The raising of a family can be made an individual or a social decision. I prefer it to be a social decision.
In a society, each family can have the right to raise two children with the cost being largely borne by the society. The cost will cover pregnancy, childbirth, medical care of the mother and child, education of the child and an allowance to be given to each child.
This will encourage every family to have at least two children. Families that wish to have more children will have to bear a larger proportion of the cost, maybe 50% to 70%.
Some religion encourage their followers to have children, according to the will of God or Allah: "Go forth and multiply". Similarly, a secular society can meet a large part of the cost of raising children.
If a large part of the cost is borne by society, the citizens will have to pay a higher tax. But they will get it back through the benefits provided to their children. Those who prefer to remain single will have to pay a tax for reduce the burden of the parents. This will encourage more people to have a family and raise children.
Maybe, each person can work 1 or 2 hours a day (on top of 4 hours of work for the basic necessities) to pay for the cost of raising the children needed by society.
Tan Kin Lian
Friday, September 4, 2009
Health insurers reject claims
President Obama wanted to introduce a "public option". It will allow the uninsured to choose a health plan provided by the Government. This is intended to provide competition to health insurers and make them more efficient.
The health insurers industry lobby against the public option. They told Americans that the public option would lead to a "death panel" will have responsibility to control cost and decide if any insured person should receive expensive treatment.
As a result of this lobby, many Americans are now afraid of the "public option". But the insurance industry is not being honest and truthful. They are already adopting this practice. Read this article.
Voilunteer for FISCA
If you wish to volunteer or join FISCA, please go to the website, www.fisca.sg
Please do not call me or send e-mail to me, as I am not able to personally handle all of these requests. Thank you for volunteering and joining.
Loan insurance limit challenged
Read this article. It shows how the Consumer Association and the Regulators (Financial Services Authority and Competition Authority) look after the interest of consumers in the UK. We need to learn from them. It is not just business.
Lack of transparency and fairness
I posted the case of a policyholder who paid an annual premium of $2,000 and received $54,000 after 21 years (yield of 2.2%).
A similar policy, taken with another insurer, would have given a yield of 5% p.a. giving a payback of $75,000. The difference is $21,000 or 39%.
Where did the $21,000 disappear to? It went into high expenses or are retained in the fund to "smooth the bonus". There is lack of transparency and fairness. The policyholders are at the mercy of the insurance company!
A good way to overcome this problem is to introduce the calculation of asset share for each individual policy, as implemented in Malaysia.
A similar policy, taken with another insurer, would have given a yield of 5% p.a. giving a payback of $75,000. The difference is $21,000 or 39%.
Where did the $21,000 disappear to? It went into high expenses or are retained in the fund to "smooth the bonus". There is lack of transparency and fairness. The policyholders are at the mercy of the insurance company!
A good way to overcome this problem is to introduce the calculation of asset share for each individual policy, as implemented in Malaysia.
Research 2 - Meeting the Basic Needs of a Population
I wish to ask for a volunteer to carry out this research. If you wish to volunteer, please send an email to kinlian@gmail.com.
1. This research is to look at the percentage of the population that is required to be occupied to meet the basic needs of the population, such as food, shelter, clothing, health and education. This study excludes the secondary needs, such as entertainment, leisure and discretionary expenditures.
2. What percentage of the population is engaged in the occupations that cater for the basic needs?
Research 1 - Cost of Raising a Child
I wish to ask for a volunteer to carry out this research and to submit a report to me. If you can volunteer, please reply to kinlian@gmail.com.
1. If a country has more children, how many additional jobs will be created, e.g. teachers, doctors, nurses, carers and other occupations that are directed connected to taking care of the child from birth till the child enters the workforce. You can add the hardware cost, such as building schools, child care centers and medical clinics for the children.
2. Estimate the total annual cost and divide by the number of children. This will be the cost for each year of raising a child.
Which government agency is responsible?
A journalist asked me: "Mr. Tan, as motor insurance fraud have been quite rampant, which government agency should address this problem? Should it be MAS or the Land Transport Authority?
I replied that this is a shameful state of affairs. There is only one Government in Singapore. How can one agency (or department or ministry) point its fingers towards another agency to solve the problem? At the end, no agency take responsibility and the problem remains unsolved.
Finger pointing is now so prevalent that it now becomes a Singapore culture to avoid responsibility. If the people at the top behave in this manner, why should the people lower down do differently?
