Have You Planned? - Page 10 Of 23 - Protection, Medical, Investment, Retirement (A Financial Education Blog)

Why You Can Save Some Money With Daily Deal Site Like Yipit

by FinancialDex
October 24, 2011
Money Matters

How many Daily Deal Sites are you currently signed up with? And if you are in the US, have you check out Yipit yet?

The Concept Behind Daily Deal Sites

For some of the Coupon Sites that I have came across and mentioned in this blog, Daily Deal sites like Yipit have quite a similar concept – offering deals/coupons that you cannot miss. A coupon site may list out all available discount coupons for online shopping sites whereas a Daily Deal site will list a Special Deal of the Day, enticing you with offers that may have up to 90% off the usual price.

All in all, these sites want your money and want you to engage in some shopping, forms of pampering and de-stressing in whatever ways you want to call it!

Daily Deal Site May Help You To Save Money

Personally I do feel that Daily Deal Sites can help one to save money while still allowing one to enjoy life. I have seen many of my female clients who enjoy a weekly session of spas, massage, manicure or pedicure and they are so willing to pay so much for each session or even to pay one lump sum for a certain package.

But with the existence of Daily Deal Sites, I do see some of my female clients having a change in their spending habits – they are always in the lookout for special deals like a huge discount in a manicure or massage session and they are also less likely to sign up for packages because they know they will have some good deals coming up from one of these sites that can still allow them to enjoy their life!

Financial Planning Point Of View

Why Most Singaporeans Will Never Get Enough Insurance Coverage

by FinancialDex
October 8, 2011
Financial Planning

If you are a Singaporean, you will definitely have read that for the last few years, the newspaper has been stating that most Singaporeans are under-insured by as much as $100k – $200k, given that the average insurance coverage that one should get to protect him/her against unforeseen circumstances like Death, Permanent Disability should be around $450k+…

This Situation Will Not Improve For Years To Come – Financial Planner Version

I was speaking to my ex-colleague some time back and she was highlighting that there’s been a change in the sales requirements (or in their context, the minimum sales amount they need in order to stay in that job). Their requirements would need them to “sell” at least $15,000 (and above) of annual premium, $100,000 (and above) of single premium and around $5,000 of annual premium in Investment Plans…

If you are able to hit these amount and go beyond, you will be look upon by your sales manager and group sales director and you will get rewarded with more perks and benefits. If you are way below these amount, you may lose your job, get invited to a one-to-one sales motivational talk by your manager or be made to attend “sales clinic” to improve your selling skill…

Looking at the range of insurance plans that a Financial Planner can recommend, e.g. a Whole-Life Plan vs Term Insurance Plan and a person who really need some form of insurance coverage, e.g. Critical Illnesses… which of the above plan will the Financial Planner recommend? Make a guess… if you have talked to Planners before, you will definitely see a trend… they will recommend the Whole Life Plan… they know you need the coverage and they will do some planning for you and suggest a minimum sum assured of $100,000.

For a typical 30 years old guy, working and healthy, the average monthly premium for a whole life insurance plan can be at the range of $200/month or $2,400/year. If that guy is not willing, the recommended amount may be reduced by half to a sum assured of $50,000 with an average premium of $1,200/year. The next stage for this Financial Planner is to suggest that this new client should have his yearly review and to increase the coverage (=higher premium) if possible.

Deal is closed and this Financial Planner would just need to find around 11-12 of such similar type of client and he is more or less made it through that sales month…

If we look into another type of Financial Planner who believes in planning for others and would want to plan well, he may suggest that prospect to take on Term Insurance that may cover him for $200k and above for just $30/month (or $360/year). You see the difference in the premium amount and the coverage suggested?

Should the first Financial Planner behave like the second Financial Planner, he would have to find an average of 40 clients (I believe this Financial Planner may just collapse and eventually quit the industry because of over-exhaustion…)

Other Factors Include (Not Ultimately The Whole List):

Are You Depending On Your Bank Savings Account For Your Retirement?

by FinancialDex
September 23, 2011September 23, 2011
Money Matters

Have you checked out your local banks’ websites (notice the ‘s’ for the banks) and their revised interest rates for having a normal savings account with them?

If you have not… please do check them out now and come back to this post later… because if you have always depend on your savings account to plan and fund your retirement, it’s time to think twice and plan otherwise!

For The Privileged Few Who Keep Their Earnings In The Banks

I do know of a few friends and acquaintances who are earning way beyond their means and they are good with their personal finances and planning as well, therefore even though the Banks are not giving them “that good” interest rate, their own earning abilities will help them through…

But if you are still working towards being like them… you can consider taking on these few suggestions to help you make your money work harder! They are not guaranteed to work for everybody but if you are persistent enough, they may just work well for you along the way!

A Lesson First – What Does The Interest Rate Work For Your Money In The Bank?

