Nobody is suggesting any aggressive moves. Just take the excess cash that should be long-term invested, divide it by 10, 12, maybe 15 — something like that — and average it in. If your fear is correct, VWRA or IWDA (notable examples) will fall or even crash, and you’ll be buying cheaper shares over most of those 10 to 15 months.
All that seems broadly reasonable to me. A couple comments:
Basically you’d look for one or a couple new term policies to replace what you’ve got and add more sum assured, then cancel one or both of the policies you have. In that order, of course, so there’s no coverage gap. If it makes sense to do.
I’m not a big fan of PA in general (especially not ahead of DII), but you could certainly take a look at whether the MINDEF/MHA group plan coverage could be raised for term life and whether their DII rider is available to you. The MINDEF/MHA insurance is generally good value for money, so if it’s open to you, great. That particular DII policy’s terms and conditions are not my favorite, but it’s worth considering.
Covering the mortgage balance makes sense to me as a starting estimate because it means your surviving husband inherits the home free and clear OR he can sell it and use the life insurance proceeds in some other way to support the household, as he prefers. Bear in mind the outstanding mortgage naturally decreases over time as it’s paid off at standard pace, and your children get that much closer to their own working careers and family lives, so your life insurance needs will ordinarily tend to diminish over time.
Ah, OK. Well, I don’t like the idea of a preexisting condition reset, so one option is PRUshield Plus with its associated rider.
I really don't have an opinion on particular U.S. listed stocks. I tend to stick with a couple well diversified stock index funds. And I'm sure you don't need my help to find thrilling casino games.
No, I don't participate in any such programs. If I think something looks potentially interesting, I'll say so only because I think it's interesting.
Singtel's Dash EasyEarn is broadly similar but offering 2.0% interest for the first year. There's a S$0.70 withdrawal charge, please note.
I'd have to think it through a little more, but perhaps what the government could do is something like this:
No, it's NOT good for responsible savers/prudent investors to repay low cost loans any faster than they need to. Bank loans are even lower cost now than they used to be, and they used to be low cost, too.
It depends on what you value. Obviously if you want a lower down payment then the HDB loan helps. If you value payment and rate stability, the HDB loan wins again. If you are willing to accept some rate risk with the possibility (not guarantee) of reducing your interest cost, a bank can help out. It's easier to accept the rate risk when you have the ability to pay off most or all of the remaining mortgage in the event the mortgage interest rate gets unacceptably high relative to your investment alternatives -- in other words, as you accumulate greater wealth.
I'd have to think it through a little more, but perhaps what the government could do is something like this:
1. Lower the OA interest rate to 2.0% for amounts above $20,000.
2. Lower the HDB loan rate to 2.1%.
"Be careful what you wish for."
No, it's NOT good for responsible savers/prudent investors to repay low cost loans any faster than they need to. Bank loans are even lower cost now than they used to be, and they used to be low cost, too.
It depends on what you value. Obviously if you want a lower down payment then the HDB loan helps. If you value payment and rate stability, the HDB loan wins again. If you are willing to accept some rate risk with the possibility (not guarantee) of reducing your interest cost, a bank can help out. It's easier to accept the rate risk when you have the ability to pay off most or all of the remaining mortgage in the event the mortgage interest rate gets unacceptably high relative to your investment alternatives -- in other words, as you accumulate greater wealth.
A fairly popular pattern is this one:
1. You get a BTO with 5 year MOP, and you get a HDB loan with a low down payment.
2. With 2 or 3 years remaining on your BTO, and with some of the HDB loan repaid, you refinance with a lower interest bank loan with a 3 year fixed interest rate period.
3. When the 5 year MOP is finished, you sell your BTO. That is, you were always quite sure (or at least reasonably sure) you were going to flip your BTO as soon as allowed, so a 3 year fixed interest rate bank loan works quite well for you in this way, especially after initial HDB loan payments and additional savings fix the down payment gap you had.
Naturally you wouldn't switch from a HDB loan to a bank loan unless you could lower your interest costs more than a few dollars.
Maybe, maybe not. It depends on whether the chronic illness is on the list of claimable ailments (and whether it's preexisting or not). If there's no insurance payout then you have that much less money available to pay for your ~$100/month medication because you paid higher insurance premiums.
Have you considered 529 plans? If they are Singaporean citizens or Permanent Residents then CPF MediSave top ups (and 5% interest) could potentially be interesting.
