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tokio marine life insurance - launch of tm retirement life

today, i attended tokio marine life insurance's soft launch of tm retirement life at ntuc auditorium at one marina to roll out their latest product, tm retirement life. the official launch date is may 31, 2012. what is tm retirement life? this is a hybrid limited premium participating whole life plan with yearly cash benefits from either age 60 or age 65 (referred to as the 'payout' age) for as long as the life assured lives. my comments: the plan provides coverage for death and terminal illness and is available for both single life and joint-life application (husband and wife). starting from the selected payout age (either age 60 or age 65), a guaranteed cash benefit equivalent to 5% of the sum assured will be payable yearly for as long as the life assured is alive. payment of the cash benefists does not reduce the death benefit and sum assured. once again, as in most of tokio marine life insurance's participating products, the reversionary bonus rate is projected at $10 per $1,000 sum assured compounding at 1% per annum. this is neither aggresive nor overly optimistic as indeed, the worsening eurozone debt crisis has seen a flight of captial to safety like us and german government soverign papers. this product may be suitable for consumers looking for a perpetual 'bank account' (note, not perpetual securities) and can be considered to be an annuity also. tm retirement life is also open to joint-life application which of course is restricted to a legal husband and wife relationship. what's interesting is the plan will continue to pay the guaranteed cash benefit which is equivalent to 5% of the sum assured for so long as any of the life assured is alive from the selected payout age. today, there are not many insurers offering an annuity product in their stable and it is perhaps not difficult to understand why this is so, against the factor of ever increasing life expectancy here because our tiny red dot nation have one of the longest life expectancy on planet earth. and it is simply very demanding of the insurer to come out with such a product due to the very stringent requirements of reserves versus liabilities on a very long term horizon. and last but not least, promiselanders now have an additional option (a lifetime stream of guaranteed income) to offer consumers.

changes in cpf minimum sum, medisave minimum sum and medisave contribution ceiling from july 01, 2012

the cpf board has announced that cpf members turning age 55 between between 1 July 2012 and 30 June 2013 will need to set aside a Minimum Sum (MS) of $139,000 soon. the previous minimum sum for 2011 was $131,000. as for the medisave minimum sum which is the amount that a person turning 55 needs to set aside for his hospitalisation expenses in subsidised Class B2 and C wards, subsidised outpatient treatment for selected chronic conditions and basic MediShield and ElderShield premiums in his old age, will be raised from $36,000 to $38,500. cpf members will be able to withdraw their medisave savings in excess of the medisave minimum sum at or after age 55. the maximum a cpf member may have in his medisave account known as the medisave contribution ceiling is set at $5,000 above the medisave minimum sum and therefore, the latter will be increased to $43,500 from $41,000 previously. any excess of the prevailing medisave contribution ceiling will be transferred to the cpf member's special account if he/she is below age 55 or to his/her retirement account if above age 55 and has a medisave shortfall. my comments: is it any surprise that the adjustments to the cpf minimum sum, the medisave minimum sum and medisave contribution ceiling has been adjusted to account for inflation, longer life expectancies and rising expectations of quality of life post retirement. even though the minimum sum is $131,000 currently and yet, a vast majority of cpf members still fall short of the cpf minimum sum, even after pledging their property which is permitted up to 50% of the minimum sum with the latest figures showing that only 45% of cpf members have met the minimum sum requirement.

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half of americans think facebook is a passing fad: poll before ipo

according to the results of a new associated press-cnbc poll, 50% of americans think facebook is a passing fad and half of those polled also say the social network's expected asking price is too high. facebook has increased the price range of it's ipo to between US$34 and US$38 per share from an initial US$28 to US$35 per share in response to very strong demand and is expected to raise more than 10 times as much as the US$1.67 billion raised in google inc's 2004 ipo. my comments: whether u believe facebook's share is fairly valued or over-valued, only time will tell but every investment carries risks. but it is surely the other way around for insurance where the risks are transferred to the insurer/re-insurer through the payment of a premium. and therefore the question arises, are u under-insured or worst, uninsured?