What do you do with your CPF?

The Central Provident Fund (CPF) is a comprehensive social security savings plan that has provided many working Singaporeans with a sense of security and confidence in managing their finance. There are 5 main areas which listed in the poll where you could make full use of your CPF to create, protect, enhance, preserve & distribute your CPF.

The objective of this particular poll is to find out which area of planning is your main concern based on your current life stage. 

2 ears 1 mouth... listen to talk, talk to listen?

Some reference questions which I have gathered and apply over my years in financial advisory...Feel free to add to this list. More could benefit from our sharing.

What do I want to accomplish with my life? What do I want to accomplish with my money? What is my number 1 priority? What are my top five priorities?

If I were now 100 and looking back, what would I Like to to have accomplished?

What's really important to me? What's important about money to me?

Where do I see myself in 5 years? 10 years? 20 years? at age 100?

What is my 100-year plan? What are my goals?What are the milestones in my life up tip now? What does financial freedom mean to me? What does success mean to me? Why am I here? What is my purpose? What is my mission?

If I could design and live my ideal calendar, what would it look like?

If I knew I had only six months to live, what changes would I make in my life?

If I knew I have only six months to live, what changes would I make in my estate plan?

If I could live my life over again, what would I do differently?

If I knew that I could not fail, what would I do?

If I had $1,000,000, what would I do with it? How would I want to leave it?

How much is enough? What is my exit strategy?

What are my primary concerns? What keeps me awake at night?

When I die, to whom will my family turn for advice? Who are my primary advisors?

What is the most important advice I could give to my children?

How do I want to be remembered by my children? My grandchildren? My favourite charity? My community? By society? If I were to be remembered for only one thing, what would I want it to be?

What would I like to accomplish as a result of developing a master action plan?

Who are the ten most important people in my life outside of my immediate family?

Where do I want my money to go?

How do I feel about the tax system in this country?

How do I feel about inherited wealth?

What is my investment philosophy?

Aside form my company stock, how would I rate myself as an investor?

What mistakes have I made as an investor?

Helpful Financial Tools in our Resource Center

7CAPITAL Resource Center provides some useful spreadsheets to help you in understanding your personal finance. This mind map tool provide direction and could lead you to spreadsheets that might be applicable to your situation. Side by side, explanation notes & illustrations, which is linked within my blog, helps to explain certain financial planning concepts. Hence, this would lead you to understand your current personal financial situation so that you could arrive your ultimate financial destination "safe & sound'. The available tools would determine how you are going to achieve your financial goal. BTW, going through the financial planning process required your conscious discipline, as my coach once told me, "Hock Beng, we can't build muscles by lifting feathers."

Do come back for more as I would be updating this mind map as whenever new stuffs (tools, applications, illustrations, templates) are ready and available for your references.

I hope that this reference would truly be a helpful resource for your personal financial well-being.


Create your own mind maps at MindMeister

Know your financial numbers!

Know your financial numbers! on Prezi

What are your financial objectives?

A key to successful financial planning is to identify your personal objectives, so that you are better placed to achieve them. The following objectives are some which my clients are aspired to achieve.
Which apply in your own case?

• INCREASE my net spendable income
• IMPROVE my quality of life
• SAVE tax (including income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax)
• INCREASE the return on my investments
• SAVE money by using it effectively
• INCREASE my expected income in retirement
• GAIN peace of mind by feeling financially comfortable
• REDUCE paperwork
• IMPROVE my insight into present and future values of my pension schemes
• INCREASE my financial security
• REDUCE time spent worrying about my financial affairs
• ACHIEVE financial independence
• IMPROVE my business performance
• SAFEGUARD my family and dependents
• IMPROVE the organisation of my financial affairs
• INCREASE my financial awareness
• REDUCE personal, business and investment risks
• INCREASE the net amounts I give to charity

Any interesting financial objectives to share?

7capital - capital creation

What are your financial concerns?

Most people are primarily concerned about the following:

• DEATH - Will their family have enough money if they die to young?
• DISABILITY - Will they and their family have enough money if they are disabled?
• RETIREMENT - Will they have adequate money to enable them to lead a comfortable retirement without fear of running out of money?
• ESTATE Planning - How can they ensure their money gets to their intended heirs and how can they minimise the impact of estate taxes and related costs?

If they own business, many of them are additionally concerned about:

• BUSINESS CONTINUATION PLANNING - Who will own and run the business and what impact will their death have on the business?
• SELECTIVE COMPENSATION PLANNING - How do you recruit, retain, and reward key people?