to me is like uh like there's this malay saying go uh like uh put little by little and then in the end it will become a mountain or something like that lah direct translate uh direct translate , so ya that's why it feels like it feels like uh for for you for yourself like uh produce positives all these positives right in your life just feels like when is accumulated right you just feel like a way better person in a way and then you just feel like you are very very excited you are very happy with all these


, correct ya and then after that, ya and then you feel like okay uh all these uh other negativity is just uh unnecessary in a way uh cause like you feel like all these positive experience right like I mean at the end of day everyone experience different things uh


so like don't don't have to compare in a way cause I feel like uh just is all this is all personal achievement lah like so like okay uh like okay like for example like let's say I have been to this place and that place like for example I've been, overseas just now like when you say you go Tekong like to me like oh that's actually a very good experience that I never experience myself


you see so I feel like it's actually very good like and then at least when you tell me the story it feels like I live in it you know then after that you can tell that oh okay oh this is how it's like and all that ya


uh definitely new zealand new zealand is new zealand is the best place uh it's like more more animals than human uh I tell you it's gonna be like there's a lot of sheeps and all that like there's so many sheeps so I when I visit uh Horbitton the you know the lord of the rings movie


, ya that's that's thing like if let's say I were to stay there I want to stay there also uh new zealand cause to me like at the end of the day huge land uh good good food for for us is actually quite quite easy to find lah like there's a lot of Kebab store then there's a lot of uh stores that uh that


uh allow you to have Halal preparation lah I mean they will separate they will separate uh they will separate all these uh but all their meat is uh most of the meat uh that you can find in new zealand is uh actually Halal in a way ya, ya so I think new zealand is the new zealand is the best uh country that I visited uh I mean uh ya because only secondary school I went to hong kong but that was because of a school trip


but new zealand I've been twice one is for geography trip and then one is for my own personal uh vacation uh and I feel like the vacation is very, better than the school trip uh cause you are you are actually uh forced to follow in a way so like but then again like I for geography trip you actually learn a lot of things like the natural habitats uh like all the geysers and all that lah so I feel like the geysers !wah! I feel like it's very good uh


yes and then uh just recently two years ago three years ago I went to new zealand like uh one year before the COVID happened lah, ya so, ya


ya correct, I feel like uh half the time you are there you should learn about how the people live and then like the other half of the time that you are there you probably want to be a tourist uh so like you just want to see the standard of life and the quality of life there and I feel like it's actually very very good correct


like it's just feel amazing uh like the moment I step in I already feel like !wah! new zealand eh, like I cannot believe I'm here in a way you know and then after that you actually see all the, people are very welcoming uh ya they don't they don't judge people and all that they are very welcoming ya and then like


!wah! definitely you should go there uh I feel I feel like you should go there cause like uh like uh you can try with your own also lah because it's a right hand drive so it's actually very very easy ya when correct ya there are right hand drive so it's like you can just uh rent a car and then you just basically drive around you will definitely see a lot of sheep around


(ppb) ya [eh] take notes in a way


part, one finance


okay I basically do have insurance uh under prudential which covers uh hospitalisation and accident plan, okay and uh I do have saving plan as well with them


yup under prudential, , actually approximately about three to five percent


uh a month, and I go for full coverage with my , insurance agent, under prudential for myself


for my family for my kids basically for the whole family lah


, I prefer to handle with one provider is uh alone so that we don't have to you know, sometimes, in a in a situation whereby you know example there is a hospitalisation claim that we need to make


then uh at times, we may get confused uh which, , company we need to make the claim from right so to avoid all these kind of , uh you know, communication with agency and also uh double claim so what we do is we stick to only one


policy, which is only with prudential, , and my policy also has been with them for the past ten years straight,


nope only for my, family, uh we we are covered under prudential, because different uh, insurance company provide different kind of, coverage


you see so for prudential for myself for my kids we have one agent to, does a job to help us monitor our uh policy, okay so it's easier for us also, but for my helper, uh her insurance uh is under NTUC


and then for the car it's a different uh company again, so that is different, (mmhmm)


correct, how would I like to be approach, how eh


okay I prefer to have an agent okay that understand my needs, understand what I want and give me uh suggest to me a policy that is within my budget and not


those who you know hard sells you all kind of policy that we may not even require, , that is the reason why we always avoid, you know we avoid seeing uh agent you know sometime they come knocking on your door or they stop you you know outside a shopping centre so I always avoid because I don't like hard selling I prefer to go to somebody


choose an agent and to tell them what I need and they give me what I want, I, I look out for the price to make sure that it is


within my budget, and also is good enough to cover the most important uh factor for example it is it should be able to cover health, okay all kind of uh, uh, health issues such as


the the uh illnesses lah, you know !aiya! so major illnesses, hospitalisation is very important, so when I get insurance uh I will also top up on rider so that I can get full coverage in


private hospital as well, , people for our age ah our age we basically need uh medical insurance something that to cover our medical


hospitalisation basically and also , perhaps, saving an accidental plan, , for saving Siti you I ask you some question


, basically do you have any saving account


then what about credit card or debit card do you have any one of these


okay , but do you think okay you have heard of this thing called joint account right, okay so do you think or do you encourage people to combine their income and have you know like a joint account kind of scheme or do you prefer having like your own saving account


(mmhmm)


that sounds great even I have joint account with the kids okay, okay we being parents right


uh at what age do you think a child should be given an ATM card to manage their own, uh expenses


, okay, , let, ya I, think children nowadays right since, like they always go out with their friends after school you know and then sometime they might need the extra pocket money actually what you say


give me an idea to also get my you know daughter when she you know uh reached thirteen years old to have her own account, and then from there maybe she should have her own ATM card, you know that so that she can you know when she's out if she needs money urgently she she should be able to withdraw the money on her own


it also helps to give her first some freedom of spending, and to learn how to manage,


correct correct maybe like we can actually put certain amount for them every month you know as their allowances, and then with that ATM card they should know how to manage their expenses,


ya, okay you were saying that your child has her own bank account or is it all a joint account under


attached together with you, (mmhmm), (mmhmm)


okay, okay you know right we all have our own houses and everything and now to buy houses also we need to apply for loan, so what is your experience of getting a loan for your home or even car from a bank you know throughout the years


, (mmhmm)


[orh], (mmhmm)


but how was your experience was it was there too much of a hassle of getting a loan like for them asking you knows uh guarantor and you know other factors, like, the minimum (mmhmm)


, eh but are you aware that if you are using like a DBS credit card for example you know or even their debit card sometimes they have these uh cashback or points that you can accumulate


when you shop using your card have you tried them, you've not because through my ya through my experience because uh I love to shop with uh DBS uh mastercard because, whenever we do uh online ah like when we to shopping especially at NTUC we get back accumulated points


and those are very useful, ya because at times when we accumulate before we realise it, we have about eighty to hundred over dollars it you know points that we can use to offset either the purchase, you know or we can also use it to offset the credit card bill you know


(uh huh), ,


but I think people should try using like DBS credit card or you know UOB because they have a lot of privileges where people can actually claim cashback or either points, ya their rewards systems is quite good actually


ya ya ya there are so many ya


(mmhmm), ya actually for me I used to own a credit card but because I overspend every month so I stop and I'm only using a debit card now so that I can easily manage my expenses


but even with debit card, I find that the, uh rewards is not, not too bad, especially you know sometime when we go dining they do accept uh mastercard like DBS mastercard, debit card even to enjoy the promotion that they're offering


ya, so ya basically the credit card is, not there anymore because of overspending , ,


because debit we can use for online purchase as well, with the normal ATM card you are not able to do online purchase, , and then for saving account I have a few I mean I have a saving account which is uh attached together with my three kids


, so I can and I actually uh monitor all these through internet banking, ya so, basically , okay lah easy lah easy to access


to also monitor, ya, by the way do you have any uh insurance policy


no have you considered, (mmhmm), (mmhmm)


(mmhmm)


will you consider in future, because you know as we're ageing we need certain coverage to protect ourself, , and then if you were to actually consider which uh uh company where you actually consider


oh


, (mmhmm)


oh well everybody has their own preferences right, it's either ,


and then they disappear ya


correct, (mmhmm), I had a bad experience to with my first agent but my current one is wonderful


okay, twenty minutes twenty four seconds now it's still recording do I press stop do I press stop twenty and


twenty forty three


part three, negative experience, okay Siti


#kabhi khushi kabhie gham#,


correct correct that's a very emotional movie right is , basically about parents well you know every hindi movie is like that right you know parents will bring up their kids and then when the kids have grown up when they find somebody they love


they will choose their lover instead of their parents, right so ya that was a very heartbreaking scene during the last part of the movie, after many years


ya, correct correct I think we can relate to it because uh we are parents now, you see so if that if if that kind of situation comes up


to us one day I think we are, uh also, like that you know we will react that way, because as parents we have sacrificed so much for the children and then the children just leave them you know over a lover, and the parents feel so unappreciated


right, even that last scene when they I know like after they met uh for more than ten years, even if until today when I see the movie, even ten times I will still cry, it is so emotional that is something I will never forget


