Wednesday, January 11, 2012

How to Ensure that Your Wealth is Distributed as You Will?



Recently, I personally came across two cases where both the deceased passed away without any Will. One of them had a business with his brother and many issues need to be tackled to move forward. The other left a house which is one-third owned by him and thus his part of ownership needs to be sorted out. What happen if one passes on without a Will? What are the advantages of having a Will? Is it time for you or your loved ones including your parents to write a Will now? These are the several issues:

1) Who are the beneficiaries?

Without a Will, the law will decide who your beneficiaries should be. With a will, you decide for yourself who would inherit each of your assets, and in what proportions. The Will will prevent the splitting of assets among many beneficiaries, and more important, prevent the dispute of asset distribution. Make a will and the law will protect your wishes.

2) Why does it take longer time when there is no Will?

Without a Will, your assets distribution will usually take longer time (2-6 YEARS) to settle, if it is free of arguments. If there is any dispute among the beneficiaries, they could involve in a long and complex legal battle. With a will, the court will decide speedily (2-6 MONTHS) on the assets distribution according to your wishes. The process of distribution differs for cases with or without a Will. 

3) What are the main problems when there is no Will?


Generally, the beneficiaries need to apply for the Letter of Administration (LA) from the High Court, which may take 2 to 6 years, depending on the complexity of the case. Furthermore, all lawful beneficiaries have to give written consent to appoint one or two Administrators and two Sureties or Guarantors for the case. The lawful beneficiaries are Children/Grandchildren, Spouse and Parents.


With a Will, you could exercise your right to appoint your choice of Executor and Administrator. No Surety or Guarantor is required. This will ensure faster distribution as it only takes 2 to 6 months to obtain the Grant of Probate, hence saving cost as well.


4) Are there any other benefits with a Will?


You can appoint a Guardian of your choice to take care of your minors so as to protect their future. You can also give away part of your properties to non-immediate family members including charity organizations. Your appointed Executor or Trustee can raise emergency money to help your family members at a time when they are most vulnerable, against a scenario where your bank accounts are frozen after your death. You can also include provision to settle debts (if any), include future inherited and acquired assets, and prevent your estate from going to the government. Lastly, you can even leave a personalized message for your children within the Will.   

Why use Professional Will-Writing Service?

Now drawing up a Will is as easy as making a phone call or writing an email. The Professional Will-Writer can take your instructions in the privacy of your comfort. With Professional Will-Writing system and personalized service, your Will can be tailor made to suit every situation. 

In case you have further inquiry or need the service of Will Writing, do email me at shpoh88@gmail.com.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

How To Keep Ourself Physically Fit?


We are all very busy about our daily routine. How to keep ourself Physically Fit? One of the basic routine we must follow is to exercise our physical body, but we have no time to exercise! So, how to ensure that we do enough exercise to keep ourself fit?


There are a few rules to follow:


One, make exercise part of your routine. Make exercise part of your life! If you are a student, ensure that physical exercise is part of your "homework if not schoolwork". If you are an employee, make it part of your "job at home if not in the office". This mean that exercise is an essential part in your daily or weekly plan, it is in your time table! If we do not make exercise part of our routine, we will convenient forget about it by giving excuses that we are too busy, that we will do it another day. You just have to do it in a regular routine.


Two, choose an easy exercise. Your exercise must be convenient to you. If you choose swimming as your exercise, make sure it is easy for you to go to the pool. If you do not have a proper green garden to jog or walk, then is it possible for you to jog or walk in the compound that you live? Or is it possible for you to walk home from your work place? If it is difficult to exercise outdoor, choose an exercise that you can perform at home.


Three, enjoy your exercise! It is only when you enjoy that you keep motivating yourself to exercising regularly. If you do not like to do things alone, find a group of friends who would exercise together with you, or join a team game. If you are sociable, choose an exercise that has been organised in your community such as taiji or line dancing. If you like to do things alone, then set a goal so that you would keep pushing yourself to achieve further, in order to be self motivated.


