Insurance and Savings - StringsSG Blogs

February 26, 2019September 13, 2022

China-US Trade War

The trade war between China and the USA is having an impact on the health of global trade and since the economy of Singapore depends to a great extend on global trading; it is expected to get affected too.

As per Analysts, though this trade friction had limited impact on the Singapore’s economy till date, but its negative impact could become more noticeable in the latter part of this year and beyond.

The government has already announced that Singapore’s exports have fallen by 2.6% in last November as a result of fall of demand in China. Though many of the tariffs directly do not affect Singapore, but still they have a spill over effect on the country as Singapore plays a big role in global supply chains.

As per the Central Bank, The backbone of Singapore’s manufacturing sector i.e. the electronics segment is expected to suffer because of its links with China in the global supply chain.

Singapore’s largest export is Oil. Naturally, Oil Industry is also expected to suffer as a result of this trade conflict.

Also it is worthy of mention, that Singapore has one of the world’s busiest ports and hence transportation industry which connects the west with Asia is bound to feel the negative impacts too.

Singapore’s property market is also most likely to slow down in 2019. Since the property price is already high in Singapore, foreign investors are taking a back seat. To deal with this current situation, our Government is taking measures to keep the property prices down as well. Moreover, the resale value of HDB flats is expected to decline in 2019 too. The market trend shows that buyers are less interested in the HDB flats at the moment and hence resale of property has been slowing down.

Saying all these, there are also some silver linings to this ongoing Trade war.

Singapore Government has already tightened its monetary policy in accordance with this war so that the losses are negligible as far as it can be.
As an outcome of this Trade war, even if the factories of the corresponding companies relocates to nearby countries, Singapore still would benefit indirectly if the companies’ head offices are set up here in Singapore too.
Ministry of Manpower highlighted, that the labor market is still doing well under this trade war pressure. Total employment is expected to improve further this year and Wages are also rising.
Economists have pointed out that, since Singapore trades in diversified sectors and have a strong trading network, it will help the companies to acquire new opportunities, alternative suppliers and demand markets.

Hence, saying all this, It is quite obvious that a prolonged Trade War will surely have a severe impact on Global Economy. At this point we can only hope that this Trade war will come to an end with the best economic decisions between China and US and global economic interests will be safeguarded.

September 24, 2018September 13, 2022

Importance of various types of Insurance

What does the term Insurance mean?

Insurance is like a financial guard or protection against any possible event or a range of events. It is an arrangement or coverage by which the insurance company or insurer provides a guarantee of compensation for some specified loss, death of breadwinner, some kind of permanent disability, property damage, critical illness, or in return for payment of a specified premium. In any of such above mentioned occurrences, the insurance company or insurer from whom we bought our policy will have to pay us an agreed amount to cover some of our losses. It is the work of an Insurance Agent or Financial Adviser to look after our policy from the beginning and guide and help us throughout the period when we hold the policy to him.

Why do we need Insurance

We all work for a good life and to fulfill our dreams and live for our loved ones. Naturally, because insurance is all about providing financial safety to ourselves and our family, protecting business from financial loss or liabilities etc it is such an important component of our financial planning. That is why we need to insure our life and our assets. This helps us to enjoy financial security, reduce stress during hard times and also secures the financial future for our family members after the death of the breadwinner.

Insurance- an important component of our financial planning. — An Insurance – to insure our life and our assets!

Types of Insurance –

Life Insurance – Life insurance also known as life cover or life assurance is a policy or a contract between the policy holder and an insurer or where the former chooses the amount of coverage, time period and pays his premiums either monthly or annually. In return, his family has the reassurance from the insurer to pay the designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death of an insured person when a valid claim is made. With this money the grieving family will get some financial help like they can pay the household bills, take care of the child-care costs or pay any debt if there were any etc.
Health Insurance – An unexpected event like critical illness, disability, trauma or accident, may leave us with some financial loss. Health insurance covers the risk of a person incurring medical expenses in whole or in part. It covers the cost of the insured’s medical and surgical expenses. However, depending on the type of health insurance coverage the person have he will either have to pay the costs out of his pocket and later he will be reimbursed or the insurer makes payments directly to the respective authority i.e hospital etc.

