Malaysians snapping up burial plots as land prices soar

GEORGE TOWN: With land prices skyrocketing, burial plots and niches are considered sure-fire investments among Malaysians.

Blissful Memorial Park management executive Shoggy Teoh said investing in burial plots was a growing trend that made good financial sense.

“Burial plots provide a good opportunity for people to invest in freehold landed property – even a low-cost flat costs at least RM70,000 these days.

“But with burial plots, you only need a minimum investment of RM30,000 and, like any other property, prices tend to rise,” he said, adding that one of their customers recently bought 12 burial plots for investment.

Blissful has memorial parks in Sungai Lembu, Bukit Mertajam, and Sungai Pasir, Sungai Petani.

NV Multi Corporation Bhd chief operating officer Au Kok Huei said the company recorded monthly average sales of RM25mil with “pre-bookings”, comprising 95% of business.

“Making funeral arrangements is no longer taboo. In the last 15 years, more people have become aware of the importance and practicality of making prior arrangements,” he said.

“Some parents even bring their children to Nirvana requesting burial plots for their birthdays. A large chunk of our sales comes from pre-bookings rather than actual funerals.”

Au said more than 70% of the company’s burial plots and niches were purchased by the middle-income group.

“These plots are below RM100 per sq ft, so a single plot would be about RM12,000. The high-end plots can cost anything from RM120 to more than RM200 per sq ft,” he said.

NV Multi Corporation manages the Nirvana Memorial Parks around the country.

Eternity Bliss Enterprise manager Jackie Lau said single burial plots used to cost between RM2,000 and RM3,000 but the price had now doubled.

She said unlike other cultures, it was taboo for Buddhist family members to be buried in the same plot, hence the demand would always be strong.

[Source: The Star, 27 March 2011]

Planning for the other world

MORBID though it may sound, finance manager Sarah Fong is already on the look-out for an insurance funeral package.

At 36, she feels she’s “not young any more” and with “life being so fragile”, she says, “I’m shopping around for a suitable package. But I also have to think about servicing my housing loan.”

Planning for one’s funeral is important “so that I don’t trouble others when I go”, Fong adds.

Good feng shui: A well-positioned grave at Nirvana Memorial Park in Semenyih.

“I heard that even simple arrange­ments like throwing my ashes into the sea would cost around RM6,000, so I need to be prepared.”

Due to escalating costs, many are turning to insurance companies to ease their families’ burden while ensuring a respectable funeral for themselves.

Since Tokio Marine Life Insurance Malaysia Bhd introduced a RM5,000 funeral benefit claim under its Healthcare Supreme policy last year, the response to its life insurance policy has been very good, says its regional (northern) manager Goh Chee Heong.

“This RM5,000 additional benefit is not inclusive of the accidental death benefit of RM50,000 and other payouts. As far as I’m aware, no insurance company offers policies specifically to cover funeral expenses. However, funeral benefits are value-added benefits to the medical card,” he explains.

“With escalating bereavement costs, my advice is for policy holders to increase the sum assured, say RM300,000 or RM500,000, for life protection as funeral expenses would amount to about 10% of the total payout to the family should anything happen to the life assured.”

He tells of a friend who paid about RM35,000 for a very simple funeral in Klang.

“Five years ago, I only paid half of that when my father passed away.”

Prudential Assurance Malaysia Bhd chief product and marketing officer Heng Zee Wang says there are some insurance plans that provide compassionate allowance on top of the lump sum death benefit.

“Prudential’s PRUacci Guard Rider is an example. More than 75% of our investment-linked insurance policyholders opt for this value-added benefit where we pay RM2,000 if the person dies due to non-accidental reasons, RM4,000 if the person dies due to an accident in Malaysia or RM6,000 if the fatal accident happens overseas.

“Under our personal accident policies, we also pay a RM2,000 compassionate allowance benefit in the event of a valid death claim.

“The idea is to assist the deceased’s family with incidental expenses arising from the death, including funeral expenses,” he adds.

As the allowance is not a reimbursement, Heng says receipts are not required.

Noting the trend, MCA Public Services and Complaints Department chief Datuk Michael Chong is calling upon funeral and burial service providers to set aside a fund for those who are poor or have no family members.

“The bigger corporations involved in the industry must make it their corporate social responsibility to assist those in need,” he says.

“Perhaps a fund can be set up for truly deserving cases because everyone should have a dignified burial. Do some charity – there is nothing wrong with making a profit from the business but give a little back to society.”

The department, he adds, has helped arrange many funerals for those who die in prisons or hospitals with no one to claim their bodies.

“Some of them come from very poor families that cannot afford even a simple burial. There are a few undertakers who usually help us in cases like that by offering their services at a discounted price of about RM4,000,” he relates.

Chong says public appeals for donations to help in such cases are usually successful because the Chinese believe that such good deeds are noble acts. “We get generous people offering burial plots and cash because they believe that by doing it, they will be blessed with a long, prosperous life in return.”

