Showing posts with label Debt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Debt. Show all posts

Singapore Civil Service - Declaration of Indebtedness and Financial Embarrassment

Civil servants or public officers in Singapore are expected to declare their financial standing when they first join and every year thereafter or whenever their  unsecured financial liabilities exceed 3 months salary.

This declaration of indebtedness is meant to ensure that civil servants remain of good financial standing and helps the Public Service know whether an officer becomes vulnerable due to financial embarrassment.  The intention is meant to protect the officer (and by extension the Public Service) and is not meant to penalise the officer.

An officer is considered to be financially embarrassed if he or she has defaulted in repayment of loans, credit facilities and liabilities for 3 consecutive months.

Other situations where one is financially embarrassed also include being an undischarged bankrupt or where one takes a loan outside certain categories.

So this means that if one has not been making payments for credit card bills for 3 months consecutively, one will be considered financially embarrassed.  Or if one has borrowed from a money lender,  one will also be considered financially embarrassed.

So a civil servant must be careful to take only secured loans like housing or car loans. Other loans such as education loan, renovation loan is also allowed.  Unsecured loans like balance transfer or credit cards must be capped at 3 months salary.

A civil servant who is financially embarrassed must declare.


Check out other posts related to the civil service:
3. Credit Checks and Credit Bureau in Singapore (Bet you did not know that your credit report is actually available and compiled by certain agencies)

Civil servants in Singapore, like anyone else, can experience financial difficulties due to a variety of reasons, such as job loss, medical expenses, or overspending. While the job security and steady income that comes with being a civil servant may provide some financial stability, it is still important to practice good financial management and plan for unexpected events.

To avoid financial embarrassment, civil servants in Singapore can take the following steps:

Budgeting: Create a budget and stick to it, to ensure that expenses do not exceed income. This can help to avoid overspending and build up savings for unexpected events.

Debt Management: If necessary, seek help to manage debt and prioritize repayments.

Savings: Build up emergency savings to cover unexpected expenses, such as job loss or medical expenses.

Investment: Consider investing in diversified portfolios to grow wealth over the long term.

Financial Planning: Seek professional advice to develop a comprehensive financial plan that takes into account one's current financial situation, goals, and risk tolerance.

In conclusion, financial embarrassment can have a negative impact on personal and professional lives. Civil servants in Singapore, like anyone else, should be concerned about financial embarrassment and take steps to avoid it, such as budgeting, debt management, savings, investment, and financial planning.



Debt Free!

So I sat down and worked out the numbers.  Added up all my cash and liquid assets (i.e. stocks & unit trusts).  Looking at the number,  I suddenly realised its meaning.  The number I was looking at was larger than the outstanding loans and debts that I have.  In other words, if I were to liquidate all my shareholdings today and add that to the cash that is sitting around in the family's bank accounts, I will have sufficient money to pay off all my debts (e.g. housing loan, etc) right here, right now, with some cash left to spare.  That means I can become debt free!!!!  

This was perhaps never really a surprise to me.  I sort of knew that God had blessed me with many good things.  For one, I have enjoyed good health in my adult working life and was able to work almost continuously despite some job switches here and there.  I am also a saver as I do not spend on unnecessary things.  I eat at restaurants and stuff.  But that is about all that I spend on.  In my early years, I also managed to save quite a fair bit of money.  God also has blessed me with some positive returns on my investments. So I sort of knew that I would become debt free much earlier than most people.

And yet, the realisation that I can be debt free does not necessarily mean that I want to be debt free right now.  Having the money to pay off all my debts does not mean that I should go ahead and do so.  After all, interest rates are very low here in Singapore.  But then again, there is this difference between bad debt and good debt.

So the decision has come. Should I pay off all my loans and become debt free?  Or should I continue to hold on to my debt and carry on investing?  Decisions, decisions...


Anyway, to celebrate the occasion, I open a bottle of Hoegaarden (which reads original belgian wheat beer) to celebrate.  And the next thing I do is to log into blogger to type this post and schedule it for publishing.




Three Great Ideas to Spend Your Annual Bonus

It did not seem too long ago that I was writing about what I should do with my annual bonus.  Most people will be getting their annual bonus in December and I thought that it will be timely to look at a few great ideas on how to spend one's annual bonus.

