uh but some of them the way they speak to these people it's very uh demeaning I really don't like it but at the same time I know that I'm in no position, to tell them not to do that, so uh ya so I I do see them like blatantly like shouting at them telling them to like run or like do this do that and then but at the same time I don't know what to do I'm I'm no I'm in no position to do something about it


so that's ya I'm not particularly happy with that but at the same time I, I have no channel to fix this issue, uh if you don't have anything we can skip to the next question


(mmhmm)


okay I mean you did eventually talk about it so I think it's okay lah ya, okay oh oh okay okay


okay


can keep on, nothing comes to mind as of now ya


, (mmhmm)


okay ya I I can understand that lah cause I I mean my younger sister ah sometimes like the decision to I guess not spend much time ah it's sometimes it's a bit unconscious, uh but then like sometimes I would think like, have I been spending time like should I have could I have done better and ya is not if you did any something I think about ya and ya I I get ya you all really don't like now that we are like twenty plus we're probably like moving out of family then it just makes you wonder like did we spend enough time with our family


but I guess it could also maybe cause like our parents always tell us to like focus on ourselves do well, and ya I I I'm ya actually something that I should've think about okay


oh okay


okay uh I'll pick one uh go with, phobia okay uh do you have phobia and how do you overcome them uh okay so for me when I was a kid I actually okay I'm not sure if this is a phobia but I feared pets


uh dogs in particular uh because when I was a kid uh like cause we would visit india to see relative time to time and uh my uncle had this like massive uh german shepherd, and it was it's not it's not it was not a friendly animal or he he rescued from uh somewhere and it like the dog didn't have a good past lah so you hit you it was very aggressive


and I just did not I did not have a good experience with that dog uh so after that like I'm muted to talk about maybe ten ten years or so I was quite apprehensive of pets in general, uh but how I how I overcame them ah I guess is like quite to put it quite straight forward I volunteered at the animal shelter last semester cause it's like organised uh under business school so uh like I went there they kind of taught us like how to approach animal like how to


let them be comfortable with us you know and like how to treat them properly and I l I actually even like manage like walk like some ex-military dogs and they were like really fun to be around with so like I I don't I don't really fear pet anymore then I was like


and and like your cat is really brilliant honestly uh I I like when I was alone in your house with your cat like I was I was telling something with him like we have to leave the, ya


uh okay okay can okay


uh short we'll move on to the next question uh, last one think we have time for two more, uh do you want do uh describe something you watch or read that gave you goosebumps


okay I'll I'll I'll go first lah then I will give you some times back later uh okay I will go with something I watched I watched as in I saw it's more of saw uh so uh I recently went to the airport


to go to jewel and uh so I I I was riding there and you know like when you exit from the highway and you go into the airport you start getting a glimpse of the airport and uh like what I saw was uh basically it was of airplanes like it is nothing that I've


ever seen before and I mean I know like a lot of parts of the country like they are suddenly very empty and it's not something that we're used to looking at but that one in particular was it it to give me goosebump that's like real classic cause I've never seen that many plane in my life and like for me uh


like the airport is sort of special place I used to live beside it for a long part of my childhood I used to visit it very often and you know like when I land in singapore when I take a taxi out of changi airport like I get the sense that I'm home


so like for me the airport is, quite special lah and to see that there were so many planes just parked there and uh so like in my swabbing thing right a lot of the people are airline crew you know like flight crew pilots


and they don't know when they'll get back to work and it it's just something that I've found quite uncomfortable and it have gave me very serious goosebumps when I saw honestly, ya, okay


okay


okay can, you want go first


okay okay I'll I'll I'll wrap it up then uh okay yes actually uh it's quite similar to your certain part ah my dad is also the sole breadwinner and he has been historically fired during the asian financial crisis uh two thousand eight crisis


uh he has been fired he's like he's been out of job for like maybe six to nine months, uh during those time and it was something that I only found out a few years ago like when I was a kid I was uh never actually aware that he got fired for that long uh so that is one of the worries because he he works in the industry where


getting fired is something that is quite easy to do uh and he is quite aware of the risk so that is one of the risk but uh overall I do not worry about any particular thing because I think we can get through this


ya I think I think you can get through this, and I think we will I think in a way like this event has exposed some of the things that we need to work on for example like some of the problems that we'll compare it in singapore or different countries you know you start seeing people discussing about issues


that I'm not directly related the virus but is exposed because of the virus and I think it's a good thing that people are becoming more aware of it and, I think people will take action on this thing so I don't really worry about anything


in the future ya okay, (mmhmm)


okay just nice


okay positive experiences, uh okay


okay uh, it's a pre loaded question uh I guess mostly while the people around me, my family my girlfriend and uh I, think okay this is something like I'm not doing right now but I would want to live live a life where


I contribute to society in general in some in a manner uh but I mean it's not something that I am doing right now but it's something that I would want to do and it's something that I'm working towards something that I


want to do lah in my life and that's why that's what makes me want to be alive ya what about you


(mmhmm) (mmhmm)


okay pretty well said very comprehensive okay okay okay uh okay then next question uh what is the skill or an ability that you are secretly proud of having


(mmhmm), (mmhmm)


okay okay uh for me what is the skill ability uh I guess in some ways uh


I try one of the skills that I probably have is that I sort of I'm able to get what I want, uh for example if I want to be, uh if I want to do a particular thing I will join that particular like for example if it is a society I will join the society I'll get to know the uh relevant people I will you know talk to them engage with them and I'll done like uh how about I do this thing you know let me take uh sort of like


and do you want to see, that kind of like uh it's something that I've been practising in ten years business and I think through that I've been able to meet a lot of people that I otherwise would not have been able to meet uh I've been in CCA that year one normally haven't been able to join


ya so that's something I'm proud of I think, uh ya ya (uh huh)


okay I , now that you asked it's not really related to a positive experience and I guess ya it's actually not and it's just a skill and it's not necessarily


positive experience ya that's that's a good point that's a good question


okay okay


ya definitely okay alright next question if you go ahead, ya


okay uh okay more recently right uh cause these kinds of activities they kind of change over time lah so maybe I'll just describe the most recent one that I'm doing uh so I have a motorcycle and uh recently I've been trying to learn like the different parts


that you know function like the engine the gearbox that kind of stuff so like because uh we all kind of stuck at home one of the things I like to do and I don't really like to stay at home lah, but I can't really go much outside so I kind of like go down to the car park then I start like dismantling little parts of it figuring out how it works and then I'll just try and put it back so that's something that I find relaxing and it I mean it's just extra knowledge that fun to know I guess ya


what about you


(mmhmm)


you've described a few activities so if you had to pick one favourite which would it which would it be


okay okay can


can tell ah let's go with uh what is your best surprise, this is question


if you want you can keep to the next okay


uh I I'm not a person who really like surprises, so but most of the people around me know I don't like surprises so I don't get much surprises to begin with this in that sense this question isn't very relevant to me ya uh I it will go on to the next question I think uh ya


uh, despite the ongoing global uncertainty what makes you optimistic about the future


okay okay, uh okay in relation to the current pandemic uh like to put it shortly I just know that this too will pass lah it's not going to be forever, they will like will either find a vaccine or will find a way to live with it


so eventually you know it's not something that's going to be on the headlines forever so knowing that itself I think it's enough to like for me to be optimistic about the future uh in relation to like the greater global context uh whether it's like the economy trade tensions whatsoever


uh I mean if you live in singapore it's a pretty high income nation we are easily in like the top, two per cent in terms of wealth we have access to food water you know like, we're pretty safe it's a pretty stable society so


that's not much ya like what you said towards the end uh there's not much that we need to worry about and what we currently have I think we can make use to uh make our future what much better lah ya, you can uh pick one


okay


okay uh


I'm not sure what was the biggest reward but I can think of a good deed that I think I did and a reward at the cause of that lah I'm not sure it was the biggest like but definitely a positive one I feel ya and I think you would be quite familiar with it uh towards the end of year six


uh like right before a few months before convocation and we're going to graduate uh you know like you start I started hearing people who say that they don't want to come to convocation because they say, that they you know they they kind of don't want to have like merits being shown on the stage and then with their name beside it it like it it doesn't look good when you see like your friends getting high distinction


you know and I don't know I don't know whether they were being serious about not coming uh maybe maybe they were just kidding I don't know but uh, I put I honestly thought that, at seventeen eighteen years old it's not necessary to like create such an bad experience where people don't want to come what like convocation I think the event of graduation is still very important so what I did was basically raised it up to a bunch of teachers


uh talk to some of them and I think the biggest reward in the end was like seeing those friends made those comment come up for graduation, ya and I hope they are happy and I am definitely happy from like what happened lah I I'm I was quite surprised that they actually the teachers actually like came to consult different classes and I was even more surprised that like our cohort was really okay with like removing like the labelling


so ya and it and it also means that like the years after us you know to like the students won't have to think like I only have a merit I don't want to go for convocation because I don't want my friends to see that you know so


I in a sense I I ya I guess I'm very glad that I help to ease that thought away ya well ya that's about it ya, ya uh your turn


