Our Goal is to help 1 million people reach S$1 million

[seeliaosaw]

Study Hard, Get Good Grades, Get a Good Job" Advice that people of my parents' era used to dish out no longer works.

很感激吴老师。 我还记得一本书穷爸爸已富爸爸。 我的爸爸也只知道这么多。

[danielcheng]

S'pore has least happy millionaires in Asia

Came across this report "The Future Priority Report Apr 2012" (Asia’s emerging wealthy-Views from across Asia on wealth creation and wealth management).

When people are poor, they are unhappy. When people are rich, they are also unhappy..except maybe for different reasons. Yes, i believe some will say..then i rather be unhappily rich than unhappily poor.

I think it is better for one to be a happy person(in whatever ways) first before becoming a millionaire as money doesn't buy happiness. You may be happy for 1week when you finally reach $1mil but will start to feel unhappy again as you wanted more or envy others who are making more with less effort.

Nonetheless, it will also mean more good business for the Financial/Wealth education sector.

Download full report here.
http://www.international-adviser.com/ia ... af7c95.pdf

Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea are home to Asia's least happiest millionaires while those in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand are the most contented, according to a new report.

The findings, part of the Futurepriority Report 2012 published by Scorpio Partnership and supported by Standard Chartered Priority Bank, gathered views from individuals worth more than US$1.4 million (S$1.8 million).

“The results are striking. The Malaysian, Indonesian and Thai markets have shown positive exuberance in these tough markets when it comes to wealth creation, and is matched only by Indian millionaires. The linkage between happiness and confidence in wealth creation ambitions is significant,” said Catherine Tillotson, Managing Partner at Scorpio Partnership.

Some 89 percent of the 2,800 survey participants wanted more guidance about how to manage their investments, while 86 percent specified a need for more education about how best to manage their wealth.

Banks dominate when it comes to money management, with 69 percent of Asia’s wealthy having this relationship. Financial advisors, online investment firms, private banks and wealth advisors all jostle for second place in terms of popularity.

[Dennis Ng]

S'pore has least happy millionaires in Asia

Came across this report "The Future Priority Report Apr 2012" (Asia’s emerging wealthy-Views from across Asia on wealth creation and wealth management).

When people are poor, they are unhappy. When people are rich, they are also unhappy..except maybe for different reasons. Yes, i believe some will say..then i rather be unhappily rich than unhappily poor.

I think it is better for one to be a happy person(in whatever ways) first before becoming a millionaire as money doesn't buy happiness. You may be happy for 1week when you finally reach $1mil but will start to feel unhappy again as you wanted more or envy others who are making more with less effort.

Hi all,

I agree with Og Mandino's words (shared by Excalibur below).

Happiness is a Choice.

Everyday and Every MOMENT we can choose to be happy or unhappy regardless of our situation, whether we are Rich or Poor, Healthy or Sick, Slim or Fat, Young or Old, Male or Female, in Adversity or when things are going smoothly.

No one can make us happy. No one can make us unhappy, except ourselves, and unless we choose to allow them to.

I hope my seminar graduates can be enlightened Millionaires, and they would know that Happiness is a Choice, and they know that give and you shall receive.

Cheers!

Dennis Ng

Realize that true happiness lies within you. Waste no time and effort searching for peace and contentment and joy in the world outside. Remember that there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.
Og Mandino, Author of The Greatest Salesman in the World

[Dennis Ng]

As you might know, one of the main motivation for me to teach people how to become Rich is so that when I help you (seminar graduate) get richer by learning how to invest, I hope that all of you can then can do More for those less fortunate in the society, for example, by donating to charities.

Now we have about 3,000 seminar graduates (after 3 years) and if in 5 years' time we have 10,000 graduates, then just each of us donating S$1,000, together we can donate S$10 million to Charities every year.

As you might know, MasterYourFinance.com Pte Ltd has been donating to charities since setting up in Jun 2010. From Jun 2012 onwards, we will make it as a committment that the company would donate 20% of its Profits to Charity, and the first Charity we would like to support is Make a Wish Foundation, Singapore.

Note: I personally and through my 3 companies, donate and support more than 10 charities a year, not only this Charity.

