What is the meaning of WORK to you?

If somebody asks you the question: "What do you do?", what will be your answer?

WORK can have different meaning to different people. In fact, what "work" means to you is a big part of who you are.

"Work" can be one of, or an intersection of more than one, of the following to you. Check it out!

Work as Job

This means working for the sake of a paycheck, without much personal involvement or satisfaction. Yet, jobs can produce valuable feelings of skill and satisfaction, not to mention sustenance that enables a worker to pursue meaning in other areas of life.

Work as Career

Work as career is motivated by the desire for success, achievement, and status. The careerist’s approach to work is not a passionate attachment to the work itself. Rather, it emphasizes the feedback about the self that comes in response to work. For the careerist, work is a means of creating, defining, expressing, proving, and glorifying the self. Work as career can be an important source of meaning and fulfi llment in life.

Work as Calling

The word “calling” derives from the idea that one is “called upon” to do a certain type of work: either externally, by God or community, or internally, by a natural gift demanding expression. It’s done out of a sense of personal obligation, duty, or destiny.

Work as Fulfillment

Work as fulfillment is best described as a strongly interest-driven (or even passionate) approach to work — but one lacking the overwhelming, allencompassing nature of a "calling". People pursuing work as fulfillment may choose unconventional career paths that favor personal interests over financial reward, recognition, or prestige. Such work can be an important source of meaning in life.

Note: The above is learnt from a book called Business Model You, which is derived from an earlier book called Business Model Generation.

Notes on trademark registration in Malaysia

A trademark is an important thing commonly used for branding and identity. It need to be legally registered in order to prohibit infridgement or unauthorized use of it. Although it is normally registered by business organization, individuals (such as freelancers) can also register trademark for their products and/or services.

Here are some guidelines to follow, according to the Trade Marks Act 1976 if Malaysia. By following the guidelines below, it will probably save you time, effort and cost in case you are trying to register your own trademark.

In order to be accepted for registration, a trade mark need to contain or consist of at least one of the following particulars:

• The name of an individual, company or firm represented in a special or particular manner.
• The signature of the applicant for registration or of some predecessor in his business.
• An invented word or words.
• A word having no direct reference to the character or quality of the goods or services not being, according to its ordinary meaning, a geographical name or surname.
• A distinctive mark. It must be capable of distinguishing goods or services with which the proprietor of the trade mark is or may be connected in the course of trade from goods or services.

A trade mark is prohibited:

• If the use of which is likely to deceive or cause confusionto the public or would be contrary to law.
• If it contains or comprises any scandalous or offensive matter or would otherwise not be entitled to protection by any court of law.
• If it contains a matter which in the opinion of the Registrar is or might be prejudicial to the interest or security of the nation.
• If it is identical with or so nearly resembles a mark which is well known in Malaysia for the same goods or services of another proprietor.
• If it is well known and registered in Malaysia for goods or services not the same as to those in respect of which registration is applied for: Provided that the use of the mark in relation to those goods or services would indicate a connection between those goods or services and the proprietor of the well known mark, and the interests of the proprietor of the well known mark are likely to be damaged by such use.
• If it contains or consists of a geographical indication with respect to goods not originating in the territory indicated, if use of the indication in the mark for such goods in Malaysia is of such a nature as to mislead the public as to the true place of origin of the goods.
• If it is a mark for wines which contains or consists of a geographical indication identifying wines, or is a mark for spirits which contains or consists of a geographical indication identifying spirits, not originating in the place indicated by the geographical indication in question.

90 precious experiences that entrepreneur Jason Goldberg learnt from founding 4 tech companies

Jason Goldberg, the founder and CEO of Fab.com, has shared a list of 90 things he has learnt from founding 4 tech companies, which is a revision and extension from the 57 things he learnt from founding 3 tech companies that he shared 2 years ago.

If you are running a start-up or working as employee in a start-up, this long list of sharing will probably be inspiring to you.

Click here to read about the 90 things that Jason has learnt from founding 4 tech companies.

Fixed Windows 7 Stop: 0x0000007B blue screen error during boot time

I have a HP Probook laptop running on Windows 7 Pro, which recently accepted an automated update to its BIOS.

After the BIOS update successfully, and system rebooted, I got a disaster! Now Windows will not reboot into login screen, it will reboot again halfway during the booting process, giving me 2 options: to enter recovery mode, or to boot normally.