Chong says he has also noted that more are buying burial plots as investments.

“There is nothing wrong with wanting to make money – it’s no different from buying property.” — By CHRISTINA CHIN

[Source: The Star, 27 March 2011]

A pricey afterlife

Funeral costs are escalating so some Chinese families are securing their own afterlife arrangements to lock up prices.

RETIREE K. C. Ang, 62, went grocery shopping at a hypermarket in Petaling Jaya one day and came home the proud owner of a “condominium in the other world”.

“A memorial park was giving a discount for their niches, so I thought why not? It was a practical decision,” says the grandfather-of-two who has just finished paying off RM24,000 in monthly instalments for a double niche (for him and his wife) in a Shah Alam columbarium.

“The columbarium is located in a park that looks like a resort brightly lit and not eerie at all.”

Grand and serene: The exquisite niches at Nirvana Memorial Park.

Ang, a Taoist-Buddhist, believes there's no taboo about making arrangements for one's death.

“At least you'll be able to see your permanent resting place while you are still alive,” he adds cheerfully.

While planning for the afterlife is still considered taboo by some, most modern Chinese professionals now take a practical approach to death, especially since few can afford to ignore the rising costs.

After all, as Benjamin Franklin famously said, in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.

Inflation, skyrocketing property prices and a healthy economy have left no industry untouched. And these days, if one plans on resting in peace and comfort in the afterlife, then one had better be prepared to cough up the moolah.

Even for the average person, a decent no-frills, bereavement service these days can cost up to RM8,000.

Ang, for instance, is still paying instalments for a RM30,000 funeral package which he purchased with the niches.

Blisfully beautiful: Blissful’s Teoh showing the November 2010 cover of the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Associates magazine featuring the company.

“It's a zero interest package which includes the coffin and cremation for my wife and myself. I'll finish paying for it next year. Should anything happen to me, my son only needs to present the certificate and everything will be taken care of.”

Asked if he would consider selling his niche, Ang says he would, if the price is right. “I didn't buy it for investment purposes but if the profit is good, sure.”

For affluent Chinese families, luxury funeral packages have become a growing trend. In Indonesia and Singapore, it was reported that the rich think little of paying RM188,000 for a Canadian jade urn, RM388,000 for a gold-plated casket or a staggering RM1.6mil for a hilltop burial plot.

A check by this reporter reveals that landscaped feng shui burial plots above the RM1mil mark are not uncommon in Malaysia.

NV Multi Corporation Bhd chief operating officer Au Kok Huei explains why some are willing to splurge on the afterlife.

“In ancient China, the emperors would secure good tombs the minute they ascend to the throne because it is believed that major disasters and bad luck can be avoided by burying' it all in the empty plot.

“Personal items like fingernails and hair are also buried to trick the King of Hades into thinking that the person had died and hence, he or she would be left alone' in the mortal realm to lead a longer life.”

Au, however, disagrees with the perception that it's “too expensive to die” these days.

“Yes, there are RM1mil burial plots but these are not for one person it's for an entire family of about 80 people.

“It's unfair to say that private memorial parks are expensive because we cater to a very specific market. You cannot compare a Proton with a BMW,” he says.

He adds that the company does offer discounts on compassionate grounds.

“We are not just out to make a profit. There have been cases where the children tell us that their parent's last wish was to be buried at our memorial park but the family cannot afford it and we try to help.

“There have also been charity cases where we've even given 50% discounts,” he says, adding that as an extra service to clients, the company also offers zero per cent interest instalment payments on its packages.

He notes that burial plots sold at RM20,000 five years ago now have a resale value of RM30,000 to RM35,000.

“The secondary market is good, so those who bought the plots for investment made money. That's why we encourage people to buy in advance,” he says, adding that the company's double burial plots are from RM21,000 onwards and double niches are RM16,000 and above.

NV Multi Corporation Berhad manages the Nirvana Memorial Parks around the country and is South-East Asia's sole listed bereavement services provider operating in Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Taiwan.

Impressive entrance: Blissful Memorial Park boasts of the country’s biggest gateway.

Blissful Memorial Park management executive Shoggy Teoh says that when its memorial parks opened in 2004, the cheapest double burial plots were RM19,000 but today, the same plots cost close to RM30,000.

“As we continue to open up more burial plots, the cost of the plots will escalate as land is scarce,” he explains.

Blissful, which made it into the Malaysia Book of Records for having the biggest gateway in the country (in China, a gateway at the entrance of a settlement signifies the achievement attained by the settlement's residents), operates memorial parks in Sungai Lembu, Bukit Mertajam, and Sungai Pasir in Sungai Petani.

Both Teoh and Au note that the demand for niches has not overtaken burials despite the high cost. The Chinese believe that a decent entombment at an auspicious location and time honours the ancestors and helps the descendants to prosper.