I think you share the same sentiments as me


, correct, sorry what experience again, traumatic well


(ppc) the first traumatic experience I had was to actually lose my grandparents, you know because they brought me up, and , they actually uh migrated back to their hometown in indonesia


so when they passed on they passed on also without me by by their side, so it was very , traumatic for me, to lose someone that I love so much without by my I know without having them by my side without seeing them for the last time


uh my next uh traumatic experience that I can never forget is to lose, uh my first, uh baby through a miscarriage, yup, that is something that I will never forget and is actually


eating me till today, you see ya, so really really something that, , I can never forget because I've been trying so hard to have to have a you know to have a baby and


honestly speaking right uh I actually lost uh, the first one on your birthday, so, on your birthday so I can never forget that date, ya so that uh really affected me uh changes me in a way because I I be uh I had depression you know and then I had OCD


so it really affected me badly


, in a bazaar, (mmhmm)


oh


ya ya ya I didn't know about this, ya, (mmhmm)


solution (mmhmm), she'd go possibly be going


oh I can't,


correct , that is very scary I can't imagine if I was in your place, ya


they got too engrossed, right they got too engrossed


lucky you get back your daughter, right ya, this happen in singapore, oh my goodness !wow!,


ya, I can understand the feeling man, any


angry , angry an incident happen basically you know I was very close with my cousin right, cousin brother and uh you know we used to go everywhere together


you know, uh we did so many things together, and, behind all this uh closeness that we have, uh, lies hypocrisy, and jealousy


you see so basically he was not happy for our successes and it leads, to you know quarrel, you know he attacking me from behind, and basically he breaks up the family


and because of that one incident, , the family is all affected till today, it's quite, uh an upsetting thing lah, you know because as, ya in family when we do something for one another it must comes from the bottom of our heart


right, not only to family lah to anybody where we do something it must come from the heart without expecting anything in return, and also you know when we see someone uh being successful we should actually be happy share their joy


you know but in this case uh it actually became jealousy, so with that jealousy he actually breaks a relationship, until, today very sad to say that he's still the same person had as he is


so well we can't be close anymore, and uh, it just makes me angry lah, can't forget it actually


, ya jealousy kills


correct


(mmhmm), ya


can ah


okay, oh okay , okay, I'm thank you so much okay I'm ready, , okay


that's why there is a name that we call these kind of people right they are called the toxic people , very toxic it's especially not healthy for our children, it's really not healthy for our children to have these kind of toxic relations uh around us because they give negative vibes


you know to the children especially and I don't like it, it's I (hmm)


correct, (mmhmm)


because ah their mindset is a such that oh I have lived uh many years in you know and uh I have more experience so they always feel that what they say what they do is right which I uh most of the time I would disagree because these happens to me also


with my parents, so you know sometimes we have to correct them because, , nowadays uh, generation they don't you know their their the way they think is all different


you know they think out of the box compared to those older generation, you know they are their their the way they think is much more simple, it's not complicated but, it does not apply to the generation these days


so that is the reason why there is always arguments conflicts of interest, what to do, but well what is your greatest fear basically


ya because the living expenses is getting very high, you know even we are struggling right then how do we expect our children to have a smooth sailing life in future, right, now buying house is already so expensive finding a job even for graduate they are so difficult


I can't imagine what our children will go through, like for me my greatest fear is to lose my loved ones, you know like recently you know my mum uh doctor suspect her of having colon cancer and then she was losing uh drastic you know weight and


that was really a scary moment for me I was really having fear of losing her you see so uh we did all the scope and tests and uh thank god everything was normal so doctors said that it could be due to old age


even though she's only sixty nine it could be due to old age that's the reason why she's losing her body mass and you know she's uh you know losing her appetite and everything, so ya my greatest fear will be losing my closed ones my loved ones I really can't imagine my life without them


and uh, sharing about a best friend that stabbed us uh well, it's sad it sad when we trust a friend and things happen the other way round


(mmhmm), twenty two one two


positive part two positive experience, hi Siti okay tell me what are the


the things that make you happy , (mmhmm)


same same here when you know some of the simple things that makes me happy is when I do something for the children or for the family and they appreciate it, you know, ya when they appreciate what I do for them it just makes me happy like in cloud nine


, ya and then, being with my friends like yourself you know uh having coffee dates one is once in a blue moon, dinner high tea all these you know


makes me happy as well, , simple pleasure in life correct


ya, basically I sacrifice my career you know that very well right I sacrifice my career to be a homemaker, so that I'm able to take care of my children full time watch them grow you know cook for them be there for them as and when they need me especially having young kids with me


to see them grow in front of my eyes is very very satisfying and these are one of the biggest uh sacrifice I do, for them,


(mmhmm)


!wow!, by the way I want to ask you what were your best parts of your childhood, something that ya , I'm sure there's something that we miss, (mmhmm)


correct correct, I think we have we our generation have one of the best childhood compared to the kids nowadays, right, we are able to go down play you know our parents are not there to call us on the mobile eh quickly come back nothing like that you know


we play ya, we can walk under the rain we can run under the rain we can play here that without getting ill compared to the kids nowadays, I think that's, some awesome childhood right


, ya definitely, gadgets,


correct, okay, the three things I have in common with my best friend


are our craze for bags, the love we have for bags , , the love we have for food, and the love we have for travelling


ya that's why you are my best friend ya, there's something that I cannot live without right, , never enough of bags


ya ya ya I can't wait I can't wait for everything to be over then the first place we want to go is Batam right we need our retreat


, !wow! badly need you know , ,


!wah! I really miss that, crisis crisis hey but, okay for you ah, I know you for many years twenty over years to be exact


I'm just curious to know who are the people that you cherish most in your life and why


heart shape heart shape


for me is


understand you , well for me


of course you are one of them, you know I see you as my role model because you are a very strong woman, you are very patient with the children, I need to learn to have patience from you, and you very responsible


I am responsible too but I salute, you know uh looking at you look it how you bring up your children the sacrifices you have done for them throughout these years you know, you are my role model basically, and


ya definitely and also my husband, uh my partner he is also someone that I cherish, because he is a very , caring man


you know responsible, uh and , he he basically had the determination and strength with positive attitude to raise the family, so I really appreciate that it him lah basically


ya I ask you, I ask you , how do you think your life will be if you, suddenly you know you become a millionaire


, but enough right, what is a million dollars now, you


uh property also you can't even on a condo for a million dollars, it's above that ya education is so expensive even a four room flat nowadays cost you almost you know half a million, you think five hundred


thousand with the balance ah you think five hundred thousand can uh take care of you and your kids, you know, and the education I don't think so it's uh something that we are we can be proud of to be a millionaire at this, you know generation right


ya, dollars is like, !wow! very ya, what to do


proudest moment of my life is when I give birth to my first child and became a mother, that's the proudest moment, ya, because I tried for many years right to be a mother ya so to give birth to her was my proudest moment basically


the struggle that I went through, to carry the you know during the pregnancy and everything ya definitely one of the proudest moment, how about yourself, (mmhmm)


, made ya


she made everybody proud even I share that proud moment, correct, ya


good lah ah, well, how about , a travel experience that really makes you feel !wow! you know like, until today you still


ya, (mmhmm), (mmhmm)


(mmhmm)


, something that you will never forget right


and how about your best surprise, , , well there should be a best surprise, you know your birthday just over right, I'm sure you got one of your best surprise ever right


how you felt ,


, what a best surprise right you didn't expect basically especially the watch, !aduh!


and the happiest moment in your life


ya, okay I want to share with you this I want to describe a time where when I was helped by someone in the time of my need and these happen in I think


nineteen ninety five, or nineteen ninety six, I think this happened in nineteen ninety five or nineteen ninety six during my school days when I was not feeling very well I was you know sick at that, time and then


you know despite you being a student also getting pocket money you know at everyday you saved up and give me twenty dollars to go and see a doctor you remember that, that is something that at that time I was in need and you were there for me and I'm grateful to you


till today I will never forget that


ya but at that time we were only students and you know for you to do that for me that's why I'm very grateful to you till today you know, I cannot forget that until today so, that's how deep you know, you left an impact to my life


ya, for for some people usually say ah only twenty dollars what but they don't know that twenty dollars actually meant a lot it makes a lot of difference, (mmhmm), okay okay let's share a funny inside joke that we


still laugh about till today and this happen a few days back right, ah, uh #umah gaithry# , I you really tickle my bones


, , but where did the Umah came from you know


, okay this inside joke was actually during your birthday night when we were heading home we were all getting bored in the car so your eldest daughter actually uh came up with this idea of playing a game but I tell you I think that night right


our vehicle, I think, the journey home I think, it was very entertaining I think throughout the whole of singapore, we had the noisiest vehicle okay, the kind of


uh you know laughter and jokes we you know it was really really funny it's something that we can never forget,


cracked up ya ya, I laughed until my tears, came out you know, !aduh!, #umah gaithry# what why lah you come up, that from,


disturbing ah so you remembered, Gaithry okay, ,


how to forget, ya, are you sure the elephant god is Gaithry , !aduh! oh my god wrong channel !aduh! !aduh!