(mmhmm),


I guess especially like the one you stated about uh going to vietnam to help this student uh like the thing is that even though you only went there for a few days to help what you've left behind would definitely help a lot more students then the ones you just like so it's kind of like fills up on top of it which I think is is really pretty ya


okay uh we'll do one more question, uh it's quite an experience when your faith in mankind hopes was renewed, uh you want to go first oh


okay okay uh okay uh for this one actually uh I can talk I think I can talk about what I'm currently doing which is uh I'm helping out with uh like small operation under MOH, so basically every day I'll go to a dorm and I you know oversee like people the foreign workers getting swabbed uh


okay and the thing is that because you know it's like singaporeans are generally portrayed as, kind of like selfish competitive, you know and there's a perception that, know like we don't really care about these people who come here and work and then they leave


uh I mean maybe that is true for a certain people in this country I wouldn't deny but uh I've got to meet like I I got to meet like some really really wonderful people uh whether it's from like MOH or like some of the volunteers


and they really come from like very different uh walks of life I uh I've met people who work in uh UN and then they come here and like to volunteer I meet people who run their own businesses, their businesses was to it it was affected but they were they just come to volunteer and the thing is that most of us when we sign up right actually we weren't even told that we will getting pay or anything


we kind of like thought that it would be a purely voluntary service and to think that a lot of these people like signed up just to volunteer to help out with this effort like to take care of these people that they've kind of kept hidden for so long, kind of renewed my faith in at least among like singaporeans


ya there's still hope ya, okay, ya ya right guess so


okay financial related topics, okay uh


so what is one advice uh okay if sorry uh maybe I should start first okay, ya, alright so what's one advice a financial advice that you will give to you five years ago, (mmhmm)


(mmhmm) yes, okay


I see


well for me five years ago I mean since we are classmates uh we're also in are also in school uh at that time I my parents still give me allowance and uh I did only recently ya at that point of time open a new bank account


, I have been saving differently uh since then however , given that like my parents allowance that they've given me was limited to uh the amount of food I need to eat uh I I would say that my financial


status is very different from what I would am now currently especially after , going into national service and attempting to work part time job as well so uh having


known that I probably wouldn't really change much in terms of financial advice at that point of time cause it was still a little bit early to decide ya, okay, ya sure ya


uh for me whether I should, get a financial advisor or not, uh, I would say that I probably wouldn't need it ya because it depends on, how


my career status is in the future as well and what sort of job I'll be doing uh, the things I'm I'm not so familiar with are cover in terms of like investments and how to like manage like larger sums of money as well so when it comes to bigger taxes like bills or for example down payments for


or getting a house or whatever that type of thing , ya I would definitely probably get one financial adviser others stuff like whether I should get a savings plans and all that I think, this type of thing I have read up a bit about and I uh currently my family is looking into it so this type of case I'm more about DIY


ya, uh so how about you actually, ya ya (mmhmm) (mmhmm) that's true yes (mmhmm)


yes I mean just want to clarify that uh for my family cause I think my dad has his own financial advisor where he kind of, in a way started is our own company everything so uh we do know people who we can trust and maybe that's why I feel safer ya getting a financial adviser than you do ya


uh, ya knowing the person will definitely help, ya okay, alright ya I guess I'll I'll pick up the next question then ya so how do you manage your cashflow


and uh maybe how much your of your income is allocate to your savings expenses and insurance or investments


ya, alright


alright


understandable ya, uh so for me like uh currently I'm not working and still rest, well and uh my allowance also come to my parents savings wise uh I do still have savings from uh my NS time uh however like


uh, cause most them wanted to me getting a driver license so ya that in itself costing a lot, the bulk of my savings is actually from well when my parents helped me save some monies when I was uh back in taiwan where I was where I have yet to become a citizen uh citizen in singapore ya


uh quite a large sum of money was there in a savings plan that grew over the years ya so currently ya we're looking into, transferring the money over here uh with looking at certain savings plans


probably AIA or something but could and I I've still discussing with my parents cause they're not so familiar with , like financial advice or uh, savings in singapore as as well so since I am more fluent in english I'm currently the one helping them look for it ya


(mmhmm) uh ya and, ya so like oh for now we have we have taken out the money from the savings plan thus uh we don't plan on going back anymore after we uh decided to stay here so this money are just sitting in the bank


ya , uh I mean, for me current, ya it's alright uh I think uh I'm not quite sure what my parents life so I won't like reveal what the plans are but uh as for me and it's


quite simple actually it's just to invest into my future honestly so like currently my parents always uh support me until the end of university so if I want to further my studies if you want if I want to like uh rent the place buy a house this this will work uh one place I could draw from but of course


since which I still need to (ppc) allocate some of the savings as emergency money in the future so I'll try my best not to touch them and try to work my way to get some savings for my future plans ya so in a way this is just a big sum of emergency money ya


ya ya, (ppc) sure yeah, (ppc) , okay


okay sure earn extra income or improve my income level I mean currently we're in a way doing that by studying in itself ya


(ppc) getting a degree uh furthering our studies training upon for the future itself that will definitely help air our future income one more thing is probably to look for internships I believe for, because currently I'm studying life sciences uh I my my plan for looking for internships will probably start in next year uh depending on whether


I want to go to more of a research field or what I want do something else so uh this is a type of thing that I'd I would presently been looking into ya but I believe for you in business school will be slightly different ya


yes of course uh I mean, you can think of it now it's investing into the future and, basically this is our parents' investment in us ya, so okay, ya then let's move on to ya the next question then alright so


do you have a habit of saving and what do you ensure uh how do you ensure that you meet your saving goals, ya


(mmhmm)


(mmhmm), alright ya


uh yes I think that's important as well ya okay I think for me uh it's slightly different because I don't personally manage the savings account, like from uh the one transferred from taiwan and my parents are the one actually holding on to the money for me


uh so in a way that emergency fund is completely untouchable for me I mean unless I really go and ask beg them for the money and uh I I doubt they'll give me the money anyway so ya, uh as for my savings uh it in in my bank account currently


uh my saving goals aren't exactly something so far in the future I guess like I do save for for example my driving license or things that I want to invest in to improve certain skills or , to achieve something in to the short term ya


uh, I try my best to go to, money in my bank as much as possible uh however, because maybe because I already know that is a emergency ah like savings from family uh, ya I I haven't been uh


saving that much as much as I would want to so maybe this is something I can work on in the future ya, (mmhmm), so ya maybe you can move on to the next question uh which is kind of related, ya so


(mmhmm), ya (uh huh) okay so for me how I spend my money is mostly on food uh as I said


the way my parents give me my allowance is actually based on, how much money I need for food ya so the the more I am out the more I need to eat the more like, uh, they they will adjust the allowance per month ya uh however of course


some of the savings will go to entertainment or uh buying extra set of headphones for example things, that, uh that I want to uh purchase for my on my own actually for this type of purchases like what I tend to do is


to see if I have, uh enough money in my bank account and also to to see if there's any future income that I can get besides my allowance so for example this year during the pandemic we we do get


the, we do get some support from the government as well so uh some of that money goes to some of my purchases ya which is I think where they intended it for to keep the market going, ya yes so how about you (mmhmm) alright uh


that's true, ya, (mmhmm)


uh, ya ya of course uh okay, ya I I mean uh I think


and you can tie this into the next question as well like strategies we could recommend to someone planning for big ticket expenditures which is buying family uh, you know something like family buying a car or like a house etcetera you mentioned about travelling right traveling is a big sum of money as well ya and that's one thing I I also forgot to mention of what my savings go into sometimes ya these are the well what I called the more short term


goals that I try to set for myself in case like you know I want to make sure that this money is not emergency savings money these are like things I I have I can save on top of what I have, ya , that strategy is probably what I'm still I'm going to do for my big ticket expenditures as well if possible of course uh that that means I will need to work a bit first uh with the savings from


uh my future income for example uh then I'll consider buying a house or starting a family ya, ya so ya what about you , yeah pretty much uh eh cause ya ya


(mmhmm), (mmhmm)


yes, yes alright


ya more or less, (mmhmm) yes course


, okay sure sure uh ya, maybe uh in it in view of time maybe we can like, just quickly go through some of the questions you know uh ya so to tie with this ya of course uh maybe


we have to move on to the post COVID world what would we do and does it making our spending and saving habits better or making changes to them for me of course is planning for it more for the future as well not just spending the money that like the government gives me ya investing into things like


workshops or trainings ya what about you, [oh] sorry okay sure, okay okay


ya negative experiences ya, sure ya okay


I think what frustrates me the most is probably, uh when, people have uh wrong others and they feel no sense of remorse or guilt of doing so


ya and I feel like cause usually I I would tend to give people chances in terms of like trying to understand where they're coming from or why they did certain things that have , made other people's experience bad uh ya so in this case


when if I approached them and they don't feel like they do anything wrong and in fact they felt like, , in fact they felt like they're they're more than justified to wrong the other person that kind of, ya piss me off


ya so ya what about you, (mmhmm) yes


(mmhmm), right ya right


yes yeah, it's very real for us when we do project work at school and I feel like, uh, ya one thing that I've learned in national service is they had ya there's sometimes where my


expectations has just dropped so far where I don't really expect people other than trying to show effort as long as they show effort it doesn't matter whether it contributes a lot or even a tiny little bit I feel like the heart matters a lot more sometimes ya


it's like a ya, yes (mmhmm) sure (hmm)


okay and from this, maybe you can go first I I think I need some time to think about it ya, (mmhmm)


alright


alright I see, okay okay, uh I think I do I think it's quite relevant to this as well I kind of okay so this is actually like one of the worst experience in my life as when I was bullied when I was in primary school


ya it went on for about two and a half years or so uh, other than keeping quiet about it for myself uh cause I was too scared to speak up uh the bullies were actually like people I looked up to and which is why I I kind of keep quiet about it for so long