More info on Make A Wish Foundation, Singapore can be found at their website: http://www.makeawish.org.sg

When we were children, we have wishes and hope that maybe Santa Claus or a Fairy can help make them come true.

Sometimes miracles can happen. This is a sharing by a "wish child" who becos of her wish granted, gave her the strength to live on and she is still alive now (adult)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFO4hGhBwJc

Make A Wish Foundation is a charity set up to Grant a Wish of children with life threatening illnesses...most of these children are born in very poor families with household income of less than S$2,000...imagine a family in this situation then faced with a child with a life threatening illness...as the parents, they might want to help grant the wish of their children, but they might not be in a position to do so...

We can hep them do it.

And MasterYourFinance.com Pte Ltd is committed to helping them. We hope this can set an example for seminar graduates and also maybe subtlely pass the message that other than caring for ourselves, we should also think of others, especially those less fortunate in the society.

So you by attending our seminars, or inviting friends/relatives to attend our seminars, are also in indirectly contributing to Charities through MasterYourFinance.com Pte Ltd.

[lowbern]

Hi Dennis,

Thank you for being such an inspiration and I am with you in your vision. Thanks for dropping by yesterday (30 May) during the talk by Kenneth Kwan as well. I am also a supporter for Make a Wish Foundation. My child contracted Lymphoma when she was only 3 years old in 2010 and it was a difficult and trying time for her and for the family. The chemotheraphy sessions were very intense and took about 4 months. I remember camping out at the hospital for as long as a month at one point. In the treatment process, we are always praying for minimal side effects and for the white blood cells to bounce back after each session.

Thankfully, she is fully healed after the chemo sessions and is now one of the most resilient and mature 5 year old due to her life experience. Make a wish foundation gathered a group of volunteers and threw her a surprise get well party and we are forever grateful to the organisation for making my daughter's wish of a princess party such a memorable one.

Lets go for it and lets make a powerful and positive difference to society.

[Dennis Ng]

Hi Dennis,

Thank you for being such an inspiration and I am with you in your vision. Thanks for dropping by yesterday (30 May) during the talk by Kenneth Kwan as well. I am also a supporter for Make a Wish Foundation. My child contracted Lymphoma when she was only 3 years old in 2010 and it was a difficult and trying time for her and for the family. The chemotheraphy sessions were very intense and took about 4 months. I remember camping out at the hospital for as long as a month at one point. In the treatment process, we are always praying for minimal side effects and for the white blood cells to bounce back after each session.

Thankfully, she is fully healed after the chemo sessions and is now one of the most resilient and mature 5 year old due to her life experience. Make a wish foundation gathered a group of volunteers and threw her a surprise get well party and we are forever grateful to the organisation for making my daughter's wish of a princess party such a memorable one.

Lets go for it and lets make a powerful and positive difference to society.

Hi lowbern,
thanks for sharing.

I'm so glad your daughter is healed. She is really very brave and I can't imagine myself going through what she did at such a young age.

Yes, we should always think about giving more becos we are really blessed to be able to give. I remember the wise words by a wise person:

She said there are 2 things we can't wait, one is doing good and giving to Charity. The other is filial piety. I feel so much for these words as my father passed away 2 years ago and now I can only regret things that I could/should have done for him and words I could/should have said to him...we always think there'll be time to do it...but only regret when it is too late.

So nowadays, I always "just do it" and not wait anymore.

In Oct 2011, I got to learn about "sister Teresa Hsu" and her charitable work. I immediately emailed them and then sent a cheque to help in their cause. I'm glad I didn't wait as 2 months later, in Dec 2011, she passed on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM5DcNLM ... re=related

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/ ... 31/1/.html

[Dennis Ng]

Does Singapore have 17% household with investible assets of US$1 million or more? Somehow, I don't think the figure is that high, probably close to 10%.

The question is WHEN do you want to join to be one of them? By saving 20% of my income (average income of S$6,000 per month only) and growing it through Investing into stocks and property, I joined the "Millionaire Club" at age 39 after working for 15 years.

When do you want to join?

If you want to join, need to start taking action to learn and increase your Financial Knowledge and apply what you learn in my seminars, so that you can be a Millionaire as well.