Health insurance covers the risk of a person incurring medical expenses in whole or in part. — “Health is wealth” – secure it today with a Health Insurance.

General Insurance – General insurance is the insurance that covers tangible assets that are susceptible to damages like fire, marine, damages to car, accident, damage to house. Hence it is called as non-life insurance policies too. General insurance products are bought as they provide protection against unforeseeable contingencies. In this type of insurance too, products come at a price in the form of premium. If any of the above mentioned events happens, then the insurance company have to pay the client an agreed amount to cover some or all of the losses. In such cases, it is the duty of the Insurance Agent or Financial Adviser to help and guide us throughout the process.
Vehicle Insurance – A vehicle is often expensive and we all want to protect it. Vehicle insurance is insurance for different types of road vehicles like – our cars, bikes, trucks, motorcycles. This gives financial protection against physical damage after an accident or damages due to traffic collisions etc. Hence depending on what coverage we select, vehicle insurance will be paying to repair for our vehicle.
Critical illness insurance – This is an insurance to cover expenses of any critical illness. As per the contract the Insurance Company has to make a lump sum cash payment if the policyholder is diagnosed with one of the specific illnesses as mentioned in the predetermined list of policy papers. Such illness includes paralysis, stroke, severe burns, heart attack, any surgical procedure, cancer, coma etc.
Home Insurance – This insurance is also called homeowner’s insurance. It gives coverage to the losses and damages of the policy holder’s house and the assets in his home. It is a type of property insurance that covers a private residence. Such damages include which are caused by fires, theft, explosion, lightning strikes, household apparatus etc. However, all natural disasters are not covered by home insurance like damage caused by earthquakes and floods mostly does not fall under the coverage.

Protect your home today with a Home Insurance. — Home is where the heart lies- get it secured by a Home Insurance today!

Travel Insurance – Today many people feels it safer to be covered while travelling. We can opt for the travel insurance at the time of the booking of a trip to cover us during the duration of that trip. Travel Insurance usually covers trip cancellation cost, cost of lost, stolen or damaged baggage, medical expenses, delayed baggage, flight accidents etc.
Pet Insurance – Insurance for our pets is a form of property insurance. Under this category, veterinary treatment, accidents, illnesses, injuries, rehabilitation, surgery or if the pet is lost or stolen are mostly covered.

Saying all these, let’s understand why we need an Insurance Agent or Financial Adviser. They are the best person to rely on as they have proper knowledge of the market. They are like our personal advisers who understand our individual needs and accordingly make sure that we are adequately covered. Since they are licensed insurance professionals their advice can give us the maximum protection which we might miss out if we search on our own.

Most importantly they are right around the corner and ready to help be it with home related insurance matters or auto policy or anything related to business coverage. So let’s make our future secured, by investing on Insurance while let the Insurance Agent or the financial advisers do their part to provide us the ultimate benefits from our investment.

Click here to get your free consultation on Insurance

September 13, 2018September 13, 2022

How to decide on what to Invest

One major question that always lingers in our mind is how we safely invest our hard earned money. Be it any type of investment – Stocks, Real estate, Bonds, Gold, Cash equivalent, Mutual funds the question remains the same.

To answer this, we must take into account the following pointers before we step into making any kind of investment-

We must Identify and review our needs and goals – At first place, we should understand what exactly we are looking at from our investments and how much risk we can take.
We must make an investment plan – We must make a plan starting with low risk investments and then move to medium-risk investments. Higher risk investments are better to avoid in the initial phase.
Decide on how long we can invest – Different investments have different goals, time frames and also varied type of risks. So before we even consider investing our hard-earned money into something, we should go for a reality check.
Do not run after any hot tips – Many people around us, are always suggesting or coming up with different tips regarding where and what to invest on which mostly sounds very lucrative. However we should never fall a prey to such hot tips as we never know the risks involved or it might turn out to be totally fraud.
Our focus should be to diversify – The idea is to spread our money across different investments. It does not have to have same direction of movement of prices. This is known as diversifying.

