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happy vesak day 2012

wishing all buddhists a very happy vesak day.

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actress emma yong dies of cancer, aged 36

it has been reported that ms emma yong, aged 36, has passed on after a prolonged bout with late stage stomach cancer which was diagnosed in january last year. the cancer went into remission through aggressive chemotherapy but she suffered a relapse towards the end of last year. my comments: our hearts, thoughts and prayers go out to her family and loved ones. i can relate to the loss of a dear one to cancer as my younger brother also lost his battle with late stage cancer of the kidney some years ago. and this year, all the wakes my wife and myself have attended have been deaths caused by cancer and not necessarily confined to late stage cancer. many of these deaths are certainly not in the script as these people are still in the prime of their lives not unlike ms emma yong at 36 years is another talented individual gone too soon. and cancer will continue to account for many deaths (sadly) because it is still one of the leading cause of deaths in our tiny red dot nation. but there will also be many cancer survivors (thank God) and for this group of people whom i have met over the course of my role as a financial advisor, the good news is that many will continue to lead normal lives but on the flip side, taking up insurance may remain a wish on their 'things-to-do' list.

may day 2012

today is labour day and i add my salute to our labour force, not only in our tiny red dot nation but all over the world. have a well deserved holiday!

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launch of zurich life insurance singapore

today, david choo, the md of promiseland independent pte ltd and myself attended the grand launch of zurich life insurance singapore at the marina mandarin hotel.

we have heard that zurich international life has applied for a full licence many months ago and today, the subsidiary of zurich insurance group, which is zurich life insurance singapore has been granted a full licence by the monetary authority of singapore to sell products to a wider market where previously, the company could only target a defined market with a restricted licence.

zurich international life has been operating locally since 2006 and has been limited to the mass affluent and affluent market which represents some 5% of the total market.

mr graham morrall, chief executive of zurich life insurance singapore said that with the full licence, the company is reaffirming its full commitment to the singapore market and will enable it to tap a bigger segment of the market although the company does not intend to compete in the mass market.

my comments:

zurich life insurance already has tie-ups with both anz and citibank to tap the bancassurance channel and will explore more bank partners to distribute their products.

it also has an existing agency force of approximately 50 tied agents and aims to double this number by the end of 2012.

across the causeway, zurich financial services has already acquired compostie insurer, malaysian assurance alliance.

we are excited to be a partner of zurich life insurance singapore and what this means is that consumers here will benefit from having another insurer to add to the wide range of insurance products already available from existing players in our tiny red dot nation.

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government revises healthcare subsidies for PRs

the ministry of health has announced that the healthcare subsidies for prs will be revised downwards for in-patient services (class B2 and class C wards), day surgery and specialist outpatient clinics in government restructured hospitals as well as intermediate and long term care services.

for the intermediate and long term care sector, the adjustments will be implemented in the third quarter of 2012, while the changes in the government restrutured hospitals will see the implementation in 2 phases; in october 2012 and april 2013 to mitigate the effect of these adjustments on prs.

please refer to the coming changes as reflected in the tables as shown.

my comments:

for singapore citizens clamouring for more recognition of the differentiation from prs, this is one of our government's response to putting singaporeans first.

i suppose it is also inevitable given that medical or healthcare costs tend to rise the fastest and i believe insurers offering integrated shield products will have to go back to their drawing board to re-look at the current pricing vis-a-vis the coming implementation of lower subsidies for prs.

and i wouldn't be surprised that the current prices will not stay status-quo once the implementation kicks-in especially with the most cuts on subsidies affecting those who are in the higher or highest income brackets.