I entered into the recovery mode, tried using Startup Repair, the problem was not fixed. Went into the same screen again, tried System Restore to previous checkpoint, still unable to fix.

Tried running Windows Memory Diagnostic, the RAM is fine. Tried entering Command Prompt and check the disk, fixed the MBR, all not working.

Then, I booted with the "Disable automatic restart on system failure" option, I found this Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) showing the infamous Stop: 0x0000007B error.

Here are other methods I tried to fix the problem, but all not working:

• Download the latest BIOS from HP website, make the bootable USB drive and reflash the laptop BIOS with the USB drive
• Download the previous BIOS from HP website, make the bootable USB drive and reflash the laptop BIOS with the USB drive
• Boot with "Enable low resolution video (640x480)"
• Boot with "Last Known Good Configuration (advanced)"
• Boot with "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement"
• Go into the BIOS, set the SATA mode from AHCI to IDE
• Go into the BIOS, set back the SATA mode from IDE to AHCI

I was about to give up, boot using System Rescue CD, mounted the Windows 7 partition using ntfs-3g command copied my files in the /mnt/Windows directory to another PC using the SFTP method.

Then, I downloaded the ISO file of Windows 7 SP1 from this website, burn it into DVD, and boot the laptop with it.

Last try, run the Startup Repair from the Windows 7 SP1 installation DVD, reboot the laptop with its harddisk. It booted up using a longer time than normal, and Whoala! I got the login screen. Logged into the Windows, everything is still there, try rebooting it, and the Stop: 0x0000007B error has gone.

So, I finally managed to fixed this problem by running Startup Repair from the Windows 7 SP1 installation DVD, instead of the Startup Repair from the installed Windows 7 system in the harddisk.

Fixed Android phone unable to send out SMS problem after updated to ICS

About 2 months ago when I just updated my HTC Incredible S to Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich, ICS), I noticed an SMS sending out problem as described below:

When a new SMS arrived to the phone and shown as pop-up message, I replied the SMS immediately. That replying SMS will not be sent and stuck at the sending out state. The SMS will eventually be sent out after the phone is rebooted.

This problem is not observed when the SMS is not directly sent from the pop-up box. Meaning, if the SMS is sent from within the SMS app, this problem will not occur.

I managed to find a workaround to fix this problem, and after observing for about 1 month now, I never encounter the same problem again after applying this fix.

If you are also having the same problem in sending out SMS reply, probably can try this fix.

Go to Settings > Call > Phone settings and disable "Home dialing". Restart the phone.

I think this problem is related to a bug in the Home dialing function in Android ICS, and disabling it is the workaround.

Business Model Generation - A handbook for visionaries, game changers and challengers

• Are you an entrepreneurial spirit?
• Are you constantly thinking about how to create value and build new businesses, or how to improve or transform your organization?
• Are you trying to find innovative ways of doing business to replace old, outdated ones?

If you've answered "yes" to any of the above, I would like to recommend you the Business Model Generation book the you could learn about the 9 building blocks of the Business Model Canvas, 5 patterns of business model, etc.

Below is a short video explaining the famous Business Model Canvas:

If you like the idea, you can download a 72 pages preview of the book here.

Visit the Business Model Generation website to find out more.

Garmin portable friction mount to hold GPS navigator on top of car dashboard

If you have a Garmin GPS navigator, you are most likely mount it with its suction cup onto your car windscreen in order to use it.

The suction cup rubber tend to age and lost its suction power by time, and can cause your GPS navigator to fall off from windscreen while you are driving. 2 years ago, I've posted a solution to prolong the time of possible fall off by reactivate the suction cup power with hot water. Another common method is to make the suction cup wet by putting some water (or saliva!?) onto its base before putting it onto the windscreen.

Now, I found an alternative solution, which is to use Garmin portable friction mount to place the GPS navigator on top of the car dashboard.

This friction mount holds the Garmin GPS on top of the dashboard with strong grip and unlikely to be affected even when sharp cornering or emergency breaking. It has a sticky pliable base which can bend according to the dashboard shape.

After using, you can easily take it off from your dashboard. Although there is sticky material at its bottom, it won't leave any residue on the dashboard.

It's holding arm is foldable to adjust the position of the GPS when use. You can totally fold it down when not in use.

I bought it online at the cost of RM88 including shipping.

