Should You Buy Insurance?

 I finally cash out one of my child insurance policy after paying annual premium for 25 years. The amount gain is about 3.1% p.a. And since I have many insurance, it makes me think hard and plan when to cash them out as the years roll by.

 

If you are a young working adult, changes are that you would have been approached by an insurance agent. It happened to me many times. I usually don’t like to buy insurance as the benefit kick in only when you are met with an emergency like a life threatening disease or even death. Even without any mishap, you need to continue paying premiums for at least 20 years to see some gain in your “investment”. And these gain are just mere 2 to 3% p.a. Insurance policies are not investment or saving per se. So, it is best to know about what insurance policies are about and do some research. There are many type of insurances – Health, Life, Child, Housing, Accident, Endowment, …. You can read more in this blog:

Insurance

The only insurance that is needed to buy is for health protection. Accident, diseases, chronic illnesses are unpredictable and can strike any time. The cost of medical treatment is very high. Health insurance will helps to lessen the financial burden. For Singaporeans, we all have the MediShield Life Insurance as mandated by the government. The premium will keep increasing every year. I am now paying more than $2000 per year, even though this insurance only entitle me for a Class C or B treatment at government hospitals. To opt for better coverage, I will have to buy more health insurance. So, the best way is to always stay healthy, eat with proper diet and exercises regularly. Till now, I have not make any insurance claim and hopefully, will never need to do so.

These policies that I have bought are mainly from relatives, buying in support for them. Painful as it may be to pay a lot of premiums every year for the past 20+ years, it is a relief that I can get some money back. Entering into retirement, I see these insurances as a life line for my basic needs. However, to keep these insurance policies, I still need to pay for their yearly/monthly premiums. This is something that eats into my finances, so I need to do some careful planning on the timing to cash out the insurances. The government Central Provident Funds will only give me money in 3 years’ time, when I reach 65 years old.

What are your views about insurances?

Have you any health insurances?  Premiums will go up as you get older, so it is better to start early.

 

Agape

Tomorrow will be better

 Life must has hope:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9PbjgQfX9o

When you wake up in the morning

When you haven't started to think
There is a whole brand new day
Open wide and waiting for you
I know in life's sorrow,
you're on the verge of drowning
May your tears flee with yesterday
blow away with the wind

When you wake up in the morning
When you haven't started to think
The world is out there calling open
eyes to new beginning
A new born sun is shinning
Chasing shadows from your mind
Everything will be alive,
under the sunshine's smile

Come out from your corner
No doubt to join us
You can decide the future
Devote your youthful power to this world
Come together, hand in hand together
I know you'll do
We pray and believe
that tomorrow will be better.

No, I don't know what your name is
But you're so familiar to me
Cause we belong to one family
You can hear my heart calling
Life can be music,
rainbows can be reached
If you face yourself truly
keep striving for your dream

Come out from your corner
No doubt to join us
You can decide the future
Devote your youthful power to this world
Come together, hand in hand together
I know you'll do
We pray and believe
that tomorrow will be better.

When you wake up in the morning
When you haven't started to think
There is a whole brand new day
Open wide and waiting for you
I know in life's sorrow,
you're on the verge of drowning
May your tears flee with yesterday
blow away with the wind

Come out from your corner
No doubt to join us
You can decide the future
Devote your youthful power to this world
Come together, hand in hand together
I know you'll do
We pray and believe
that tomorrow will be better. (4X)

Friends - True or False?

 

“True Friends are like diamond, and Gold, they are rare.

False Friends are like dry leaves, and found everywhere.”

 

The closest relationship in life all starts with “F”:

-          Family

-          Friends

-          Foes!

Today, I was browsing through my journal and a devotional record on Genesis Chapter 38 struck a chord on me:

Genesis 38:1-2 “At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah. ² There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua….”

What struck me is that Judah left his family, the chosen family of Abraham, his grandfather and went to stay with a Canaanite friend. It is obviously that through this friend, he picked up all the wrong doings in life. First, he chose to marry a Canaanite woman, which Abraham forbid his descendent to marry. Then, he followed the lifestyle of the Canaanite culture by having sex with Temple prostitutes. Obviously, his sons grew up as evil men and God had to intervened and slew them. Be Careful of the kind of friends you have.

