New investment paradigm?

"You say, 'If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.' You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled."(Charles Haddon Spurgeon)

 

The paradigm of investing in a property here has changed for the last 2 years or so. People apparently are no more deterred by the slew of curbing measures. Increasingly more and more people are viewing property investment as a kind of insurance policy. In fact, it is a better investment than the latter based on the assumption that the monthly mortgage installment is enough to pay off from the rental income. Also, home prices in future indeed will rise; hence provide a handsome sum for retirement. The enemy for property investors appear to be ‘wait and see’ attitude which causes one to miss the boat.

 

There is inherent risk in forecasting what the future property prices will be like down the road in as there are so many variables at play- government policies, interest rate, market psychology, land supply etc.With the release of Population White Paper recently, property investors become even more excited and started to postulate the unending demand for housing from the foreigners.

 

Will era of huge capital gains still here to stay? Already the new launches of private properties have been priced at astronomical level. It pays to be prudent and be able to sit through his investment. One thing I know is that Bull Run does not last forever but it is difficult to stop a running train. Newspapers and media have been amplifying those ‘successful’ investment stories. What about those investors who were caught on the wrong foot? Talking about this, I still remember how my ex-client lost all that he had during the Asia financial crisis when he and his brothers who originally inherited a number of properties, overleveraged and were caught when the property bubble burst.

Worth of life

"Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with You; And his limits You have set so that he cannot pass." (Jobs 14:5)

 

How much you are willing to pay for another year of life? With the advance of medical science and technology, cancer care has revolutionized in recent years. New drugs have now been used to treat cancer patients. The basic principle of these drugs is to identify the genetic mutations that cause a particular kind of cancer, and aim to turn off the mutated protein of the cancer cells.  As such, the doctors can tailor the cancer therapies to a particular person rather than giving standard therapy, hence, enhances effectiveness of treatment. The treatment targets on cancer cells rather than on healthy cells as well. Patients have to go for genetic tests before treatment.

Targeted therapies can increase cancer patients’ survival by months or years. The main issue is the cost  which can come up to thousands of dollars per month. Clearly this is out of reach for many people. It is a matter of time before medical insurance companies resort to capping such therapy either by setting a cap on the maximum amount the insured can claim per year, or by the number of months of treatment per year.  One thing for sure is that medical insurance premium will go up over time.

For patients and their immediate family members, the difficult decision lies in how much those additional years of survival worth, especially for those who cannot afford. To put it differently, how much are you willing to pay for another year of life? There is no right answer to this tough question but I guess common sense should prevail. Life is precious! Don’t waste it.