1961 water pact ends

for all of the baby boomers who are still around today, half a century have already gone by (oh, how time flies) and we are seeing the expiry of the 1961 water agreement between singapore and johor.

yes, if this is indeed the end of the whole deal, then perhaps we may be pretty concerned about our water supply. because for the past 50 years, 4 waterworks in johor, managed and operated by singapore's pub and producing about 15 million gallons of water a day were handed back to johor's water authorities witnessed by our minister for the environment and water resources, dr vivian balakrishnan and the sultan of johor, ibrahim iskander.

but in the long term planning executed by our government, we still have the 1962 agreement, augmented by another 1990 agreement, that will run all the way to 2061, which by then our tiny red dot nation would be on track to achieve water self-sufficiency.

my comments:

hats off to our government for their immaculate long range 'vision' to ensure we continue to have drinking water for the entire population of singapore which has since grown to approx 5 million people currently.

and that's why when my thoughts drift to folks who really take the time and effort to do financial planning, this group clearly belongs to the minority. perhaps we should all learn from our government's example in thinking and planning 'long-term' with positive outcomes.

why long-term?

because apart from our government, hardly anyone else does it and this is even more imperative given today's smaller families* and growing life expectancy.

*Singapore's Total Fertility Rate hit a historical low of 1.16 in 2010.
For the Chinese community, it was 1.02 in 2010, down from 1.14 in 2008.
For the Malay community, it was 1.65 in 2010, a dive from 1.91 in 2008.
The Indian community too has been facing declining fertility rates: 1.13 in 2010, down from 1.19 in 2008.

that's why, even though i may be in my 14th year in the financial industry, it still remains a tall order for me to reach out to individuals and families on the importance of financial planning.