The best thing about reaching a million dollars is NOT the money, but the Better person you need to become in order to reach this goal. Better in the sense becos it shows you have the Discipline, the Committment, the Determination, the Emotional Control (especially when faced with volatility and losses in investment), Better Thinker (learn and practise how to think independently), and the list goes on.

The Straits Times
Jun 2, 2012
Invest
17% of Singapore households are millionaires

By Melissa Tan

SINGAPORE leads the world in terms of the proportion of households classed as millionaires after the ranks of the wealthy swelled again last year.

A new study has found that the number of households with investable assets of US$1 million (S$1.26 million) or more rose 14 per cent to 188,000 last year. That means 17.1 per cent of households - or one in six - are millionaires.

The findings come from management consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in its Global Wealth Report 2012, which does not include property and other non-financial assets.

In 2010, 165,000 households were classed as millionaires.

The latest jump comes even though the economy grew only 4.9 per cent last year, following a 14.8 per cent surge in 2010.

BCG said the 17.1 per cent figure was the 'highest density' of millionaire households across all the 63 countries it surveyed.

Singapore came in 11th in terms of the absolute number of millionaire households.

That figure was definitely boosted by the appreciation of the Singapore dollar over the past few years, while wealth was generated by the strong growth in the property market, said Mr Warren Lim, chief executive of Finexis Advisory.

He noted that households could have also made money last year if they caught the right timing in the stock market.

Those who bought property in 2005 and 2006 and sold them recently would have seen solid gains, he said.

He added that his financial advisory firm has seen a rise of about 20 per cent in the number of wealthy clients coming to his firm for advice in the past year.

Singapore was slightly lower down the ladder when it came to ultra-high net worth households, which BCG defined as those holding over US$100 million in wealth.

It had 108,000 of these ultra-rich households last year. This is roughly equivalent to 10 out of every 100,000 households, according to BCG.

While Singapore was in 26th position when ranked by absolute numbers, it was still No. 2 in terms of the density of such households.

The Republic was trumped narrowly by Switzerland, where 11 out of every 100,000 households were considered ultra- high net worth last year.

'Overall, global growth in private wealth is clearly being driven by rapidly developing economies in the 'new world', not by the 'old world' of traditional, mature ones,' BCG wrote in its report.

The Asia-Pacific region grew richer at a faster rate than most other regions last year, due more to solid economic growth than to equity market gains.

Private financial wealth in Asia excluding Japan expanded 10.7 per cent last year to about US$23.7 trillion. The region is expected to hold US$40.1 trillion in wealth by 2016.

In contrast, developed economies like the US, Europe and Japan experienced a decline in the amount of wealth held in 2011.

Global wealth reached US$122.8 trillion last year, and BCG predicts it will grow to $151.2 trillion by 2016

melissat@sph.com.sg

[positive7]

Reply to Dennis :Sat 2 June 8.46am

First Congrats to Lowbern on the complete healing of your daughter! Amazing Grace and fight. Be blessed always!

Hi Dennis:

Yes ! I bet we all want to join.
Since attended your course last July I have been dreaming to be a millionaire! Guess most of us when shared would want to be. The journey so far seems tough. First we off load most of our stocks and lost much of the principal after reading much into the Forum on the importance of having cash holdings last year. Thereafter dare not touch - money not enough!

Undeniably your seminar does teach the rules but I wonder if intelligent plays a part in applying in. FA may not seem to apply all the time.

Investing in property is out due to the cash outlays required. Stocks still seems a challenge!

Believe some students may take a much longer time to be a millionaire. We all love to achieve the financial independent and
to have more free time to contribute in all areas and to give to the needy. Was full of hope when attending the seminar but somehow this hope has slowly reduced. Some how we are all torn - how long can we work!

[Dennis Ng]

Latest news: CPF Board is revising the CPF Min Sum to S$139,000 from 1 July 2012, up from S$131,000 in year 2011. If you reach age 55 on 1 July 2012, you can only withdraw money from CPF account provided that you have more than S$139,000 combined balances in your CPF Ordinary and Special account. If not, you can't withdraw any CPF at all at age 55 and leave it till age 65 where they pay you monthly through the Compulsory CPF Life (Annuity) Scheme.

