What did I learn from escaping death in an airplane fire?

26 June 2016 was the day that I narrowly escaped death.

My wife and I were on a Singapore Airlines (SIA) plane SQ368 from Singapore to Milan. Two hours after we took off, the pilot announced that there was an “oil leak” and our plane had to turn back to Singapore. Upon landing at Changi Airport at 6:50am, the entire right wing was suddenly engulfed in a huge fire.

And I was seated right beside the burning wing! It was a certainly a moment of life and death! Thankfully, the incredible firefighters from Changi Airport put out the fire in a matter of minutes and saved our lives. The full story was reported by news agencies across the world.

We almost lost our lives.

If we had died, it would be a major calamity. Not only because my three children would have become orphans, but also because our estate was not properly planned as my wife and I did not have a will. Furthermore, we have not made our CPF nominations. Our money, investments, and assets were all over and no one knew their exact whereabouts.

Last but not least, we did not have the chance to leave a parting last word to our children and loved ones.

Following our close shave with death, my wife and I spent much effort to carry out estate planning to ensure that our assets will be distributed according to our wishes. It turned out to be easier than we thought, and I would like to share the process with you:

Do Up A Will

Unless you have a huge and complicated financial empire, doing up a will is not that difficult, as there are several DIY templates available online. This one is pretty good and simple.

The key here is to have two witnesses and a schedule of your assets. You can also get a lawyer to do a will for a fee of S$200 and above.

List Down Your Assets In A Schedule

One of the most important thing to do is do up a list of the whereabouts of your assets. We diligently typed out a list of all our investment and assets, shares, funds, bank accounts (both local and overseas), and insurance plans on a spreadsheet and attached it to my will. We even listed down key jewelleries (not that we have many) and branded handbags that my wife has so that they can be assigned in our wills to the children.

Appoint An Executor For Your Will

We picked a closed and trusted family member to be the executor of our estate in the event of our demise. To make his job easier, we briefed him of all the details of my assets and even gave the email / contact numbers of all the fund managers, stock brokers and bank accounts numbers.

Remember, the clearer the instructions you provide to your executor the information, the faster the executor can make the arrangements to help your family receive the estate.

Do Up Your CPF Nomination

My wife and I went down to CPF branch office and did a nomination for our CPF. Essentially, the nomination is like a Will, but applies only to your CPF. In Singapore, your will does not extend to your CPF monies, and the government requires you to do up a nomination separately for your CPF.

You can find out how you can make a CPF nomination on the CPF website itself.

Explain Our Will To Our Teenage Children

We went as far as to brief our children how we have written our will.

We wanted to have a chance to explain why we decided on the allocation, and the reason behind why we assigned certain items to that child. They were encouraged to asked questions regarding the will and we would answer them. It turned out to be a surprisingly fun session as we discussed who is assigned the Chanel bag, or the LV bag. The girls debated over the bags and even discussed if Ben’s (my son) prospective wife should get a handbag as well.

The kids were told the whereabouts of the will and who the executor is. We did not want to leave questions unanswered for them to harbour bequest related animosity towards us or their fellow siblings.

Cherishing Our Children

Surviving a near death incident taught us one principle of last words: Don’t wait until the last moment to say what you want to say! We would tell our kids regularly that we love them very much and they must live their lives honestly and passionately.

Start Pursuing Your Passions

Don't Wait to Pursure Your Passions!

In my latest article, “Would you save sex for old age” , I mentioned the need for everyone to start pursuing your passions as early as possible. In my near death experience, I am even more convinced that we should start the pursuit immediately! For tomorrow might never come! So many people delayed their pursuit of their preferred lives but feared failing or dread to take the leap of faith. Most would eventually decide to do it much later in life but from the plane fire, I can tell you that you never know what tomorrow brings. This is why I would like to encourage all of you to pursue your passion early in your life

Are you to face the eventuality?

Death comes to us all, and yet for most of us, we choose to ignore the eventuality and uncertainty of death. It took my wife and I a close shave with death to begin working on our estate.

Now that we have drawn up a good estate plan, briefed the key beneficiaries and stakeholders, and most importantly, conveyed the words we want to say, our hearts are more at peace, knowing that when the day does come, some level of comfort will go to our children in the form of a properly planned and executed estate.

A very wise man once said to me “When you think about death, you’ll live a better life.” It took me some time to appreciate its meaning, and now more than ever, I can see that it is certainly true.

Loo Cheng Chuan, is the Founder of the 1M65 Movement. He developed the 1M65 ($1 Million By 65 Years Old) and 4M65 CPF investment strategy that is helping many Singaporean couples to become millionaires at retirement. He was one of the few non-civil servants to be awarded the Public Sector Transformation award in 2018 for his 1M65 efforts. He runs a non-profit 1M65 Telegram Chat Group where he regularly coaches passionate 1M65 enthusiasts on good personal finance virtues. Loo and Kate (his very comical daughter) runs a 1M65 Youtube Channel to share good financial tips in a entertaining way!