Fixed deposits (FDs) are regarded as safe instrument to earn interest
on your money. You place with a specific sum of money for an agreed
term and interest rate offered by the bank. Larger deposits or longer
terms of duration have higher interest rates. Generally, the rates
offered are higher than those of regular deposit/savings accounts. Upon
maturity, you can take your deposit amount and earned interest or you
can renew the investment.

Endowment

Endowment
plans are popular in Singapore as they have fixed maturity dates that
have Insurance and an element of savings built into them. Many
Endowment plans allow you to choose amount of insurance coverage and
savings you want. These plans allow your savings to accumulate interest
which is usually higher than bank interest rates.

Investment Linked Insurance

Investment Linked Insurance plans,
as its name suggests, gives you protection and at the same time allows
you to invest your savings in primarily unit trusts which consists of
bonds, equities, REITS etc, that has the potential to give higher
returns. Many Investment Linked plans allow you to choose amount of
coverage. This would be more suitable for younger people as they have
the time to ride out market volatility.

Annuity

An annuity works the opposite way of life insurance. It provides a hedge against outliving your savings.

An
annuity contract is created when an individual gives life insurance
company money which may grow on a tax-deferred basis and then can be
distributed back to the owner in several ways. The defining
characteristic of most annuity contracts is the option for a guaranteed
distribution of income until the death of the person or persons named
in the contract.

Variable annuity
is a type of annuity that has an investment backdrop as there is a
potential for higher returns. Variable annuities are usually invested
in unit trusts and variable annuity contract by making either a single
purchase payment or a series of purchase payments.

Deffered annuity
is another type of annuity which commences after a specified period in
order to earn higher interest. Deffered annuity can be either fixed or
variable depending on the plan.

CALL/SMS  97775701 or Email cj@investmentsg.com

Currently IM$savvy is running a financial literacy quiz. By doing this quiz, you can test your know-how with a quick 10 minute quiz and discover your IMsavvy financial literacy type, Guru , Cool Due,Average Joe and Boh-chup!

I have completed the quiz and of course I scored a Guru!

My review about this quiz: great questions which really target general Singaporean. In fact, these questions are often ask or misunderstand by my clients and friends too. Therfore, I highly recommend you to take this quiz to better understand financial planning and most importantly yourself, furthermore you might be walking away with a new iPod 8GD or Asus EeePC.

If you think you have great financial planning knowledge or someone who think you don’t need an independent financial adviser and can take care of your own financial planning, you should try this quiz, if you score anywhere below Average Joe, you should seriously consider changing your belief and start getting an financial adivser (Not Insurance Agent) before is too late!

Once completed, Please share with us your Quiz experience & score by dropping us your comments.

If you happen to win the iPod 8GB or Ausu Eee PC, do share with us your joy too! So hurry, visit IMsavvy website now!

IM$avvy is a personal financial planning educational website run by the Central Provident Fund Board and supported by MoneySENSE.

AIG Corporate Assist-Enhanced lets you travel the world in complete freedom, knowing you have comprehensive protection – whether occasional business travelers or corporate globe-trotters, you can choose your plan from the widest range of benefits and services.

What’s New

* Maximum length of each business trip increased to 120 days
* Covers personal deviation immediately before and after a business trip up to 45 days
* Covers age up to 80 years
* Automatic Extension of coverage period of up to 30 days due to Hospitalisation / Quarantine
* Home Leave Extension of up to 14 days for expatriates
* Full Terrorism Coverage
* Option for leisure travel

Countries Grouping

Regional – Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

International - All other countries not listed as Regional

Basic Coverage Include:

1. Medical & Accidental Dental Expenses Incurred Overseas
   Covers overseas medical expenses incurred as a result of accident or sickness whilst traveling
2. Return Treatment
   Covers medical expenses incurred for treatment or follow-up treatment in Singapore or place of regular employment up to 45 days
3. Treatment by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
   Covers Traditional Chinese Medicine expenses incurred whilst overseas and follow-up treatment in Singapore or place of regular employment
4. Hospital Confinement Benefit
   Pays S$200 for every complete day the Insured Person is hospitalised overseas
5. Double Hospital Confinement Benefit in ICU
   Pays S$400 for every complete day the Insured Person is hospitalised overseas in an Intensive Care Unit
6. Hospital Visitation
   Pays incidental expenses for the visit of up to two friends or relatives if the Insured Person requires hospitalisation for more than 5 days whilst overseas
7. Emergency Telephone Charges
   Reimbursement of mobile telephone charges for medical related services in contacting American International Assistance Services (AIAS)
8. Emergency Medical Evacuation
   Covers all American International Assistance Services (AIAS) Emergency Medical Evacuation expenses
9. Repatriation Expenses
   Covers all AIAS expenses incurred in returning the mortal remains of the Insured Person, to Singapore
10. Direct Repatriation Expenses
    Covers all AIAS expenses incurred in returning the mortal remains of the Insured Person, to his/her home country
11. Compassionate Visit
    Pays for the incidental expenses of sending two relatives or friends if assistance is required to assist in repatriation arrangements of the Insured Person’s mortal remains
12. Accidental Death & Permanent Disablement
    Covers the Insured Person in the event of Accidental Death and Disablement
13. Accidental Burns Benefit
    Covers the Insured Person for serious burns in the event of an accident
14. Fracture Benefit
    Pays for fractures suffered in an accident
15. Compassionate Death Allowance
    Pays a lump sum allowance in the event the Insured Person suffers a loss of life due to an accident
16. Child Education Fund
    Pays a lump sum education fund in the event the Insured Person suffers a loss of life due to an accident
17. Trip Cancellation Expenses
    Covers loss of irredeemable travel and accommodation expenses paid in advance and occurring up to 30 days prior to departure
18. Trip Curtailment Expenses
    Covers additional travel or accommodation expenses incurred or forfeited after the commencement of the Trip
19. Travel Delay
    Pays S$200 for each 6 full consecutive hours of delay whilst overseas or in Singapore
20. Travel Misconnection
    Covers expenses incurred as a result of misconnection scheduled conveyance for at least 6 consecutive hours
21. Baggage Delay
    Pays S$200 for each full 6 consecutive hours that the Insured Person’s baggage is delayed whilst overseas or upon arrival in Singapore
22. Damage or Loss of Personal Baggage
    Covers loss or damage to baggage, clothing, personal effects & golfing equipment
    (Max. S$1000 for any one article or pair or set of article)
23. Damage or Loss of Personal Portable Business Equipment
    Covers loss or damage to Mobile phones, Laptop Computers, Personal Digital
    Assistants (PDAs) (Max. S$1000 for any one article or pair or set of article)
24. Loss of Travel Documents & Money including Credit Card Fraud
    Pays the Insured Person’s travel and hotel expenses including cost of obtaining replacement passports, travel tickets and other relevant travel documents
25. Hijack
    Pays S$500 for each complete day the Insured Person is delayed due to an act of hijacking
26. Staff Replacement Benefits
    Pays the cost of sending out a replacement employee to continue the business for the original Insured Person, in the event the Insured Person is unable to continue his/her business due to a disability
27. Credit Card Indemnity
    Pays the outstanding credit bill incurred during the trip in the event the Insured Person dies during a trip
28. Legal Fees
    Pays the legal costs and expenses incurred as a result of dealing with claims for compensation against a third party causing the Insured Person’s Accidental Death or Permanent Disablement during the Overseas Trip.
29. Bail Bond Facility
    Provides assistance in arranging a bail bond if the Insured person is arrested following a road accident during a trip
30. Personal Liability
    Covers the Insured Person against liability to third parties for accidental death or injury or accidental loss or damage to their property caused by his/her negligence
31. Extended to cover you against Death or Injury as a result of :-
    (1) Strike, Riot, Civil Commotion and Terrorism (2) Hijack, Murder and Assault (3) Drowning and Suffocation (4) Exposure and Disapperance (5) Motor-Cycling (6) Unschedule Flight (7) Accidental Miscarriage
32. (1) Automatic Extension of coverage period of up to 30 days due to Hospitalisation/Quarantine
    (2) Home Leave Extension of up to 14 days for expatriates

These coverages are great benefit for your employee who fly for your company, they deserve to be protected. Furthermore, by giving them these benefit it will save your company lots of money if any unfortunate incident happened, think twice!

Premium rate are as cheap as $170 to $380 per annual which is just 0.47 cent per day! If your employee don’t travel as often, you can also go for the AD-HOC premium ranging from $25- $160 per trips only. As a senior consultant, I strongly recommend  your company to go for annual premium which is so much cheaper, and received 365 24/7 coverage without any worries.

For further enquiry, please CALL/SMS  97775701 or Email cj@investmentsg.com

My friend was asking me to search for a ceaper quotation for his expiring car insurance therefore I got some details from him. Realise that his car had experience 2 claims in the last 12 months and the claimable amount is not small too. From my experience, sticking with his existing NTUC plan will be a better choice.

Desipte of that, I still submit as many quote requests to the varies motor insurance companies, and some reject to quote while others have a higher premium as compared to NTUC income.

Therefore, we carry on with the paper work for the renewal.

