Mr Tan
Currently for school buses insurance had gone up significantly and beside this NTUC are now selecting their customers i.e those with accident (be it only 1) during the year NTUC at the moment decide not to cover the policy instead of qouting a price. ( as being part Government shouldnt NTUC be helping instead of pushing them away and just drop them?)
Currently in the market we only have NTUC, AXA and Liberty for school buses insurance coverage. However, with NTUC choosing their customer the other two companies will increase their price higher and this vicious circle will cause a huge problem as drivers cannot afford it and their "rice bowl" will be a big issue as most of them have only lower primary level and without insurance there will be no road tax and no where to turn to for help.
Please Mr Tan, I would really like to help the drivers but could you point me to the right direction and what to do? On behalf of the drivers - We thank you for your advise and appreciate any help you are able to offer.
REPLY
I suggest that you write a letter to the newspapers (straits times or zhao bao) to highlight your dilemma. I hope that the public attention will get the authority (i.e. MAS or LTA) to find a solution.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Taking a mortgage
First of all, I'll like to thank you for some of the sound advice that you have posted on your blog. I'm an avid reader of your blog and also someone who had bought and like your financial planning book. I am currently staying in a 3 room HDB flat and planning to upgrade to a 5 room HDB this year. I have some questions that I would love to hear from your advice
1. Mortgage - floating vs fixed. What is your take on this given the current situation?
Reply: I think that the mortgages in Singapore are all on floating rates. I am not aware of any bank that offers fixed rate morgage. If you have found one ,give me the terms for analysis
2. Mortgage - lock period, is a short or long period better?\
Reply: same comment as for 1.
3. We are not sure if we should repay our loan as fast as possible (i.e. using our entire monthly cpf contribution for repayment) or if we should stretch our loan tenure for a longer period for reasons such as to use our CPF for any investments (e.g. NTUC growth, etc) with the hope of getting returns higher than our mortgage rate or to build a buffer in ordinary account for repayment in case anyone or both of us goes jobless, so that we do not need to fork out cash.
Reply: You should keep 6 months of repayment as a buffer in the CPF. If you have cash flow problem, you can pay from this buffer.
4. Is it better for us to deduct everything we have in our CPF for housing purchase or should we transfer some if not all of our CPF for investments such as NTUC growth, etc with the hope of getting returns higher than our mortgage rate?
Reply: Do not invest in a new Growth policy, as it is rigid and does not offer an attractive yield.
5. Me and my wife's used a sum of our CPF to purchase NTUC growth prior to buying our 3 room HDB. Now that we are planning to buy a 5 room HDB, should we terminate our NTUC growth plans and use that amount to pay for the HDB? We have sufficient CPF to pay for the 15% downpayment, but I'm thinking of paying more and borrowing less from the bank. Would you know for early termination, would I at least have my sum invested back? Is what I'm thinking of doing advisable?
Reply: You can a poor deal with you terminate the Growth policy. It is usually better to keep it to maturity, rather than terminate it early. You should ask them to quote you the cash value now, and the projected cash value on maturity to make a proper decision.
1. Mortgage - floating vs fixed. What is your take on this given the current situation?
Reply: I think that the mortgages in Singapore are all on floating rates. I am not aware of any bank that offers fixed rate morgage. If you have found one ,give me the terms for analysis
2. Mortgage - lock period, is a short or long period better?\
Reply: same comment as for 1.
3. We are not sure if we should repay our loan as fast as possible (i.e. using our entire monthly cpf contribution for repayment) or if we should stretch our loan tenure for a longer period for reasons such as to use our CPF for any investments (e.g. NTUC growth, etc) with the hope of getting returns higher than our mortgage rate or to build a buffer in ordinary account for repayment in case anyone or both of us goes jobless, so that we do not need to fork out cash.
Reply: You should keep 6 months of repayment as a buffer in the CPF. If you have cash flow problem, you can pay from this buffer.
4. Is it better for us to deduct everything we have in our CPF for housing purchase or should we transfer some if not all of our CPF for investments such as NTUC growth, etc with the hope of getting returns higher than our mortgage rate?
Reply: Do not invest in a new Growth policy, as it is rigid and does not offer an attractive yield.
5. Me and my wife's used a sum of our CPF to purchase NTUC growth prior to buying our 3 room HDB. Now that we are planning to buy a 5 room HDB, should we terminate our NTUC growth plans and use that amount to pay for the HDB? We have sufficient CPF to pay for the 15% downpayment, but I'm thinking of paying more and borrowing less from the bank. Would you know for early termination, would I at least have my sum invested back? Is what I'm thinking of doing advisable?
Reply: You can a poor deal with you terminate the Growth policy. It is usually better to keep it to maturity, rather than terminate it early. You should ask them to quote you the cash value now, and the projected cash value on maturity to make a proper decision.
Principal Protected Investments
Read this article. These investments are not safe and do not offer an attractive yield.
My comment
My wife and daughter were sold several of these products during the past decade. They were told that they are "safe" and have the potential to earn a good return, if ........... In all cases, they just got back their capital after waiting for five years and lose the interest that could have been earned.
Avoid all structured products. Read the tips in my book, Practical Guide on Financial Planning.
My comment
My wife and daughter were sold several of these products during the past decade. They were told that they are "safe" and have the potential to earn a good return, if ........... In all cases, they just got back their capital after waiting for five years and lose the interest that could have been earned.
Avoid all structured products. Read the tips in my book, Practical Guide on Financial Planning.
Best 40 cities to live in
Singapore is ranked #7 as follows:
1. New York
2. London
3. Paris
4. Tokyo
5. Los Angeles
6. Brussels
7. Singapore
8. Berlin
9. Beijing
10. Toronto
Knight Frank and Citi have put together a rankings of the world's best cities to live in, and have provided a truly global hit list of where you should consider moving to next.
http://www.businessinsider.com/best-cities-on-earth-2010-5
1. New York
2. London
3. Paris
4. Tokyo
5. Los Angeles
6. Brussels
7. Singapore
8. Berlin
9. Beijing
10. Toronto
Knight Frank and Citi have put together a rankings of the world's best cities to live in, and have provided a truly global hit list of where you should consider moving to next.
http://www.businessinsider.com/best-cities-on-earth-2010-5
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