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The Cons Of Having Many Of The Same Policy Types

This post is a response to one of the readers who has recently posted a comment on this post. Therefore I do hope that, with this post, I can help to bring out some pointers on the cons of having the many of the same insurance policy types…

When Are There Cons To Having Too Many Of The Same Policy Types?

The existence of cons depends on the terms and conditions stated by various insurance companies. So it is always better to check with the Financial Planners representing each of them. Things worth checking out:

#1 The Maximum Amount Of Insurance Coverage

Some insurance companies tie the maximum amount of insurance coverage against Death and/or Critical Illnesses against a factor of one’s annual income. For example, some insurance companies may set 16 – 20 times of annual income as the maximum sum assured for a whole life or term insurance. So if you are earning $100,000 per year, the maximum amount of insurance coverage that you can get may be set as $2,000,000. Any amount beyond that may mean that you are over-insured and insurance companies may just pay up to that limit.

If you are thinking that it’s unfair since you have the means to pay the premiums, but do think of people who may take advantage, e.g. a person deeply in debt and unemployed but has some savings to tide him over… he decides to get a $1 million dollars term insurance to cover himself and he decides to commit suicide after a year (of which the premium paid is just a few thousands). This will be unfair to the Insurance Company and to the pool of policyholders, do you agree?

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Cancer Finds Anyone That Is Young Or Old, Rich Or Poor

If you have ever thought that you are healthy (eat well, sleep well, exercise well) and you will be free from any form of illnesses and you do not need to have any health or life insurance to cover yourself… think again… I have just realized that one of my healthy friends have just contracted early stages of cancer but he is on the way to recovery because of early detection and after going through chemotherapy cycles.

Cancer Finds Just About Anybody

This is a hard fact that you cannot simply avoid! This form of illness will find just about anybody – regardless of age, health and financial status. You can be 100% conscious of your health or fitness level but you can never 100% avoid it if it ever does come knocking at your door. Though it is still as important to be health conscious, it does pay to have more attention that you are always financially prepared (be it now or in the future) to handle such situation!

Why It Matters To Be Financially Prepared

Understood from my friend that once you know there are signs of contracting it, it is going to be a toll financially…  from a simple pain in a particular body area  to the stage of convincing yourself to see a doctor to get a proper diagnose that is already the beginning of a financial nightmare – you have to pay (and keep paying) to go for medical tests after medical tests just to confirm the status.

Once you have confirmed that its not a good sign, you have to speak to a specialist to diagnose the stage at which you may be in and to start arranging for advance medical treatments and screenings. The road to recovery is there but the reality of life is that you have to pay to go through it. Meanwhile if you are working for a living, this road to recovery will have some effects on it as well – because of the treatments involved, you will be too tired to work, so most probably you have to put yourself on long (paid and unpaid) medical leave…

How To Get Yourself Prepared For Any Health Situation

#1 You Need To Exercise

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Are You Sure You Are Still Covered Under DPS?

It was two days ago that I received an email comment on one of my earlier posts on the topic of Dependants’ Protection Scheme (DPS) and in it I was asked to provide some advice on why a passed-on family member may not be covered by DPS when it’s obvious that there’s enough CPF money in the account…. and there’s been so much confusion/unhappiness that the family is wondering if they are still able to make claims from it and if so… how can they do so…

What Is Dependants’ Protection Scheme Or DPS?

(As quoted from the CPF Board website) The Dependants’ Protection Scheme (DPS) is an affordable term insurance scheme that provides insured members and their families with some money to get through the first few years should the insured members become permanently incapacitated or pass away.

And for most of its members, they use the money in their CPF-OA account to service the yearly premium. The deduction is usually set to automatic but there’s the usual yearly reminder that the annual premium is due and pending for deduction at a certain date. Insured members are also reminded to make sure that there’s enough money left in the CPF-OA for premium deductions…

If there’s really the case whereby the insured member has no enough money in the CPF-OA account, there will be a letter that’s being sent to notify about the lack of funds and also the alternative to top up the difference with cash at one of the designated Insurance Companies.

Should the insured member forget to make the payment after the grace period, the DPS plan will usually be terminated and an official letter will normally be mailed out to notify as well…

So Why Is It Important To Understand What’s Mentioned Above For DPS?