!aiya! you funny lah you what is the one thing that you would like to do ah you know when you are bored, what is one thing, that can give you a sense of, calmness


, ya very calming right


ya, (mmhmm), like for me I enjoy long drive


I love going on long drive, , okay, twenty twenty seven


part one finance, uh okay Naf uh do you have any personal insurance maybe can you share with me some details on on your insurance policy


, I see


, so all your insurance are under prudential, I see, so what percentage of your income do you usually spend on insurance


, I see, , , so your insurance is for your family


everyone, I see so your your uh usually when this, for this insurance is it from us ah just now you have answered right actually is only single provider which is prudential


ya which provider, ya,


one provider, I see, okay so ,


there's long so all your insurance like car insurance domestic helper, uh property, or children all these are under, covered under prudential


, ya


, I see, so mainly is like depend on, what's the purpose what is it what's the insurance, uh and then you will choose your provider differently


, then, how uh how would you like to be approached by your agent,


, okay you you want it to be you you want it you want them to come and meet you or you prefer to just DIY yourself, , uh


ya, because is is is best that someone, , ya


, right okay, so what do you look out for when, buying an insurance policy


ill illness , , major illnesses ya, then, ya


ya, okay so, okay then what kind of insurance essential, for people of our age


, ya, ya you talk about saving so now maybe , yes okay


, ya of course, , okay so ya I do have saving account, ya actually two saving account so that I can uh I know when and where


to to where to keep you know my uh extra expenses whether I should utilise say or some for emergency use, ya


uh I stop having stopped having credit cards uh because it's best to spend within your means uh debit card yes uh ya it's just for easy uh purchases when you are outside you know when you you you have your


when you do shopping you need to do you they may have, like visa or mastercard or it's easier to, instead of you know like, NETS you need to key in your pin number and so


ya, so at the moment ya debit card is still sufficient from, oh ya ya yes


personally I would still prefer my personal, account so that I could still I could still manage my uh I my my my finances myself, and uh joint account firstly you need to be comfortable with who you want to join your account with


and also, you know you have to have trust in them, uh, but I do have joint account with my children my my my my children so that I could still , manage


manage their finances , , ah ya


uh personally my my child start having uh their ATM card when they goes to secondary school so that is about thirteen years old, ya so that sometimes when they need emergency I mean like there's emergency that they need to


use uh money you know like because as a working parent I might not be there always with them uh so when they come back to school, they need to have some, uh activities outside with their friends you know so I I would just give them the their ATM card


for their, daily usage for emergency ya, , what about yourself do you agree to


to have,


, ya,


and also we could test it's also a a a, a phase where we could test whether they are ready to handle, their own finance you know uh, ya,


ya, ya because of course, so ya because like especially during at this uh during teenage ya thirteen years


old you know that they tend to go out often with friends right so ya this is when I think it's the best time for them to have an ATM card,


okay , they have their own, personal bank account but initially for for my eldest daughter she she had joint account with me lah, the others uh is personal account


ya, because I started off with with her first you know just starting to get to know whether is it the right time for her to have her own account, and that mainly is initially when I open up that that bank account is for her to bank in her checks uh when she get those awards from schools


ah so she got it at a very young age whereby uh there it's required to have an adult, uh tap onto the account so that's why uh for her uh, I open up the account quite early so they need to have an adult joined together


ya, so further, for the rest is like , ya they theirs is personal lah for the other children


, loans ya for loans err apparently right now my house uh I'm still eligible I mean like


I've used up two times of HDB loan, uh I don't have any experience in having bank loans for my property, for for the house ya so I don't have experience in property uh bank loans in renovation


uh bank loans for car ya ya these two are the the ones that uh, I had experience in,


during that, during that time it's, wasn't that uh difficult, ya of course we need guarantor, but for the housing uh renovation loans, it's quite smooth because uh we need to place some deposit first and then after which


the balance we could uh get the loan from the bank, ya ya so, for both bank loans for housing uh for for renovation and also for car there's not much of a hassle


ya, , uh


I've I've not , you have experience


ah, usually I I I go for those rewards you know like M malls capital star those are the only rewards that I'm , I'm uh going for the points ya but for credit cards or like uh debit cards I've not


experienced that


ya that's that's good, I think I also heard about , you could claim like flights also right I mean like if you your points you could also claim flights, uh redemptions ya I think I heard about that also


ya I think my uh ya my brother did that before he he actually , accumulate those points with his card and then there's one point whereby he could actually claim those points for free flights


ya , , , ya


, oh ya ya yes correct ya


ya, but I'm not very sure about debit actually it's more for it's more, more like a NETS card right you just debit is easy payment


ah, ya ya correct, ah okay okay ya ya ya correct


, uh yes yes


ya I think nowadays most of, this uh I mean like like it's easy for you to monitor your account transactions and all that online I mean, , insurance no I'm just


ya I just uh, depend on those CPF, ya the one that is covered by , medishield life you know medisave I I'm just using that at the moment touch wood for right now there's no


no illnesses no I I mean of course I understand that insurance are like an emergency you know you something that could help you in future but due to constraint financial constraint right now I don't uh really have that spare cash to put aside for insurance


of course in, true true ya mean, nowadays there are so many kind of illnesses ,


, I'm still very faithful for with NTUC , I don't know because sometimes, they they they do have some perks like uh free tickets or something I I mean


I just read through lah I mean uh ya or like shopping uh I mean like it taps onto like grocery shopping at NTUC well right so, ya I, I'm not sure but I'm kind of like


prefer, to support NTUC, , ya but the main thing is actually I want some I want an agent who can actually go through


with me you know like not just for the sake of selling the insurance and then uh they get their commission and after that they just say ya they disappear or I don't like that kind of service ya so that's why I I I don't really fond on buying insurance this is partly the reason because


I'm just buying insurance supporting your company and then you are getting that uh uh you're getting that sales , sales you know uh and then after that bye bye you you you will not be I couldn't get in touch with you anymore


ya, I have some bad experiences lah so, ya, ya it's it's good that you have someone to go through with you


on my phone six, six fifty nine


timing as in the recording timing, twenty twenty forty, stop [ha]


part three negative experience, okay Naf I still could recall the scene


ya I could still recall the scene from the movie that we watched together you remember, ya okay that's one of the


most I mean that's one of the movie that we cried right remember, , family


ya, ya


ya especially when they met for a very after a very very long time ya it's something ya it's something that is really happening in in in real life as well


ya, correct


, true, true true as parents you know, whatever that it uh it it appears whatever that it gone through whatever they uh uh they


portray in that movie it's really something very close to us you know, anyway do you have any traumatic incidents that you experience in your life


any traumatic experience,


I see ya, I see ,


, okay


on your birthday, oh, I see,


, for myself I mean the the, the impact is not as great as what you've shared but to me is actually and uh uh most traumatic experience is when I almost lost my


child in a bazaar, in JB you know I think I've shared with you also uh that's ya it's during uh Ramadan it's it's one of the Ramadan and uh my eldest daughter during that time was only like


four years old below five ya and she was actually with my, under the care of my grand uh of my parents of my in-laws but because knowing that it's it's Ramadan you sometimes you were to bump onto some friends you know at at the bazaar


so she was actually with shirley she was actually with my eldest daughter and then when someone stopped her a friend stopped her she did not she suddenly forget about my daughter, so my daughter was still walking on her own


without without my in-laws and my in-laws already stop uh stop, uh at the location whereby she was talking to her friend and then shirley just walk straight, uh and she didn't realise that she's not walking with any adults she just walk straight and listen to the music she just dance dance you know like a child is she just like


happy happily listening to the to the music and then uh when I came because we were we were separated for that moment and when I came back uh to to meet my in-laws suddenly I ask her where is shirley where is my daughter and she say !huh! I


I thought she was standing here with me you know then everybody was, panic at that time whereby , we can't locate her you know , uh we have to go inside uh we have to go in the shopping mall and make announcement but at that time was already after nine there's no one at the information counter so we cannot even call her name you know that everyone is uh like


the other adults would have uh we they all ran to, the whole area just run, everywhere you know just to find her, then I my instinct is just that I need to go out at the car park area because that's where my my in-laws were walking initially to the to the car park so I just went out and


ya true enough quite a distance uh somewhere at the opposite uh there's another bazaar uh after the car park so, I saw her walking there alone and she's still not realising that there's no one with her she was just walking dancing dancing like that and and and and there's a lot of people behind her surrounding her also I just called her name and then I just ran to her you know just grab her it was really like


ya it's very traumatic lah that that that moment, , ah ya there was a time ah whereby like, when everybody when I don't have that instinct yet that she's actually outside everyone was inside the shopping mall uh and we were just like


very panic and and in my heart like what will happen if she's not we can't find her you know it's it's it's not singapore you know it it I I'm just, trying to control myself to think what I should do you know so instead of like running here and there panicking and all that I just try to try to


uh get the best uh, guess uh like just try to figure out ya figure out what where, she's walking you know like where she should ya possibly she's going you know because initially my my in-laws


were were trying to go to the vehicle to our car at the car park so I said okay maybe she's outside so ya then, true enough she was outside and and there's a lot of people surrounding her as well and she was so tiny it's like only four about three or four years old you know then


ya that was really really a traumatic experience lah for me that's why when I had like my second child my third child whenever I go out right I I, I have to buy that leash , it's not that I I mean I do not agree actually


