Securing your retirement with CPF

In September, a few important changes relating to retirement were announced: 4% interest on Special, Medisave & Retirement Accounts (SMRA) extended to 2013 The interest earned on your SMRA will be guaranteed risk-free at 4% per annum until 31 December 2013. With the first $60,000 of your combined CPF balances (up to $20,000 from the Ordinary Account) earning an extra 1% interest, you could earn up to 5% interest!

• Top-ups Simplified

The Minimum Sum Topping-Up (MSTU) Scheme helps Singaporeans build up their retirement savings through top-ups made to their CPF Special Account (SA) or Retirement Account (RA).

From 1 November 2012, the MSTU Scheme will be simplified so that you can top up more for your loved ones:

Recipient's age	New MSTU top-up limit (From 1 November 2012)	Existing MSTU top-up limit
Below 55 years old (top up to SA)	Prevailing Minimum Sum less: • SA savings • SA savings withdrawn for CPF Investment Scheme (CPFIS)	Prevailing Minimum Sum less: • Ordinary Account (OA) savings • SA savings • OA savings withdrawn for CPFIS • SA savings withdrawn for CPFIS
55 years old and above (top up to RA)	Prevailing Minimum Sum less: • RA savings1	Prevailing Minimum Sum less: • OA savings • SA savings • RA savings1 • OA savings withdrawn for CPFIS • SA savings withdrawn for CPFIS

Make use of this revision to top up for your loved ones. If you top up in cash before 31 December 2012, you can get up to $14,000² in tax relief for Tax Assessment Year 2013!

From January 2013, you will also be able to enjoy tax relief when you top up in cash for your parents-in-law and grandparents-in-law.

¹ Excludes amounts such as interest earned since 55, any government grants received, and amounts withdrawn.
² Up to $7,000 for self top-ups and up to $7,000 for top-ups made for loved ones. Terms and conditions apply.

• Revision of Housing Refund Policy

From 1 January 2013, members aged 55 and above, who have used their CPF savings for property purchase, will be required to refund the principal amount withdrawn with interest (P+I) when they sell their property.

This will ensure that the refunds are proportionate to the amount of CPF savings that each co-owner had used to pay for the property. Read the full details here.

Visit www.areyouready.sg to use our simple "Secure Your Retirement" checklist, to run through some fundamentals for your retirement planning. Useful resources such as webcasts, articles, and calculators are available.

Calculations and Comparisons

I have been having the most interesting week. or rather last month.

Seems like the more i get used to this insurance thing, the more i talk about the importance of knowing what you want out of your insurance. what you want could really help your agent to recomment a product that suits you in every aspect and gives you the outcome you want.

In turn, it leads me to talk about the different types of life policies and how they can work for you.

Very quickly, there are roughly 3 types, which further break into smaller groups.

1) Whole Life Policies
(i) Traditional
(ii) Limited Pay period

2) Term Policies

3) Investment Linked Policies (ILP)

I have been having the time of my life Alt-Tab-ing out of my quotation system and my excels/word documents coming up with a good comparison table for the premiums of these different products and also a list of how they can provide you different benefits.

It has been extremely insightful at looking how these policies work.

In other news, AIA has a new Limited Pay policy on the market! It's called the Guaranteed Protect series and I am fuming mad!!!! because it just launched, the quotation system has been giving me a massive headache hahaha

It basically has an add on multiplier which greatly increases coverage for the insured person from age 0 to 65. so it is a fantastic improvement to our previous one which has been phased out.

Now if only I can get the system to display what i want it to display!!!

conquering my IT equipment,
Jessica

Insurance is Evergreen

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/1223776/1/.html
"SINGAPORE: Insurance heavyweight AIA Singapore said it's unfazed by the global downturn as insurance protection is an "evergreen need".

And it believes that it is "well-placed to sustain the business growth momentum for the rest of 2012".

Indeed, there is never a better time for insurance. It's easy to say that it's not important because there's no one around to benefit from my demise/illness etc, but the whole crux of insurance is to be prepared for the unexpected.

I've been speaking lately to some people who insist that they will get things done when they are older and they have families to take care of, but somehow, i'm not convinced that they actually WILL get around to it.

Procrastination has its own evil games to play on people.

Don't wait til it's too late to do something.

You don't have to do something BIG, but get the basics started up with an amount which you think you won't miss. It's always better to have a little protection than none at all.

Thinking about you and your family,
Jessica

PROMOS!

i'm so happy to announce and post this promo on some of AIA's newest plans.

our best selling early critical illness cover and 20 year term plan are under this promo. ALSO included is the latest Disability Income Protector plan which aims to replace income if one becomes disabled and loses their source of income.

Please let me know if you would like more info on these! :)

Increase in CPF Contributions

Good news for our parents' generation. To help them with their retirement funds in CPF:

Increase in CPF Contribution Rates for Older Workers CPF contribution rates for workers aged above 50 to 65 years have been increased to help them better prepare for retirement. These new contribution rates will apply to wages earned from 1 September 2012.

Age Group	New CPF contribution rates1 (in % of wage) from 1 September 2012Increases from current rates are in brackets			New CPF allocation rates1 (in % of wage) from 1 September 2012Increases from current rates are in brackets
	Employer	Employee	Total	Ordinary Account	Special Account	Medisave Account
> 50 - 55	14% (+2.0%)	18.5% (+0.5%)	32.5% (+2.5%)	13.5% (+0.5%)	9.5% (+1.5%)	9.5% (+0.5%)
> 55 - 60	10.5% (+1.5%)	13% (+0.5%)	23.5% (+2.0%)	12% (+0.5%)	2% (+1.0%)	9.5% (+0.5%)
> 60 - 65	7% (+0.5%)	7.5% -	14.5% (+0.5%)	3.5% -	1.5% (+0.5%)	9.5% -

¹ For monthly wages ≥ $1,500
The full set of CPF contribution rates is available at the CPF website.

** Other news: I've been horribly busy!! jave just recieved a list of "orphaned clients". SO i've been diligently seeking them out to re-acquaint them with their portfolios.

OMG one of them MIGRATED to India leaving behind only his address of his tenant. the listed house number wasn't even in service! have managed to track him down by going down to visit his place, get the number of his daughter from the tenant then mailing him at his email address. but it's a pity that only due to his old agent leaving that we found out about this.

keeping ties,
Jessica