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Why Is It Important For You To Nominate If You Have Assets

If you have assets (e.g. whole life insurance, term insurance, savings deposits, etc) that you have intention to leave for certain someones (in mind) instead of having to go through the proper estate proceedings, it’s always good to do up (as soon as possible) your own Nomination either through a proper Nomination Form provided by Insurance Companies or engage a Lawyer to do up a Proper Will!

There could be certain consequences if you have accidentally left this planning out…

What Happened When You Never Do A Nomination For Your Assets

I know of two brothers whose parents are divorced since the elder brother was very young and his younger brother did not even know how his father looked like. So the mother had been the one raising them up.

Long story short… the mother fell sick and passed away… followed by the Elder Brother… and the younger brother has been the one paying off the medical debts (that’s why you need to have medical insurance to cover yourself) and other expenses over their last few years.

The mother and the elder brother had never done up any nominations and wills. And when it comes to the distribution of assets, the proper estate regulations have to be followed. But because the mother’s assets is less than $2000, it was written off as funeral expenses and the younger brother is able to claim back. But there was an issue with the elder brother’s assets because it’s more than $2000 and it cannot be written off as funeral expenses (even though the amount is very near to it).

This assets have been to be claimed by the official next-of-kin – the Father whom nobody knows about his whereabouts and his personal details (Date of Birth, Identification Numbers, his Point Of Contact, etc). In the end, the Authority is not willing to release the money to the Younger Brother (even though he has indirectly became the Next Of Kin over the last few years) and that amount of money has to be kept with the Authority indefinitely until the Father has made a claim for it.

Do note… there’s no expiry date to this waiting… which means that the money will never ever be released…  So would you ever want this to ever happen to you (or to someone that you know), especially if the amount that we are talking about is of a significant amount?!

What Are The Alternatives For That Younger Brother

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Check Out This Resource Site For Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards

Just came across this resource site – CashMoneyLife.com and if you are looking for some information on the best balance transfer credit cards, you may wish to check out this article to explore further.

What Happened When You Have A Balance On Your Credit Card

Having a Credit Card can be a good and a bad Financial Instrument Tool. Those who have it can make good use of it to enjoy discounts on certain purchases or other shopping benefits that you may not be able to enjoy when you make purchases with cash. But those who have it but do not know how to control their spending may end up having a balance coupled with high interest rate that will affect their finances and even their future lifestyles and families…

And if you are having such issues with clearing these balances… it’s good to have some alternatives like what I have just checked out – balance transfer credit cards. And if you like to know how this works you can click on the link above to understand better.

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My Two Months Personal Experience With Forex Trading As A Beginner

In the last two months of 2011, I took on a personal adventure to take on a new Investment Tool – Forex Trading. I started out with a US$100 mini-account from the start and at the end of the two months stint, I ended with only $4 and decided that it should be the end of my Forex Trading journey till the date I mastered what’s necessary to really make the money work harder with this tool…

But meanwhile, if you do have intentions to take on this Investment Tool and you are also starting off like a Beginner… maybe I can personally share my experience and what you can expect (if you are going serious on this)…

Can You Make Money With Forex Trading

The answer is definitely yes! And if you are really experienced with it, you can make money during the Good Times and Bad Times regardless on the economic conditions – though this still play a part in influencing the movement of a particular currency.

Despite the fact that you can really make money with it, the other side (= losing money) will still apply to anybody if you are not careful and when you trade without any considerations.

And as compared to other investment tools like Investing with Stocks or Property, you can see Profits (and even) Losses in a matter of hours or even minutes (of which I have seen traders making a quick 100% profit gain in 2 minutes – and this is the effect of doing their homework and timing the market well).

What You Need To Take Note When You Are Trading As A Beginner (From My Point Of View)

1. Read The News And Understand The Market. In Forex Trading, understanding the news will help you to become a Better Trader. And if you can take a piece of news and decipher what it means to a particular currency, for e.g. the news you just hear is sort of negative for a particular currency and thus will people think that it’ more profitable to exchange that currency to hold onto others, etc. If you can relate this well, I believe you are off to a good start being a Forex Trader.

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