, but out on all this like the the one thing I regret about it is when I finally told my parents and the teachers about it when things were being done about it I somehow still felt the need to protect them so I did not tell the teachers about


the other people they have bullied as well so I I regret that I couldn't, and help the others who have also fallen victim to them, and of course eventually they were the ones who fessed up about what they've done and uh


luckily like all those who have been affected uh have been counselled and have been treated well afterwards but I felt like me the act, that I couldn't tell in itself was something I regretted a lot until now


ya ya okay, uh no I I didn't really ya it was only revealed afterwards when the police themself, confessed about when he died ya


ya but it's one thing that stuck to me and I guess it did shape me as a person nowadays because uh I do try to force myself to speak up in uncomfortable situations for people that uh may not have the voice to do so because I myself know how I felt like on both ends


being quiet uh could being speak like being voiceless and also not giving people who are voiceless a chance to speak up ya so because of that uh it has really hit me as who I am now, okay ya that took quite long so I'll maybe I'll just uh skip to one of the questions ahead okay so what what is your greatest fear


okay alright I mean I guess for me it's quite uh it's quite easy for this uh my greatest fear okay uh we'll get to the phobia one uh maybe in later ya I I guess my greatest fear is feeling like that


I am not playing my part or my role in this well or in to the people around me for example like if, is sometimes like I I I'm very cold towards uh my siblings or my family sometime uh


sometimes not really out of like anger or anything sometimes is just my personality but sometimes I do feel like oh what if, one day you know they would they would know feel like , I could have been more warm to them or you know this type of smaller things it's not really not about is ya cause sometimes as asian kids like you feel like your parents might just want you to be successful or want to do this or do that in life I feel like


uh as we grow older it's obvious that they just really want us to be happy and also to include them into our lives with just one thing that, recently has become kind of a fear as I realised that uh after uni and planning ahead maybe moving out


and for the the longest time uh I had no plans for my family and friends in line is mostly about starting my own family and all that so I just don't want to forget about those around me and in terms of, how I can continue to impact them in the future ya


ya, ya and I wouldn't say is anything wrong right


ya ya yes, ya


ya ya, I mean it's not really a learning point per se it's just one of the fear I feel like started to develop during the pandemic itself where


actually have more time with my family because I'm still busy with school and everything, then I start to feel life like uh the amount of time that could have spend with them that I'm not spending with them and that's that's about it ya okay so if you have nothing


uh much else to talk about for the greatest fear we can move on to the next question, okay


I heard ya (mmhmm) (mmhmm), uh okay ya alright


(mmhmm), uh, right (mmhmm)


right


, , right


that's right (mmhmm), , uh


oh sure yeah ya he's he's got a life of his own ya ya, I guess ya well for me my phobia ah uh ya it's it's something that I don't really talk about because it's quite a specific phobia I am quite scared of uh confined spaces but I'm okay with like


lifts or uh things that I I I still when I still can still can move around with uh I do since young have nightmares of being buried alive in a coffin kind of thing uh I cannot stand not being able to move ya that one thing is like


one of my greatest fear I feel and uh is something that, uh I don't think people will normally uh realise I guess cause uh we don't ever really get the experience being completely immobile ya but


this also includes me fearing of being completely paralysed as well so not being able to move as well that in in itself is kind of like being constricted you know of movement and everything so ya that's one thing I I've very scared of


but how I really overcome then I guess, that's not really much to overcome unless I really face this situation so uh, I I don't really do anything to do to, anything to overcome it actually ya


(mmhmm), right, okay maybe the last question I think because, no time ya, ya, okay sure sure okay


okay sure uh maybe you can start with that ya ya okay


(mmhmm) alright, yes, alright, oh right that's true


alright (mmhmm)


ah okay, I see


, oh I see I see okay


okay for me uh I guess I get goosebumps more when I, enjoy something for example music or movies or scenes uh however there was one time of course uh it was a very short simple answer I was in the US during that time it was during nine eleven it was on the news I was a kid and I saw a plane went into the building and that it


was the scariest thing I have experienced uh that happened in real life you know, so that in itself was, I also think I'll never forget, ya, okay so uh let's move to the last question ya uh quite interesting in this one so in the post COVID world what are some of the worries or anxieties that you have or that you face


sure like for me uh, like it is quite straightforward obviously uh my dad's job has been affected by this and he is the sole income of our family uh which is why our future is a little uncertain


for in terms of how income can get and since I'm in uni and my sisters in uni our brother and sister also in school we all kind of need uh some support as well so uh, that is a little bit of a worry and anxiety I mean it's not


a really that big of a deal because we do really have savings and had plans for the future but of course uh, given that my parents themselves are worried and I will also be sharing their worries with them ya, okay ya


sure, (mmhmm) (mmhmm) right right


okay ya that's true


yes I think a good way to sum up also is that negative experience with her life our way we get through things and also make changes in our lives whether it's for the better or for the worse uh but we do need to change uh not just us but as a society as in


like humanity as a whole and I think this is what, the current crisis has done to us they are going to, be it big changes in the future and it can be an anxiety and it can also be a hope


yes, it's positive experiences uh maybe I should have kick off this discussion okay for a positive experiences in life


I guess uh, we start with the question of what makes you want to be alive, ya (mmhmm) that's right okay (mmhmm)


sure, for me I guess, similarly I do want to contribute to the society as well uh that's one thing that I want to do but that's to me there's like a greater, meaning behind it as well so it's not just because


uh my life is just to be uh a worker society and that's all my worth is at I feel like just being alive for the people around us in itself is meaningful and also , like our presence in uh to our loved ones or in even to our friends uh can have some impact on people and I feel that


as a person these are these are a type of things that I value a bit more than let's say a societal contribution ya of course uh societal contribution also impacts a lot of people in lot of ways but, uh of course it also depends on how and what best way we can do as well because


I also want to find things that I am passionate about what I'll do so for example my work or uh like in the future if I want to do anything I want to make sure that I'm also enjoying the process ya uh like it sounds selfish but it it to me it's a


pretty positive experience for my life and for the people that I'm serving that I know that, uh in my heart, uh ultimately this is what I want to do and not something that is kind of obligatory ya, ya


okay, alright, I guess for me err, I guess it's somewhat like people skill in a way so like I quite tolerate of people like I can deal and work with all sorts of people


I'm generally not so hot tempered as well so, uh because of that I'm able to, , in different environments uh survive better than some some of my peers who uh


would have given up you know like very shortly afterwards ya, okay yes (mmhmm) alright right I see (mmhmm)


alright uh maybe like to sidetrack a bit okay maybe I can ask you about like uh are those like, part of your positive experiences in life in general like does that, makes you happy or, do you feel like it's for something in future ya


(mmhmm) oh I see (mmhmm)


ya but I mean knowing ya knowing your skill or ability in yourself I would like kind of being proud of it I think it's important as well to kind of know where your self worth to that is at at and , kind of know also how you thought about you want to contribute to the society I guess to me knowing where my worth is that it's kind of what drives me sometimes as well


ya ya so, I guess that's one thing we can both think about ya, (hmm) ya, okay maybe we can uh move to this other question which is uh describe


your favourite activity to unwind and relax, okay right I see alright


well for me my favourite activity uh, uh it's tough because I do have quite a lot of things that I like to do to unwind and relax uh one thing would be to travel of course


like not even to travel overseas or to go out like really into the outdoors so for example personally for me even going to a cafe nearby just to relax read a book listen to music or


ya or some of my other hobbies which is like, uh I like anime I like reading mafia and like ya these are the type of things that I do to relax (mmhmm) but I would say finding my own time it's something that's really important for me because uh as much as I have said just now that I like to that I feel like I can be around people and tolerate people


but uh it tires me out a lot so ya I just need that time to myself and that, uh involves me getting out of my house because uh in my family uh it's, we have uh we have five people in my family and the house is always very noisy so ya going out is actually ya it's actually more relaxing than stayed indoors ya even given the current situation ya


ya , by that ya that in itself is difficult but travelling in itself ya


be it to travel to the nearest, places or a climbing overseas especially I really enjoy that, ya okay yeah sure ya uh


ya this question is a bit hard to answer because err, I mean I guess uh it's okay I mean like I guess if we're talking about the best surprise that has ever happened to me uh it'll probably be


I guess moving to singapore in itself uh in itself was a very big surprise it was, quite a sudden move and , I have been overseas before when I was young I had been to the US for two years when I was uh really young and travelling and moving away didn't doesn't really give me much anxiety and in fact it excites me a lot


so at that point of time it was a big game changer for my life ya I was never good in studies until I came to singapore and then I was never fit I was never, and just we're really good at sports until I came to singapore so like these are the type of things that uh


really surprise me uh in hindsight, ya, so what about you, that's true (uh huh) that's true


okay then I guess, sure sure , like for me I guess


, I mean we were we always have global uncertainty but currently it's very real to us because we're, kind of in the biggest crisis of our lifetime , I guess what makes me optimistic about the future is that


uh, of course you can think of it in a way like at least we're not the ones, trying to enter the workforce now which is at its worse uh, of course ya we can't really say for sure what's going to happen but uh knowing that people can still get by and I've I think especially in singapore


we do kind of have it better we do have it better like uh I can say that quite certainly uh as compare with to, some of the people I know in taiwan for example which the pandemic didn't really hit but uh the economy is really thinking sinking and thus we've seen a lot of depression around in the society and