In my opinion, for someone who knows how to invest and get higher returns than 4% per year, having money stuck in CPF is actually "losing money" for such savvy investors.

Becos I'm self-employed, so I just have enough salary and CPF to make sure enough to pay for my S$500 share of monthly housing loan instalment instead of paying myself a higher salary.

The rest of my income I would either put it as Directors' Fees or divdends from my company, both need not contribute to CPF.

Imagine earning 4% from CPF while inflation rate is 5.4%, one is actually getting poorer and poorer over time, not richer and richer. Raising the CPF Min Sum is NOT the solution to Singapore's retirement problem.

The solution is Financial Education, imagine I could retire at age 39 (3 years ago) becos of my financial knowledge of knowing how to grow my savings...I don't need to depend on my CPF savings for retirement at all.

Some people will tell me that government trying to introduce teaching of Personal Finance in schools. The problem is what they teach are from "school" and "textbooks" which I realised most of the things taught do NOT work in real life. What is needed is Financial Knowledge that works in Real Life, and this is what I'm teaching, after testing that it worked for me (I have my millions to prove that)...which I learned from the Rich.

If you want to become Rich, learn from the Rich, not from a professor or Financial Planner who himself/herself is not rich in the first place. Textbook knowledge are only good for passing exams, they don't work in real life. The fact that Both Warren Buffett and George Soros both did NOT bother to study CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Course and Exam show you that even they think such knowledge does not work and is just a waste of time, which is probably why both of them did NOT pass this exam despite this being a Necessary Certificate for people who want to work as Fund Managers.

Cheers!

Dennis Ng

Wednesday, May 30, 2012
AsiaOne

CPF minimum sum to be raised to $139,000

The CPF minimum sum will be revised upwards to $139,000 from the previous $131,000 from July 1 said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Wednesday.

The new minimum sum will apply to CPF members who turn 55 from July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013.

The Medisave minimum sum will also be raised to $38,500 from the previous amount of $36,000.

Members will be able to withdraw their Medisave savings in excess of the Medisave minimum sum at or after age 55.

The maximum balance a member can have in the Medisave account is fixed at $5,000 above the Medisave minimum sum.

Corresponding to the increase in the Medisave minimum sum, this ceiling would also be increased to $43,500 from $41,000.

Any Medisave contribution in excess of the prevailing ceiling will be transferred to the Special Account if the member is below 55 years old or his Retirement Account if he is above 55 and has a shortfall in his minimum sum.
Reach your goals with Manulife

The CPF board said that the revisions, which have been adjusted for inflation, are to ensure that Singaporeans have sufficient savings to meet their healthcare expenses.

hteoh@sph.com.sg

[Dennis Ng]

Hi positive7,

well, if you want to learn how to swim, swallowing some water is necessary and expected.

If you want to learn how to cycle, losing balance and falling off the bicycle again is necessary process and expected.

Are you a parent, watch a child learns how to walk. Falling down is necessary and expected.

So if you want to learn how to invest and make money, isn't losing money necessary and expected?

If you want to learn how to walk, important thing is not to avoid falling, but is to learn the Lesson from each fall (or mistake), that's how we learned.

I took 15 years to reach my first million dollars. Not sure why some seminar graduates seem to want to do it in 1 or 2 years' time. Is it possible?

If you want to learn, I'm willing to teach. The forum is here for everyone. I'm here in the forum everyday for everyone.

if people don't want to learn, how can I help?

Stop blame yourself for not having enough intelligence. When we start to learn to take responsibility for our own learning, is the step to success.

There are no failures in life, only people who give up. Success always come to the person who persevere and does not give up, just a matter of time to success. Don't you think so? What do you want to be? A person who give up or a success? Up to you to choose, what is your choice?

To Reap, we need to first Sow. Many people seem to want to Reap and Harvest without Sowing, is this possible? Could this be the very reason why most people are NOT Rich nor Successful? Many people envy my success now, have they witnessed my many struggles and many failures along the way to reach where I am today? If they meet with the same setbacks, would they have given up or persevere like I did?

Cheers!

Dennis Ng

Reply to Dennis :Sat 2 June 8.46am

First Congrats to Lowbern on the complete healing of your daughter! Amazing Grace and fight. Be blessed always!