I I don't like to use the leash on on on the children but it's actually the experience that I had with with my eldest daughter made me like no I have when I when I go out I need to to have this on my child you know, but of course lah we have to


but of course as parents we also need to be you know, uh vigilant we need to we need to be aware on where our children are especially in shopping malls ya,


ya correct I I'm very very scared very panic, I'm just shock, lah why my in-law doesn't take care you know like how how come like she she


ya because someone just pop by and say hello and just chit chat for awhile and, ya they just uh stop, stop for that moment lah, ya, anyway ya it's something


ya ya I cannot imagine, in Johor in Angsana ya and that's during Ramadan where there's a lot of people, ya that's why


, anyway, you do you have any, anything that, what incident that still makes you angry


after such a long time ya do you still have, and, okay


, ya


, ya, especially if it's in family you know some , ya correct


, be happy ya correct


yes, ya


, ya I could I could relate very much because I do have that kind of, person in my family as well well, my sister-in-law we have been we have not been in talking terms for more than five years already now you know it's all because of jealousy


uh especially in in family there shouldn't be any jealousy you know, I mean of course if like friends and all that probably there is because you are not living together you are not someone close probably you know but if in a family if you are jealous with another family member


you know it just shows how how black your heart is you know, ya and and my sister-in-law is is not only jealous about my achievements or about about my my job you know or or my family she's also being jealous with the kids you know and and and


ya there's always things that she's unhappy about she's not genuinely happy about any achievements or any any proud moments of my children they will tend to be like she will also try to be


better you know she will make stories to be better than than than others especially me and my my my kids lah, ya so I don't know why she she still doesn't change from now because even so we have not been talking we are not in talking terms but she's I know she's still snob she still


uh snob onto my facebook or my instagram you know they had they know many ways to to get in touch to to get to know what's our, what's uh what what are we, now you know


ya there's always, ya so, it can really we can really see from a person whether they are genuinely, happy or they are


ah ya


okay so, okay, okay so talk talking about my experience with my elder sister uh my sister-in-law right so, ya, even till today she's still have a lot of grudges a lot of jealousy in her


you know even we are not communicating but I uh, she's I still know from my my in-laws you know things about what she gossip about, about me about my children, ya


, toxic ya very toxic, ya


, true, talking about that actually uh I also have this thing about dislike a uh the older generations, the older generation generations they have their fixed mindset you know like okay you should do this you should do that you cannot do this you cannot do that and then most of the time they think that they are right


uh and and not willing to get advises from the younger ones they always think they are right they they have the experience you know they they they always want people like it younger younger ones to to listen to them most of the time


, true, true


ya


true, ya, ya, ya


true, ya true, it's always a case lah, ya, my greatest fear


of course uh losing my children ya my that's my greatest fear, for for now, ya my children are everything for me, everything to me so losing them it's something that I would fear you know I I would try to very much to compromise to try to be there for them always so that


I would not , get, I will not be away from their attention you know I want them to to give me the attention to make sure that I'm the only one that they are looking, to looking up looking up to


ya, so of course and right now we don't know the future how is it like you know when uh uh, is like they have to go go through marriage and how are they going to uh buy a house in future you know these are things that


that, I'm not very prepared, for my children in future you know, of course they had they can work they uh the the changes in in the government policies as well like CPF your retirement and all that we ourselves who I'm not sure whether we could enjoy the retirement you see so ya thinking about


the future of our children this is something that that I fear they might not even have a house to stay you know or they are not even, like uh I mean like, something, something about , building up a family in future for my children this is something that I cannot imagine right now ah ya


, , true ya


ya, true ya,


wait, ,


, , ya of course, ya, ya you want to


true , twenty eleven eh twenty two eleven


part two, positive experience, okay okay , okay ya


uh simple things simple things that make me happy or smile is to see my children everyday, especially you know during this time the COVID you are working from home most of the time so ya seeing them everyday is a


is a privilege because I cherish their growing up phase in life, ya this just simple thing seeing them everyday make me smile, what about you


ya, they should , , , oh,


ya, yes, right it's more on the bonding with your loved ones, ya this is the simple pleasure you know , ya


so far any sacrifices you have made that worth everything, ya,


ya, totally agree ya I mean like for myself I still need to work I still need to go to work but uh somewhat related, to you the sacrifice is because initially I was on a shift job


initially I was on a shift job so it's it's uh more of a commitment on the time it very it I'm I don't have flexible time you know I have to work, at wee hours and then I couldn't see my child grow at that time so the sacrifice is to change to a office job office hour job


ya that's something that I have to sacrifice because for rotating shift jobs they have allowances they have I mean is is a is a well paid job lah I must say ya so when


I change to a normal office hour I start really from rock bottom so it's really , start from the ladder you know growing up from there and, ya I'm blessed like right now uh I'm already, towards my my sixteen years in the company


ya, best part of my childhood , there's no gadgets okay there's no gadgets during our childhood so it's more of like outdoor activities going out with friends you know we just meet


you know meet our friends under the void deck to play with them, uh I I personally prefer outdoor activities so, ya during my childhood time, I did I'm mostly out of house


going here and there with my friends, ya and then of course being with you also during my teens ya it's something that I would cherish and, uh keep you know as memories uh whereby we we we were


correct ya, , yes, ya so long as they didn't see as they cannot call us back home


, ya , ya ya ya correct, yes just miss those time


I don't know but I feel like children nowadays they are too dependent on, electronic devices so they don't really get the chance to enjoy outdoor activities as much, ya, so talking about friends best friends !wow! what


are the three things, you have in common with your best friend, ,


, yes, !wow! I'm thinking the same thing those three, , we would shop for luxury bags you know this is something that (ugh) I cannot control


, ya and travelling and travelling ya, so travelling you know I really miss travelling during this COVID, period ya


, I want seafood I want massage , , , ya I I want seafood I want massage you know uh the cheapest and the best place to be


, but of course bags now a bit like tone down a bit lah because you know you need to do you need to have some saving,


, well of course one of the people is definitely my best friend which is you ya true you you've known me all throughout my years my ups and downs you always been there for


me , you know some simple gestures there's no need for you to actually , you know uh you ask for or some things that you you I mean like it's just naturally you just naturally would just offer help


or being generous uh in in in in , taking care of me not only me but my family so this is something that I would not forget during my, uh struggles you know ya


and of course family uh my siblings they are always there for, me they give me the support in in in hearing uh and giving advices ya, , and I'm I'm blessed as well because I have


uh mature kids I have kids that's already grown up you know all three of them they are uh easily I could just talk to them they could listen they could give advice they, could I could talk openly to them because at this age they the three of it uh three of them they are able to


communicate and understand you know uh and give their own opinions so this is something that I'm blessed with right now that uh I have someone very close at home to talk to, ya what about yourself


ya, !aww! , ah


I totally agree , ya I can see that,


you have any, ya, millionaire


ah it's not enough I still I don't want to, ya you can only buy a property that's all


ya precisely millionaire is nothing, ,


ya, ya, era ya, money is so powerful nowadays,


the dollars, ya, (ugh), anyway what's your proudest moments of your life


ya I think that's every mums ya , oh yes ya, ya, right ya yes


myself, I'm very proud of my eldest daughter ya she made me proud uh in her studies in her achievements so ya there's one time whereby she got a lot of awards during that year so that is one of the proudest moments that I


that she have made, me proud of ya, , ya she's very independent and determined to strive you know ya so during that year she had a lot of awards whereby I I I'm just speechless lah


ya , ah


okay I, I might the most memorable one would be to japan ya because that and that would be the first the very first trip to japan because it's totally new for me and it is also


it's a work trip as well whereby after I've done with my business then I have people to attend to me to go around Tokyo uh they would bring me they they brought me to Tokyo disneyland, Tokyo disneysea you know it it's it's like unleashing the child in me


, I couldn't, ya and ya it's it's it's something that, especially being very far from from family and then


ya that is something memorable for me, I couldn't forget you !huh! best surprise, oh I've got a lot of, surprises a lot


ya, , okay if talk about this year yes my best surprise, is getting myself uh I've got this watch


, , and ya I love blings and then I've got this, for my birthday this year, and also you my best friend gave me a a a pair twin twin twinning with you you know a gucci so these are the two best gifts that I had this year


ya you guys, , lied through you plan to lied to me , , happiest


well of course like you say as a as mothers, you know we when we gave, the moments when we gave birth we become from, just a woman you know just uh I mean like, just a single uh just a wife from from being a wife to a mother you know it's something that is


is a happiness lah which every mothers would feel like I believe ya, to be a


ya, (mmhmm), okay,


, well, , , (mmhmm), ya


ya to me it's just ya something that what I could do within my means you know for my loved ones of course if I I have that means, I would go that extra mile you know even if I have nothing you know during that time especially ya


, , ya ya


especially for a student right not earning, uh


ah, , which one was that which one, I ya but I don't


know it's is just some just names comes in my mind you know probably that is what I've been listening you know that same Gaithry Gaithry, , no, because Umah we we need to have


names starting with U right so I just okay lah just, , just call out, ya


, ya the journey home right the journey home was really entertaining, ,


ya ya, correct it's actually just a simple game just very very simple game but it it it just made everybody, uh laugh you know ya, and perked up lah ya correct


, especially that #umah gaithry# right, , of course the Gaithry I want to uh I I'm actually , I thought of vicky


ya, lah of course !aduh! cannot forget mah and because, why that Gaithry name also come up because of the elephant god lah right that elephant god is also Gaithry right that's why suddenly come out that


