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Retirement Planning

Why Will The CPF Minimum Sum Keep Increasing – Financial Planning Point Of View

There was quite a bit of hu-has on my Facebook’s news feed with lots of unhappiness that the CPF’s Minimum Sum has increased from $123,000 to $131,000 and that many more people will not be able to take their hard-earned money out from their CPF accounts and these money will eventually be “taken away” from them

Be assured that the “taken away” part will not be the case as I have seen many of my clients who have reached their draw-down age, did not reach the Minimum Sum and are still able to take out their money.

I will not be dedicating this post to how you will be drawing your CPF money when you reach the draw-down age or explain what you need to do if you are unable to reach the Minimum Sum. But rather, I will explain the rationale behind the annual increment of the Minimum Sum from the Financial Planning Point of View.

Proper Planning For Retirement – The Concept Behind The Minimum Sum

If you are truly concerned about planning for your Retirement, a Financial Advisor would usually sit down with you and work out the numbers. For instance, to plan for your Retirement, you would need to know a few numbers like

  • How much you would like to have and to spend each month and in today’s dollar
  • How long you would like to have these sum of money
  • What is your feel for the average rate of inflation

An Example To Illustrate The Above

Read More »Why Will The CPF Minimum Sum Keep Increasing – Financial Planning Point Of View

High Blood Pressure – The Silent Killer To Your Health And Insurance

Do you know that most Singaporeans do not know that they are having High Blood Pressure or Hypertension till they have:

Gone through a first-time ever Routine Medical Health Check

– Experienced those frequent dizziness or headaches and decided to see a doctor

And the people suffering from it can be from all walks of life, e.g.

– you can be  healthy and fit but you are working under a stressful environment.

– because of the high intake of alcohol, salt (unknowingly) and fatty rich food as part of the daily meals

These are just two common reasons that my clients have shared with me for their cause of High Blood Pressure.

Do you also know…

Do you also know that once you have this condition, you are most likely going to be under a very long term medication and you have to be under a lower medication dosage even if the condition is stabilized. In other words, you cannot take yourself out of medication once you are diagnosed with High Blood Pressure!

A Concern To Take Note Of

And if you do know that you are having high blood pressure and under medications, its impact on your Financial Planning will usually be:

loading (extra premiums required and usually a minimum of 25% extra) for your normal life insurance application

exclusion (any conditions leading from high blood pressure) for your health insurance application

long term medication costs that you need to factor in to your Retirement Planning

The So-Called Symptoms Of High Blood Pressure

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The Factors To A Comfortable Retirement

Are you prepared for your Retirement?

Most people will say no, that’s no surprise, because to these people, Retirement Planning starts only at the last 5-10 years of their working life. Whatever they have by then will determine the kind of lifestyle they will live during their Retirement. And also a risk factor to consider is that a sudden high expenditure during Retirement will deplete this amount drastically, leaving the future really uncertain…

So should you be noticing this kind of situation, and you do not wish to be in it, then it’s time to take into considerations to a comfortable retirement.

The Factors To A Comfortable Retirement:

1. Time

2. The Interest Rate

3. The Lump Sum Amount

4. Budgeting

The First Factor – Time

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Your Comments – My Replies #1

Here is my first attempt dedicating a single post (my replies) to the comments that you have posted in this blog. Also big thanks for taking the time to read the posts and spending some time on this site! Hope this blog has helped you in some manner of Financial Planning and most importantly – Make You Want To Plan Today!

Special Thanks To Andre Of Beginning With Finance For The 4 Comments!

Today, I am lucky enough to have Andre Of Beginning With Finance to contribute 4 of his personal comments to some of my posts and in the comments, he actually raised some good questions (this guy is serious about Planning His Finances) which I intend to post my replies through this post.

Meanwhile do click over to his Blog and read up some tips on managing your Finances!

Answering His Comments…

1. My Post: Have You Started Your Retirement Planning? His Comment: Hey Dexter, 2% for Inflation Is Actually Low? Is It Better To Over-State The Inflation Rate While Planning For Retirement?

My Reply: 2% for inflation is seriously low. The actual inflation rate is on the average of 4 – 5%. To over-state the inflation rate while planning for retirement would definitely be better and you would get more realistic results.

But if you have done the calculations yourself (which I have did), I would need to set aside $600/month for the next 37 years in order to achieve a comfortable retirement income of $2000/month. If I have done up a higher inflation rate, it would only mean that I have to set aside a much higher (than $600/month) which may be beyond my means and also that I may not be that committed to do so.

My personal feel is that if you are able to and are actually setting aside more than $600/month as an average Singaporean (earning around $2500/month) despite having to succumb to temptation of life – entertainment, gadgets, good food, holiday trips, handphone bills and parents’ allowances, is actually a remarkable feat in reality!

Therefore there’s nothing wrong to plan with inflation rate of 2%, as long as you know the fact that you need to really save is most important! Also do note that when stuffs are actually becoming more expensive over the years, there are still some lucky breaks e.g. Chicken Rice are mostly selling for $3 per plate (due to inflation) now, there are some outlets that are still willing to sell for $1.50 to $2.50. Lesser Meat but still fills your tummy!

Key Pointers: Do know that there’s inflation in reality. And you need to save no matter what! Be comfortable with your committed and regular savings!

2. My Post:  You Are Unhealthy For Your Insurance… What Happen Now? Part 2 of 2. His Comment: Hey Dexter, How About Migraine and/or Hep B? Thanks!

Read More »Your Comments – My Replies #1