I sent this letter by fax to the directors of M V Land on 26 January. They did not acknowledge or reply to my letter after 5 days. They have been imposing a lot of troublesome requirements to other people, but when it comes to giving a reply, they are not able to cope. This is typical of many organisations in Singapore, and reflects a culture of high handedness and arrogance.
I had another bad experience today. They told my staff that I had to submit a copy of my log card to apply for a season pass. Many places do not need the log card, but they insisted "as it is their policy". I do not know where I kept my log card, so I visited their office to offer my certificate of insurance.
I had to wait for half an hour as their staff was busy attending to another owner. When I was attended, the staff did not bother with the log card or the insurance certificate, If this was not necessary, I could have sent my application by mail. I protested about this waste of my time. The staff was apologetic, but nothing will be done to change this bad practice.
This is typical of Singapore - troublesome requirements, unnecessary work, blind adherence by the staff who follow instructions set in the ivory tower. This used to be the purview of the government agencies, but commercial organisations have now caught this disease!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
How Does TopCashBack Work?
You will probably have gathered by now that I am a fan of TopCashBack, but you may be sceptical and you may still wonder How Does TopCashBack Work?
Here is a press release from the TopCashBack website:
Just as a supermarket allows its customers to earn loyalty points on their shopping –TopCashBack allows members to earn extra free cash on all of their internet shopping, but with virtually any major (and not so major) brand, Boots, Dell, Currys, Tesco, Prudential, LloydsTSB and well over 2,200 other online stores.
The whole process of earning cashback is very, very simple. In order to join TopCashBack, simply register with an email address and a password; it only takes seconds and is completely free. Having done so, simply click through to any of our listed retailers and proceed to shop online exactly as normal.
All of the commission from your purchase will then show up in your TopCashBack account, usually within a day or so. Once your cashback has been paid by the retailer we will send it on to you – either straight to your bank account, or using Paypal or by Amazon vouchers – whichever you prefer.
FISCA Talk on Structured Products
Paula Tan, an expert on structured products, is giving a talk on 19 February 2011. You can read an outline of the talk and register for the talk at www.fisca.sg/events
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Avoid financial advisers
A foreigner, working in Singapore, approached me for advice. He bought a Vista plan from a financial planner two years ago, and was shocked to learn now about the high monthly charge of 5% of the premium that is deducted from the account. He never knew that he was buying a life insurance policy with a high upfront charge, which came into effect after 18 months. He was told that it is a regular saving investment product.
The financial adviser had assured him, a few times, that the charge was only 0.7% after 18 months. The adviser had told a deliberate lie to him, to get him to put in a large sum of savings, more than $3,000 a month. I asked him to check about the surrender charge, which I suspect will take away most of the accumulated premiums - if the policy is terminated now.
It is bad for an insurance company to design such a policy that is confusing to the consumer, and for the financial adviser to tell a deliberate lie to get the consumer to put in a large part of his savings. This amounts to cheating, but how can the consumer prove it? He must have signed the forms without proper understanding.
I advised him to write to the newspaper but he is worried that his colleagues and employer will get to know of his predicament.
My advice to consumers - avoid all financial advisers and insurance agents. Do not buy any investment or life insurance product from a person who approaches you. You will never know if you can become the next victim of this type of financial product.
My message to MAS - is this the kind of financial hub that you wish to build for Singapore? Do you wish to sit back and allow these types of practices to continue?
Tan Kin Lian
The financial adviser had assured him, a few times, that the charge was only 0.7% after 18 months. The adviser had told a deliberate lie to him, to get him to put in a large sum of savings, more than $3,000 a month. I asked him to check about the surrender charge, which I suspect will take away most of the accumulated premiums - if the policy is terminated now.
It is bad for an insurance company to design such a policy that is confusing to the consumer, and for the financial adviser to tell a deliberate lie to get the consumer to put in a large part of his savings. This amounts to cheating, but how can the consumer prove it? He must have signed the forms without proper understanding.
I advised him to write to the newspaper but he is worried that his colleagues and employer will get to know of his predicament.
My advice to consumers - avoid all financial advisers and insurance agents. Do not buy any investment or life insurance product from a person who approaches you. You will never know if you can become the next victim of this type of financial product.
My message to MAS - is this the kind of financial hub that you wish to build for Singapore? Do you wish to sit back and allow these types of practices to continue?
Tan Kin Lian
Big loss on ILP
Dear Mr Tan,
Here is my two cents worth for investment linked products. My wife, being a naive person, bought an insurance/investment plan from a bank after she asked about how to earn a decent return on her hard earned money but was sweet-talked by a financial planner to sign up for the plan. Once the plan was signed, the financial planner did not call her for the next five years and she faithfully contributed $500 a month.
After investing over $38,000 over 6 years, she was told that the current value was only $26,000, giving a loss of 31% (no counting inflation). After selling the policy, agents have a hands off approach.
I do believe that most people are better off investing in an STI ETF or some blue chip share which gets dividends. I do hope that other investors do learn from our mistakes and not be CONNED into buying investment linked products from agents who think of nothing but earning a quick buck from naive people like my wife. My pain is your gain!
*Kindly take note that most insurance agents do not have a basic salary or a very low basic salary thus they would sell products which would give them the most commission as just to meet the client, they would have to pay for dinner, transport, parking etc thus selling low commission products such as term insurance would not make sense to them. PUT YOURSELF IN THEIR SHOES, WOULD YOU BE SELLING TERM INSURANCE TO EARN A MEASLY COMMISSION? (Food for thought)
My comment
It is best for consumers to avoid all financial advisers and insurance agents. They have to earn commission by selling this type of bad product to you.
Here is my two cents worth for investment linked products. My wife, being a naive person, bought an insurance/investment plan from a bank after she asked about how to earn a decent return on her hard earned money but was sweet-talked by a financial planner to sign up for the plan. Once the plan was signed, the financial planner did not call her for the next five years and she faithfully contributed $500 a month.
After investing over $38,000 over 6 years, she was told that the current value was only $26,000, giving a loss of 31% (no counting inflation). After selling the policy, agents have a hands off approach.
I do believe that most people are better off investing in an STI ETF or some blue chip share which gets dividends. I do hope that other investors do learn from our mistakes and not be CONNED into buying investment linked products from agents who think of nothing but earning a quick buck from naive people like my wife. My pain is your gain!
*Kindly take note that most insurance agents do not have a basic salary or a very low basic salary thus they would sell products which would give them the most commission as just to meet the client, they would have to pay for dinner, transport, parking etc thus selling low commission products such as term insurance would not make sense to them. PUT YOURSELF IN THEIR SHOES, WOULD YOU BE SELLING TERM INSURANCE TO EARN A MEASLY COMMISSION? (Food for thought)
My comment
It is best for consumers to avoid all financial advisers and insurance agents. They have to earn commission by selling this type of bad product to you.
North South Expressway
I wrote this letter to the Straits Times to suggest how the $7-8 billion for the North South Expressway could be better spent. The ST did not publish my letter. http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=382
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