, oh [orh] is it Ganesh, oh my god


, one, actually for now, it's difficult to go anywhere now you see so


I don't know uh I just like to chill by the beach, you know just lie down sit around chill relax hear the waves uh calming ya with the wind but of course it's something not practical now because of the weather it keeps on like


I mean like sometimes rain sometimes not ya but of course I would love to just do simple things like just sitting down by the sea listening to the waves you you you get relax as well by doing that


ya long drive okay, ya you can drive you have the license , , , ah


twenty thirty


part one finance, eh hi karen ya I I like to save monthly but it's not a huge sum of money


proximately I'll save like about hundred to hundred fifty per month and it it kind of depends like the the range is because of like my <B>


ya how about you karen


nice


that's true that's true, okay it's it's more like a like a something to fall back to like a


risk or like a safety mechanism ya I think that's like the common reason as well you know like you should always have something to fall back on in case you know like something happens then you need emergency money, ya ya ya ya ya


actually like do you have any recommendation of like the types of banks that you should put your savings to or like is that irrelevant


right right that's true that's true I also heard like normally if you want to, see the turn up like it will be more for investments right like you should know as a as a adviser like normally if you want to have a


longer like a long term plan with more money, you know it's like you should invest instead of saving in the bank actually what's the normal interest rate for investments


it's alright


ya that's true for the investment portion like you know if you want if you want more returns you definitely be the more like you should be more risk compliant so actually like how many years like those is it should be like a fixed amount that you put in for a long period of time right like for those uh plans where you say something about three three to four per cent


so it's like a ten year plan is it how long is it


okay then what about like if there's an emergency then you say like there's no way to withdraw at all or is that like some leniency given in this ten years, like I mean different companies confirm different but is there like any specific company that adheres to the emergency protocol like they let you withdraw maybe in five years or something


right


right right okay so like even if you want to withdraw is possible but need to pay like admin fees charges and it won't be full amount as well right


ya that's that's that's okay


ya okay okay ya ya I heard the question okay so like , when so I'm now I'm currently internship right like you should know lah okay so with that with with the amount like I need to, know like roughly like like my transportation will be through bus and MRT things like that so like


need to cater to that need to cater to food need to cater to, the entertainment like you know movies or whatever but that's like a small priority and some more COVID you can't do much also so and is this little things that


total will add up and we will I will deduct and then I will see like how much I have left so I can give more to each sector because at the moment I'm not schooling as well so I don't really have much other expenses as well so


it it it it mainly goes off like that ya how about you,


spend the most on (hmm) that is a, at the moment I would say uh food


cause that's the only thing that like it doesn't have a limitation to eat like as long as it's nice I'm spending like things like, maybe if you want to buy things online or you but you want to book Grab or taxi or whatever you will tend to be a bit frugal like okay lah maybe we you know try to not spend too much but when there's good food


you just as long as the food is good you'll spend so it's it's but it's not really a good thing actually is like you should uh I mean I should try not to do that often so maybe I could do at sometimes with like, uh more emphasis on cheaper stuff at the moment yup yup so


the thing is it is more of the experience at the end of the day so like, ya as I was saying ya can hear me right ya


ya ya so is like I don't really recall what was the most expensive because after I pay the bill it just slips my mind and that is the thing, that is quite frightening it the fact that I don't really remember so ya so it is something like I should look into more when I'm buying food yes so how about you what is the


what is the most expensive things that you spend on,


fine okay lah you've to you've to define the term more like, specific so like it can be a wide range of freedom but I think like if you are able to put it as stability


like don't have to worry about it that is like something which it can be attained, not don't have to say like many years because as long as your expenditure is not too much to worry you then I think it's it's like alright it's not an issue but for like is is there anything specific you want to talk about like financial freedom things like that retirement maybe


ya ya so, ya what what do you think about it


like I should ya I shared, ya like I shared, the idea of stability like so I'm asking like what is the different ya different way


nice as


right, yes yes yes the the part about the supporting your kids is very important like at the end of the day this would be one as well


so I want to ask like what do you think about uh central provident fund CPF in singapore what your thoughts about it


alright for your retirement slowly right gradually you spend it what did you do


right right ya there's only so much the government can do like people like this right right right that's true that's true yes very true


okay actually if since you talk more on the negative side I can, talk maybe the positive so I was thinking ya I was thinking like it really helps on those people can't really control their saving I mean the spendings and it like forces them to is it uh twenty per cent of their income


they put into the account ya so you kind of forces them to save and allows them to somehow have a security, for the future after they retire they can take it and spend it as they will you know instead of having to worry then is a big burden after fifty five or sixty five


wouldn't want to think about money so it is really uh I mean it's pretty good that the government thought of this initiative like years back before we were born, ya and CPF is ya and employee also employer also will contribute so it is quite so I thought just twenty per cent is more than that which is amazing ya ya so


if they're stuck in the debt I'm guessing they are <B>, an advice not I'm not really uh so like what I would


think is perhaps the person should start looking for help, because I I know the government is able to help uh those needy people needy families or whatsoever so the fact that


he can't really pay back shows that he's needy or he is like spending a lot of money on unnecessary things so if that's the case then he should cut down on the uh unnecessary expenditure and, instead use it to immediately pay back if not the interest will take a toll on him over the years and ya like I said he should maybe contact the MPs at his area email them or go down and see if it


government can help him or her get out of the debt as soon as possible yup yup, ya so for those people who are taking debt I feel like they should always pre-plan like uh future what they going to do


in order to pay back instead of just thinking about what the debt is going to satisfy at the moment yup that's what I feel about it yup, , so I want ask you like how do you manage your financial commitments before or after marriage


ya because marriage is going to take a lot of money,


twenty thirty five, stop


part three negative experience


yes karen how are you are you feeling good


I mean it has to be really emotional to, make me get in the teary feeling so like when I think about it now it's it's probably movies like, I really like interstellar, not sure if you watched, so there's that so there was this scene where


the guy was I mean the main character was, uh watching videos of his kids, because he went to a different, galaxy and time there is different and, so like his kid to actually growing up way <B>


he was like crying at a one scene when he saw like, his uh, like really a small child, was maybe, eight years old she became like his age at that point and, she was asking like where did he go, all these years but he was trapped in space and he was crying that was really got


me in the feels when I was watching it, it was such a emotional feel though the father daughter, bond it was amazing yes yes yes it was so I I cried for a while and ya it was , when I first watched it I cried but after awhile I didn't I watched it maybe three four times


it was such a emotional and I like galaxy as well so the space so there was a different there was a different feel for me right right right, I can imagine how far is it, because he right right right like I can imagine how far away he was when he was in a totally different galaxy right yes yes right right right I can totally imagine myself out there yup yes yes


yup it was rather emotional


I don't suppose that a normal thing as well, right I understand is like those special, things that really makes you


sacrifices I can't really, put a point to it sacrifice mainly I don't really do that, because end of the day there will be a compromise <B>


like I feel like ya you should always communicate and, come to a proper you know like a proper stand point right but for sacrifice nah I can't really think of it right now may be later I will tell you if there's any right right err


to be very honest I really can't <B>, I only get in touch with my, uh negative emotions through movies like even for like , passing of anyone I never really have it, recently or


any other really drastic emotional, events I can't really think of it yup it's, maybe I could I could tell you another show that made me teary, if you want to hear right right, okay so there is this show it's called <B>


the one he made like a decade ago, or more than that, right uh fresh prince of bel-air, you know of that show okay okay it's it's like a pretty popular show back in the days so I just rewatched, ya it was it's on Netflix as well so


basically there was this uh scene where, it really, it's quite emotional because uh actually, the movie's swirls on around him, being someone without a father figure, so when he grew up it was just him and his mum and, things like that and he went to live with another family a rich family because they wanted to him to learn values


something like that and, ya there was this episode when the father came back to his life, ya so he was he was very happy and things like that, but, uh one day he decided to leave again, so he left him, uh then there was this really powerful


moment in the episode where he was just, like the main character was just going off he was saying like I don't need him in my life I survived so many years without him, I felt like it such a <B>, that he was you know he was able to


grow up <B>, someone so important that should have been there for him but wasn't, so I watched that ya it did get me quite <B>, maybe you can search it on YouTube there there's definitely scenes on it


right right right it was good show right (hmm) so, ya can I want to ask you like what do you worry about


right


right so for myself ya I actually I really can agree with what you said about, the meeting of , like deadlines and things like that because , really as a university student you definitely have lots of projects to do, so definitely like uh you need to be able to


cater your time properly like I feel like that's what I have, worried about more last semester because, now I'm working so it is, there's less workload for school, however like even though if I see it as overall there's still like uh uh fight between time and doing the project ya because


my teammates are also working as well so, it's quite it's not that easy to get a like a time that we are able to wait oh sorry the


the app just crashed I


uh part three negative, yup ya no no yup okay so I start now press the record ya ya ya it was okay ya that's a never mind


that's good food


moon was following us wherever we went, because when I whenever I looked, whenever I looked up when I was young, it always seemed to be there like, following me not just <B>, my place and if I go to the north or somewhere else


it'll it'll seem like it is following the trail that I'm taking, maybe uh taxi or whichever, so like I always thought like !wow!, is it is it the moon capability to follow the people that it likes or something when I was very young I was thinking like that


