Sembawang 5 Room Pigeon Hole

[Dr.Anarchy 0]

It is never my intention to buy a resale flat. Its expensive for first-timer even with the grant. But for privacy, independent from my family and most importantly, a home for my wife, we decide to buy a resale flat. BTO is ridiculously slow and never able to get a good queue number.

We can't fly out of the north region because both our parents are in the north. The most important reason is the food at Yishun is fantastic!

Buying a flat means proper calculation to ensure we don't take a loan amount that restrict our future growth. We also don't want to pay till the day we retire. After much calculation, it means a maximum of 25 years loan for us.

At the same time, we also revamp our personal insurance to ensure we are properly cover.

We dropped HPS and appeal to use our insurance instead. To me, laying a strong foundation financially to cope with unforeseen situation is very important.

CPFIS is carefully diverted out and ensure that in any jobless situation, servicing our loan is not a problem.

For both CPF/cash reserve, we have set aside at least 24 mths aside. I'm responsible for my family and answerable to my wife-to-be.

Finally, with all these done, we embarked the journey of house hunting and settled down with a unit that is 3-5mins walk to the MRT and right beside a primary school.

To be continue....

[ossify 1]

quite a bit of financial planning good job

[titanax 0]

Dr A! Finally your T-blog is up!!

[pixiepixel 0]

hello Doc.A, welcome to RT.

i'm curious - you've got a resale in Yishun? at which part?

Yishun was the place i grew up in, hang out, studied (pri, sec, 1/2 a poly diploma) in, lived in..........................

I missed my old flat. However, I still go to the same ole kawfeeshop for breakfast once or twice a month which is just next to my old place.

[gimz63251073 0]

HPS would have been a much cheaper and $0 cash outflow. I would actually say keep it and use insurance to cover the areas not covered by HPS.

keep 2 years of reserves? you are the role model of proper financial planning! hard to come by already! *thumbs up*

it is extremely hard to keep any reserves given that resale flat buyers have to pay COV, do quite a fair bit of reno and wedding costs...etc.

[gals_mama 0]

hello Doc.A, welcome to RT.

i'm curious - you've got a resale in Yishun? at which part?

Yishun was the place i grew up in, hang out, studied (pri, sec, 1/2 a poly diploma) in, lived in..........................

I missed my old flat. However, I still go to the same ole kawfeeshop for breakfast once or twice a month which is just next to my old place.

Which sec sch u from? I also had my sec sch life there. i love chong pang hawker

[gals_mama 0]

Welcome to RT!

[pixiepixel 0]

Which sec sch u from? I also had my sec sch life there. i love chong pang hawker

hey gals_mama, you are a chong-pang-er too?

i was from YTSS. how about you?

yes, i love chong pang market too. i stayed near chong pang so that was the place i go to for filling up my stomach...

[gals_mama 0]

hey gals_mama, you are a chong-pang-er too?

i was from YTSS. how about you?

yes, i love chong pang market too. i stayed near chong pang so that was the place i go to for filling up my stomach...

Nope, my new place in amk, used to stay at Yishun Ring Rd Blk 386 (i think, too long to remember)

I was from NVSS but my sis from YTSS. She is born in yr 1980. Mayb u from her batch?

[Dr.Anarchy 0]

Hi titanax, yeah finally else im still going around posting in other people thread.

pixiepixel & the rest, I'm currently staying at Yishun, moving to Sembawang, my in-laws is in Sembawang.

Haiyo yishun food is just SHOIK! Chong pang is just one of them, the laksa at 900+, 925 kopitiam, 800+ for fried bee hoon, ban mian, the roast duck, roast pork and char siew selling in the market. The mee pok at 800+ opp ntuc, old sembawang road, vlittles, nasi lemak etc etc. okay enough of food.

