need advice on ILP

[BBCWatcher]

Because, as one poster has also opined above, most of them are profoundly dumb outside their own fields of expertise.

I carefully chose the word "many." I'm convinced about "many" but not yet convinced about "most."

I have an anecdote. My father bought the functional equivalent of an ILP in large part because he wanted to help his ex-classmate who was selling the policy. (Sound familiar?) Several years later he said it's the worst financial decision he ever made. They remained friends, but that transaction didn't help their friendship.

 

[reddevil0728]

Because, as one poster has also opined above, most of them are profoundly dumb outside their own fields of expertise.

Yea but what the outcome is being wealthy. That’s what matters.

 

[BBCWatcher]

Yea but what the outcome is being wealthy. That’s what matters.

It's common to be wealthy and much less wealthy than merely competent financial decisions would yield.

 

[reddevil0728]

It's common to be wealthy and much less wealthy than merely competent financial decisions would yield.

Do you mean can one be wealthier if more competent decisions are made?

 

[rarenick]

any reason for the advice? I know agent earn commission from it but it’s still a good deal at 20% per annum right?

After reading so many posts u still greedy over it? U should go ahead and sign up and be tiopwndeepdeep.

 

[bruiser69]

Yea but what the outcome is being wealthy. That’s what matters.

They may be wealthy due to their expertise in their relevant fields, and “despite” their financial choices. No savvy RM will dare say no to their whims and fancies, no matter how ludicrous. Perhaps that’s what wealth really buys

What the other bro is probably saying is that these wealthy folks can even be wealthier if they know how to make sound, financial choices. Everybody can be wealthy.

 

[reddevil0728]

They may be wealthy due to their expertise in their relevant fields, and “despite” their financial choices. No savvy RM will dare say no to their whims and fancies, no matter how ludicrous. Perhaps that’s what wealth really buys

What the other bro is probably saying is that these wealthy folks can even be wealthier if they know how to make sound, financial choices. Everybody can be wealthy.

yea for sure.

the point I’m making is everybody have their own strengths and weaknesses doesn’t matter wealthy or not.

the point I’m making is some of the wealthy, while they know that they can be wealthier if they so decided to spend the time and learn about investment more rather than just blindly following advice, they decide that it’s fine, they rather spend their time on something else that is more meaningful use of their time than to spend the time to learn to optimise.

they are already wealthy, probably cannot spend finish their money. They just don’t want to lose money.

so they don’t mind trading 10% return for a 4% return on a very huge sum of money so long as their capital of the huge sum of money is protected for their next generation.

nothing wrong with having this priority, and in this case there’s still a valid use case of ILP.

it might be that people here might be able to appreciate how such wealthy people think cause people here tend to want to do more DIY. But then do the wealthy want to spend their time to go learn and DIY, maybe not.

 

[limster]

https://www.asiaone.com/singapore/c...erral&utm_campaign=a1trendingc&utm_content=x5

Money is good in the financial advice line. Wealth adviser can buy Gallardo.

 

[sohguanh]

This fanciful name dividend extraction strategy I have been using that via Fundsupermart aka FSMOne when they are born in 2000. They focus only on mutual funds aka unit trust during those early years.

My experience is while it work consistency is the key. Some funds do cut dividends and like what most say if you check your total units when sell you actually may lose capital. If no sell you are essentially borrowing your own capital for the dividends.

What I found to maybe work is funds that pay lesser dividends can perform better. Around 1-2% max will do but such little dividend monies no one interested may as well ownself invest. The higher dividend funds they seem to perform lousier in terms of their NAV price. So when sell you don't get back your capital if after factor in dividends paid to you so far

Conclusion for me is can play and I am still playing but don't make it the majority of your investment capital. Spread other capital to capital growth funds and stocks.

 

[tiopwndeepdeep]

After reading so many posts u still greedy over it? U should go ahead and sign up and be tiopwndeepdeep.

Why is it greedy to chase yields?

 

[BBCWatcher]

Why is it greedy to chase yields?

Chasing higher advertised yields means you could be taking excessive risks for your situation.

