Record High Car COE Prices in Singapore and Association With S$100 Chicken Rice.

I was watching 1M65 channel by the influential Mr Loo yesterday. Apparently, Mr Loo is in angst over the record high Certificate of Entitlement (“COE”) price as his current car COE is expiring by mid January 2026. Consequently, he lamented that he has no choice but to spend a large sum of money to buy a car which is essential for him as he needs to travel to Malaysia frequently as well as for local business meetings or business appointments. Interestingly, he gave an example of a S$100 chicken rice to elaborate how S$100 is deemed affordable to many local residents but that many will think that it is not value for money as an analogy to his unhappiness over the raging COE prices across the motor vehicle categories.

The Tesla Model Y Now Comes With Cat A Version To Keep It Affordable

1. Car is a always a Luxury Good in Singapore Context

I think that car is always a luxury good….period. From economics perspective, owning a car is one of the most wasteful consumption act in society. If we are using cars like taxis or private hired vehicle which are on the road most of the time during the day, then it will be a just consumption. However, for privately owned cars, the real issue is that most people just drive it to and fro work and that most of the day, the car remains idle thus producing no real benefits.

Furthermore, in Singapore context, the public transport network such as MRT trains, buses as well as public hired vehicles like Grabs and also hailed down taxis are very well developed and convenient.

Given Singapore’s limited land size and growing population, there is unfortunately a limit to the growth in car supply. COE at S$100K will be a norm going forward under the constraint in supply situation.

2. The Chicken Rice Analogy is Flawed

Chicken rice is actually nearer to the spectrum of essential goods rather than luxury goods from economics theory perspective. So there is actually no meaning to compare the current high COE prices to the imaginary scenario of S$100 chicken rice and paining that as an analogy to the high car prices in Singapore.

Moreover, S$100 plate of chicken rice is never affordable in the first place for basic essential meals so not sure why Mr Loo thinks that it is affordable. 

The BYD Sealion 7 Now Also Comes With Cat Version To Beat High COE Price.

Parting Thoughts

If one wants to own a car in Singapore, then one has to accept the fact that one has to pay a heavy price to government coffers for the right to own a car in Singapore for 10 years. Be prepared to fork out S$200K for a new car in Singapore going forward. S$200K is a huge sacrifice towards financial freedom as the opportunity cost at 6% per annum amounted to the loss of <S$12K> of recurring income on a yearly basis.  

A Date With My Financial Planner- Stop Investing Yourself and Leave It To Your FA To Manage For You.

Earlier this week, I metup with a Financial Planner for one of my critical illness policy-let's call him "David". David has been asking for a meet-up to review my financial planning needs as people in different stages of life have varying needs as he put it. We met-up at Ya Kun Toast Box. He went on to say that he is different from other financial planners as he don't anyhow push products but rather listen to customers to know more about their needs before recommending them appropriate products. 

1. Stop Investing Yourself and Leave It To Your Financial Planner To Manage For You.

Before long, David started talking about how his client lost over 30% in stock investing when this client went on holiday and forgot to place a stop loss standing order. Hence one should spend time on focusing on his/own jobs and family instead of doing investments themselves- leave such investments to the trusted Financial Planner. He then rattled on that the unit trusts he recommended his other clients were making over 30% recently. 

This is the classic sales tactics of brain-washing customers to keep them dependant on their financial planner by arguing that people should spend their time on more "useful matters". The hard truth is that your financial advisor will not help you pick or buy/sell individual stocks. They will just be putting your money into a fund run by a fund manager. So, they themselves are actually just acting as a middlemen to the different unit trusts out there. 

Personally, I think that everyone needs to learn how to manage their own money and NOT leave it to a financial planner. If one is not good in stock picking, then there are other alternatives out there such as buying passive index funds (SPY500) or buying recommended portfolios from Robo Advisors such as Endowus or Syfe or even the local banks (DBS, UOB & OCBC) which have their own recommended managed fund portfolios. 

2. Change Your Hospitalisation and Surgical Plans ("H&S") to Cheaper Premiums Insurance Provider On a Yearly Basis To Save On Premium Costs.

The other shocking point on the meetup is when David mentioned that H&S premiums have very different amount of premiums these days for different age groups. Hence before any renewal with current provider, David highly recommend all his clients to approach him first to see whether other insurance providers H&S are cheaper. The difference can be more than S$1K per year for an entire family he asserted. 

I have to politely tell David that this can be extremely risky as there maybe pre-existing conditions that one is not aware of and that will complicate matters in event that you suffer from a major medical condition after switching over. There is always the risk that your new insurer will argue that this is pre-existing condition. This is just creating vast uncertainty in one's own risk management. 