PIKOM Digital Lifestyle Expo 2012 & World Cyber Games (WCG) 2012

I have just gone to the PIKOM Digital Lifestyle Expo 2012 & World Cyber Games (WCG) 2012 held in KL Convention Centre today.

This event is still on until Sunday, as below:

Date: 7-9 September 2012
Time: 11:00am - 9:00pm
Venue: Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre

The main event is WCG Asian Championship 2012 held in Hall 1, where you can see gamers competing for:

• FIFA 12
• Counter-strike
• Counter-strike Global Offensive
• World of Tanks
• StarCraft 2
• DOTA 2
• Tekken 6

Samsung is also showcasing their big LCD TV and Android products there.

At the end of Hall 2, there is another attraction of fashion show by Cyber International Lifestyle Trade Fair (CILTF). However, you have to catch the right timing, as the models are only doing catwalking for a short while only.

I am forced to go to the other side (Hall 3 and Hall 4) to exit. The other side is very quiet with little crowd. MAMPU is showcasing some e-Government thingy, and you will most likely see their staff relaxing, chit-chatting or playing games instead of entertaining you. Then you will pass through some telco booths and bank booths where a lot of salesperson will come to you, before being able to exit the hall.

In fact, I find the Volkswagen DAS Auto Show 2012 next door (in Hall 5) more attractive, with the launching of brand new Volkswagen Beetle in different colours.

RON 97 petrol in Malaysia made historical high price @ RM3.00/litre

The RON 97 petrol price has silently risen to a historical high of RM3.00 per litre since Thursday 6 September 2012, a whopping 30 sen increase from its previous price of RM2.70.

In July, it was reported that the price of RON 97 was slashed by 20 sen from RM2.80 to RM2.60 per litre.

Then, the price silently increased by 10 sen in August to RM2.70 per litre without announcement.

Now, it increased again to historical high, without announcement too!

CIMB Bank will discontinue their Western Union money transfer service

I am quite surprised to know that CIMB Bank will discontinue their Western Union money transfer service effective 29 August 2012.

Western Union is the most convenient and cost effective way for Malaysian to receive cash from Google Adsense.

We will need to look for other Western Union agents to receive payment from Google Adsense now.

Reference: http://www.cimbbank.com.my/index.php?tpt=cimb_bank#2

FBI seized Applanet.net, Appbucket.net and Snappzmarket.com for hosting pirated Android apps

The US government has shutdown 3 Android apps marketplace websites namely Applanet.net, Appbucket.net and Snappzmarket.com recently.

Those websites are known to host and distribute popular Android apps which are selling with a price in the official Google Play Store and/or Amazon Marketplace, etc.

Actually, most Android apps are selling at a low price, even lower than a cup of Starbucks coffee, and we just need to pay for once to download the apps and able to enjoy all future version updates/upgrades. Even when we changed to a new Android phone, the apps we purchased before will be automatically installed into the new phone.

Smartphone users should build the mentallity of paying for the apps that they find useful, which they like to keep in their phone for their use. Most of the time, the cost of the apps is less than 1% of the cost of their smartphone.

FBI seizure of these 3 piracy marketplaces is a meaningful move to somehow educate the users not to avoid paying for non-free apps. If the mobile developers are well rewarded by producing popular apps, that will encourage more and more fantastic apps to be produced.

Reference: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/376360/20120822/piracy-infringement-android-apps-download-applications.htm

Malaysia national and state public holidays for year 2013 announced

The 2013 national and state public holidays in Malaysia will be as below.

There are 14 days of national holiday, and 1 of them fall on Sunday and 3 fall on Saturday. Most of the states will have around 3 state holidays in addition to the national holidays.

Interesting Android app to display Chinese family relationship terminology 亲戚关系

The Chinese has a very systematic and complex family relationship (a.k.a. kinship) terminology system which maintains a separate designation for almost every one of ego's kin based on their generation, gender, lineage, relative age, etc.

Do you know the Chinese family designation of each and everyone of your relatives? I've found an interesting Android app by chance, which can help you to quickly find out the correct designation. So, no more embarrassment in calling your relatives correctly when you meet with them next time during family gathering, wedding dinner, Chinese New Year visiting, etc.

The app is called My Relatives (亲戚关系) and you can get it from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lanhk.myrelatives.

Online registration to autopay monthly TM UniFi Bill with credit card

Good news to all TM UniFi users who wish to pay your monthly UniFi bill automatically with your credit card. I just discovered that you can now register for this autopay service online, don't even need to fill up and submit the paper form anymore.