Hi Dennis:

Yes ! I bet we all want to join.
Since attended your course last July I have been dreaming to be a millionaire! Guess most of us when shared would want to be. The journey so far seems tough. First we off load most of our stocks and lost much of the principal after reading much into the Forum on the importance of having cash holdings last year. Thereafter dare not touch - money not enough!

Undeniably your seminar does teach the rules but I wonder if intelligent plays a part in applying in. FA may not seem to apply all the time.

Investing in property is out due to the cash outlays required. Stocks still seems a challenge!

Believe some students may take a much longer time to be a millionaire. We all love to achieve the financial independent and
to have more free time to contribute in all areas and to give to the needy. Was full of hope when attending the seminar but somehow this hope has slowly reduced. Some how we are all torn - how long can we work!

[Dennis Ng]

Hi all,

there are a few things that I can identify with and hold the same view with the interviewee, Dr Ansgar Cheng.

I quote them below:

On not buying a Car:
'In Singapore, public transportation is efficient and rather extensive,' he says, adding that it also makes more financial sense to take public transport than to buy and upkeep a car.

Besides, he and his wife are now used to relaxing in the bus or cab while making their way to and from their home around the Bugis area.

Money is just a tool, and when we get Richer, we can also do more for the society, eg. Charity:

Money is just a tool, he says. 'You have to use it for your daily needs. The rest you keep, grow and you share, and not necessarily with your own family.'

On having some Opportunity Fund:
We are generally cautious about how we use money and we try to ensure that cash is readily available so that it can be deployed when we see good opportunities. A certain portion goes to family support, charitable causes.

On emphasis in teaching values to children:
We want our kids to grow up with the right values.

On the importance of investing in yourself and learning how to fish:
The best investment philosophy I learnt in the US, where I had studied and worked, was: 'Invest in yourself'. When people know how to catch fish, there is no need to give out fish.

Cheers!

Dennis Ng

The Straits Times
Jun 3, 2012
A simple life - the root of sensible living
Dental specialist is thrifty, opts for public transport and has little material desire

By Joyce Teo

Dr Ansgar Cheng has been a dentist for 22 years and can easily drive home from his workplace at Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre but chooses to take the bus instead.

'In Singapore, public transportation is efficient and rather extensive,' he says, adding that it also makes more financial sense to take public transport than to buy and upkeep a car.

Besides, he and his wife are now used to relaxing in the bus or cab while making their way to and from their home around the Bugis area.

He leads a simple life, wears a plastic Casio watch to work and says he has little desire for material goods.

Money is just a tool, he says. 'You have to use it for your daily needs. The rest you keep, grow and you share, and not necessarily with your own family.'

Dr Cheng, 46, is a prosthodontist with Specialist Dental Group, an adjunct associate professor at the National University of Singapore and an honorary clinical associate professor at the University of Hong Kong.

In 2004, he and his wife - both permanent residents - relocated from Canada to Singapore as he says it is a very safe place where everything works and it has an excellent reputation as a medical hub.

Dr Cheng, who is from Hong Kong, has been married for 20 years to Ms Moonlake Lee, 43, the director of business affairs at Specialist Dental Group.

They have two daughters: Allie, nine, and Hana, eight.

Q: Are you a spender or saver?

I am generally a saver but I do spend when necessary on items that are important and have long-term value.

Once in a while, I will spend on my family - when we celebrate special occasions, for instance.

We are generally cautious about how we use money and we try to ensure that cash is readily available so that it can be deployed when we see good opportunities.

A certain portion goes to family support, charitable causes and church tithing every month. I also support my high school in Hong Kong, for example, when it needs funds to purchase new equipment.

We don't give our kids pocket money as they take packed lunches to school. We reason with them and try to teach them the value of money.

We want our kids to grow up with the right values. They don't have tonnes of toys but they do have a lot of books.

On Sunday evenings, they will say: 'Can we not eat out? It's a waste of money.'

Q: How much do you charge to your credit cards every month?

A few thousand dollars for professional and household expenses.

My wife makes sure our bills are paid through credit cards so that we can benefit from the perks. We pay in full through Giro each month.

Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?