Back when some Local Banks can still offer an interest rate of around 1% per annum, if you manage to have $10,000 with them, you can see a good $100 being given to you as a form of interest at the end of the year. And if you keep that amount + interest for another year, you will have an additional $101 being added on. May not seem significant but if you do the calculations, the additional amount will just keep increasing as long as you do not touch the money!

The additional and increasing amount that’s being given to you is due to the Magic of Compounding Returns and because of the number that’s being attached as the Bank Interest Rate.

Secondly, if you want to know how long it will take for this $10,000, you can use the Rule of 72 to calculate the estimated number of years needed with that interest rate. Simply take 72 to be divided by 1 (the interest rate) and you will simply get 72 years! Don’t look too shocked as yet!

Now… When The Local Banks Decide To Lower That Interest Rate To An Even Lower Rate

When the interest rate is lowered down to just 0.1%, your $10,000 is just making you $10 a year (instead of the usual $100) and it’s also taking 720 years for that money to double! You can look shocked now!

So is this how you want your hard-earned money to work harder for you? If not, it’s time to make some adjustments and take on some of these suggestions…

How To Make Your Money Work Slightly Harder…

#1 Put Your Money Into Fixed Term Deposits With Local Banks or Foreign Banks

You can start shopping around for Fixed Term Deposits with different banks. Not all banks offer the same interest rate throughout, so it’s advisable for you to check out the different rates being offered. For example, I have came across Banks from India (but having their offices in Singapore) that offer slightly higher interest rate as compared to local banks.

#1.5 Put Your Money With A Foreign Country

This little tip is shared by one of my clients who operates a business in Vietnam. Because he works and stays there most of the time, he is able to open a bank account over there and guess what… the interest rate for their savings accounts is, on the average, a double digit per year!

If you do have the chance to work overseas for awhile, it’s advisable to check out this opportunity! But do take note of the terms and conditions attached to it.

#2 Put Your Money Into A Single Premium Plan With An Insurance Company

You may not get a double digit interest rate but you will definitely get higher interest rate as compared to a Fixed Term Deposit, given that you are comfortable with setting that money aside for a longer time frame.

Learn From An Expert In Becoming Rich – Ramit Sethi

by FinancialDex
September 4, 2011
Financial Planning

How do you get rich in today’s kind of society without having to take it on your own and going through all the unnecessary mistakes? If you are interested to know how, you can learn from this expert, who is also a New York Bestselling Author – Ramit Sethi.

How To Start Learning From Ramit Sethi

If you are into reading, you can actually get the book written by Ramit Sethi – “I Will Teach You To Be Rich”.

Or if you are into reading from a blog (a highly visited site with about 250,000 readers every month), you can actually head over to his blog which is updated on a regular basis – IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com. You can even subscribe to his Newsletter when you are over there. This may just be a valuable resource to you!

Why There’s A Lot To Learn From Ramit Sethi

Work Towards A 4-Hour Lifestyle By Learning From Tim Ferriss

by FinancialDex
August 31, 2011
Uncategorized

Have you heard about Tim Ferriss and his 4-Hour book series – The 4-Hour Workweek (this book is on better managing your life with the least efforts) and The 4-Hour Body (this book is on how to have a healthy body with the most effective methods)?

He has been one person that I have been following closely on areas of improving my lifestyle and because I have learned some much from him, I would like to share a little about him and his works in this blog post.

If you have not came across this person and his works but have been looking for means and ways to improve your life and your body, Tim Ferriss is one good person (and his works) to start learning from…

Why Learn From Tim Ferriss

Most of us are overworked employees who are working hard (in our own desired ways) to make our money work harder so that we can have a sustainable lifestyle for now and for the future.

Though most people may be contented with this kind of lifestyle, some of us wish that we can find a way out… to escape the dreaded rat race, get to enjoy 5- or even 6- figure annual income without having to really work that hard for it or even just being able to live a joyous life and at the same time the luxury to work less…

It may seems that these wishes may be hard to come by… but Tim Ferriss has successfully done so and which you can read more on how he did it and what you can do about it in his 4-Hour Workweek book (highly recommended).

A Better Lifestyle And A Healthier Body

Your Comments – My Replies #3

by FinancialDex
August 30, 2011
Financial Planning

I would like to thank Marc for visiting my blog and posting his comment after his read on my posts on the importance of having Mortgage Insurance to protect a Mortgage Bank Loan. If you are interested in reading what I have written on this particular topic, these are the links:

– Mortgage Insurance For Your Mortgage Loan – Part 1 of 3

– Mortgage Insurance For Your Mortgage Loan – Part 2 of 3

– Mortgage Insurance For Your Mortgage Loan – Part 3 of 3

And this is the comment by Marc:

“Hi, it seems from your article that one can purchase a mortgage insurance with a sum assured higher than the loan amount; coverage longer than the loan tenure.

Please elaborate how this insurance can help one in time of need after the loan has been paid up completely. Doesn’t the insurance lapsed automatically once the loan had been paid up?”

This Is My Reply:

– With Regards To Higher Sum Assured and Longer Coverage Period

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