In Berita Harian

FMQ planners are being featured again in Berita Harian today. The attention this time is on our achievements as a group. Beside TOP unit, TOP financial planners and TOP new financial planners was also grab by our guys.

These achievements could never be made possible without the unconditional support and trust from the public to our businesses and services all these years. We could only always consistently do our best for our clients but if it is not them who give us the opportunities to show them the way towards a systematic and dynamic financial road map for them, then we would not be where we are today.

Thanks for the strong words of encouragement and inspiring support given to us. We look fwd to continue to give our best to individuals and families along with our core mission and vision in moulding our society to be more savvy and more aware on the importance of proper financial planning as we move together to an era where there are too many uncertainties and challenges.

Below are the cut out of the article.

Parents who care

Many parents, especially new age parents these days are very careful with what they want for their kids.

Two area of concern:
1.Medical coverage
2.Saving for tertiary education

Medical coverage
It is very necessary to get the right medical cover for hospitalization because kids are prone to injuries and to cover hospital expenses as critical ill child can cause considerable financial strain.
Identify the difference and the importance of:
1.Critical illnesses and disability (lump sum payout to assist financially for outpatient care expenses)
2.Personal accident (% on sum assured lump sum payout to assist financially for outpatient care expenses)
3.Hospital expenses ( important to take note whether it covers deductible and co-insurance as well)
4. Hospital Income ( income replacement)

Saving for tertiary education
Can save via regular investment plan or an endowment or combination of both depending on individual needs and risk profile.
Regular investing plan has been historically proven to give better returns and provides flexibility. Average annual MSCI Global Index yield between 5% t0 9% where endowment only gives around 3.8% on maturity.

It is important to set a provision for your kids education but however keep it open on who is able to utilize this fund when the time comes because there are possibility they might not need it and you might need it more than them. In an extreme case for education expenses you can always get loan but not for retirement.
Last but not least is to discuss with financial adviser not just on the policy features but also on who is suppose to be the owner, who is life insured and whether are there nominations required etc.

Dollar Cost Averaging

How to invest when i am not financially savvy?
If i have no time to monitor can i still invest?
But what if i have no lump sum or big capital to invest?

There is good news for all of you who have those issues mentioned above but are still keen on investing. Dollar cost averaging is an approach of investing in a consistent manner.
It is a timing strategy of investing equal dollar amounts regularly and periodically over specific time periods (such as$100 monthly) in a particular investment or portfolio. By doing so, more unit shares are purchased when prices are low and fewer unit shares are purchased when prices are high. The point of this is to lower the total average cost per share of the investment, giving the investor a lower overall cost for the shares purchased over time.

The illustration above explains the cheaper the price of a unit share the more units that can be gathered. Continue to gather units and simply sell back at the original price it could already possibly be doubled. What more if the price climbs up and you give it more time?
Although by doing so we might not achieve the highest potential returns however we can actually safe the trouble monitoring them intently.
Furthermore the longer you invest, the higher the chance that you will receive positive returns and lower the chance that you will lose money.

House Loan

A very big percentage of Singaporean are tight down to loans for their entire life. One of the MOST common ones are house loans/mortgages. Over more than 15 to 30 years loan was taken up since the very first day we committed to having our own house.

How do we able to eliminate this house loan as soon as possible? I may also worked out for you on how you could be able to reduce the loan in half the time AND half the price.

How important it is to you to be free from any loans as soon as possible?

I am not here to give you any monetary support to clear your debts. However I am here to show you a strategic approach to make these possible. It only requires your own personal commitments. Every individual have different needs. Therefore i can only preview the opportunity here and i can only advise on a personalized basis.

Below are some illustrations to explain the benefit of eliminating your house loan.

The future has several names. For the WEAK….it is IMPOSSIBLE; For the FAINTHEARTHED..it is UNKNOWN; But for the THOUGHTFUL & VALIANT….it is IDEAL.

You saved for your BIG DAY. But have you saved enough for your entire married life?

I am really looking forward and excited to speak infront of almost 100 couples in a workshop organized by www.urusanpengantin.com. It is really a priviledge to be one of the speaker to educate and share with participants in our different area of expertise. This is a brilliant effort put together by urusanpengantin.com and several other wedding service providers.

Below are the topic I would be talking about on; A WEDDING: Behind the scenes
24 January 2010
@ Art House1 Old Parliament Lane

Firstly, i would like to congratulate these brides-to-be and grooms-to-be. Besides congratulating them on taking a step forward to another stage of their life, i would also like to congratulate them because most of them by now have probably started doing what they have never did before. Which is saving prudently for a clear purpose, THE BIG DAY!