I learnt about financial planning from my uncle, Tom, who said: 'Be a useful person to the people around you. Be reliable, spend less than you make, and invest the rest. Then you may be fine.'

When I was newly married, I worried about what would happen to my wife if I were to meet with an untimely end.

We concluded that she should invest in her education, so she became a highly educated person with a few post-graduate degrees in business and law.

With those qualifications and her exceptional talent and energy, I know she has the best insurance that no money can buy.

My most valuable asset in life is my education.

Not only did my professional training allow me to have a day job, but it also allowed me to associate with many teachers, highly intelligent individuals, colleagues and interesting people whom I can learn from.

Insurance-wise, we have term life policies as well as disability insurance, hospitalisation and surgical insurance, and critical illness insurance for peace of mind.

We are generally conservative in our investments, preferring to look long term, and we adopt a buy-and-hold strategy.

We stick with blue chip shares locally and internationally. We also have a three-bedroom condominium in the city area here, which we rent out.

We bought it a couple of years ago and the value has risen, but we have no plans to sell it. We have no plans to buy another property now as prices are very high.

Most of our money is in the bank. The interest is not high but the money is liquid.

We stay within our area of competence.

We won't go near landbanking, for instance. We know of a landbanking firm that is not truthful - the land they are selling is actually not in the area that they claimed.

Q: Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like?

I grew up in Hong Kong with a hardworking father who was involved in various small businesses. He has a great sense of humour, loves his family and lives a balanced life.

My mother is a very talented woman who made many important business decisions with my father. She is a full-time homemaker and is always willing to listen to her kids.

Through a lot of luck and hard work, my parents successfully saw my three elder sisters and I graduate from the University of Hong Kong.

We eventually went overseas for our post-graduate education.

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

I have heard my parents talk about business since I was young. Thus, the idea of working hard and getting money to work harder for you is not alien to me.

The best investment philosophy I learnt in the US, where I had studied and worked, was: 'Invest in yourself'. When people know how to catch fish, there is no need to give out fish.

Q: What property do you own?

A 1,300 sq ft condo unit around the Bugis area. We bought it a few years ago at a reasonable price.

Q: What's the most extravagant thing you have bought?

When I was six, I was made to purchase a tiny golden mouse with my entire net worth of approximately US$73. That was the time when gold was at about US$40 an ounce.

I still have that little gold mouse, and even at the current gold price of about US$1,600 (S$2,000), I have absolutely no use for that piece of shiny metal.

I thus concluded that precious metals are fine but are of little practical value.

Q: What's your retirement plan?

My parents never retired. They just moved from one thing to another.

Like them, I do not have a retirement plan.

I plan to keep healthy and busy for as long as possible.

I am financially independent because I consume very little and have close to zero desire for most material needs.

The amount of money you need during retirement depends on your needs. You can limit your needs.

Q: Home is now...

Our condo around the Bugis area, which allows us to walk our girls to school daily.

Q: I drive...

I drive only once a year - when I'm in the US for meetings.

I enjoy whatever subcompact car the cheapest car rental company presents to me.

My wife and I take the cab or bus to work and we take the bus home.

joyceteo@sph.com.sg

-------------------------------

WORST AND BEST BETS

Q: What is your worst investment to date?

None as we rarely sell our investments.

Q: What is your best investment to date?

I can only say it's my family and my move here.

[Dennis Ng]

Hi all,

noticed a wrong info (typo) in the article, if 10 out of 100,000 households have more than US$100 million, then it works out to be about 1,080 households only, and not 108,000.

If it is 10, out of 10,000 households, the figure would be 10,800.

Anyway, if it is 108,000, then it would be close to 10% of households have over US$100 million.

Cheers!

Dennis Ng

The Straits Times
Jun 2, 2012
Invest
17% of Singapore households are millionaires

By Melissa Tan

SINGAPORE leads the world in terms of the proportion of households classed as millionaires after the ranks of the wealthy swelled again last year.

A new study has found that the number of households with investable assets of US$1 million (S$1.26 million) or more rose 14 per cent to 188,000 last year. That means 17.1 per cent of households - or one in six - are millionaires.

Singapore was slightly lower down the ladder when it came to ultra-high net worth households, which BCG defined as those holding over US$100 million in wealth.

