Month: May 2015

Last year, during a meet up with the man behind BeMoneySavvyToday.com, Brendan Yong shared with me his insights on how to succeed in investing. Brendan works in the financial industry for 11 years and is a veteran when it comes to insurance matters.

First and foremost, most Singaporeans tend to rely on tips from friends and investment bloggers on when is the best time to invest and which are the best stocks to invest in. Most of them either are not financially savvy or have no time to do research. But to succeed in investing, there is no shortcut and you need to put in a lot of hard work. Half the game is won if you make the effort to analyse and take care of the downside risks.

Secondly, you must understand your character and priorities. Your personality and behavior determine the outcome of your investment decision, not the market. Over time, you would realize that your greatest enemy is yourself because managing your emotions is key to winning the investment game. On priorities, many of us have family commitments or hectic careers, so not many people can have the luxury of time to do stock research. For this group of people, choosing a reliable financial planner would make sense.

Last month, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) launched compareFIRST with Consumers Association of Singapore, Life Insurance Association of Singapore and MoneySENSE. compareFIRST is a portal that contains information on life insurance products offered by all the life insurers in Singapore. However, way before the website was launched, last year, SG Wealth Builder had an opportunity to meet up with Brendan Yong, of BeMoneySavvyToday.com.

Unlike me, Brendan has worked in the financial industry for 11 years and is a veteran when it comes to insurance matters. Nevertheless, both of us shared the same belief that insurance is a form of protection, and never meant for investment purposes. In that meeting, he revealed a frightening industry secret on investment-linked insurance policies.

When touched on the topic that there was an initiative by MAS to promote online direct purchase for insurance products, Brendan chuckled and commented “Of course I knew that as I work in the industry. As a matter of fact, MAS had a round of consultation with the industry players on the proposed move”. However, Brendan dismissed that such a move reflected that consumers are ready to purchase insurance products directly from the insurers.

He shared that financial planners and insurance agents still has a role in helping consumers in making the most informed choice when it comes to buying the most suitable insurance products.