so when you start all this things one by one you are able to bring down the price drastically from you know like say hundred dollars to as low as sixty seventy dollars compared to your friend who probably just bought it on the spot without thinking of any promotions or anything, he's pay hundred dollars so things like that so one of the skills I would say it's a very unique skill lah I mean lots I I don't have much friends who actually does things like this like what I do but ya if you are able to bring down a price drastically you know


or services uh why not you know so things like this I like to share around with my friends as well so whenever I got Lobang when I got deals and stuff, I'd like to share so one of the best one of the coming up in two months time is black friday so whatever you want to buy now that’s not essential keep it keep it to black friday and buy them all together I I can assure you you will be save it hundreds of dollars on that


just by making that decision I’ll just waiting another one month also, ya, it's always a timing in the eyes all is timing when sometimes things that you don't really need it urgently wait for it wait till there's a major sale buy then you will be able to save a lot of money


, unfortunately I can't do it for stocks that well lah it's more for consumer goods I would say ya , okay so


maybe the next question let's see, how about one of the dreams and goals that you wish to achieve before you die, so it seems to be something a bit more relevant these days ah because you got dengue you got COVID you know life is unpredictable and things like that so


, so for me I I got a few goals uh one of them basically if let's say COVID wasn't to happen, and we were able to live a normal life for this year I have been at everest right now so one of my goals was actually to hike uh everest base camp and I was actually planning I was honestly planning to do it this year but uh unfortunately because of the situation I am trying to bring it forward to next year hopefully I'll be able to do that so that's one of my goals


to be able to hike everest uh, another dream I have is that I want to own my own house by the age of thirty five, so so uh when I so the thing is my goals and dreams are very flexible when I say house I'm not particularly referring to bungalow or or HDB or condo I I just need a house you know it's something has got door some glass windows a a a four sides you know a simple house so


depending on my financial situation but uh until then so if I can buy a condo I‘ll buy a condo if not I’ll just get a HDB or uh a treehouse for the matter but as long as I get a house by thirty five I'll be very happy, so that's one of my goal uh goals as well another dream that have


before I die I really want to be a team leader in my company that I worked for so for the past two years I've been more towards the the associate level uh been listening to my heads and working with them, and I've seen how skills uh how skilful and talented these people are to the point that I want to be something like that uh in the next ten years also I want to be able to lead a team of say five to ten people or even more if possible and I want to mentor them and guide them because I feel that something that is really


fulfilling to do uh first of all your salaries gonna be much higher that's for sure but the thing is uh the fulfilment that you get from leading a team of people working for you in a company uh especially young driven people really gives you the joy you know of seeing them develop and grow over the years ah


so ya so being able to lead a team being able to climb everest uh another thing is definitely to travel so I I I've been travelling since I graduated from university for for about two years now so I I aim to travel to at least fifty countries before I die


ya so currently I'm only at ten mark so I still got another forty to go, so but ya I I really hope to get at least fifty so I really want to see from the world from a different perspective ah I I feel I feel that us staying in singapore for too long actually narrows our our view of the world and and only when you travel you get to speak to other people experience new culture experience new issues


uh appreciate things uh in life you know, so ya I like to travel as much as possible so I give a number fifty let's see , ya it is but uh I think it's possible I mean assuming a person travels three years three times a a year so ya I think is fairly possible


, how how about yourself, (mmhmm)


yup, (mmhmm)


you've got a good set of a unique dreams and goals but I think there's those are definitely possible uh in the part about the stadium I I think that's really unique I would say I've usually people like to travel but visiting traced stadiums is something new lah ya


part one finance, okay


ya <P2>joe joe</P2> you can start maybe we can start with the very first question in investment strategies, ya (mmhmm) understood (mmhmm) okay okay okay okay


oh right right okay that's interesting, ya (mmhmm) (mmhmm) (mmhmm) okay


right so mine is a drastically different from you, it is an interesting point so uh for mine right my strategy primarily it was around ensuring that I adhere to two basic rules in life ya for me is one is to beat inflation to remain sustainable in the long run and the other one is saving up for milestones in life like a your wedding your house your car and so on and so forth


so for me personally what I do is I set aside about fifteen percent of my uh monthly salary to investments alone and my portfolio I would say is uh uh diversified to a large extent in a sense that, uh in dwell been a robo advisors I think you’ll be quite familiar like a stash away and DBS uh digit portfolio is the some of the robot and buy assistant I’m using and uh of course ETF as well I I get the ABF uh singapore index I think you'll be familiar with that