Therefore, I would like to encourage them to continue this good habit as part of their lifestyle for what other purposes that may arise besides other than for their weddings.

It is never too early to cultivate the good habits of savings, because the sooner you start, the longer the period your money gets to grow. This is my general advice especially to people in their 20s and 30s, because they should take special heed as they tend to overspend.

Despite our grand new year resolutions to start saving more, many seems to always fall behind their planned saving schedules. It is best that you put your money aside in a systematic manner. Start with an amount you feel comfortable with and gradually step it up when you gain more confidence in setting aside the committed amount.

In summary, the objectives of my sharing would very much focus on managing cashflow.

How to effectively manage your needs, wants and desire?
House? Cars? Nafkah? Infaq? Zakat? Increasing expenses?
How should we design our cashflow?
Why consistent savings?
What religion says about savings?
How CPF savings work? Medisave? DPS? CPF Nomination?
What are the benefits of savings?
What are the alternative methods of savings?

Will only start saving when i have enough?

The question here is when will it be enough? It is never too little or too early to cultivate the good habit of saving, because the sooner you start the more months you can take from your monthly paycheck/income to save and the longer your money gets a chance to grow.

You could be surprise when you do reality check of yourselves. Like counting the number of paychecks left before you reach your retirement. 10 more years time for instance, thats just another 120 paychecks away! You still dare to wait?! And choose to just spend all the money month in and month out?

Despite our grand new year resolution to start saving more, many seem to always fall behind their planned saving schedules. It is best that you put your money aside in a systematic manner through an insurance plan, a regular savings plan, a recurring investment programme. Start with an amount you feel comfortable with and gradually step it up when you gain more confidence in setting aside the commited amount.

I congratulate you if you are commited in savings and growing your savings!! Pad at your back. Well done! Thats a gd start.

But what if anything happen? Kidney failuire for instance, can cost you close to $10k per month on just dialysis and medication! Isn’t that means it will eventually deplete your hard sweat savings? You are too weak to work and besides the cruel fact is, who would want to keep a sick employee?

Thats why we need to protect our wealth as well by putting our risk to others. Others? Relatives, siblings and parents? Hoping that they will help us when we in need?

NO pls don’t! I am sure you would naturally feel bad to seek help and burden your love ones who also have their on lifestyles to account for. Therefore be smart! Put or transfer the risk to any financial institution NoW!

You maybe young but you are not immortal. Even more challenging if we still living but are diagnos with illnesses. Statistic do show that we are now five times more likely to suffer for illnesses than to die before age 65.

Hope you see why it is very important to make it enough today! What not enough when you in good health today is still something attainable. Not when it is already too late.

Love Your family?

If you are reading this entry, keep reading if you truly love and treasure your loves ones. I should congratulate you in advance if your are still reading. It shows that you are eager to be there for your family. It’s the first step to determine whether or not you really LOVE your Family. I’m sure you LOVE them. But how much?

Let’s answer the questions below one by one and see where it lead us.

1. Are you a newly wed? or Are you Married? Or Are you Planning to get married? (this can apply to singles too even if you don’t plan to get married just yet)

2. Do you love your family? i.e. your spouse/future spouse and (insya Allah) your future children.

3. Do you agree with me, if I say that Today is a PRESENT and Tomorrow is a MYSTERY? Are we ready to face the uncertainties on the next day and the following days ahead? You tell me.

4. Do you agree that everyday, we are exposed to RISK. E.g. Risk of driving a car, risk of crossing the road, risk of riding a bike, risk at work and etc.

5. So, do you still want them to be well-provided for despite whether or not you are capable to bring back rezeki back home? E.g. Buy food, Pay for the House, Children’s education, Car, bills and etc.

6. As a muslim, we are asked to ‘ikhtiar’ before we actually leave everything to Allah. Do you agree? Usaha, Doa dan berserah. Am I right?

7. So, do you want to be able to plan and be financially well equipped to face the uncertainties? (Jodoh, Pertemuan, AJAL MAUT ditangan Allah. Even if we don’t passed away during the accident, we could be disabled and not able to work = no incoming income (no rezeki/nafkah) can we sustain?)

8. Do we still need to eat? Do Your Children still need to go to School? Pay the bills? Settle the House Loan? Do you want to know how you can manage your risks?

9. Do you think you can set aside say for a start a minimum of $100 dollars from your monthly salary for your savings (for your children’s education, necessities and liabilities)?