Step 1: Login myUniFi Online Customer Centre (a.k.a. UniFi Customer Portal) with your myUniFi account.

Step 2: Once login, go to the myProfile tab.

Step 3: Click the Change Payment Method button.

Step 4: Fill in the online form and click the Save Changes button.

You can find a new service ticket is raised in mySupport which is immediately closed. Your payment method in myProfile should be updated as well.

Alternatives of US-based GPS satellite navigation

The usage of global satellite navigation system has become more and more important nowadays, from military to civil uses. For example, location based service (LBS) in smartphones has high level of reliance on it.

The current global satellite navigation system used by most of us are depending on the Global Positioning System (GPS) of US NAVSTAR, which has 24 to 32 satellites in operation. The actual number of operating satellites varies from time to time due to maintenance and/or replacement, but the minimum in operation in any time is 24.

GPS has been operational since 1978, and made globally available since 1994.

Due to political, and more importantly, millitary reasons, some other nations have also developed their own global satellite navigation system as alternative to the US NAVSTAR's GPS.

These include the Russian Global'naya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (Global Navigation Satellite System, GLONASS) which is currently supported in iPhone 4S. GLONASS has been operational since 1995, but fell into disrepair after the collapse of Soviet Unoin, and was later recovered and restored in 2011.

China is developing a regional navigation system called BeiDou (北斗导航系统), which has 12 satellites and will implement for Asia Pacific region by this year (2012). They have plan to further expand it into a global navigation system by 2020, under a project called Compass. By that time, BeiDou system will have 35 satellites in operation.

The European Union also developing their own Galileo positioning system, but seems like they are facing some progress delay due to financial issue.

Indian is also developing the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) with 7 satellites, mainly for their own use.

A family vacation trip to Cherating, Pahang

My family has spent a vacation in Cherating, Pahang recently. It is a nice getaway place at East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia for urban person to take a look at the beauty of nature in the rural part of the country.

We stayed at The Legend Resort, which has an average outlook, but pretty modernly renovated rooms. From the number plate of the cars parked there, it is observed that majority of its guest are from urban area especially Klang Valley.

We booked our room from Internet. We've browsed through the famous hotel reservation websites and group coupon websites, and surprisingly found out that the cheapest rate we could get is actually from the hotel's official website! We stayed at Grand Deluxe Seaview room at the price of RM2xx per night only, and the seaview (photo taken from balcony of the room) is quite nice.

The Legend in Cherating has large swimming pools, as well as long sandy beach. There are many small crabs on the beach...

... and we are warned that there are jelly fishes in the sea. We saw some dead jelly fishes on the shore.

The food in hotel's restaurant is expectingly expensive, and there are many nice and cheap Malay food around, and a Chinese restaurant right at the junction where you turn in from the main road to a small road leading to The Legend Cherating.

In a small village several kilometers at the North of The Legend, there is one Hafiz's Cherating Activities which provides one-stop sight-seeing service around Cherating. To look for En. Hafiz, locate for this signboard in the village.

That night, we've gone for fireflies watching trip and also turtle watching trip.

En. Hafiz is a friendly and nice person who is very knowledgeable about the Cherating River and the Mangrove Forest Researve area along the river. The fireflies are residing in the mangrove forest. Before we got on the boat to watch the fireflies, Hafiz has done a presentation about the information of fireflies, their habitats, life cycle, etc.

Hafiz has learnt a tactic to attract the fireflies to fly near to us by using small torchlights to imitate the fireflies' communication signal. It is really a fantasy experience to have hundreds of fireflies coming to us from the mangrove trees at the river side, and later send them back to the trees. However, use of camera and handphone is forbidden as the light from the device will disturb and cause annoyance to the fireflies, so no photo taken during this amazing trip.

The turtle watching trip was guided by rangers from the Cherating Turtle Sanctuary. The location was at an open beach near Kemaman, some distance away from Cherating village.

When we reached there, a turtle was half-way laying eggs in a hole it digged. It is a green turtle and its egg is about the size of ping pong ball.

That turtle laid 137 eggs that night. It burried the eggs, and the rangers digged them out to bring to the sanctuary for hatching.

The yellow one is actually a ping pong ball brought by the ranger for explanation purpose.