Final Thoughts

I bade farewell to David in about half an hour time as I think that some of his beliefs are just way too strange. The only useful thing I got out from him is the will planning in event of one's own death. It is best to lay down a proper will on what to do with one's wealth else your remaining family members maybe spending unnecessary cost to get the lawyer to write in to all banks and wealth management platforms to enquire about whether you got any holdings with them.   

DBS Wonderful PayLah S$3 Cashback Programme and the Ugly Sides of It.

I love the DBS PayLah cashback rebate promotion every Saturday morning where DBS gives back to society as well as gained marketing exposure from it. Nonetheless, I was somewhat exasperated by some dark side of it over the past 2 weekends:

1. Aunties Jostling up the Escalator to Hawker Centre As If It Is The End of the World.

I was shocked by elderly aunties moving to the right side of the escalator and climbing it to beat others in the queue at 7.30am. Hey, I mean the cashback is up to the first 160,000 folks and it normally ends at 9am or 9.30am so there is ample time. I think folks need to take care of their own safety rather than have the fear that the promotion will run out soon in the next minute.

2. Long Waiting Time At Participating Stall’s Cashier- Guy with 3 Mobile Phones For Payment.

This is madness. This morning I saw a young chap in front of me who took ages to complete payment for 3 packets of Nasi Lemak and White Bee Hong. The young man was fumbling with unlocking 3 different mobile phones (he probably took his wife and kid phones along) for making payment. This is too much lah. Isn’t this also a breach of banking security by making payment using accounts not belonging to him as well as creating a public nuisance? 

Imagine if everyone were to follow, there will be folks with 6-7 phones each such as from their grandparents, spouses and kids  and unlocking them one by one to use the respective PayLah. It will take ages for the queue to clear.

Parting Thoughts

Haiz, sometimes I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when I met such strange folks and their intriguing pattern….haha.

Will Donald Trump Sink The US Economy Into Recession With His Self-Proclaimed Tariffs "Wins"?

The very controversial US July 2025 jobs report presented signs of red-flag that the US economy is inching closer to a disastrous recession. Donald Trump may have just succeed in torpedoing the US economy with his self-proclaimed victories with the trade negotiation and imposing tariffs with a base line of at least 10% against global trading partners and increasing import costs of materials and finished goods that its own US business owners will have to eventually pass through to US consumers. Inflation will certainly soar and given the worsening US job markets, Powell will need to make a difficult choice of whether to increase interest rates to stop inflation or cut interest rates to reignite the US economy engine. 

The reduction in purchasing power of US consumers will not just have a drastic impact back in US but also affect global economies such as Singapore which depends a lot on exports to thrive. Looks like we are in for a thunder storm with the erratic and unpredictable Trump policies era. The risk of US entering into a long period of stagflation is ever increasing despite the S&P500 breaching the impressive 6,000 points mark. 

Parting Thoughts- Personal

I am certainly curious as to Powell's next course of action and most folks are projecting that he will have no choice but to starting cutting borrowing rates in the next Fed meeting. If so, it maybe good to load up on more hedged US bonds and also Real Estate Investment Trust.   

How to Invest Into Singapore Real Estate Investment Trusts? My Personal Approaches to REITS.

How to Invest Into Singapore Real Estate Investment Trusts? My Personal Approaches to REITS- Please refer to below video:

Don’t Give Too Little Credit To The People of Singapore.

I came across 1M65 Mr Loo’s latest videos of his visit to Shenzhen and Hong Kong where he came away with the proclamation that retail business in Singapore will soon be in bad shape with the opening of the RTS to Johor Bahru. In addition, worst part of all of this is that he has strangely mentioned that the people in China and Hong Kong are all more competitive and hardworking than Singaporeans but struggling in their daily lives and thereafter, he made a point that the only sole reason that Singapore economy and its people are still in better shape is due to our strong Singapore Government leadership. 

So is he saying that other governments are not as good as the Singapore government when sometimes it is not something that can be compared apple to apple especially for a gigantic and complicated country like China? Also, is it a right assertion to say that Singaporeans are not as competitive and hardworking than folks in other countries? Maybe Mr Loo has been mixing with the wrong crowd. I have known many Singaporeans who are working lots of overtime and even during the weekend on their jobs. I have also seen many Singaporeans hungrily scouting for new business opportunities and pipelines for their organization and are very highly driven. There will always be different types of people in every society of highly driven vs those that only desire a “simpler” life in China, Hong Kong and also Singapore. 

Surely, there is no need to discredit his own fellow Singaporeans just to score brownie points with regard to the SG government? Instead, is it not the competitive advantage from Tripartism (collaboration between local workers, businessmen and the SG government), which has been – and continues to be – one of the cornerstones of Singapore’s economic, social and political development and success thus far?

