US employment report - a source of concern

The US employment report for November showed only 39,000 new jobs created, when economists were hoping for 140,000 jobs. The unemployment rate jumped to 9.8 percent.

This is a matter of serious concern. In spite of stimulus and quantitative easing, the US economy is not able to create the jobs needed to keep their people employed. The problem faced by the US will cascade around the world. We can expect tough times ahead, possibly a double dip recession, maybe even a global depression.

The problem faced by the US can only be solved through protectionism in some form. I expect the US to adopt some protectionist measures, although it does not have to be large scale. This will be a watershed, as the US had been promoting globalization for two decades. The boomerang had swung back to hit them.

I believe that some form of protectionism will be good for most countries. It allows each country to have its domestic economy and develop its own identity and culture. It will allow the income gap to narrow in the country and hopefully, keep the cost of living down.

Globalization has benefited only a small proportion of people, at the expense of the well being and financial security of large numbers of people. It has caused damage to the environment and other negative social impacts, including a declining birth rate. In my view, the benefits of globalization is outweighed by the harmful effects.

Singapore has benefited from globalization, including luring the super rich to avoid taxation by moving their profits here. We will lose this source of revenue, but we can cope. After all, Singaporeans are an educated and hard working people. Let me make a honest living, and not enrich ourselves at the expense of other countries. Maybe, we will see the property prices come down to more affordable levels!

Tan Kin Lian

Living on accumulated savings - DIY

This article explains how a retiree on live on the accumulated savings on a DIY basis, without buying a life annuity.

Wikileaks and Singapore

LKY's private conversation and candid views with US officials have been leaked out in WikiLeaks and is causing some red faces. Read SGEP.

Social insurance and quality of life

The lives of Singaporeans would have been much better if the Government had introduced some social insurance schemes, e.g. old age pension and unemployment relief, instead of relying on "self reliance". The weaker and less educated cannot cope with their current needs, let alone save for the future.  Read this article on Social Insurance.

FAQs in TKL website

Some of my readers find it a hassle to go to the "Ask Mr. Tan" page of my website and search for the article using the keyword. They ask me to give them the direct link.

My purpose is to educate the readers on how to search for the relevant articles and FAQs in my website. It may take a little trouble, but will give them the reward. When they learn how to search the FAQs, they can look for other topics. They may also find some of the recently posted topics (under the Latest tab) to be useful and relevant to them.

Try these links and bookmark them:

Latest: http://www.tankinlian.com/latest.aspx
Ask Mr. Tan: http://www.tankinlian.com/ask.aspx

Tan Kin Lian

Health care and Medishield

 Many consumers continue to send questions to me about whether they should choose Medishield or private Shield. I am not able to answer their questions individually. I refer them to my website, www.tankinlian.com/ask.aspx and ask them to search for the articles with the keyworld "Medishield:" or "health care".

They should also buy my book, Practical Guide on Financial Planning, and attend the educational talks organised by FISCA. They must spend some time and a little money to be educated and save many thousand dollars by avoiding the wrong decisions. They should not ask advice from the wrong person or give incomplete information that lead to the wrong advice, as explained in this FAQ.

Tan Kin Lian

Doing stupid things

Do you know why government and corporate bureaucracy continue to do stupid things that inconvenient the public and their customers, and achieve no useful purpose? Read this story. The trouble is that these bureaucrats are not paid peanuts (unlike monkeys), but draw fat salaries!

SGEP Portal

This portal contains a selection of articles from blogs, local media, international media and party websites, touching on issues affecting the lives of Singaporeans. They are relevant for Singaporeans to make the right decision in voting at the next general election. Visit SGEP daily (it takes only 10 minutes daily) to get the gist of these issues and a wider coverage (apart from the local newspapers).

SGEP

CPF Life Annuity - good or bad?

Many people ask me for guidance on whether they should take up the CPF Life Annuity. How does it compare with the Retirement Account and a life annuity from an insurance company?

Here are the key facts:

1. The CPF Life pays the annuity for life and gives a small bequest to the beneficiary on death prior during the initial period (which varies according to the annuity option. The Retirement Account pays a higher payment and runs out after 20 years. The balance of the account is payable to the beneficiary on death during the 20 years.

2. The difference between CPF Life and Retirement Account depends on how long you live. As you do not know, there is no point in trying to do the calculation of "which is better". The actuary for CPF will do the calculation based on the average lifespan. You cannot be smarter than the actuary.

3. As the actuarial calculation is based on the average life expectancy of people in good health, you should avoid the CPF Life annuity if you know that you are in poor health.

4. There is a bonus payable to most people who take up the CPF Life annuity, so if you are given a bonus, it is better to opt for the CPF Life. If you find the bonus to be too small, say less than 5% of the invested sum, it may be better for you to stay with the Retirement Account.

5. The underlying yield for CPF Life and the Retirement Account is the same, i.e. 4% per annum. This is higher than the underlying yield payable by a life annuity from an insurance company. So, it is better to keep your money with CPF, either in CPF Life or the Retirement Account.

The CPF Life is an example of many complicated schemes that have been introduced by our Government. The general public is confused. This is made worse by the nature of Singaporeans, who are generally quite naive financially, but they like to seek advice from the wrong people on "which is better". As the calculation involve many possible scenarios, it is not possible to get the "right answer".

I hope that the Government will sort out this mess and make things simpler for the citizens, rather than leave the mess  to cause a lot of confusion.

Tan Kin Lian

ACT CRM Software Review | Sage ACT! 2011 | Law Office Software

What is CRM Software?

Crm software is basically customer relationship management software which allows and assists a company to manage it’s relationship with it’s customers, leads and prospects.

The purpose of crm software is to allow you to nurture and retain existing clients and sales prospects but also to organize and generate new leads. To do this it allows seamless integration of client information between the different parts of the business such as service, sales and technical support.

Sage ACT CRM Software

Sage ACT! Crm software is an incredibly popular software package which makes the task of contact management and customer relationship enhancement and development much easier and more efficient for the business manager.

via lawofficesoftware.org