Invest in land in Canada

Hi Mr. Tan,
I was approached by a marketing manager who gives me an interesting investment proposal. Can I asked your opinion. Will it be a good investment to put some money on land in Canada near Vancouver?

REPLY
Go to Ask Mr. Tan or www.tankinlian.com/ask.aspx and search for "Land Banking". You will see a FAQ written by me previously.

Make your personal financial plan

Make your personal financial plan here. You will get a PDF report showing how much your savings will accumulated at the time of your retirement (you can specify the age or leave it at the default age of 65) at various investment yields. This is converted into a monthly sum, assumed to be withdrawn over 20 years - which is the typical life expectancy after age 25.  It also shows the monthly sum adjusted for inflation - to give you an idea of the real value of the retirement income, so that you can see if it is adequate. You can make changes to the savings and see the impact.

This financial plan shows the importance of the following:

• To earn  a yield of at least 4% per annum, or 2% above the rate of inflation
• To have adequate savings to supplement the CPF (say 15% to 20% of your income)

If you need advice on how to understand the financial planning, you can refer to an expert who can provide guidance for $50 only. This can save you from wasting a few thousand dollars in a bad life insurance policy. It is important for young people.

Here are some examples of the financial plans for people at various ages:

Age 25
Age 35
Age 60

However, you should prepare a plan that suits your personal circumstances.
You can buy my book, "Get value from your Life Insurance" to know the insurance policies to avoid and a better way to manage your financial planning. It is available at a discount on the soft launch on 19 February.

Tan Kin Lian

Do you have a good boss?

Read an article in SGEP, www.easyapps.sg/sgep/latest.aspx. Search for "good boss".

Financial Planning book in Chinese

Wobao printed this article about the financial planning book (in Chinese) by Tan Kin Lian
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=402. It will be available in the bookstores by the first half of March.

Financial advisers can benefit or destroy consumers

I met a marketing director of a computer software to be used by financial advisers. He wanted to see how we can collaborate. I told him that there are two types of advisers:

• Those that benefit consumers by helping them to take advantage of tax incentives and earn a better yield, net of tax and charges
• Those that mislead consumers into buying a life insurance policy that gives a poor yield

He agreed with my views. He was previously a financial adviser in Holland. He told me that Holland had the same bad experience of mis-selling and that the regulators had to impose fines on insurance companies and advisers. I told him that, to my knowledge, no fine was imposed on insurance companies, although the case of malpractices is quite bad in Singapore. He agreed to write to me and share some of his perspective as a financial adviser.

Tan Kin Lian