DBS $3 PayLah Weekly Cashback Is Back! 12 July 2025 To 27 September 2025- Don’t Miss It!

 

Hi Folks, awesome news! DBS is bringing back its popular S$3 PayLah cashback at hawker centres every Saturday for the first 160,000 people who uses PayLah to scan and pay at participating stalls from this Saturday (12 July 2025) onwards. I vividly recalled that the first cashback promotion used to be every Friday. So why did they change it Saturday instead? Rumors has it that many elderly folks were complaining about having to compete with younger working crowd and thus unable to enjoy the offer. Apparently, the move to Saturday morning will benefit more elderly folks since the younger ones will not be able to wake up early to compete given that they are busy partying late into the night to let their hair down on Friday (last working day of the week)…haha. 

Anyway, the S$3 cashback from PayLah may not be all good news for me. The last time DBS run this promotion, my favourite economic Bee Hoon stall started boosting a super long queue from 7.30am to 8.30am which rendered me too impatient to queue and buy it. Looks like I will have to settle for fishball noodle instead….haiz.

NTT Data Centre REIT IPO- Another Ticking Time Bomb- 3 Reasons to Stay Away.

There is another upcoming data centre REIT IPO on SGX by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (“NTT”) of some of its data centres in order to raise funding of up to US$864 Mil on SGX. NTT is dangling a big fat carrot of between 7% to 7.5% annual distribution yield to attract investors. One of the cornerstone investors is our own Singapore sovereign wealth fund, GIC which invested US$100 Mil. Nevertheless, my personal view is that NTT data centre REIT will just be another ticking time bomb and I will be staying far away from this REIT for 3 main reasons:

(Please click here for those who preferred the You-Tube version)

1. Handicapped Shareholder/Unitholder Structure in Trust Deed Doomed for Failure.

This is the part that many retail investors got ensnared. All investors can only hold up to 9.8% holdings in NTT Data Centre REIT (with the exception of Sponsor who can hold up to 25%). I have written it many times on the red flag of the exemption on withholding tax for crafting US properties as a REIT structure.

Extract of the restriction on shareholding

Basically, our global economies will go through market cycles. During economic crisis or crisis caused by the REIT itself, the REIT cannot save itself by rights issuance exercise because it will breach the trust deed limitation of 9.8% for individual shareholding. So the banker or the sponsor cannot undertake unsubscribed excess rights which will mean an immediate violation of its own trust deed as well as US tax transparency rule for REIT holdings. Look at what happened to US Commercial Office REITs of MUST, KORE and PRIME on SGX which are unable to do rights issuance and you will understand why they have to do either a fire sales of assets during crisis and/or stop paying out distributions to save itself. 

2. Over Concentration Risk of Key Tenant Making Up 31.5% of Monthly Base Rent.

There is one major tenant, with only a triple B credit rating, which makes up a significant 31.5% overall in NTT Data Centre REIT monthly rental income. If there are defaults, a huge chunk of “stable” rental income distribution to unit-holders will be gone with the wind. Look at what happened to DigiCore REIT and one will understand the impact.

If we are to do an online search on the mysterious identity of this major automotive tenant, 2 names came up with BBB S&P credit rating, that is, either Tesla or General Motors. Both are not exactly in a good financial state if you know what I mean. 

3. Forex Risk- Most of the Assets Are Located in US.

4 out of the 6 injected properties are based in the US and this current data centre REIT is also priced in USD. This will mean a forex risk to SG investors. I am not exactly sure whether this is the right time to be vested in so much US assets especially with the crazy antics by Donald Trump. 

Parting Thoughts- Personal Views

Interestingly, the sponsor has highlighted the low 35% leverage ratio will help NTT Data Centre REIT expand in future. But as alluded to Point 1 above, NTT Data Centre REIT most likely is destined for private placements route  for future acquisition. The problem with such REIT structure is that it can only raise funds from existing unit-holders during good times. During crunch times, retail investors will be faced with severe dilution as the sponsor and management will have to turn to private investors to raise fundings. I thought that folks should look at Mapletree Industrial Trust or Keppel Data Centre REIT if they want to be vested in the data centre business.

Personal Updates- My Little Piece of Joy Albeit The Stock Market Doldrum.

Life is certainly dull these past few years with the asset classes (primarily SREITs) that I am vested in, perfoming mediocrally. The only little small piece of joy is that I finally won the TOTO after so many years! Well, I am not the lucky guy from Yew Tew who won the S$12Mil grand prize on 19th June 2025 but finally have the luck to be one of the winner of the 7th prize of S$10 for matching 3 similiar numbers....haha.

It is certainly easier to gain more speculating in some risky stock picks rather than ploughing hundreds of dollars that went into SG Pools but only gain a cumulative windfall of S$10. 