but as I grew older and I learnt science, in , secondary school and in this procedure I realise that actually it doesn't follow and is because it's just very big the moon is pretty big, as compared to earth because the moon is about


it's about a thousand seven hundred kilometres radius so it's pretty big, and, it will it will definitely seem like it's following you because of how your eyes, captures the light from the moon that is from the, sun so like it, will give you the illusion that it


is following, but it's just because it is, vastly big and I was disappointed when I realised this, is quite upsetting to know that you weren't as special as you thought you were so it's something that I learnt from after few years from when I was young right right right yes


so do you have anything similar


it's more like we should forgive, instead of letting such thoughts haunt our brains it's it's not healthy I feel at the end of the day so I would say not no don't have revenge, maybe you could use it to fuel yourself


to like it could be a drive factor so if if you feel like you ever you want to get revenge you could do it in a positive way to your own life I believe right right right yup yup so I want to ask you perhaps like is there any like a character trait that you feel is is not


is something that people shouldn't <B>


like is similar to what you said about elitism is about being humble at the end of the, day so like even, even as uh you could be anyone, to have a lots of, accomplishments and, may be anything


anything at all but at the end of the day you you stay <B>, ya everyone is equal at the end of, the day and, you will definitely need to be more respectful, to not just the elders to everyone, around you so I believe like it's something that that really it could be quite overwhelming when you are


presented with lots of uh, maybe accomplishments monetary wise status voice and, you will, definitely need to keep yourself in check, in terms of such a scenario


yup uh actually can you just repeat what you've said


not meeting my expectations perhaps


okay so since it's it's a really a, broad subject so, I will just relate it to something that maybe recently very recently that I had, like I was I wasn't, happy with the result it'll it was related to my, work so when I did my experiments


I realised that I mean the output was supposed to be something that is, rather consistently increasing it because I'm doing <B>


like it's something that you can only do once and it's a whole experiment where you hook up, lots of wires and test it out, to find the thermal distribution of, the of the of the uh a product but, the result that I got was very it had lots of noise in it it was very bad so it was something that really let me down because I thought I had it all


planned out perfectly like I did it with such accuracy and, it was very precise to the point like I thought, I will get the output that I wanted, but I was let down when it was, fluctuating the result was all over the place, and I and yup so like my


colleagues told me like it could be due to the ambient, temperature because there were differences in the aircon at the at the point in there, so it really so it does show me that how sensitive, that your results could be when you do something, and and you need to always be


part two positive experience, alright so this is a positive experience portion so tell me what are the small things that make you smile


ya oh my god yes yes yes always always


it, oh yes that is the best that is a smile that goes to the next person,


ya man the double oh my god !wow! that, oh for what makes me smile (hmm) so when you ask me this first thing comes to my mind is since you talked about food is going to be the same thing as well so but for me is the double Mcspicy with the corn I need the corn


right , because the corn is something which people neglect and, it's really sad because it's actually really good with the butter it's amazing, yes yes yes yes okay say again, think we should come out from the food portion


proudest moment of my life actually there's a couple of moments, !wow! (hmm) that's actually a couple of things like getting into uni things like that but, put a smile on my face probably is when I when I got the award for uh best trainee when I was in NS so it was a really proud moment when I got the award and stood in front of


everyone and to give a speech it's something that it doesn't really put a smile every time on my face but it sometimes does when like times like these someone reminds me of it ya like uh yes definitely, so what about you


yes yes I am I am uh so what like what's the best movie that you have seen or like recently watch a nice movie I there was something about the green mile is it ya


okay


that's that's that's great ya


yes yes that's the smile that's the smile we want yes man is a is a great movie it was so nice I was smiling, throughout yes yes, it's a good


ya I like to go to the zoo I I I I always like to go there maybe once a year


ya ya I always like to go to the singapore zoo because uh there's lots of amazing good looking animals, that I like to see and like I particularly like to see the penguins because they put a smile on my face whenever I see them


and they'll be walking around aimlessly it's it's quite cute and funny ya , ya and ya actually there's they also have the a a show with the seals I think and it's really amazing as well when when you watch it and when


they do the tricks it's really amusing to see how you can you know train animals to do tricks, it's really is out of the world given they don't really have a mind per se so it's just dependent on their survival, instincts so


yup it is very nice to see yes yes yes even the snakes look nice also yup but pythons are to be wary of these days yes yes, okay, so


yup the the snake had a good meal okay so which shouldn't be the case, yup so want to ask you


that's why I wanted to ask you like what do you like to do when you will just chilling relaxing and what is your activities


right


right it sets you in a nice mood right


that's true that's very true


this question is actually rather cause I always like to laugh is uh I feel like everyone should always be laughing as a way to just distress themselves so is like I'm


I always like daily I always laugh at least once either with my friends or maybe I watch a funny video online and you just let it out laugh like is you're going to ya you know what I mean, so it's it's !aiya!, I have to emphasise that laughing is is an amazing trait that a lot of people neglect as they tend to get older so it keeps you


and your mind in check and make sure that you are young at heart you know always being free and to, yup ya so, so let me ask you like tell me your memorable travel experience


okay,


!wow! !wow! just way better than east coast park yes


okay ah what's the temperature at iceland


okay okay very nice, , one country uh not really into travelling like


destinations at the moment so maybe from, my minor knowledge I will just think like go to like the london, those scenic areas where you see, like those nice uh building structures or maybe dubai where you see the uh burj khalifa the tall big nice you know like like but I like the main thing I want to see is like uh bird's eye


view of how were uh the structures around us are made because I've been I feel like in singapore all we see is tall buildings from like everywhere there's just buildings so you just look, up and you can't really admire it from a high position so there will be something which I will be keen into looking at right right right ya


so it actually heighten my interest in also like something, a very high magnitude which is the space so I feel like uh we are very grounded to earth in the way our <B>


the space is so vast out there and we are like, almost negligible compared to, how vast the space is and there is trillions of stars out there we have, no idea how it looks like, right right like we only see the sun and that's the closest star to us it really gives a poetic meaning when when you see the stars when the sun sets like that's the only star you see in the morning


but when it sets there's trillions out there that we see and actually the stars that we see is only the milky way galaxy, so it's just the milky way and we think there's so many but there's so many there's like billions of galaxies out there, and we can't see the stars so I feel like it really gives a different perspective to how we should be looking at things


right, so ya I want to ask you, , oh right, okay okay so basically super moon is when


okay so I like to put it that I really like to see when the super moon is uh available where how it works is it's not like the super moon forms is more like how the light, and the elliptical orbit of the moon is set that gives that perfect the biggest illumination of the moon so that happens maybe four times a year and it's basically a full moon that is


extra large that's the main idea maybe about fourteen per cent larger and the whole concept is uh basically it looks <B>, night life kind of people they see and they will be like !wow! that's a super moon that's how I've been going on for the past four times this year yup it was amazing I share it my friends as well and


all of them were were in awe as well, right, yes yes yes ya !wow!, glad that you remember about the super moon it's a something that I myself had forgotten for a while since the last one was in


in may I think ya ya right, amazing so I shall ask you like, right so like ya you how about you tell me like what's the proudest moment of your life that you encountered before


right right we were in a bad jurong JC, uh


right right okay okay so for annual see you're going to which place ya sure sure you can ask me


so like uh what do you all do there ya sure you can ask me, oh !wow! that's that's a it's a really touchy subject because there's a lot of thing that people should love about themselves like uh answer in a generic way like like everyone has flaws at the end of the day but


you should realise that you are a special human being to at least one person out there could be your parents, your siblings so you should definitely love yourself before you can even love others that's what I feel about


this whole yes yes yes right, uh at the moment I don't have a partner so I would say, maybe uh friends ya like best friends or admire like I feel like they are really smart and


I'll aspire to be like them because I'm not really smart at the <B>, right right so right, yup yup uh so I want to ask you like so what is something you what is <B>


right right


oh you could have worked on the language you know maybe you should have done homework or things like that, it would have been a funny and more fruitful experience


well that sounds amazing uh I would like to know what is the course maybe after this you could tell me I would like to join as well can laugh there, so alright alright


twenty forty


part one finance, !hey! Arif do you have a habit of saving


okay so how much do you save a month approximately


I see I see okay, ya actually I will try to save like uh , I tried the separate about, twenty portion of my income, to purely saving, so I will transfer it to a different bank account to keep it there so that I ensure that I don't spend it kind of stuff so it kind of accumulate over time but


now right now my, income is kind of not really constant like it goes up and down so I wouldn't really say that uh it's a constant amount being transferred over to the bank you know every month, ya so what's your saving goals actually


like what do you aspire to attain out of this savings


some bad times come about right ya ya ya definitely same same same same yup


per se in terms of uh really depends on what do you want to achieve out of this uh, portion of money if per se if you are looking at just a emergency fund then something more liquid would be suitable so you wouldn't want to lock your uh money up in like saving plans or fixed deposits so in case of anything happening happens so something liquid such as like a simple


