Life Insurance and your health

Hi,

Disclaimer:
this post is not an advertisement for insurance, nor is it a sponsored post by Insurance agents. my personal profile can be found here.

This entry is to share that health is wealth, and that postponing insurance buying could result in being unable to buy insurance at all when things happened.


People my age are now shunning the random calls and surveys that people in the "financial industry" conducts. This is because we find them irritating and overbearing. Moreover, being young would mean that you are now healthy and well, so insurance is always the purchase you can put off until you have completed the other big ticket items. And with the myriads of insurance providers, people my age are spoilt for choice and are going into very fine details down to the cents and service levels.

Myself?
I am the complete opposite. I speak to any insurance agent who is willing to try. I apply for almost all company that existed. Some advisers even spend their own money to retrieve all those medical records that is required for me to pass underwriting. Others fill in all those forms many times. But before you call or message me to tell me you are willing to try for me with your company's underwriter, I have to show you all those rejections i have received.

I am 27 years old that is suffering High Blood Pressure and Kidney is unhealthy (High Creatine). It has all started when I was 20 years old due to a Urinary Tract Infection. I am given PES E due to this. My doctors have been saying that my condition improved and that it has stabilized. However, when i read the medical report submitted to the insurance company, I truly thought that they have given me a report for a 70 years old person. They literally say that i have all sorts of problems despite the doctors saying it is normal to have them ( think mild sleep apnea).
Here is a summary!
 

The insurance i am buying are Whole Life and Term Life.
I have included Critical Illness and TPD to my plans.

Total Company Rejected:
NTUC Income
AIA (not officially)
AXA
Aviva
Manulife
Great Eastern

 


And the ONLY company accepted is Tokio Marine
But, with conditions of:
No Critical Illness
200% loading for Term Life (approx 3k per year, until 99 years old for 350k coverage)




OR
3.4k per month for 15 years (Whole Life insurance, 300k coverage until X age(cant remember) and 100k thereafter)




























This post is not to tell you how bad my health is. Truth is, I do feel good. I can still swim, I can still run and I am still very happy with life!
But this is a gentle reminder to my friends who is getting older, and that health is wealth. As your age climbs, your insurance premium will climb to an amount that it is better you don't buy than you buy. As you age, working life will diminish you healthy lifestyle and make you deskbound more than you hope you will be.

I used to think like my parents, who have minimal coverage, why should i buy insurance to let those alive enjoy when i die?
but i know its not true. this money is to buy myself out of debt so that i don't burden the next generation with my medical bill. Do you think Medisave and Hospitalisation Insurance is enough to cover everything in a costly Singapore? The way Singapore does things is to provide best treatment, instead of a choice to euthanize. It gonna be costly if you are very sick, and yet takes years to die!

So my dear friends,
Look at insurance agents differently.
Not all is out to earn your money. Some truly just want to help.
If giving them some commission buys you peace and safety net, that is something i am so willing to do but wasn't given a chance to.

But a gentle reminder, buy within your means. don't go broke making your next generation rich. (3k a year is too much for me)

A heartfelt thank you to these agents who spent hours and even money to help me go through medical tests, get medical reports and speak to underwriters. I am sorry that your investment in time and hours have gotten you no commission.
Kris (GE)
Alvin (Manulife, Tokio Marine, MFA)
Kelvin (AXA, NTUC Income, Fnexis)
Hux (AIA)


Regards
Benjamin Chai

Bank of China Ibanking service

Hi,

So following my post that states that BOC have higher interest rates as compared to OCBC 360 account, I have decided to open a BOC account in hope to gain the additional interest.

While it is true that BOC have a pretty awesome offering in credit card (BOC Family Card), and that it has higher interest rates, i ended up still didn't switch over for my salary crediting.

Firstly, as i have previously stated here, interest my key concern is still if it is "user friendly".

Since i now stay at Punggol, and travels to Pioneer pretty often (GF stays there), I have no issues with finding ATMs as Waterway Point, Jurong WestGate and Pioneer Jurong Point all have Bank of China Branches.

However, the ibanking needs to mature before users will start to jump over.

First and foremore, the ibanking site does not work on mobile phone. This meant that you need to do transactions only on a Computer.

Next, the ibanking service only work with a physical token, no OTP services.
As of 18th Sept, you can choose to login via OTP service already!

Have a look at after i logged in!



It still looked okay apart from some directly translated English.

My biggest pain point would be to earn that last portion of percent by doing ibanking.
These are the only organisations we can pay our bills to.




You see, my current 3 bills with OCBC happened to be
Citibank M1 card (for m1 bills)
OCBC 365 card (for normal usage)
Amex true cashback (for usage where ocbc have no rebates on)


Even if I change, it would only be that the OCBC card be replaced by the BOC family card, since both needs to have a minimum spending of $500.


