It is all about building pASSIve income.

"Evening with AK and friends" is mostly a Q&A session. 

Audience ask questions and AK with his guest panelists answer. 

Of course, we do not know everything but "don't know" is also an answer, right? 

I hear some readers now saying, "Heng ah! I never go!"




Last night's "Evening with AK and friends" was, however, a lot of AK talking to himself. 

This was because I decided to find out quickly how many amongst the audience were newish readers (i.e. those following my blog for one year or less). 

As more than 50% were newish readers, I decided to go through some slides which I used during my maiden public appearance 2 years ago at InvestX Congress.

It was a quick introduction to investing for income, my philosophy when it comes to money and my approach to capital allocation. 

These are things I blog about regularly and they are nothing new. 

However, my blog is almost 7 years old and with more than 2,000 blog posts, not many newish readers would have the patience to go through every single blog post. 




I understand. AK is a lazy guy too.

Anyway, I hope that everyone found the presentation useful and for those who are already familiar with my blog's content, I hope it wasn't too boring.

The second half of the session was the usual Q&A.

Those who attended last evening's session might remember that I said I bought a new car and I scolded myself for not practicing what I preach. 

New car? Bad AK! Bad AK! 

I rambled on about how I got the money to purchase the car and why I thought it was a good deal. 




Today, a reader asked me on FB why did I buy the car? I should have saved the money to invest with.

Some of you might remember a story I shared about Jim Rogers telling his wife they shouldn't buy a sofa she liked. 

Invest with the money and later get the sofa for free which they did. This was in his younger days. 

These days, he wouldn't have to bother. 

Of course, the story is about delaying gratification and getting the stuff we want for free later on in life.




I delayed gratification for much of my life as a working adult but in the last few years, I have become less tight fisted with money.  

Now, I still find it hard to kick the habit but if the offer is attractive enough, I am likely to bite. 

So, is AK trying to say that he got his new car for free?

Consume and we will have less tomorrow.  

Invest and we will have more tomorrow.

Hmmmm..... 




Maybe, the most important message from last night's session was "invest for income and get a car for free."

Who threw a shoe at me? Who? Who?

I want to record my heartfelt thanks to Kenji, Victor and Rusmin from TheFifthPerson. 

Last night's event could not have happened without their time and effort.

Remember, it might not be easy but it is not impossible. 

If AK can do it, so can you!




Related posts:
1. Second "Evening with AK and friends" in 2016.
2. Delaying gratification and getting stuff for free.

POSB ManuRegular Payout better than CPF?

Reader says...

I am a new reader to your blog and was awestruck by the tons of wisdom and knowledge contain in your blog. 

How I wish I could have come across your blog sooner.


I have a question which I wish to seek your advice. 

I chanced upon a POSB roadshow that is selling this product: ManuRegular Payout





(https://www.posb.com.sg/personal/insurance/savings-with-protection/rsp/manuregular-payout?pid=sg-posb-pweb-insurancehome-featureproducts-insurance-manuregular-payout-btnlearnmore)


As seen on the website, the relationship manager claimed that the total GUARANTEED (yes, he used that word) benefits is S$98,352. 

This is more than the premiums that I will pay (assuming if I sign up the plan). 

Moreover, the premiums I paid will be capital GUARANTEED as well! 

I will also be eligible for higher bonus if I put back the annual fixed cash benefits rather than withdrawing them.






I did a simple maths and compared it with putting the money in my CPF's SA. 

For a period of 13 years, with interest rate at 5%  and that I deposit an annual amount of $7834, the benefits I get for these 13 years is only S$36,038. 

This is much less than what the benefits that the bank GUARANTEE me through the above product.





Sensing all these to be too good to be true, I asked the manger what is the catch? 

He replied that the only catch is that I cannot surrender the policy within the next 15 years, but I will get back less than the premiums I paid. 

Furthermore, there is no "premium holiday" available and I will have to pay the premium every year without fail.






However, I feel that there is more to this than what the manager simply claims. 

As such, I wish to seek your wise advice. 

Is there anything I should watch out for? 

Should I buy this product?


P.S: I am a fresh graduate earning S$3500/month (before CPF).

AK says...

I clicked on the link you provided and read the footnotes:

"1. You can accumulate the Fixed Cash Benefits with Manulife at a non-guaranteed rate of 3% per annum (at the projected rate of return of 4.75% per annum). 

"The interest rate is subject to change with 30 days’ advance notice to policy owner."

See the words "non-guaranteed" and "projected"?





"4c. ... As bonus rates are not guaranteed, the actual payout may vary according to the future performance of the Participating Fund..."

Again and "actual payout may vary".

Remember, don't ask barbers if we need a haircut. 

No one cares more about our money than we do.






(Alamak! I am a DBS shareholder now. I should have kept quiet...)

Related post:
Sumiko Tan's expensive lesson.