It had 108,000 of these ultra-rich households last year. This is roughly equivalent to 10 out of every 100,000 households, according to BCG.

While Singapore was in 26th position when ranked by absolute numbers, it was still No. 2 in terms of the density of such households.

The Republic was trumped narrowly by Switzerland, where 11 out of every 100,000 households were considered ultra- high net worth last year.

melissat@sph.com.sg

[Dennis Ng]

As the saying goes:"when the student is ready, the teacher will appear."

I remember years ago when I read certain books, it didn't leave a deep impression nor do I find I learned anything much. However, years later when I re-read them, I found that I started to discover things to learn from the book which I didn't "see" before...

One example of a book that I always seem to learn something new everytime I re-read is the book "The Master Plan to Success." - written by Napoleon Hill. This book is not available in Singapore bookstores but I have brought some in from Malaysia Napoleon Hill Associates, and make available through ordering from http://www.MasterYourFinance.com website.

Note: in my opinion, this is the Best book to learn about Secrets of Success, even better than the more well known "Think and Grow Rich" book written by Napoleon Hill.

Napoleon Hill Associates (Malaysia) is set up by Christina Chia, who attributed her success through mainly learning and applying what she learned from Napoleon Hill.

Some seminar graduates can probably remember that I mentioned about her, a Malaysia Multi-millionaire who shared with me in year 2005 that "one day you'll find that money simply gush in, like waterfall, walah, walah..." I found this very familiar and finally realised that in the book "Think and Grow Rich" there is a part that says something similar, but not using waterfall as an analogy...

When I first heard this from her in year 2005, I was thinking to myself, money is so hard to earn, to me, it is like trying to squeeze water from a face towel, "money drips" not fall like Waterfall...and I could hardly believe or relate to what she was sharing with me...only years later, then I realised that she was telling the truth, that once we do the right Thing correctly, we can get the Correct result and Earning More Money is just a "side effect" of that...

Some of the seminar graduates doubt the existence of some of these multi-millionaire "sifus" I mentioned, problem is some of them want to keep a low profile and keep their identity confidential, so it's not right for me to disclose their names, but Christina Chia is ok with it, so here's a link showing you more info about her:

http://www.napoleonhillassociates.com/d ... _page=team

Christina Chia is very passionate about sharing Napoleon Hill's teachings, if you ever have a chance to meet her (she's very busy and I've not met her since year 2006), if you have any questions on teachings by Napoleon Hill, just ask her, she would probably give you a very good explanation to make things clearer for you.

[Dennis Ng]

Most people will not have enough money to retire and stop work at age 62, this is not a problem faced by Singapore, but faced by countries world-wide. AIG CEO said that people might need to work till 70 to 80 years old...

On the other hand, I'm a real life example showing that an Average Middle Class Income Individual, by learning how to Plan, Manage and Grow my money, is able to choose (if I want to) to retire at age 39, 3 years ago.

Governments are not able to help you in this regard, no, even the Opposition party cannot help you in this. The only person that can really help you is yourself, but you need to Invest in yourself, you need to increase your Financial Knowledge so that you can choose to retire at age 50, 60 or whatever age you want, and not be forced to continue working becos you "have to" (need the money from work to survive)...that's the Empowerment that Financial Knowledge can give you.

Empower yourself with Financial Knowledge and have the choice to choose when you want to retire.

Cheers!

Dennis Ng

AIG Chief Sees Retirement Age as High as 80 After Crisis
By Boris Cerni and Zachary Tracer - Jun 4, 2012 7:54 PM GMT+0800

“Retirement ages will have to move to 70, 80 years old,” Benmosche, who turned 68 last week, said during a weekend interview at his seaside villa in Dubrovnik, Croatia. “That would make pensions, medical services more affordable. They will keep people working longer and will take that burden off of the youth.”

The crisis, now in its third year, threatens to destroy Europe’s 17-nation currency union as Greece contemplates exiting the euro and Spain sees its bond yields rise and banking industry falter. German Chancellor Angela Merkel hardened her opposition to joint debt sharing in the euro region as U.S. President Barack Obama singled out Europe’s leaders for not doing enough to arrest the crisis.

