一眼瞬间 - 张惠妹 & 萧敬腾

歌曲：一眼瞬间
歌手：张惠妹 萧敬腾

(女)白茫茫的星光
洒在长长路上
想念的冰凉
你知道吗
你浅浅的微笑
深似海的眼光
都能掀起我
滔天的巨浪

(男)你相信吗
这是命吗
这次我们放弃抵抗
哪怕拥抱
在身上画下深深的伤

(合)只要看你一眼一瞬间
哪怕是最后画面
我的世界
因为爱过而完美
谁都不该离太远

只要看你一眼一瞬间
足够我熬过千年
我不后悔
爱若让末日提前
我们要一起
好好迎接那句点

(女)白茫茫的星光
洒在长长路上
想念的冰凉
你知道吗
你浅浅的微笑
深似海的眼光
都能掀起我
滔天的巨浪

(男)你相信吗
这是命吗
这次我们放弃抵抗
哪怕拥抱
在身上画下深深的伤

(合)只要看你一眼一瞬间
哪怕是最后画面
我的世界
因为爱过而完美
谁都不该离太远

只要看你一眼一瞬间
足够我熬过千年
我不后悔
爱若让末日提前
我们要一起
好好迎接那句点

(女)如果相爱是错
(男)错过又算什么
(合)这一次我们宁死不放手
往彼此的心里跳
跳过天荒地老 wo oh ...

只要看你一眼一瞬间
哪怕是最后画面
我的世界
因为爱过而完美
谁都不该离太远

只要看你一眼一瞬间
足够我熬过千年
我不后悔
爱若让末日提前
我们要一起
好好迎接那句点

Courage Under Fire

Worthy ideas stand up to criticism and the proverbial bucket of cold water.
Keep the fire burning.
Keep the flame burning bright and hot.
If your ideas are worthy, it will stand the test of time and tides, and emerge victorious!

BTITR – What’s the Plan & Strategy?

I start by stating a statement coined by a professor from NUS as a disclaimer: “A theory that explains all things explain nothing”. To me, a layman with a basic degree only, I would say that “A knife that claims to cut all things actually cuts nothing”. So here am I, trying to offer some strategies for balancing between protection and investment, all with your hard-earned money. Truth be told, there is no "one-knife-cuts-all" solution here.

Please do not take any advice wholesale. The suggestions here are NOT the “be all - and all”. Take what is good or make sense to you, and then apply them. The rest may just be bullshit, for all you know. Sometimes, advises dished out are all over-rated, even from the professionals. Really. So be warned, beware, and be careful. Here we go and roll!

Previously, I established that BTITR is a much preferred option than the traditionally “leaving-it-all” to the insurance company track. So, how much do we allow the insurance company to earn? Or rather, how much insurance you think you need in order to have peace of mind? This is tough, and I am not going that direction. Rather, I choose to do a case study for the sake of illustration.

My subject: Mr X, 35 year-old male, non-smoker.
Assumptions: Earn about $5,000 take home

Using my previous approach, I assumed that if an agent Y approached Mr X with a $300,000 whole life plan (limited pay in 25 years), his premium is $8,700 (That will be $761 per month if you pay monthly!).

His total premium will be $8,700 X 25 years = $217,500.

His projected cash values by then is $286,011.

So technically, Mr X gets back all his premium paid plus a modest gain of $68,511. Not bad for a 25-years “investment”, you may say.

I humbly beg to differ.

So, lets suppose Mr X meets agent Z this time, and offer him instead a BTITR track, how will it pan out? Let do the numbers:

Cost of $300,000 Term Plan, 25 years: $1,800 p.a.
Total premium paid by end 25 years : $1,800 X 25 = $45,000 (gone down the drain)

Balance unused cash flow: $8,700 - $1,800 = $6,900 (or $575 per month)

Invest it into a no-frill Regular Saving-Investment Plan in unit trust for 25 years, at nett rate of 6% p.a. (after deduction of 1.5% sales charge and 1.25% p.a. fund management fee).

The future value factor (for 6%, 25 years) is 58.1564.

Meaning if you invest $6,900 equivalent yearly into an investment that yields 6% p.a. for 25 years, you will get $6,900 X 58.1564 = $401,279!

Now, you have got to subtract the cost of term insurance protection from the above.

Hence, nett returns is $401,279 - $45,000 = $356,279!

So, would you take $356,279 or $68,511?

Your call.

The bottomline is:

Do you think it is realistic to ask somebody to put aside $8,700 a year for anything worthwhile? The answer is YES!

Do you think it is practical or wise to sink the entire amount into a whole life insurance plan?
The answer is NO!

Do you think $8,700 p.a. (about $725) is a huge chuck to cut out for financial planning?
The answer is YES and NO!