and uh the last one is something very unique which is a crypto currency actually, so so that is something that I am uniquely involved in as well and , for me my investment arise like how long do I generally look at uh doing this spot uh fifteen to twenty five years that's my uh it’s a long term game that I'm playing more for the long haul right so


and the for crypto currency which is something that is not a normally there for the average a trader or the person who wants to do investment in fact, crypto is extremely volatile as you would know and the it is something that I'm doing knowing that these very high risk high returns so one of them or one uh one service that are particularly use is the uh crypto dot com


and uh in one particular coin that I've put money in its actually call the uh CRO coin the crypto coin so uh this one examples of me putting my money in uh into crypto currency or and but the only issue as compared to this this is highly volatile like you said and also


uh I do a lot of dollar course averaging which I guess we can discuss further on the conversation but ya generally to, uh extreme my extremely diverse portfolio uh this is the some of the instruments that I I use, ya


ya so maybe moving forward uh listening let's go to the next one maybe let's see like what is your risk appetite because I guess the risk appetite does form the fundamentals of uh ask even dwelling into the so what's yours, (mmhmm) okay yes yes (mmhmm) ya absolutely (mmhmm) ya (mmhmm)


ah okay, ya, right right right okay, (mmhmm)


ah right right okay it it's cool, okay, sure


ah okay that's really interesting, cool, alright for me is uh maybe I'll take a little bit of uh less specific approach so for me I would say, it's subject to my commitments and age in general, and in my my about risk appetite like you said right we are very very young now we are relatively young I would say and we don't have much familiar commitments and so on so we tend to adopt uh a very much high risk index and most for portfolios like you said about that if five hundred and for myself is a more towards ironically the uh ABF uh


singapore one right you know you know about that so, but that has been noted to be a bit of a low risk asset class uh but it performs very well during a very difficult market conditions like our current covid nineteen as well so the rate at which the price point and fluctuated is not so volatile as compared to the other uh uh ETF as well


and uh also like moving away from the specifics uh like I said I put a lot of them into my robo advisers in row so robo advisers also dwelled a lot on based on a basket of different asset classes, and a very similar to ETF but just the thing is that uh it's not self managed


in fact is managed by the brokers right and uh so that's something that uh also is suitable for low risk as a class as well so that is something and uh because my investment horizon is also very long relatively long like I mentioned about fifteen twenty five years that's why I'm uh willing to take up the high risk index because


I’m not playing the short game right so but, I do admit and I will do acknowledge the fact that my perspective goal change over time because I will tend to do more risk aversion as I possibly increase with age I have more commitments in life you know so on and so forth so maybe put less into equities for example and maybe more into uh like maybe bonds like singapore savings bonds and stuff like that


uh but ya that traditionally you know they slow they grow slower but they actually have a exhibit stability lah so uh I think for me like in the more immediate term like you have mentioned as for both of us we are focusing more towards the, the high risk approach and mostly I guess we're dwelling in uh ETFs because ETFs I think is a very common trend today the people are looking into ya uh picking up and adopting lah I think it’s even applicable to very young investors even those are in university and so on which is a very amazing


yup correct uh


correct correct, ya, actually I since I mean of course we have limit limited time as well maybe we can talk about something more interesting in the sense that , let's talk about I feel uh buy low and sell high, do you think it's a good investment strategy what's your


okay absolutely ya (mmhmm) okay yes yes great (mmhmm) I see I see (mmhmm) correct


okay that’s nice, okay nice


uh okay okay fairness, , uh have a little bit of a contradictory view on the I feel that, like you actually mentioned about it that uh the buy low and sell high concept uh it's a very good investment strategy in is it but I'm not really sure because I think is matter with costly mistakes like you said and it's crowded around human emotional judgement


uh and is definitely not for the average trader hundred percent, and uh it's like you said it's about timing the market versus uh you know time in the market right and the this is somethings that you need to consider so, uh most like uh how to say it's very difficult to pinpoint the best time to buy or sell it the sell of stock


for example and most investors are fearful when they plunge and then they you know they do a panic selling you know panic buying panic selling it's very common when it comes to do about uh timing the market so a company shares can drop for many reasons and an average trader do we exactly know what it is not necessarily as the case right


and uh that's one thing so I feel that for any beginner or any average trader definitely buy low and sell high you would never, never really benefit you unless you know what you are doing because you need to be able to understand the market structure you need be able to understand the company they are trying to put the money in, how they have been doing market capitalization ya lah ya lah so many other factors come into play and I hundred percent do not know all that so I feel that buying low and selling high is a very high risk attempt one that I do not have the time and commitment to put in so


