Online processes of Government ministries

The online processes of several Government ministries are terrible - they make life difficult for the public. I have bad experience with the Ministry of Manpower in respect of getting work passes and making CPF top-ups. My friend told me that he had a lot of trouble in submitting an application to work as a relief teacher in the Ministry of Education website.

I have submitted several feedback to the Ministry of Manpower giving details of the difficulty faced by me. They give me a polite reply each time, but do not really address the root of the problem - the online process make life very difficult for the public. Instead of improving national productivity, they make things worse. The ministry save 1 hour, but the public has to spend (say) 5 hours.

In many cases, the process are so complicated that the public has to call the helpline. After a while, many of these helplines (especially from the Ministry of Manpower) do not respond (i.e. cannot get through). I can understand the difficulty of these helpline operators. They are deluged with so many questions from the public seeking help.

The underlying problem is the complicated process. They are designed to save time for the government ministry, and they add to the overall waste of national resources. I hope that someone from the Ministry of Finance, who is supposed to drive national productivity, will respond to me (kinlian@gmail.com). My feedback to them in the past were also not attended with seriousness.

Investing in stock in a volatile environment

Should a young person invest hard earned savings in stocks in a volatile environment? The answer can be found here: http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/04/pf/expert/young_investors/index.htm?section=money_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28Top+Stories%29

I agree with the advice that money for the long term, e.g. for retirement, should be invested in stocks and that money needed for the short term, e.g. to make down payment for a home or other specific purpose, should be invested in a secure asset, such as an insured bank account.

Upgrade Medishield for elderly?

Hi Mr Tan Kin Lian ,

I hope you can advise me on this Medishield upgrade . Presently my wife and i are both 59 years and on basic 

Medishield . I am wondering whether it is better to upgrade and even buy riders to cover the deductibles and co-insurance .  I am thinking not so much about a better bed in the hospital but whether the present basic Medishield is adequate enough to cover major illnesses . Another worry is the annual limit to medical claims for basic Medishield  and  also riders are paid in cash .

REPLY

Please read my views on Medishield in these many articles. After that, you have to make your own decision.

http://tankinlian.com/Information.aspx?q=medishield

NOTE: Consumers should attend the talks on Financial Planning and Life Insurance organised by FISCA. More details can be found at http://easyapps.sg/assn/Org/Event.aspx?id=5. (The last talk on Life Insurance was cancelled due to lack of response.)  Consumers should attend these talks and be educated, rather than expect to get free advise to their specific questions - as they may end up being conned by dishonest advisers.

It is all right to get rich in an honest way, but it is now quite common for people to get rich by being dishonest and they get away with it.

Most Americans don't begrudge great riches to anybody who works hard, takes real risks, and creates things of value. As evidenced by the positive outpouring for Steve Jobs, great entrepreneurs are still celebrated. But there is an implicit social contract that links rewards to effort and accomplishment. If many people now believe that corporate America has violated that contract, is it surprising? At many big corporations, the senior managers have seemed more interested in stuffing their pockets than building for the long term. Gargantuan pay packages are only the start of it. Think boards of directors packed with patsies, books cooked to juice earnings, potential whistleblowers silenced, golden parachutes, and finally taxpayers obliged to save expensively tanned hides. The thing that is really surprising is that it has taken this long for public anger to well up.

http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/11/04/one-percent-wake-up-call/?section=money_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28Top+Stories%29

Good experience with Forex Training Course

Many people had bad experience with forex training courses. They paid a high fee to get the training and lost money  in the trading activities (as the methods are not reliable). Here is an exception. This student still lost money, but he felt that the training provided was worth the money spent:

Dear Mr Tan,It would be my pleasure to share my experience with you.
Let me tell you upfront that I am not yet profitable trading forex.  Please allow me to explain why I was still happy with the course.
I took up the forex training course with X in December 2010.  At that time, I was retrenched for about 3 months and was unsuccessful in finding a new job.  With time on my hands and not knowing what else to do, I attended a few forex sales seminars and eventually signed up with X.  I paid about $3000 upfront for the course.
Before I signed up, I had already educated myself on forex trading.  I was aware that there were forex training providers who created the impression that forex was easy money.  X was honest about what forex trading was really about.  This convinced me to sign up.
The course started with 2 days of classroom training over the weekend.  This covered the theoretical knowledge needed to trade forex.  After the classroom sessions, students are entitled to attend regular tutorial sessions for 1 year.  The tutorial sessions were officially on the evenings of Mondays and Wednesdays.  During each session, the Chief Trainer Y would conduct an analysis of one or more currency pairs to demonstrate how he applied his techniques and then pointed out potential trades.  This would be followed by hands on session during which students learn to apply the techniques on their demo accounts while Y would go around answering questions. For those who have the time, X was open daily for students to go in and trade with other traders. Y would conduct two analysis for the students; once before London session opened and once before NY session.  As I did not have a job, I went in daily, from afternoon until night.  During these sessions, Y would analyse a currency pair and point out potential trades.  I found out over time that most of his trade calls were good and resulted in profitable trades.  However, it was a different matter when I did my own analysis and took my own trades.  Most of my trades turned out to be losers.  Faced with Y's successful trades and my own unsuccessful trades, it became obvious to me that it was not the technique but the trader that was the problem. I spent practically all my weekdays at X until I found a job in June.  When I was there, I found Y to be genuine about helping his students.  I was using air-con, Internet and electricity for free.   Although I could not go into X anymore because of work, I still joined the Wednesday sessions via webex meetings.  This was something additional that Y provided.  I didn't have to pay a single cent after that initial $3000 payment.  In fact, I wondered if he could be profitable like this. When I saw your online survey on forex and a comment that all forex courses are overpriced and useless, I knew where you were going with this.  You probably heard feedback from unhappy people who felt that they were cheated by forex schools.  Hence, I felt I should provide a balanced view.  There are indeed forex schools that use questionable tactics to sign up students but there are genuine ones too. Evaluating whether a forex course is good based on trading results can be tricky.  This is because forex trading techniques are easy to learn but it takes time and experience to learn how to apply them correctly.  It takes time, discipline and effort and is not a get rich quick scheme.  Like in any business, only a small percentage eventually master the skill to become successful. I personally found that it is quite safe to trade forex.  I am still working on my forex trading skills.  I have heard of people losing lots of money trading forex but it was usually because they could not follow simple trading rules that would keep them safe.  For example, students are taught not to trade large amounts until they are successful with paper trading or trading with mini accounts for a few months.  Another rule is that you are not supposed to risk more than a small percentage of your capital per trade.   However, there are many people who simply could not follow these simple rules. Mr Tan, if you have read up to this point, thank you for your patience!  And thank you for what you are doing to help ordinary Singaporeans! 

iPhone Apps

I have updated the apps in iPhone for Tangram and Shape Quiz to show a small image (on request) to guide the player in creating the shapes. This will make the app more interesting to the newbie. It is colorful, fun and trains the imagination. The apps can be downloaded from App Store by searching for "Tan Kin Lian".

High Notes and Pinnacle Notes

The Straits Times journalist asked for my views about the dismissal of the appeal by the High Notes investors against the earlier judgement. I replied that I am sad to learn about this outcome for the following reasons:

• The investors already lost all of their investments. They now have to bear their legal expenses and, possibly, the expenses of the DBS lawyer.
• This decision came around the same time as the good news received by the Pinnacle Notes investors that the New York court has agreed to hear their class action against Morgan Stanley. Furthermore, the New York case is being heard under a "success fee" arrangement where the investors do not have to bear any legal cost, if they do not succeed in the case.
• The High Notes were created by DBS and sold to its own customers. This gives a higher responsibility to DBS, as they should be aware of the risk of this product and should have communicated it clearly to their customers The other credit notes were created and sold by different banks.

I hope that DBS Bank will at least undertake to bear the legal cost of both sides, so that their customers do not have to bear any further loss. It would have been nicer if DBS Bank had offered to give an ex-gratia payment to the investors, instead of having this case decided in court. I believe that DBS Bank might have sold a similar product in Hong Kong and they probably had agreed to compensate the investors in some way - but I do not really have the facts.

Tan Kin Lian