No because $725 is only about 14.5% of nett take home income. This $725 comes with a $300,000 coverage some more. I exclude gross income, cos that money goes separately into the CPF OA, SA and MediSave for other utilization (housing, partial retirement and medical needs etc.). Our former Prime Minister Mr Goh CT suggested that Singaporeans should look to saving at least 1/3 of their take home pay for retirement.

Yes, it is really too much, if it all goes into a single whole life insurance plan. It is not only too much, in my opinion, it is wastage. And as always, buying whole life plans only benefits the one who sells it, not so much the one who buys it.

If you can, fire-proof your plan with 2 additional plans:

1. CPF (MediSave) - Approved Hospital & Surgical Plan (Reformed MediShield)
2. Personal Accident Plan

I personally think that if you have about just $272 per year to spare (just another $22 per month), build in a Personal Accident Plan (PA). It gives another $300,000 of death, disability and dismemberment coverage, with extra hospital income and funeral expenses.

Good news is that you can use up to $800 per year for CPF-approved reformed medishield plan. Such plan covers you lifetime with no limit for life, just an annual limit of $500,000.

With that, you are quite earthquake-proof as far as personal risk management is concerned. For more details if you want to know if you are adequately prepared for retirement or protection, email me at thereisonlyonepcm@gmail.com

Good luck in your planning.

Buy Term and Invest the Rest - Where is the Value?

This has been a much debated topic in the financial planning arena since don't know when. As a student and practitioner of financial planning, I am challenged to constantly find a balance in the way I build my convictions on such financial matters. Times change, and with it many variables and components.

A whole life insurance plan that was touted by agents to offer 6-7% returns p.a. no longer holds true. We have to live with the reality that a participating plan (such as a whole life policy) now offers a dismal return of just over 3% - and that's is NOT even guaranteed okay!

Insurance companies are finding it harder to offer higher bonuses and dividends over the last 10 years. Yields have come off drastically. Inflation, on the other hand, is pushing vigilently upward. Things are getting more expensive, with little or no sign of abating. Your savings in the bank is strinking. "Eroding" in value is a better word, technically.

It is against this new or pressing backdrops that I re-evaluated my positions on "Buy Term and Invest the Rest" (BTITR). You see, life is limited, so are its resources. I am talking about income. In financial planning matters, the concept of "income" takes centre stage to and for me. Without income, you are out. Period. Income, income, income. Personal income. Generated by yourself by your hands and with your time. Pocket money from parents, grand-parents and god-parents don't count - we are adults already!

Just this morning during my usual routine run and breakfast with my esteemed associate, Wayne Koh, we talked about the topic on BTITR. We both agree that in current environment, BTITR seems to offer more appeal. Rather than leaving your money totally to the insurance companies, you deconstruct your portfolio allocation and reconstruct your own strategies and approach.

What is BTITR?

Simply, it is separating protection from participation. It is investment without involvement. It is leaving protection to the insurance specialist and investment to the professional fund managers. Let me explain in simple terms.

Protection without participation
When you buy a whole life plan, the plans are usually called "participating policies" - they participate in the returns of the life funds. Life funds is the place where insurance companies invest what is remain from the premiums collected, after commissions and overheads. They invest the funds in a broad range of diversified assets, and then declared a return to policyholders each year. Claims are made out from the life funds too, and hence the funds are not supposed to be subjected to risky investments for fear of high volatility and threats of inability to meet future claims.

When you buy term, the plans are usually called "non-participating policies" - they DO NOT participate in the returns of the life funds. You pay for protection only. Period. No returns. No strings attached. You choose how much and how long you need the coverage. Then the only liability on your part is paying the premium. It is cheap, dirt cheap. When I was a tied agent many years ago, my manager called it "Poor man insurance". Even the poor can afford it.

I call it "Wise man insurance" - Only the wise will purchase it. Buy it for its worth and value. Let me explain later.

Investment without involvement
Now, since term insurance is cheaper, way cheaper, there will be excess cash appeared from "unused" or "un-expensed" premium. Truth is, for the same amount of sum assured, say $300,000, you pay $1,800 p.a., compared to a whole life plan, which cost around $8,700. I am using a 35 year-old male, non-smoker. That's a whopping $6,900 difference. Now, what do you or can you do with this difference call "the rest"? Invest it, of course.

In this manner, you start to explore ways to park this excess cashflow. You terminate your cashflow's involvement with the insurance company's life funds and her fate or rate of returns. Haha...fate of returns, what an appropriate slip of tongue. Therefore, it is considered investment without involvement. Hence, BTITR.

Is it true? Yes!
Is it better? Depends!!

It depends on what you DO with the rest of the unused money. If invested carefully, you will outperform the life funds, with the flexibility of choosing your own portfolio of assets and not to mention the benefits of not needing to stick around with a whole life policy for at least 20-25 years before the cash value becomes visible and mature enough for withdrawal.