Life Reflection- "The pain of losing someone we love is the price we pay for the privilege of having loved someone and having that person be a part of our lives".

Would you have chosen to re-live your life differently if at the age of 21 during university time, you happen to steal a glimspe of the future and gleaned from there that you will have stage 4 cancer (that continues to spread aggressively despite all medically available treatment) in another 20 years time? I was left pondering this question when I heard the poignant news of a friend who unfortunately have a bad prognosis from her medical specialist albeit early pick up of the medical issue and extensive medical treatments as I understand. There is also the issue of the young children.....what will happen to them after the parent is gone? I am still reeling in from the shock and unfairness of life and I was despondent over this devastating news during the entire long weekend.

Life is full of uncertainties, tomorrow isn't promised or guaranteed. Spend more time with your loved ones as much as possible.

Central Provident Fund Personal Updates 2025- Moving Towards Enhanced Retirement Sum Using Special Account.

Time to document my CPF retirement goal update. I will only be sharing my CPF Special Account here as I find the balances in the CPF Ordinary Account ("OA")  and Medisave account are irrelevant for my retirement income planning. Reason being that for CPF OA, amount here will eventually be fully utilised to pay down my housing mortgage as I do not plan to work till age 65 years old and targeting an early retirement. As for Medisave, my parents do not have much medical insurance coverage and I think that I will most likely exhaust all the balances here into their future healthcare. I have seen my cousins Medisave being drawn down to zero for medical expenses for medical payment on behalf as their parents similarly do not have much health insurances or sufficient medisave-this issue always reminded me of the Sandwich Generation video from Income Ltd in 2019.

1.Target for Future Retirement Account

Currently, my special account has a balance of S$266K as of 2 January 2025. My personal CPF special account target is for it to reach S$426K (based on the new 4 times basic retirement sum 2025). Even thought I think I can only achieve 3 times basic retirement sum, think it is good to have a higher benchmark target of S$426K. 

2. Interest Income- S$10.8K for Special Account

Hopefully, our Singapore government maintains the 4% risk free rate for all CPF holders for the next decade. With a passive S$10.8K of interest income being credited, this effectively mean at least another S$100K growth in the CPF Retirement Account every 10 years.

Parting Thoughts

I think that it is hard to beat a risk free 4% offered by the CPF board backed up by our Singapore Government. So I am contended to just let it grow gradually by itself instead of taking out for balanced fund investments albeit very tempted at times to do it. I will do my own retirement planning properly....I will be the last Sandwich Generation!

Why Tan Kin Lian Keep Talking About Buying Apartments in Malaysia Forest City? Is He Out of His Mind?

 

Not sure why my Facebook will frequently show me Tan Kin Lian’s post. He has been talking about Forest City I recalled from 2017 till now. So what if Forest City is freehold condo and cost just S$300K relative to S$1.5Mil+ Singapore condo right now? Beside the issues of foreign exchange depreciation risk as well as ghost town issue, the MM2H (Malaysia My Second Home) scheme is also fraught with the ever changing political climate risk. One moment Malaysia politicians welcome foreigners like Singaporeans and Chinese and then the next moment they may just decide to ban foreigners or raise up the anti-foreigners sentiment to score political points. 

Hence I am shocked that he even mentioned that it maybe a good idea for retirees to sell one’s property in Singapore and then use part of the proceeds to buy an apartment in Forest City. One will always be a second class citizen in other countries and that is the cold hard truth. 

The Silence of the Lambs Part 2- Venturing Into the Tiger's Den.

This is actually an update on my personal career since a restructuring exercise at my workplace approximately 2 years ago. To recap, those were poignant moments then when some of my colleagues were let go by our Headquarter (based overseas). My local Singaporean director heading the local business unit also left after disagreeing with the new remuneration package on offer by the HQ Big Boss. This was strange despite the business still being profitable.  There was no replacement and I was asked to be the lead General Manager for the local business and do double-hatting for both commercial and financial functions to save cost. Fast forward 2 years and the cat is finally out of the bag: The reason for what had transpired was due to an upcoming Merger and Acquisition ("M&A"). The Big Boss at our Headquarters had decided to sell away his business to a giant Global MNC. No wonder there were so many lambs being slaughtered over this period as he was so busy trimming cost throughout the entire Group. Apparently, he was striving to get as high a selling price as possible with magnificent profit numbers by roasting the lambs. 

1. Most dramatic turn of event.

My local Singaporean director who left previously is now in the acquirer Company HQ. Interestingly, it was revealed that he was recommended his current role at the new acquirer company by my current overseas Big Boss who connected him to the new business owner/acquirer. So, it turns out that eventually, I will still be working with my ex-local director albeit each of us in a different role capacity under the new owner. 