You've asked about someone merely claiming to offer a 20% yield when the benchmark 10 year Singapore Government Security is yielding 2.31% (quotation on August 7, 2026). Every reasonable, rational person would understand that a 20% yield claim in a 2.31% SGS world means that the former is extremely high risk. So high that there's at least a 99% chance it's a false claim as you've conveyed it. (Although I'll be generous and give the benefit of the doubt to the agent, that his/her claim contained the proper caveats that you simply ignored or forgot.)

Now, if you're NOT a reasonable, rational person, good luck to you. But if you are, "just look at the (promised) yield." Do you think you're likely to get it? Do you think any vehicle claiming to offer that sort of yield is low, medium, or high risk? These questions should be equivalent to the easy questions on the PSLE.

 

[BBCWatcher]

Why is it greedy to chase yields?

Expanding on my previous post, what a prudent person should do is to balance wealth accumulation objectives with risk factors. That's what's meant by not being too greedy.

You're surely going to get burned if all you're doing is chasing anybody and everything claiming a higher yield number. What next? When the next salesperson claims 25%, you'll chase that? How about 28%? Why not 53.8%? Salespeople claim lots of things. Are their claims true?

 

[tiopwndeepdeep]

Expanding on my previous post, what a prudent person should do is to balance wealth accumulation objectives with risk factors. That's what's meant by not being too greedy.

You're surely going to get burned if all you're doing is chasing anybody and everything claiming a higher yield number. What next? When the next salesperson claims 25%, you'll chase that? How about 28%? Why not 53.8%? Salespeople claim lots of things. Are their claims true?

Thanks for the insights! Yes 20% yield is quite attractive and definitely ridiculous. That’s why I’m asking around.
Do you think ILPs are bad in general then? It’s annoying MAS still allows them despite the cons.

 

[reddevil0728]

Thanks for the insights! Yes 20% yield is quite attractive and definitely ridiculous. That’s why I’m asking around.
Do you think ILPs are bad in general then? It’s annoying MAS still allows them despite the cons.

It's about perspective.

For those who are willing to spend the time to learn and DIY, then it is bad.

but for those who are willing to pay people to do the work for them, why wouldn't it be allowed?

 

[BBCWatcher]

Do you think ILPs are bad in general then?

Yes, generally. My view is very simply based on their high costs.

However, if you genuinely need the persuasive "power" of a premium bill (and hefty surrender charge) to force yourself to save regularly for your own future, maybe an ILP (or some other product that an insurance company sells) is the best available option for you.

 

[rarenick]

Yes, generally. My view is very simply based on their high costs.
However, if you genuinely need the persuasive "power" of a premium bill (and hefty surrender charge) to force yourself to save regularly for your own future, maybe an ILP (or some other product that an insurance company sells) is the best available option for you.

Still not worth it. If want to save $ sign up endowment plans better, some got short lock in period. Don't ever mix investment with life insurance. Want to cancel also cannot cancel because old liao got many illnesses along the way. No insurers want to cover.

 

[rarenick]

It's about perspective.
For those who are willing to spend the time to learn and DIY, then it is bad.
but for those who are willing to pay people to do the work for them, why wouldn't it be allowed?

Can buy funds directly. Sign with insurer is stuck for a decade or more.

 

[reddevil0728]

Still not worth it. If want to save $ sign up endowment plans better, some got short lock in period. Don't ever mix investment with life insurance. Want to cancel also cannot cancel because old liao got many illnesses along the way. No insurers want to cover.

Can buy funds directly. Sign with insurer is stuck for a decade or more.

you are still missing the point about it's not a pure negative. it still has "positive" for certain circumstances.

 

[rarenick]

I signed Ilp. Don't like to think about finances, don't care inflation. Low rate of monthly savings, but got buy a few endowment plans. Only lately I started to learn to invest and earned 25% within 8 months. I intend to slow down and just buy efts with minimal effort.

 

[rarenick]

you are still missing the point about it's not a pure negative. it still has "positive" for certain circumstances.

Got positive aspects but with higher risks and can get stuck. Should consider other alternatives.