The rangers brought along 3 baskets of 1 day-old baby turtles (about 200 of them) for us to release to the sea.

Off they gone into the sea, remembering this seashore. They will come back years after, when they grown up later, to reproduce and lay eggs at the same beach where they left that night. However, most of the turtles might not be able to survive due to predators and natural challenges in the sea.

We have gone to the Turtle Sanctuary the next day. It is located next to Club Med Cherating. There are 2 adult turtles there, and several small turtles.

The next day, we actually planned to go for snorkelling trip to Snake Island with Hafiz, but we missed the time.

We gone back to Cherating River in Hafiz's day-time mangrove river cruise that evening. It is the same river we watched the fireflies the night before.

During the cruise, we also travelled into a branched small river, where many small animals can be seen.

The crabs in the mangrove forest are very colourful. We saw red and blue crabs there.

During the 2 hours river cruise, beside the crabs, we also encountered with monitor lizards, mud suckers, monkeys, snakes, birds, insects,  etc. It was really a nice experience.

On the way back from Cherating, we've visited Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary near Temerloh, hundred over kilometers away. It is located at the end of a small village, quite some distance away from the main road.

After the retreat, now we are back to urban life. I think we shall revisit Cherating again in the future. It is a wonderful place.

RIP Dr. Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

News reported that Dr. Stephen Richard Covey (1932-2012), author of the best-selling motivational book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (over 20 million copies sold worldwide), has just passed away due to residual effects of an April bicycle accident.

Covey is the founder of Covey Leadership Center, which in 1997 merged with Franklin Quest to form FranklinCovey Co. Today, FranklinCovey has offices in hundred over countries as global consulting and training center in the areas of strategy execution, leadership, customer loyalty, sales performance, school transformation and individual effectiveness. Covey is also a professor at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University at the time of his death.

Beside The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey is also the author of the following best-selling books:

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families
• The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness
• The Leader in Me
• The 3rd Alternative
• First Things First
• Principle-Centered Leadership

Below are the 7 habits of highly effective people as listed by Covey. Read his book for full detail:

• Be proactive
• Begin with the end in mind
• Put first things first
• Think win/win
• Seek first to understand, then to be understood
• Synergize
• Sharpen the saw

Updated HTC Incredible S from Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) to Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich, ICS)

Right after Google released the latest Android version 4.1 (Jelly Bean) last week, finally the last version of Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich, ICS) with Sense UI 3.6 is now rolled out to HTC Incredible S smartphones.

The OTA (Over-The-Air) 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich, ICS) with Sense UI 3.6 for HTC Incredible S smartphone has been made available to Malaysia yesterday (18 July 2012) morning, a few days after its roll out to European region.

You can manually check for the update now, or wait for the automated update alert appear on your HTC Incredible S smartphone sooner or later.
The download process with probably take half an hour or more, and the updating process will take another quarter hour or more.

After successful update, I manually restarted the phone 3 times, and it is now operating faster than before (while it was on Gingerbread), showing its improvement in this new version.

The following are observed in the Android ICS for HTC Incredible S:

• A new launch bar which you can put in 4 most commonly used app, and in the center is the "All apps" icon. This launch bar appears in every of the 7 Home Screens. The quick launch icons in the Lock Screen follows the 4 apps you put in this launch bar.
• The stock Camera app has been improved.
• Widget of some apps is now resizable, including Folder Organizer and Business Calendar that I use.
• Facebook for HTC Sense has been taken out. FriendStream now has to use the official Facebook app to access to my Facebook account.
• Network usage info (both mobile and Wi-Fi) can be displayed in Settings > Usage. This is in direct competition with some 3rd party apps like 3G Watchdog.
• The items in Quick Settings list is now lesser, and you can no longer find Wi-Fi and GPS toggle switch in the list. You will need one more step, to tap on the icon to the right of Additional Settings bar to reach the Wi-Fi toggle switch in another list. The GPS toggle is even deeper inside the Location setting.
• Memory usage is observed to be lesser compared with previous version of Android.
• Now can do screen capture by pressing the physical Power and Home buttons of the phone together.
• Calls is now accessable to People, Groups and Call History directly.
• Added many Developer Options inside the Settings.
• The buttons of stock Calculator app now has too big font size.
• The white background of stock Battery widget make its text hard to see.
• .....

This Android ICS for HTC Incredible S smartphone is really a major upgrade from Gingerbread. Have fun!