, looking at where we are at now uh in university in singapore I would say our futures are still, more or less stable uh can't say for sure how our uh, salaries are going to be like in the future what kind of jobs we're going to get but I can pretty much surely say that


uh we won't have it as bad as other people and given that that give us an opportunity to, , to make use of what we have and maybe do something great there, ya, so that's that's my take what about you


(mmhmm) yes


ya, ya


yes (mmhmm), yes


, alright alright, okay yup uh ya uh can I ask ask the next question so


this is maybe something more to do with you as a person okay, so uh, like what is your biggest reward that you had ever received after doing some like awesome good deed


if there is one , ya


(mmhmm), ya ya (mmhmm)


right


, that's true


right okay ya uh, that's actually quite rewarding ya in spite of how you started out at APP ya


I mean I guess for me ya ya I guess for me it would be, I mean it it sounds kind of standard because in school we they do do a lot of like CIP or like ya to community service and all that so I was part of a big


project in vietnam when I try to help out children who are infected with HIV ya so uh why we do is we, go there and then when we try to interact with them and, uh bring some the donations that we have raised in singapore and try to help better their lives ya and


I did not feel that until I went there uh even though I know that , going there interacting with them won't impact them as much but when you like, see their faces when they see you and these children, knowing that oh they have been cared for and uh knowing that they can probably move out into society as society tries to accept them more these are the type of things that I feel impacted me a lot during that period of time and uh I have vested


a lot of time into this project for two whole years and, to me that was one of the biggest reward I felt ya uh across, like, uh a lot of things a lot of community service that I've done that was the most impactful, ya


(mmhmm), ya, yes of course


ya, sure okay


I think you can go first for this one ya (mmhmm), (mmhmm) alright yes yes


right, right


(mmhmm)


right ya, I think I'll just just give a comment on that since we don't have much time ya I guess, and surprisingly these are the type of places where we'll find oh that where mankind oh renewed we don't need something big or grand is all these small little things that really help us ya


(uh) see the good in in mankind as well ya


prompt one out of four, okay so I'll start first what's one financial advice that you would give to the you five years ago so for me I would tell myself to


do the fixed deposit savings plan ASAP I think five years ago they have like uh a student friendly kind of like fixed deposit , I think exercise for you to try so it's as low as fifty dollars but I didn't take it back then because I thought it's not


like much needed not that much needed but it's because I mean five years ago although I'm working I just feel that I should just not waste time and do it and see other investment plan, but, if I could give myself the advice that will be something that I will be wanting to taking up


yup, it's a monthly thing , but I think the interest rate is quite low so I didn't really look into it that much at that point of time because versus like the salary I'm getting right now than the previous five years I think at that point of time you just like you know


start to enjoy life so you don't think that !aiya! savings just a little bit doesn't really matter you know yeah so I usually like to wait like until month end if I have some excess savings then that will be my savings ya I don't like you know because fixed deposit is like kind of


GIRO thing so every first of the month they will taking they won't wait like until the end of the month so I mean if there's some leeway for the bank to, , I mean change that part then probably I'm I will be much open then


yeah, no it's it's by the local banks I never really, yup, ya that is by the banks I think that is something one of the safest thing that you can try for someone like a young


a mid mid kind of , person starting to work or something like that, ya, ya there is I think I think there is but I never heard of it anymore though we can check it out that time I took it was from DBS to be honest ah yeah


but but right now, insurance, ya, the insurance ones ones are a bit higher so that one Lagi cannot lah


oh okay (mmhmm) (mmhmm) yeah okay yeah


understand oh actually you can consider these plans it's called DBS fixed my savings account and this good thing right even the interest is quite low you have the flexibility to withdraw it anytime you want that's why the interest is very low


ya ya same like want to consider lah yes that's right (uh huh) interesting uh okay cool


!wow! okay, yeah !ee! yeah


, ya make sense


oh that's nice, is that your maternal grandfather or paternal


oh really , , yeah


right understand


cool nice okay so I think next topic should I DIY or get a financial adviser to plan my finances , based on my experiences personal experiences I think I would get a little mix of both I prefer to DIY it myself because financial adviser is really I mean they're all very typical they will try to upsell you the most highest plan and then you get so worried


and then you like oh shit then you for me I'm someone who's very careful with my savings and and and and when people sell me some policies, I will get pressured like ah I want to buy this buy that and I can't turn them down and that sucks at my end because that is just my personality but I think as I grow older I'm quite aware of what I'm comfortably spending and I'm in I'm quite disciplined in that sense so I would say for me


seventy percent I'm DIY my own financial savings account and there's only one that I get a financial advisor to plan my finances which is only for the retirement part which I just took up , two years ago there is called an investment linked policy account insurance agents would call it ILP I think that's the the beauty of that a policy is that you if you put in a certain lump of money


for the first three to five years that you don't take out the money you can actually I mean when times are bad you can take a just a small percentage of it, let's say if you want to take up further studies or do house renovation you can take a small sum of it back but of course the downside is when the thing is uh when the fund is matured your fund will get lesser


ya but but at least that sort of information for a young singaporean for me in singapore that gives me an assurance that I'm okay that's a there's a flexibility there to take out my money when I need it, because in singapore like the fixed deposit term that you were talking earlier for question one you put in and then you can take it out for long so you feel the heartache like you work so hard for what you can't take it


yup, no ya two years ago yes I found out about that plan two years ago


oh I I think until fifty five or something so that plan is every month , so the thing for me is I'm quite a careful spender and I don't like to have every month people take my money so I opt to pay for a one year full policy so every year it's two thousand dollars


ya which is, ya every year, so if you divide that that by twelve how much I don't know but I think when I when you first when I first signed up for their policy I mean this would be an interesting fact for you when if you are interested to take up this policy I think one of the key things you should ask the financial


person is if I decide to pay one full lump sum for a year will there be rebates so for my case there is a discount for that, ya


correct that's right ya ya


(mmhmm) that's good


(mmhmm) yup, of course


awesome


(mmhmm)


oh okay uh I'm for me I think thirty percent is a bit too much ah err ya probably twenty percent because I'm quite someone who I have a lot of responsibilities so


I think for me if I have more than, two hundred or three hundred excess every month from my last salary I think that would go to my saving so it's very hard to gauge how many percentage but I think twenty to thirty percent would be a comfortable thing I think thirty is still too high for somebody like me maybe for you is okay lah ya


yup, ya exactly, ya


ya, okay cool, that is so great if you can save like half of your, salary okay next question are we allowed to skip the questions or not ah


okay, okay so they can skip question, perfect so , , let's go for number fourteen do think one should own a credit card,


okay for me guess what I've never owned any credit card all my life until I reached the age, twenty nine, yeah so I think for me I'm someone who is very traditional in spending I prefer to pay in cash and debit card or NETS that's about it I feel I'm not right I think personally for me credit card is actually a debt so when you have


you know the flexibility to keep swiping your card I think you have the habit to also default on the payment , and I think that's not healthy ah but nonetheless the reason why I have a credit card right now number one is because of my work I need to meet clients everyday they out almost every week so my company only can expense or return back my money if I spend on credit cards


so that's why I have to own a credit card so I think right now I only have some, two credit cards one is for work one is for personal spending I think if you are someone who is very strict and disciplined if you have a credit card is good because sometimes hotels do give good credit card like offer promotion like for buffet one for one which is really enticing to be honest yup


have a credit card, no actually no I don't really spend a lot I'm a very simple person I think my


savings or me my my habits in having a credit card doesn't really have much impact in my life lah, ya, yes that's right I prefer just


NETS and everything because then, when you when you pay by NETS is automatically directly taken out from your account right so that is, very straight to the point versus credit card you have to wait for the statement and then ya okay although there are rebates and whatnots is really very minimal it makes you feel like oh my gosh it's just like three five dollars sometimes two dollars it really doesn't make sense ya


yes ya exactly,


use it, oh okay, ya ya ya maybe


ya it's zero percent interest , ya correct that's right


, ya okay what else we are only left with thirty five seconds so, yeah, do you still need to talk I think


okay okay right


K prompt three out of four, okay sorry okay


what's the worst thing you've witnessed okay for me, I'll choose the next question, K let me see, describe an event that made you very angry


okay for me this is very generic ah but personally there is an event , that made me quite angry is because my, ex-husband he is nowhere to be I mean he's always missing in action in my kid's life so recently due to the COVID nineteen situation I think government give out like parent and care support for parents who have kids so I'm guessing he's enjoying the benefit of it


, uh to his own personal usage lah, uh which I feel that shouldn't be something, , the government should give but then again this is something beyond my control so I think that is something that made me very angry to be honest which is quite recent ya


ya, oh I think it's six hundred dollars lah so I think, no that is for people who have kids ah


I'm pretty sure that , I think so it still apply because , , at the end of the day at the registry or I see a record so whatever he he still states as he's a he's a parent


ya, but that's a good question I I don't know but I found out like just by common friend that ya I think he should be getting it so yeah but I already get my own share for the kids and and that's cool


ya and I think another fight would be when he tried to , fight with me for my matrimonial house that one is also another thing that made me very angry because


logically uh speaking he shouldn't be getting it but he still want to put up a fight with me and I fight my way through the end, , so in between the process it gets very tough and stress for me so all in all that process made me very angry with a lot of things in my life but thankfully I managed to stay sane and positive and in the end I win the case lah so that's


good lah yeah, perfect thank you, (mmhmm) ya


oh okay, okay okay (hmm) oh gosh (mmhmm) okay (mmhmm) yeah


is that is is the movie , does it have a good ending , okay alright oh okay good ya (mmhmm) (mmhmm) yup ya understand okay


but at least that movie has a good ending so, good for your heart , , K next question , (hmm), do you have phobias how do you overcome that


ya for me phobia I always have a phobia can it be animals I am very shy with things that can crawl fly or jump whatever so ya especially and and for some reason I'm someone who


is like err always attracting lizards each time when I'm alone I'm someone who always sleep late at night so when I'm studying or burning the midnight oil, every time there will bound to be like lizards coming out from the house is like they know that I'm awake or something so that is really really my phobia how do I overcome them is I think


when I eventually managed to like just okay that, that only happen only because my kids were around me I think when you have kids or a smaller human being around you you get you you naturally show that you can handle anything in the face


ya so I didn't know that I could just whack the lizard in front of me and then , pick it up and throw it like outside because if not previously I would always get my helper or someone around me to kill it in fact I was so scared and so like