1.  Insurance

Most people are under-insured.  But one should also be careful not to be over-insured or to be overpaying for insurance.  Some time back, I wrote about one of the cheaper if not cheapest insurance plan in town.  It is NTUC's i-term insurance.  I don't work for NTUC so I can't vouch for this plan.  Neither do I own this insurance plan.  But looking at the rates, it definitely looks like one of the cheaper insurance options around.

Another cheap insurance plan one could consider (if you are a national serviceman or woman) is the SAF Group Term Insurance plan.  Just recently, Aviva has increased the maximum coverage from $600,000 to $1million.  Another thing I like about this group term plan is that it gives rebates.  I am currently covered under this plan and am considering whether to increase my coverage.

I also wrote about whether one is ready to take charge of one's healthcare costs and you might want to consider reading it especially if you are a Singaporean.

Of course, before you dive in and go out shopping for an insurance policy, I must caveat that everyone has to do their due diligence.  In fact, during one of the polls conducted on this blog,  the poll results indicated that many people considered insurance products as toxic investments.  Of course, there is nothing scientific in the way I conducted the poll and it is just the opinion of readers.  I also recommend the following articles on insurance:

2.  Invest

Of course, besides saving up your annual bonus, one could also chose to invest it in instruments that could potentially give you a higher return than the interests rates offered by banks (can someone remind me again what is the interest rates banks are offering again?) 

Most readers should know that I invest mainly for income with capital gains as a secondary goal.  To understand a little more about income investing, I would refer you to some of the previous articles that I have written:
For myself, I am looking at a few stocks that pay good dividends.  On my current watchlist are Sabana REIT, Saizen REIT, Ascott REIT, Far East Hospitality Trust, Lippo Malls Indonesian Retail Trust, SingTel, Capitaland, United Engineers.

3.  Pay off Your Debts

This is self-explanatory.  If you have credit card debt, you should be paying that off before even thinking of investing.  The interest rates on any outstanding credit card bills is just too high to justify you not paying off that debt first.  

For others, you might want to consider making pre-payments or full redemptions of other outstanding loans (e.g. auto loan, mortgages).  

Financial Freedom, Being Debt Free and Quitting My Job

Today, I asked myself 3 questions:

How long more do I need to achieve financial freedom?
When will I become debt free?
How long more must I work at my job?

After so many years of working, it seems that I am no where closer to my goal and dream of financial freedom (where my passive income will surpass my monthly expenditure).  I did a quick calculation and estimate my passive income to be slightly around $2800 per year.  That is much less than what I thought I would have achieved 3-4 years ago when I first started out on this journey.  It seems that I will still be taking a long time to reach my true goal of financial freedom. Over the years, my monthly expenditure has also crept up slightly.  This can only mean one thing:  I NEED TO WORK HARDER AT MY GOAL!

Being debt free of course is one of the things that I look forward to.  It simply means having more disposable income to play around with.  Of course, if you manage to borrow cheaply, it does not make sense to pay back the loans if you can get a higher rate of return compared to the interest you are paying on your debts.  However, I don't know...perhaps it is just psychological.  But being debt free is something that I hope to achieve.  Well, at least I mean clearing my bad debts (e.g. car loan).  Good debt is still welcomed.

Well, the last question that I asked myself is really related to the first 2 questions.  When I can quit my job is probably the day I am certain that I have attained financial freedom.  It is not that I hate my work or anything.  It is just that I feel I can be doing so much more with my life and time then having only remnants of my time to give to my family and friends.  

 I want to work for the rest of my life.  But I don't want to have to work for a living (a.k.a having a job). 

Time to get down to business.  

US Likely to Avoid Debt Default

It seems that the US will avoid a potential debt default. After weeks of following this issue on and off, I was quite amazed at the amount of politics at play here. It seems that congressional leaders will most likely approve a deal to raise America's debt ceiling. And somehow I don't think the deal was what President Barack Obama wanted as he was initially calling for one, broad debt agreement that included cuts, entitlements and also taxes.

The final deal that will go before Congress this week seems to be a compromise which includes cuts of about $1 trillion and also relying on a bipartisan congressional committee (I will take that to mean comprising both Democrats and Republicans) to propose by November another $1.5 trillion in other deficit reductions that could range from cuts, entitlements or tax increase. This new dealwill pave the way for US to avoid the Aug 2 default.

