Why Can't I - by Liz Phair

Why Can’t I
– Liz Phair

Get a load of me, get a load of you
Walkin' down the street, and I hardly know you
It's just like we were meant to be

Holding hands with you, and we're out at night
Got a girlfriend, you say it isn't right
And I've got someone waiting too

This is, this is just the beginning
We're already wet, and we're gonna go swimming

Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you
Why can't I speak whenever I talk about you
It's inevitable, it's a fact that we're gonna get down to it
So tell me
Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you

Isn't this the best part of breakin' up
Finding someone else you can't get enough of
Someone who wants to be with you too

It's an itch we know we are gonna scratch
Gonna take a while for this egg to hatch
But wouldn't it be beautiful
Here we are, we're at the beginning
We haven't fucked yet, but my heads spinning

Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you
Why can't I speak whenever I talk about you
It's inevitable, it's a fact that we're gonna get down to it
So tell me
Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you

I'd love for you to make me wonder
Where it's goin'
I'd love for you to pull me under
Somethin's growin'for this that we can control
Baby I am dyin'

Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you
Why can't I speak whenever I talk about you
Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you
Why can't I speak whenever I talk about you
It's inevitable, it's a fact that we're gonna get down to it

So tell me
Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you

Refugee - by Tribal Ink

Refugee
– Tribal Ink

In fit of drowning, as my heart keeps pounding.
Scribing on the statue, all onto what's left.
Hold on, to the strings of reality.
Bouncing on my heel of prosperity.

Me by myself, with a gleam in my eye.
Watching it all wash by, watching me die.
It's so hard, to see it all fall through.
But it's too late, nothing left to do.

Chorus:
Refugee, I’m an enemy of your beliefs.
Don't hate me, because I disagree.

Release me, from the world unkind.
A world where the blind, is leading the blind.
It's so unfair, that I can't feel free.
That I have to be, what you want me to be.

Shadows of the past, keep stabbing my back.
Reminding me all, when I slept out a drag.
You're wasting your time, another morning dawning.
Time with the restless, keeps on joining.

Chorus:
Refugee, I’m an enemy of your beliefs.
Don't hate me, because I disagree.
Refugee, I’m an enemy of your beliefs.
Don't hate me, because I disagree.

Refugee, I’m an enemy of your beliefs.
Don't hate me, because I disagree.
Refugee, I’m an enemy of your beliefs.
Don't hate me, because I disagree.

Questions and Answers

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart,
and try to love the questions themselves...
Do not now seek the answers,
which cannot be given to you,
because you will not be able to live them.
And the point is, to live everything.
Live the questions now.
Perhaps you will then gradually,without noticing it,
live along some distant day into the answer.

- Rainer Maria Rilke

Game Plan

One who hopes for the best will live to regret it.
Have a plan.
Have a contingency one.
Don't leave it to hope or chance.

This over-used statement still holds true:

"You fail to plan, you plan to fail".

Have a plan, and make it a damn good one!

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.