2. Venturing into the unknown- M&A Integration.

Many fellow managers and staff were extremely worried about the upcoming integration albeit much assurance from the HQ Big Boss (who is selling away his business) and also the new business owner that there will be no retrenchment within the next 2 years due to the upcoming integration exercise. It is like a Ripley's Believe It or Not moment. :)

In addition, I have no doubts that the usual higher level fight over control by the senior management will soon start. The new organisation is so humongous that a Manager is just a small fry inside. There seems to be plenty of Director level staff. The higher up "food chain" even have different Vice-Presidents and Presidents in different clusters.  

3. Going back to global MNC.

With such a big structured organisation filled with so many headcounts and departments, navigating through the complex human spider-web will be fraught with challenges. Not to mention the clamouring for credit during project work and pushing away of blame to other department or other personnel when there are screw-ups. So not exactly looking forward to it. Worked before in some of these big organisations but find things too structured at times. So went to a smaller organisation. Now I am back to square one it seems....hmmm. 

4. Importance of passive income during such moment.

Although I have not achieved financial independence, but the interest and dividend income from my half baked tiny investment portfolios do come into handy. At least I will be able to pay off basic housing mortgage and the kid's living and educational expenses if unfortunate events were to strike later on.

Parting thoughts

I am not sure one gets wiser as one gets older, But one does learn to dodge a certain amount of hell. :p

Using Hospitalisation & Surgical Insurance To Get Free Medical Checkup and Medical Treatment at Private Specialist Clinics- Beware of the Consequences.

Yup, you folks read the topic and subject header correctly- it is not a typo. What the heck am I talking about? Apparently, there are a number of people out there who has found a hidden "hack" to make use of their Hospitalisation & Surgical ("H&S") insurance plan to get free health check-up or medical treatment by specialist clinics. According to my friend (let's call him Kenny for the purpose of today's sharing session), as long as you know the right doctors at the private hospitals, they will know how to write in their medical report for one to file a H&S claim against their insurance companies to cover their medical examination costs and also 5 star hotel stay equivalent at A Class ward in private hospitals.

1.  "It is stupid to spend your own money on medical checkup. Make use of your H&S plan"- per Kenny.

My "friend" Kenny is a very street smart guy. A few months back, when I mentioned that I had recently spent S$1.5K in medical consultation and treatment for my chronic illness (asthma) at a respiratory specialist clinic, Kenny immediately commented that I should have consulted him earlier for alternative route. He and his spouse never waste their money for health-checkup or specialist treatment. As aforesaid mentioned, Kenny asserted that he knows of ways to be able to make a claim on H&S. He also remarked that "It is stupid to spend your own money on medical checkup. Make good use of your H&S plan". 

Coincidentally, Kenny has some chest pain issues then. So, he checked himself into a private hospital for 1 day to do a battery of tests which came up to S$13K in total bill. The results of the tests did not reveal any medical issues. True enough, the insurer approved the entire H&S claim of S$13K and made a full payment on behalf to the private hospital (The H&S plan of Kenny was purchased many years back hence it is the only one that I knew of that still covers "all charges" if one has bought the Extra Rider under the old scheme while rest of insurers such as NTUC Income Insurance Limited had already forced a co-payment in cash by policy holders under the old H&S scheme). 

2. Insurance Companies are not stupid- they have safeguards in place to mitigate such occurrences and deal with folks with these mindset for claims. 

To continue with the above story, Kenny got a shock when his H&S insurer wrote to him that due to this claim, they will be increasing his premiums by  three-fold for 1 year which amounted to increase of S$2k-$3K per annum. Kenny was very upset and told his insurance agent that he will be terminating his H&S with the insurance company. Currently, he has asked for quotes from a few other H&S insurers in the market for H&S replacement coverage.

It turns out that there is no free lunch after all. The consequences just came in a bit later.    

Betrayal by Friends and Spouse and Handling Dispute At Work.

The former Night Owl Cinematic ("NOC")  Sylvia Chan is back and hitting hard. Unless you have been living under a rock, the NOC saga has been dragging on for 3 years now. For those wondering what this is about, I will leave the link to her latest YouTube videos here. Today's post is not about the NOC saga, rather, it is on dealing with similar situation in commercial or voluntary organisations where you have Party 1 and Party 2 going after each other throats and where you are being drawn into the "Dirty Messy Fiasco".  I will just share my thoughts on the handling of such situation in event that you are being drawn into the quicksand or is actually part of the warring party. 

1. If possible, don't get drawn in at all.

Avoid taking sides or joining any camps if you encounter such disputes/fights going on between Party 1 and Party 2. Don't ever just listen to one side, always listen to the other side also for their version of what actually happened. You will find that most of the time, there are no obvious right and wrong over what had happened. 