DBS savings account or I think currently the best one in the market probably would be the standard chartered jumpstart account, so if I'm not wrong before the pandemic they were giving about a good one point five per cent uh interest rate on your liquid cash, but I think seeing the state the whole market or the financial state of the whole market is uh all the banks generally have decreased their interest rate they are giving to all their customers so at this point in time I think


any bank would be a suitable option as long as you are saving money it's fine you know, yup, yup yup


so actually right I would say there's a it it ranges per se so, let's say you are starting as a liquid cash when you put it in the POSB savings account you're going to get about a zero point zero five per cent interest and then the next instrument that you want to get


or you want to made use of to increase your interest rate would be a fixed deposit so maybe you lock your cash up in there for about one to two years and then they give you back about uh maybe one or two per cent depending on the bank again , and then on top of that I would say the next instrument would be saving plans


I think different insurance company sells uh various saving plan they give you this interest by putting your money into participating fund APA fund, and that will give you about per se three three to four per cent and then moving up we have ETF and unit trust these are where these are where the investment portions come in where they bundle up your money together with a lot of people money


and then they have a fund manager to invest in different funds such as stocks and uh, uh bonds to get you a better percentage and this type of ETF, is going to give you a slightly higher uh percentage of return ranging from maybe five to eight per cent per se and then I think the last one would be stocks where you actually really put your money out there and and this actually has a opposite scale


meaning that the higher your returns the higher your risk, so the lower your risk this will lower your returns, yes definitely


so actually the the years also depend so I I'm guessing you are referring the three to four per cent is you are referring to saving plans so saving plans generally the minimum is ten years and the maximum would go to about twenty five to thirty years


okay this ten years per se you don't


no actually generally this type of saving plans right it it's kind of a across all companies is about the same protocol you are able to kind of withdraw the sum but it's call a surrender benefit where, by right you are entering into a contract where you are saying that you are going to commit with them for the next ten years but since you are breaking it in terms of a emergency there's some surrender cost and some uh admin cost that they will charge you so you would not really get back the full amount


but you after the cost and deductions are, accumulated you'll get back lesser amount but definitely you are losing money there because you're kind of breaking the contract with them, yup ya


yes right right right correct correct, so actually I got a question for you lah so how how do you actually spend your money like, how would you portion it out your expenditure generally and do you think the way you are spending your money is justified


or would you be spending too much


okay okay okay, so ya Arif tell me more about how is spend your money man, yes yes in fact


so for myself actually I have a I don't really fully checked my spendings other than the saving portions I just put aside so whatever is left I just spend and kind of just go with the flow you know I I don't have like a specific checking thing such as yours


ya so it's more of like a kind of go with the flow so actually if per se is one thing that you spend the most on what would it be actually, for yourself, like you like you can say actually I can reduce this but I I just kind of spend more on it because ya


so what's actually the most expensive food that you spend on, that you think you splurged


actually per se I would say it's pretty similar to yours as well, I think food uh takes up a lot of my expenditure ya and, kind of a, puts the heat on me lah like I I just head to restaurant and I pay quite a bit of sum and I I don't really keep track of how many times I head there and I don't limit myself when my


friends call me for a meal or anything saying that I have no money or anything so I I would, will be somewhat similar to yours, food would be the, biggest issue here as well lah, , so actually what are your financial goals per se like what do you want to achieve in the future


or how stable you want to be, so like what do you want to achieve with uh the financial freedom do you get or like when do you want to achieve financial freedom like what do you want that what do you see yourself in the future financially internal financially


like like ya ya ya retirement like where do you see yourself and the retirement type or, portion you know


no like where do you, ya alright right, ah I see so like I think for myself probably if you talk about like financial like where do I want to what do I want to do financial freedom like how really enable me in the future is probably like I probably want to retire when I'm like fifty five or so


with probably a retirement home overseas, like a retirement home maybe in like thailand or like new zealand with a farm where I can wake up and chill in the morning and and kind of a have a peaceful life and then when I'm maybe older where I need more medical infrastructure I probably head back to singapore


then maybe like seventy five or something if I'm alive till then so I I must be able to support support all these visions that I have such as the home in a overseas home for retirement I kind of have the relaxed life where I don't have to depend on anyone


purposely for a sum of money I I do not want to burden my children in the future to depend on them for allowance or anything so I want to have the freedom to be able to do that uh support myself even when I do not have a income coming in, that would mean uh financial freedom to me


(mmhmm) definitely


actually per se thoughts about it I do not wanna, zoom into my personal opinions because uh, it it really varies from person to person so I've seen people that really are against this CPF and stuff and they feel like uh the government is kind of swallowing a portion of their income and they're not giving it back to them when they need it and stuff but at the same time there is a kind of a


two two ways to look at it because sometime it really helps and sometime it doesn't like for example my father's friend right he had his CPF right withdrawals at fifty five and he decided to take the lump sum out and the lump sum is supposed to actually cater for your


future like say per se ten years or twenty years but, ya but whereas what he did right he probably got himself a new motorbike he gave uh he spend it unnecessarily and and moving forward he actually suffered from uh not having enough money to


sufficiently carry on his retirement life so it's actually really depends on uh personal views per se if a person is able to control their spendings uh in appropriate way ya, exactly exactly


yup yup ya , so actually what are your thoughts actually, so actually what are your thoughts about the CPF


oh yes sure sure thing


ya eh eh eh, yup ya man sure, actually uh let me ask you a question man, so actually what advice would you give someone


who is actually, to help them get out of their debt so let's say you are stuck in a loan or, a debt what would what advice would you give them to actually recover <B>


so actually , my financial commitments uh so I think <B>


involvement of managing finance right would would really point down, to how you portion or you separate the money when it comes in you know kind of a making it giving it a clear purpose so per se let's say you are receiving an income of a three thousand dollars so how are you going to purposely portion it


so the government recommended method which is the four three two one method, which shows that the four is forty per cent of your income is meant for fixed expenses thirty per cent is meant for variable expenses and then twenty per cent for like savings and ten per cent for insurance


so actually per se I I would tend to follow how would they have recommended so maybe in terms of uh how I will separate my money after my marriage is <B>


ya so probably I'll be looking into properly and distinguishing my money apart and separating it giving it priority to where it should go per se yup


my phone is twenty minutes thirty one seconds stop


part three negative experience,


hi Arif can you hear me, ya I'm feeling awesome man how are you feeling, hello Arif I can't hear you


ya , (hmm) okay, this is good hello hello Arif hi Arif how you doing today yes sure


I just talk by myself , , (oo) okay okay sure sure, okay how about I talk to you, , jake


uh, sure sure so this is your full time job is it, oh !wow! okay what faculty are you, alright cool H okay Arif hi Arif


ya okay so I mean let me ask you question man, so uh , maybe want to tell me what always bring tears or sorrow to your eyes


(mmhmm) ya I did I did uh very nice for you, yup yup (mmhmm)


like you could really connect to it right like, uh knowing that you are into (mmhmm) (mmhmm), like know knowing that you are in the space and stuff, ya ya (uh huh)(uh huh)


yup so probably like you put yourself uh in his shoes and you know you like imagine yourself being an astronaut and stuff


per se actually uh , I'm not really as a, emotional as a normal human being tend to be like, I I tend to have lesser times where really cry and I'm affected but maybe the the last time I cried uh


would be during the passing of, my uh grandparents so, ya that's where I I teared for the last time because uh , my grandfather was uh, was one that I really grew up with during my young times so we would actually uh do everything together per say like


uh he would send me to school and we'll even use the loo together, uh yup so , in the in the young times uh he used to bring me up so like we we had this uh bond when I was still probably like a


secondary one or primary six then we moved out of his house but until then like, we we used to spend a lot of time together and uh I used to grow up with him and after that he kind of moved to india and we we didn't have that much of time


spending together with him so we kind of lost that, connection for quite a bit of time per se may be uh a good fifteen years or thirteen years and , maybe only once in a while like uh once in three years I head back to uh india to kind of visit him and


I kind of miss that uh time spending with him and, when he passed it it it brought back some good memories with him and probably that's the last time I I teared ya but if you ask me something that uh if you ask me of a memory that


always gets me to tear uh I I can't I won't be able to relate to that man, yeah, (mmhmm) (mmhmm), yup yup yup yes right


ya I totally agree with you man, so maybe let me ask you a question man so , uh what sacrifices have you made for your loved ones but you felt that you were not appreciated for it


ah I see, understand


or maybe you want to share like uh when is the last time you maybe teared other than for a movie


ya sure sure why not man man


okay I see, okay okay


ya I'' revisit it later yup


I wouldn't say something in general but maybe a, day to day uh, uh not meeting people expectations and, some stuff or things that I have to accomplish and I'm in in short of time for that maybe I tend to worry about them a lot


so for example uh assignments that I've to submit, I tend to procrastinate sometimes and uh kind of push it towards the last minute and and when that happens uh I just worry about uh getting it done in time and submitting it


you know I got to burn the midnight oil for that, and maybe other than that uh probably like , like on a daily basis tasks that I have to accomplish uh if I don't do it I I, might tend to disappoint people or people would be unhappy so I got to do the things that uh have to be done in a daily basis and I tend to worry about accomplishing them on time


so, ya how about for yourself man


fourteen forty six


not yet after this, no bro too late today can't go out to get that Mcspicy, some other day maybe


alright, yup yup yup


so let me ask you a question Arif, so maybe you want to let me know what do you believe in when you were younger but not any more now and why so


