By-election in Ang Mo Kio

Will a by-election be held in Ang Mo Kio to find a new MP to take over from Dr. Balaji? Read the view from the Prime Minister in www.easyapps.sg/sgep/latest.aspx.

Dr. Balaji made a great sacrifice

Goh Chok Tong's letter to the family of Dr. Balaji.

CPF Investment Scheme

A CPF members can invest the savings in the ordinary and special account under the CPF Investment scheme to earn a better yield (hopefully) compared to the interest paid by the CPF. Here are some details of this scheme.
www.tankinlian.com/latest.aspx

From 1 January 2011, the approved funds must meet the following 4 criteria:

•          Lower expense ratios
•          3 per cent cap on sales charges
•          Three-year track record
•          Top-quartile performance ranking among their global peers.

Poor customer service

Telephone operators have too many customers and too many products and insufficient staff to provide customer service. Here are some complaints: www.tankinlian.com/latest.aspx
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Banking services

Nine things your banker won;t tell you.


1. Your whole deposit isn’t available immediately

2. A post-date on a check means nothing

3. Fees are the big money maker

4. You can get some fees waived – just ask

5. Your refusal to opt in for “overdraft protection” doesn’t apply to checks

6. Your online account information may not be accurate

7. Bankers are salespeople

8. You should shop around for financial products and services

9. The system is likely to decide on your loan application

The most important advice is - shop around for financial products and services, including insurance policies. Make sure that you compare like with like. Do not buy any "special product that is offered to you - they usually over charge the consumer and make a bigger profit for the issuer and the distributor!

Attract attention to your website

Here are a few tips to attract attention to the website:

Search engine
Guest post
Regular updates
Credibility
Simplicity

My blog (www.tankinlian.blogspot.com) and website (www.tankinlian.com) has most of these features.

Retirees duped by structured notes

Read this report.

It explains the situation in America. The banks are held accountable for selling structured notes without explaining the risks to elderly investors. If a similar approach is taken in Singapore, many people would have been compensated for their losses.