The only thing of certainty is that those participating (and if you are caught in it) in such fiasco end up either worsening the already ugly situation or making even more enemies. 

2.  鹬蚌相争，渔翁得利 （The fisherman takes advantage from the fight between the snipe and the clam).

I have seen this happened in my home's residential committee. 2 groups of residents levying breach of statutory act by the other group or accusation of fraudulent use of funds or abuse of power. The 2 groups were so busy fighting one another that the subcontractors/vendors got away with slacking on the job as the committee overseeing them were too busy with infighting. End of the day, it is a lose lose situation for all.

3. The Narcissist will not listen- His/Her viewpoint is always supreme and right over others.

If you are dealing with a narcissist out on a war path against you, don't waste your time. Try to avoid that person or speak directly to his/her boss to directly override him/her. If unfortunately the person with narcissism is your boss, then maybe better to just resign and look for new job as nothing much you can do.

Note: Narcissistic personality disorder ("NPD") is actually a mental illness which involves a pattern of self-centered, arrogant thinking and behavior, a lack of empathy and consideration for other people, and an excessive need for admiration. Others often describe people with NPD as cocky, manipulative, selfish, patronizing, and demanding.

Parting thoughts

A lot of time, lack of communications or misunderstanding lead to many conflicts. In addition, always show proper respect to ensure that the other party does not lose too much "face" during communication even if the other party is "wrong" in your own opinion. Sometimes, ego is the root of all evil. 😎 

Prudential Dividend Funds- Weird Sales Cold Call By Personal Assistant of Unknown Agent.

Dividend paying funds seems to be the rage these days. Out of the blue, I suddenly got a cold call earlier this week from a personal assistant ("PA") of an unknown agent who asked me whether I want to find out more about their Prudential dividend fund. She is trying to fix me up on an appointment with her financial advisory agent to find out more about dividend paying funds. It was a bizarre and hard conversation with this curt PA:

Prudential PA: "Sir, have you heard of Prudential dividend investment fund?"

BK (me): "Sorry, may I know who's on the line and what is this call about?" 

Prudential PA: "Sir, what's your name, is it a good time to talk to you?" 

(Hmm, why she keep asking my name when she herself has not introduced herself or shed light on what this is all about?)

BK (me): "May I know who's on the line and what is this about?" 

Prudential PA: "Have you heard of Prudential dividend investment fund? Can you spare me 5 minutes?"

BK (me): "Nope, never heard before.  I got a meeting. But I can spare you a minute." 

Prudential PA: "WHAT's your name? HAVE YOU HEARD OF Prudential dividend investment fund? I will get my agent Sam to contact you. "

BK (me):" I already got a Prudential Agent lah".

Prudential PA: "But has your agent brief you on anything about our Prudential dividend investment fund? It also offer you insurance protection at the same time."

BK (me): "Nope, my current Prudential agent never brief me on this product."

Prudential PA: "Great. Then I will get my agent, Sam, to call you. WHAT's your name?!" 
(I can sense the lady getting impatient and irritated with me as her voice was raised".)

BK (me): "Ok, your agent can call me."

Prudential PA: " I will get my agent to call you". (Next moment, she just put down and cut off her phone abruptly without even saying goodbye).

Well, strange that the personal assistant is getting so desperate to want to get an appointment for her boss via cold calling but her brusque attitude over the entire tele-conversion is really out of the world. Also, is making a living so cut-throat now that they can just target a customer who already has an existing Prudential agent that has remain close in contact with me over the years? What makes this weird PA thinks that she can just wrest the business relationship away from the existing agent that easily? 

Aiya- Not Much Benefits Given By Government After National Day Rally!

To be honest, I was a tad disappointed by yesterday's National Day Rally as I do not qualify for much freebies given by our Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsien Loong. The S$7 billion "Majulah" goodies package is being reserved for 50years old plus this round.  Nevertheless, I am happy that my parents will benefit from the one-off retirement as well as Medisave top up- think they are probably getting handout of S$2K each. Also, some additional good news for my elderly parents as Mr Lee has announced that there will be enhancement next year for the Silver Support Scheme. These measures do help the sandwiched class like myself who have to take care of elderly parents and support young kids some breather. 

Other major announcement
The prime plus flat schemes for good located BTOs is interesting. Finally, the government decided to step in to plug the lottery effect loophole. For many years, some small group of lucky Singaporeans have been making a fortune selling their BTOs and using the enormous proceeds from such flat to upgrade to private property. I know of ex-colleagues who sold off their Pinnacle@Duxton flats and made obscence profits of S$500K- S$600K from the sales. I do hope that with a minimum occupation period of 10 years as well as being made to pay back part of their sales proceeds to HDB, this will make it fairer for all Singaporeans. 

