Understanding Our Life

Those who do buy life insurance don’t necessarily comprehend what they’ve purchased.  46% of respondents acknowledged that they didn’t completely understand their policies. If that’s the case, they may not have bought the proper coverage.


“The only way you’re going to know if it’s the right product is if you understand it.


Here are some must-know terms.


Policy owner: The person who buys and controls the insurance policy. The policy owner may or may not be the one whose life is insured. For example, a wife could own a policy on her husband. The policy owner is the only one who can change the beneficiary and get policy details from the insurer.


Premium: The amount of money you pay for insurance, generally quoted per month or per year.


Beneficiary: The person who receives the life insurance payout. You can name more than one beneficiary, and you can designate a specific percentage for each beneficiary. For example: 70% to Tong Chin and 30% to Tong Hua.


Death benefit: The life insurance money that is paid to the beneficiary.


Insured person: The person whose life is being insured.


Term life insurance: This type of policy lasts for a specific number of years. You select the term, such as five, 10, 20 or 30 years.


Permanent life insurance: This type of policy lasts for your entire life and also has a cash value component. There are multiple varieties of permanent life, including whole life, universal life, variable life and variable universal life. If you decide to buy permanent life insurance, work with a financial advisor and be sure you understand the difference between permanent and term life before you buy.


Cash value: If you buy permanent life insurance, part of your payment goes into a “cash value” account that grows in value over time. You can take a loan against the cash value and use the money for anything you like.


Accelerated death benefit: This policy feature allows you to receive some of the life insurance payout early if you are terminally ill. Some insurers now call this a “living benefit.” It’s usually a free feature, so make sure your policy has it.


Rider: An add-on that provides an additional feature or coverage at extra cost. For example, with a “waiver of premium” rider you don’t have to pay for your life insurance if you become totally disabled and can’t work. “Imagine a life insurance policy is like buying a car, and a rider like all the accessories the dealer offers you. Do you need it? It’s up to you to decide.


Underwriting: This is the process by which insurance companies evaluate the risk of insuring you and determine your life insurance rate. It often includes accessing your medical records, driving record and prescription drug history.

Life Lower Benefits

Consumers should brace themselves for life insurance products that will offer lower guaranteed benefits as insurers face upcoming tougher rules that may require some of them to set aside more reserves as a buffer. More offerings of less capital intensive products such as term, investment linked insurance policies (ILPs) and personal accident plans are also likely to go on the market.

That is because these products require insurers to set aside less capital - that is, cash - to ensure solvency, for example. The trend towards such products is emerging as more insurers are tweaking their product offerings in the face of upcoming stricter risk requirements for insurers, under a more robust capital framework for insurers.


One effect is that consumers who buy a life plan may see less of the traditional reversionary bonus structure and be offered a non-guaranteed dividend paying plan. A reversionary bonus is a non-guaranteed bonus usually added annually to the policy's sum assured or guaranteed benefit once it is declared.


While this is good news for the policyholder as it means they get more that is guaranteed, the insurer's liability is increased in the long-term which means the insurer has to set aside more cash to support the guarantee. On the other hand, cash dividends are non-guaranteed, but when given do not add to the sum assured.


And depending on the product design, they may be given annually only after the insured reaches a certain age or upon a claim or surrender. This is less capital intensive for the insurer. A revised risk-based capital framework, known as RBC 2, seeks to reflect the relevant risks insurers face. It is part of the Monetary Authority of Singapore's drive to make the industry more resilient. Introduced in 2004, the RBC framework adopts a risk-focused approach to assess capital adequacy and reflects the risks faced by insurers. RBC 2 is expected to be rolled out in 2017.


Tokio Marine Life Insurance Singapore and AIA Singapore said that as the RBC 2 calibration is still work in progress, it is premature to predict its industry impact. "However, based on the first quantitative impact study, we see that there will be an increase in risk requirements, compared to the existing RBC framework," said Lance Tay, chief executive of Tokio Marine Life Insurance Singapore.


" The emphasis on risk sensitivity may guide capital allocation towards safer assets with lower but more stable returns, such as bonds. Also, offering products with high guarantees will be more capital intensive."


In a bid to manage its product offerings, Tokio Marine has recently expanded its range of protection offerings to include a new whole-life-plan called TM Legacy LifeFlex and a new personal accident plan called TM Protect PA.


The former is a whole life protection-based plan which does away with giving annual reversionary bonuses. Instead, it offers a dividend paying plan with non-guaranteed annual dividends payable when the insured reaches 65 and a non-guaranteed terminal dividend upon a claim or surrender. The annual dividends cannot be deposited with the insurer.


When contacted, a Great Eastern spokesman said it has been offering a comprehensive suite of products to meet customers' needs - and the strategy is expected to continue. "Nonetheless, the potentially higher asset risk requirement may result in the some products lines being more capital intensive under the new regime," he said.


NTUC Income chief actuary Lau Sok Hoon said that in preparation for the stricter upcoming risk-based capital regime, it has been strengthening its capital adequacy ratio and managing its product mix, including growing its ILP business over the last few years.