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thank God, it's friday

quoting the Bible from the book of John, Chapter 3 verse 16:

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

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aviva - pre-launch of my retirement

officially, aviva has scheduled the launch of their latest product, my retirement on april 04, 2012.

what is aviva my retirement?

this is a limited and regular premium participating endowment product with coverage for death and terminal illness and comes with the following features:

a. limited premium payment of 8 policy years or premium payment for up to 5
years prior to the selected retirement age which is age 50, 55, 60 or 65
years.
b. guaranteed issuance for basic plan and
c. guaranteed retirement income benefit.

the guaranteed retirement income benefit comes with the flexibility of the following options:

a. receive a monthly guaranteed retirement income benefit for 10 years
b. receive the usual full lump sum payment or
c. receive a partial lump sum payment and thereafter, receive a monthly
guaranteed retirement income benefit for 10 years.

what happens if the policyowner/life assured does not need the money when the guaranteed retirement income benefit is due?

there is an option to re-invest this with aviva at a non-guaranteed interest rate of 3.0% p.a. however, the policyowner/life assured can withdraw this partially or even fully anytime inclusive of the interest. there is a minimum withdrawl amount of $1,000.00 (in multiples of $10.00) or balance available, whichever is lower.

the minimum entry age for this product is 17 years and the maximum is 52 years.


my comments:

consumers can expect launch of new insurance products, not to be plain vanilla but more hybrid in design and features. Endowment products of the past were usually pretty basic, like on the maturity of the policy, the insurer will proceed to make a lump sum payment to the policyowner/life assured.

aviva my retirement must never be taken up for protection as the death benefit on death during the accumulation phase is 101% of total premiums paid + accrued reversionary bonus (if any) + terminal bonus (if any) and death benefit during the retirement income period is 101% of total premiums paid + accrued reversionary bonus (if any) + terminal bonus (if any) minus total retirement income paid out (if any) or cash surrender value (less any indebtedness).

furthermore, the plan does not provide for total and permanent disability benefit as well.

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axa life -

hsbc insurance - launch of early critical care

hsbc insurance has just launched what i term as a second generation critical illness product, early critical care which is one of the most comprehensive protection plans currently available.

benefits at a glance:

Covers 90 conditions
Enjoy comprehensive coverage against a wide range of illnesses.

Provides 100% payout even for early stage critical illness
Early Critical Care pays 100% of the sum assured in the early, intermediate and critical stages#

Covering illnesses not commonly insured in Singapore
Covering prevalent illnesses such as Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever, Diabetic Retinopathy, Osteoporosis and Severe Rheumatoid Arthritis

my comments:

it has to happen, sooner or later with another joining the bandwagon to roll out what i term as a second generation critical illness product.

because hsbc insurance is the latest entrant to the market, it offers the most comprehensive coverage of critical illness from early to intermediate to severe critical illness conditions with 90 on the list.

with the usual 30 critical illness, there are 27 intermediate conditions and another 28 falling under early stage. throw in another 4 additional critical illnesses and the total covered number 90 covered conditions which also includes angioplasty and other invasive treatment for coronary artery under coronary artery by-pass surgery.

ntuc-income: launch of capital plus (CPN29)

just received this email notification from ntuc-income:

Dear Valued Business Partners,

We are pleased to announce the launch of our limited-tranche non-participating 2-years single premium non-participating plan, Capital Plus (CPN29).

*_Brief outline of the plan:_*

Ø2-years single premium non-participating plan

ØGuaranteed interest of 1.40%p.a.

ØProvides TPD before age 65 years old (last birthday) and Death coverage

ØEntry age of 16 to 80 years old (last birthday)

ØMinimum single premium of $10,000 up to a maximum of S$1,000,000

ØSimplified underwriting

·Sum Assured = 105% of Single Premium

·Sum Assured = 100% of Single Premium (if claim occurs within the 1^st policy year)

Please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions for more details.

As this is a limited tranche product, applications to the plan is on a *_first-come-first-served basis_*. The product will be withdrawn upon attainment of tranche size. Any excess premium received above the tranche size will be refunded accordingly to customers. As per previous tranches, we expect possibility of short withdrawal notice. We seek your kind understanding in this.

We look forward to your continuing support.

Thank you very much.

Brought to you by

Financial Advisers, Sales Division
FA Hotline: (65) 9746 2663
www.income.com.sg

my comments:

yet another launch of capital plus which is a single premium non-participating endowment product from ntuc-income.

but this time, the launch comes with a twist because the last day for acceptance of subscriptions is this thursday, march 15, 2012 with no extensions entertained.