We all have friends. Choosing the right kind of friends will definitely influence your life for the better. Some friends come and go; some friends are for a season, but there are friends that stay for life. Some friends are here just to get; some friends are able to give; but most friends are here to share.

So, how do I consider acquaintance as friends? We meet people in school; those are classmates. We meet people in the army camp; these are comrades. Then we meet people in our working offices and these are colleagues. And also, those in church, neighbours, and even relatives. All these bring us together but not necessary make us friends. Some can even turn into foes. It is how we choose to relate to each other that decides whether we are friends, acquaintances, or even foes.  

Friends carry one-another burdens. We help each other. But some are there just to take advantage of your talents or time to help them do things. Often, it is only one-sided. And with ulterior motives. My previous company colleagues fall into this category. And so, after I resigned from the company, all the phone contacts are deleted and forgotten.

As I get older, I try to count who my friends are. Right now, the people I meet more often other than my family are the cell group members. Through the years, I think we have learn to open up our lives and willing to talk about the difficult things that happen to us. Those that feel uncomfortable would have left after a year or two. So, right now, most have stayed for more than 3 years and are more willing to share and accept each other’s idiosyncrasy. So, I would say that we have reach a state of friendship rather than cell-mates.

Cell group members

I have 2 very long time friends. One of them, Joshua, was my university friend since undergraduate days, where we stayed in the same hall block and also in the same tutorial group. Another friend was when Joshua and I were studying part-time in NUS for our master degree some 31 years ago. We have maintained very good relationship during our university days, where we shared study notes, work in the same project group and help each other through our assignments. Both of them are doing very well – staying in big houses, wealthy and influential in society. Their circles of friends include bankers, elite groups in both government and political offices. Many a time, I wonder why they still choose to be a friend with me, a simple humble person with no benefit to them as friend.

In the Bible, we learn that a true friend would even go to the extent of giving up his life for a friend. Jesus said in John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”. That’s how great a friendship our Lord Jesus is to us.

And so, I like to share this Chines song from Wakin Chou - friends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lbPgfKK7m4

So, who are your friends? True or False?

Agape

Reading Shapes you!

 What you read affect what you think, do and behave!

My neighbour is a stay-home father. I have talked to him in the past and he was a school teacher. Wonder why he decided not to work but rather choose to take care of his primary school children and be a housekeeper. And what did he do during his spare time when the children are at school? How did he get his income? Very likely his passive income is sufficient for him to quit his job. Also, it is likely that he spend his time doing stock trading, as all men do.

Recently, he placed some books on a table outside his flat with a note. It said that if you read a book on this table within 6 months, the book is yours.

There are a few things I learnt about him from the books he read.  Most of the books are about stock investing and trading. So, I can deduce that he has done some investment or trading of the stock market. So, he is actually spending his time day trading, instead of having an active job. To be able to full-time trader, he must be quite good in stock trading. So, my guess is correct.

But why did he choose to put the books there to attract other neighbours? He definitely want to connect with the neighbours. That is his way of doing so, since he doesn’t talk much whenever I saw him in the lift or when our path crosses. He may be looking for neighbours who share the same interest – stock trading; parenting; or other hobbies. Also, by revealing the books he reads, (and those are really good stock trading books), he is telling us that he is quite good in stock trading. That is why, he choose be a full-time stay home stock trading. This is to dispel neighbours thinking that he is dependent on his wife to feed him!

So, what books am I reading?

Most of the books I read are Christian books.  I like books that discuss about End-time events. David Pawson, who wrote “When Jesus Returns” discuss about rapture, great tribulation and the millennium. His writing is biblical-based and not by assumption as most other writer does. I also like biography books like Jim Elliot, John Sung; David Livingstone. I also have quite a lot of puzzles and lateral thinking books. These are the books that challenge the mind to think and reasons. Now that I am old and retired, I also read books from senior writers like Dr Robert Solomon (“Growing Old Gracefully”), David Roper (“Teach us to number our days” & “In quietness & confidence”) and many reflections books from Our Daily Breads. These are mostly for self-reflections and soul searching. So, if you browse through my book shelves, you will have a quite a good understanding of me.

So, what books have you read? What are you reading now?

Agape