside some money from your savings/deposits and put it into any investment vehicles that you know and understand and you believe have a good potential return in the future. It can be shares, unit trusts, metals, properties, businesses and etc. But only invest to achieve  your goals which are long term, which maybe will take about 15 years or more, such as your kids education fund or your retirement funds. It is because something like the stock market can be volatile, in bad years the value can go down by 50% or more. You will need the time to wait for the market to bounce back. So if you are investing only to reach your short term goal (e.g. within 5 years), it is not advisable. It is possible of course, but it will not be easy.


Now that you know these 3 steps, can you do it? Most people that I know lacked in step 1 which is the base. You know from common sense that the base must be the strongest and biggest area, because that is what supporting the rest of the pyramid. I just do not understand why people keep making this mistake.

An ideal example should be like this. Mr A have a $50,000 worth of investment, $100,000 worth of savings and $300,000 insurance coverage.
If Mr A is to fall sick and the bill mounts to $100,000, the insurance is more than enough to cover that. So his investments and savings are untouched.

Not so ideal example is this. Mr B have a $50,000 worth of investment, $100,000 worth of savings and $20,000 insurance coverage.
If Mr B is to fall sick and the bill mounts to $100,000, the insurance is not enough to cover that. So he has to take $80,000 from his savings to pay the bill. He waste his savings because he do not have adequate insurance. Why do you want to do that? That is your hard earned savings. If you just plan properly in the first place, you don't need to waste your savings.

You choose, do you want to be Mr A or Mr B?

Cheers! Have a great day.

Cancer case will rise 75%

As you can read from the Reuters website (please go there to read more stories), cancer cases will rise 75% by 2030! That is a tremendous increase. This is no joke anymore. Everyone have that probability to get cancer in their lifetime and sadly there is no way to prevent cancer yet. We only have the ways to reduce the chances to get cancer, but not prevent it.

Let me quote a few things what the article said:
1. "..an increase in cases of cancers linked to poor diet, lack of exercise and other bad habits associated with affluence..."
2. "Cancer is already the leading cause of death in many high income countries and is set to become a major cause of morbidity (sickness) and mortality in the next decades in every region of the world..."

It really does not matter where you live, whether you are in a poor country or a rich country, you can get it. Whether you expect it or not, you can get it.

To me, what important for us to do is just try to be as healthy as we can, have a good diet, enough exercise, plenty of sleep and lower your stress level. Again, this will not prevent cancer. But it certainly will give you more strength and fight back if cancer ever hits you.

Of course, do not forget to check your self with the doctor regularly and if you dont feel well or something seems wrong, please go and see your doctor.

Last thing is to equipped your self with a good hospital plan (which covers your hospital bills) and a good critical illness plan (which gives you a lump sum amount if you are diagnosed with a critical illness).

Cancer can be devastating, emotionally and financially. Let us take care the financial part and in return, you will also be stronger emotionally.


Cheers! Have a great day