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smoking ban to cover more places

those who smoke will soon have fewer places to do so because the smoking ban will be extended to cover more areas like common corriders, void decks and staircases of residential buildings.

other non-smoking areas to be covered include sheltered walkways, overhead bridges and outdoor hospital compounds.

the new non-smoking zones will kick in the coming year.

for bus-stops, the change means for those who smoke must stay outside a 5m radius around bus shelters.

all these comes as a the result of a public consultation exercise which the national environment agency and health promotion board initiated last november which attracted 8,000 respondents with 89% giving their ayes to an extension of the smoking ban.

on the smoking ban to cover more places, senior minister of state of the ministry of the environment and water resources, ms grace fu said:

"our long term goal is to prohibit smoking in all public places except in designated smoking areas...
our aim, in collaboration with the heatlh promotion board, is to work towards a future where singaporeans consider smoking not only detrimental to health, but also socially unacceptable."

my comments:

the upcoming implementation will surely be welcomed by most folks because of the threat to our health due to the dangers of what is termed as passive smoking which is well supported by medical evidence.

and the most recent untimely death of renowed taiwanese singer, ms feng fei fei who passed on from lung cancer has once again put the spotlight on the link between lung cancer and non-smokers because ms feng led a healthy lifestyle and did not smoke.

in our tiny red dot nation, non-smokers constitute 30 per cent of the total lung cancer cases each year, according to Dr Daniel Tan, associate consultant at the Department of Medical Oncology at the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS).

but it appears that the incidence of lung cancer in non-smokers is also higher in women than in men. Dr Daniel Tan said that seven out of 10 non-smokers who contract the cancer here are women. and lung cancer is the second most common cancer among women locally, after breast cancer.

however, even with the extended smoking ban, many of us (non-smokers) will still be exposed to the ambient smoke present when we visit the loo or take the elevator (especially in housing board flats) and that is a risk which is difficult to avoid altogether.

is there any way to hedge against the risk of contracting lung cancer?

the first option is to do nothing, or que sera sera.

the second is probably the tried and tested way which is to stay a non-smoker of course but there is really nothing much else we can do with regard to breathing in second hand smoke.

and the final solution is to consider transferring the risks of contracting cancer to a third party. on this, there are currently so many providers who offer not only the standard critical illness coverage but early critical illness and multiple critical illness claims as well.

do u have any other option/s?

cpf life plans refined from 4 to 2

an announcement was made by Deputy Prime Minister and Manpower Minister, Tharman Shanmugaratnam during the Committee of Supply debates on the Manpower Ministry's estimates in Parliament on Monday on another tweaking to the cpf life scheme introduced in 2009.

when the cpf life scheme was launched, there were 4 plans available, namely:

1. life plus
2. life balanced
3. life basic
4. life income

as a result of feedback, the government has decided to combine the desired features of the life plus and balanced plans into a new plan called the standard plan which will be the default plan if cpf members have not indicated their choice of which plan they want and will automatically be placed under this plan.

the desired features of the new standard plan are:

a. comparable payouts to the minimum sum scheme
b. the bequest feature and
c. the flexibility to use the retirement account

the other plan available from january 2013 is the existing life basic plan for members who prefer a higher bequest and a lower monthly income.

the cpf board will be removing the life income plan due to very low demand as only 3% of life participatns who have opted for this plan and will no longer be available from january 2013.

how will the change affect existing life participants and cpf members?

for existing life participants which number approximately 73,000 members can choose to stay on their existing life plans or if the new standard plan is their preference, they have until december 31, 2013 to make the switch.

for other cpf members who turn age 55 on january 2013, it means there are now less 'confusion' over the choices available due to the refinement of plans to 2 (from 4 currently).

one of the confusions arose when life participants chose the life income plan only to realise that there is no-bequest feature in this plan and changed their minds when this was explained to them.

another confusion was from feedback garnered since the launch of the cpf life scheme indicated that members found it difficult to choose between the 4 plans.

my comments:

this is a welcome announcement as what was hitherto 4 choices for the cpf life scheme has been narrowed to just 2 plans.