Gold is a type of investment — Gold – considered as a form of investment for years!

We should always maintain an emergency fund – It is always smarter to have cash on hand to cover out-of-pocket expenses. We should have enough money in a savings product in case of any emergency.
We must avoid high- risk products at first place – Only consider higher risk products once you’ve built up money in low and medium-risk investments. Investments which are much more risky than we were told it would be or investments that are sold without a good explanation of the risks associated with it or the ones which does not provide any compensation.
Many investment plans have hidden charges – We should thoroughly read between the lines and also do our own research properly before we jump into any big decisions on any type of investments.

Real estate and housing — Real estate- an investment for many.

Saying all these we should look forward to a safe investment product that benefits our life to a great extend. We should therefore hire an investment consultant or financial advisor or savings planner to help us choose the right plan. Savings and investment consultant will do the needed research, understand and follow changes in the investment market, update on economic news and accordingly guide us with the best choices.

So let’s not delay and put our steps forward to a better and secured future with our personal investment consultant or financial advisor .

August 3, 2018September 13, 2022

10 Best Ways to Save Money!

One of the biggest question that we often ask ourselves is how to save money and see it growing. Here are some pretty basic ways practices to help you control your expenses.

1. Refuse the branded products

Purchase of goods of less untwisted brands instead of widely known brands allows to save significantly. Take time to compare an expensive and not expensive product.

2. Use cash cards as seldom as possible

Many have got used to pay purchases by means of cards because it is more hygienic, reliably and it isn’t necessary to carry with itself a purse. But numerous researches show that constant use of cash cards is fraught with loss of control over the expenses. It is much easier for person to leave hidden figures, than real pieces of paper.

3. Buy only necessary

Often we buy goods only because they are discounted. It is especially heavy to overcome temptation of the personal discount sent by the seller right after receiving salary. But it is worth remembering that the coupon is not a reason for purchase.

Get only that it is really necessary for you, and only when you are ready to it. And coupons and discounts can be found at forums and the specialized websites. Also don’t forget about cashback.

4. Learn online shopping

If you haven’t learned joy of remote purchases yet, we strongly recommend you to try such shopping. Of course, he has some shortcomings. But the smaller price in comparison with usual shops — one of clear advantages. Many popular brands and less known trademarks sell the collections with discounts to 90%. By the way, in online stores you can buy branded clothes at a nice price.

5. Make the plan of purchases

It is necessary to learn to plan the purchases. It is convenient to do it by means of mobile applications. Their use will protect you from many unpleasant situations. For example, if you forgot to buy a shampoo or a pack of tea, you should return to the store the next day. It is very likely that you will want to buy something else.

6. Don’t buy food at gas stations

Didn’t you notice that, coming around on gas station, you inadvertently buy coffee, chips or hot dog? These are absolutely useless expenditure. If you go to a distant trip on which you will precisely want to eat, take water and sandwiches from the house. Such approach not only will save money, but also will be more useful to an organism.

7. Replace cable television

Pay attention, how many channels on TV you really look at. Possibly, no more than five. Therefore, it is worth learning whether your operator has truncated packages of channels for smaller money. And better simply disconnect cable and by means of the Internet transmit a signal to the TV via the computer.

8. Stop eating fat meat

No, completely it isn’t necessary to refuse meat. But instead of favorite pork chops to choose cheaper and useful chicken meat. As option, you can allocate a certain day of the week during which you won’t eat meat. Observance of a post will also favorably affect your budget.

9. Prepare coffee at home

In modern society there is a kind of cult of coffee. Thanks to him in every decent institution there is a three-dimensional menu with varieties of the drink. Mobile street coffee shops are gaining popularity, and there is no need to talk about coffee machines in every institution.

