Key Points: - Same sex marriage is not legal in Hong Kong - Case involves a gay couple who registered their marriage in London but property owned is in Hong Kong - Current law does not recognize foreign same-sex marriage and thus, partner won’t be able to inherit estate in the absence of a will, won’t be entitled to first priority in obtaining grant to the administration and others - Case still ongoing (For more information: https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3086395/lawyers-gay-homeowner-call-his-husband-be-given-equal ) We’re looking to feature experts and stories on LGBT+ estate planning issues, especially in countries where same sex marriage isn’t recognized. If you specialize in LGBT+ estate planning or have such stories/experiences to share, do drop us a note and we’ll reach out! Like or share this post to help us spread the word so we can help the community find the right help. Thank you! Read more: What Happens To My Stuff When I Die? (Singapore Edition) Guide To Making a Will - Singapore Edition All About Probate & Administration (Singapore Edition) Immortalize  is an Elderhood marketplace and information provider. We make planning and executing your plans for ageing, retirement, legacy and everything elderhood-related simple, easy and comprehensive! Find a professional, compare prices, and kickstart your estate planning Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a professional  for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .

Following the need for isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic, Australia is allowing witnessing to be done through audio visual means. This might seem like nothing in today's world where it is becoming common to see school kids taking notes on their e-tablets, but in the legal industry where many procedures are still dependent on paper and pen, this is a BIG breakthrough. Finally, welcome to 2020......! Wills, Power of Attorney and other documents will be impacted. We've selected some reader-friendly and informative articles for those who are interested in the details. Different states in Australia have different rules on electronic witnessing. For a great, concise summary on developments in each state, read: State by State – Electronic Witnessing during COVID-19 by Donna Benge and Samuel Morphett, Piper Alderman Other selected helpful reads: Electronic Witnessing Of Documents Under COVID-19 by Lucy Hartland and Sylvie Tso, Spruson & Ferguson Lawyers Key takeaway - " The Regulation does not create new provisions governing the way a document may be signed. Therefore, if, for example the document is a deed......, it will be necessary to have a wet signature rather than an electronic one." COVID-19 and Temporary Updates to Electronic Signing by Felicity Saxon, Corrs Chambers Westgarth Key takeaway - Summary of what documents can and cannot be electronically signed and impact of the new rule on these documents Read more: What Happens To My Stuff When I Die? (Singapore Edition) Guide To Making a Will - Singapore Edition Online will vs Lawyer vs Will Writing Company - Which to Choose? Demystifying Lasting Power of Attorney (Singapore Edition) All About Probate & Administration (Singapore Edition) Immortalize  is an Elderhood marketplace and information provider. We make planning and executing your plans for ageing, retirement, legacy and everything elderhood-related simple, easy and comprehensive! Find a professional, compare prices, and kickstart your estate planning Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a professional  for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .

The unsung heroes series is our way of highlighting outstanding estate planning/execution-related individuals to the general public. For our first ever unsung heroes post, we are featuring Luo Ling Ling, a partner at RHT Law Asia that deals with a range of legal work including probate and administration. " From sharing a one-room rental flat to being dismissed from her job, life hasn’t been kind to Luo Ling Ling. But she refused to give up or give in. For nearly a decade, the full-time lawyer has chosen to give back, sacrificing time with her four children to take on pro bono cases for clients facing capital charges......." --- Credits: Ministry of Law, Singapore https://www.linkedin.com/posts/minlawsg_probonopassion-activity-6649152033410646016-Gwbm Immortalize  is an Elderhood marketplace and information provider. We make planning and executing your plans for ageing, retirement, legacy and everything elderhood-related simple, easy and comprehensive! Find a professional, compare prices, and kickstart your estate planning Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a professional  for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/25/coronavirus-pandemic-triggers-rush-by-americans-to-make-online-wills.html One week we are all out working and enjoying the outdoors. The next week we're all asked to stay home. Have you thought abou t what happens to your estate (assets) and loved ones if the worst case scenario happens? Immortalize will be tapping on our influencer and expert network to help the public better understand how to plan for a sudden death. Below are some topics we have in mind. Let us know your questions and we will try to get them answered. Stay safe and healthy! Read more: What Happens To My Stuff When I Die? (Singapore Edition) Guide To Making a Will - Singapore Edition Online will vs Lawyer vs Will Writing Company - Which to Choose? Compare Will providers and How to Choose the Right One Immortalize  is an Elderhood marketplace and information provider. We make planning and executing your plans for ageing, retirement, legacy and everything elderhood-related simple, easy and comprehensive! Find a professional, compare prices, and kickstart your estate planning Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a professional  for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .

The G20 group of countries, under the guidance of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), may require crypto-asset exchanges to report customers' aggregate investments and transactions to national governments for tax transparency and information sharing purposes, according to STEP . Key highlights: OECD warns that as crypto-assets can be transferred and held without the intervention of traditional financial intermediaries, and without any central authority having full knowledge of the transactions or the holdings, crypto-assets can be exploited to undermine international tax transparency initiatives. In 2020, G20 group of countries asked the OECD to develop a framework for the automatic exchange of information on crypto-assets. The first draft, called the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), has now been issued for further consultation. CARF’s plan aims to ensure that individuals and entities that provide business services to exchange crypto-assets apply standard due-diligence procedures to identify their customers and then report the aggregate values of the exchanges and transfers for these customers annually. The OECD also proposes to extend the Common Reporting Standard scope to cover electronic money products, central bank digital currencies and indirect investments in crypto-assets through investment entities and derivatives. Link to the STEP article: https://www.step.org/industry-news/oecd-proposes-new-crypto-asset-reporting-tax-transparency-rules Read more: What Happens To My Stuff When I Die? (Singapore Edition) All About Probate & Administration (Singapore Edition) M ore articles and resources  > Immortalize Primers help you plan, research, manage and do anything to make your elderhood, spanning from retirement to your legacy, spectacular. Chat with a Primer now to help kick-start your elderhood journey with ease now! Immortalize is an Elderhood marketplace and information provider. We make planning and executing your plans for ageing, retirement, legacy and everything elderhood-related simple, easy and comprehensive! Find a professional, compare prices, and kickstart your estate planning Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a professional for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .

The forum, organized by PreceptsGroup International and EPPL Digital , touches on ways to invest and grow your CPF funds for your spectacular retirement life . Immortalize, an official media partner, sat through 12 hours of the webinar, listening to speakers from CPF Board, Endowus and DBS Bank, to bring you the most interesting and the key things you definitely need to know about CPF and your retirement. The event was held on Sep. 25 - 26, 2021. If you missed the webinar, here are the replays! Highlights from selected speakers: Georgina Gao, Assistant Director, CPF Board Most people whom she did survey with think that they will live till 80+ years old. But statistics show that 6 out of 10 people will live beyond 90. Note: Average mortality in Singapore is about 81 years old for men and 86 years old for women. This means that about 1 in 2 of us are going to live past 80+. As you grow older, the probability of living above the average increases, according to Lena Teng, Head of Solutions at MoneyOwl Pte Ltd. , who also spoke at the event. Immortalize commentary : The new mid-life is now ~50 years old! What do you think you will be doing at 90? Will you have enough money? Key consideration for old age are "If I spend too much, I might not have enough if I live too long. But if I spend too little, I’m depriving myself from enjoying my savings." What is the return on CPF accounts? The minimum rate of return you will get from Ordinary Account is 2.5% p.a., Special Account 4%, MediSave Account 4% and Retirement Account 4%. There are circumstances where you can get higher returns. Distribution of CPF monies after you pass away is not covered by your will. You will need to nominate who to receive your CPF monies after you pass away. In the absence of nomination, distribution will be based on intestacy laws, amount received by recipients are fixed, administrative fee will be charged by Public Trustee Office and the process can take up to 6 months Related: What Happens To My Stuff When I Die? (Singapore Edition) Your CPF savings cannot be included in your will to protect your savings from creditor claims What are covered (and not covered) by your CPF nomination? Covered - Ordinary Account, Special Account, MediSave, Retirement Account, unused CPF life premiums (if any) and discounted Singtel shares Not covered - Properties bought using your CPF savings, payouts from Dependents Protection Scheme and investments under CPF investment Scheme Ooi Sen Tee, Relationship Manager, PreceptsGroup International What are the potential problems with CPF nomination? No control on when to pay out Young nominees receive at age 18; Minor nominees’ needs are compromised Lump sum payout Results in squandering, prey to scammers, distraction, wrongful attention No substitute nominees If the nominee do not survive before you, the CPF savings will follow intestacy law No protection from nominees’ creditors If nominees is a bankrupt or facing creditors’ claim, CPF savings is not protected A potential solution to resolve issues that may arise from CPF nomination is the use of a CPF-specific trust. PreceptsGroup has introduced a new platform and digital trust, called ProviTrust, to help the masses overcome the issues that may arise from CPF nomination at a relatively low cost Related: CPF Money - Should You Nominate Your Kids Or Spouse Directly? Salim M. Amin, CEO, Avallis Financial There are 3 phases in our retirement affecting our expenditure pattern Active phase Doing what we have always wanted, travelling, outdoor activities, etc. Passive phase Slower pace activities, indoor hobbies, family-oriented Reliant phase Consolidation time, focus on sustenance of health level When can I retire? Generally, it can depend on your age, whether your kids have grown up, your health and your employer. An indicator would be “when I can afford not to earn an income and yet be able to pay for my expenses to the things I want to do for the rest of my life.” Immortalize commentary : Given that we don't know when we will live till, one way to make sure we have constant income after we stop working is to have enough to purchase an annuity. Annuity products generally pays out a sum of money each year/month that can help you cope with expenses after you stop working. There are many types of annuity products but most of them require commitment. Speak to many financial advisors before you commit to any! [Note: Immortalize has created a financial consultant marketplace where you can compare financial advisors and book them instantly to have a casual chat. The marketplace is still in beta mode but make sure to check back for more!] How does a 3 generation annuity plan work? Take up a life annuity on the life of a child with the father as a proposer and assign it to the grandfather Have a will or trust done to transfer the life annuity to the father on the death of the grandfather Include in the father’s will to transfer the life annuity to the child on his death (optional if a trust was done by the grandfather) What are the mistakes to avoid in retirement planning? Leveraging your retirement plans Plan to leave something behind when you don’t have enough for yourself Hope for unrealistic investment returns Put all your eggs in 1 basket Think that you can manage your investment for life Think that you can depend on others Lim Kim Hong, Lawyer, Kim & Co. What are the implications of divorce on CPF? CPF monies is a form of matrimonial assets, which means it may be divided upon a divorce Divorce does not revoke CPF nomination Ng Wai Mun, Senior Assistant Director, Insolvency & Public Trustee’s Office With a will, the Public Trustee Office will hold monies for minor beneficiaries until they turn 18 Without a will, monies will be withheld until the minor beneficiaries turn 21 Samuel Rhee, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer, Endowus People hesitate to invest their CPF monies because of fear of volatility. When investing long-term, focusing on recent performance is a myopic perspective. The longer you invest, the greater the chance of outperforming the CPF ordinary account rate (CPF Ordinary Account has a guaranteed return of at least 2.5%) Time decay of risk - The longer you invest, the more stable the returns You should demand a higher return or lower risk if you are locking your investment for long period of time You need an investment strategy that is holistic and diversified, with a certainty of outcomes that you can reach your goals with a high probability of success Related: Don't Choose a Roboadvisor That Tells You It Will Beat the Market: Endowus Secret To Investing Like Sovereign Funds - Don't Pay High Fees: Endowus M ore articles and resources > Immortalize  is an Elderhood marketplace and information provider. We make planning and executing your plans for ageing, retirement, legacy and everything elderhood-related simple, easy and comprehensive! Immortalize Who's Who   series seeks to profile service providers in the legacy planning space to help you better identify and relate to the best, the most outstanding and the legitimate providers. Speak to our team now and let us give you a quick summary of what you need to know to help kick start your elderhood planning journey! Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a professional for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .

CPF LIFE is Singapore's national longevity insurance annuity scheme. In Part 1 & 2 of our CPF LIFE series, we explained how CPF LIFE works and why CPF LIFE is better than its predecessor, Retirement Sum Scheme and other private annuities when it comes to hedging longevity risk - the risk of you outliving your economic resources. Related: CPF LIFE - Best Gift From The Singapore Government? CPF LIFE, Retirement Sum Scheme or Private Annuity? Which is Better? As good as it may be, there is a limit to how much you can get from CPF LIFE. In part 3 of this CPF LIFE series, we'll look at how we can maximize the payout from CPF LIFE to help negate the cost of ageing. Strategy to maximize CPF LIFE payout A lot of whether you should and how to maximize payout from CPF LIFE depends on the tradeoff between enjoying the money now and protecting against longevity risk. In determining the strategy to maximize payout from CPF LIFE, we are going to make two major assumptions. Assumptions At the time when you make your decision, (1) Extra money is good to have but you don't really need the money in the near future; and (2) You are going to try to live healthy for longer and thus, hedging longevity risk is the key priority when it comes to CPF LIFE. These assumptions are critical to our discussion on maximizing CPF LIFE payout. If you need the money for survival or more important priorities at the point in time when you are making your decision, maximizing CPF LIFE payout - a benefit that you will only get in future, may not be the best decision. Given the assumptions, here are some factors that you can control to maximize your payouts. Defer payout Choose escalating plan Aim for the CPF LIFE premium cap We will explain each of these in turn. Should I defer my CPF LIFE payout? Yes. When you reach 65 years old, you can choose to start payout or defer till up to 70 years old. For each year that you defer, your payouts will increase by up to 7%. This means that if you choose to defer until age 70, your payouts will increase by up to 35%. The tradeoff or what you are giving up for the higher payouts are: (1) 5 years worth of payout; and (2) a higher payout that has less value today (time value of money) Given the assumptions (you don't need money now and hedging longevity risk is key), deferring will payoff in the long run. It's a gamble but probably a gamble you have some control over and worth aiming for. CPF LIFE: Should I choose Standard Plan or Escalating Plan? Choose Escalating Plan if you can . Here's a refresher: Standard Plan - Fixed/Same payout every month Escalating Plan - Payout that increases by 2% every year Given the inflationary environment now, you should have experienced a noticeable increase in price of your favorite chicken rice or noticed that that plate of chicken rice has now shrunk significantly in size compared to a few years back. While CPF LIFE's Escalating Plan and its 2% increase in payout is not a full-proof protection against inflation, it helps. The tradeoff of choosing Escalating Plan over Standard Plan is that initially, you will get a smaller monthly payout. But because your payout under Escalating Plan increases 2% every year, at a certain point, the payout under Escalating Plan will exceed the constant payout from the Standard Plan. What Is The Maximum Amount I Can Put In CPF LIFE? In short, the cap on CPF LIFE premium is the Enhanced Retirement Sum (ERS) and any accrued interest . What this means is that in order to put in the maximum amount of premium for CPF LIFE, you need to have the ERS when you are 55 years old and let it grow . Here's the detailed explanation. As a working adult in Singapore, your CPF will have the Ordinary Account (OA), Special Account (SA) and MediSave Account (MA). When you turn 55, a Retirement Account (RA) will be created and you will need to set aside a retirement sum in your RA. The retirement sum you need to set aside is determined when you turn 55 and is fixed for life. Once the retirement sum is set, the money is transferred from your SA, followed by OA, to the RA and you can use the amount you have in the RA to join CPF LIFE. How much retirement sum needs to or can be transferred depends on several factors and this is where we need to introduce the Basic Retirement Sum (BRS), Full Retirement Sum (FRS), and Enhanced Retirement Sum (ERS). Note: FRS = 2 times BRS ERS = 3 times BRS If you own a property that can last you up to 95 years old, you can choose to set aside the BRS. BRS is meant to provide you with monthly payouts during your retirement that cover basic living expenses. You can check out how BRS is calculated here . In 2022, BRS is set at $96,000 and you can find the full table here . *Note: It is not compulsory for you to set aside the BRS and you do not need to top up the shortfall with cash or sell your property for the BRS. You will just get payouts (if any) from the existing amount in your RA. If you don't own a property or wish to receive higher monthly payouts, you can choose to set aside up to FRS, which is 2 times of BRS, from your SA/OA. If you wish to put more in your RA and receive even higher payout, you can choose to top up (in cash and/or via CPF transfers) your RA to the ERS amount, which is 3 times of BRS. See more information on top ups here . Note: Your FRS is fixed whereas your ERS, the maximum you can top up, increases to the prevailing ERS every year. CPF LIFE premium floor & cap The prevailing ERS plus any accumulated interested in your RA is the maximum amount of CPF savings that you can use to join CPF LIFE. There is no minimum required amount to join CPF LIFE. The key trick to maximizing CPF LIFE payouts What this really means is that in order for you to put in the maximum amount for CPF LIFE allowed by the government, you have to have the prevailing ERS at 55 years old and let it accumulate interest. At the same time, you should, if you can, top up whenever ERS increases to fully capitalize on the interest that can be earned. You can't wait till you are 70 years old to put in the ERS + interest because the maximum that the government allow s you to top up for your RA is to the prevailing ERS. Note: Matched Retirement Savings Scheme If you are a senior and your RA has less than the BRS, the government may match your top up to up to S$600 a year. The Scheme, which aims to help senior Singaporeans who have yet to reach the current BRS save more for retirement, was introduced in 2021 and will last for at least 5 years. Check here for your eligibility. Click here more information on the scheme. Can I top up CPF LIFE after I have started payout? Yes. There is no age limit for making or receiving (from your family) top-up. You can continue to top up as long as you have available top up limit . Top up limit = Current ERS - Your RA savings Your RA savings = Cash set aside in RA (excluding interest earned, government grants) + Amount withdrawn (eg monthly payout, lump sum withdrawal at an eligible age) You can also find your top up limit in your CPF Retirement Dashboard . Conclusion on maximizing CPF LIFE payout In summary, in order to maximize your CPF LIFE payout, you should: Try to have the Enhanced Retirement Sum (ERS) in your RA when you are 55 years old; Top up annually when the ERS increases; Defer your payouts till 70 years old; and Choose Escalating Plan for your CPF LIFE payouts, if you can But wait! I am deferring my gratification now to protect my old age. What if I fall sick and need the money? Can I get out of CPF LIFE? Can I cancel my CPF LIFE after I join? Yes but only under the following circumstances: : You have a reduced life expectancy due to a medical condition that is certified by an accredited doctor. Severe medical conditions that cause you to be permanently unfit for work or to lack mental capacity permanently can be considered. You are about to leave or have left Singapore and West Malaysia permanently with no intention of returning to Singapore for work or to live. You are a Malaysian citizen and have left Singapore permanently to live in West Malaysia. You are fully exempted from setting aside the retirement sum in your Retirement Account because you are receiving a monthly pension / annuity payout. Upon cancellation, you will receive a refund of your CPF LIFE premium balance (if any). What happens to my CPF LIFE premium if I die? When you start your CPF LIFE payout, the payouts will first be deducted from the CPF LIFE premium that you paid. If you pass away after your premium has been used up, nothing happens. If you pass away before the premium has been used up, the unused premium will be distributed to your CPF nominees or intestacy law if you haven't nominate your CPF. Related: CPF Inheritance: How It Works, Tips & More! For CPF LIFE, only the unused premium will be refunded to your beneficiaries . The interest accrued on the premium will not. This is in contrast with the Retirement Sum Scheme, where both the remaining money in your Retirement Account and the interested earned are distributed to your beneficiaries. Next: CPF Investment Scheme: How It Works, Inheritance & More Back to CPF, CPF LIFE, SRS X Inheritance Series > Back to Resource page > Immortalize is Singapore's most comprehensive elderhood marketplace and information provider. Find out all you need to know about ageing better , retiring more meaningfully and leaving a legacy that is uniquely yours here and let us help you get these sorted easily. Outsource the work and start planning for you and your family's legacy with Immortalize Prime, your personal elderhood planning assistant ! FAQs Is there a cap for CPF LIFE? Yes. The prevailing Enhanced Retirement Sum plus any accumulated interested in your Retirement Account is the maximum amount of CPF savings that you can use to join CPF LIFE. Is there a minimum amount needed for join CPF LIFE? No, there is no minimum required amount to join CPF LIFE. Are CPF LIFE payouts fixed and guaranteed? No. CPF LIFE payouts are not guaranteed, but they are designed to be stable. Any adjustments to CPF LIFE payouts are expected to be small and gradual. CPF LIFE is a self-sustaining insurance scheme where payouts are matched to premiums. Guaranteeing a minimum payout would require higher premiums. How to maximize payouts for CPF LIFE? To maximize the payouts for CPF LIFE given the assumptions (you don't need money now and hedging longevity risk is key), you should (1) have the Enhanced Retirement Sum (ERS) in your Retirement Account when you are 55 years old, (2) top up annually when the ERS increases, (3) defer your payouts till 70 years old and (4) choose Escalating Plan for your CPF LIFE payouts if you can. Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a professional for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .

Here's an insurance policy that most Singaporean adults and permanent residents didn't know they have - Dependants' Protection Insurance. In this short article, we run through the basics of how this CPF-related scheme works and how to benefit from it. What is Dependants’ Protection Scheme? Dependants' Protection Scheme (DPS) is a term life insurance scheme that provides basic financial protection for you and your family in the event of death, terminal illness or total permanent disability. DPS is administered by Great Eastern Life and can be paid using your CPF savings. A DPS claim can be made by your next of kin upon your demise or if you’re certified to be suffering from terminal illness or total permanent disability Before 60 years old, you are insured a sum of up to S$70,000. After that and up to 65 years old, you are insured a maximum sum of S$55,000. The policy ends when you turn 65 years old. Who is eligible for DPS? You are automatically included upon your first CPF working contribution if you're a Singapore Citizen (SC) or Permanent Resident (PR) between age 21 and 65. Note: DPS is not compulsory. You can choose to terminate. How much you pay for your DPS depends on your age. The premium can range from $18-$298 per year. Check here for how much you are paying for your DPS and here for the benefits you are getting. What happens to my DPS when I die? CPF will inform the insurer and if a DPS nomination has been made, the insurer will send the claim application details to the assigned nominee(s). In the absence of a DPS nomination, the details will be sent to your correspondence address. Your family can also make a claim directly by submitting an application to the insurer. The pay out will be given to the deceased's estate and be distributed either based on your will or intestacy law . Note: DPS is previously administered by NTUC Income. If your previous DPS nomination was done with NTUC Income, you will be required to make a new one. Need help consolidating or sorting out your insurance affairs, find and compare financial consultants via our Immortalize Marketplace . Inheritance-related articles: How are my assets distributed after I die? (Singapore Edition) How Does Muslim Inheritance Work in Singapore? Others in the CPF-related Series Part 1: CPF Inheritance: How It Works, Tips & More! Part 2: CPF LIFE - The Best Gift From The Government? Part 3: CPF LIFE, Retirement Sum Scheme or Private Annuity? Which is Better? Part 4: How Can I Maximize the Payout From CPF LIFE Part 5: CPF Investment Scheme: How It Works, Inheritance & More! Part 6: Supplementary Retirement Scheme: How It Works, Inheritance & More! Subscribe to our mailing list to get the articles delivered straight to your inbox. Back to CPF, CPF, SRS X Inheritance Series > Back to Resource > Immortalize is Singapore's most comprehensive elderhood marketplace and information provider. Find out all you need to know about ageing better , retiring more meaningfully and leaving a legacy that is uniquely yours here and let us help you get these sorted easily. Outsource the work and start planning for you and your family's legacy with Immortalize Prime, your personal elderhood planning assistant ! Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice, financial advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a p rofessional for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .

Say you own a property under joint tenancy with another person. If you pass away, generally speaking, the right of survivorship will apply, it supersedes your will and your share in the house will be passed on to the surviving joint tenant. However, after a recent Singapore Court ruling , this may not always be the case, The Straits Times reports . Court case involves a man who owns a 3-room HDB flat with one of his daughter as a joint tenant. Man, a "traditional patriarch", said in his will that the flat will go to his only son. Man has 7 daughters and 1 son. The High Court ruled that the daughter, who was a joint owner, would inherit the flat But the Court of Appeal overturned the decision as there was sufficient evidence to show that the man didn’t intend for the flat to go to this daughter. The court noted that a surviving joint owner of a property does not have an automatic right to inherit the property if this is clearly not the intention of the other owner. This is especially so if the surviving joint owner did not pay anything for the share in the property. The Court ordered the daughter to sell the flat and be accountable to her father's estate for all income and losses relating to the property. She also had to pay the legal costs of $40,000 incurred by the family. Need help on Property X Inheritance? Speak to us now. We can answer some general questions and help you find the right lawyer/provider that suits your needs and budget to assist you with your estate planning. Immortalize  is an Elderhood marketplace and information provider. We make planning and executing your plans for ageing, retirement, legacy and everything elderhood-related simple, easy and comprehensive! Want to outsource your legacy planning work? Check out Immortalize Prime , your elderhood personal assistant. Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a professional  for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .

In today's digital world, assets left behind by loved ones are increasingly difficult to uncover and access. Most people don’t know what assets their loved ones had or where to start looking, according to Iwan Hartono, director from the company behind vaultbox, a digital vault provider. We discussed with Iwan on how to easily manage your asset information as well as the novel concept of digital sealed envelopes. Name: Iwan Hartono Company: Sircured Pte. Ltd. Product: vaultbox Base Country: Singapore Anything interesting: Can build computers and likes organizing Immortalize exclusive promos available! Q: What is vaultbox and how did you get involved with vaultbox? Hartono: vaultbox is a digital safety deposit box. You can store, organize and monitor information on all your assets , including local and international assets, wills , insurance policies, and other important documents, electronically in one place. vaultbox keeps all your data secure and no one, including us, can have access to the data you've stored unless it’s someone you want to give access to. The trigger to create vaultbox came about after our founder, Matt Richards, realized that he had no place to store information on his assets in different countries and it made it very difficult to do his own legacy planning . I know Matt from my previous role and decided to join him about a year back. Q: How does vaultbox work as a digital vault? Hartono: There are three parts to vaultbox. Net worth Tracking First, you can track your net worth. Just like how you would read a financial statement, all your assets and liabilities are under the balance sheet and that makes up your net worth. You input the information and vaultbox will generate a graph to give you an overview of your net worth, breaking down into different asset classes and currencies. It also allows you to update your assets and liabilities over time to keep your net worth up-to-date. Store Documents Digitally The second part is digital storage. People often categorize us with other ‘boxes’ such as Dropbox and Box.com because of the “box” in our name. But we are not just a box that you merely throw documents in. When you have supporting documents of your assets and liabilities, vaultbox allows you to link these documents to your relevant assets and liabilities, contacts, passwords and calendar events, helping you or your deputies (people who you gave access to) find and retrieve relevant information easily. Assume for example that you own an apartment and you have the mortgage agreement for your apartment. If you want to contact your banker, you would have to go to your storage room, search inside your cabinet for the document, and look for your banker’s number in your phone. All of these items and information are related but they are scattered in various places. vaultbox can help by linking all these related things together so they are more organized and meaningful. Give Access to 'Deputies' The third part is related to legacy. After you have stored and created linkages to all your information, you can give access to others (referred to as ‘deputies’). There are two types of deputy depending on the purpose of the access. Personal vs Professional Deputy The first one is what we call a personal deputy. These are people such as your spouse or children. If you lose your password or cannot access your vaultbox, they can help unlock your account for you. The second one is a professional deputy. Professional deputy is someone who is not a family member such as a trustee , a financial planner or a lawyer. You prepare a set of instructions, and when you pass away or become incapacitated (ie. physically impaired or don't have mental capacity ), your professional deputy will carry out your saved instructions using our smart legacy management feature. Additionally, vaultbox has a function that if you are inactive for a period of time, your deputy will be notified. Q: Why do people need a digital vault? Hartono: vaultbox is very legacy planning-focused and the reason why you need a digital vault for legacy planning is clear and obvious, but most people don’t do it until there is an urgent need. When someone close to you passes away, you would need to start looking at what this person has. You may wonder if he/she has a deposit box. If yes, what number is it and where is the key? If all the information were not stored in one place, where do you start looking? This is why when something happens, people will frantically scramble through things. Related Article: What Happens To My Stuff When I Die? (Singapore Edition) Firsthand Experience Three years ago, a relative came up to me and asked for my help because her husband had just passed away. Other than knowing that her husband has a bank account in Singapore, she and her family have no information about his assets. ‘What is the account number?’, ‘Are there any passbooks and passwords?’ are some of the questions that I asked. Turns out, they are very clueless. They don’t even know how much is inside the account! The Digital Age So how do you even start your search for these kinds of scenarios? In the olden days, when someone passed away, you could straight up rummage through their stuff. But as we move into the digital world, you don’t have stuff to look through. Going back to my relative's case, the first thing she can do is bring a copy of her husband’s passport and ask every bank whether there is an account. Even if she can find it, the bank can’t do anything. She must first go to court to get a grant of probate or grant of letters of administration , which are legal documents issued by the court, so that she can have the legal power to access his bank account. But given that she doesn’t know how much is in the account, she needs to consider if it’s worth the effort. What if the account only has $5,000? The fees for getting a court order to have access to his assets could cost just as much if not more. Read more: All About Probate and Administration (Singapore Edition) Q: Who is vaultbox’s target audience? Hartono: Our target audience are basically people who are at a certain age and have experienced certain life events. Broadly speaking, it would be working adults, people who are married, have a family and maybe have kids, or have gone through the death of a loved one. When you are young, you may not have that many experiences and therefore, you may be less able to understand the need of a digital vault. In terms of geography, we primarily focus on countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia as well as Singapore. Q: How do you compare vaultbox to the Singapore government’s My Legacy digital vault? Hartono: My Legacy is by the Singapore government and so, it is very Singapore-centric. If you have assets outside of Singapore, you need something more than that. This is where vaultbox becomes more handy. No Access To Your Data The other thing is privacy. One differentiating factor about our platform is that we do not have access to the data that you put inside. This is also the key difference between us and other platforms like OneDrive and Google Drive. They can actually look into your data but we can’t. Q: Are there any exciting features that our audience can look forward to? Hartono: One interesting feature is a digital sealed envelope. In traditional legacy planning, what people do is that they write some instructions, put it in a sealed envelope and give it to the trustee. The trustee will just hold onto the envelope and pass on the sealed envelope to the appropriate person when certain events happen. The trustee won’t know the contents inside the envelope. For vaultbox, right now, once you give access to your professional deputy, he/she can see everything. But we are working on this digital sealed envelope feature and hopefully it will be available in the first quarter of 2022. Q: What do you think are the potential triggers that will cause more people to use digital vaults? Hartono: We haven’t quite fully captured the people who need it yet. A lot more education needs to be done so that people realize the importance of organizing their asset information and having someone have access to it. We’ve made it really simple and easy-to-use for people to do just that. It’s just like Netflix and Spotify. We didn’t have those before, but once some people have tried and used it, they realized how convenient and easy it is to use and they tell others about it. Not enough people know about digitals vaults now. But they will and once they do, they will know the importance of it, the convenience of using it, and it will be the tipping point for mass adoption. Q: Anything interesting about you? Hartono: My background is in electrical engineering. I was quite geeky back in my university days. I used to help people fix and build their computers. These days, I spend my weekends with my family. I also have a thing about organizing things and keeping things in the right order. This interview has been edited for length. Back to more profile interviews > Back to more articles and resources > FAQs What is a digital vault? Digital vault is like a safety deposit box but for digital assets and information. It allows you to store, organize and monitor information on your assets and important documents electronically in one place. What is the use of a digital vault? A digital vault stores all your important information electronically in one place. One use of digital vaults can be for legacy planning. Some digital vaults allow selected people to have access to your asset information in case you pass away. What is a digital sealed envelope? A digital sealed envelope is a digital version of a sealed envelope. In traditional legacy planning, people write important instructions, put it in a sealed envelope and give it to the trustee. The trustee will hold onto the envelope and pass on the sealed envelope to the appropriate person when certain events happen. The trustee won’t know the contents inside the envelope. Immortalize  is an Elderhood marketplace and information provider. We make planning and executing your plans for ageing, retirement, legacy and everything elderhood-related simple, easy and comprehensive! Immortalize Who's Who   series seeks to profile service providers in the legacy planning space to help you better identify and relate to the best, the most outstanding and the legitimate providers. Find a professional, compare prices, and kickstart your elderhood planning! Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a professional for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .

Hospital emergency rooms are infamous for being overcrowded. Instead of waiting for hours in the hospitals where ambulances constantly bring in sicker patients, people who need care urgently can consider treatment at urgent care clinics, according to Cheah Si Oon, an Emergency Specialist at Urgent Care Clinic International. We discussed with Cheah on what is urgent care, when patients should choose urgent care clinics over hospital emergency rooms and why making an Advance Care Plan is important. Name: Cheah Si Oon Company: Urgent Care Clinic International Medical Specialization: Emergency Care Base Country: Singapore Service Style: Efficient, personalized, compassionate Anything Interesting: Avid scuba diver who finds joy in reading children’s books Clinic Location: Parkroyal on Kitchener Road, 181 Kitchener Road, #01-01, Singapore 208533 (Central Singapore CDC) Q: Can you tell us more about yourself? Why did you decide to be a doctor? Cheah: My story is very typical. I wanted to be a doctor because I wanted to help people. I ended up specializing in emergency care and working in the hospital’s Accident & Emergency (A&E) department for more than 10 years because I like to multi-task and handle different kinds of challenges. Q: Is A&E in real-life similar to what you see in the movies? Cheah: Yes! You might remember the US television drama, ER, which came out around the same time as when I started in A&E. We get different kinds of cases every day and just deal with whatever life throws at us. It’s never boring there. We are constantly in motion and everything looks messy to the eye but it’s our kind of “organized” mess. All the doctors and nurses know where everything is, and we know exactly what our roles are. Q: What is the most significant incident that you still remember till this day? Cheah: We get to see many different cases, but the ones that we find it difficult to forget are the traumatic incidents with tragic outcomes, sometimes involving multiple casualties. The recent most memorable incident for me happened in 2017. A pregnant woman was knocked down by a truck when she was crossing the road. She collapsed on arrival at the A&E and we had to perform a perimortem cesarean section (the delivery of a fetus during or near the time of death of the mother) to save the baby. We tried to save both the mother and the baby, but in the end, we only managed to save the premature baby, who is miraculously doing very well today. Even though we couldn’t save the mother, it still feels very rewarding to be able to do what we did. Q: Do you get immune to death after dealing with so many cases? Cheah: No, I think it’s very hard to be immune, or even get immune at all. You just learn how to deal with your emotions through time. It’s always going to be difficult when it comes to death. As a senior doctor, we are like the captain of a boat. We have to quickly make sure all our junior doctors and nurses are okay emotionally, because most of the time before anyone can fully recover from one case, new cases will appear. We see patients with sudden cardiac arrests from accidents or heart attacks on a regular basis. It is devastating to break the news to the family. Typically, we don’t break the news over the phone, because we don’t know how the family will take the news. We don’t know what ages the family members are or whether they will faint when they hear the news, so we wait for them to come to the hospital and then slowly break the news to them. That’s the least we can do. Q: You are now running your own clinic focusing on “urgent care”. What exactly is urgent care and what made you start your own clinic? Cheah: Urgent care is for people whose conditions are urgent enough to need to see a doctor urgently, but not for emergency life-threatening cases. Instead of waiting for hours in hospitals, where ambulances constantly bring in sicker patients, people who need care urgently can be treated in a non-hospital setting like my clinic. If you are sick, there are generally two places that you would go to - your neighborhood clinic that does general practice or if it’s urgent, you would go to the hospital’s A&E. But something is missing in between. Not everyone who needs to be treated urgently will require hospital admission. Only about 30% of the urgent cases end up with an admission. My co-founders and I realized that there’s this gap where a lot of urgent patients can actually be treated quickly and discharged home. Me and my other two co-founders are all Emergency Specialists. We understand the frustration of waiting at the A&E for 5-6 hours to be seen by a doctor. We started to think of ways on how we can decongest A&E and reduce patient waiting time in Singapore, and that’s how our clinic came about. Urgent Care Concept Urgent care is not a new concept. Some countries, like the United States (US), already have urgent care to help decongest A&E. Urgent care is a sub-specialization in the US, and I’ve been observing its development. I believe that if 10% of the A&E patients can be brought to clinics that provide urgent care, this will help significantly decongest A&Es in Singapore. Another reason why I decided to leave A&E and start my own clinic is because I want to know my patients better and have closer relationships with them and their family. At A&E, we have very little time to interact with patients and family. Over time, I felt like there wasn’t really a close doctor-patient relationship where I could follow-up with their recovery. Q: How is your clinic different compared to public and private hospitals and other clinics? Cheah: Even though we are a clinic, we’re slightly different from other clinics as our doctors are all emergency specialists. Some people described us as “super” GPs or jack of all trades, who know a little bit of everything and have the skills to perform most of the simple procedures. Compared to public and private hospitals, our clinic can provide patients with faster care for certain emergencies, and patients can be treated by an Emergency Specialist from the start. For example, if you have a very bad ankle sprain or a minor fracture, but not to the extent that you need surgery, we can put you on a walking boot instead of a plaster cast. You will be able to avoid multiple visits to the hospital for change of plaster cast and cast removal. You will still be able to maintain your mobility and save time and money as well. House Visits For Elderly Patients We do house visits as well, where we would go to patient's homes to see them instead of them visiting a hospital’s A&E. For example, if you have stomach pain, but you’re not sure whether it is food poisoning, a problem with your gallbladder or something else, we can go to your home much like a mobile A&E doctor. We can perform blood tests by the bedside and we can also use a portable ultrasound machine to look for gallstones and gallbladder infection. We can provide intravenous (IV - a medical technique that administers medication or fluids directly into a person’s vein) antibiotics for infection as well as IV fluids for rehydration at your home. This may be a good option for elderly patients with dementia who are more comfortable in their own home as they often get disoriented by unfamiliar places like hospitals. Another difference between us and the hospitals is our charges. We charge slightly higher than public hospitals’ A&Es but are more affordable than private hospitals. Public hospitals are heavily subsidized by the government and thus the cheaper charges. Q: What is a typical patient for you? Cheah: We treat patients with any minor accidents which do not need immediate surgeries such as falls, fractures, cuts, bruises, and dislocations. We also treat patients with mild infections, for example, skin infections such as cellulitis, boils and bacterial infections such as urinary tract infection, food poisoning and dengue infection, who may need some IV hydration. We are not able to follow through life-threatening emergencies, such as heart attacks and strokes which require big scanners for diagnosis, or surgeries, such as perforated appendixes. Q: How does someone know when to call your clinic or an ambulance for emergencies? Cheah: If you have life-threatening symptoms such as severe or crushing chest pain, where you suspect it’s a heart attack, you should call an ambulance. The ambulance would know which hospital has a 24/7 cardiologist that can perform urgent medical procedures on you. If you were in an accident which resulted in massive bleeding and fractures with bone jutting out of your skin, you would definitely need surgery, so you should call an ambulance as well. If you are able to make your way to the A&E on your own with minor symptoms, you may be a suitable patient for urgent care. If you are not sure whether you should come to us or whether someone like an elderly patient is suitable for a house visit, you can give us a call or send in a photo of your injury and we will evaluate and advise what’s the best course of action for you. We have this concierge-like service because we think the public is unsure about the medical system, so we want to provide a bit of guidance on what they should do for different emergencies. Q: What services do you provide in the elderhood space? Cheah: We help people do Advance Medical Directive (AMD) , Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) , Advance Care Planning (ACP) , and death certification. A lot of people, especially elderlies who are nearing their end of life, either