but we are still spoilt for choice because other than the cpf life scheme, cpf members can choose to purchase an annuity from a private insurer.

ntuc-income's participating annuity has been the other so-called default choice of cpf members turning 55 years of age.

why?

because this is the only insurer that offers an annuity that allows the annuitant to receive additional monthly payouts in the form of bonuses which once declared, is guaranteed and enables the annuitant to enjoy a higher monthly payout.

but of course, the flip-side is a lower monthly income from the start of the payouts as compared to the cpf life scheme.

because we are living longer, the ntuc-income participating annuity merits consideration as the higher income (in the form of bonuses declared) from living longer may be more desirable in mitigating the effect of inflation.

excuse me, are u a senior citizen?

today being our weekly family day is the perfect excuse to pig-out and spend quality time with my family which consists of my significant other and our only son.

we opted to go to one of our favourite restaurants, momiji japanese buffet restaurant at city square mall which is just a stone's throw (a herculean one at that) from our residence.

today isn't the first time we are giving our business to momiji as all of us pretty like japanese food and because it is not a-la-carte, meaning buffet style which is definitely value for money especially if the term, to pig-out is taken in it's literal context.

at the entrance, the cashier inquired as to the number of pax. to which i replied 2 adults and 1 senior citizen (seniors enjoy a discounted rate over the regular rate for adults. senior citizen defined as being age 60 years or older).

as this is not our first time, and the cashier already familiar with our faces, i was taken aback when i was asked for proof of my senior citizen status because this has never happened previously when asked to pay at the entrance to the restaurant with the cashier taking my word with regard to paying a discounted rate for myself, being a senior citizen.

without any hesitation, i duly showed the cashier my id card and he immediately apologised to us because he mentioned that his boss insisted on proof of status (being a senior citizen), even though we are regular customers as the senior citizen privilege has been abused by other customers.

my comments:

is there anything to take away from this episode?

firstly, we are talking about integrity and the point is, without integrity, where will i hide my face especially in front of my own wifey and only son. what message and example is the head of their household transmitting to them?

and secondly, the cashier and staff of momiji would have known (if i am not a senior citizen) that i am a liar and a cheat who got by all the times we patronised momiji at the discounted rate for senior citizens.

therefore, this incident reminds me to be always mindful of being upright or if u like, carry and conduct myself with integrity in all areas of my life, especially as all of my clientele/prospects/referrals expect it of me, and not to mention the role as head of my household and insurance consultant/specialist/trainer in promiseland independent.

which brings to my mind, a chinese proverb which goes like this;

"fu shu liu pee, ren shu liu ming or roughly transalted; when a tiger dies, the animal leaves behind the skin but when a person dies, he/she leaves a name."

insurer launches plan for low income

ntuc-income's head honcho, mr tan suee chieh can rightly say, we did it again but it's definitely not to the tune of britney spear's; oops, we did it again.

what's happening at ntuc-income?

our island's only co-operative insurer has launched their ntuc-income value pack last night at the sands expo and convention centre.

what is ntuc-income value pack?

this is a bundled enhanced incomeshield plan covering hospitalisation and surgery costs in a singapore restructured hospital for the lower B2 and C Class wards together with term coverage.

on the value pack, mr tan suee chieh said:

"if we want to build a truly inclusive and strong community, we must not forget those who are at risk of being left behind while the rest of society progresses. no family should be devastated by the high costs of health care or the financial burden that comes after losing a breadwinner, especially when such a situation can be prevented."

on this, i believe mr tan may be referring to this year's budget as delivered in parliament recently by mr tharman shanmugaratnam, our deputy prime minister and minister for finance and minister for manpower, when one of the broad objectives of the current budget was to build a fair and inclusive society.

my comments:

when other insurers revised the pricing of their term products lower during the course of 2011, i was in a focus group with ntuc-income's product development team and the initial reaction to the new term rates offered by ntuc-income's competitors, was we do not know how they can do it.

since then, more than a year has gone by and yes, ntuc-income can proudly announced, we did it again and their new i-term TAN4 (term assurance product) is now one of the most competitively priced term products currently available.

how did ntuc-income manage this?