Again, please look at your personal usage pattern!
it might suit you!!


and oh, using UNION PAY gets 1 for 1 movie tickets at Shaw Theatres (both Waterway point and Jcube have them!)

The call center is pretty weak in english.

Regards
Benjamin Chai

My Zenfone Obsession and Star Shield

Hi,

I am going to share with you guys about my experience with Zenfones.
I started off with a Zenfone 5 after I got rid of my Samsung S4. In less than a year, I encountered a screen crack on its Gorilla glass. Subsequently, the phone just went bogus and is currently in bricked state. It just meant that even if I spend the money to repair the screen, the phone is still essentially a paper weight.
It doesnt help more that its an Intel Chip.

So, I gotten a Zenfone Selfie to replace that fallen Zenfone 5. Again, in less than a year, the screen cracked. But this time round, I buy it from Challenger, which they convinced me to be a member where i get "free warranty for cracked screen". I paid membership fees. However, when i really send it in to repair, i was told that i need to pay 10% of the screen price. I was actually okay with that.
Afterall, the phone costs $399 and i doubt the screen is very expensive.

Now, this is where my nightmare with starshield starts. StarShield is a repair company with Challenger, where they allow you to buy insurance and additional warranty, It gives all android devices free 1st year screen crack warranty. This is because screen crack is the only issue that the original warranty doesnt cover.
I first called starshield and they doesnt know about this. So i called Challenger to clarify. Apparently Challenger call centers doesnt know about it too!
After a few days of emails and clarifications, I was told to bring my phone down to any challenger that has Starshield counter.

The phone reaches the counter and the guy just collected it without giving me any proof of collection. It wasnt after i emailed starshield before i received my service chit from them via email.
the promised time was 14days to collection. But they have no stock of the screen and they didnt bother to inform me until i chased them after 10 days to learn about the status of my phone.
I asked to collect back my phone until the screen arrive then i send it back in, since according to them, it will take 3 to 4 weeks for the screen to come.

True enough, the screen came and i requested for immediate fixing, which they declined. Mum went to collect the next day. I got it back, only to realised they have given me a screen with a defect.
On my off day, i brought it down again for rectifications, and end up they took 3 hours to change multiple screens as all the stocks they have are in pretty damned shape. I was about to collect back my phone when i realised that they fixed the phone, but spoilt my caller receiver and vibration module.

I asked to collect the next day, which they declined again as they are shifting from Funan to Pasir Panjang. So Wed is 29th, the day i stucked for 3 hrs, 30th is last day at funan, and 1st July is a friday and their first day at new place. I can only collect on monday 4th july.

Come 4th july, i collected my phone, and upon using, i realised the screen was insensitive and always scroll itself without me touching.

now i need to find a nice day go down again.

The staffs are friendly and nice. I just think their engineers have skill gaps and their processes needs to improve.

So as i have no spare phone, i gotten a zenfone laser as spare.
This is because there is no xiaomi off the shelf.

and zenfone is the only one at that price point that comes with 4g and big screen.

pray for me that i dont get trashed phone again.

Spark and their free photos

Hi,

I am here to introduce a pretty interesting app that allows you to get free photos!

Yes, i am talking about Spark!!

Spark's concept is to get people to print photos for free, while earning from advertisements.

So one side is the photo of your choice, while the other side is an advertisement that sometimes contain pretty good deals.

Every month, a user can only print 10 photos of choice, and the photos will be mailed to you. You can choose to do self collection as well. This will in turn give you more free prints.

Enough of words, let me share some nice photos of mine with you!!

the adverts

the high quality print!! and oh, that sexy cat is called wang wang. you can find him at instagram as meow.with.chew

disclaimer:
I do not earn a single royalty from this "advert". i just think this is an awesome app to get free and high quality prints and hope to share with friends and family.

Bangkok with Chew

Hi,

People have been asking how is thailand, if it is fun.

My reply is that it is downright boring (for me)

Let me elaborate.

I am literally the slave dog carrying everything, feeding my princess and flooding her with shitload of water. How can that be fun to me?

Glow Pratunam was a pretty decent hotel with nice toilet and clean room. However, it is not a "easy to find" place when you come from the airport BTS. Tell people you are heading towards Platinum Mall or Shibuya Mall. The hotel starts from level 7 of the Shibuya Mall. Once you find that place, you will realise that the hotel is pretty decently located.

Many blogs would advise to take the BTS or MRT as much as possible, and i agree. The jam were horrendous, and taxi fares aren't cheap even if you convert. However, if you are going with a shopperholic who also happened to go to BKK for the first time, i suggest you wear a good pair of walking shoes and start training long distant walking 2 week prior to going there.