!eww! with lizards to a point where I willl actually pay people like I will pay my helper like I'll pay you five dollars or ten dollars you can kill this in front of me ya, so , after, they kill the lizard throw out of the window I witness and see it and then and then I'm happy then I'll pay them right away that's how much I'm so afraid and phobia of lizards it's just that after feeling when you see their skin and everything else


ya so I think it's a very huge phobia, ah on and off off I would say it comes to a point where if you are there I'm just going to let you run around lah ya but if you're close to my twins or my kids then I would definitely whack you


ya, oh really you don't look like you are afraid of heights, really how young was that oh okay (mmhmm) man you get three


oh okay okay right, ya (mmhmm) okay oh (uh huh) okay yup (mmhmm) a'ah oh my gosh


oh my gosh you were at the playground alone, oh !wow! okay, I see okay, that's a very brave thing to do I think


five or six years old leh I don't even think my kids can go out alone right now, okay yeah, so would you consider taking like roller coaster rides and you go like universal studios


okay (mmhmm) okay, do you go like outward bound activities during school


okay so how do you do you, oh okay okay , okay okay okay okay


right, okay cool cool cool cool, K next question , , describe a time when you hurt someone's feeling


yeah, what would that be, anything


okay lah I think for me , , like when I hurt okay hurt someone's feeling personally, I think ya when, , when my previous partner was really trying so hard to win my heart back but it's like


down and under it it is done, so I think I can really see that he's he's truly he thinks that I'm joking lah like he's he thinks that it's very unexpected or I won't do something like that because I'm someone who's always giving people many many many many chances like


you know you can still keep doing it to me I will still give you chances that kind of thing so when I finally put a stop and no is done, , he really felt like !wow! leh, a huge bomb came over his shoulders or like a huge weight on him ya so I think that's uh a a good time that I hurt his feelings but it's only for the better me lah


and another one would be having to fire not fire having to relay a bad experience to my colleague because I was working with a project with the HR team so the key stakeholders in a company apparently


I don't know why but they chose me to bring the bad news to my colleague that she is going to be let go lah so that is something that , is is not a nice experience


but is needed to hurt her feelings I would say at that point of time, ya, okay okay


!wow! nice, same same, (hmm) ya sure yup okay


okay


I am so sorry, okay you can go on, oh okay (mmhmm) (mmhmm) ya (hmm) (mmhmm)


okay cool that's a good sharing point and topic I I definitely share the same, , sentiment as you because, , there is something that the world needs to cover more in fact in this


situation also like the COVID situation I don't think they're really much affected right, the Palestine, country, because I think they are quite free from that that there's not so much of COVID, happening for them it seems


, closed ya


ya agreed agreed, on them ya ya, in fact like even some of the charity organizations try to take in donation I always like have the feel that it's not going through the right channel I don't know why


(ppl) (uh huh) platform, [oh] really have you tried that


okay, prompt two out of four, (hmm) !wow!


'K maybe <P2>shati</P2> do you want to go first, okay


okay what is this q eh, what is it again sorry I didn't catch you


food okay awesome, (hmm)


I heard it's very yummy, ya ya


!huh! okay cool very interesting, ya


cool okay so for me what makes me want to be alive okay I think there's a very , deep sentence uh for someone like me I think at this age


I think what makes me alive is seeing seeing other people not not seeing other people I would say , on on some days I feel that if you feel that your day is bad there's other people who is in a worse situation than you


if I look around me , the easiest thing that, makes me want to be alive would be my , twins because they are always seeing life waking up to life every day full of energy although like I put them and enroll them into schools they go for the normal morning uh kindergarten school and then


the second half of the day is like two and a half hours for a speech and language therapy kind of thing until six thirty is pretty much they start their day at seven AM until six thirty so it's like uh adult kind of working hours but


, but but it is at only three to four times in a week I do feel guilty but but when I see them waking up and then so smiley and cheery I think they make me feel alive, yeah


social oh I think err it's a good there's a good break in between lah so eight to twelve and then after that three thirty to five thirty, ya, ya there there's a good break


ya but but on some days I'm I'm a quite an optimistic person so when I see or feel guilty at some point of the day when I look around my kids they're actually some more , sad situation like the mothers just dropped their kids seven AM come back at seven PM you that that one there is no break the whole day you are at the centre


ya, so I feel for that seven to seven kind of kids but for mine I can at least tell myself it's okay lah other other kids got it harder , , ya and and and my twins are boys so they need to stick it in


ya okay next question do you want to choose a question Shakir, (mmhmm)


yeah earn some money eh, stable income ya


(mmhmm) (mmhmm) okay okay cool


so okay for me despite ongoing global uncertainty what makes me optimistic about the future okay for me I think , , that's tough because everyone's job is in jeopardy right now a lot of uncertainties I can imagine


, all the fresh graduates like you many other people trying to find a job versus someone like me , I'm also trying to find always trying to find better opportunities but what made me optimistic is I've just completed I'm I'm a part time degree I'm taking my part time degree studies ah right now so I think


finally soon I mean I'm looking forward to the convocation, , I hope with that degree that I get although it's not from a local university but it will be something that will make me have better


stable I mean better standard of living in the future so having an upcoming degree for me that what makes me optimistic I would say I think one step at a time lah, yeah, yes that's right


ya, uh, ah actually end of twenty eighteen


around two years, ya, but but the good thing about about the course is because I have a whole good number of years in the working industry so I get to (ppc) opt out one or two modules, so ya ya and and I really did a very thorough research


as much as I want to have my degree or my studies in a local uni apparently I'm not that smart but I would say I'm street smart the only local uni that I can get into is SUSS and, SMU unfortunately not all things are perfect I didn't get through to SMU


but SUSS I did went for the interview rounds and I , was offered a place but I didn't take it because the criteria for a part time there is at least three to five years, yeah for a working professional versus the private uni that I'm taking right now is only less than that


yeah and I think SUSS also, , give like a huge rebate or discount for working singaporeans you must have a full time job in order to get that fifty percent discount on the course ya


uh, uh I didn't get to enjoy that but on the, , good side of it I went for a few interviews with MENDAKI and they give me part scholarship for my part time so I really I really felt good about that


so I only have to pay like balance of how many thousand only, ya yeah okay, uh me choose


!fuh!, err what is my best surprise okay this this is going to be like a bit cheesy but if I can just share I'm actually a


uh I'm not proud to share this status of mine but I'm a single parent of twins so I think one of the sweetest, uh ya and uh what's my best surprise is after having set my mind that I'm not going to ever re-marry or meddle with the matters of


ya , or like meddle, meddle with the matters of the heart anymore, , I found a very err uh a phenomenal person that makes me feel that I should give it a second chance at love so


, long story short after few years I decide to take the chance after setting my heart that it's closed for matters of the heart I know this guy like, , few months down the road and then uh met his family and everything else so all seems to be good I still think like I'm in a dream sometimes but


last year he proposed to me and I think that is very sweet surprise and on top of that , I think, it's a very genuine kind of feeling so when you expect nothing, from someone when you get it


, it's really a delightful surprise I would say so that's a one for me and also another best surprise is having my part scholarship with MENDAKI getting approved because I have to go through a few rounds with them


just to get that, , amount from them which I think is is I mean on on on layman is uh very ridiculous that they should just give it to me you know that kind of thing but I think every , free money given out is like there's process to it and I acknowledge that so I really prepared myself for that few rounds of interviews and ya I think when they emailed me and said okay finally approved I think that's also another best surprise ya


thank you , ya , ya so what's your best surprise, okay [oh} !wow! okay ya


oh !wow! you're so lucky


ya I was thinking about it what will you be in the near future


government agencies, ah okay like a star, (mmhmm)


(mmhmm) (mmhmm) ,


ya I think that's nice is that a local university, !wow! amazing you'll be the next PAP, , okay cool do you want to choose the next question, okay !aww!


yeah


it's such heartwarming sight right, , nice, ah okay my proudest moment has yet to come but I hope one day I would like to wear that mortarboard with my two twins


side by side , , yeah and I think , I don't know about me but I don't I mean I think I it's just that you have a very close relationship with your mum that's very nice I think for me the person that I'm very close to is my late father


so one of the if I could share a bit the proudest moment of my life would be where my late father had cancer I think it was stage four but the hospital would not give you grant on the drug for the morphine or something like that


so I went through all the process, , to write to the drug company and everything else for him to try the morphine is a chemo tablet apparently, so the drug is very expensive is ten thousand dollars or something like that and


