Thursday, June 04, 2009

My job as an insurance policy for Singapore

I remember that somebody once likened military expenditure to buying insurance.
You hope never to use it but when you do, you are damn glad that you have it.

I have several policies. I started with a Life Insurance after a talk by some Insurance Corporation of Singapore representatives during Basic Military Training. This was followed by an Investment Linked Policy when I was 19. Endowment funds followed. And I recently switched to private health insurance to expand my medishield/save coverage and also increase my coverage on critical illness.

Like military expenditure, my objectives were clear. So through good times and bad - Asian Financial Crisis, SARS, bursting of the Tech-Sector bubble, I bought policies not just because I could afford them. Rather, I bought them because I could not afford not to have them. Am I better off now had I not bought them? I don't know. I have difficulty finding insurers who don't mind my medical condition (hypertension). My health and critical care policies come with exclusion and loading respectively.

No matter how the economy is performing, I maintain my policies with regular payments. This is because I expect the policies to provide protection whenever it is needed. Good times or bad.

So if military expenditure is like buying insurance, then why am I not given a bonus when times are bad? Don't I provide protection when times are bad?

4 comments:

vulnerable toes said...

i think firstly, ple dun think very much of the sg military. mindset is proly the thing that needs changing first. how? sadly, i see no other way but to be really engaged in a fight of sorts. sg enjoys the status of "almighty" in the likes of america prior to 911. most ple dun tink sg will EVER need the military, hence no need for hefty "insurance policies".
in this economic downturn, bonus is detached from military "expenditure". afterall, military personnel still get their pay and keep their jobs.

.::: .: :.:. :.: ... ::: :. .::. .: :. ::. said...

it's a paradox to think that we find the true value of military spending only when it is put to use. do people buy insurance only to look forward to claiming it or is it for a peace of mind, knowing that when needed, it is there?

vulnerable toes said...

paradox it is... it might be more reconcilable for u if u don't use insurance as a parallel analogy?
maybe i think of military spending like the govt deciding to charge us for the use of air. no one agrees to having to pay to breathe. in an economic downturn, ple naturally ask for a discount! ;) maybe...

.::: .: :.:. :.: ... ::: :. .::. .: :. ::. said...

buying "defence" as an insurance against possible "continuation of politics" by way of a war is quite a logical no? The price of air is tax. the more rarefied is your air (Bukit Timah, Nassim Hill) the costlier it is.