Also, when Mr Tan Kin Lian, the then-General Manager (now known as CEO) and his management team gave 15% bonus shares every five years. This, I believe, was to compensate for the reducing purchasing power of money as NTUC Income shares can only be redeemed at the par value of $10 no matter how long one holds be it 30, 40 or 50 years! It is also to reward loyalty.
I have been a shareholder of NTUC Income (now known as Income Insurance Ltd) for more than 30 years since 1991. After purchasing an Endowment Policy from NTUC Income, I was given the option to purchase a small number of shares. The dividend yield of 6% was quite respectable then.
Thereafter, in 2002, I believe, we were given the option to subscribe up to a maximum of 5,000 shares at a par value of $10 per share. Many individual shareholders took up this opportunity and subscribed in full. The 6% dividend yield was decent and the safety of capital was not much of an issue at it's a Government-linked cooperative.