Life Common Mistakes

Imagine that you, as your family’s primary breadwinner, are no longer around to provide for your loved ones. It goes without saying that your family’s lives and livelihood would be affected drastically. The situation gets worse if you had left behind housing loan, car loan or credit card balances.


Your dependents may not be able to hold on to the assets you had left behind, and late payment interest charges could accrue to nightmarish amounts.


It is for this reason that many people purchase life insurance policies. However, adequate protection only happens if you had bought the right policies! One can easily end up under-insured or over-insured (still better than uninsured though). More commonly, many people end up paying too much in premiums for the amount of cover they are getting.


For your benefit, we listed down 7 of the most common mistakes people make with life insurance. Once you know this, you can avoid these newbie mistakes and purchase life insurance policies the smart way (and get you in the ‘sufficiently insured’ category).


Not understanding the difference between the 5 basic types of life insurances

There are 5 flavors of life insurance most commonly found today:

1. Whole Life Participating Plan (aka Endowment Plans)
2. Whole Life Non-Participating Plan
3. Term Life Plan
4. Reducing Term Life Plan
5. Investment Linked Plan (aka Unit Linked Plan)

Each of them offer different components (insured amount, savings and dividends component, cash value, units etc.) and very different premiums payable. Buying the wrong plan for the wrong purpose is a sure way of over paying for features you may not want / need.


Not having a clear objective of why you are buying insurance
Generally, aside from tax savings, there are 4 reasons that people buy life insurance policies

1. To protect your loved ones against your death
2. To protect yourself against Permanent Disability / Critical Disease
3. Forced savings
4. As an investment

Before purchasing a policy, always ask yourself why you are purchasing the policy. It can even be a mixture of objectives. Then choose and customize the right policy for your objectives.
For example, if the only reason you want insurance is for the protection element, then why buy a Whole Life Participating policy where up to 80% of the premiums paid goes towards a savings component?


Thinking it is expensive, complex OR can only be bought through agents
Only 56% of the Malaysian population have life insurance. The majority of Malaysian buy life insurance from agent. However - other distribution channel includes - insurer directly, insurance broker, online purchase, from bank, from post office, telemarketing and direct mails.




Thinking the higher / lower the premium, the better the policy
Higher premiums do not equate to better policies. Insurance agents are compensated via commissions and are generally better incentivized towards selling policies with higher premiums. On the flip side, paying as little as possible for the same amount of insurance cover is NOT a sure sign of being smart with your policy selection. Frankly, both schools of thought are dangerous.The best policy is the one that suits your needs like a glove. If you have to compare prices, compare only between comparable policies that have already been customized to suit your needs.


Thinking I am unmarried / have no dependents, hence no need for life insurance
Here’s some food for thought. Did you know that about 30% of life insurance claims are because of disability / critical disease and not because the policy holder has died?


Thinking you will need life insurance for the rest of your life
This belief is a common cause of over-insurance during old age. If your purpose is to ensure that your dependents can sustain their current lifestyle upon your death, then you may not need it when you are no longer the primary bread winner and no longer have any unsettled debts.


Being under-insured / over-insured
In Malaysia, the average coverage amount is lower than RM 50,000. Considering the cost of living in 2015, most people are grossly under-insured. Contrastingly, many people are over-insured. Unknowingly, they purchase multiple life insurance policies packaged as savings plans, investment plans or MRTA / MLTA when taking on a new home loan or personal loan.The general rule is to have a death benefit worth 5 to 10 times of your annual income to sustain your family financially for a few years after your death.

Life Cerita Tahunan Malaysia

The Life Insurance Association of Malaysia (LIAM) wants a separate tax relief for the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributions and tax deduction for life insurance premiums.


In a statement today, LIAM said its Wishlist for the 2016 Budget was for the change so that it would promote financial planning and create awareness on the importance of financial protection among the rakyat.


At the moment RM6,000 tax relief on combined EPF and life insurance premiums was given to the rakyat. With rising wage levels, the EPF contributions have taken up a substantial portion of the RM6,000, leaving an ever-diminishing amount left to be claimed as tax relief on insurance premiums.


EPF savings served the purpose of meeting long-term savings needs whereas life insurance was primarily for financial protection with the secondary aim of long-term savings. A separate tax relief would put more money back into the rakyat’s pocket to relieve them of their financial burden and also to encourage them to have better financial plans in the future.


Self-responsible for financial planning would further improve the insurance penetration rate in line with the Economic Transformation Programme’s objective to insure most of the population, or 75 per cent by 2020.


LIAM also proposed that the tax relief for medical and education insurance premiums be increased from the current RM3,000 to RM6,000 as the amount was insufficient in most circumstances.


For example, for an average family of two adults with three children, the cost of medical insurance is around RM2,500 per annum at the lower end, which leaves only about RM500 per annum premium for savings, towards the education of the children,” it said.

EPF - Syariah Fund

Contributors to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) may choose to have a KWSP-I account managed and invested in compliance with Syariah principles when amendments to the Employees Provident Fund Act 1991 are passed.


Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani said the amendments to the Act 1991, tabled for second reading at the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday, also provides for the establishment of a Syariah Advisory Committee and an Investment Panel to ensure syariah compliance.


"In line with the creation of the KWSP-I account, Section 27 will be amended to enable two dividend rates to be announced for EPF contributors," he said.


Further under the new amendments, the EPF board may have the power to declare a dividend of not less than 2.5% per annum for members who have not elected for their accounts to be managed according to syariah principles.

The Bill also states that the EPF may have the power to declare a dividend of not less than 2.5% per annum for those whose elections have not taken effect.


"In respect of contributions made by the members of the Fund whose elections for their accounts be managed according to the Syariah under the proposed section 43A have come into effect, the Board shall declare dividend at any rates according to the actual performance of the investment made by the Board in relation to the accounts," reads the Bill.


The proposed law also seeks to introduce a new definition of "loan" to include financing in accordance with syariah.


Apart from that, the Bill also seeks to introduce a new section to provide that any contribution that has been credited into the account of a member after he or she has attained the age of 55 may only be withdrawn when the member turns 60.


It also seeks to introduce a new section which states that no dividend shall be credited into the account of a member who is not a Malaysian if no contribution has been credited into his or her account over a period of three years.

I Love Hanoi Kids

Hanoi Kid -established in 2006, is known as a student-run organization based in Hanoi, Vietnam.
By voluntarily taking city tours in Hanoi, we hope to bring travellers from all over the world an insight into our culture, tradition and beautiful sight-seeings.


Perhaps after many years when we are already mature and living somewhere else far away from this city, whenever we return and wander along those acquainted landmarks and familiar street corners, we will all feel like we are stepping on the old footpaths. We will recall ourselves sweating in the blue and white uniform T-shirt, soothingly talking English while swiftly striding ahead. We would see ourselves sitting at Ngon restaurant or contemplating the sunshiny hanging garden filled with the pervasive fragrant of egg coffee in Giang café. We would stroll along the roads we used to take, wondering whether our foot prints still imprint somewhere.

Every corner of Hanoi would remind us of our fantastic time in Hanoikids. And who knows, at that very moment when we were time travelling to the past, we could bump into a student, in the same uniform, leading tour- a future kid.

If I happened to meet them, I would definitely approach and wave a familiar greeting “Hi Kids”. We would instantly understand we belong to the same family, though we never meet before.

Who Is KOTO

KOTO is a not-for-profit restaurant and vocational training program that is changing the lives of street and disadvantaged youth in Vietnam.  The concept of KOTO began on the streets of Hanoi in 1996 when an Australian Vietnamese man, Mr Jimmy Pham, asked a group of street kids what they wanted out of life. They simply replied, "we need skills so we can find stable jobs" and so the concept of KOTO was born.

In just five years, KOTO has grown from a small sandwich shop in Hanoi to a 120-seat restaurant and an internationally accredited hospitality program that gives some very special young people the start in life that everyone deserves.

Business Insurance

As a family business owner, you have to think about protecting both loved ones and an enterprise. You may have a family at home who counts on you, children who will carry the business forward and employees who depend on you for their livelihoods. That’s a lot to safeguard, which is why buying life insurance is so important.

It can replace your income
If anyone depends on your income, then you need life insurance, whether you work for someone else or run your own business. If you die prematurely, your family can use the life insurance proceeds for everything from day-to-day household expenses to funding the kids’ college educations.


It can cover your personal and business debts
If you’re like many small-business owners, you may have secured a business loan with personal assets, such as your home. In that case, you need life insurance to cover the debt and protect those assets for your loved ones.


Don’t assume your family will be able to liquidate the business to pay off lenders. When forced to sell quickly, your heirs might have to unload the business at a discount, or the business might not be worth that much without you at the helm.


The lender may require you to buy life insurance as a condition of the loan - but don’t name the bank as the beneficiary. Instead, request a “collateral assignment” from the insurer after the loan is approved. Under a collateral assignment, the insurer will use the life insurance proceeds to pay off the loan and give the remainder to the policy’s beneficiary, such as your spouse.


It can protect your heirs from estate taxes
Even if you’re cash-poor, your business assets could be enough to put you over the federal estate tax limit. A looming tax bill could force your heirs to sell the business in a hurry. Family had to sell off land to pay estate taxes, others in the area knew they were desperate to sell and made lowball offers.
Life insurance proceeds can help your heirs pay the estate taxes. They can keep the business intact or take their time in selling it to get a decent price.


It can help you equalize your inheritance
Life insurance helps business owners treat their adult children fairly when not all of them are part of the business. Suppose your daughter helps you run the business, but your son has nothing to do with it. You plan to leave the business to your daughter, and you want to leave an inheritance of equal value to your son. A life insurance policy can help you do that.


It can help fund a buy-sell agreement
A buy-sell agreement is a legally binding contract between business co-owners. The agreement spells out what happens to the ownership interests of a business partner who dies, becomes disabled or leaves the business.


