Attended "Evening with AK" and bought books from BetterWorldBooks?

I have been an affiliate of Better World Books for a while now because I like the idea of doing my part for the environment and also to improve literacy for underprivileged children. 

I have not been blogging about them for a while and here is a recent chat with a reader.

Reader:
I went to better world books to get my books. but i only received 2 out of 6 books i bought. to me it's ok since i got them for much cheaper than getting them new. but since u r still endorsing this website on your blog, thought u might want to know. maybe they are not as reliable since you first endorse them...

AK:
Actually, it happened to me once before.
You just have to write to them and tell them you did not receive your books and they will send you replacements.

Reader:
i did, just letting u know since u endorsed them on your blog. just a disclaimer.

AK:
They sent me a replacement and it arrived with the original book I ordered.
So, I concluded that the problem was with the shipping and not BWB.

Reader:
Yes i understand. it's tough for them since they are just the middleman. ok good to know u still hv faith in them.





AK:
Not faith or not lah.
It is just that if I have to buy a book, I rather buy it pre-owned, cheaper, good for environment and help the poor. 🙂
Charity lah. 🙂

Reader:
haha you have become my favorite Santa Claus. Real in person and giving real gifts!

AK:
We are very fortunate people. If we can help the less fortunate, why not?

The world can do with a bit more charity and I am only doing my part. 🙂

All proceeds from "Evening with AK and friends" go to helping needy students, for example.

There will be one session later this year but only one. I really lazy this year. 😞





If you are thinking of buying a book, go to related post #1 below and you will be doing more than just buying a book. You will be saving money, saving the environment and saving lives.

To everyone who has attended "Evening with AK and friends" in the past, thank you too for helping needy students.

Also, look out for the next session of "Evening with AK and friends" which is going to be the only one this year. I will blog about it once all the details are firmed up.

To those who don't know, "Evening with AK and friends" is a chit chat session. If you have high expectations of me, it is best to give it a miss. ;)

Although I want to accommodate a larger group because the tickets usually sell out very quickly, it probably isn't going to be possible. 

So, if you want to get a ticket to the event, check my blog regularly in the next few weeks and, of course, once you see the blog, fast hands fast legs.

Related posts:
1. Donate a book to the needy.
2. AK helps needy students.
3. AK gets invited by NUS

4 ways to beef up our CPF savings! (InvestX Congress and the CPF.)

I hope everyone who went to InvestX Congress today had a good time. 

To my regular readers who were there, I hope it wasn't too boring listening to me repeating the same old stuff about the CPF. 

Anyway, for the benefit of some in the audience who told me that they might have trouble remembering everything I shared today, here are some salient points from my segment:





Beef up your CPF account.

You could do these:

1. Top Up your SA (not beyond FRS)

2. Voluntary contribution to your MA only (together with mandatory contributions, not beyond CPF annual limit and, on its own, not beyond BHS)

You will also get income tax relief for doing the above. For #1, only for the first $7,000 each year.






3. OA to SA transfer (not beyond FRS)

4. Voluntary contribution (allocated to OA, SA and MA) (together with mandatory contributions, not beyond CPF annual limit)


These will not get any income tax relief.





We don't have to do everything to capture all the benefits. It is not like Pokemon GO and we gotta catch them all. Just do what we can.

For me, the big thing was doing OA to SA transfer in the first 4 years of my life as a working adult. I emptied my OA into my SA. 

Did this in the first 4 years of my working life instead of the last 4 years of my working life. 







That makes a big difference because compound interest needs time to work its magic and a bigger base earlier makes it more magical.

Also, have enough in our CPF-MA and the interest income we receive yearly from the government will pay for our insurance. Who says there is no free medical insurance in Singapore?

See:
http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg/2013/12/how-to-get-free-medical-insurance-in.html 

Please read the following blog for updates:
CPF Amendment Bill 2021.

