Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Rejection of claim on grounds of non-disclosure

A policyholder switched from Medishield to a private Shield plan. He was not asked about his cholesterol level. He did not declare this condition as the doctor did not advice on the need to take medication.

He had to carry an angioplasty operation. The insurance company rejected the claim on the ground of non-disclosure. They even refused to pay the claim that would have been allowed under Medishield.

The policyholder wrote to the insurance company to ask for the grounds of rejection. There was no reply for one month. He intends to lodge a complaint with Fidrec.

Lesson: There is no point to pay a higher premium under a private Shield plan, if you are not sure about the practice of the insurance company in rejecting a claim on the grounds of unintended non-disclosure.

ERP charges displayed on gantry

The ERP charges are now displayed on the gantry. It shows the charge for the various types of vehicles, i.e. cars, motor cycles, taxis, bus and goods vehicle. The charges change according to the time slots.

Well done to Land Transport Authority.

Price of a product or service

In the free market economy, the price is set by the market. The business decide on the price and sell the product or service to the market.

In my view, there is a better way to set the price. It should be based on the cost plus a reasonable margin for profit. This is a fair way to set the price, and avoids exploiting the consumers.

A cooperative operate on this model. It is an ethical model. I hope that this concept can be applied to many types of businesses.

Some companies make excessive profits by misleading the consumers. They design complicated products, and get marketing people to sell these products to consumers through misleading means.

School should not be a business

The head of a junior college has the title of Principal and CEO. Why should a school be treated as a business, and to have the head carry the title of CEO?

It will be better for our soceity, if a head of a school is the principal and is not a CEO. The school should have the aim of educating students at a specified cost per student, and not be runned as a business to maximise the surplus or to reduce the cost of education (as this can be done by reducing the quality of the teaching).

Find out about the charges

Hi Mr. Tan,

I have bought 2 Regular Premium ILP in year 2002 and I do not know if I should continue or teminate both insurance plans.

IPL 1
Total premium paid is $9K plus and the value of investment is $7k plus. Fund purchased are GreatLink Enhancer and ASEAN Growth Fund.

IPL 2
Total Premium paid is $7500 and value of investment is only $3k. Fund purchased is Golden International Bond.

Should I still continue with both plans or terminate them and incur loses? Can you please advise me?

REPLY

You have to find out about the charges in these two policies. Generally, if the policy has been in force for more than two years, most of the upfront charges have already been spent - so you should continue the policies.

Read this FAQ:
http://www.tankinlian.com/faq/ilp.html

Advice for young people

A junior college student asked me to give a talk on financial planning to her school. My points will be quite simple:

1. Save 15% of your earnings.
2. Keep the money in a bank account to earn interest rate at 1% or 2%.
3 Do not invest the money in financial products that offer poor value
4. When you have sufficient savings, invest in a low cost unit trust (after you learn about the principles of long term investments.
5. When you get married and have family responsiblilities, but a term insurance policy to cover you for 3 to 5 years of your income.

Business ethics

If you know that the cost of your product is $100, and you decide to add a reasonable margin to cover your expense and profit, you will sell it for $150. This is the ethical way to do business.

If you mislead your customer about the true value of your product, you may be able to sell your product for $500. This is taking advantage of your customer and is unethical.

It is quite sad that the business world now finds it acceptable to take advantage of the customer and sell a product at an exorbitant price to make a big profit margin.

Joke: Establish the fact

A man met a pretty girl in a holiday resort and asked her, "Will you sleep with me, if I give you $5,000". She smiled and replied, "yes".

The man continued, "Will you do it for $50". The girl got angry. "What do you take me for?"

He replied, "We have already established the fact. We are now negotiating the price."