I read with great amusement in the newspaper about a heiress who left S$16.5m to her 3 dogs upon her demise. Now, her son is challenging her Will in court (see article Son's fury as heiress mother leaves £8m to her DOGS, £17m to her housekeepers... and just £650,000 to him< ). Well, perhaps that is what the rich people do with their money like leaving large sum to dogs. But on a more serious … [Read more...]
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These articles were published on CPF Are You Ready? website which covers general financial planning matters.
Man lost almost his entire HDB property to siblings due to poor financial planning
I want to tell a story of how a person lost his entire HDB flat due to poor financial planning. No, it isn’t another property agent who rented his HDB illegally. The purpose of this blog article is to highlight the importance of financial planning but it is not meant to make fun of any persons. The story goes like this: Mr. Cheong (his real name) bought a HDB flat under joint-tenants with his … [Read more...]
Land International (Far East) land banking fiasco. No legal recourse here?
Today’s Straits Times report entitled “200 lose $6m in British land deals” which apparently these individuals in Singapore were sold plots of land zoned as “greenbelt” – which means no development is allowed. When MAS was asked about the fiasco, this was what the spokeperson said: “Land-banking investments involve investors acquiring direct interests in real estate rather than in securities … [Read more...]
Importance of Financial Planning for Property Purchase
In my most recent financial planning case, one of the items in the plan is with regard to property purchase planning. My client did not own any property and he wishes to buy one. His budget for a mortgage loan was $3m. I want to share some of the details of the plan through my discussion with him. His desire was to have a maximum loan period of 30 years but with the intention of early payment … [Read more...]
10 myths about wealth management
Myth 1 – Invest as early as you can because the longer the time horizon the greater return. Fact – Regardless of how early you start investing, you have to consider other greater needs such as the need to accumulate the emergency cash, budget to buy a property (which is currently sky rocketing like nobody’s business), set aside budget for marriage and family etc. All these require huge … [Read more...]
Insufficient insurance coverage caused widow to downgrade flat when husband died one year after twins were born
Like any other ordinary family, Ms Tan Mei Mei, aged 35 and her husband Hwee Chye had a happy family of three children. Two of the children were twins born in 2004. Like any other family like yours and mine, they must have similar aspirations. Tragedy struck in 2005 - her husband died just one year after the twins were born leaving the widow to take care of herself and the three small children. … [Read more...]
How to avoid scams
In the quest to find better returns at a lower risk, many people have been attracted to alternative investments. If these alternative investments do fall under the Securities and Futures Act (SFA), they are normally only available for Accredited Investor to purchase. Most common examples are hedge funds. However, many of these alternative investments do not fall under the definitions as … [Read more...]
Lack of Will caused 87 years old grandma to be kicked out of Bedok Reservoir flat
To highlight the importance of financial planning and its relevance to the ordinary man-in-the-street, I want to cite a real life example of a tragic case in which a 87 years old grandmother was forced out of the HDB flat by her grandson. The related newspaper article from Straits Times Man goes to court to get grandma out of his flat. The case is summarized as follows: Mr. Chee Han Meng … [Read more...]
Should you terminate your Investment Linked Policies?
Now that you realised you bought a lemon, the next question is whether should you terminate your investment linked policies. What is the impact of terminating the ILP? What should you do if you are faced with the decision to terminate the investment linked policy? I have many clients who bought unsuitable products and as a result have to postpone their retirement for many years. Let’s say if … [Read more...]
Economic reality of your net worth (balance sheet) i.e. ILPs increases your debt
Your networth is a balance sheet listing your assets and liabilities. The difference for both is called the net worth. However, the net worth or balance sheet contains many “off-balance sheet” items. Today, I’ll write about the most common off-balance sheet item. I will give an example: Let’s say your net worth is as below: Assets Cash $30,000 Property $400,000 Liability Mortgage … [Read more...]