With this good news, gold prices decline from their record prices while oil prices continue to climb. Will the Singapore stock market also respond positively to the news once the final agreement is reached? It is scary to think that one day away from the deadline, the most powerful nation in the world is leaving it really till the last minute to finalise something as important as this.

Concerns Over Dubai World Result in Increase of Debt Insurance Costs

Dubai World, Emirate's flag bearer in global investments, is undergoing a $22 billion debt restructuring. This has provoked a lot of speculations and an air of uncertainty has started to settle over the financial market. As a consequence, bond yields as well the debt insurance cost of Dubai World has started to shoot up. This looks particularly striking when you think of the recent billion dollar bailout of Dubai by Abu Dhabi.

The finance world was virtually speechless when this investing giant declared in November that it is going for a debt payment standstill. Dubai World can proceed with debt payments owing to the extremely expensive bailout by Abu Dhabi. However, no official agreement regarding payment standstill has been reached.

There has been a surprisingly sharp increase of five year credit default swaps (CDS) for Dubai recently. They are right now quoted at 510 bps. Do you understand the implications? It would cost more than .5 million to insure $10 million of the emirate's debt for five years.

The sources at ING investment management say that the announcement from Dubai World was absolutely unexpected and they did not have a clue about it. Sources confirm that ING did not receive any proposal from Dubai World. The whole issue is quite obscure right now.

The CDs are about to reach a level which was witnessed in the eve of the bailout. This has triggered the shooting up of debt insurance costs for Abu Dhabi and Bahrain as well. However, the rise in debt insurance has been relatively small for them. Financial experts opine that Standard and poor’s decision to revoke its rating for Dubai Holding Commercial Group has made quite an impact in this part of the world. Clearly, the apprehensions about Dubai World are affecting other companies like Dubai Holding.

It is significant that the rise in debt insurance costs came at a time when Greece is knee deep in debt and other countries in the euro zone are facing debt crisis as well (In fact debt management is quite an issue in euro zone right now). There is no question of an emergency situation right now but people are naturally skeptical since there is a possibility of debt rescheduling.

The $10 million, thanks to Abu Dhabi, will help Dubai World to refinance for 2010 as well as 2011. Moreover, its sister concern Nakheel has a domestic bond which is supposed to mature soon. Experts predict a $ 1,0 billion in net international bond insurance in this part of the world in the current year.


Author Bio:
This is a guest post by Kevin Craig who is a financial writer for various finance related Communities. He has been providing advice on debt relief since 2007.He has helped many indebted people to get out of debt by giving them proper financial advice for debt management. With his advice many are now living a debt free life. You can get in touch with him at kevin.craig672@gmail.com.

Over-Indebtedness Puts You At Risk of Becoming Obese

by Matthew Stathis

The worldwide economic crisis has caused an enormous number of citizens in high-income countries to become over-indebted, even though they may have severely reduced their standard of living. The rise in personal debt has corresponded with a parallel rise in stress levels, resulting in widespread lack of sleep. Now it appears that over-indebted people have one more worry to add to their list: they are at risk of becoming obese.
A study was conducted in Germany a few months ago that showed a relationship between over-indebtedness and obesity. Dr. Eva Munster and her research team at the University of Mainz have concluded that extreme debt obligations result in more than twice the likelihood that a person will be obese or overweight as compared to a financially stable person
The study defines over-indebtedness as the inability to make timely payments on one’s debts due to the imbalance between income and the cost of living. Low socio-economic status has long been considered a contributing factor to the worldwide epidemic of obesity. However, a direct relationship between indebtedness and obesity had not been considered prior to Dr. Munster’s study.

Are Over-Indebted People More Likely to Become Obese?

The goal of the study was to measure the general health of individuals who are over-indebted. Two German population-based surveys provided the data. The first was a telephone survey, which included 8318 respondents from the general population. The second was a questionnaire distributed to the clients of debt counseling centers, to which 949 over-indebted people responded. Both surveys obtained information on socio-economic status including age, sex, education and income. Information was also collected regarding body mass index (BMI, a measure of obesity that is based on one’s height and weight), smoking behavior and depression levels.
Males and females were found to be equally over-indebted. Many of the traits that are common to people of low socio-economic status were present: lower education levels, lower income levels, greater depression levels and greater quotidian tobacco consumption than would be found in the general population. However, the over-indebted subjects were younger than people of low socio-economic status usually are. Also, they were more likely to be overweight or obese.