from cancer, old age or other reasons, actually want to die at the comfort of their home. Many patients, who are on palliative care (specialized medical care that helps people relieve pain and other symptoms because of serious or life-threatening illnesses, such as cancer or heart failure), still have mental capacity and want to be taken care of in a certain way. One way to achieve what these patients want is through ACP. [Advance Care Planning (ACP) is the process of planning for your future healthcare options. It is a non-legally binding document that allows you to have a say in your healthcare when you no longer have mental capacity.] Read more: Demystifying Advance Care Planning (Singapore Edition) Demystifying Lasting Power of Attorney (Singapore Edition) Demystifying Advance Medical Directive (Singapore Edition) Q: What is your ACP procedure? Cheah: If you already know what you want to do, that’s great, you can just get us to sign off your ACP document. But if you don’t know what you want to do, then you will have to consult us first. During the consultation, we will determine if you are still mentally capable of making your own decisions. Once we have established that you are still mentally capable, we can assess your medical history and details and the medications you have taken through the National Electronic Health Records (NEHR) database. Next, we will have an open discussion with you because the details that go into ACP are very in depth. Let’s say you are a patient diagnosed with end-stage colon cancer, we will ask what care would you want and to what extent. Detailing Your Healthcare Preferences If there are symptoms relating to your cancer but are not immediately fatal, such as slow bleeding in your body, what do you want medical professionals to do? Do you want us to still provide you with intermittent blood transfusion (medical procedure that transfers one person’s blood to you to replace lost blood)? If you developed medical issues that are unrelated to your cancer and are reversible such as fever and pneumonia, would you want to be treated and be put on antibiotics? What if it’s a sudden medical catastrophe that is so great that your heart stops? Do you want medical professionals to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR - a lifesaving emergency procedure to restore blood circulation and breathing when your breathing or heart stops), put a tube down your throat and then put you on an artificial ventilation machine (equipment that helps you breathe when you can’t breathe on your own)? What if your cancer is causing you to feel so sick that the cancer cells have spread to your brain and you can no longer eat, do you want to be put on an artificial feeding tube? Consider Doing Your Advance Care Plan If your answer is no to certain things, you would rather not suffer than to get those procedures performed on you, we’ll put that wish on your document. After you have decided that you want to do your ACP and made sure that your wishes are documented, we will sign off the document for you. We highly advise that your children or family members are made aware of your decision when you are doing your ACP. If you have many children or family members, pre-select a primary healthcare spokesperson that will speak on your behalf for when you lose mental capacity, because that would make things easier for medical professionals when they only need to talk to one person to make certain decisions. (Want to get started on your ACP but find it too difficult? Reach out to providers who can help you with your ACP here ) Q: How does an ACP get activated? Cheah: For instance, a cancer patient could have signed his ACP to allow pain medications to be given for his cancer to alleviate his pain but not further surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy to remove or shrink his tumor. So when this patient is suffering from pain, medical professionals like us can follow his ACP instructions and make him more comfortable. He may not need hospitalization for further scans and surgical procedures, because we understand what his wishes are. There was a case where one of our patients had signed her ACP. And in her ACP, she stated that she doesn’t want surgery, transfusion, artificial tubes or any life support procedures for her illness and only wants to treat issues that are reversible. One day, she developed symptoms of confusion and is not eating well. At first we thought it’s her illness causing these symptoms, and since her ACP says she doesn’t want to be fed by artificial tubes, we followed her ACP instructions and didn’t proceed to force her to go to the hospital. We later found out it was actually her chronic medications (medications that are taken on a regular basis for long-lasting illnesses) that caused her sodium level to be lower than average. This is a treatable issue so we immediately took action and corrected her sodium level. After a short period of IV fluid treatment, she recovered from her confusion. Q: What are some of the common issues that people face when they do or have done their ACP? Cheah: When it comes to ACP, one of the common issues that people face is when they have never had prior discussion about end-of-life planning before they come in to sign their ACP. ACP is something that you can discuss with your family before you decide to sign the document. There are available brochures to assist you to start the difficult conversation with your family. Another thing that most people don’t know is that ACP is reversible. A lot of patients and family members are not comfortable signing the document because they think it is permanent. They are also afraid that they will not receive care when they need it nearing their end of life. For details about the extent of care, which can sometimes be too technical, we can provide you with more information and examples to help you with your decision. You can have a discussion with your family first and then come back when you are ready. It’s good to have your family around when you do your ACP so they are aware of your wishes. Difficult For Caregivers To Be Bystanders The other issue is that it’s often very hard for caregivers to be bystanders in situations where they have to witness the patients’ pains and sufferings. In many cases, they will inevitably bring patients to the hospital and patients have to die in the hospital. But this is exactly the sort of thing that the elderlies are trying to avoid. At the end of the day, everyone wants to have a comfortable last day in life. Everyone wants to leave this world peacefully with no suffering. A lot of what we do is advise dying patients of what to expect and prepare, and make them as comfortable as possible. In turn, caregivers can also be mentally prepared and won’t be too traumatized when the day comes. Q: What are your interests or hobbies? Cheah: My ‘real’ full time job is taking care of my three kids who are all under 12 ( laughs )! Currently I’m discovering my second childhood and being introduced to books that 11-year-olds enjoy reading. Remember the time when Harry Potter was hugely popular? Now there are many more books and series about dragons and magic. When the kids are old enough, I want to go back to scuba diving. I used to dive with my husband. It's something that we both find very therapeutic. This interview has been edited for length. Back to profile interviews > All articles and resources > Immortalize offers Prime Concierge, a personal assistant service, to help you plan for your spectacular ageing and retirement life that includes Will, Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA), Advance Medical Directive(AMD), Advance Care Planning (ACP), and more! FAQs What is urgent care? Urgent care is a medical service that provides care for people whose conditions require treatment by a doctor urgently, but are not life-threatening. Should you call an ambulance or a clinic that provides urgent care when there is an emergency? If you can make your way to the A&E on your own with minor symptoms, a clinic with urgent care services may be able to treat you. For more severe emergencies, you should call an ambulance. Should I discuss my Advance Care Planning (ACP) decisions with my family members? You can and should discuss your ACP with your family members before signing the document so that your family members are made aware of your decision/wishes. You can also pre-select a primary healthcare spokesperson that will speak on your behalf for when you lose mental capacity, which would make things easier for medical professionals when they only need to talk to one person to make certain decisions. If I have done my Advance Care Planning (ACP), when will it get activated? Medical professionals can carry out your healthcare preferences that is indicated in your signed ACP in the event that you lose mental capacity. Immortalize is an Elderhood marketplace and information provider. We make planning and executing your plans for ageing, retirement, legacy and everything elderhood-related simple, easy and comprehensive! Immortalize Who's Who series seeks to profile service providers in the legacy planning space to help you better identify and relate to the best, the most outstanding and the legitimate providers. Find a professional, compare prices, and kickstart your elderhood planning For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.ioDisclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a professional for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .

Institutional investors like GIC (Singapore's sovereign wealth fund) and Morgan Stanley get better returns because their costs are low, according to Samuel Rhee , Chairman and Chief Investment Officer at Endowus , a digital financial advisory platform. In Part 1 of this interview (Part 2 here ), Immortalize spoke to Rhee on how Endowus is bringing institutional investing to the common person. Highlights: 1% saving in fees means 245% additional return to your investment over a 30 year period Institutional investors get better returns because their cost is low Advice, access, and cost are the three pillars of successful investing Q: Can you tell me about yourself? What were you doing before Endowus and how did Endowus came about? Rhee: I’ve been in finance for 27 years and was at Morgan Stanley for 17 years, holding various roles in Hong Kong and Singapore. The last roles that I held was CIO (Chief Investment Officer) and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) for the Asian investment management unit and my job included asset allocation across the efficient frontier for sovereign wealth funds, global pension funds, and other institutional funds. Struggle With Personal Investment A friend of mine introduced me to my two co-founders, Gregory Van and You Ning Sun, and we met to chat over coffee. During the chat, we quickly realized that there is a common problem for everyone – we all struggled to invest our own money efficiently. For me, when I was investing professionally for others, I run it properly. But when it comes to my own private money, I used to do what every retail investor does, which is going after the latest fad or punt some stocks. I quickly realized that this is not the right way to invest long term, and I completely revamped my portfolio. Difficulty in Investing CPF Greg and You Ning had been talking about the CPF system and how onerous, difficult, and expensive it is to invest it into financial markets with CPF monies. It’s so important because it’s tied to important issues like retirement. We decided that these were problems that we needed to solve. (CPF, or Central Provident Fund, is Singapore's mandatory social security savings scheme) Q: What is the problem that you are trying to solve? Rhee: We want to make saving and investing easier today so that we can secure our future tomorrow. Solving for retirement is the biggest generational challenge we’ll likely face and where my passion lies. We need to solve this and not enough is being done. Living Longer But Poorer? Take an ageing society like Singapore where average life expectancy is now well into the mid-80s and that is average. This means that 50% of the population are living longer than 85, to 90 or 100 years old. If people retire at 65, which is the traditional number that everybody has in mind, are you going to have enough saved up without sacrificing the quality of life that you need or even avoid poverty? The Banking Fortress It's not a Singapore issue, but an Asian societal challenge. People don't invest very well. The banks have an inordinate amount of power and hold on the distribution of wealth and financial products, and they charge way too much for it. As a result, lack of advice, lack of access to great products, and high costs led to poor outcomes, meaning people will not be able to have enough saved up for their retirement. Holy Grail of Investing People need to take matters into their own hands. Rather than punting all their savings in stocks or crypto, they need to save and invest earlier the right way. There is a right way to do it. Advice, access, and cost are the three pillars of successful investing. At the moment, it’s just not in existence, especially for individual investors. Sovereign Fund Advantage Institutional investors like Morgan Stanley or sovereign wealth funds like GIC have all those things. If you have a lot of money, say $10, $20, or $100 million, then you get private bank’s good advice. But people that fall through the cracks are the people who need good advice the most. Even for high net worth individuals, they do not get the advice that they need or deserve and are still paying very high cost. They do better than retail investors in the sense that they have better access, but the advice is not that great. They get pushed products. The Power of Leverage The kind of private banking service that people normally receive is usually a product. Either you get sold, “Hey, this is an ESG fund that’s doing well,” or “This is a pre-IPO, you should get it,” or buy whatever is the latest. Banks push leverage. Leverage is the biggest weapon that private banks have. Take all the investments, add leverage and you get a higher percentage yield. That’s not advice, that’s pushing a product at high cost – and we do not even ask whether it is a suitable investment for their long-term financial plans. Secret To Institutional Investing The whole idea of Endowus is to bring institutional investing to the common person. Institutions only win out because their cost is so low. When Morgan Stanley or GIC invest, they do not pay 2% sales charge and ongoing fees and the fund managers give it to them at 20 or 10 basis points (1 basis points equals 0.01%). They get extra special pricing because they're bigger, and that's what we're doing by accessing institutional share classes and institutional funds. We are group buying for all our customers. Differential Treatment Take PIMCO Income Fund, one of the more popular fixed income products, for example. It has an institutional version and a retail version, and we offer the institutional version of the fund on our platform. The fund management fee for the retail version is about 1.5%. We get it at 0.5%. GIC and other sovereigns would obviously get lower price than us, but maybe one day, we can get to a scale where we can compete with them, and we can offer our clients even lower pricing. Compounding Impact of Fees Return is just the flip side of fees. If you save 1% in fees, that is 1% better return for you. If you compared an 8% return, which is what global market returned long term and then shave off 1% to compare that to a 7% return, then that small difference of just 1% over 30 years compounds to 245% difference. Q: Who is Endowus’ target audience? Rhee: It’s every Singaporean individual investor, which includes both retail investor and high net worth investor. It could go from $1,000 at DBS to $10 million at UBS and those with CPF & SRS preparing for a better retirement. [SRS, or Supplementary Retirement Scheme, is a voluntary scheme to encourage individuals to save over and above their CPF savings ] Insufficient Retirement Plan We tried to get CPF from the get-go because it was the most important piece of the pie for most people. CPF is a great social security system, but it's not a pure retirement pension program. Only the CPF Life component is pension-like but it’s not made to be a complete retirement plan. [CPF Life, or CPF Lifelong Income For The Elderly Scheme, is a national longevity insurance annuity scheme that provides individual monthly payouts regardless of how long the individual lives.] Q: If there's one advice you would give anyone looking at CPF investing, what would that be? Rhee: Get started. You have to invest your CPF and be prepared for retirement. That's the biggest problem. One mistake people make is to compare CPF returns with fixed deposit and say fixed deposits give them nothing, and so this is better than fixed deposits. But your funds are being locked up for, say 30 years, so you should aim to do better than risk-free returns. Best Post-Retirement Risk Free Rate Post retirement, you may want to keep the money in CPF, because then the 2.5% that CPF gives does become meaningful. Then, whenever you need the money, you take it out from the investment, put it in the 2.5%, and then keep it as a liquid cash account that you can take out anytime you want. It's the only place that's going to give you 2.5% risk free, in your retirement, when you need cash. This interview has been edited for length. Immortalize X Endowus Collab Sign up for an Endowus account here  and get $20 off your access fees! Continue to Part 2 of the interview > Back to more profile interviews > Back to more articles and resources > Immortalize  is an Elderhood marketplace and information provider. We make planning and executing your plans for ageing, retirement, legacy and everything elderhood-related simple, easy and comprehensive! Immortalize Who's Who   series seeks to profile service providers in the legacy planning space to help you better identify and relate to the best, the most outstanding and the legitimate providers. Speak to our team now and let us give you a quick summary of what you need to know to help kick start your elderhood planning journey! Disclaimer: Nothing in this article or site should be construed as providing legal advice or advice of any sort. The information provided are general in nature and may become inaccurate over time. Please consult a professional for advice. For any issues or queries, please contact j@immortalize.io .