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As we enter into the last day of an unprecedented year, I thought it would be good for me to take this time of the year to reflect on the past 12 months and share some of my key takeaways with [...]

Since 2003, we have been advocating the use of term insurance instead of whole life policies. The thinking is pretty straightforward: the primary purpose of insurance is to replace income loss [...]

My courtship with Vanguard funds started 16 years ago in 2004. Providend was licensed to give advice only about a year back and while we had an investment philosophy & process in place, there [...]

The anticipation building up to elections often brings with it questions about how financial markets will respond. But the outcome of an election is only one of many inputs to the market. When [...]

Like any industry, investing has its own language. And one term people often use is “investment portfolio,” which refers to all of your invested assets. Building an investment [...]

Do you know which type of insurance is of the highest priority for you? The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in Singaporeans becoming more aware of protecting themselves and their loved ones in the [...]

Many years ago, I wrote an article in this same column that was based on the documentary movie “Food Inc”. Director Robert Kenner lifted the veil on the food industry, exposing often [...]

Are you aware that a will may not supersede the nomination you made in a life insurance policy? Typically, when a person passes away with a will, the person’s estate will be distributed to the [...]

Decades of research by organizational scientists, sociologists and economists have shown that when individuals from different walks of life come together and share unique viewpoints, positive [...]

The last month has been a crazy time for those of us who are invested in the equities market. The US market went up 10% in one day and then came down 12% on another. On the day when it came down [...]

There is a lot of uncertainty right now, with everything in flux. The natural reaction for most is to sell first which is why we are getting the reaction we see in the market today. It is [...]

In the previous episode, Christopher Tan, CEO of Providend, shared more on the distribution rules of intestate estates and the importance of having a proper will done.   But before you make a [...]

In 2008, the year of the Great Financial Crisis, I wrote an article in July that year, that was published on The Business Times and it went like this: It was Monday (yes, just 2 days ago) and I [...]

Do you know that there are two ways to die in Singapore? One is to die testate –with a will and another is to die intestate – without a will. When you die without a will, your assets will be [...]

A year ago, at about this time, market watchers were generally pessimistic about 2019. After all, just a month ago on Christmas Eve of 2018, markets (represented by MSCI World Index) fell by [...]

Retirement today is more than just a matter of accumulating enough money. Increasing life expectancy has made retirement an extended stage of life. If you’ve started looking into planning for [...]

It has been eleven years since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2008. This event has changed the economy of the world, the mindset of investors and the investment philosophy of Providend [...]

Pre-order a copy of “Money Wisdom – Simple Truths For Financial Wellness” at https://www.providend.com/money-wisdom-order/ today! Written by Christopher Tan, CEO of Providend, this [...]

Many years ago, a foreigner made a joke about our army in front of me. He said our army is like boy scouts, only good for marching during National Day Parade because unlike other armies, we have [...]

Following the National Day Rally announcements on the option (not a requirement!) to retire later and the increase in CPF contribution rates for older workers, Christopher Tan, CEO of Providend [...]

Last week, we introduced the Personal Wealth Equation to you. And if you still remember, on the investment side of the equation, there is really no need to constantly guess where the markets are [...]

Over the years, investing has been compared to riding the waves or being on a roller coaster ride. However, at Providend, we believe that investing is more like gardening. As long as we stay [...]

At the dinner table some months back, my daughter suddenly blurted out that she wanted to watch a concert by Ed Sheeran. As many of us will probably know, it cost a few hundred dollars just to [...]

When people do financial planning, they often scrimp and save for the future that might never come. That is why at Providend, we adopt the purpose-driven financial planning approach – To [...]

“Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.” —Socrates In our consumeristic-culture where discontent is promoted and material gratification is encouraged, learning to be content [...]

There are two distinctive phases for retirement planning- Accumulation and Withdrawal. However, many of us tend to only focus on the accumulation bit pre-retirement and often neglect the [...]

Instead of living for the weekends, or counting down the years until retirement, you need a reason to get out of bed every day. And that reason needs to stem beyond money. After all, what are you [...]

Do you know of any magic indicator that can always successfully point out the next market crash? If not, does that mean that all these economic indicators are useless? Well, we don’t think [...]

Do you judge people by how much money they make? Money holds a lot of power both in our minds and in the real world. It can mean the difference between getting by or thriving, and it can also [...]

In a world with so much geopolitical issues and uncertainty, retirement seems to be a scary subject to think about. Retirement planning during withdrawal phase is more complex because retirees [...]