Many scams and cheating are not investigated, even if complaints are lodged. The Government officer ask the complainant to "provide evidence" before they will act. It is difficult for the ordinary people to provide hard evidence, as they can only be carried out by the Police with the powers and resources to carry out investigation into suspected crimes.
Quite often, the complaints are usually just filed away and investigation is not carried out. Our Government officers prefer to sit behind the desk to write papers, rather than go out to investigate.
This has developed into a habit for the past 15 years and has led to an increase in cheating cases, not only with motor insurance claims but also in investments and other areas.
Tan Kin Lian
I replied that this is a shameful state of affairs. There is only one Government in Singapore. How can one agency (or department or ministry) point its fingers towards another agency to solve the problem? At the end, no agency take responsibility and the problem remains unsolved.
Finger pointing is now so prevalent that it now becomes a Singapore culture to avoid responsibility. If the people at the top behave in this manner, why should the people lower down do differently?
Many scams and cheating are not investigated, even if complaints are lodged. The Government officer ask the complainant to "provide evidence" before they will act. It is difficult for the ordinary people to provide hard evidence, as they can only be carried out by the Police with the powers and resources to carry out investigation into suspected crimes.
Quite often, the complaints are usually just filed away and investigation is not carried out. Our Government officers prefer to sit behind the desk to write papers, rather than go out to investigate.
This has developed into a habit for the past 15 years and has led to an increase in cheating cases, not only with motor insurance claims but also in investments and other areas.
Tan Kin Lian
Duty of the Government
Someone posted an anonymous comment, "people should look after their interest, instead of depending on the authority to take care of them. "
This is only half true. It is the duty of the Government to ensure that thieves and crooks do not go around cheating people. It is so easy for these crooks to create financial scams. If complaints are made, the authority should investigate and take action to bring these culprits to court.
These dishonest people should not be allowed to operate freely, by advertising their dubious products, holding sales seminars and sending sales people to push them to the unsuspecting public.
We now have a sad state of affairs. Complaints of cheating are not investigated by the authorities. People who are cheated are asked to take legal action against the culprits.
This is only half true. It is the duty of the Government to ensure that thieves and crooks do not go around cheating people. It is so easy for these crooks to create financial scams. If complaints are made, the authority should investigate and take action to bring these culprits to court.
These dishonest people should not be allowed to operate freely, by advertising their dubious products, holding sales seminars and sending sales people to push them to the unsuspecting public.
We now have a sad state of affairs. Complaints of cheating are not investigated by the authorities. People who are cheated are asked to take legal action against the culprits.
Wasteful marketing materials
I find it wasteful for credit card companies to be sending the marketing materials. I believe that most customers hardly pay attention to them. It is costly to print and mail them.
The bank recover these cost through high interest charges and fees. If they look after the welfare of their customers, they should avoid these wastage and reduce their charges.
The bank recover these cost through high interest charges and fees. If they look after the welfare of their customers, they should avoid these wastage and reduce their charges.
Values that define my character
I wish to share with you the following values that guide my character:
a. honesty
b. fairness
c. courage
d. be positive
e. work for benefit of society
I wish to encourage others to adopt these values. They will create a better society.
a. honesty
b. fairness
c. courage
d. be positive
e. work for benefit of society
I wish to encourage others to adopt these values. They will create a better society.
Yield of 0% for 21 years of premium
Hi Kin Lian,
I have been following with great interest comments concerning the need for the insurers to be more transparent about the participating bonuses and surrender values and other related matters made by you and other distinguished professionals and the insurers themselves.
My wife is personally involved with her own policy as she was considering cashing out
her policy and using the money for other modes of investment. We were disappointed that the insurer would not bother to explain how they derived at the surrender value even though the offer is at odds with the documents that their office furnished my wife earlier.
Their financial planner (sales person really) briefly said that the difference between what we should be entitled as per the document and what we have been offered is due to the underlying value in their investments that have been impaired caused by the global financial crisis.
We would be agreeable for you or another person to use our case as an example of the lack of transparency in the industry, if indeed this is the case here.
SUMMARY OF KEY FIGURES
Annual premium for whole life policy $2,013
Duration of policy: 21 years
Cash value: $54,070
Yield over 21 years: 2.2% p.a.
Total premiums paid, inclusive of rider premium: $54,074 (yield 0.0%)
After paying premiums for 21 years, the policyholder just obtained the total premiums back. The yield is 0%. If the rider premiums are excluded, the yield is 2.2% p.a.