If your answers is YES to ALL. That really shows that you love your family. You are not selfish and you want them to reach their dreams even if anything were to happened to you.

Do you know that a minimum of $100 can do wonders for your wife and children in a long run?
Do you want to do wonders? What is $100 to the assurance of of their dreams and it’s all for the ones you love?

Do you know that savings and takaful (insurance) are important?
In fact it is similar with the fact that.. when you are hungry.. what do you look for?
Shirt? Trousers? NO. You look for FOOD.

SAVINGS is equally important in a way, the only difference we cannot feel or see the needs until something happened and by then its too late.
and IF that happens (e.g. total permanent disability, death or critical illness) We NEED SAVINGS and TAKAFUL to sustain ourself in a long run (pay for medical bills, house, home bills, educations and more).

Think about it. Leave me a message if you want to know more on SAVINGS the Islamic way.
I’ll be more than glad to assist you. (:

P.S: the keyword is; start SMALL.

Remember, You are here because you LOVE your family. Show your love by commit to proper planning. Email me or contact me to get started today!

WANT to retire with S$1 Million?

Even if before you have not start to save. Below is how much you NEED if you DECIDE to start today!

Start saving early and it could make a world of difference to your retirement plans. Time is your best friend as you will find in this story. Here, we assume five individuals at different stages of their life, from those earning at entry-level, to those close to retirement age. All aim to achieve a monthly income of S$2,500 during their retirement years from age 62 to 82. We also taken into account that the inflation rate stands at 3% per annum, meaning that the general cost of goods and services rises by that amount each year.

Further, we assume that whatever the investors save during their pre-retirement days will earn 8% annually. After they hit the age of 62, we assume that the return on their savings drops to 4% per annum as they take less risk in their investments. This simple illustration does not take into account your other financial needs, such as whether you have planned for your insurance needs (life or term insurance, mortgage insurance, health and hospitalization plans).

If You’re 25

Savings: S$0
Monthly Salary: S$2,500
Rate of Increase in Wages: 3% p.a.
Number of Months in Bonus: 2 months
Housing Loan: Not Required
What You Need to Save per Month for the next 37 years: S$158.30

Planning for your retirement when you are 25 years old may seem a bit far-fetched. But the benefits of starting early cannot be underestimated. Assuming that a person starts working at 25 with a salary of S$2,500, you would need to save S$158.30 per month to ensure that your retirement income can stand at S$2,500 per month during your retirement days, which we assume will run from the age of 62 all the way to 82. Even with no savings to start with, having a regular savings plan (RSP) may be a good way to start planning. An RSP would ensure that you have the discipline to force yourself to invest – there is little room for excuses! Very often, we may be tempted to use up our savings for a travel trip or to purchase that dream car. And even for those who believe in the merits of investing, they may not have the discipline of investing regularly because they feel it is not the “right” time to invest. This could be especially true when markets are going through a bull run and some may feel that it is too expensive to go into markets. An RSP is a disciplined way to ensure that you will invest no matter markets are up, down or sideways.

If You’re 35

Scenario 1
Savings: S$0
Monthly Salary: S$6,000
Rate of Increase in Wages: 3% p.a.
Number of Months in Bonus: 2 months
Housing Loan: S$800 per month over 30 years
What You Need to Save per Month for the next 27 years: S$666.57

Scenario 2
Savings: S$40,000 (earning 1% p.a.)
Monthly Salary: S$6,000
Rate of Increase in Wages: 3% p.a.
Number of Months in Bonus: 2 months
Housing Loan: S$800 per month over 30 years
What You Need to Save per Month for the next 27 years: S$620.73

At the age of 35, the monthly salary is assumed to have risen to S$6,000. But being able to afford an expensive lifestyle has meant that there are no savings in the bank account, and now you have a housing loan to deal with. While things do not look very bright, it is not too late. Save S$666.57 per month and you could ensure that you have S$2,500 every month during your retirement days.

If You’re 45

Scenario 1
Savings: S$0
Monthly Salary: S$8,000
Rate of Increase in Wages: 3% p.a.
Number of Months in Bonus: 2 months
Housing Loan: S$800 per month over 20 years
What You Need to Save per Month for the next 17 years: S$1692.34

Scenerio 2
Savings: S$40,000 (earning 1% p.a.)
Monthly Salary: S$8,000
Rate of Increase in Wages: 3% p.a.
Number of Months in Bonus: 2 months
Housing Loan: S$800 per month over 20 years
What You Need to Save per Month for the next 17 years: S$1582.63

At the age of 45, things will get tougher if no plans have been made yet for retirement. After all, the time horizon till the retirement age of 62 is less than 20 years. Assuming that there are no savings in the savings account, you would need to save S$1692.34 per month. And even with savings of S$40,000, you would still need to save S$1,582.63 per month.

