Mr Tan Kin Lian was at our June Soapbox yesterday to give a talk on financial planning. The turnout for the event was almost a full house with more than thirty people attending.
One reason could be due to the topic he was covering and his credentials in that subject matter. It had been a while since we have invited an ex-CEO of a prominent organization to give a talk.
Another reason could be due to Mr Tan’s decision to stand for the Presidential Election. We did not actually planned for that as we had invited Mr Tan a couple of months back, before he had announced his intention to contest the elections. Regular visitors to Mr Tan Kin Lian’s blog will be familiar with some of the subject matter that he covered.
One thing that he felt strongly against was investing in unregulated investments like land banking and wine.
The average consumer will have little or no recourse should something bad happen. MAS will refer you to the police (CAD) as the products do not fall under their regulatory purview. CAD will refer you to a private lawyer as they will deem it as a private investment. And the high legal fees will usually make it unfeasible for most investors to pursue further action.
There’s one other party he didn’t mention which you might be referred to – CASE. Not that it makes a difference anyway as they will also turn you away because they do not deal with investment products.
Another thing that I agreed with was his view on property. High property prices lead to high rentals and inevitably, a higher cost of living. As an example, a hawker at his office premise was paying rental of $6000 and had no choice but to charge $6 for a plate of lunch.
So higher property prices might not necessarily benefit you if you had only one property.
During the talk, Mr Tan also gave everyone present a copy of his Shape Quiz and explained the reasons he was running for Presidency.
Note: This is an extract of the review. The full version of this article can be found in the MeNews for July 2011.
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