Workers like flex-time

This article shows the appeal of flex-time. I had advocated pay by the hour, instead of monthly salary. It allow flex-time to be implemented easily.

To all fathers with daughters

You can let go, daddy.

Economics and financial planning

There are two schools of thought in managing the economy. Some economists believing in managing demand and let supply follow demand. Other economists believe in managing the supply and let demand follow supply.

There is a similar choice in financial planning. Many financial planners believe in getting the client to establish the goals, from which the financial plan can be developed. I find this approach to be not suitable, as the client is likely to set goals that are too high, and will setting aside savings that they cannot afford, based on their earning capacity.

I prefer to work on the earning capacity and allocate the proportion to be used for current expenses and the remainder for the future, which includes the purchase of a residential property for own occupation. Based on my analysis, a typical allocation is 50% for current expenses, 25% for property and 25% for retirement. This benchmark allocation should apply to most working families.

If a family has special needs, they may modify the allocation to suit their own situation, but the starting point should be to consider the financial plan based on this benchmark. For example, a high income earnings may be able to set aside a larger allocation for the future, while a low income earner may have to set aside a bigger allocation for current expenses.

The allocation for the future includes the combined contribution (of employer and employee) to the Central Provident Fund. The current combined contribution is 34.5% for most workers. To achieve the benchmark of 50%, the worker has to set aside 15.5% in a personal savings plan. This concept is explained in my book on financial planning.

Tan Kin Lian

Torchlight for travellers

I took the rechargeable torchlight with me for my tour of China. I stayed in 5 hotels over the 8 days. I had to change a hotel almost every day.

The layout of every hotel room is different and the switches are complicated. It is difficult to find the correct switch to turn on at night. The torchlight came in very handy. The locator light help me to find the torchlight in the dark. I use the torchlight to see the labels on the swtiches or to find my watch or other items that I needed.

This torchlight is very useful when you travel.

Why big banks are bad for the economy

Read this article. Here are some key points:


a) The big banks want to pay back the bailout money to be free of the pay caps and other restraints.
b) Their profits still come mostly courtesy of taxpayers. Their trading earnings are financed by more than a trillion dollars’ worth of cheap loans from the Federal Reserve, for which some of their most noxious assets are collateral.
c) They benefit from immense federal loan guarantees, but they are not lending much. Lending to business is very tight.
d) The whole system has grown more concentrated, as many big banks have taken over other banks. The growth of the biggest banks ensures that the next bailout will have to be even bigger. These banks will be more likely to take on excessive risk because they have the implicit assurance of rescue.

Future jobs in America

This article explains the future jobs that will grow in America. The industries are:

full service restaurants
local government
employment services
nursing care services
office of physicians
general merchandise stores
computer system services
home health care services
services for elderly and disabled
consulting services.

Many of these trends will apply to Singapore.

CT scans are costly and have their risk

Read this article.