Planning for retirement

Over the last few weeks we have heard warning voices of how Singaporeans are going to cope in their old age. There were concerns that Singaporeans are not planning for their retirement. It is all a big irony, an unbelievable irony! Singaporeans not planning for their retirement? Or do they need to? When we are talking about planning for retirement, what we are saying is saving that pot of gold so that we can live gracefully without becoming a burden to anyone. And the insurance agents will throw all the policies to you and say these are what you need. The painful thing is that after 20 or 30 years down the line they will tell you that you are not adequately covered. Not enough, after paying all the premiums! What about CPF? Singaporeans have the highest saving rate in Asia other than Japan. Probably the second highest in the world. We are saving at least 30% of our income. And again not enough. How I wish I have a million dollar income. Then I will also complain not enough. How many Singaporeans can afford to save some more when they are already saving more than 30% of their monthly income and struggling to make ends meet? How many have the luxury of earning a million a year and still complain not enough? The majority of Singaporeans will never save enough for their retirement if the cost of living is to run up continuously, and at an alarming rate. The only way out is to work till they die. And is there a need for Singaporeans to plan for their retirement when the govt is planning for them by withholding their life long savings in the CPF to be released in drips at their old age? There is no need for the lower income Singaporeans to plan for their retirement. They cannot afford to. They just need to work and work and work. The state has assumed the role of planning for the Singaporeans' retirement. How can anyone expect the Singaporeans to plan and save when they are already squeezed to save in the CPF and have nothing left to save? Do we really expect ordinary hand to mouth Singaporeans to save in the CPF, buy insurance policies and save some more in their personal savings accounts? Only million dollar Singaporeans can do that.

what's the dif?

Gordon Brown is taking over the Premiership of UK from Blair. And his top agenda is to transfer power from 10 Downing Street to Parliament in the matter of making war. Parliament will now have the power instead of the Prime Minister to wage war, a move to prevent another PM making a unilateral decision on war. This decision will make a tremendous change to the power of the British Premiership. The Parliamentarians will have a good debate and make the decision. Transfer this to our Parliament, everyone hearing this will give a big yawn. What's the dif? Parliament to decide or PM to decide, is there a difference here? The answer is obvious if we look at the debate in Parliament and how decisions were made. Were decisions made in Parliament or made even before a debate in Parliament? Where do we go into the future? Balji this morning explore the great challenge of a new PM for Singapore. The underlying assumption is that decisions, or the future of Singapore shall be decided by one man, the PM, and not Parliament. I would like to take this further to explore the viability of Singapore in the future. I see dark clouds if we are foolish enough to ignore the dangers we are treading. I see a new diaspora of Singaporeans being displaced in their homeland. And unlike the Chinese or Indian diaspora, the Singaporean diaspora will not last one generation. Too little to mean anything, just like the dying baba culture. I will deal with this more specifically come Sunday morning.

Headhunters are busy

Yes, headhunters in Singapore are really busy. They have been swamped and overwhelmed by the number of hopeful candidates who wanted to make Singapore their home, so that they could have a go at the general election. Many are attracted by the carrots we are hanging for the better talents that we want. We are raising the bar several notches higher and going to a level of talents we have not seen before. We used to go for the $1m talents. Now we are going for the $3 mil or maybe more millions talents the world can offer. And they are all coming to Singapore, the land of opportunities. Headhunters are also recruiting the other way. There are great demands for our talents too. Warren Buffett is looking for someone to replace him to manage his investment company. And he is looking at the right place. And George Bush is vacating his office soon. So is Chen Shui Bian. But these countries must be able to afford our supertalents. They don't come cheap. Who knows, a Singaporean may be headhunted to run for the President of the USA or Taiwan. The ASEAN countries would love to have one of our supertalents. For many years they have privately expressed that they would love to have LKY as their PM. But this is unlikely. They cannot afford the price tag.

A time to rethink citizenship

As a sign of respect to those parents devastated by the air crash in Taiwan and losing their precious sons, I kept quiet for the whole morning after posting 'The Ultimate Sacrifice.' More than 18 years of caring for a son, all of a sudden he was gone. And the parents accepted what happene, and only hanged on to grief their losses. It was duty and honour for the nation. How can the state repay this gratitude and pain of the parents and those who missed them? We have came this far as a nation. We must not erode what we have achieved this far and mess it up with the foreign talent thing. The people, the citizens, is all the nation got in time of need. Not superficial talents that would scoot at the slightest unease. They, the foreign talents, have nothing to hold them here. They are here only for the good time.

The Ultimate Sacrifice

Quietly and unceremoniously they packed up and left for a journey to adulthood. More importantly it was a call of duty to serve the country. Young men, bright eyed 18 year olds, were enlisted to be trained as soldiers and other uniformed services the day they finished their secondary schools. For the next two to two an a half years, they belong to the state. The parents reluctantly, hesitantly, and tentatively let them go. But deep inside them they harbour an unspoken fear. Many return to rejoin their families after their National Service Training. Some don't. We have just witnessed another undescribed grief of parents whose precious sons failed to return home, alive. The tragedy of losing someone so precious, someone about to embark on a journey of life as an adult, getting a job, courting a girlfriend, getting married, becoming a father in his own right, all vanished, while answering the call of duty. The pain was suffered in silence. The parents accepted that as any citizens would do so. It is the price of citizenship. The ultimate sacrifice the citizens made for the country. We are the citizens of this island. Are we appreciated or are we just some digits that can be replaced by foreigners with no qualms and conscience? All parents share the grief of these unfortunate parents quietly, in their hearts. The sacrifice to the nation is not only the NS men, but the parents, the siblings and all who knew the fallen men.