Suppose, for instance, you own a catering business with your sister. You agree that if one of you leaves the business for whatever reason, the other will buy out her portion according to the stipulated terms. If she dies, you would buy out her portion from her heirs. Without a buy-sell agreement, you could wind up in business with a brother-in-law who knows nothing about catering.


Life insurance is a simple way to provide money for a buyout. The owners or the business purchase policies insuring each partner. If one dies, the life insurance proceeds are used to buy out that person’s share of the business.


It can protect the business against the death of a key person
Imagine if you or a hard-to-replace employee suddenly died. No matter how determined the remaining employees were to keep things going, the business would probably lose revenue while everyone scrambled to regroup. Life insurance can provide “some working capital to get them through.  For example - a small construction business that bought life insurance on its crane operator. If the crane operator dies, the business can use the life insurance money to offset lost revenue while it recruits and trains a replacement for this hard-to-fill position.


It can help you retain talent
You can use permanent life insurance to provide additional compensation to key employees, enticing them to stick around. Typically a business will buy a permanent life insurance for the key employee. Although the business pays the premiums, the employee owns the policy and later can use the cash value to supplement retirement income. In a “split-dollar” life insurance arrangement, the business and the employee share the costs, death benefit and cash value of the policy.

We Need A Life

It is a subject that no one likes to talk about, but the consequences of not planning for this are even more frightening. When talking with clients I often hear the response ‘I don’t need this’ or ‘this is a waste of money.’ I certainly hope it is a waste of money, but what if it is needed? Then it becomes the most valuable financial product that you will ever implement.

Life insurance is about being able to put money in the right place at the right time. To help understand how life insurance might apply to your particular situation, there are outlined a number of different scenarios below.



You are singleMost single people don’t need life insurance because no one depends on them financially. But there are exceptions. For instance, some single people provide financial support for ageing parents or a sibling with special needs. It is also worth noting that the younger and healthier you are, the cheaper the cover is likely to be, so it can be the best time to take out the cover.



You are marriedMany people mistakenly believe that they don’t need to think about life insurance until they have children. But, what it one of you died tomorrow? Even with your surviving spouse’s income, would that be enough to pay off debts like credit card balances and car loans, let alone cover the monthly rent and utility bills?



You are married, and have childrenMost families depend on two incomes. If one of you died suddenly, could your family continue to meet all their financial obligations — from paying rent or the mortgage to daily living expenses? Could your family continue their standard of living on your spouse’s income alone? Would their plans for the future — like university stay intact? Life insurance makes sure that your plans for the future don’t die when you do.



You are a single parentAs a single parent, you’re the caregiver, breadwinner, cook, chauffeur and so much more. With so much responsibility resting on your shoulders, you need to make doubly sure that you have enough life insurance to safeguard your children’s financial future.



You are a stay-at-home parentJust because you don’t earn a salary doesn’t mean you don’t make a financial contribution to your family. Childcare, transportation, cleaning cooking, and other household activities are all important tasks, the replacement value of which is often severely underestimated. With life insurance, your family can afford to make the choice that best preserves their quality of life.



You have grown childrenJust because your children are through college and the mortgage is paid off doesn’t necessarily mean that you no longer need life insurance. If you died today, your spouse will still be faced with daily living expenses. Would your financial plan, without life insurance, enable your spouse to maintain the lifestyle you’ve worked so hard to achieve now and into retirement?



You are retiredDepending on the size of your estate, your heirs could be hit with inheritance tax after you die. The proceeds of a life insurance policy are payable immediately, allowing heirs to take care of these taxes, funeral costs and other debts without having to hastily liquidate other assets, often at a fraction of their true value.


You are a small-business ownerBesides taking care of your family, life insurance can also protect your business. What would happen to your business if you, one of your fellow owners or a key employee died tomorrow? Life insurance can help protect you and the business in a number of ways.

As you can see, almost everyone needs life insurance, we all hope that it will not be needed, but do you want to take that chance?

No Need To Know Everything

I came from the music business. I knew nothing about planes. To all the entrepreneurs out there, you don’t need to know everything about what you want to do. It’s all about the idea, it’s about passion, it’s about implementing it.

IT Taking On Life

Over the next few years, how one insurance company stands out from the rest will not be so much about the products it offers, but rather on how well it executes its digitalisation strategy, said a panellist at Digital News Asia’s recent What’s Next conference.

 “What is going to differentiate us from the rest is who is digitalising faster, who is going to give that customer experience of the lifetime from the beginning, and servicing it to the end,” AmMetLife Insurance Bhd chief executive officer Ramzi Toubassy told the audience in Cyberjaya. But even if insurance companies are cognisant of this looming reality, the digital transformation journey will not be easy, according to Toubassy.


 “The ‘good news’ about life insurance is that people will continue to die, they will continue to face accidents, and they will continue to live too long and fail to plan for that future,” he quipped. “As long as these three characteristics are there, life insurance companies will continue to be there.” “The bad news however is that we are a dinosaur,” he added.