Here are links to some of my other blogs on the topic:

1. http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg/2017/01/ak-showing-off-his-cpf-oa-and-ma-2017.html

2. http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg/2015/01/how-did-ak-amass-so-much-money-in-his.html

3. http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg/2016/02/the-cpf-is-really-national-ponzi-scheme.html



If AK can do it, so can you! Gambatte!

23yo bought 40yo HDB flat and worried.

Reader:

I am currently 23years old & married. My husband and I purchased a resale flat last year.

Back then we did not read nor have knowledge about financial planning. 

We purchased what we want and our desired location...

Our resale flat is actually quite old. I think is 40 years old this year...

Many people called us stupid for buying resale flat instead of BTO ones. 

And since we didn't have proper financial planning, we exhausted our entire CPF to pay for the flat.

So, our CPF is 0 now. 

We also took a loan of 25 years...

I am beginning to learn how to invest and starting small. May I ask how can I actually do better in planning my finance? 

Thank you for taking your time to read my email. Hope to see your reply.

AK:
How do you start doing better in your finances? That is a very broad question. It is very difficult for me to answer with specifics. 

Here are a few blogs you might want to read:

1. http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg/2014/03/graduating-soon-take-steps-towards.html

2. http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg/2015/05/how-much-should-we-have-in-our.html

3. http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg/2017/04/hdb-flat-is-37-years-old-and-son-is.html


4. http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg/2017/07/buying-properties-with-short-remaining.html


There are many other relevant links in my blog. 

Go to the right sidebar of my blog and read those suggested especially those listed under "WEALTH CREATION".
-----------------------------
If we to learn from mistakes, we will avoid them and make better decisions in future.

Don't beat ourselves up.

This reader has the right attitude. Gambatte!

Is early critical illness insurance necessary?

I have blogged about the importance of having critical illness insurance before and because I get questions from readers now and then on whether early critical illness insurance is essential, I decided I should blog about it.

Please bear in mind that this is just my opinion and some might disagree.

Reader:
I've started my investing journey and I am quite amazed I've learnt quite a lot ever since I started reading your blog last year. 

I would like to seek your talking to yourself opinion. 

Is it essential to get an early critical illness term insurance? 

The premium is really high.





AK:
When we buy insurance to cover ourselves against critical illnesses, it is so that we get paid a lump sum of money if we should be diagnosed with one of the dread illnesses.

The difference between regular and early forms is that the latter will pay the insured once diagnosed with a dread illness even if it should be at an early stage. 

The regular form would only pay if the illness is at an intermediate stage.

I am of the opinion that we need regular critical illness coverage because it could be that we must stop working to undergo treatment. 

We could be too ill to work. 





Critical illness coverage gives us a lump sum payment. 

Now you know why this is necessary. 

We need this in case we have to stop working. 

It provides us with money to continue living our life as if we were still working (for a long while, hopefully) until we get better.

At the early stages of an illness, it is conceivable that we would still be well enough to work and would not have to give up our regular income. 




So, it is my opinion that it is not essential to have early critical illness insurance. 

We don't need it.


Any medical treatment required if we should be diagnosed with a critical illness in the early stage should be covered to a large extent by our H&S insurance. 

Think Medishield Life, for example. 

We don't need early critical illness coverage to pay for our medical treatment.


The early variant of critical illness insurance is also unattractive because it is very pricey. 

How much more does it cost?







For example, 

A 30 year old male might have to pay almost $800 per year for a $200,000 death with regular critical illness benefit till age 65 but he might have to pay more than $2,000 per year if he were to opt for early critical illness benefit.

That is 150% more! 

If it were 10% or 20% more, maybe, but 150% more? 

Mind boggling.

I have blogged about what I feel is the best insurance in life and I feel that the extra money used to pay for early critical illness insurance could be better used towards this project.






If you don't know what I am talking about, see related post #2 at the end of this blog.

Insurance is absolutely necessary against events which we will not be able to recover from easily without financial help.

For all other events, insurance is probably a "nice to have" and not a "must have".

Buy what we know we need and not what sales people want us to think we need.




Related posts:
1. Without CI coverage?
2. Best insurance to have in life.