NTUC motor insurance provide one of the more competitive rate in the market right now. In the past, some of us will feel that the low premium rate is relevant to the services we get in return, as many people feedback that their claim process was very slow and customer service was bad etc.

After the recent reforms, changes and with the new CEO on board, we realise many improvement and changes in NTUC Incom. Better products, new revolution plan, better customer services and support and of course back end running is so much smoother than before. As a consultant, we can also experience it especially when we call their hotline, the response is so much faster and waiting time is greatly reduces.

Anyway back to the NTUC car insurance, it also come with a 6 or 12 month Easy Payment Option for people who don’t want to make lump sum payment. Good option. So how it works?

You just need to pay up front first 2 months premium and sign up for the GIRO deduction which will be activated on the third month only. No interest for insurance premium, but there is a $3 dollars charge for late payment. You will be given 14 days to clear all late payment.

For road tax, to my understanding, it is available for 12 month road tax only, not sure if 6 months road tax can participate in this EPO. There is a 3% interest or fee is charge on the principle amount. Please also take note that you need to inform NTUC as early as possible if you wanted to participate in this option as they need to inform LTA accordingly.

If not you can pay your road tax online here at one motoring

Therefore this NTUC Easy Payment Option is a great feature for people without credit card and wanted to pay road tax and car insurance in installment.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

If you need to renew your car insurance, from any motor companies, you can contact us and we can give you special rebates and vouchers, plus we will handle all your documentation until delivering the policy right to your door step!

CALL/SMS  97775701 or Email cj@investmentsg.com

Specialize in All General Insurance, generate quotes from all the companies listed below!

* ACE Insurance
* AIG
* Allianz Insurance
* Asia Insurance
* Aviva General Insurance Pte Ltd
* AXA Insurance Singapore Pte Ltd
* China Insurance Co (Singapore) Pte Ltd
* Chubb Group Insurance
* HSBC Insurance
* Liberty Insurance Pte Ltd
* Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance
* NTUC
* Royal & Sun Alliance
* QBE Insurance
* Tenet Insurance

CALL/SMS  97775701 or Email cj@investmentsg.com

The Health Ministry will also facilitate coverage for Singaporean and Permanent Resident (PR) youths from the middle of next year.

Sulaiman Azim is a healthy 11-year-old.

But when he was younger, he was often sick and was hospitalised three times – once for pneumonia and twice for viral infection.

The first in-patient episode when he was just 9 months old, left his parents with a hefty S$17,000 bill.

Without any insurance coverage, they had to foot the cost themselves.

Haslina Abdul Majid, Sulaiman’s mom, says: “We had no choice but to use S$10,000 of our savings to pay for the hospital bills and S$7,000 was deducted from our Medisave account. Of course it was difficult because we didn’t think that he would be in hospital for 25 days. But we had no choice at that time because due to the urgency of his case, we had to admit him to a private hospital instead of a government hospital.”

Madam Haslina learnt from her experience and soon insured her son Sulaiman.

She says: “After the first hospitalisation episode, he was hospitalised again when he was 3 and 5 years old. But for those hospitalisation stays, when the bills came up to S$5,000 and S$7,000 respectively, we did not have to fork out cash because they were fully covered by the insurance. I would urge all parents to buy insurance for their children at the point they were born.

“This is because we really don’t know what’s going to happen – are they going to fall sick along the way, things like that. So when the government came up with the initiative of encouraging or even ensuring that all kids are covered when they were born, I thought it was a good move. I wish that it had started a long time ago when my first child was born.”

Madam Haslina has since also insured her two other children from birth.

To save parents such grief, the government will now offer Medi Shield coverage to children born from December this year.

This will be extended to all children of Permanent Residents.

Those attending Primary One next year will also be offered coverage.

This exercise will be repeated for each batch of Primary One pupils over the next six years – 2009 to 2014.

Students in secondary schools and beyond will be offered coverage starting May 1st.

The Health Ministry says that about half of youths below the age of 20 years are not covered by Medi Shield .

Although it hopes to up this number with the latest move, parents who want their children to opt out of the scheme can do so.

For newborns and youths, premium is at S$30 per year and will be deducted from the father’s Medisave account.

If there are insufficient funds, then it will be deducted from the mother’s Medisave account.

Currently about 75 percent of Singaporeans and PRs are covered by Medi Shield .

With children covered, this number will go up to 85 per cent.

The Ministry says early Medi Shield coverage will help meet medical expenses and lift the financial burden of families.

It is also beneficial, as it is usually difficult to get subsequent insurance coverage once a person develops an illness in his youth. – CNA/ch

CALL/SMS  97775701 or Email cj@investmentsg.com