With some difficulty, AK says "good-bye".

When I was in secondary school, my family was staying in a HDB 3 room flat and my parents cordoned off a section of the living room for me to use as my bedroom and study area. 

In a way, I had the largest bedroom in the flat!





On hindsight, they did what they could to make our lives comfortable despite the difficult circumstances.

This is another reminder of my mother's love:

My mom bought this for me after I told her that my English Language teacher asked us to listen to the BBC as a means of improving our command of the language. 






She paid $40.00 for this and it worked tirelessly for 29 years.

The price tag stuck in my mind because I thought it was a lot of money back then.

Although I do not tune in to the BBC anymore, I would still tune in to a couple of local radio stations. 

Sound quality might not be amazing but it is clear and crisp.





Still serviceable, I will be giving it away to a co-worker who has greater utility for it. 

I think of it as a chance to unclutter my life as well which I have been doing a lot of recently.

Suddenly, however, it feels hard to say "good-bye".





Thank you for 29 years of faithful service.

Thank you, mom, for giving this to me.

Related posts:
1. Parting with an old friend.
2. My mug from 1987.
3. Ancient t-shirt is still good!

SAF Group Insurance and CI coverage.

I received an email from a reader, B, and he has agreed for it to be published in the hope of getting more ideas from other readers here:

Dear AK,

Thanks for your ever inspiring and encouraging blog posts for our daily living.

I would like to seek your advice (or what would you do if you were in my shoes) on some insurance matters.

As a background, I am a 27 year old working professional working for around 2+ years, just married, received my BTO flat and planning to have kids next year or the following. I owned a few income producing shares like REITS (not surprising as I am a regular reader of your blog).

I do not own a Investment linked insurance policy nor an endowment. I do have the SAF Group term insurance (Assured for $300,000) as well as the MyShield Plus (the hospitalization plan plus full rider).

I received a letter from SAF Group insurance, asking me to add 2 riders to my term insurance:

1) Supplementary Living Care  - For 30 critical illnesses, Sum Assured $300,000, monthly premium of $30.00

2) Living Care Plus - For common early critical illnesses, Sum Assured $200,000, monthly premium of $20,00

FYI, I am currently paying monthly premium of $38.40 for the SAF Group Term Insurance. 

More info on the 2 riders can be found below if it is useful:

http://www.aviva.com.sg/pdf/SAF_Living_Care_Product_Summary.pdf

http://www.aviva.com.sg/pdf/SAF_Living_Care_Plus_Brochure.pdf
 

 

AK's reply:

Hi B,

I enjoy reading your email because from the looks of things, you are doing things right and doing well. Happy for you. :)

I firmly believe that we need CI (critical illness) coverage. So, I would encourage that you take up the rider. I am not so sure about early critical illness coverage though. I suppose for people who might not have a lot of money put aside for emergencies (or do not have meaningful passive income), this would provide peace of mind.

I like to look at the annual cost instead of monthly cost so as not to be lured into an illusion of cheapness.

$30 x 12 = $360 a year. For a $300,000 coverage, it is inexpensive.

$20 x 12 = $240 a year. For a $200,000 coverage, it is also inexpensive.

If you do not yet have a CI plan, you should give the above serious consideration.

Genuine and constructive comments are appreciated, as always. Thank you.
-------------------------

Update: 13 September 2016.
A reader received this:

Value for money!

Complete table: here.

Related posts:
1. Graduating soon? Steps towards financial security.
2. Free Investment Linked Policies or Term Life Policies?