If You’re 55

Scenario 1
Savings: S$0
Monthly Salary: S$10,000
Rate of Increase in Wages: 3% p.a.
Number of Months in Bonus: 2 months
What You Need to Save per Month for the next 7 years: S$5319.54

Scenario 2
Savings: S$40,000 (earning 1% p.a.)
Monthly Salary: S$10,000
Rate of Increase in Wages: 3% p.a.
Number of Months in Bonus: 2 months
What You Need to Save per Month for the next 7 years: S$4937.02

The lesson is to start early. The later you drag your retirement planning, the higher the cost. You would need to save over S$5,000 per month (over half your salary) from the age of 55 to 62

to ensure that you have S$2,500 per month during your retirement days.

Delay gratification is one of the 10 main attributes of a multi-millionaire. Like what one of many millionaire i know personally, once told me.

“orang-orang yang hebat adalah orang-orang yang menundakan kesenangan hari ini, untuk keselesaan hari esok.”

It means. Great man are those who willing to sacrifice or reserve their present comfort today for a more secure brighter better tomorrow. Like the desire to own a car today. You may afford it now but if the amount you have spent would have cost your lifestyle in 10 yrs time and worse still if it eventually affect your retirement needs in the future than it is just a waste. Do your maths or ask your financial planner to assist you on your wants and needs accordingly.

Do not just wish to achieve your million. Do not just hope. Decide, take action and commit NOW!!

Representational System

Study smart not to study hard. Thats what we commonly heard about. So what is study smart then? Many thought it is a short cut. However it is never about short cut but it is on our study technique or strategy. Tony Buzan, he who is passionate on exploring various techniques and one of which he founded mind mapping as one of the most effective technique in absorbing information. Using our gifts of senses accordingly like using colours when we write and tones when we speak or recite to increase the effectiveness in conversing and memorising.

In the study of Neuro Linguistic Programming, we also understand that different people are wired up differently. Not all techniques and strategies suite every individual. Each of us need to first identify ourselves. Different people have different favoured representational system. Its pleasurable and indeed more acceptive when we learn, interpret and absorb information according to the way we prefer. Some of us are VISUAL, KINESTATIC or AUDITORY.

If you are visual and you want to set a goal and to continously keep yourselves motivated, VISION BOARD might work for you! If you are kinestetic you find pleasurable and a strong instinct that your goals are achievable and attainable when you carve your goals on a piece of wood!If you are an auditory you will enjoy listening to motivational songs!! (like me ;P)

I have some upbeat cds in my car to charge me up when i am driving especially for my appointments or events. But i have yet to get a proper collections of motivational songs which i believe would be more effective in getting my physiology and phsychology into extremely peak state.
For those who have read, The Secrets, i encourage you to compliment these technique whenever you practice your daily/weekly visualisation excercise.

Here are some of those songs that will drive you crazy to go beyond your limits!

What ever it is, most importantly you are truly happy for doing what you choose to do. That means you are putting yourselves into your peak emotional state as well where you will definitely be at your best and indeed that is SMART!!

Contributions

Contribution is what gives us ultimate purpose and fulfillment in life. A percentage of our wealth, fortune or we normally humbly termed as earnings or savings, regardless how big or small it is, they are meant to be shared with others. In Islam for instance, we are encourage to ”infaq” atleast 1/3 of what we have whereby normally 2.5% of which is in a form of “zakat”. What ever your religion are or what ever u call it. Religion always preach kindness, and of cause one of which is the act of giving or contributing.

Give with a genuine sincerity and not just specifically to the misfortunate or disable. Give to someone who you feel like and does not always really mean to be in need. You might not be the wealthiest or th most fortunate one too to begin with. Infact with that habit, you will be driven to achieve more to be able to give more. On the other hand however, do not feel offended to be given or obliged not to receive.  Its ok to be a receiver. Just appreciate and give them the acknowledgement they deserve. When they are really sincere in giving, by simply not turning them down will already make them feel good and rewarding. If you really think that you are not the one who really in need. Just take that someone noble act as an opportunity or reason for you to give even more to others.

We shall discuss the form of giving we can do maybe in my future post cause as we know we are definitely not just bound to monetary contributions. For now just keep the chain and practice of giving in in any form as an ongoing habit and the world will definitely be a better and indeed a more prosperous place to live in.