first, it is the only co-operative insurer in our tiny red dot nation and it always brings to my mind, mr tan's proclaimation that his job is not to maximise profits for the company but to put people first in his role as the head honcho of ntuc-income.

and secondly, i believe margins must have really been squeezed to probably razor thin bottomlines.

all these translates to truly good news for those residing in 3-room housing board flats or smaller or residing in households with a monthly income of less than $3,500.00 and of course, for the general population without adequate insurance coverage.

permanent residents and foreigners have not been forgotten because they will also be eligible if they meet the criteria to take up the value pack.

and last but not least, we are proud to be a business partner of ntuc-income and we are united in the co-operative's mission to insure everyone here.

nasty find in sardine puff

32 year old sandra jana started her wednesday morning like most other working adults, stopping by a popular food outlet at the singapore post centre to purchase their signature sardine puffs before heading to work.

after her first bite, she discovered what looked like a dark brown insect embedded among the filling.

on this, sandra's sister maggie aged 25 said: "She saw something that looked like a shrimp in the curry puff," who spoke about the incident to Yahoo! Singapore.

maggie added; "But she looked closer inside and realised it was something that looked like a cockroach."

my comments:

wow, an extra ingridient at no extra charge. but seriously, this is not something to laugh over because if consumed, the question that comes to mind; what will be the effect to one's health?

even though the standard of hygiene in our tiny red dot nation is well enforced by the national environment agency and other authorities, can we afford to be complacent when consuming food and drinks outside our homes.

my senior pastor joseph prince (new creation church) once recounted during a sermon of a similar episode when in the midst of consuming a packet of nasi lemak and noticed a piece of ikan bilis (anchovy) that looked rather different. on closer examination (thank God for his protection), it turned out to be a rusty nail.

and who can forget the very distrubing and sad news when 2 persons succumbed to food poisoning resulting in their most untimely demise from consuming indian rojak in 2009.

what i'm trying to point out is that life is ever so chock-full of uncertainties and that's why i have a soul consuming passion and mission to convert skeptics to implement financial planning for themselves and their families. i have come a long way since my intro to the financial industry some 15 years ago and i'm even more committed to my role than my first day with promiseland independent, the company that i grew up with.

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the customer is always right?

just last week, an existing client called me (late at night) to inquire whether a claim can be submittted for a very minor injury sustained to one of the limbs in the course of work.

my client took up 2 policies from me, an integrated shield plan and a term plan with critical illness coverage.

based on what my client told me, my response was that none of the existing in-force policies provide coverage for the very minor injury sustained, but i can put in the claim nonetheless.

on hearing this, my client turned abusive and treated me to both verbal abuse and harasssment.

in addition, my client issued a clear threat to report me for being, in the words of my client; a lousy adviser.

my comments:

whenver i sit with any prospect/existing client, my advise is usually pretty comprehensive (after the mandatory financial needs analysis or fact finding) but the reality or the truth is, the person sitting in front of me will eitther plead affordability or budgetary constraints in taking up my recommendations.

it is the same story with this client and i believe i have done my utmost for the latter who is basically no different from any other person who reacts similarly when told a claim cannot be admitted even though they have no benefit/coverage in their existing insurance policies.

but this is a risk i have to face in my role as a financial adviser because no one client is alike.

what is testing?

by now, i believe many of my newer blog readers must be wondering what is 'testing' in my daily blog entry? this is my way of reserving the daily slot for my blog in case i can fill in the entry a day or days later.

and recently, some of my more regular blog readers have emailed me to register their disappointment with so many of my blog entries with nothing more than just one word, 'testing'.

my comments:

please accept my sincere apologies for not being able to blog for what seems like eternity to me at least because of the mountains of work piled up in front of me since prior to the chinese new year holidays.

this year saw the kick-off of the implementation of the cka*. coupled to this is the monetary authority of singapore's requirement of the 2D, or due dilgence on companies and products.