I think it's not it's not per pill like for that period lah, yes that's right so it's ten thousand dollars and I think although , I managed to go through all rounds because I have to work very closely with a social worker just to get that that application went through I think that would be one of my proud proudest moment doing doing the last thing for my late father lah


because the government right they don't really allow you I mean I mean sadly to say the government don't see the need of them subsidizing the chemo tablets for patients who are already on stage four, , on the front side of it you will think that oh shit I think that's very


not nice but that's something for a fact lah so eventually when we get the certificate there's a certificate being issued , , or a letter lah that says congratulations your application has been approved to get the morphine tablets for this patient blah blah blah blah so it it is really an eye opener for someone like me coming from a very layman


a malay family in singapore so I think that would be one of my proudest moment I would say when eventually is the time for him to eat or consume the morphine tablet sadly the body system can no longer work upon that medicine anymore so


that's that's life lah I mean that's that is very sad for me but, I would say that it's something proud for me I mean for you would be your mum I think for me there is something for me to to show my dad that I really work hard all the way lah


ya so we got nineteen seconds left


prompt one out of four, okay Jannah


K,


okay, ah you talk about, err fixed deposit is it like every month that you have to deposit your money or is it just one time thing and


(mmhmm)


oh okay , oh okay yeah, oh


oh so it so you mean it's like a, like a financial insurance spread in insurance plan lah by like, all the agencies in singapore, is it like that, oh it's by the banks


are there still are there still plans like that right now since you said, ya oh okay, ya because I've never


I've never really heard err of banks doing that I've only heard of like the insurance ya all the all the agents at shopping malls, ya


ya my I have experience with the err, agency insurance insurance plans ah in national service in NS, so , obviously being in at NS uh our allowance is not that high


but I still considered, to ah sign up for one of the insurance plans ah financial insurance plans like similar to investment plans eh no similar to the retirement plans and all that where you deposit a fixed amount every month and it will slowly accumulate uh for what twenty twenty five odd years


so I actually ya actually sign up for that, but, after depositing my first, my first month worth of err, the, according to the plan I actually backed out because I realised that


, NS allowance is already so little, and, (uh huh)


ah but, ah okay okay ya, DBS my savings plan, okay, okay maybe maybe maybe I'll look into it after after all this okay but one I'll


now share about what, I would give , I'd tell my myself five years ago is to not be so reckless with err spending, and, to always to always save


and, always think of your future, okay there's actually three three things really but okay just lump into one basically not to be reckless with uh my spending because


so I'm currently only twenty twenty one so five years ago was only fifteen sixteen, and that was when , it uh it's legal for you to have a debit card on your own err without uh parents content so I did that but of course I asked my parents first but and they were okay


but what that card gave me was power that I didn't, I didn't uh know that I couldn't handle so debit cards are so easy to, to recklessly spend especially when your


uh pre-pubescent uh teenager (ppc) and you want to buy everything that you want without without thinking of your future your bank account, so uh ya err I I had a lot of things in mind that I wanted to buy I bought my first camera


I bought my first uh gaming console a PS three just went out to eat and everything and, from from what I from all the money that I had, err by the age of eighteen nineteen I basically had


I basically had zero dollars, because since I moved from secondary school to JC there wasn't really time for me to to work and to replenish whatever I spend so so far I've uh until JC I been living on


what I had, what my grandfather actually left me , as I was growing up because uh my my grandfather had a habit of, uh just uh depositing a few like (ppc) fifty dollars uh monthly yeah ah that was very


my maternal grandfather, eh yes but it was ya it was a very nice gesture but obviously being young and reckless I didn't really appreciate that I didn't treasure that


so I I just spend it anyhow eh I just spend it any way I like and that that got to me quick lah especially when in JC I realise that, I had I had no no nothing to spend nothing to spend already uh eh so yeah I


I would tell myself five years ago to be careful and to always, , treasure what you have, now ya, oh okay (mmhmm) okay ya (mmhmm) ya okay (mmhmm) okay ah okay okay (mmhmm)


oh okay okay


(mmhmm) ya yeah, yes, so you said that err you signed up for this plan two years ago about two years ago


oh two years ago uh how so how how long how long does the plan how long does the plan intend to


(mmhmm) okay okay


okay okay,


(uh huh), adviser, (mmhmm) oh


oh so so this plan you can actually choose, whether to, deposit your money every month or just once one lump sum, a year annually oh okay okay interesting okay err so for me


, well uh I'm still quite young so currently I'm DYing DIYing, all my finances for me it's very simple it's just err I have two uh bank accounts one is a savings account and one is a spending account so since uh national service I have been I've been


trying to save up err actually for, not for my future but actually for uni so at least I have err because for me saving up for my future seems so far away so I've I feel like having something that


it's closer to you, will would motivate me more to save so for example for me now I'm actually saving, for when uh, when I start school because school obviously you cannot work as much as now so I plan to have enough savings to uh sustain myself in in uni so uh how I do it is basically whatever


allowance if I'm if I'm in uh NS I'll or whatever but time salary I have uh currently right now I would just split, the salary in half so one goes into the spending account and one goes into the savings account however I feel that


, I feel that you would need a lot of self control in order if if you want to do this type of DIY because it's cause you have access to both of your accounts so any anything that you really really want to spend on you can always


uh leech out from your savings but of course of course it's yeah it's so it basically just takes discipline to do all those do all this and from at the start it was quite hard because half of, my NS allowance really isn't that much for one month so I've like occasionally or most of the time I usually reach back into my savings so it's more of a sixty to forty


ratio sixty to spending and forty to savings which I heard is actually quite already quite good cause what I've, ah learn from uh learn online is that your savings should


be should take up around thirty percent of your, of your salary I I'm not I'm not too sure but ya you can have your input on that what do you think how many percent of your salary should actually go into your savings


or thirty percent is too much, okay !aww!, (mmhmm)


(mmhmm) (mmhmm), okay ya therefore for ya for me it's okay ya ya cause


being being a student, don't really have much responsibilities you don't have bills to pay except for my phone it except for my phone bills, but ya other than that there's, there's not there's really not much to to spend on so fifty to forty percent was actually quite quite comfortable for me so


I I cannot imagine twenty percent next time when I actually have responsibilities, right


ya I think we we already covered the the the third one, ya, oh okay I I would like to hear your opinion on this


of ah okay, (mmhmm)


ya, yes okay (mmhmm)


(mmhmm)


oh okay


(mmhmm) ya (ppc) ya, okay I would like to know how, how your habits have has have your habits ah spending habits changed after you


took up a credit card yeah, are there


okay so if if you work didn't didn't require you to have a credit card you actually wouldn't get a credit card, okay


yes, ya


okay, ya I feel I feel that credit cards are credit cards are only useful if you're a very very, big spender like the like the cash rebates and everything doesn't it have like a minimum requirement like minimum spending every month


for you to actually get the max max cap right, on on your credit card ya actually actually considered the, student credit card, from DBS or whatever bank lah but I don't know it it was it was quite enticing for me but then I realised that I don't even spend five hundred dollars a month


for me to get the rebate so so I I think ya it just doesn't doesn't make sense for me now, but maybe maybe in the future I would because I think one thing that one thing I would, that would make me consider get getting a credit card is the uh instalment plans on


on ya zero percent interest like buying a laptop buying whatever you just get the ya zero zero interest, and and ya oh I also would like to ask you cause in oh no cannot cannot talk about this because it involves religion so let's let's skip that okay


ya, thirty seconds (ppl), (uh) I think we just can already okay


prompt number three four, okay err okay so


what something negative recently happened to me for for me or for you, okay choose


(mmhmm) (mmhmm)


okay, oh, (mmhmm), okay, but how how how is it what's what's the what's the package or what's the funds


oh it's for households right it's for for parents, but since but since uh you guys are divorced doesn't it like does it still apply for him


ah okay okay, ya


oh okay , ya so doesn't matter whatever, right,


(mmhmm)


(mmhmm), congratulations


okay so I'm actually personally I cannot think of anything that made me very angry recently, or whenever that I can remember so I think I'm just going to choose another question so I think I will choose the recall a scene from a movie that made you too angry to watch the scene was actually from the movie uh twelve years a slave


I don't know if you have uh watched that movie so basically you will it's a it's a movie of, the victim someone a freeman a freeman during, the uh in the united states uh during the slavery uh period of time he was a he was a african american but err he's a free man so he was actually his freedom was actually bought but he was in he was


start movie movie he was uh kidnapped and sold back to slavery so ya one of the one of the scenes that err really really makes me angry is the way just the way though


the master cheated the the the the main character of the movie so ya , to to summarize the scene it's it's basically the guy the guy is


just following instructions on building a a small like hut, but the master was just finding reasons, to to


to beat to beat him so he was just following instructions he was doing his best but the master just chose to , find reasons to just dehumanise him and to, to ya to all and and this actually this topic


yes it actually has does a good ending I mean err just spoilers alert the at uh at the end of movie the main character actually goes back to his family, his his friend actually got a letter saying that he was err sold back to slavery and all that and some some guy just came back to him and bought back his freedom as in not not even bought back its freedom it's just just give him his freedom back ah


so ya just imagine after twelve years your your debt comes back from, from from nowhere from from being a slave ya I think that would be a very angry and actually this this


this whole black lives matter thing does actually, uh to an extent made me angry I guess it cause, it's just all about racial uh differences


and I, just wonder how , how is it difficult to just get along with each other you know just why just makes me angry makes me frustrated at how


people cannot just, accept differences between each other I don't I don't I really don't understand ya, ya I


okay you start


yeah, (uh huh) so insects


oh okay ya ya that's true


ya it's the instinct it's the natural instinct yeah, , okay why not


oh no okay, just to get rid ah ,


oh but, so did ah are you still do you still have the phobia or are you already over it, okay okay ya


okay okay, okay so for me ya I actually I think it's a very common phobia it's just a just a fear of heights


ya, err ya uh but I'm actually I actually do because it's actually, because of an event that happened in my childhood so when I was ya when I was little, I was quite err kindergarten


