Insurance Today

Astrea IV Class A-1 bonds are the talk of the town right now, and I've received so many DMs about this so I'm finally sitting down to evaluate and write this. Details: - The bond is launched by Astrea IV Pte. Ltd, which is an indirect subsidiary of Temasek  - 4.35% interest rate offered - IPO applications close at 12 noon on 12 June 2018 - You can apply through ATM or online banking via DBS, POSB, OCBC or UOB - Minimum subscription amount: S$2,000 - You CANNOT use your CPF or SRS funds to apply for this bond. - Bond starts trading on SGX-ST on 18 June 2018 What are you  really  buying into? Now, don't get misled by the above headline published in The Business Times last week - this is NOT a Temasek bond. Rather, it is a bond issued by one of their subsidiaries. This is a really new and unique asset class because they're neither government-backed nor corporate bonds. Instead, they're private equity bonds. This is the 4th private equity bond that is being issued by A...

If you've ever used Obike before, open your app and check NOW. Because the chances are, your $49 deposit is probably gone. There's a high probability that Obike has sneakily, without your consent, taken your $49 deposit to purchase their "Super VIP plan" for 1095 days. According to a reader of mine, X, who tipped me off about this, this happened to her earlier this year in April...and she only discovered it today, two months later. Mind you, there was no notification to inform her that her deposit was gone. A quick glance at Facebook and Reddit shows that she's not the only affected victim. I'm not among the affected users because a few months ago, I had already sent in a request for the refund of my $49 deposit. And nope, I STILL haven't seen the refund credited back to my account. Neither am I the only one, if you simply head over to Obike's Facebook page here to see how many people are complaining that it has been months and they aren't receivi...

Did you know about these hidden costs in money transfers?  75% of Singaporeans don't understand the true cost of sending money overseas – which includes both upfront fees and an exchange rate markup. If you’ve ever transferred money abroad, you’d be familiar with how the money that’s received on the other end is usually much lesser than you thought it’ll be. I first experienced this when I had to make USD transfers for my crypto transactions and trades last year. There were so many hidden costs, to which I mostly attribute to: (i)             a higher exchange rate charged by the banks (ii)           a service fee for the transfer In some transfers, banks go through numerous third parties as well before the money reaches the other end. In such cases, each third party takes a fee as well, so your capital becomes smaller and smaller.  Even if there's a $0 transfer fee charged, it ...