Sunday, September 5, 2010

General Election

The General Election is on.

Metaphor

What is a metaphor?

My view
I was quite surprised that a person could be arrested just for using what is word like "burn". Nobody pays attention to these statements - except the police who make the address for "inciting violence". How can an unknown person incite other people? Who is so gullible to follow his call, even if he had meant the word "burn" literally?

Consumer banking and Teaching

A undergraduate approached me for advice. She will be graduating in a few months time, and has been offered a job in the Consumer Banking department. Her job was to stand by the ATM machine and to sell insurance products to the customers who went to withdraw money. She has to meet sales targets. She is worried about having to do this type of work and does not know if she can meet the sales target.

As a foreign student on scholarship, she is required to serve at three years bond to work in Singapore. Her career choices are limited. She does not know what to do. I advised her to consider taking a job in teaching.

Google Translate

I received a circulate letter written in Chinese, complaining about a life insurance policy. I used Google Translate to translate it into English. I was amazed. Google Translate did the work in a few seconds. The translation was perfect.

I used Google Translate previously to translate from European language to English. This is the first time that I did for Chinese. Wow!

Fooled by insurance savings plan

Read this letter about the anguish of a consumer who has been fooled by an insurance savings plan sold by an agent at a road show.

www.tankinlian.com/latest.aspx (see "Fooled")

http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=171



The reality of property investments

Many people are paying too much for their property, either for own occupation or for rental. They are told by the property agents that the yield is better than interest on bank deposits and that prices will continue to increase further, due to economic growth.

The property agent wishes to talk up the property market, so that more people will invest in properties and they can earn their attractive commission, which can amount to a few thousand dollars.

Investors should realize the facts of property investments:

a) The gross yield on rental may look attractive, say 3% to 4%, but you have to deduct maintenance charges (for condos), repair cost, agent's commission (to rent out the property) and vacancies. The net yield is likely to be less than 2%.

b) The profit made from property is likely to be exaggerated. Many people ignore the cost of investing in property, e.g. stamp duty, lawyer's fees, agent's commission, in computing their profit.

c) Many owners heard that their neighbors were able to sell their property at an attractive price. However, when the put their property in the market, they may have to wait a long time to find a buyer. Some properties are unsold for many years, unless the owner is willing to cut the asking price drastically.

d) Owners are attractive by the high price psf for new properties in the vicinity. They forget that there is a gap of up to 20% between the price psf of old and new properties in the locality. Their property is not likely to achieve the high price psf of new properties.

Do consider these points carefully, and make your research, before you pay a high price to invest in a property.

Read:
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=124

Tan Kin Lian

Buy Term and Invest The Rest

A consumer ask why some people are recommending to "buy term and invest the rest". He was told that it is better to buy a whole life policy, as the premium will not increase as one gets older. The answer is given in this article.

www.tankinlian.com/latest.asp, search for "Buy Term".

ABA Approved Online Law Schools | Careers In Law

So you can not earn a J.D. degree online or by distance learning which will meet with the approval of the ABA. This is significant because the it will severely limit your ability to sit the bar admission exam in most states.

Most state boards of examiners rely on the ABA to accredit a legal education or not and it is this which determines whether they will allow you to sit the bar exam in any individual state. If you are unsure of the attitude of the state bar admission authorities in any state that you are considering sitting the bar exam for then you should check with them first to ensure that your proposed J.D. degree or other qualification will be acceptable.

Private Reserve Ink | Private Reserve Ink Colors | Fountain Pen Ink

Private reserve ink is made in the U.S. and has a neutral pH, is said to be non clogging and fast drying and a 50 ml bottle will cost a little under $9.

Private reserve ink also provide a range of fast dry inks in ultra black, midnight blues, Sherwood green and for any left handed writers who have struggled with more traditional ink usage, these inks are perfect for lefties. These fast dry inks cost around  $10 for a 2 ounce bottle.

Private Reserve Special Inks

Private Reserve also supply a range of special inks such as the Invincible Aqua Blue, Invincible black in a cobalt blue bottle and Cosmic cobalt which is a brilliant blue color.

Legal Accounting Software | Legal Billing Software is Critical to a Profitable Law Firm | Legal Document Software

Legal billing software can also assign employee hours and the cost of legal service provision to individual clients.  This way, you know how much time is spent on each client by the paralegals and secretaries in an office.  Legal billing software can also determine the productivity of individual lawyers, which is important for any profitable law firm to know.