If you are an avid coffee lover, a cheaper option for you will be to buy a coffee machine home or to the office. Moreover, modern devices are able to prepare several drinks at precisely the time set.

10. Do not waste your time

Appreciate your time. Instead of playing games or listening to music, it’s better if you read a book or repeat a lecture.Use your Internet for the right purposes, do not spend a lot of time on social networks.

11. Open a savings plan, it will give you good interest for your money.

July 18, 2018September 13, 2022

5 reasons to get a health insurance

One of the main factors in determining the cost of life insurance is the age of the client. It’s just a fact. The older the person, the higher his risks. The earlier you make out the insurance, the more profitable and better for you.
Do you think that dangerous situations are encountered exclusively in the lives of firefighters, stuntmen and testers of new models of racing cars? Unfortunately no. Ordinary drivers and even pedestrians risk no less on the roads of mega cities. Knowing that in the event that you or the family members will be mitigated by all the costs, walking and traveling are somehow calmer.
Car insurance today is a must. Insurance is for everyone who has a car. As for me, having life insurance is more important. Just think, people value their cars more than their own lives!
If a person broke a car, he has temporary inconveniences, time and costs for repairing, repairing or buying a new car.
If a person has lost his capacity for work or passed away, his family has lost a breadwinner and is exposed to huge financial risks.
Having health insurance allows your insurance company to negotiate better rates with hospitals and doctors. The more people that have health insurance, the larger the pool and therefore the costs are better absorbed. Larger medical networks typically have lower premiums since the insurance company is able to distribute resources equally. More people having health insurance also creates a more competitive market and insurance companies are likely to offer lower rates in order to keep current customers and attract new customers. The more plans that are available allow for individuals to shop for plans that are more compatible with their lifestyles.
The best time to buy life insurance is today. Let’s draw conclusions.

Click here to get your free consultation health insurance!

July 9, 2018September 13, 2022

Do I need a life insurance?

Each family has certain plans for the future. For example, to improve one’s financial position, grow children and to give them a good education.

Whatever purposes set before itself the family in most cases achievement of these purposes demands financial inputs.

family insurance

Money is necessary for everyday life of family, for large purchases which improve quality of life, for providing the future, and the future of children. But let’s think from where in family money comes? The answer is clear for most families it is the earned income. It is income which parents get from their work day after day. And here we approach a conclusion which is obvious but which for some reason at all isn’t realized by many people. For vast majority of people their life and working capacity — that is the ability to work and earn money is the only asset, the only source which brings them money. And literally everything depends on this only source of income. Completely the current life of family depends on these means, it is necessary to buy food, to pay necessary goods and services. Long-term goals of family entirely depend on this source also they will be reached only provided that the family regularly gains the current income, and a part preserves it for the future.

This only source of income, which is life and working ability of the parent it is crucial for family. There is a logical question and whether something can threaten it? If threats exist it is necessary to protect from them an income source and by that to ensure financial safety of family. Present that you live in the hot desert, among the heated sand. Life of your family depends on water in the only well. Whether you will clean him, to preserve against sand and heat?

Our life is impregnated with risk. Including — there are events which can threaten life and working ability of the person. So these events threaten also financial well-being of family. They can put family on a poverty side, having crossed out all her plans, and having destroyed the future of children. Time so needs to be found out what can threaten our life and working capacity and to protect the only source of income. Life insurance is the only decision allowing families to compensate sudden and sometimes very severe losses which can bring a disease and accident.

As the house begins to be built with the base, and in a basis of the financial well-being people put life insurance. It is a reliable support for your long-term financial plans. In it the most important application of life insurance consists. Also, life insurance is effective and very powerful investment tool which allows families to create the trust funds, accumulation for training of children and own pension capital. To protect assets from prosecution, to create and increase greatly inheritance, to provide the preferential taxation for the capital these and many other problems it is capable to solve for your life insurance. Surely use life insurance, having forced to work as this flexible, effective tool, this powerful financial leverage — in own interests.

Click here to get your free consultation on life insurance.