of course I guess it's subject to every individual someone who's able to pull it off will of course do very well but I think for in today's era I think is not really the best investment of strategy ya because I feel there are a lot more option like ETF and index funds you know when there's a lower fee portfolio and you can help to hedge your risk as well


yup uh okay ya ya okay


ya absolutely absolutely, ah


okay okay (mmhmm)


okay, ya if you feel comfortable you you can you can you can you can give it a go for sure, okay


okay as like SSB and all that ya ya okay, , as long as you batters the uh the bank the bank account in your your savings account,


oh ya ya absolutely absolutely, ya true true true


ah okay that's really nice, ya for sure ya ya


for for me I think that , you see I I don't think it's fair to give them so much of jargon and uh tell them this number of percentage called released to this particular instrument but what I feel is very very very important for any individual especially a young person to starting out in college is to adopt the dollar cost averaging


I think it doesn't really matter which instrument you go for because this is down to the person the individual whether they believe in the instrument have done any adequate research on it, whatsoever just because you tell them to take up s and p five hundred just because you tell them ABF uh singapore ABF index doesn't mean it is applicable to them


what I believe is that they need to adopt the attitude or habit of, investing monthly on a certain small because they don't have large amounts you have to remember they don't have lump sum amounts to put in money, you put in whatever you can small bit by bit once they get successful in their career then they can proceed to put in large amounts of money but they need to begin by doing the dollar cost averaging and this is good for them because they get to diversify the losses and profits as well without sustaining too much of a loss


because they're still young and they cannot afford to do so, yup ya, I guess our twenty minutes is up for this topic


part three, negative experience, sure yeah


sure sure sure uh let's see , okay I think this might be a little bit uh sensitive but I think it'll be something interesting to share as well like have you been looked down upon by people in your life,


okay sure so maybe I can start uh look down upon different stages in life , for a different reason I have been look down upon because , so uh what happened is okay my first I have two two major experiences one is after my JC in cause I was from ACS independent and


it's a very elitist school in this mindset in all that so I, at the end of my IB examination you know at the end of JC for example I I did relatively well on a global scale but from a school perspective I was the bottom twenty percent


uh so what happened is normally of course you know where I'm going people look down on you because, ya I did very well enough to get into any university in singapore but it's very ironic when you've been through so much just to see people that you worked with or even your teachers like you know


look down and saying !aiya! you didn't make it, but how does it make sense you know I mean, uh I know I am not as smart or whatever I could be as uh expected that maybe I'll you might not be book smart at some point but doesn't define you and your life as a whole right


so that is one thing and but it was a very small or minor thing because of what happened next so, uh during army uh of course what happened this uh I was in the combat engineers for bolt men and the, I was a boatman for a year and then I got the I sort of got an injury and so on


so what happened is I had to stop being a boatman after a year and uh my my superior my don't want to mention ranked of name, uh look down upon me drastically just because I had to go for surgery and because you know what happens when you go for surgery the army right they down pes you and therefore you no longer combat fit


and the, first of all I don't owe anyone anything over there it's I'm I'm doing my duty for the country, but not everybody, acknowledges or appreciates it, if you understand what I'm saying


uh and, what they do is they look at it from a very short term perspective they look it in a very they want they have the small mindset in life and they are like just because you did not serves the purpose of being this and you had to drop out therefore you are defined as someone who is useless


so because I had no longer was a boatman I had become a store man for the remaining what eight or seven months of my NS time, uh I was look down upon not just and and it is it becomes very toxic because when your superior starts to look at you that way, his subordinates including your own people you know your own uh the own people who are with you your own age group people suddenly start looking at you as if you are


dirt, as if you are irrelevant, because whatever they're doing is supposedly much more highly regarded, so I had to go through the last eight months in a very it wasn't a very nice experience I would say it was a very in a way terrible ending to the point where


I remember there's one particular incident you know when before you right before you, leave, uh the last day when you get your pink IC right, uh that uh your superiors to sign the release form for you correct before you get the IC, uh it was so bad to the point I had I he beg such a grudge for you know what reason


that uh he refused to sign my paper until I was the last person to leave the camp, he ensured that I was one of the last people to leave the camp so, are very weird, and retarded a way I would say to look at things, just because you


just couldn't serve a purpose for them like you just because you couldn't benefit them, now they like look look down upon you in a very drastic way, and ya that was something that has been uh, it it hit me lah that, society can be put off because, I have been blessed with the luxury of being with the


people that really appreciate and acknowledge me especially after army like throughout university to the work and even now all the friends and people I have gathered and acquired amazing people, and I think that is the reason why I also like mentioned previously in our topic how I really value and communicate with people that