Weather is hot and so far, she only thinks Pratunam Market and Chatuchak have good priced item. She thinks that Platinum mall is a tad expensive, although the shopping environment is a lot better. Union Mall was total disappointment. While items similar to Platinum Mall, Chatuchak and Pratunam Market, the price is a lot more steep.
Special Mention to Pratunam Market; walk deeper, endure the heat with shitload of water and fruits, and you will realise that it is the perfect place for ladies.

Food wise, all was well. Street food is a must try, but do drink more water and bring some diarrhea medication. Both of us have no issues with the food, but i cannot guarantee others wont have an issue as the food prep wasn't that clean after all.

Guys shopping? Almost non-existent. Platinum Mall have a section for it, Union Mall have a section for it. But nothing suitable for me personally. But suit making is a good to go item. Their prices are pretty standard if you go to the 4 shops at Armari Watergate Hotel. Bring SGD as they do accept them. 1 suit cost about $220(top and bottom). Google Armari Watergate Suit and you will have many reviews around that area. I personally made mine at Admire.

4 Days 3 night is quite a good length for shopping. Anything more i think my legs will break. But 4D3N meant we didnt cover any tourist attraction, apart from shopping. And having 1 day weekend was my best decision (many markets are only open during weekend, like Chatuchak). But she hoped to have more, so that she can buy even more.

That's all folks! The most useful guides comes from AroiMakMak!!

Bank of China Smart Saver Account

Hi,

Disclaimer:
I am not finance person, and i do comparison purely from what i have read from the site.
Please do correct me if i have my facts wrong.
To know more about my background, you can click here.

So there is a new savings account in town that seemed to be a little late to the game.
I would like to state that is a very good comparison article here from investment moats.

To learn more about my previous comparison of UOB and OCBC, it is here 

This new offering from Bank of China is pretty similar to the old criteria of OCBC, only that it is higher in interest in some parts.



I can tell you straightaway without calculations, this account gives you higher and better % if you are able to hit the criteria. For very basic amount of less than $5000, you will already have 1.55%+1%+0.6%+0.25% = 3.4%. And it gets better when you have more money.

Its criteria are simple,

• $500 charged across any credit card  OR debit card from BOC. 
• At least $2000 salary credited
• pay 3 bills using this account

While the rest of the bank requires you to use their Credit Card to get the reward, BOC allows you to use Debit Card to do so. Why is this awesome you may ask. There are some friends of mine who refuses to use Credit Cards simply because they are afraid to overspend or owe the bank money. I used to be like them until i got sucked into the promise of awesome rebates.

This account is also a Multi Currency Savings account. It doesn't mean much to me, but in basic, it means that all your statements in many different currencies would be consolidated. It would be useful for people who have many different currency dealings with the bank.

Last but not least, even if you do not meet any of these criteria, and simply wants an account to put your savings, its base interest of 0.25% to up to 0.4% is pretty awesome. 

But before you start to jump over due to these seemingly awesome rewards, let me caution you on a few lifestyle change.

Ibanking

I have no idea why, but when i am looking for Bank of China's Ibanking webpage, I chanced upon 2 of it. While i am not sure if both are legit, or 1 of them is a phishing site, do note that you require to install some special software before you are able to login to the site. This might not be a big deal to you, but do note that if you want your 0.6%, you need to use this to do your 3 online transactions.

And this site is not really Mobile Friendly, which brings me to...

 

Mobile Banking

I did a basic search on Google Play Store and i realised they do not have an Mobile Banking App. I am a current OCBC user and that app is pretty much what i use to make my 3 transactions, to keep track of my credit card spending, and to check how much i have left in that account. So if you depend on your Mobile Banking app quite a bit, i suggest you think through your decision to change over to BOC.

Lack of ATM

This is also an obvious problem for me if all my pay goes to this account. I would not have any ways 

to get the money out when i urgently needs it and i can only depend on a bank transfer via FAST to another bank account via a Computer (note: mobile banking is pretty problematic), then go to ATM of this other account.

Credit Card Rebates
This is dependent on your lifestyle and whatever that suits you. Being a foodie who always out to eat with Chiwawa, Rebates on dining and grocery shopping is my top priority. Hence, I would say BOC credit card didnt quite catch my attention. So it is a calculation of if switching over and clocking $500 on a BOC credit card with minimal rebates but high interest more worthwhile, or if your rebates and discounts are more worthwhile.
Of course, if you are able to easily clock $500 on this credit card without affecting your other rebates, then this would not affect you. One good way to do so is to pay insurance bills.

As a card user, I so far did not encounter any BOC card only deals(or maybe i just didnt realise).


In conclusion...
This might be a little late to the game despite having some pretty good interest. Many are already a happy user of OCBC or UOB, i doubt they would make the switch simply due to the lack of promotion of this account and the lack of presence of BOC. But if you are from China, or visits China often, then this is a good account for you to park your cash!

Also, the lack of facilities would be a problem for frequent bank services users.