I think K K two K three eh K three is there K three , , K two P one K two P one uh or P two , I was I was uh I was very small boy I was very small boy and in my neighborhood there's a playground


and eh there was a monkey bar, is actually quite actually quite high monkey bar I I have no idea who approved that playground because it was actually quite dangerous for, for kids to play around because of the heights and everything


but ya I am, K two me or P one me wanted to try the monkey bar, and just just fell flat on my face, my glasses broke my nose bled then I just ya I just ran home just cried to my mum


then had my glasses , had ya I was like on the playground on the , no it was ya because I was sending food, to my grandmother's house and it was on the way so ya so I just tried, ya right


eh okay then maybe maybe it's actually P three ah P three P two then ya shouldn't be K two because I don't think my mum would even let me go out when I was K two, oh ya ya all all that I still do but on like very tall ladders


I just stuck to it's just, just start to shake ah is is not ya I just don't feel very stable on them and I feel like, oh ya I actually do but those those that's that's all that's all I know I have I'm


in the safety of the harness ya so I don't I tend not to think about falling from falling to my death you know because yeah but on ladders cause I just recently worked at NTUC


ah as a re-stocker so we had to climb ladders all the time and every time I I'm on the the highest step, I just start to just start to just start to lose balance ah, basically and and ya I always imagine myself just crashing down over and when I'm on a ladder so yeah I think one phobia


that I still have and have not, gotten over is has to be uh heights ah, other than that I don't think I've I'm much, many phobias ya ya


hurt some or hurt someone's feelings okay


err, err, hurt someone's feelings actually, I actually don't think I I cannot I cannot recall


(mmhmm) (mmhmm)


okay ya


ah okay


ya, oh, (mmhmm) (mmhmm)


(uh huh), (mmhmm) (mmhmm) okay


for me I actually I'm not really comfortable in sharing , ah the times that I've hurt someone's feelings but in general I don't think I, hurt people that much because I'm actually quite a people's pleaser I I yeah I tend to just go with the flow and try not to hurt anyone's feelings but of course there are times that you have to do that so okay so let's move on to another topic


let me see, okay so let's talk about an issue


that I feel the world needs to know more about or have, err, more coverage media coverage about, so one one thing I'd I would, I would consider or


one thing that I I'm upset about is the the war the silent war that has been happening in between uh israel and Palestine which is not covered in


these media, okay ya , , okay so what I was


saying is that an issue is the sudden war of that's, been happening between israel and Palestine as well as, the atrocities that has been happening in yemen


there are millions of people dying over there, and millions of people ill treated and mistreated by the israeli forces in , Palestine and I feel that no one in power especially the united states the


err, saudi arabia I guess are not are not taking this seriously, and I feel that, it's uh it's very ironic it's a very ironic stand to


have, especially united states where they care all, about uh black lives, mattter and have equality and about everything but still, did not lend help to


the things that are happening, in Palestine and yemen, however I I do understand I do acknowledge that, , you cannot undermine


a problem, by the severity of another problem so I mean, it's good that they are, taking steps to, to reduce the racial inequality in the united states, but of course


united states being a, very powerful err player in, in the in the world they have to uh step forward and, or even UN stepped forward and do do something about what's happening here uh` what's happening in Palestine and israel and yemen


ya,


yeah, but I think it's more of there's not much coverage I don't think


I think most of the world is affected by, the virus it's just Palestine is so, the the things that are happening in Palestine overshadows the pandemic, yeah so and and it's very bad timing also because now everyone's focusing on the pandemic


and not, not anything else I guess, ya


ya ya change dot org apparently is not a very good, , organisation to donate to, ya ya I've I'm actually I'm actually donated to change dot org but, after that I've I have read


uh articles and read uh people's accounts on how, that's not a very good way to, to donate because what they do with the money is actually just advertising and marketing, of the petitions that people have brought forward


so is not really going to, to, the, it's not really aiding, the the, it's not aiding the, the movement, it's it's more of uh publicizing their movement by advertising more


err of the petitions and everything so, ya ya you should definitely donate directly into the organisations that are supporting , uh, err the causes and definitely not definitely think twice about


change dot org, ya (ppl) okay


prompt two out of four, okay what makes you want to be alive, , okay let me see


what makes you make what makes me want to be alive err, sorry there's a , election election campaigning can you hear the


okay okay okay ya I guess ya my windows are closed, okay , okay what makes me the from the top of my head I would actually say


err I will actually say err food, to be honest okay that's one of the things lah but yeah , uh food, like like I said I'm actually quite


err quite a avid cooker eh avid cook, and baker so I feel that, as, the saying goes you don't eh you you eat to live, and not live to eat but I'd I would consider myself live to eat because I don't know food is just so good and there's so many different types of


there's so many different cuisines so many different uh food to try all over the world uh one one food that I would like to that I actually plan to travel to just eat is, err in vietnam uh #banh mi# don't know if you tried


yes it's very it's very the only the only time I've had it is, err yeah the the #banh mi# is so good so actually before this pandemic and everything I actually, plan to


go on a solo trip to vietnam to Ho-Chi-Minh city, and and just let's travel take photos just just eat, like just right before uni starts so that I can just clear my mind before anything before uni stresses me out so ya that is err what makes me want to be alive


yes , , (mmhmm)


(mmhmm) (uh huh)


yes, okay, yeah


oh okay, so so you that's the long hours of being at school, especially at their age anyway affect them


mentally or, (mmhmm), oh okay okay there's oh I never realize there was a break


so I thought it was just one full, (mmhmm) yeah ya


okay okay, it's okay ya make sense, okay let me see


okay I would I'll choose the despite the ongoing global uncertainty what makes you optimistic about the future, so for me,


I think I'm going to regret in the future saying this but I'm actually quite, quite excited to go out into the working adult world you know, like to have a to have a regular job to have a, to have


constant, ya stable income so it's , and I feel that it's a very I don't know why it's it's it's the same thing as how kids dream to be to be grown up


and and at and like, you actually regret it because growing up is actually very hard, but uh yeah I think one one thing that would make me optimistic is


being out in the uh working world and making a living for myself I think that's a a very, I just look forward to that to to have meaning in life to have


err to actually do something with my life like I'm I'm like I try to make uh I'll try to make a difference in however way or whatever way I can uh in the future, uh especially in this uh in the singaporean community uh I


would like to make a difference I think that's that's that's uh what would keep me going in the future despite all the things happening in the world


(mmhmm) ya yeah


(mmhmm)


okay, ya it's about it's about the journey , but okay ah I also I'm also curious , when when did you start uh your


uh part time degree, the end of twenty eighteen so uh how long how long does the does the course take, being a part timer two years okay, so


(uh huh), oh okay


(mmhmm) (mmhmm), okay (uh huh)


(uh huh), (mmhmm), oh okay okay


okay ya


!aww! okay (mmhmm), (hmm) okay


that's very good that's very good okay let's err, now move on to another question then how would you like to choose, yes


(mmhmm) (uh huh)


okay , , (uh huh)


try again ya, (mmhmm) (mmhmm)


(mmhmm), (mmhmm)


oh


okay ,


congratulations by the way on both on both of the of the the best, prizes okay so ya, so for me , I mean our uh off the top of my head I would say


receiving my err uni approval because actually the ya the first year that I applied I didn't I didn't get any, good good news, from many err of the unis or the schools that I actually applied to but that's also because I


was very adamant eh on the course that I wanted even though that I even though I didn't, even though I didn't meet, the cut off criteria, for


for the courses that I wanted so, the first course the the ya the initial course I wanted was chemical and biological chemistry eh sorry no bio, biological and eh wait let me think


ya chemical and biological chemistry so it's it's a it's a basically a course, that is just solely focused on the theory of chemistry and, biological chemistry so I feel that it was a blessing in disguise that I didn't get into the


course because the career prospects of such a course is not ya the career the career prospects of such a cause is, quite quite narrow quite limited my even my


secondary school teacher told me that, such a course will only land you in , the , not really government agencies maybe uh research labs uh it could be under the government uh and yeah as well as uh


lecturing or teaching because the the course itself is, is very uh theory based and compared to chemical engineering which, which which uh which involves a lot of application app because it is engineering so what so I guess the best surprise that I got was approval for


my current, degree course which is in real estate uh and a lot of people just tell me to be a real estate agent I mean , ya that's possible but that's not the the career path that I want to


go ah so uh actually want to either work in the government, or , just work in management of real estate not really the process of, not really the process of selling houses so yeah ya I mean a very long winded answer but ya my best surprise so far that I can think of without dwelling well without dwelling to it yes is a local U


, err okay let me see, (mmhmm)


urgent eh wait ah let me see describe a moment where you felt like you, oh uh okay I'll just do a very simple answer what what was the


proudest moment of your life it was the proudest moment of my life was actually seeing my mum having a mini photoshoot at my future university because because she uh uh my parents were invited


to be , the course course talk at the school so after the talk after the err, engagement sessions ah she just brought my dad around the school and took took photos that was like oh man I made my mum proud I feel good ya


yeah just a heartwarming thing to see my mum smiling in front of my uh school's name, so okay ya what about you what's your proudest moment of your life, (mmhmm)


err , (mmhmm) (mmhmm)


(mmhmm) (mmhmm)


(mmhmm) per per per dose or per pill, oh okay per per prescription lah ya okay


(mmhmm), (mmhmm)


so did (mmhmm), oh


(mmhmm), !wow!