The insurance industry lags behind many others in the financial services space. Toubassy noted that today, users can check their bank balances, transfer funds, and perform many other transactions online. “However... if you call your life insurance company to get certain information about your account, it could take a very long time — simply because most insurers are not ready for that type of demand yet,” he said.


Toubassy was speaking as a ‘Provocateur’ at the What’s Next conference, at a session featuring Accenture Digital Asean managing director Dipen Mehta, whose topic was Insurance in the digital age — Whose business will it be?.


The session was moderated by Sophie Kamaruddin of Bloomberg TV Malaysia. Still a place for people Although digitalisation will have to play a key role in insurers’ long-term strategy, it does not mean that the days of insurance agents are numbered, said Toubassy.


 “The way we are going to the future is to strike a balance. For simple life insurance products, one can do it online, but for the more complicated ones, you will still need an agent’s expertise,” he said. Dipen concurred.


“I am not here to say that the future of insurers in the digital age is about direct subscription or self-service. “It would be a bad idea to give up all the infrastructure in place with your agents. It is like going to the banks and saying that all transactions are going to be done online, so there will be no need for branches anymore.


 “Agents have their place in this ecosystem, so insurance companies need to look at ways of using IT to keep agents informed, and keep customer engagement high,” he argued. Dipen also stressed that digitalisation is not so much about replacing incumbents, but about complementing them with the existing business.


 “They have to co-exist,” he said. CIO-driven plans will fail Dipen also argued that that insurers’ digital journeys should not be driven by chief information officers (CIOs), but by those closer to the end customer. “If you are doing digital through your CIO organisation, you are destined for failure.


IT needs to exist, but it doesn’t have to be driven there. “Doing digital is more about marrying it [technology] with sound business strategy and the customer value proposition,” he said. Insurers should also relook at the data they have in hand, so that they can have a better, more holistic view of their customers.


 “Today, do insurance companies really know their customers? Probably not,” he argued. “Insurance companies have access to much information around their policy-holders, but it is very departmentalised, it is very fragmented, it does not give a holistic picture of the consumer.


 “For example, if there is a 26-year-old male who is very healthy, has a steady day job, works in a major city, and lives in an area with a low crime rate, insurers will be more than happy to have him as a customer. “However, if there’s a way get access to his social media account and discover that this same person likes to do base jumping every weekend, insurers may then have different thoughts about the person,” he noted.


 “That’s why aggregating all that information can be something very powerful,” he added. Death and life In his 20-minute presentation, Dipen told participants that there are many ways for insurance service providers to further innovate, especially in this part of the world. He cited a few examples of how newcomers to the industry are leveraging on digital technology to offer solutions to consumers.


For example, Oscar, a New York-based insurer, offers its customers US$1 (RM4.10) for each day they walk 10,000 steps. It provides its customers with a Fitbit-type of device to track their steps.


“Life insurance today is really about death. But I think where it is going is that life insurance is about life. “It is about bringing in technology to better measure what your life is about, and how to make it healthier,” he added. The What’s Next: The Business Impact of Disruptive Technology conference

Like A Boss

Any of us can study the unique qualities of unforgettable bosses to learn valuable skills.


1. Great bosses are passionate. Few things are more demotivating than a boss who is bored with his or her life and job. If the boss doesn’t care, why should anybody else? Unforgettable bosses are passionate about what they do. They believe in what they’re trying to accomplish, and they have fun doing it. This makes everyone else want to join the ride.


2. They stand in front of the bus. Some bosses will throw their people under the bus without a second thought; great bosses pull their people from the bus’s path before they’re in danger. They coach, and they move obstacles out of the way, even if their people put those obstacles there in the first place. Sometimes, they clean up messes their people never even knew they made. And, if they can’t stop the bus, they’ll jump out in front of it and take the hit themselves.


3. They play chess not checkers. Think about the difference. In checkers, all the pieces are basically the same. That’s a poor model for leadership because nobody wants to feel like a faceless cog in the proverbial wheel. In chess, on the other hand, each piece has a unique role, unique abilities, and unique limitations. Unforgettable bosses are like great chess masters. They recognize what’s unique about each member of their team. They know their strengths, weaknesses, likes, and dislikes, and they use these insights to draw the very best from each individual.


4. They are who they are, all the time. They don’t lie to cover up their mistakes, and they don’t make false promises. Their people don’t have to exert energy trying to figure out their motives or predicting what they’re going to do next. Equally as important, they don’t hide things they have the freedom to disclose. Instead of hoarding information and being secretive to boost their own power, they share information and knowledge generously.


5. They are a port in a storm. They don’t get rattled, even when everything is going haywire. Under immense pressure, they act like Eugene Kranz, flight director for the Apollo 13 mission. In the moments after the explosion, when death looked certain and panic seemed like the only option, Kranz kept his cool, saying, “Okay, now, let’s everybody keep cool. Let’s solve the problem, but let’s not make it any worse by guessing.” In those initial moments, he had no idea how they were going to get the astronauts home, but, as he later explained, “you do not pass uncertainty down to your team members.” People who’ve worked for an unforgettable boss often look back later and marvel at their coolness under pressure. That’s why, 45 years after Apollo 13, people are still talking about Eugene Kranz and his leadership during that crisis.