Finally, commend yourself for exercising well. Tell yourself that it is because you exercise regularly that you are physically fit today. Remind yourself that you will continue to be fit for many years to come if you keep exercise a part of your life. Whenever you are physically sick, console yourself that you recover fast simply because you are fit. I am sure if you are fit, you would realise that you have less physical problems compared to many of your friends.


So, keep exercising regularly, enjoy your exercise and the reward is that you are fit!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

How to Use Pareto Principle, 80/20, to be Effective in Our Works?



There are too many things to do every day, every year. How do we prioritise our work? How do we make sure that our work can be completed effectively?

Pareto Principle can be used as a tool to analyse our effectiveness. It is also known as the 80/20 Rule. There are several interpretations of this rule. I personally use it from the aspect of "Cause & Effect". Always bear in mind: Something is always more important than others. I always reverse the 80/20 into 20/80, by equating 20% of cause with 80% of effect! These are some of the examples.

  • 20% of a company’s customers produce 80% of its revenue 
An effective company will have most of its sales from a small targeted group of quality customers so that it can serve its loyal customers well. As its customers base gets bigger, the number of loyal customers is also getting more, it should continue to focus on the satisfaction of this group of loyal clients.
  • 20% of meeting time results in 80% of decisions made 
In a meeting, most decisions are made within 20% of the meeting time. Of course, we are not saying that all meetings should be shortened to 20% of the normal duration. What we should be aware of is that we should make use of the 20% of the "golden time" of the meeting, especially when the attendees are still fresh and enthusiastic, to discuss the most important agendas.
  • 20% of items to read on your table produce 80% of info you need 
If you examine the papers on your table, most likely only 20% of them are informative and useful. Throw or store away the junk, just focus on the useful documents.
  • 20% of your work time contributes to 80% of success in your job 
You may not agree, but you should focus by spending 20% of your "golden time" in order to ensure that you achieve 80% of the success of your work! This means that you should identify your "golden time" which is unique for each individual, get ready whatever materials you need, prepare well mentally before the golden time, and then just focus and complete the most important part of your job to an extent of 80% satisfaction. You may want to touch up the job further on another time later.

These examples show that we strive towards using our BEST 20% efforts, which I called "golden time" in order to achieve 80% of our targets! Attention is focussed on key issues that have dramatic effects!

What should we do:
  • Examine your job scope. Think and decide what is the most important task (80% effect) that has the greatest effect, 
  • Think and identify when is your "golden time" (20% cause) when you are most effective, like which period of the day, which day of the week, which period of the year, etc 
  • Prioritise so that you use your golden time (20% cause) for the most important task (80% effect) 
  • If this practice is effective, make it a routine.

Monday, January 2, 2012

How to Handle Pressure?



My colleagues once asked me, how to handle pressure? I have a three-step solutions to offer.


First, you must be mentally prepared for the pressure. There is no job without pressure. There is no study without pressure, if you are a student. Even as a family member in whatever role, we face pressure. So we must be able to know what type of pressures we are going to face. We must also predict how heavy is each of the pressure. Then GET READY to face the pressure! Once you are ready, you will simply accept the pressure and face it squarely, no escape, no complaint, just accept and face it.


Second, most pressures are due to interpersonal relationships. As a worker, we face problems with our boss as well as our subordinates. At home, we have problems with our family members. In schools, our classmates, teachers and headmaster seem to be problematic. If we can handle INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP well, most of the problems we face do not arise. What we do will be smooth. Whenever we have problem, our colleagues, friends and schoolmates would be willing to help us. There will be less pressure!


Finally, in whatever capacity we are, DO OUR BEST! Most of our bosses, colleagues, family members, teachers and friends would be able to accept our performance if we have done whatever job given to the best we could. In fact, if we are hard working and yet underperform, they would offer helps and advice so that we can improve ourselves! It is only if we have contributed the best of our abilities that we are able to grow in any institution we are in. There would be less undue pressure due to our performance.


In order to fulfill the three criteria above, we must be have POSITIVE thinking. We must be prepared to face pressure and be able to work amicably with people around us, as well as put up our tip-top efforts in the  role we play.