Rich Snail

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It seems like we can get an insurance for everything and anything lately. Some insured their boob implants, some insured their legs, others even insured their dogs… Maybe one day we’ll end up insuring ourselves against Robots !

LOL !

Following on the creation of a dedicated “Protection” Section, I thought it would be interesting to explore the options we expats have regarding Medical insurances abroad. We basically have three choices. The first one is to bet on your health and not apply for an insurance - cross finger nothing happen. The second one is to go for a local insurance - usually cheaper. The last is to go for an international protection, replicating the kind of protection enjoyed in old Europe - England, France, Sweden etc.

The country you are living in / or to which you are moving to can have a bearing on your decision. Some countries enjoy better healthcare than others. However, I personally recommend expats do chose international cover over a local plan for the following reasons:

• They are international (Duh!), which means that you will not have to only rely on the medical facilities in the country you are living in. Many prefer to know they can go home, or to an alternative country,  for treatment should they become sick.
• They will follow you wherever you go. This ensures you don’t have any waiting period when moving to another country Icing on the cake, you don’t have to deal with potential pre-existing exlusions once you are insured.
• They gives you more freedom selecting where and by whom treatment shall be carried out. International provider usually enjoy much larger network of participating hospital.
• They usually are renewable for life. Whereas local plans will usualy only be renewable until age 65.
• Your level of coverage is much higher with an international policy, typically over 1 Million USD. You also enjoy fewer exclusions.
• International policy renewal premium are community rated. This means that your premium shall remain manageable even if you were severely ill over the past few years and had to go regularly to the hospital. To compare, local plans usually are based on previous years claim.
• International plan were set in place to replicate the same level of protection European used to enjoy back home. This means that they are not as cheap as local plans, but provide more peace of mind regarding the level of coverage in place.

At the end of the day, the choice is yours. There is no universal truth.

Following an agreement signed in December 2007, Scottish Provident International Life Assurance (SPILA) business has officially changed ownership to become part of Royal London. This integration certainly reinforce the Royal London Group position as the UK’s largest mutual life and pensions compan, but what does it mean for you, and how does it affect your SPILA Plan?

Nothing changed really. You don’t need to take any actions regarding your plans, as there are no changes to the benefits, features, conditions etc. You even keep your policy number and every other details remain identical - even contacts & addresses.

Should you wish to get more information regarding this, you can either contact me good self, or get in touch with SPILA directly.

As I tend to quote and link to The Economist on a regular basis, I decided to create a specific serie where I would “limit” myself to one article per week. The one I preferred of course. That way you will enjoy a quick extract of my Economist reading and will know when to expect it - I read the Economist during my week-end.

This week article is about Buying stories. I highly recommend it for its clear definition of the differences between two schools of investment principles: value investing and Growth investing.

It also ends on a few very interesting paragraphs demonstrating the value of a good Story Telling .

Plenty of studies find that people are seduced by stories: all shopping will take place over the internet, the world is running out of oil, and so on. They also like to associate with winners. It sounds better to own shares in, say, Google, than in some struggling housebuilder at the moment. So we end up overpaying for success.

The news came in 2 days ago. The government abruptly raised the price of subsidised fuel by 40%. This measure was in the “pipeline” for quite some time and recently became necessary to offset the high oil price cost to the public purse.

This lead to horrible traffic jam that same evening as many Malaysians were trying to fill up their tank to enjoy the last remnant of a 1.92RM / liter gas price. Many lost a few hours in the process to save a few Ringgits. I can understand this reaction from lower-class Malaysians who live on less than RM1,000 per month. But I was surprised to see the kind of reactions in Bangsar and Damansara Heights, with many BMW and Benz lining up. Seeing these reactions I smiled remembering the concept of Homo-Economicus…

The ruckus started the following day. Many (Shall i say all?) are really unhappy about the price increase and the way the government handled this situation.Some will complain about the new price. To those I would remind them that those subsidies are reckoned to cost about as much as defence, education and health care - combined!

If I were to have a say, I would give priority to education and health care over petrol subsidy any time of the day! Let’s hope this increase will benefit those two sectors down the road…

Others took a step back and put things into perspective. They started opening again the pandora’s box of the last elections. Ho wealth has been managed or many will say mismanaged in the country. I think this is the right debate to have !

The Art of Story Telling is ancestral. I believe this art was born the same minute our ancestors started using language to share ideas, thoughts, and stories. Great stories succeed because they are able to capture the imagination.

Story telling is also an essential component of successful businesses. Many thrive thanks to great story telling.

For those who like to be inspired, I highly recommend reading a great interview from PingMag (Highly recommended read BTW).They went to interview Yoshihara Shinohara, a Furin Craft Master - to discover what Furin is about, go check the interview…

My most memorable extract:

But, wasn’t it difficult with the cultural differences and everything?

Well that’s the tricky thing, isn’t it. In Japan, people have emotional associations with wind chimes and they are a part of the culture. But if you go over to America it’s, “What’s all that racket?!” (laughs) So I thought about it. Yeah, just like in Japan, in America the ghosts come out at night. And my furin come in five colors; red, green, yellow, blue, and white. I could put a meaning to each color. Red is for the sun, so if you have this you can keep the ghosts away. Blue is for the sea and the sky, two things that people all over the world can’t live without. Then green, that’s the color of plants and trees. Thanks to that green, we can have clean air. So green is for health, you won’t get sick if you have this. Next, yellow. In Japan in the autumn, the fields go golden yellow with the rice crop. This rice represents money. So if you have a yellow furin, you won’t have any worries about money. And lastly, white. Pure white, like a wedding dress. In other words, you’ll have good luck with this one. Once I did that, it was off to the races. No one said they were a noisy racket anymore after that. They flew off the shelves. That’s how you sell things.

Inspiring isn’t it?