I'm from NBSS. chao ah beng/ah lian sch during my time.

gimz63251073, HPS has got it own advantage, payable via CPF. Disadvantage, it is a decreasing term and cannot port over to your 2nd property. If something happen to you, HPS is payable to HDB to settle your loan amount (from left to right pocket if you know what I mean) whereas Private mortgage insurance, they will pay you in one lump sum, you decide what you want to do, be it continue mthly instalment and not pay all, also it can be ported over to your 2nd property. For me I bought a term policy for better coverage which overweight both HPS and private mortgage insurance.

I do notice that a lot Singaporean even real estate agents I spoke to, don't care to find out how HPS works and since is payable via CPF, people will just sign up. But when come to real cash insurance policy, people will sign with high mthly instalment, low coverage (life insurance for example). Base on statistics, singaporean is not covered enough for rainy days. I did plenty of research on life/term/ILP and finally settled down for term which accountable to less than 2% of my household income, yet have a high coverage. In my case, why do I still need a decreasing term.

Also just to highlight to everyone who is following my blog. HPS is not compulsory if you are taking HDB loan but your insurance coverage must be more than your loan disbursed.

Edited June 29, 2010 by Dr.Anarchy

[gimz63251073 0]

gimz63251073, HPS has got it own advantage, payable via CPF. Disadvantage, it is a decreasing term and cannot port over to your 2nd property. If something happen to you, HPS is payable to HDB to settle your loan amount (from left to right pocket if you know what I mean) whereas Private mortgage insurance, they will pay you in one lump sum, you decide what you want to do, be it continue mthly instalment and not pay all, also it can be ported over to your 2nd property. For me I bought a term policy for better coverage which overweight both HPS and private mortgage insurance.

I do notice that a lot Singaporean even real estate agents I spoke to, don't care to find out how HPS works and since is payable via CPF, people will just sign up. But when come to real cash insurance policy, people will sign with high mthly instalment, low coverage (life insurance for example). Base on statistics, singaporean is not covered enough for rainy days. I did plenty of research on life/term/ILP and finally settled down for term which accountable to less than 2% of my household income, yet have a high coverage. In my case, why do I still need a decreasing term.

Also just to highlight to everyone who is following my blog. HPS is not compulsory if you are taking HDB loan but your insurance coverage must be more than your loan disbursed.

yeap, my view is that HPS will fully cover my house, so i can ignore that liability when planning my finances. decreasing term is fine, since my loan amount decreases over time. Decreasing term is the perfect tool for covering mortgages isn't it? Using a term would mean that u are paying more than you need (towards the end of the term plan)

Term insurance from my understanding is to cover loss of economic income, $ which you would have earned had you been productive in your working years. The coverage one needs varies from time to time. For example, when u have children, there is a higher need, but when your children grows up and start to work, the need decreases. Its sole purpose is to cover economic contribution by someone when something bad happens. Plain and simple.

Personally i chosen whole life + term. May not be foolproof, but insurance is about managing risks. The best form of insurance is still healthy living. Not easy with so much good food around!

[jaskel 2]

Welcome, welcome bro.....so its time to get started....or already started

[samgalz 2]

Nope, my new place in amk, used to stay at Yishun Ring Rd Blk 386 (i think, too long to remember)

I was from NVSS but my sis from YTSS. She is born in yr 1980. Mayb u from her batch?

hey gals_mama...I stayed quite near u too!!! I was staying at Blk 35X and my mum is still there. I studied sec sch in AMK but pri was at Huamin. wow, we could hv known each other.

[Dr.Anarchy 0]

gimz63251073, excatly, insurance is a complex product and cater to different appetite. one man food is another poison ya? I rather discuss food than insurance.

Jaskel, waiting for you leh... kin leh i waiting patiently liao hor

[jaskel 2]

gimz63251073, excatly, insurance is a complex product and cater to different appetite. one man food is another poison ya? I rather discuss food than insurance.

Jaskel, waiting for you leh... kin leh i waiting patiently liao hor

Naughty jaskel ..must fast fast do.