Vera and Nadya

My grand daughter Vera is now 3 years old. Her sister, Nadya, is 1 year old. They had a birthday party recently. Visit this blog.

Here is a video of their visit to my home.

Helping the poor

We need a better way to help the poor in Singapore, rather than the bureaucratic, "many helping hands" approach.

Ask about the charges

I am the trustee for a trust fund set up to provide income for a non-profit organisation. The trustees held a meeting with the investment adviser to discuss the investment policy of the fund. The investment adviser made some recommendations on the asset allocation of the trust fund, and in particular, how to invest the cash portion that has grown to a significant proportion.

After discussion, the trustees accepted the recommendation. I finally asked the investment adviser, "how much do you earn as commission through executing the transactions that you have recommended?"

The client service manager was taken aback by this unexpected question, but she quickly recovered and replied, "It is in accordance with what has been told and approved by the trustees previously and that is ....% for shares and ....% for bonds".

Lesson: Never be shy to ask this important question. Do not assume that you know. Even if knew, it s good to get the facts reconfirmed.

--
Tan Kin Lian
www.tankinlian.blogspot.com

Get full facts about the financial product

You should get full facts about the financial product before you invest in it. If there are any points that are unclear, you should ask the product seller. If you still do not understand the product, do not invest in it.

Always ask for the relevant facts to be put in writing. Do not take the verbal representations given by the seller. The seller may mislead you and later claimed that you had misunderstood the representations.

Always refer to the printed materials. If any important point is not covered in the printed materials, or is not explained in a transparent manner, you should be suspicious about the financial product. Most importantly, you should ask about the charges and commission earned by the product seller.

In the past, you could trust financial products to be transparent and fair as they were properly regulated. The standard of regulation and consumer protection has deteriorated in recent years, so you have to be careful and to do your own due diligence. 

If you are not clear about the financial product, DO NOT INVEST IN IT. Do not ask somebody else (e.g. TKL) to explain the product to you. 

--
Tan Kin Lian
www.tankinlian.blogspot.com

The Fed's regulatory errors

What were the mistakes made by the Fed in regulating the banks? Are there lessons for other central banks?

Observations about Hong Kong

Here are some observations about Hong Kong and lessons for Singapore.

Stress at FIDREC hearngs

Dear Mr Tan,

Thanks for your kind assistance and I managed to get back some compensation from the FI finally.

Nevertheless, for most of the victims like myself who had gone thru the hearings, we have to transfer our "Bonds" to the FIs and not entitled to anymore residual value. I questioned the fairness of this system, as the residual value may end up be higher than the compensation ? (so far I know all compensations are below 50%) We are not given any other options. If we do not accept the award, we have to engaged our own lawyer to fight with the giants. Many want to end this nightmare after more than a year and are forced to accept this "compensation".

Unlike HK, FIs will still refund the victims and not gain anything if the residual values are higher than the 60%-70% that had already been compensated.

In addition, I understand many cases are still pending at Fidrec, due to disputes between the IFAs & FIs. The MAS/ Fidrec has yet to settle whom should be liable for this saga, and the victims have to decide by themselves whom they want to go against .... again, is this FAIR ? If one choose to go against 2 parties, they were told to pay 2 times and have to go through 2 hearings (that means 2 times the stress!) Furthermore, Minibonds have to wait till the residual values are confirmed before able to proceed hearings with IFAs and FIs. Currently, only those bought directly with the Banks are allowed to proceed with the hearings. (Not sure why ?)

Recently, Fidrec has tried to conduct mediation with some IFAs, these are all wasting of time, as results is "we are only introducers". Yet, many are forced to attend, else, may not be able to proceed with the hearings.

I wonder why we victims have to shoulder all these stress ? We are just laymen and do not know what are the hidden "agreements" between these business partners. After more than a year, MAS/ Fidrec has to be firmed with the directions and make clear whom should we go after, rather than leave everything to the victims.

I really feel sad for the whole financial system here in Singapore .............. how to become a Financial Hub with this kind of unfair system in place ?

Many Pinnacle Notes are going bust soon ... would advice other victims to be strong, since no one able to help us.

  JL