Obesity A Corollary To Poverty

Previous studies have shown an association between low financial status and being overweight. However, this is the first study to show that financial belt-tightening, in the form of serious indebtedness, could result in a literal belt loosening. One reason is the diminished access to healthy food, researchers speculate. There is an inverse relationship between a food’s caloric content and its cost. High calorie (energy dense) food, such as fatty snacks and sweets, generally costs less. On the other hand, low calorie (low energy) food, such as broccoli or carrots, tends to cost more.
Impoverished people tend to eat low-cost food that has a high-energy content while they simultaneously reduce their energy expenditure – participation in leisure and social activities tends to be curtailed when on a budget. Another factor that contributes to higher BMI may be psychological distress. A person who is in a depressed emotional state may increase food intake to achieve a sense of well-being. Therefore, over-indebted individuals may self-medicate with food to improve mood.
In Germany, approximately 7.6% of households are over-indebted and 33% of residents are obese. Germans have the reputation of being the fattest people in Europe and the government has launched an anti-obesity campaign to address the issue. If it is determined to be so and if the German government is successful in its campaign to end obesity, the people might experience an improvement in their financial condition.
It is not clear from Dr. Munster’s study, however, what the causal direction of the observed relationship between a man’s waistline and his financial stability is. It is not clear if being indebted is a risk factor for becoming obese or the other way around. It has been suggested, for example, that obese individuals face greater difficulty finding a job that will pay the bills, simply because they face psychological (negative body image) and social (prejudice, stigmatization, etc) barriers that are uncommon to normal-weight people.

Extrapolating The Data

The medical community is considering whether the results obtained in the German study can be applied to other countries. In the United States, where the number of people who are over-indebted is on the rise, the study’s results are cause for concern.
Currently, obesity in the United States affects one in four people. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes America as obesogenic, which means that society has created the conditions that promote obesity. This is due in large part to the congressional farm bill, which subsidizes the production of fattening food like corn and other grains, keeping unhealthy foods inexpensive. There is also a suburban culture that mandates long commutes by car and discourages walking. Furthermore, many jobs in the modern, technological workplace are sedentary.
Could over-indebtedness be another obesogenic factor in American society? According to a recent report, more Americans filed for bankruptcy during March of 2010 than any time since the overhaul of the federal bankruptcy laws in 2005.

Implications of the Obesity-Debt Link

The German study shows that over-indebted people are more prone to obesity. If this is true, with over-indebtedness on the rise in high-income nations, a corresponding rise in obesity should be anticipated. Since obesity is associated with serious health problems such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain forms of cancer, a healthcare crisis should also be anticipated. As developed countries struggle to mitigate the parallel epidemics of obesity and over-indebtedness, access to healthy food by people of low socio-economic status must be considered a top priority.

Matthew Stathis, PhD, is a young entrepreneur who recently left his career as a research scientist at Washington University in order to learn and apply simple business and investment principles. Alarmed by rising rates of obesity in the United States, he maintains a blog where he shares and explains scientific information that can address this issue. Matthew has identified 3 clinically researched diets in the US, including Weight Watchers which you can read about here. Other diet programs that Matthew recommends and features in his site are Medifast, Bistro MD, Diet to Go, and eDiets

Debts and Loans for 2009

With the year 2009 coming to an end, I have already done a brief review of my stock portfolio and insurance portfolio. You can view them by clicking here and here.

As I enter into the year 2010, my debts/loans are only from my house and my car.

My outstanding mortgage loan (@2.6% interest rate) currently stands at $246,478.64

Car loan should be around $25000

What are your outstanding loans as you enter into the year 2010?
Do you plan to decrease it or are you okay with such debts?

Debts Debts Debts

Recieved a few letters recently.  One is from HDB and the other from DBS.  Basically, my family's debt are as follows:

Car - $29,000.00
House - $253,128.00

Wow.  I have debts of over $280K!  How long will it take me to repay all these debt?

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