Insurance & Costs of having and raising a child

[flinger]

This is an interesting topic on paying a flat fee for advice. The question is what fee rate are you willing to pay for the advice?

Lets say for a personal who has experience of say , 5 yrs , 10 yrs or 20 yrs.

What is the flat rate fee that you would be willing to pay for the advice on the following :

a) Insurance planning for you and your family.

b) Financial planning for retirement .

When I was looking for advice from a experienced person , the fee can be as high as 250 - 300 per hour. They cost more than some of the doctors I have visited.

On top of that they have an administrative fee of around 800 - 1000 dollars for putting all the details into documentation and arranging for the insurance etc...

The question is how many people can afford such fee?

Sometimes the total cost be higher than the 5 years of premiums.

[yeokiwi]

How many of the forum members here seek professional financial planners?

I don't.

I am not aiming for perfect insurance coverage. So, based on my simple financial planning knowledge, I am more or less covered for majority of the personal financial meltdown. If I suay suay kanna one condition that my insurance is unable to cover, then I suck thumb loh.

Same with maintaining health, I can spend loads of cash for the best doctors, best specialists and best medical checkup. Or I can just have a simple routine health checkup that weeds out common health problems.(kidney, blood, eyes, heart...).

If I kanna a disease that is out of the scope of the simple health checkup, then I suck thumb loh.
But, even with the best financial planner or best doctor, there is no guarantee that all loopholes are plugged.

Basically, the point of covering the ass fully is simply not tenable in most situations and not available to all.

For me, if I can cover 95% of the possible financial wrecks, I am ok. The last 5% is going to cost me an arm and a leg.

[wsreader]

Recently came across a internet post of a financial planner couple who earns $15k a month who say they can't afford kids. They must have done some professional calculations to come to the conclusion. So when you seek professional financial planners, you must be mentally prepared for the 7 digit figures that they always managed to come up with their projections.

(amended to "7 digit figures")

[d.o.g.]

Recently came across a internet post of a financial planner couple who earns $15k a month who say they can't afford kids. They must have done some professional calculations to come to the conclusion. So when you seek professional financial planners, you must be mentally prepared for the 6 digit figures that they always managed to come up with their projections.

Did the couple in question document their spending? In 2011 the median total household income in Singapore was $7,040, so fully half the households in Singapore are getting by with less than half of what this couple is earning.

Using average household income, in 2011 it was $9,618. The average household size was 3.5 persons. So average income per person was $2,748. The couple in question is earning $7,500 each on average.

Data source:

www.singstat.gov.sg/pubn/papers/people/pp-s18.pdf

[Drizzt]

This is an interesting topic on paying a flat fee for advice. The question is what fee rate are you willing to pay for the advice?

Lets say for a personal who has experience of say , 5 yrs , 10 yrs or 20 yrs.

What is the flat rate fee that you would be willing to pay for the advice on the following :

a) Insurance planning for you and your family.

b) Financial planning for retirement .

When I was looking for advice from a experienced person , the fee can be as high as 250 - 300 per hour. They cost more than some of the doctors I have visited.

On top of that they have an administrative fee of around 800 - 1000 dollars for putting all the details into documentation and arranging for the insurance etc...

The question is how many people can afford such fee?

Sometimes the total cost be higher than the 5 years of premiums.

We will only go to lawyers when we absolutely need them because its really a high cost.

i written on my blog related to the edge, that cost is not high but psychologically not many will shift to paying 3000 upfront for advice (and a new uni graduate at that)

the disruption that can happen is for a startup in singapore offering CFPs providing tailored financial plans for < 500

http://www.investmentmoats.com/budgeting...-planning/

[freedom]

if fee based financial planners are on the market and are not cheap, MAS gotta raise the bar of being a financial planner. Otherwise, who is going to pay high price for a low value financial plan?

[KopiKat]

Recently came across a internet post of a financial planner couple who earns $15k a month who say they can't afford kids. They must have done some professional calculations to come to the conclusion. So when you seek professional financial planners, you must be mentally prepared for the 6 digit figures that they always managed to come up with their projections.

Did the couple in question document their spending? In 2011 the median total household income in Singapore was $7,040, so fully half the households in Singapore are getting by with less than half of what this couple is earning.

Using average household income, in 2011 it was $9,618. The average household size was 3.5 persons. So average income per person was $2,748. The couple in question is earning $7,500 each on average.

Data source:

www.singstat.gov.sg/pubn/papers/people/pp-s18.pdf

Coincidentally, saw this in someone's FB,

[Image: vmunbt.png]


Briefly, $1800 can feed 8 mouths...

[Bibi]

Maybe should add more:
"The elder one can afford to study only until Sec 4 then must come out to work to support his siblings. If they want to go further, they hve to get scholarships or busary. If i strike toto or big 4D then maybe can support 1 children up to uni. I hv no education and can survive so i think they can too. "

Sorry but i think the parents are being irresponsible and deprive the kids of their future due to insufficient resources.

[wsreader]

Did the couple in question document their spending?

As financial planners, I am sure the couple document their spending.

I first read the article in asiaone and I would like to provide the url, but it has since been moved to the archive. You can google with "$15,000 a month can't afford kids" for other websites that has reposted the article.

[Musicwhiz]

Sorry, but I am of the view that it's rather ridiculous for this couple to claim they "cannot afford" kids with a $15,000 per month income.

Why don't they just own up and admit it's a "lifestyle choice", rather than blaming it on affordability.

I have a kid and I get by with much less.....