(mmhmm) (mmhmm), (mmhmm) ya


why you say that good, I I I respect that okay


okay so (ppc) (ppc) I'll be discussing financial related topics now so uh you ask me if I have any insurance uh I do have some insurance that actually I don't buy it myself, my parents got it for me so uh similar to you I have health insurance and also life insurance


which I feel uh essential uh especially in this uh, these uh each at time where anything can eat you especially now during this uh COVID period where, you know uh you don't really know what's gonna come next and you don't really know the extent of what may eat you so having such insurance I feel is very important uh to ensure that you ah covered lah as a all these insurance are always


and as all these insurance always code lah you are covered so like uh I recently came across this article where this, american was, uh actually he got released from the hospital after getting a COVID nineteen, the coronavirus so actually he left the a hospital right with a million dollar bill tagged to him


so I feel like if he were to not have in an insurance or the government supporting him with all the grants he might, be, better off date, I mean it's just a personal opinion but uh a million dollar bill suddenly added to his uh


to his life is really quite taxing so I, grateful that there are things such as uh insurance available, uh that can help alleviate all these financial burdens of us lah, (ppc) us I mean if there is such unfortunate event or things that happen to us


ya so actually not only do I buy insurance, for myself personally like normally don't have insurance for this uh I also actually get travel insurance when I traveled, because I feel, like I said uh uh before uh you will never know what can happen and all these travel insurance are there actually put in the place to help


us give you a better security, uh the feeling of security lah when you travel, so do you actually buy insurance for other things like maybe, travelling also young


okay so uh for car insurance definitely uh, because uh car is already itself a very expensive asset I would say to own and what more are what's worse off it's actually it's the depreciating asset, so we we don't want to pay more


I mean I mean I'm paying a bit more for the insurance, to, actually ensure that I try to keep the value of this ah except that I will be very expensive except their own so in the future if I do own a car uh I'll definitely getting insurance for the car


ya, so actually (ppc) so speaking of like we have discussed so many actually different insurance right what do you think is, essential for like what do you what kind of insurance do you think is essential for people of our age now


I think uh because we are so similar in our age uh group right, uh I agree and totally feel that the train that you mentioned are my top three insurance, that you should have, uh and it's essential for people of my age lah, uh just like uh you said of the health and life insurance are there to cover you for the life


that we have, we still have uh and then, suppose, unfortunately we uh we will be able to make met with some accident right uh it is there to cover us for sure and then but I especially feel that endowment plan is very, important because of the amount of money it's like a


somewhat like a saving plan I would say so by investing in ah self now this uh this early stage you might uh we might be able to receive this reward that we, this reward that we are not able to settle, now at the later stage of outline which could come in handy definitely I mean any additional amount of cash that you get any additional amount of money that you get


will definitely be helpful lah at any point of life, so, so I feel like this these three are also my top three, ah insurance that I feel like will be essential for us now lah, okay so, speaking of audit insurance right do you only


get uh insurance from single provider, or do you actually pick them up from different companies


I think depending on the stages of life I've been so if I maybe if I'm at a stage where I'm comfortable, the payout that I sorry not the payout the, the premium they have to pay right, uh so like comparing a thirty dollar plus is a ten dollar if I'm more comfortable to pay ten dollar now I'll definitely look at the premium that I've to pay


because why ah I wouldn't uh want to pay, for something that I cannot afford at this stage stages in life so I I feel that this question uh whether a premium or the payout is more important if it really depends on which stage of, live I been right now uh if I'm comfortable if if I'm more comfortable pay for the


premium I'll go for the, the higher one and then uh, and okay and then the high one doesn't mean better payout but then if the conditions are better for our higher premium one I'll definitely go for that lah if I can afford it, so but then but then uh


for my case now uh like I mentioned earlier before I'm I'm actually not the one paying for all these, so I only know to to the best of my knowledge I only know that, we buy from a single company only and I'm not sure what my parents actually look for when they actually got the insurance from this agent


but I feel like uh these agents uh as in uh to as in from what I know these agents are the ones that have helped us since the start, I mean since my birth so I believe uh, the relationship that the agent this insurance agent that form by parents are


more than beyond just client and agent I feel that, they have, kind kind of friends also and they talk about all these things in life, so, what would you look out for in an insurance agent, when you actually, before you actually buy


or secure any plan, uh it's it's insurance plan them, ya


okay so for myself uh definitely trust is very important, because like uh buy life insurance of all these are different plans at their insurance into your life, ya literally trusting your life with to to the person, uh so definitely the trust is out


there when I look out for an insurance agent uh I would also, look for an agent that provides me with a flexibility and options, because uh, I wouldn't want that guy to just introduced uh to me uh single plan because that might not suit my needs


so I would want someone that can actually, come up the plan that actually are encompasses all my need uh all my needs and requirements and then uh to come up with a plan that is able to cover me entirely lah like what they would like to say so uh trust is the alternate out there but also like one that it's more flexible


a knowledgeable in a sense because all these add up adds up to what I feel, is a good insurance agent, if I ever were to be one yeah but uh yeah so if I actually, were to be an insurance agent I would actually like also asked I'll actually ask


my clients a lot of a lot of questions because, I feel like I really need to know them before I can actually start to help them plan, for their like, would say because uh all these plans are actually covering different parts with their life so in order to, know what I can help them with I'll definitely ask them questions uh regardless of whether is it a daily life their travelling


yeah current health status even or if okay and and these questions were also extend out to their family because I don't want, only my client to be uh insured, I want their whole family to insured to make sure that


like and nothing bad happened to them lah that's that's that's just my uh, my thoughts thoughts on what I would ask if I were, able to be an asia uh insurance agent so but sound you sound very knowledgeable in all this , insurance thing right


so would you actually approached an agent, to when it comes to all these insurances planning or would you actually do it yourself because actually you from uh our shortly the conversation here sounds like you are very knowledgeable in this aspect, so how will you do do your own planning I mean how how would you do your own insurance planning


uh definitely uh because uh I'm not as, knowledgeable as you uh I so I'll definitely uh consult a professional, because uh all these err, yeah they're this gaps and holes in the knowledge, that I I feel like a professional will be better able to help fill up


uh there are also things that I feel that I think I know, but then uh I would actually I mean I actually might not know them lah like all the details because of these people are based industry for, I wouldn't know how long but I'm assuming quite long, according uh depending on the person and if I if I were to


if I were to be able to get a good feeling and a knowledge out of this person, I feel like they're better able to help you plan all this, I feel like I'm be able better able to get all these ah, advice from them to know when and what and how to plan the insurance


so, that's why I feel like I would personally not doing it myself but get a


(mmhmm) at this age at time oh sorry at this age in time ah, uh what makes me most stress would be, actually school work school in network are especially during exam periods where where there are so many weeks of work left to cover but you only have one week left because procrastination ya so uh stressful wise we would have definitely


to be from school uh be uh my school commitments for trade my, uh, school work itself beat my results all has whichever it is school definitely poses the most stress for me now, uh at this point in time and then uh what worries me is actually


whether or not uh this, err after I graduate uh will there be eh job still available for us ya but uh, the future uh it's actually quite worrying uh as of now because of uh this situation that happened unfortunately ah nowadays with due to the COVID but then ya yesterday but the stress actually come from work and then the worry actually come from the future that's from my side ya what about you


okay so, of time where, nothing I knew was I felt like nothing and it was good enough with it , that would have to be in army uh during one of my courses uh one of these course that I had to attend, uh it was four week course uh every day it felt like it was very tiring


every day we had to go through trainers, physical activities sometimes even punishment, so uh that was the time where, we would not know when the day will end and we will not know where the time they will start


so uh in this course it was, nothing I did, felt like it was good enough because of the fact that it was the course was there to strengthen strengthen us both mentally and physically uh and so definitely nothing you do nothing I do work feel like it's good enough because uh even though I achieve a certain threshold


or they will say that that was the threshold for yesterday but uh so everyday the the limit will increase and then it will keep pushing you pushing you, pushing you to achieve something even more so, that point of time uh I was real really very tired


uh stress out, after about I think two weeks no three weeks into the four week course, so uh there was this point where err, there was this sorry this was a point where we had to do our, final assessment the last week of it oh ah this was where we had to focus and then we had to travel off to the training ground


uh so, since the start of the last final assessment of assessment of seven days, uh everything were really went downhill the intensity, it came like two times as hard, hard and, even though I really push myself uh there was still


points where I felt like uh I felt like, uh it was too much for me but I am glad I became true out of it ah but yeah and so so that that that that that four week, that four weeks uh of course really, make me feel like


uh even though I gave my best uh, it was really still not enough and it wasn't really appreciated lah but, I I wouldn't blame the fact that it wasn't appreciated, because uh everyone around me was also suffering, it's just that ah maybe we are born with different physical attributes and that's why


uh, that's why some are pushing harder some may look like they're pushing harder, and some are may look the the the the course may look easier to some of them, so I feel like this was the the the time in my life so far that


I feel, I gave my best but uh the effort that I put it wasn't really appreciated, ya what about you chia, is there such encounter


similarly uh it was back in the army where another guy, K the party gave way so you kind of also fainted okay he didn't really faint he just, the whole body just crashed, so uh being beside me