*From Jan 2012, as part of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s initiatives to provide trading safeguards to retail investors, brokers must assess if investors have the relevant knowledge and experience before they can invest using Specified Investment Products.

i have to conduct a class on new advisers joining us after july 31, 2011 to get them up to speed on complying to this new regulation which has been scheduled for early march 2012.

in addition, i have to take new advisers through our company's new adviser development program. on top of all these, last monday's compulsory monthly business meeting and this monday's life insurance meeting have taken a huge toll on my daily schedule.

next, i have to compile a comprehensive list of all insurance products in singapore which is an ongoing exercise executed half yearly.

and the work goes on and on and on...

not to worry, i have not lost my passion for the industry, and my role in promiseland independent and of course, blogging here.

to kick-off my blogging again, i have posted one dated february 15 which saw the launch of ntuc-income i-term TAN4.

so stay tuned.......

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ntuc-income - launch of new i-Term TAN4

here's some exciting news for consumers. ntuc-income has launched the new i-term TAN4 which is the re-priced version of the previous i-Term TAN2.

what is i-Term TAN4?

this is a non-participating regular premium plain vanilla term plan with coverage for death/total & permanent disability and terminal illness.

some details on the product:

entry age is pretty encompasing from age 0 to age 70 (last birthday).
term of coverage from a minimum of 5 years and from 5 years to 35 years or till age 54, 59, 64 last birthday.
Renewability – Upon expiry of the policy term, the policy will be renewed automatically without further underwriting. The premium payable upon renewal will be based on the prevailing age of the life insured, the prevailing premium rates and the policy term chosen at the time of renewal.
The policy can be renewed up to age 84 (previously age 79) only.

my comments:

one obvious question to ask: how does the new i-Term TAN4 sit amongst the competition?
answer: there has been a hefty cut in the re-pricing of premiums and generally, i-Term TAN4 is one of the most competitively priced term products currently available.

For example, the current pricing is just $180.85 (i-Term TAN4) versus $446.25 from another insurer.

note: the pricing for i-Term TAN2 was $245.20 or 36% higher.

Profile: Female, ALB 25 Years, Non-Smoker for sum assured of $500,000.00 and term of 10 years. That’s a hefty difference of $265.40 or 147% higher!

with the current inflation rate coming in at close to 5%, isn't it good to know that term rates have come down significantly and kudos to ntuc-income to continue to deliver on it's role as a co-operative insurer.

in fact, ntuc-income has embarked on a massive advertising compaign to inform consumers that everyone can afford to take up basic and essential insurance in the form of an integrated shield plan and term assurance.

the ntuc-income ads rightly dispels the myth that insurance is unaffordable because it only cost a mere 75 cents daily for a male, age 30 years, non-smoker to take up an i-term TAN4 plan with a sum assured of $250,000 (term of 5 years) and an enhanced incomeshield basic plan.

bearing in mind that the majority of the indigenious working population are cpf members, the total cash outlay for the same profile to take up the i-term TAN4 plan will amount to less than 43 cents a day because medisave can be used to pay for the premiums of the integrated shield plan.

because daily essentials like bread, milk and rice cost more than basic and essential insurance, no one should rely on the argument that taking up insurance is expensive (whatever that means).

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gone too soon (2)

one of my long time favs, ms fong gei-fei (birth name, lin chiu-luan) was reported by the news media to have passed on at the relatively young age of 58 years, succumbing to late stage lung cancer.

coincidentally, ms fong lost her hong kong businessman husband (whom she married in 1980), mr chiu wan kee to lung cancer in 2009 after her youngest brother died of lymphoma in 2006. ms fong's second brother also died of cancer in 2007.

what is also newsworthy was the fact that ms fong had been extremely health-conscious because she avoided cold food, fried food, pepper and chilli. in addition, she exercised and practised yoga.

my comments:

ms fong brings back many fond memories with hits such as applause and i am a cloud, amongst other best selling songs and i'm saddened by her most untimely demise.

what is striking is that she made a promise to her late husband to comply with his wishes to lead a healthy and happy life, which probably explains her strict regime of avoiding certain foods and a lifestyle filled with exercise and yoga.

what is also significant is the very unfortunate fact that too many lives in the family have been lost to the big C.

