Services & Solutions

Financial Planning is about YOU - your needs, your concerns, your goals. 

Peace of mind is the outcome of true financial planning. True financial planning is a holistic, ongoing approach to managing the many areas of your financial life. When you can take control and follow a well structured plan, you have already started on the path of financial success. 

Karen is here to provide you with clarity and direction. She specializes in developing optimized strategies to meet your needs in:

• Wealth Protection 
• Wealth Accumulation
• Wealth Distribution

I) Wealth Protection

Reaching your financial goals involve protecting your assets as well as managing them. Karen recommends a balanced and customized approach to risk management. Most people are open to building their wealth, but when it comes to protecting their wealth, many have the impression that it is unimportant and to some, it is a waste of money. Hence, this aspect of financial planning is often neglected and relegated to a much later time (which could be too late). The failure to recognize that an unforeseen circumstance can wipe out your entire hard earned savings can have a devastating effect on your financial future. 

Wealth protection is likened to the construction of a building - the foundation needs to be strong and sturdy before other materials are added. This is the first aspect of financial planning that we help you address before looking into wealth accumulation.

A comprehensive financial adviser would be able to shed light from a third party point of view that is unbiased and holistic. 

Life Insurance

Life insurance solutions can help you secure the future of those who matter to you most by shielding them from the financial consequences of your death. Life insurance is an effective and efficient way to help those you care about to maintain their quality of life, repay debt and fund education in the event of an untimely death. It can also help you build cash value for future goals, such as retirement. Karen can help you determine the type of plan and coverage that are best suited for your needs. 

Health Insurance

Health insurance refers to Hospital and Surgical (H&S) plans. H&S plans reimburse the costs incurred during one’s hospitalization. With medical costs escalating each year, it is only prudent to have a comprehensive H&S plan that reduces your financial burden.  

The most cost efficient way to get H&S coverage is to use your illiquid money (from CPF Medisave account) without affecting your monthly cash flow. With the introduction of private integrated H&S plans, benefits are ‘as charged’ and the scope of treatment costs covered are extensive. If you are in the pink of health, our advice is to get the best or most comprehensive plan.  

With access to solutions from across the market, Karen is able to advise you on the most appropriate plan, bearing in mind your preferences and the extent of medical benefits you require.

Long Term Care

As you approach your golden years, you treasure your financial independence even more. It is important to have a long-term care solution in place to help safeguard you if you are no longer able to care for yourself. Individuals may need long-term care for an extended period of time at home, in an assisted living facility or at a nursing home. Since this type of care is a likely part of most people’s lives – and is costly – you may want to incorporate long-term care insurance into your overall financial plan.

Mortgage Insurance

A property would easily cost a few hundred thousand dollars. It is an investment and a liability at the same time till you finish paying off the mortgage. If you are currently servicing a mortgage loan, it is important that you protect your ability to pay should you suffer an illness or disability. Mortgage insurance is affordable and should be part of your insurance planning.  

Disability Income

Your income depends on your ability to earn it. If this ability to earn is interrupted by a long term illness or disability (both of which need not necessarily comply with the insurers’ definitions of critical illness or total and permanent disability), you not only lose your future earnings, your right to claim will also be rejected by the insurer. 

A well-rounded financial plan should protect what is important – especially your income. Disability income insurance offers an extra layer of financial protection by providing income replacement in the event of a disabling injury or illness. Many people are not aware of the existence of such protection and hence, miss out on an integral part of their planning.

Do not leave things to chance - Karen’s goal is to ensure that you have adequate protection (through the use of appropriate tools) to provide for your family and loved ones. 
 

II) Wealth Accumulation

Are you sleeping peacefully at night?

Investing can help you to grow your wealth and hence, achieve your future dreams, such as an early, comfortable retirement, traveling around the world or sending your children for an overseas education.

Investing is not about speculating where emotions (i.e. irrational fear, euphoria) often dictate the decisions.  Speculators often buy and sell based on ‘hot tips’ from friends and the news. 

Wise investing, on the other hand, should be carried out using a proper framework and adhering to time proven principles. Many people fear investing because of risk and uncertainty. But what they do not know is that the choice of investment instrument can make a big difference and secondly, they are not aware that risk can be reduced through proper diversification and regular rebalancing of the portfolio. 

As the saying goes, never put all your eggs in one basket. A diversified investment portfolio works on the same principle. By spreading your investments across different asset classes (bonds, fixed income, equities) and sectors (e.g. manufacturing, financial services, commodities), you are not placing your ‘bets’ on any one particular asset class or sector. This means that the portfolio’s overall exposure to risk and volatility will be reduced.