I have been following with great interest comments concerning the need for the insurers to be more transparent about the participating bonuses and surrender values and other related matters made by you and other distinguished professionals and the insurers themselves.
My wife is personally involved with her own policy as she was considering cashing out
her policy and using the money for other modes of investment. We were disappointed that the insurer would not bother to explain how they derived at the surrender value even though the offer is at odds with the documents that their office furnished my wife earlier.
Their financial planner (sales person really) briefly said that the difference between what we should be entitled as per the document and what we have been offered is due to the underlying value in their investments that have been impaired caused by the global financial crisis.
We would be agreeable for you or another person to use our case as an example of the lack of transparency in the industry, if indeed this is the case here.
SUMMARY OF KEY FIGURES
Annual premium for whole life policy $2,013
Duration of policy: 21 years
Cash value: $54,070
Yield over 21 years: 2.2% p.a.
Total premiums paid, inclusive of rider premium: $54,074 (yield 0.0%)
After paying premiums for 21 years, the policyholder just obtained the total premiums back. The yield is 0%. If the rider premiums are excluded, the yield is 2.2% p.a.
Account of Gathering of 22 Aug 2009
Total donation received: $1301
-----
Expenses
Printing of placards $380
Hire of portable speaker $100
Plain water $15
total $495
------
Balance donated to FISCA $806
UK: Director of Land Banking Company Gets Seven Year Ban
Read this article. It shows the possible wrong doings that can be committed by a land banking company, such as:
a) mis-representing the product
b) no proper accounting of the investment funds
c) repeated sales of the same plots
If this wrong doings are committed by a land banking company operating in Singapore, which Government authority is responsible to take action? Is it MAS, Commercial Affairs Department or some other body? If the investor makes a complaint, will the relevant authority make an investigation?
Does land banking come under Collective Investment Scheme?
I met with four people who were sold to invest in a land banking scheme. The promoter gave them a guarantee (in the form of an option) to buy back their investment at the end of 12 months for a full refund of their principal plus a guaranteed return.
These investors have now submitted their redemption request, but the promoter refused to honor the agreement and gave some unsatisfactory and unclear explanations.
One investor made a complaint with MAS and were told by the MAS official that land banking did not come under MAS. In my view, unless I am mistaken, land banking should fall under the scope of a collective investment scheme, which is administered by MAS. There are controls under the law on collective investment scheme to prevent the misappropriate of the funds collected from investors. This risk applies to land banking as well.
I will appreciate if a practising lawyer can clarify if land banking comes under the collective investment scheme?
Tan Kin Lian
These investors have now submitted their redemption request, but the promoter refused to honor the agreement and gave some unsatisfactory and unclear explanations.
One investor made a complaint with MAS and were told by the MAS official that land banking did not come under MAS. In my view, unless I am mistaken, land banking should fall under the scope of a collective investment scheme, which is administered by MAS. There are controls under the law on collective investment scheme to prevent the misappropriate of the funds collected from investors. This risk applies to land banking as well.
I will appreciate if a practising lawyer can clarify if land banking comes under the collective investment scheme?
Tan Kin Lian
Lower cost of living - the good old days
30 years ago, Singapore had a good economic model, based on a lower cost of living. The price of HDB flats were affordable (at 10% of today's prices). The HDB shops and stalls were rented at inexpensive rates. It was possible for the merchants and stall holders to offer their products and food at affordable prices. The cost of living was low.
80% of the population lived in HDB estates and were able to get by on modest wages. There was less stress. People who proud to be Singaporeans and to enjoy a good quality of life.
This economic model changed after 1985. Under the "asset enhancement" strategy, the prices of property was allowed to inflate to high levels. This was supposed to create more wealth. It produced the opposite and negative effect and enslaved the future generation to a high cost of living and high debts. Life was stressful. The sever decline in birth rates occurred during these past two decades.
There is still the chance for us to get back to the good old days. But we need to have leaders that think a different way.
Tan Kin Lian
80% of the population lived in HDB estates and were able to get by on modest wages. There was less stress. People who proud to be Singaporeans and to enjoy a good quality of life.
This economic model changed after 1985. Under the "asset enhancement" strategy, the prices of property was allowed to inflate to high levels. This was supposed to create more wealth. It produced the opposite and negative effect and enslaved the future generation to a high cost of living and high debts. Life was stressful. The sever decline in birth rates occurred during these past two decades.
There is still the chance for us to get back to the good old days. But we need to have leaders that think a different way.
Tan Kin Lian
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