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Showing posts from July, 2021

The two types of Insurance Nominations you can make and their differences

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If you own a life insurance policy with death benefit, you may choose your nominees (or beneficiaries) to inherit the insurance proceeds using one of the two types of nominations. ✏️ 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 (𝐒𝐄𝐂. 𝟒𝟗𝐌) A revocable nomination informs the insurer who to pay the insurance proceeds to, and in what proportion. You may appoint anyone as a nominee, including foreigners or legal entities such as charities, or religious organisations. As the name suggests, it can be "revoked" or terminated anytime that you wish, without permission from nominees. Nominees will only receive the death benefit , while the living benefits belong to the policyowner. Take note that if you make a Will after doing a revocable nomination, it will supersede the instructions in the nomination. ✒️ 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐍𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 (𝐒𝐄𝐂. 𝟒𝟗𝐋) A trust nomination serves the same purposes in informing the insurer who to pay to. However, you can only nominate your spouse and/

Levelling Up Your Critical Illness Coverage to Multi-Pay

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Did you know that Critical Illness (CI) insurance was invented by a cardiologist?  Dr. Marius Barnard saw his patients fall into financial hardship after the expensive treatments. After years of garnering support from insurers, the first CI policy was launched in 1983, covering 4 illnesses: heart attack, cancer, stroke, and coronary artery surgery. Today, the number has expanded to 37, including conditions such as coma, brain tumour, kidney failure, and others.  In 2008, the first early-stage CI policy was launched and is now a common feature in all CI policies today. Based on our latest claim statistics, about 50% of CI  claims are for clients aged between 46 to 55 , and about 30% for those between 36 to 45 . As you can see, these claimants are relatively young.  The incidence rate of diseases such as heart attack and cancer among the young is on the rise. Even a super fit 29-year old professional footballer can collapse suddenly from cardiac arrest (get well soon Christian Eriksen

Inflation, Is It Good or Bad?

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  We are seeing rises in inflation across many major economies. Inflation in the United States hit 5.4% in May, the highest in 13 years. (Source: WSJ) Back home in Singapore, CPI inflation rose 2.1% in April, higher than expected. (Source: ING) Inflation has usually been seen as a bad thing; something that steals money from under our noses, like an invisible thief. However, do you know that inflation can be a good thing too? Just like a gun; inherently, it is neither good nor bad. It all depends on the intention of the user. Law enforcement officers use guns to maintain order. On the other hand, criminals use guns for undesirable activities. Inflation is defined as a general increase in prices. This affects the goods and services that we buy and use on a day-to-day basis. The Consumer Price Index (or 'CPI') tracks a basket of goods and services and compares the changes in price with the previous month/year. If you keep money in the bank, you're probably getting about 0.05%

The Power of Delayed Gratification

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  The Marshmallow Experiment In 1972, Stanford University conducted an experiment on children aged 3-4. Each kid was brought to an empty room with a marshmallow on the table in front of them. They were told that they can either have a marshmallow now or if they waited 15 minutes without giving in to the temptation, they can have 2 marshmallows. Some kids were unable to resist their temptation and ate the marshmallow in front of them. A small handful of the kids were able to stay disciplined and managed to wait out the entire 15 minutes. The Stanford researchers continued to track these kids as they grow up (they would be in their 50s today). What is astounding is the kids who practised delayed gratification are more successful in life. They had higher SAT scores, able to cope better with frustration and stress, more academically and socially competent, and generally better in a variety of life measures. A 2011 brain imaging study on the original Standford participants also showed a mor