Yahoo website hacked, 450k+ user information exposed

A MySQL database in Yahoo Voice (formerly known as Associated Content before being purchased by Yahoo in 2010) was just hacked using SQL injection, and its MySQL variables, together with 450k+ user information in database dump, is exposed to Internet by someone claimed as D33Ds Company.

Soon, somebody has analysed the database dump using a tool called Pipal, and revealed the top 10 most commonly used passwords to be:

• 123456
• password
• welcome
• ninja
• abc123
• 123456789
• 12345678
• sunshine
• princess
• qwerty

The result of the findings is posted in Pastebin.

Nowadays, password is commonly used as credential to authenticate users accessing web-based and/or mobile-based services in the Internet. As a user, beside not using password that are easy go guess (by human or by computerized program), we also need to assume that the website might not be putting enough security measure in storing our information in their server. Therefore, it is advisable to use different password for different website. If one is compromised, at least the rest are not badly affected.

Welcome to the era of negative interest rates

Don't be surprised when one day, you realise that the bank will charge you interest (instead of paying you interest, in common sense) for the money you deposit with them.

This has already gone real in certain financial institution in the USA and in Europe. Even some new bonds recently issued by the government of some countries in those regions are having negative interest rate.

Well, when a financial institution impose a negative interest rate, it sends a clear message to its depositors to withdraw their money from that institution and deposit to other competitors who still offering normal positive interest rates, or to use the money for consumption or invest in other kind of investment instruments that might not be as safe as the money market but also provide higher potential of growth to the money, or to keep the money at home in your personal safe.

Why a financial institution wants to force you to withdraw your money from them? Probably because they have too much idle cash on hand, and the investment situation is really bad, and the interest rate is really low (in low interest situation, their profit margin to lend out the money is low).

No matter how, be prepared for the day to come to you.

Your smartphone will be your personal assistant: Apple Siri & Google Now

A few years ago, Apple acquired Siri, and this artificial intelligence (AI) product is now part of the iPhone 4S launched last October 2011. It includes functionalities to make it a virtual personal assistant that we always bring along.

Recently when Google announced the next version of Android, Jelly Bean, they promised us with  Google Now, which is a search-centric, voice-powered digital AI personal assistant to compete with Siri.

We can anticipate one more interesting function in our smartphone in near future, which is a personal assistant who knows about our time schedule and proactively alert/remind us on upcoming appointments, and knows our interest and hobby and provide useful suggestion/answer that match with our interest.

It will also learn the detail in the air-ticket that we purchased, and able to kept us updated with boarding information, latest departual/arrival time schedule, the weather at the destination, etc.

It will be able to remind us about the birthday and anniversary of our family members and close friends.

When we are on the road, it will alert us on possible traffic jam ahead, and suggest for alternative route.

Nowadays, a smartphone is already very much more than a phone that we use to make call and send SMS. The revolution will continue with more and more features and functionalities added in.

New type of insurance plan to get early payout for 36 critical illnesses

If you have bought an insurance plan, or have been approached by insurance agent before, I'm sure you might have been known about the kind of health/medical insurance that covers 36 kinds of critical illnesses.

However, you might not be awared that the coverage on the 36 kinds of critical illnesses is at the terminal stage, which is a serious stage that is hard to recover or already close to death. Before reaching such a serious situation, although you might unluckily caught by one of the 36 kinds of critical illnesses, you still can't make any claim from your critical illnesses insurance policy.

Recently, I was informed by my insurance agent about a new type of insurance plan (well, actually not that new now as it has been launched for quite some times) that can complement the traditional 36 critical illnesses insurance plan with an early payout condition.

Under this early payout for critical illnesses plan, we can make the claim upon early diagnosis of a critical illness covered under the plan, and make use of the money for medical treatment. Early treatment let us have higher chance of survival.

The payout will be a certain proportion of the total sum insured, depends on the type of the diagnosed illness and its severity level (early, intermediate, terminal). Multiple claims across multiple critical illnesses is possible as long as there is still balance in the total sum insured.

Anyhow, this kind of early payout insurance plan seems to be come as a rider in a regular premium investment-linked insurance plan, making it not so flexible for people who want to take this kind of insurance but not so interested in buying unit trust through insurance (which normally incurs high commission rate and high admin charges).

Do contact with your own insurance agent to find out more about such early payout critical illnesses insurance plan if you are interested.