I took two long trips in 2009, to Alaska and to Sichuan. Each trip was for more than a week. I decided not to take travel insurance, and to bear my own risk. My wife wanted to take travel insurance (as she is more risk averse) but finally decided against it.
I already have a large cover under a personal accident insurance. If there is an accident, it will be covered under this annual policy.
The travel policy covers loss of luggage, flight delay and other risks. But the amount of compensation is quite rather small, say $100 or so. It will be quite troublesome to make a claim for such a small sum. If I fall ill during the holiday, the medical expenses may cost a few hundred dollars. But the chance of making a claim is rather low.
I have taken more than a 100 trips during the past years and have never had the need to make a claim. I do not buy travel insurance for these trips. If the chance of a claim is 1 in 100, it is worth taking the risk. The premium saved on 100 trips would more than cover any future claim.
Tan Kin Lian
Monday, December 28, 2009
Bad experience with land banking plot
Dear Mr. Tan,
Some years ago a good friend of mine purchased some UK Land Banking plots. She was so blinded by the opportunity that when I questioned it we fell out for a while. She could not believe that such opportunities could be allowed in Singpaore and advertised on the TV if they were not true. She was not particularly greedy in fact I found her to be a very kind and gentle person.
Like many of us she wanted an opportunity to help her get ahead in life and be secure. The upshot was she has lost a significant portion of her savings to a scheme that has no chance of success.
I felt ashamed that such things could happen in the UK. After investigating and contacting some UK local authorities I was horrified at the way these schemes are run. They are designed to have absolutely no chance of success and to extract as much money as possible from the unfortunate investor.
Unfortunately what i've also discovered is that defamation law makes it very difficult to criticise a scam unless it is almost 100% proved especially in Singapore. It seems the only way to prove a scam without time and huge resources is to wait for the company to fail.
Even then typically the company will restart 2 or 3 times under different names claim mismanagement by a single executive and take more money from their loyal customers.
SF
Some years ago a good friend of mine purchased some UK Land Banking plots. She was so blinded by the opportunity that when I questioned it we fell out for a while. She could not believe that such opportunities could be allowed in Singpaore and advertised on the TV if they were not true. She was not particularly greedy in fact I found her to be a very kind and gentle person.
Like many of us she wanted an opportunity to help her get ahead in life and be secure. The upshot was she has lost a significant portion of her savings to a scheme that has no chance of success.
I felt ashamed that such things could happen in the UK. After investigating and contacting some UK local authorities I was horrified at the way these schemes are run. They are designed to have absolutely no chance of success and to extract as much money as possible from the unfortunate investor.
Unfortunately what i've also discovered is that defamation law makes it very difficult to criticise a scam unless it is almost 100% proved especially in Singapore. It seems the only way to prove a scam without time and huge resources is to wait for the company to fail.
Even then typically the company will restart 2 or 3 times under different names claim mismanagement by a single executive and take more money from their loyal customers.
SF
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