I have been reading in the news that many old folks have been duped by scams that tricked them into believing that they have won a big monetary prize and in order to receive the cash, they have to pay an admin fee of a few thousand dollars.

They may also have been duped into believing that their son was in trouble with the law or “kidnapped” and had to pay a release fee of thousands of dollars. They only realised that they had been cheated when after receiving the cash, the person on the other end of the phone call disappears. No more response from that caller!

I believe all these scams could have been avoided if they had been better ”educated” about such prevalent cheating cases by their family members or their friends. Discussing the news on scams in the papers and the news on TV with our elderly folks may help them be better informed thus avoiding being cheated.

Another reason I believe is that these old folks keep their money at home and they could easily retrieve thousands of dollars. I have seen people like these before. It was totally unsafe to have so much cash stashed at home.

With the new retirement plans being sold now, many independent financial adviser representatives have started to use plans that pay a monthly income over the retirement period of an individual. The concept is very simple: have a cash flow that suits your lifestyle in your 60s, reducing the monthly cash flow when you are in your 70s and 80s. This way of planning will help to spread out the savings over the retirement period instead of having a few hundred thousand dollars or a million dollars at age 65.

With a large sum of money in hand, one will be very tempted to go for a long holiday or splash their cash on a new car or as my example above shows, get conned by cheats.

Please call your independent financial adviser representative today for a financial review so that you will have a good stream of income flowing in during your golden years in retirement.

Please contact me if you need help in this area of retirement planning if you do not have an independent financial adviser representative. It will be a non-obligatory discussion.

I wish all mothers a very happy and loving Mother’s Day on 12 May 2013.

A recent survey by HSBC Insurance showed:

1. Over half of Singapore respondents feel their financial preparations for a comfortable retirement are inadequate: 44% feel their preparations are not enough, whilst 12% are not preparing at all.
2. People run the risk of living long beyond their retirement savings: on average, Singapore respondents expect their retirement to last for seventeen years, but their retirement savings to last for just nine years.
3. Cash savings are an important source of retirement funding in Singapore: 69% expect to use this source, and on average, cash savings is expected to represent 34% of retirement income.
4. Respondents understand the importance of preparing for retirement from early on in life: on average, they see the age of 34 as the latest by which people can start planning financially and still expect to maintain their standard of living in retirement.
5. When asked to choose between saving for the short term goal of a holiday and for the longer term goal of retirement, over half (54%) of Singapore respondents chose to save for retirement while only 40% chose a holiday, showing they are more focused on the long term than the global average.
6. Fear is an important incentive to saving in Singapore: 61% are motivated to save towards retirement by the fear of not having enough money to live on in later life. Similarly, 54% of those planning for retirement were prompted by the desire for a good standard of living in later life.
7. In Singapore, there is a strong relationship between financial planning and saving more, with nearly half of respondents (45%) saying financial planning led to increased saving for retirement, and only 31% saying they did not save more.

The report can be found here.

Retirement planning must be taken seriously because there is no turning back or winding back the clock if you find that your savings have run out mid way during your retirement. Yes, you may ask for welfare assistance but I am sure you will not feel good about doing that if you have been independent financially for so long.

Please consult your independent financial adviser representative or call me at 90011082 for a non-obligatory discussion now. Don’t wait till it is too late. I will not charge you a fee for this consultation as I am paid a commission by our product providers if you take up the proposed plans.

I look forward to work out a retirement plan that you are comfortable with.

Have a great week ahead!

Recently I was asked how much I had paid for my mum’s two knee replacement operations last year. She was 82 years old when she went for the operations. After some calculation, the amount came to about $18,000 for each knee and the operations were done at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) in September and November 2012. She also had to stay at REN CI Hospital (RCH)for one month after each operation. Total costs were about $45,000. Bearing in mind, she stayed at B2/C Class wards.

According to the Senior Consultant at TTSH, he performed 5 to 6 total knee replacements everyday! It was a very common ailment among older people in Singapore. The knee caps wear off after years of punishing walking and running for some people. Nowadays I noticed that alot of obese elderly people had trouble walking and their legs were bowed and not straight like younger people.

The surgeon also straighten my mum’s legs during the total knee replacement. It was a great relief for my mum after years of pain and walking difficulty. Old folks tend to suffer in silence and not tell their children until the pain became unbearable. Now she walks around the house effortlessly and goes out for walks around our neighbourhood every morning.

Fortunately, we had bought the NTUC Incomeshield Plan B for my mum many years ago and now we can breathe easily because the insurance plan paid for most of the hospital bills at both TTSH and RCH. We just had to pay for the annual deductible and the 10% co-insurance elements.

Imagine in 30 or 40 years time, when we are past 60 or 70 years old, our knees may need to go for total knee replacement operations. By then, I believe it will definitely cost more than $18,000 per knee! Assuming the medical costs increased at 3% p.a., in 30 years time the cost will rise to $43,690 per knee or in 40 years time the cost will rise to $58,717 per knee!!!

I urge you to seriously consider getting your family and friends to be adequatey insured with an affordable hospitalisation insurance plan. You should seek the advice of an independent financial adviser or you can call me up at 90011082 for a review of your insurance needs so that you will not have any nasty surprises during your old age.