(mmhmm) (mmhmm), right right right


actually per se not really man, I I, I don't have anything particular that uh ya, cool, so maybe uh have you ever wanted to get revenge like you had a bad experience and


(mmhmm) (mmhmm) (mmhmm), that's true man I would I would agree with you


ah I see I get where you're coming from maybe I would say a bit of a , uh maybe elitism like I would say a character trait that you shouldn't have would be elitism, maybe uh I have such some uh bad experience from uh from it maybe like generally in the like a few of my friends had been saying that one of them are studying in uh medicine so he was from a neighbourhood school


but whereas in medicine uh I I would say about ninety to ninety five per cent of them are from like uh, a more well-off school per se like raffles #hwa chong# or ACS and uh they generally have a have a community there that's already been uh building up from previously from in their elite schools whereas people that are from neighbourhood schools don't have such a comm strong community bond


per se and and they tend to don't really uh look down upon them, and that wouldn't be a good trait or it's not very nice to do so I'll I'll dislike or despise uh elitism in general ands


and thinking that you have a upper hand to anyone in general wouldn't be something that I would say is good and I would discourage people from thinking in that way, yeah


how about for yourself, how about for yourself anything in particular


(mmhmm) (mmhmm)


ya I get where you coming from man (mmhmm), okay , maybe you want to share something about (hmm) let me see a time


when, things turned out, not meeting your expectations like maybe you aim to do something and then you had uh work towards it or you had put some trust in someone


and and it and things didn't turn out to turn out as you wanted them to be would you would you have any experience such as that


maybe uh you want to describe time a time when things didn't turn out, not meeting your expectations, ya, like like maybe you had put in some work or effort into building something and it didn't turn out as uh how you wanted it to be or maybe you had trusted someone and and and and it didn't turn out the way you expected it to be or it had turned sour in fact


ya ya in fact


(mmhmm)


I see I see, (mmhmm) (mmhmm) I see


I see okay I get it get it I get it (mmhmm) (mmhmm) okay


part two positive experience, , !hey! Arif, uh yes Arif


actually the small things that make me smile [orh] that's a good question man so per se right ya I think the one and most first and foremost thing that makes me smile is food man ya so whenever I see food


that I like I will smile I will really smile I'll smile , till my ears man I mean it's it's the smallest thing that can actually make me smile like the daily enjoyment that I get out of food you know like seeing that per se that double Mcspicy !wow! that puts a smile on my face


and , ya and it's a it has been sometime since that double Mcspicy had put a smile on me maybe after this conversation I will think about revisiting it man, how about for yourself man what are the makes things that make you smile


alright


alright alright ya ya ya, I see seems like you are really corny guy


, okay sure sure sure alright, so actually let me ask you something Arif, can you hear me Arif, so so what are what is the proudest moment of your life man


like what's the proudest moment of your life, really when you when you think of that moment, every time you think of that moment it puts a smile on your face ya ya share with me man


alright, !wow!


ya seems like you are smiling now eh, , [orh] movie,


ya ya ya so I think in terms of uh best movies uh, a movie that really makes me smile would be two in particular so first would be the green mile as you said, like although uh it's a sad movie towards the end but


the experience overall that that the green mile view is a very pleasant one and maybe the one that really makes me smile at the end of it, would be shawshank redemption I don't know if you have watched it but the the whole, movie itself right it gives a very


positive kind of fight like it it kinds of, makes you look at life in a in a kind of different like where actually after he escapes and he, looks at the broad sea and the ocean and and his relief and you came to know that he's not the one that did the crime !wow! that really puts a smile I'm like on top of just having a smile on my face it it kind of sends chills down my body you know ya I I really love that movie


have have you watched it man have you watched it, yeah, ya I see I see (mmhmm) ya , so actually let me ask you a question what is like the one place that you'll love to visit and like why why would that be the place you love to visit


you got my question man what is the one place that you love to visit (uh huh)


rattling (mmhmm) (mmhmm), yup yup that's true that's true


oh !wow! (mmhmm), yup right (mmhmm) (mmhmm), seems like they ate up a garfield cat recently right


so I think the last uh last time it used to be just uh watching YouTube videos and Netflix like generally when I'm chilling I just do that actually per se I do that


more than working but I think moving forward, these days uh I try to take a different perspective I try to just play some music and, relax on my chair not doing anything just listening to the music not not you know engaging in a video or what uh so that my mind can kind of relax and uh


I would love to do it with with like a cup of apple juice ya ya ya and and it's very relaxing so that uh kind of uh recharges me back to head to work and do my stuff you know instead of just watching uh another video and kind of be involved in it this one it really calms your mind and uh


gets you to focus on the next task ahead ya so I think as we grow older I think it will be better to do such a, a kind of coming starve and to get us recharge before our next spring also, yup that's what I do to relax man


actually let me ask you a question man, uh describe a time when you laugh too hard like, when is the time you laugh too hard until like you like you cry it, you know, it was out of mind ya


right right right, yup yup, I mean laughing without a reason would seem psychotic but you you should just laugh with a reason if you know what I mean ya


ya (mmhmm) (mmhmm) true true right , sure man sure


memorable travel experience right okay sure I guess, uh as you know right I have been to quite a number of places per se when I travel, and uh maybe I will just share with you like two of the places that give me place that give me really surreal memories


so actually one would be uh in finland so when I was in finland back in two thousand nineteen uh we went for a place called the husky sledge where, we will be pulled by a few huskies across the snow land pulling us


across like a plain white snow field you know when when I kind of saw it right generally in a overall the finland experience was really out of world for me like even then uh I drove in finland right and then when I drove in the highway on the right and the left it kind of looks like I'm not in


in the earth I'm I probably look like I'm out of the world like it was snow white it was pitch white pure white with all the trees snowing with tree look kind of looks like a disney fairy tale and I didn't know that, uh earth has such beautiful places you know coming from uh singapore being asia we don't really have snow and I think another moment where


I really lost uh like I didn't feel like I was in, earth was probably might seem a bit uh off because it happened in <B>


endless ocean where you are not able to see a ship or so and and when I pull myself there I sit down, I just feel so relaxed like it is just, like even when I think about it now right it raises some hair on my back and stuff like it's just a very different experience ya


ya so I think this would be like two travel experiences that it's really really a different, world or I felt like I was not on earth kind of thing and maybe another would be iceland where the nature is just uh


despicable you know it's it's really out of, it's really unimaginably beautiful like you would not be imagine that this is earth it looks like computer graphics uh iceland I think it ranges uh probably in the day it will be like


minus one and maybe in the night it it heads to about negative ten to fifteen really depends on uh the season and like, which part of uh iceland you are at, ya, yup in fact so actually how about yourself if there's one one country you want to go to where would that be


!wow! (mmhmm)


I I've come to hear that uh, actually I have come to hear that you have a fantasy about the super moon so maybe you uh explain about that


I see I see okay, alright, so the super moon okay, (mmhmm), (mmhmm) (mmhmm) I see nice nice


so the proudest moment of my life (hmm), I would say like the proudest few moments of my life would be probably when I achieve some stuff you know properly when uh back in when I was in commandos


uh the proudest moment would be probably getting the red beret after the ordeal that we went through yup so that would be one, then another would probably be making my way into, NUS to uh


entering NUS like although I wasn't in the brightest JC or so I still made it into NUS that would be a another proudest moment, ya ya ya ya so I per se this would be like the proudest few moments of my life


and ya man, and then probably now like I when uh, probably I head for NOC that would be a another proud moment in my life a probably a milestone for me, I guess I guess that's about that's about it man


, so actually let me ask you a question man, ya, uh no worries I can tell you more about NOC first uh I'm probably heading to uh sweden for a year long program so maybe in late december or early january uh I will be heading over for the NOC


ya, instead let me ask you a question now, so actually what do you love most about yourself,


right right


so maybe you tell me like uh what are the three things you admire about your partner


okay, I see, oh okay I see I see


[orh] right right right


so actually me and my friend were, attending a, a hindi class which is not our main language and uh pretty much we didn't know anything that was uh happening so we just kind of uh go with the flow with whatever she was saying and stuff


and at one point that she realised that we didn't know anything there was happening and she kind of uh made fun of us and it was really funny at at in that time and situation when per se I think it that that that class is a a point in time where every lesson we had something to laugh at


or not just wanting multiple things, I think ya so I think that that that that whole <B>, back uh when we are older thinking about the times where


like we were so bad at the language and laughed back at it, ya I think that would be the, ya ya definitely I think me and my friend really tried


me and my friend right we really did put in a quite a bit of effort you know like we we tried, uh you know reviewing the textbook watching movies from that language but you know somethings in life right you just don't get it you know, and from my friend it was like a


he was actually better than me you know he uh but at the end it's just both uh, kind of a laughing episode every lesson ya


nah nah I think I'll pass, ya sure, twenty thirty eight ya


part one finance ya, so we just start with the first question right so, how do you invest your money to accumulate wealth and or planning for every time


uh I think like for me I haven't start to really invest in my money yet cause I I don't know I just feel I don't have enough funds to do that, but I think there are safer options to get started as well like it doesn't have to be immediately like stocks or like bonds you know you can just start small and then like what you said I think the compounding effect is very powerful


so you like the earlier the start you start the better it is lah so I think yup in ya there should be it I guess for the wealth part <B>


that's true actually (mmhmm)