6. They are human. And they aren’t afraid to show it. They’re personable and easy to relate to. They’re warm. They realize that people have emotions, and they aren’t afraid to express their own. They relate to their people as a person first and a boss second. On the other hand, they know how to keep their emotions in check when the situation calls for it.


7. They are humble. Since these bosses don’t believe they are above anyone or anything, they openly address their mistakes so that everyone can learn from them. Their modesty sets a tone of humility and strength that everyone else follows.

Who is UBER & GrabCar

The petition, “Uber Supporter Malaysia” has been launched on social media to oppose the crackdown on the service by SPAD, and has to date garnered over 3,000 likes.

Uber cars offers safer and better than regular taxis. For years, Malaysians and foreigners alike have been complaining about the taxi service in the country. Issues such as the refusal of many taxis to use the meter, their refusal to take passengers to certain areas at certain hours, the poor condition of the cabs and rude drivers have been highlighted time and time again.

Through policy changes which encourage fair competition, SPAD can actually create the catalyst for the taxi industry to change and improve itself, while strict enforcement will ensure those who do not follow the rules are weeded out.

Who Is Zarina Othman

Penang Island City Council (MBPP) enforcement officer Zarina Othman has won praises for the cool way she handled two men who verbally abused her after their vehicle was clamped in Campbell Street here.


“As an enforcement officer, I need to be a role model to others in my uniform. Yes, I was upset and uncomfortable when one of the men threw the RM50 note on the pavement.


“But not wanting to worsen the tense situation, I bent down and took the money,” she said at the MBPP enforcement office in Jalan Timah yesterday.


In the incident, which happened at around 11am on Wednesday, one of the two men shouted at Zarina, asking her to remove the clamp on his car, which was parked on a double yellow line.

They then tried to remove the front right tyre, which was clamped, when Zarina refused to do so.
A video showing the man shouting “Wa bukan tak ada duit. Wa banyak duit. Lu buka dulu (It’s not that I don’t have money. I have lots of money but you open (the clamp) first)” went viral on social media.


The other man then took out a RM50 note and threw it on the pavement.


Zarina maintained her cool, picked up the RM50 and proceeded to unlock the clamp.


As soon as she had unlocked it, one of the men said, “You anjing, jaga-jaga kalau kami jumpa (You dog, beware if we see you).”


Zarina said she had met all kinds of people in her nine years as an enforcement officer with the council.


“I have been verbally abused, yelled at many times, but having money thrown at me was the first,” she said.


Her colleague Siti Asa Abu Bakar, 34, took the video as proof for fear that something ugly might happen. However, she said the video that went viral was not hers.


George Town OCPD Asst Comm Mior Faridalathrash Wahid said two men, aged 19 and 25, were picked up by the police at a fast-food outlet in Bandar Baru Air Itam at about 4pm yesterday.

Who Is Samantha Dorcas Soh

At 22, when most of her peers are just starting out in their careers, Samantha Dorcas Soh is already one of Singapore's youngest female technopreneurs.

As one of six co-founders of online shopping rewards site ShopBack, Miss Soh and her team have won two Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation (SITF) awards - a gold for Best Start-up (Growth Stage) and a silver for Best Innovative Info Comm Products (Consumers) - at the SITF Awards 2015 ceremony last Thursday.The feat is remarkable as ShopBack is only a year old, but has already expanded into Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia.

The company, which has generated $25 million in sales from January to August this year, offers shoppers cashback on their online store purchases, rewarding customers with commissions it receives from merchant partners like UK fashion and beauty giant Asos and holiday booking site Agoda.It has given users $1.2 million in cashback since its launch last September.But there was a time when Miss Soh and her family struggled to make ends meet.


When she was about five, her father was declared a bankrupt after his business failed. He worked as a chauffeur, while her mother worked as a kindergarten teacher to support their four children.Miss Soh recalled that when she was in Primary 2, her family of six rented a three-room flat in Ang Mo Kio.


"We all had to share a single bedroom. My parents slept on a double mattress, and my three brothers and I shared roll-out single mattresses on the floor."It was very cramped, and there was no room for a desk for studying. We stayed outside as often as we could, because it was so crowded at home."-

Life Can Be Uncomplicated

I’m fond of ranting about the financial-services industry and the financial media. Essentially, they are two sides of the same coin. When you pick up a financial magazine or watch one of those financial TV networks, ask yourself: Who pays their bills? It’s not the investing public; it’s the brokerages and big insurance companies. Whose interests do you think the financial media really want to protect?


The financial-services industry and the financial media often collaborate (knowingly or not) to steer people toward poor financial decisions rather than good ones.




Let’s start with the the entire process of financial planning, which usually defaults to the assumption that everyone has a tidy situation, with spare assets to invest, and the ability to get all the life insurance coverage he or she desires. Doesn’t sound like anybody I know, but that’s the way the planning industry tends to approach client situations.