er appreciate you, ya ya ya I will be sad I will be sad


absolutely,


hundred percent I agree, correct correct


ya ya ya ya, correct correct understood ya man


I think when you don't really, uh how does it adhere to what society wants at times uh they is very natural for anyone to look down upon you, but you have to make the difficult decision to which is what is right for you lah like in your case is used to protect your own health uh rather than I really giving a damn a lot of people have to say or think


yu uh ya, shall we are just one more question since you are six, ya you can you can choose ya oh


travel experience oh !wow! okay uh perhaps you should start because you are the one with a lot of, right okay oh oh my god oh god absolutely ah correct correct ya good enough


at least that lets you run day by day lah, I do (mmhmm) ya ya correct correct oh god okay (mmhmm) correct correct unfortunate mate


I guess I have thirty seconds uh not so ya because I don't really have much of a worst travel experience or thing whereby when I really had a, very good time uh only maybe one incident is also happen to new zealand is


uh what happen is I foolishly let my friend with no license drive the car, and he drove a little bit waiver then you got the police caught us and then caught us at the right wrong time cause he was in the driver's seat and ya you got every lost the car the day after you return the car and so lucky was the third last it was second last day so we wasted our one day of the car lah that's the only worst part of it


(um) (ppb), ya that's quite sad but that's okay and we enjoyed most of you shoot yup


okay part, two positive experience


okay uh <P2>joe</P2> so since I began the first topic perhaps you can have the luxury to choose the first question first ah ya,


that's a really amazing question sure, ya (mmhmm)


okay that's really nice, right so I think you do have covered a quite a bit of similar sentiments that I share as well uh especially, uh when it comes to the career perspective uh I of course work in MNC I work in a bank


and uh usually banks are notoriously known to you know hire and fire but, I worked for one particular bank uh which actually you know, basically puts a lot of emphasis and on their employees and uh ya you already mention about how hard the companies the directors the board of directors work in trying to retain their employees and you know trying their best to run the show


but I think uh one thing I'd like to also emphasizes is how, even people within the company actually put in effort to keep you involved so a lot of us are working from home sometimes at the past six months at these uh because of the whole COVID situation and what happens that you tend to lose touch


but what happens is certain companies like mine for example they actually put in effort you know engage you buying or hosting this online activities games things that you normally do in office like you know all the simple meetings and meet up that you have, they tried to bring it to an online presence they put a lot of effort in ensuring that this is possible so I'm very thankful that I actually belonged in such a company that puts a lot of emphasis on a social that social uh bonding and connections between employees and people ensuring that they're safe they're doing good and doing this hard and tough times and so on so forth


so uh that is one thing and uh career aside you know of course very fortunate like you said still earning the amount of money that I'm earning and uh in amazing situation where I actually get to enjoy the luxury of staying at home, and reaping the same amount of money which is I feel is really out of the charts


and, ya uh something different is I am very thankful for the people that I have uh met throughout my journey in my life and uh especially those, people that I work with on the day to day basis uh


it is a very cut throat society as you would know and it just gets worse and worse because of how competitive things can be with limited of job opportunities and resources even till today, but whereas that's not the kind of attitude that those that I worked with in my company exhibit but instead they look to empower me or you know helped me throughout the journey even if I am not


uh adequate in terms of skill level in relative comparison to them and uh they tried to groom you up when they try to bring you up when they treat you like a brother or your or like their own son which is I think, a attitude that is not always brought upon because you know sometimes


we tend to describe the our society is very cut throat as you step on one person just to climb over the other but I've been very thankful that I have not really met people who have tried to use me or abuse me in any way whatsoever so that is one thing that I really thankful for and appreciate as well in my life rather than I've experience and see


and uh one, small thing maybe since you brought talking about how amazing uh our country is it especially in terms of uh political stability and how our country I think that's that defines singapore at the global scale, because of how stable our government is and uh


uh in many other ways but a small thing like you said is uh you know when you want go to cisco buy a burger buy a drink and what so when I went to london and I stayed there for two months uh I was so homesick after one month, uh especially in terms of food uh like after six after seven