“To the Chinese, feng shui is of the utmost importance so they are willing to spend. At our memorial parks, unlike most clan-owned cemeteries, the purchased plots will never be dug and re-sold it's literally freehold property,” Teoh explains, adding that to save cost and space, smaller plots could be purchased for burying the urns after cremation.

Eternity Bliss Enterprise director Lau Yew Moon says a “decent” cremation ceremony with three days of prayers at the funeral parlour would cost at least RM7,000 that's without flowers and decorations. The same cost only RM5,000 five years ago.

“Everything from the casket, flowers and burial plots to niches and labour has increased so, of course, funerals are more expensive these days. You can still get a niche for RM300 but it will be at an old columbarium and the location would probably be somewhere on the ground floor' beside a drain.

“The new niches start at RM3,000 and can go up to RM15,000. Like any other property, it's all about the location,” he stresses.

Citing another example of higher costs, Lau says a teak wood casket now costs at least RM18,000 because the price of wood has risen by about 30% since 2004.

“The teak is imported from Cambodia and Myanmar and we use local labour to make the caskets. Labour cost is up by 40%.”

Eternity Bliss recently imported an American-made grand casket that's a replica of the one US president Abraham Lincoln was buried in. It takes eight pallbearers to lift the 400kg casket which costs RM30,000.

Lau, 55, notes that the price of an elaborate kong teck ceremony (a ritual that involves prayers and burning of paper effigies to prepare the deceased for his next phase of “life”) is now double the cost a few years ago as paper effigies are more expensive and the craftsmen are a rare breed.

“There is no limit to how much you can spend on a funeral. The Chinese will spare no expense for two major events weddings and funerals. The latter is a reflection of the family's prestige and the deceased's status. It's the last journey, so families try to give the best that they can.”

Eternity Bliss manager Jackie Lau shares that cheap traditional bereavement flowers are no longer popular.

“Chrysanthemums are now considered low-end blooms. Clients are requesting lilies and roses these days. The decorative flowers alone can cost RM3,000 that's 20% more than what clients paid last time.”

She acknowledges that it's getting more expensive to die these days, adding that a tombstone made from local granite, which used to cost RM5,000, now costs RM8,000.

But she also points out a recent trend that shows more clients leaning towards burial at sea.

“After cremation, the ashes are strewn into the sea. It's very convenient and you only pay RM300 for the boat, on top of the cremation costs, of course,” she adds.

For those who prefer the outdoors or find the price of a permanent resting place too steep, the sea may seem inviting. But if one has the money, there is the option of “living” the afterlife in style.

[Source: The Star, 27 March 2011]

Why is Insurance Important?

There are different types of insurance. Home, automobile, and life are just three of the various kinds of insurance policies that are available for consumers. Insurance, of all kinds, is used to help protect consumers when certain things happen. For the most part, this protection comes in the form of money. It can also provide protection from liability, damages, and financial loss, but in the end, it usually comes down to money.

Most consumers know that there are certain types of insurance that are mandatory. Many states require that automobile owners carry a minimum amount of insurance for each vehicle the person or business owns. As with some other types of insurance, automobile insurance can be somewhat broad in nature. In other words, you can buy a simple liability policy that will pay a certain amount of money to someone that you have an accident with, but will pay nothing towards your own damages. Moving up the scale, you could purchase a more comprehensive policy that pays for damages to both you and the other person, including medical awards and property damages. There are levels of coverage all along the way, and this is why automobile insurance can be considered broad in nature.

In the case of automobile insurance, the reason insurance is important is that it protects you from having to pay damages in the event that you are found at fault for the accident. Without automobile insurance, you might lose everything that you have, including future earnings in order to pay these damages. Most consumers simply cannot afford to buy another vehicle for someone should they severely damage that person's automobile. The same holds true for any medical costs that might be associated with an accident wherein you are found at fault.

With home owner's insurance, the minimum coverage level is often determined by the lender. Many home owners will add to this level of coverage in order to protect such things as their furniture and other personal items against loss. Coverage will usually extend to people who may be on the property should they encounter an accident and sustain injuries. Again, the importance of insurance is to protect the owner from legal actions that may arise from outside parties as well as to protect the owner from real property damage such as fire.

In the area of home owner's insurance, there is often controversy over what is known as flood insurance. Home owners should not assume that their policy covers damages due to flooding. This is often assumed by home owners and can lead to severe losses should a flooding event occur. The only way to know if you are covered for flooding is to ask the direct question to your insurance company and to read what is in the insurance contract. Thousands upon thousands of homeowners have encountered severe financial loss because they assumed they were covered for flood damages when, in fact, they were not.

In addition to personal property insurance there are other types of insurance as well. There are policies that insure against lost wages should you be injured; there are commercial policies used for businesses; there are specialty policies used for high-ticket items such as jewelry or art work. Some might suggest that there is virtually nothing that you cannot insure, but protecting yourself and your assets against loss is one of the most important reasons for having insurance.

[Source: http://www.articlesbase.com]