Greece abandoning the euro could be a disaster for the country and Europe must work to keep that from happening, said Benmosche, whose company was the world’s biggest insurer before it took a U.S. bailout.

“People in Greece have to see there is no easy way out of this” and the government must get them to work longer, he said in the June 2 interview on the Adriatic coast. “If not, and if they go to their own currency, I think they will see huge inflation and it will be devastating for people on fixed incomes.”
Life Expectancy

Greece, where the average life expectancy is 81.3 years, has an effective retirement age of 59.6, among the lowest in Europe, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. French President Francois Hollande, the Socialist who was sworn in last month, has pledged to cut the retirement age to 60 from 62 while increasing corporate and bank taxes and introducing a 75 percent levy on earnings of more than 1 million euros ($1.2 million).

Peter Hancock, CEO of AIG’s Chartis property-casualty unit, said last week the insurer has assigned staff from Argentina to advise their counterparts in Athens as the company prepares for a possible Greek exit from the euro, with the common currency at its lowest against the U.S. dollar since June 2010. Argentina defaulted on a record $95 billion of debt in 2001 and later abandoned a decade-long 1-to-1 peso peg to the greenback.

“We have gone through the crisis in Argentina and other countries over time, so we have experience,” Benmosche said.

The short-term nature of some of the company’s insurance contracts would minimize disruption if Greece stopped using the euro, he said.
Local Currency

“Our premiums would convert to the local currency, but if they do, so will our obligations,” he said. “We will deal with the rules at the time.”

Benmosche has sold non-U.S. life insurers, a consumer lender and other businesses to pay back its taxpayer rescue, which swelled to $182.3 billion as the U.S. extended more credit and lowered the interest charged. The Treasury Department has cut its stake to 61 percent from 92 percent through three share sales totaling about $17.6 billion. In the most recent two, AIG bought back a total of $5 billion in stock.

AIG still seeks to divest its plane-leasing unit and sell its remaining stake in Hong Kong-based insurer AIA Group Ltd.
‘The Overhang’

“The overhang from the government’s ownership interest in AIG is in the process of going away,” Paul Newsome, an analyst at Sandler O’Neill & Partners LP, wrote in a May 30 research note. “AIG should have sufficient enough capital to facilitate the Treasury Department’s exit.”

Treasury raised $5.8 billion in the first offering in 2011, selling for $29 a share. At the same time, AIG sold 100 million shares for $2.9 billion to demonstrate access to the capital markets and satisfy a condition of its bailout. The insurer bought half of the $6 billion in stock the department divested at $29 apiece in March and $2 billion of a $5.75 billion offering that went for $30.50 a share in May. The government needs to average $28.72 to break even on its investment.

AIG slid 6.8 percent on June 1 to close the week at $27.21 after U.S. employers created the fewest jobs in a year and the nation’s jobless rate rose to 8.2 percent. Reports also showed manufacturing grew less than estimated in the U.S. and China, and contracted for a 10th month in the euro region.

Benmosche said people and businesses in the U.S. lack confidence and are hesitant to invest as financial regulation and tax policies remain unsettled.

“I am optimistic that we’ll continue to grow, and if we get past this period of uncertainty and gain confidence again in the U.S. economic system, that will help lead the world out of the situation we are in today,” he said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Boris Cerni in Ljubljana at bcerni@bloomberg.net; Zachary Tracer in New York at Ztracer1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Kraut at dkraut2@bloomberg.net

[Dennis Ng]

I'm so happy when Serene Loong (a seminar graduate) shared with me that she shares a similar passion to educate the public and wanted to help educate and empower more people with Real Life Knowledge that works...

What I truly admire and respect her is that she really takes action...

She has the "Just Do It" spirit instead of just thinking about ideas and talking about it...and she started this website called... http://www.reallifetheory.com

Way to go! Serene!

How to be Richer than your boss? Serene Loong shares this short and educational video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLzTEcb8 ... ure=relmfu

Actually what she shares really works. How do I know for sure? Becos I was one person earning about S$5,000 a month and I managed to reach a million dollars wealth by age 39...15 years after I started working...and all I did was save 20% of my income and grew that savings through Investing into stocks and property.