HDB flat is meant for living and to help citizens have a roof over their head and not build private swimming pool or tennis court in such public development 

Well, some people are not going to like what I am going to say next. Sorry but no offence intended, I seriously think that HDB should stop building Executive Condominiums ("EC"). HDB flats are for folks who need financial support for the absurdly priced housing in Singapore. So why waste space for EC which has luxurious facilities like swimming pool and tennis courts and also giving out generous grants? These space wasted could have been used to build additional block of flat in a plot of land and the EC grants be given instead to other Singaporeans who needed it more so as to have a roof over their head. The government should just leave the building of luxurious condominiums to the private sector instead of wasting resources to have such unnecessary amenities using public funds. I failed to see the reason why for folks who wanted luxurious swimming pools, gyms or tennis court in their home, then the common tax-paying folks have to subsidise their EC grants. If so, then why not build "Executive" Landed Property for those who aspires to stay in private landed property? 

Parting thoughts

I think that HDB need to differentiate between essential needs and luxurious craving so as to be fair to tax-payers.  

Alamak! Tan Kin Lian Running For Singapore President Again---Can Someone Please Stop Him?

This is really OMG!. The former chief executive of NTUC Income Insurance Cooperative is coming out to run for the Singapore Presidency again. In 2011, Mr Tan Kin Lian came in last out of four candidates with only 4.91% of the total votes and immediately lost $48,000 of his election deposit for failing to garner more than one-eight of the total votes. 

1. The savior of Singapore-Mr Tan Kin Lian

Again, with guns blazing, Mr Tan Kin Lian started blabbering weird stuff about influencing government policies if elected and he proudly proclaim that he will use the President's veto powers to ensure that government policies align with his vision and goals. 

"Mr Tan’s aim is unrealistic and misleading", said political analyst at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Felix Tan. “That is not the role of the President. They do not guide policies, to begin with. That’s the role of the government of today.” Please refer to Channel NewsAsia.  

2. Sparring with Mr Tan while he was in NTUC Income Insurance

I had some personal interaction with Mr Tan while he was the boss of NTUC Income Insurance. Many years back, whole-life limited payment plan just came out. I was a NTUC Income policy holder. I wrote in to feedback to him that NTUC Income should learn from other insurance companies like Aviva which are offering premiums payment of 10 years to 20 years limited payment for whole-life plan instead of NTUC Income traditional policy of paying till one is age 85 years old (pay whole-life indeed even after your retirement). Mr Tan jumped the gun and replied in a hostile manner to demand to know whether I am an agent from other rival insurance company. This left a lasting bad impression on me about his personality.

3. Have you heard him speak publicly?

In 2011, there were various interviews held with the different presidential election candidates. I almost fainted when I hear him speak. Personally, I think I will die from embarrassment if he was ever elected as our Head of State representing Singaporeans.

Parting thoughts

I am not sure why the Presidential Elections Committee allowed Mr Tan Kin Lian to run in 2011 Presidential Election. I hope they don't make the same mistake again and disqualify him immediately for 2023. This will also help Mr Tan save his deposit and hard-earned money from being forfeited. 

How Come Suddenly So Many Affairs Revelations In Singapore Politics?

Wow, the out of the blue revelations of all the scandalous affairs in Singapore politics over the past 2 days is mind-blowing. The timing of the release by whistle blowers such as the ex-personal driver of Mr Leon Perera which implicates so many WP leaders is also puzzling. Personally, I do not believe in coincidences. Looks more like dirty politics and holding on to pertinent information as a weapon to unleash during one's chosen opportunity. Also dabbling in tactics to use certain news to cover up for other "major screw up". I am actually more interested in the corruption investigation of our Transport Minister and hope that the Corruption Bureau released their report to the public soon for transparency and accountability.

I do hope that our leaders do not get distracted by the juicy affairs of fellow Members of Parliament & focus more on governing the country and concentrating on resolving major issues (such as high cost of housing and food) affecting the bread and butter of all Singaporeans. Looks like our poor Prime Minster Mr Lee needs to hold on the fort for a few more years.  

Personal Updates: Health Crisis and Medical Emergency.

I must say that age seems to be catching up with me. Over the past few months, I have been battling with 2 health scares. Personally, I think that the state of our Singapore public health care system is worrisome with insufficient medical resources. Let me share my recent experiences due to my recent health crisis:

1. Severe diarrhoea that persist for half a year.

(i) This is something that is abnormal and at one point, I thought that I have colon cancer. Went to visit the private General Practitioner near my home but was told by the doctor to watch my diet, take medication for a week and rest. 

(ii) After seeing that there is no improvement, I made a call to the polyclinic for an urgent appointment to see the doctor. Reason being that I was told my relatives that referral by polyclinic to specialist is the only way to get government medical subsidy for costly medical tests and treatment in event that it turned out to be dread disease. The polyclinic doctor does not think there is anything serious but wrote a referral for urgent colonoscopy to be done at public hospital.

