Topping Up CPF (and my TV Appearance)
Singaporeans should be quite familiar with our Central Provident Fund (CPF) accounts.
The Ordinary Account (OA) is mainly meant for housing and investment. The Special Account (SA) is primarily for old age and retirement-related investments. The Medisave Account (MA) is reserved for payment of medical bills and approved insurance schemes. At age 55, the savings in OA and SA form the Retirement Account (RA), which as the name suggests, is to provide for retirement.
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在新加坡如何防备医药费
I realised there is a dearth of personal finance articles for the Chinese-educated and hence I am writing a Mandarin article, hopefully brushing up my language at the same time. People with Chinese-educated parents can consider letting them read this:
新加坡的医药发达，但医药费往往昂贵，难以负担。在这里居住的人民，无论是公民还是从外国来公干的人士，应为自己的财务利益着想，谨慎防备医药费。
就业的新加坡公民每月缴交公积金 (CPF)，分为三个户口：普通户口 (Ordinary Account)、特别户口 (Special Account)、保健储蓄户口 (Medisave)。
保健储蓄户口有两大作用：其一，用来交付医疗费。其二，用来交付某些保险保单的保费。这两作用都受于中央公积金局 (CPF Board) 的限制 － 大概是政府担心国人太快把保健储蓄用完。
Keep Commission Model, Say Financial Advisers, Managers
A friend highlighted this article to me a few days ago and I had quite a reaction to it.
The following are quotes from the article (bold emphasis added by me) and my comments:
An ad-hoc alliance of about 15,000 financial advisers and managers are hoping to sway a review panel, which is considering, among other things, doing away with the commission model that most insurance and financial advisory firms use.
It is entirely expected that all 13,000 tied agents would fight tooth and nail against the ban of commissions. Why? It’s simple – nobody would want to pay a fee to a person who is a sales representative of a product manufacturer. The old model worked because it was merely the transaction of products – advice is given “free” and the client will take up the product if he is persuaded enough, earning the agent commissions. The other 2,000 advisers probably come from financial advisory firms which are new-age financial sales agencies, just that they have more products to sell.
Photos and Reflections on My First Financial Planning Talk
Please register your interest with me so that I can notify you of future talks and other useful information. Those who register will enjoy early-bird discounts on future talks. I will also be looking at sharing video snippets from this talk with people who register.
I held a talk over the past weekend on “How Young Working Adults Can Avoid Buying Costly Financial Products”. I feel strongly about people being misled into being shortchanged by the industry and hence I wanted to share my experiences and knowledge on how people can avoid it.