Yes, it is true and it can be better.

For those who need to see discreet numbers, please refer to my buddy and esteemed associate, Wayne Koh, and his notes in his blog - http://www.waynekoh.com/2008/07/btitr.html

More ideas later, okay. You must wait if you want good stuff. I don't get paid for writing, okay! Just kidding :)

Coming up next - Recommended Allocation for BTITR.

Best Movie for Q3: The Dark Knight

One of the best for 2008 - I enjoyed every minute of it! I must say that the real character to watch is the Joker.

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“The Dark Knight” is not a simplistic tale of good and evil. Batman is good, yes, The Joker is evil, yes. But Batman poses a more complex puzzle than usual: The citizens of Gotham City are in an uproar, calling him a vigilante and blaming him for the deaths of policemen and others. And the Joker is more than a villain. He’s a Mephistopheles whose actions are fiendishly designed to pose moral dilemmas for his enemies.

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The key performance in the movie is by the late Heath Ledger, as the Joker. Throughout the film, he devises ingenious situations that force Batman, Commissioner Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent to make impossible ethical decisions.

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The plot involves nothing more or less than the Joker’s attempts to humiliate the forces for good and expose Batman’ secret identity, showing him to be a poser and a fraud. He includes Gordon and Dent on his target list, and contrives cruel tricks to play with the fact that Bruce Wayne once loved, and Harvey Dent now loves, Assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes. The tricks are more cruel than he realizes, because the Joker doesn’t know Batman’s identity.

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For an indepth review, you can visit:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200855996637

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Quotes from the Joker:

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I believe whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you... stranger.

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The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules!

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See, I'm not a monster...I'm just ahead of the curve.

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See, I'm a man of simple tastes. I like dynamite...and gunpowder...and gasoline! Do you know what all of these things have in common? They're cheap!

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You'll see, I'll show you, that when the chips are down, these uh... civilized people, they'll eat each other.

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Do I really look like a man with a plan, Harvey? I don't have a plan. The mob has plans, the cops have plans. You know what I am, Harvey? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one. I just *do* things. I'm a wrench in the gears. I *hate* plans. Yours, theirs, everyone's. Maroni has plans. Gordon has plans. Schemers trying to control their worlds. I am not a schemer. I show schemers how pathetic their attempts to control things really are. So when I say that what happened to you and your girlfriend wasn't personal, you know I'm telling the truth.

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It's a schemer who put you where you are. You were a schemer. You had plans. Look where it got you. I just did what I do best-I took your plan and turned it on itself. Look what I have done to this city with a few drums of gas and a couple bullets. Nobody panics when the expected people get killed. Nobody panics when things go according to plan, even if the plans are horrifying. If I tell the press that tomorrow a gangbanger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will get blown up, nobody panics. But when I say one little old mayor will die, everyone loses their minds! Introduce a little anarchy, you upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I am an agent of chaos. And you know the thing about chaos, Harvey? It's fair.

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If you're good at something, never do it for free.

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You have nothing to threaten me with. Nothing to do with all your strength.

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Let's turn the clocks back. A year ago, these cops and lawyers wouldn't dare cross any of you. I mean, what happened? Did your - did your balls drop off? Hmm?

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Never start with the head, the victim gets all fuzzy.

Ceremony of Innocence

When we become more acutely aware of our personal power to make a difference, of the wonder of being an individual, and the unlimited possibilities each new day holds, it is a ceremony of innocence. This is a back to basics exercise in personal dignity and respect that frees us to once again believe that we can leave our footprints on the sands of time.

- Gail Pursell Elliott

International Cow-poration

TRADITIONAL CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one and buy a bull.
Your herd multiplies and the economy grows.
You sell them and retire on the income.

AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.
You are surprised when the cow drops dead.

FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike because you want three cows.

JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow
and produce twenty times the milk.
You then create clever cow cartoon images called 'Cowkimon'
and market them World-Wide.

GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years,
eat once a month, and milk themselves.

BRITISH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Both are mad.

ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows, but you don't know where they are.
You break for lunch and forget about the cows.

SWISS CORPORATION
You have 5,000 cows and none of which belong to you.
You charge others for storing them.

CHINESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have 300 people milking them.
You claim full employment and high bovine productivity.

INDIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You worship them.

MALAYSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You signed a 40-year contract to supply milk at RM0.06 per litre.
Then mid-way through, you raised the price to RM0.60 or you cut the supply.
When the buyer agrees to the new price,
you change your mind again and now want RM1.20.
The buyer decided you can keep the milk,
and they go look for milk that comes from recycled cows or the cow urine instead.
Your two cows retire together with the Prime Minister with all the shit around him.

SINGAPOREAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
One cow-peh and one cow-bu.