Many people work all the time. They are afraid to take an extended break or holiday, if they face the risk of losing their job to another person.
They work for a lifetime and look forward to enjoy life after retirement. But, when they get old, they are not able to move around easily or to enjoy the retirement.
I like to propose a better system. Each person should be allowed to take one or two months off every every three years of work. This should be made a feature of the employment contract.
To fund for this holiday, they have to pay an additional 3 to 6% of their wages into a fund, which is used to pay their replacement income when they take the vacation.
This arrangement should apply to all workers, so that there is no competition for people to continue working hard to show that they are productive.
When the worker takes the extended vacation, temporary workers can take over their work. Alternatively, the employer can have a pool of these workers to replace the permanent workers on vacation. These relief work can be a good training ground for the future workers.
The extended vacation can be for holidays, for continuing education, or for taking up a hobby. When the time comes for full retirement, it is easy for the retiree to find some other ways to occupy their time or to engage in suitable hobbies.
Tan Kin Lian
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Product issuers were probably cheating
The standard of honesty has deteriorated so much in recent years, that many people do not understand what is "cheating".
The seller of a gold ornament is cheating, if he knowingly mis-represents the ornament to be made of gold, when it is actually fake.
The seller of a property is cheating if he knowingly mis-represents the property to be freehold, when it is actually a leasehold.
The seller of a gold ornament is cheating, if he knowingly mis-represents the ornament to be made of gold, when it is actually fake.
The seller of a property is cheating if he knowingly mis-represents the property to be freehold, when it is actually a leasehold.
The financial institution that creates a credit linked note is cheating, if it writes the prospectus in a manner to mislead the investors about the true nature of the product. If the creator is aware that some of the underlying assets have already turned bad (as reflected in a severe drop in value), but they continue to mis-represent the product based on its outdated credit rating, they are cheating.
The top people in the financial institution may not be aware that the product was created to generate profits by misleading the investors. But the financial institution should take the responsibility for the actions of its employees.
The standard of honesty has become so low, that cheating is now tolerated as being part of the free market. But this is a mistaken belief. A free market can only operated if there is a climate of honesty and trust.
There is a duty on the Government to investigate cases of suspected cheating and to bring the culprits to court. The judges can decide on these cases. Quite often, the court case may not be necessary as the party may be willing to settle the matter by paying appropriate compensation without admitting liability. This approach is practiced in America.
Tan Kin Lian
The top people in the financial institution may not be aware that the product was created to generate profits by misleading the investors. But the financial institution should take the responsibility for the actions of its employees.
The standard of honesty has become so low, that cheating is now tolerated as being part of the free market. But this is a mistaken belief. A free market can only operated if there is a climate of honesty and trust.
There is a duty on the Government to investigate cases of suspected cheating and to bring the culprits to court. The judges can decide on these cases. Quite often, the court case may not be necessary as the party may be willing to settle the matter by paying appropriate compensation without admitting liability. This approach is practiced in America.
Tan Kin Lian
Distributors were negligent
The distributors who sold the credit linked notes were negligent, but were not cheating.
Most of them were probably ignorant about the true nature of these structured products. They mis-represented the products, but not intentionally. In the greed to earn the attractive commission on the sale of the products, the sales representatives failed in their duty to give proper advice and information to the customers. The financial institutions also failed in their duty to supervise the sales representatives.
The negligence has caused loss to the investors. The investors deserve to be fairly compensated for the loss. The financial institution cannot hide under the disclaimers signed by the customers, as there was negligence and misrepresentation.
The compensation does not need to be full. It would be fair for the loss to be shared equally between the investor and the negligent distributor.
An honorable financial institution would recognise that it had neglected its duty and come forward to offer a fair settlement to all affected customers, and not only to certain customers based on educational level or age. Great Eastern Life has acted honorably and deserve to be commended.
But many financial institutions chose to look at its bottom line profit, and decided to use its financial power to fight these cases in court. And, sadly, they were backed by the Government.
When will Singapore return to its old values of honesty, fairness and justice?
Tan Kin Lian
Most of them were probably ignorant about the true nature of these structured products. They mis-represented the products, but not intentionally. In the greed to earn the attractive commission on the sale of the products, the sales representatives failed in their duty to give proper advice and information to the customers. The financial institutions also failed in their duty to supervise the sales representatives.
The negligence has caused loss to the investors. The investors deserve to be fairly compensated for the loss. The financial institution cannot hide under the disclaimers signed by the customers, as there was negligence and misrepresentation.
The compensation does not need to be full. It would be fair for the loss to be shared equally between the investor and the negligent distributor.
An honorable financial institution would recognise that it had neglected its duty and come forward to offer a fair settlement to all affected customers, and not only to certain customers based on educational level or age. Great Eastern Life has acted honorably and deserve to be commended.
But many financial institutions chose to look at its bottom line profit, and decided to use its financial power to fight these cases in court. And, sadly, they were backed by the Government.
When will Singapore return to its old values of honesty, fairness and justice?
Tan Kin Lian
Reduced air fare
A regular airline is willing to be flexible in its fare to get a business. Read this story.
New Exotic Investments Emerging on Wall Street
Read this article. The Wall Street bankers are primarily interested in earning the large fees by creating these products. They will leave it to the retail investors to face the consequences. Advice: stay away from all types of exotic products when they come to Singapore and are marketed to you.
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TKL Sudoku $7.90
TKL Shape Quiz $7.90
Public Transport Guide: $6
Free delivery for purchase above $30
www.easysearch.sg (Internet Shop)
Many hours of fun and challenge, develop intelligence, keep dementia away.
The future will be different
A consumer told me about his personal experience. He took an endowment policy with NTUC Income and a similar policy with another company. Both policies matured. The total premium paid was $25,000 for each policy. The Income policy returned $40,000. The other policy paid $27,000. The difference was $13,000.
Here are my observations:
a) I have heard about similar experiences from other policyholders.
n) It is possible for an insurance company to give poor returns, due to high expenses and low bonus payout
c) NTUC Income gave a good return in past years, but the future will be different
Lesson: buy term and invest the difference. Read here:
Read this FAQ:
http://www.tankinlian.com/faq/savings.html
Here are my observations:
a) I have heard about similar experiences from other policyholders.
n) It is possible for an insurance company to give poor returns, due to high expenses and low bonus payout
c) NTUC Income gave a good return in past years, but the future will be different
Lesson: buy term and invest the difference. Read here:
Read this FAQ:
http://www.tankinlian.com/faq/savings.html
Cheated by a lawyer
An investor told me that he has been cheated by a lawyer. The lawyer took up his case and charged him a large fee to handle it. The lawyer did not handle the case diligently and did not act in his interest.
I advised the client to lodge a complaint with the Law Society regarding the conduct of the lawyer. But, he is not prepared to do so.
Many Singaporeans are so gullible that they can be cheated time and again. The standard of honesty in our society has deteriorated to a low level.
I advised the client to lodge a complaint with the Law Society regarding the conduct of the lawyer. But, he is not prepared to do so.
Many Singaporeans are so gullible that they can be cheated time and again. The standard of honesty in our society has deteriorated to a low level.
BBC: Insurance boss attacks fat cat pay
Read this article. It explains why you get a poor return on your participating policy.
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