(iii) Despite “urgent” referral, my appointment for further examination only took place 6 months later. 3months wait for an appointment to see the government specialist at hospital and another 3 months wait to get a slot for colonoscopy. I tried to ask for earlier appointment in view of severe diarrhoea that persist after medication but was told that there are no available slots. 

(iv) After finally doing the scope 6 months later and doing a biopsy on some polyps, doctors did not detect any serious abnormality. I was just wondering had it really been serious, I may have already died waiting for 6 months just to do a scope. Our public healthcare is quite scary. The next time I think I better opt for private specialist route and just have to bite the bullet to pay astronomical medical fees. 

(v) The doctors were unable to treat my conditions with the medication other than telling me to watch my diet and also to take probiotics. In the end, I recovered fully taking Traditional Chinese Medicine based health supplements with ginger and red date as main ingredients and cost only S$35 which is a tiny fraction of the medical cost incurred to date to seek medical treatment. 

This is the cheap TCM supplment that saved me from non-stop diarrhoea and colon issues-a simple formula of Red Date, Perilla, Licorice Root, Ginger, Alfalfa Powder, Papaya  

2. Upper and lower respiratory tract infection and asthma

This happened 2 months back. My kids brought back flu virus from school and spread to me. While they recovered fast, I got very sick with lots of wheezing. 

(i) Went to see my usual General Practitioner for 4 times in 2 weeks but to no avail. The GP doctor also refused to prescribe me stronger anti-biotics when I told her that the previous ones given has no effect. The GP doctor insisted that I have no infection as I do not have fever and it was just my asthma acting up.

(ii) I used to visit a respiratory specialist at Orchard Road area whenever the General Practitioner is unable to resolve my respiratory illness but to my horror, the expert doctor whom I consulted (whenever I am at my wit’s end), had passed away due to old age- he was 80 years old plus.  

(iii) Left with limited choice, I went to Mount Elizabeth Hospital for urgent treatment since the junior doctor at neighbourhood clinic had no idea what to do and I feel like my lungs are drowning. I was fortunate to have found a good respiratory specialist there. The specialist said that he suspected  that I have pneumonia after listening with his stethoscope and immediately sent me for X-ray (the amazing thing about private healthcare is that taking the X-Ray and waiting for results took less than 30 mins). 

(iv) Turns out that I was having a nasty bout of bronchitis and the specialist immediately prescribed me the right kind of antibiotics to resolve the infection as well as a new type of inhaler for the asthma. Interestingly, one does not need to be displaying symptoms of fever if you have serious chest infection. Had I continued to visit the GP clinic near my home for treatment or wait for further referral to public healthcare specialist, I would probably have ended up being hospitalized or even dead due to their incompetence. 

(v) However, I must say that private healthcare is damn expensive. Every follow up visit for treatment is around S$500 every 1-2 months.

While viral infection does not need anti-biotics, it can lead to subsequent bacteria infection- this seems to confuse some inexperienced doctors at neighborhood clinics who adamantly refuse to prescribe anti-biotics and just treat a patient for only asthma

Parting thoughts:
(a) I see that recently, there are some discussions on lowering one’s monthly expenses for attaining early financial independence. My thoughts are that it is not exactly that easy given that as one advanced in age, many chronic illness or dread disease will follow. This needs to be taken into consideration in one’s financial planning and early retirement plan when it comes to decision making time on resigning from one’s job (before the official retirement age) and to draw down on one’s passive income or capital built up. 

(b) For Hospitalization and Surgical medical insurance plan (H&S), one shall keep the private hospital option open instead of just opting for the cheaper public and restructured hospital option. As aforesaid mentioned, for public healthcare, you will be made to wait in a long waiting queue relative to getting consultation and treatment at private healthcare. One may seriously end up dead while waiting for medical consultation or essential test in public healthcare. 

(c) Do also note that not every medical consultation/treatments are covered under H&S plans. For example, all costly consultations prior to being officially warded will not be covered if it turns out that no hospitalization is required. 

(d) Insurers previously also disallowed medical diagnostic scope test claims until the Singapore Medical Association (SMA) wrote in on public forum in September 2020 to put pressure on the insurance companies. Even all cancer treatment that used to be available has now been controlled. The point that I am trying to drive across here is that having a H&S plan does not mean one is covered in all medical treatment procedures. So, one needs to prepare certain level of financial protection or buffer before choosing FIRE. 

Anyway, not sure whether it is just me only on my rather pessimistic views above on public healthcare as well as being too conservative on the required medical expenses for financial planning, do share your own experiences thus far. :)