The financial media are bad in their own way, trying to convince people that some kind of magical stock trade is the key to a secure life. Typically, these “what-stock-should-you-buy-now” articles and TV segments are created by people with zero experience managing actual client portfolios. They are written to generate viewership or readership, not to help with financial decisions and strategies that have a real impact on people’s lives.

Here in the real world, we know that our decisions matter. Those silver-bullet stock trades? They are entertainment, not the reality that pays the bills in retirement or feeds your family if you pass away sooner than expected.

And those picture-perfect models in the financial-services commercials, having such a carefree time? They don’t portray most families’ reality.

The reality is: We all need to protect ourselves financially.

For example, let’s consider life insurance. It’s an unglamorous topic (ever notice there are no TV networks dedicated to breathless coverage of the insurance industry?), but insurance is a key component of making better money decisions.

Most people buy life insurance for the first time when they become parents or homeowners. The reasons for it make sense: Nearly all parents would like to provide for their children, in the event that the family breadwinner dies early. You don’t want your survivors to suffer financially, on top of the emotional suffering, should you pass away unexpectedly. Perhaps you want to be sure your surviving spouse can remain in your home; a mortgage term life insurance policy can address that concern.

However, not everyone is easily insurable. Health issues, such as diabetes, smoking or being overweight can dramatically raise rates, making life insurance out of reach for cash-strapped families.

But financial planning usually involves some kind of sacrifice in the here and now, with the goal of meeting some obligation in the future. The financial-services industry often frames that obligation as “retirement,” but it can just as often mean taking steps to provide for your family.

50% percent of Malaysian do not have any life insurance whatsoever. But ask yourself: How long would that really last, if your family needed to replace your earnings, while paying their ongoing expenses and planning for a future without you?

Here’s your answer: Not very long, even if your household expenses are bare bones.

So what options do you have if your situation is less than perfect, when it comes to making financial-planning decisions for your family?

One option may be high-risk insurance. For example, if you regularly smoke cigarettes, most insurers would classify you as “high risk.” If you used to smoke, but stopped a year ago or more, you can often find a more affordable rate. In some cases, you can even get what’s called a “preferred” rate if you only smoke less than a few times a year.

(Of course, the key is being honest about your habits! It’s not a great idea to say you smoke twice a year, but then something altogether different is revealed in your physical exam.)

Diabetes is another condition deemed “high risk,” yet it affects a growing number of Malaysian. It’s been steadily rising since then. That’s the bad news. But for families whose breadwinner suffers from diabetes or other conditions, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol or even cancer, there is some good news.

In the past, it was challenging, to say the least, for Type 1 diabetics to protect their families with life insurance, at least insurance they could find at any kind of affordable rate. Fortunately, that situation has changed, and several companies have tailored products to meet the needs of the increasing number of people with previously hard-to-insure conditions.

The point is: Don’t give up because you believe it’s too expensive, or even impossible, to protect your loved ones.

Planning for your family’s future is one of the most important financial — and emotional — decisions you will make. It is worth investing some time to protect the things that are important to you, rather than falling prey to the financial industry’s views of the “perfect,” uncomplicated situation. I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody whose situation is quite that simple. They only seem to reside in commercials.

Murder To Claim Life Insurance

This coming December, two people in separate cases will likely be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole—both for killing their spouses with the motive of collecting large life insurance payouts.


In Las Vegas on Oct. 1, a mother of four, Michelle Antwanette Paet, 33, pleaded guilty to plotting with her ex-convict boyfriend and killing her husband, a U.S. Air Force service member from Guam in Dec. 2010. Her former boyfriend, Michael Rudolph Rodriguez, 36, will get life in prison without parole when he’s sentenced separately.


Paet acknowledged enlisting Rodriguez to kill her husband with the intention of collecting $650,000 as the beneficiary of his life insurance policy.



Meanwhile in Denver, a jury convicted 59-year-old Harold Henthorn on Sept. 21 of killing his second wife by pushing her off a 120-foot cliff in Rocky Mountain National Park in Sept. 2012 in order to collect $4.5 million as the beneficiary of her life insurance coverage.


The case also led Douglas County, Colo., authorities to reopen an investigation into the death of Henthorn’s first wife, who died in 1995 on a rural county road south of Denver. She was killed when the couple’s vehicle “slipped off its jack” while helping to change a tire. The death, which prosecutors in the most recent trial said they believe happened after Henthorn pushed the car off the jack with his foot, was ruled accidental at the time, and Henthorn collected $496,000 as the beneficiary of her life insurance.


By the count of Dennis Jay, executive director of the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, there have been more than a dozen cases filed across the country in the past year involving the death of spouses who are heavily insured.


In a Sept. 25 blog post, Jay said his organization often hears from detectives in homicide investigations, inquiring as to how they can find out if a policy exists on a person who may have died under suspicious circumstances. “Learning that a murder victim is heavily insured is crucial because it often opens the door to other motives and evidence,” Jay said in his post.


