How much do we need to retire in Singapore?

When planning for retirement how long should we assume our life expectancy? Till 80, 90 or 100 yrs old?

How much medical fees should we budget for if we are covered by shield plan that require payment of $4K + 10% deductible?

Should we still budget for car expenditure or do we have to switch to MRT? I still like to have the car till I can't drive.

How about yearly vacations?

How about domestic helper?

Pressure Rice Cooker and Brown Rice

This is my new Pressure Rice Cooker from Philips model HD4763. It's a fabulous helper in the kitchen. The brown rice cooks in 47 minutes + about 10 minutes wait time for pressure to be released before the rice is ready to be served. The brown rice is soft and fragrant. You can smell the sweet brown rice aroma while the rice is being cooked. I saw a lot of such rice cooker in Korea but this is the only one available in my Singapore. The non-stick inner pot make it a breeze to clean after each use. However, I would very much prefer to have a stainless steel inner pot as well due to the potential health hazard from using non-stick pots and pans. I think the coating on the philip inner pot is not tough as the Japanese brand rice cooker. The demo rice cooker's inner pot was badly scratched- probably done by people to test the toughest of the coating. Rice can be washed in Tiger and Zojirushi inner pot but not this Philip rice cooker's inner pot. I wish Philip will overcome this shortcoming on the inner pot.

Temple at Seoul

I like this temple. It's just opposite the Coex mall. There were lots of chinese writings around the premise as well as trees. I like the persimmon tree near the buddha. There were lots of big persimmon on the trees but they were too high up. Those on the lower branches had been "harvested". The Buddha statue is tall and majestic. I stood there for quite some time to make all my wishes.

Safe in Seoul

The whole family is so relieved that Seoul is safe. We were there from Dec 1 to Dec 5 2010. Initially we thought that with the North Korea bombing, we would have to stay close to the hotel vicinity in case war broke up. We were surprised that life is as usual in Seoul. Lots of people can be found at Coex mall, Lotte world, Dondaemon, Nandaemon, Insodong , subway stations and Tech mall. The hotel was busy with lots of foreigners. We explored Seoul by subway. The Koreans are helpful in giving us directions. I like the BBQ meat. We tried one at Dondaemon and one at Insodong. The Japanese meals at Coex mall (both stalls) are delicious and reasonably price (39K to 42k Won for family of 5). The ginseng chicken and the big dish of spicy chicken were average though. I bought the honey ginseng slices for Won 24k each box from a shop at Nandaemon. The promoter spoke perfect mandarin. The Hyundai mall had a promotion and selling at about Won 26K. I would have preferred to buy from Hyundai if I knew there was promotion. Though it's a little more expensive, at least you get what you paid. One of the box of 6 yrs old honey ginseng slices I bought was swopped for a 4 yrs old honey ginseng slices. Overall it's a pleasant trip.

Travel Insurance to South Korea

I bought the MSIG travel insurance for the trip to Korea with a bank a few days ago. The bank officer called me today to inform that she has debited my account for the premium (not sure when she did it) and she'll be sending the application to the insurance company for batching. I told her I'v no understanding on the "batching", all I need to know is whether debiting my account means that my travel insurance has been processed. She said yes but the insurance company needs to batch. I'v purchased travel insurance online all the while. I'm taken aback by the hassle I'v to go through by buying direct with the bank. Now my concern is will the travel insurance covers us with the war between North & South Korea.

School Bus Driver

Yesterday we passed by a school bus driver (van type) near Farrer Road. The vehicle was on the fastest lane but the driver was driving at about 30 km/h. Cars were trying to overtake him and he was also trying to move left to the slower lane. When we passed the van we saw to our disgust, he was talking on his cell phone. Luckily, there was no students in the bus. I remembered the boy who was thrown out of the school bus at Yio Chu Kang. I hope school bus drivers are constantly reminded to drive their passengers safely. Our Children are in their hands!

Travel to South Korea

I bought the sweet deals air tickets for the family to travel to Seoul. With the tension between the North and the South, I'm worried my airfare money will be down the drain. Singapore Airlines advised that if I cancel the tickets I'll not get my refund as the fare class does not provide for cancellation. If I were to reschedule, the charge per person is S$30. However, how to reschedule if I don't know when it'll be safe to travel there. Singapore Airlines advised me not to worry for now and to check with them on the status at a later time as currently there's still no travel alert yet. Please let there be peace and please don't let me loose money on the tickets.