Before you start to invest, here are some questions you need to ask yourself:

• How much do I have to invest?
• What are my investment objectives?
• What is my investment time horizon?
• What is the extent of loss I can accept if the market falls?
• What is the expected return from my investment?

If you do not know how to get started, are confused or have no idea what to invest in, do not worry. Let Karen help you make investing easy. Karen is here to educate and ensure that you make the right investment decision.

Retirement Planning

More and more Singaporeans are working past age 65 because they lack retirement funds. And many are not certain if they can ever enjoy their golden years. Financial calamities such as the recent financial crisis has also caused many retirees to lose their life’s savings to structured deposits. The Central Provident Fund (CPF) provides only 25% of funds needed in retirement and yet, many are heavily dependent on this source of savings to fund their retirement. 

Are you financially prepared for retirement?  The key is to start early. The more time you allow your savings and investments to grow, the closer you are to achieving your desirable retirement goals.

Savings alone are not enough to plug the retirement funding gap. This is because the low rates of return for savings (around 0.25%) cannot keep up with inflation. What this means is that the purchasing power or the real value of money diminishes.  If you are unwilling to take risks and prefer to depend only on your savings (i.e. negligible returns) to secure your retirement, you run a even higher risk of not being able to retire comfortably. 

To give you an example: A 40 year old who invests $100,000 cash in fixed income/bond instruments or kept his monies with the CPF board would have grown his money to $315,000 by the time he turns 70. The average rate of return here is 3.9%. If he chooses to invest the same amount into a global diversified portfolio of equities and fixed income funds, his money would have multiplied to $1.06 million, based on a return of 8%. 

The keys to retirement planning are these: 

a) To start early and
b) To make your money work harder for you.

We understand the demands of retirement planning. Let Karen lead you in planning for this important stage of your life. 

Children’s Education Planning

As parents, you will always want to give the best to your children. How do you ensure that they can reach their highest potential?  How do you plan for this purpose without compromising on your retirement goal?

With spiraling education costs, the importance of early planning is thus critical to ensuring that your child’s education funding is met in the desired time frame. A lot of time is needed to accumulate the money needed, especially for a foreign university education. 

Depending on your risk appetite and financial astuteness, there are three ways to acquire this goal: 

1. Invest in a global diversified unit trust portfolio
2. Stick to endowment plans which guarantees the cash payout
3. A combination of unit trust investments and an endowment plan

Each option has its advantages. We will help you to determine which strategy is best suited for your requirements.

Instruments to grow your wealth with:

• Savings plans
• Unit Trust investments (Cash & CPF): Retail Funds, Private Banking Funds
• Regular Savings Plan (Dollar Cost Averaging)
• Annuities

III) Wealth Distribution

The Wealth Distribution or more commonly known as Estate Planning process involves not only will making but also planning for the succession or transfer of your assets involving other tools like the use of gifts, trusts, marriage settlements. There are appropriate trusts and holding structures to ensure the preservation and protection of assets within your family.

Will writing is not a subject that most people want to talk about as it involves the unpleasant topic of death. It is a myth to think that estate planning is meant only for the rich and wealthy. 

A will is an important and essential tool for estate planning. It states who the beneficiaries are, the allocation of assets to the beneficiaries as well as the executor of the will. When a person dies without leaving a will, it is termed ‘intestacy’ and the Singapore government takes over the distribution of the assets according to the Intestate Succession Act. These are prescribed rules for distributing the estate and these rules may sometimes not be in line with the intentions and plans of the deceased. Unless you are satisfied with the Interstate distribution rule (see below), you could have a will done so that your assets can be distributed according to your wishes.

Following the death of the deceased, the executor or administrator of the deceased will need to apply for a grant of probate (where there is a will) or letters of administration (intestacy) that will authorize them to deal with the estate. Having a will can expedite the distribution process which could take years otherwise. 

There are different types of trusts and they serve different purposes. You could set up a trust to take effect in your lifetime (living trust) or upon your death as part of your will.

Trusts could be set up to:

• Preserve wealth within your family
• Protect and provide for infants, handicapped persons and persons of unsound mind
• Make adequate provisions for your family in case of unforeseen circumstance
• Make a gift with conditions based on your wishes or beneficiary’s situation
• Protect your assets from creditors (debts of beneficiary or executor/administrator)
• Mitigate estate duty

Estate Planning Tools:

• Wills
• Various Trust Structures