the statistics for cancer remain daunting and everyday in our tiny red dot nation, at least 26 people will have been diagnosed with the big C. and among the principal causes of death, cancer continues to occupy the number one ranking with an average of 29.0% of total deaths for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010.

and because treatment for cancer can cost more than an arm and a leg, our insurers have come out with a range of innovative insurance solutions to address this, including the recent initiatives of launching second generation products with coverage for early and intermediate stage critical illness as well.

knowing the facts is one thing and recognising the risk of contracting the big C is another.

and last but not least, what u do (or do not) do now is the question which only u can address.

gone too soon

today, i have just come to learn of the most untimely passing of an ex-colleague who is in the prime of his/her life.

this person is in the late 30s, and has 2 young children and was diagnosed with early stage cancer approximately 5 years ago.

when i met this person 2 years ago, i was happy to know that the cancer was in remission.

therefore, this person's passing came as a rude shock to me which was totally unexpected as the road ahead seemed to be clear.

my comments:

having lost my younger brother to cancer, i can certainly emphatise with this person's family.

this person was under the care of one of singapore's (and perhaps the region as well) most well known oncologist. when the cost of the treatment started piling-up, the family could no longer continue with the same oncologist and had to be referred to the national cancer centre.

at this time, other than the grief, trauma and emotional up-swelling as well as trying to cope or come to terms with the loss of a loved one, there is the other perspective of the financial mountain that has to be faced. this is really significant as the family's (current and potential) income has suddenly taken a nose dive.

i do not know of the family's wealth protection portfolio but my sincere hope is that they already have a comprehensive financial plan in place should the unexpected turn into reality.

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foreign maid insurance (2)

yesterday, i blogged on the abovementioned topic with a twist to the cancellation of the foreign maid insurance policy in terms of the refund being subjected to a penalty of 30% of the premium being imposed by ntuc-income on my client.

and this is the appeal which i lodged with ntuc-income on behalf of my client:

sorry to have to trouble u with regard to my case which is an appeal for the full refund of premium for foreign maid insurance policy number 5xxxxxxxxx.

what happened was my client's maid, ms xxx's test for pregnancy (while back home in indonesia) was positive and therefore, her in-principle approval by the ministry of manpower to work in singapore was cancelled.

because the policy, although incepted and issued is of no use to my client and the latter has just received a nasty surprise because the cheque for the refund (just received) amounted to only 70% of the premium paid for the policy.

but what is more significant is that my client has chosen to go with my recommendation and placed their trust in me because i mentioned that ntuc-income, being the only co-operative insurer is different because your ceo, mr tan suee chieh has said more than once that his job is not to maximise profits but putting people (first) before profits.

therefore, with a furious client confronting me and my tail between my legs, i'm formally appealing for my client's premium to be refunded in full.

ps: fyi, the maid agency recommended a foreign maid insurance plan from another insurer.

my comments:

sigh, the liability we shoulder when things go wrong, though no fault of anyone is something very real as this episode clearly illustrates. not to mention that i have to absorb the full costs of the 30% refund of the premium to my client from my own very small pockets.

nevertheless, i remain hopeful for the favourable response of my appeal from ntuc-income.

stay tuned.....

foreign maid insurance

on my recommendation (against the one sold by the maid agency from another insurer), my client took up the foreign maid insurance from ntuc-income.

short and sweet, right?

no, because there is a twist here in terms of the maid's pregnancy test (while in indonesia) proved positive which invalidated her in-principle approval from the ministry of manpower to work in singapore.

and to cut a long story short, i applied to ntuc-income to cancel the foreign maid insurance policy and here, there was another twist because there was a 'penalty' imposed on the cancellation which amounted to 30% of the premium paid.

my comments:

contractually, ntuc-income has the legal right to impose the penalty because there is a clause in the policy document stating there will only be a refund of 70% of the premium for cancellation within 60 days of the inception of the policy.

needless to say, my client was extremely displeased with me and the only way for a resolution of my client's unhappiness was for me to make up the loss of 30% of the premium paid.

but i'm not letting this episode end here as i'll be appealing to ntuc-income to refund the premium in full.

stay tuned.....

testing

testing