He said it’s good that cases like this receive media coverage because it sends a signal that killers get caught and punished for this crime, and hopefully that causes people to think twice.
It should also cause insurance agents who may be unwittingly involved – as in they sold the policy in question – to think twice and proceed carefully.


When the Henthorn case first came to light, National Ethics Association Chairman Steven R. McCarty weighed in on the proper course of action for an agent in these types of scenarios.


He said it would be best for an agent who might become suspicious to report those suspicions directly to the insurer (rather than the police or Insurance Commissioner), but also to assist the widow or widower in the claim filing – doing whatever he or she would normally do for a beneficiary.


“A life insurance producer is legally considered an agent of the insurance company. That carries with it a number of obligations, including full disclosure of information relating to the sales of insurance or the processing of claims,” McCarty said. “Since the agent sold the policy, he or she is duty-bound to provide the insurer with all material information regarding the claim.”


After hearing from the agent, the carrier, who might preemptively conduct its own investigation anyway before cutting a multi-million-dollar check to a beneficiary under any suspicion whatsoever, can then notify the police and support the investigation on their end.


“Once the carrier is aware of the beneficiary’s alleged role in causing the insured’s death, the insurer will put the claim on hold, and the agent will be off the hook,” McCarty said.


At that point the police may contact the agent for further information, and the agent has fulfilled his or her ethical duty in the situation.

Life Returns No Guarantee

Plans to no longer put legal limits on the interest rates that life insurance firms guarantee their customers for the duration of their policy as the financial stability tool will be replaced by new European risk capital rules.


Germany's so-called guaranteed interest rate, the maximum interest rate that life insurances are allowed to promise to policyholders, was meant to prevent industry players from outbidding each other in their fight for customers with dubious yield guarantees that might overburden their financial strength.




European risk capital rules known as Solvency II will instead force insurers to set aside capital buffers if they promise long-term returns on life insurance policies, rendering legal limits on guaranteed returns obsolete.





The German finance ministry said that, based on draft rules, the limit on guaranteed returns would cease to exist in 2016 for new policies sold by large insurers governed by Solvency II.





Industry players such as Talanx Zurich and Munich Re's Ergo have already said they would no longer sell new policies with guaranteed returns in Germany because the current low interest rate environment rendered them unattractive for customers.

General Insurance Tough Year

The general insurance industry is bracing for a tougher year ahead on subdued motor premium outlook, as economic worries dampened consumer demand for new cars. Meanwhile, the prospect for higher car prices next year may also curb new purchases.

Earlier this week, UMW Toyota Motor Sdn Bhd said it would raise the prices of Toyota and Lexus vehicles due to the weaker ringgit. BMW Group Malaysia is also considering a price hike.

“We are seeing stagnant growth and higher loss ratio,” Malaysian Insurance Institute chief executive officer Datuk Syed Moheeb said when met at the Malaysian Insurance Summit yesterday.

For January to June 2015, gross written premiums in the general insurance industry expanded 2.3% to RM9.07bil. This was slower compared with 6.4% last year.

Motor insurance was affected the most, registering a much slower growth rate of 2.1% for the half year compared to 8.3% for the same period last year.

Generally, half of an insurance company’s business comes from motor insurance.

“Slower car sales, motor premiums go down,” Syed Moheeb said.

The Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) had in July said vehicle sales in the first half of 2015 fell 3.3% to 322,184 from 333,156 units in the same period last year.

MAA had revised downward the projected total industry volume for this year to 670,000 from 680,000 units earlier.

The association also believed that the rest of the year will be more challenging for the local economy as well as the automotive sector.

The General Insurance Association of Malaysia had earlier lowered the industry growth forecast for 2015 from between 5.5% and 6.5% to between 3% and 4%, citing challenging business headwinds and the weakening of the ringgit.

Fire insurance, the second-largest class, saw a higher growth rate of 5% compared to 4.2% last year, it added.

Yesterday, Bank Negara deputy governor Datuk Muhammad Ibrahim touched on the upcoming removal of fire and motor tariffs during the Malaysian Insurance Summit.

“The initiative will allow the industry greater operational flexibility to innovate while ensuring that consumers’ interests remain adequately protected,” he said.

With tariffs abolished, premium rates will depend on the risk profile of individual vehicles and owners.

Under this move, the industry is likely to see different rates from insurance companies, where vehicle owners with a good claims record and better risk profile will pay a lower insurance premium than those in a higher risk bracket, according to a report.

Industry players expect the de-tariffication to come on stream by the middle of next year.

On Asia-Pacific developments, Muhammad said the region was expected to be a strong driver of world insurance growth, with its share of the global insurance market likely to rise to 40% in the next five years.

He expects that in the medium term, the region will benefit from the deeper regional financial integration as agreed by the leaders of Asean and the conclusion of Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiation.

Bank Negara wants to see common complaints and grouses against the insurance industry, including delays in claim settlement and mis-selling practices by agents, to be either reduced significantly or eliminated completely.