PM the only other bullshit you can actually really get is you go to the supermarket and you get a sandwich in in UK can you imagine where I can just go to boon lay power nasi lemak around twelve twelve midnight and I can get amazing food you know what I mean, or I ya you can get so much of stuff ya and sometimes you just take it for granted when you are here because it just second nature to you ya food is just right there but that's not always the case in other countries so this is very very very tiny things but it gives a tiny speck of happiness throughout your journey after


ya uh I think we spent eight minutes on this if let's let's try something different, ya ya ya please correct


or or expensive pubs or expensive pubs which is no way no way , uh food can be good but like I said it doesn't justify the price point you trying to do this every ya,


maybe something I would like to maybe emphasise is a, let's see what is a skill or ability that you think that you are secretly proud of having


okay shared for instance I ask the question sure, , skill or ability I feel is my my ability to be articulate and talk to people and really uh connect with people and so, not that I am trying to be a little bit of boastful or anything but I think it's it's in my nature where I exhibit that people have actually stated that I’m very very easy to get along I’m very frank I'm very straight to the point I don't try to beat about the bush


or I don't try to , when I when I want to raise something about you I say straight to your face and uh I I communicate efficiently in that if you want to put it that way and people appreciate my frankness for it and , and I bring people together uh people I mentioned before like uh I have many groups of friends in small small groups of friends which tend to bring I bring them together by playing badminton with them that one a real life example for me so I think


being able to communicate efficiently being able to connect with people is something that I feel that I'm good at and it's something that I'm proud of till today ya how about you, (mmhmm) uh that’s good (mmhmm) cool cool


ah ah yes yes, (mmhmm) okay (mmhmm)


okay okay fair enough, (mmhmm) okay ya ya absolutely uh absolutely


but I guess uh term to describe you'll be resourcefulness lah, I being , seems you’re timing the market


, !aiyo!, I see I see, ya that's really nice just nice, you want to choose the next question uh


I okay fair enough, okay just nice okay uh wonderful okay that’s really nice (mmhmm) !wow!


oh !wow! awful, uh okay okay good correct correct


!wow! that's a very big number actually , ya ya for sure, definitely ya ya true true


mine is a little bit different uh but it is, we share a little bit of tips as well so for me one of my dreams and goals in life is to be my own boss I uh want to have my own start up I have been uh trying to progressively work on my education start up on the side besides out my uh full time job


and ya uh being able to basically make an impact in society, with something that I'm very passion about which is uh education in fact and how I can use technology to revolutionise so I want to make this a reality that definitely a dream of mine want to be the owner of my own business someone who could make an impact in society through this business


at the uh and of course uh with the profit of make with the with the objective of making money as well right so that is one of my major dreams and goals for sure, and uh of course uh, I think owning a car in singapore is something that is uh not necessary uh practical as seen by a lot of people


but uh I am someone who loves cars as you would know you you you you yourself a car owner and uh, I think owning a car in singapore actually is in itself an achievement as well, uh given the, you know the price point and all that so that is something that I would like to have in my life in singapore as long as I'm staying at this


and uh I'm an avid football fan as you would know, and I my dream is actually to visit all the top stadiums in a watch a football match in olympic fan, santiago burnable uh barcelona in spain uh to of course the juventus stadium in italy and basically all the top european football teams and of course in UK as well so I only have been to my favorite team stadium and


my my objective is to watch the match in all those top elite stadium, play by a unique and all this kind of places so basically I guess a huge as europe trip would suffice to justify my dream at some point it's gonna be expensive but something that I would like to achieve uh over a time lah


and uh last but not least I would say is , is to be able to, have a child of my own uh with my partner or what not moving forward and, to see my child achieve things that I really couldn't achieve uh cause I'm like I said I really like sports I play badminton a lot I watch soccer a lot


and uh if at all any possibility and it's very unconventional to say that I would like my child to become a sports person in any way whatsoever and I think the gratification in coming, the gratification that comes from seeing your child perform amazingly to support them through their journey to become a great sports players


something that I hope that I can look forward to I kind of expected because any child can have interest in anything but ya if ever saw it makes up for me I think it'll be a great dream for me lah, yup


ya ya for sure (ppl), ya because we are up twenty minutes


okay so ya so how do you invest your money to accumulate wealth or planning for your uh retirement


like what what's your take


ya I think another way is to you know uh very easily gold gold is another option right because , gold the price just keep growing over the years so it it's it's actually a good investment for you to buy and keep and you know it's really something that that you safekeep with yourself and


ya you can you know if if you will need cash in the future you can just pawn or sell it and ya you can at least get what you paid, for or even like more more profit than what you ya uh, what you paid uh also investment I think investment is also another option because now insurance policies there's a lot of


this kind of investment linked ones right where we can buy buy policies and you know have it grow of course there are uh risk factors but it's a it's a fast way to grow your wealth I would say, ya so talking about retirement right what other way like what else can you do


to to to grow it faster you think


ya so talking about CPF do you think it's a good thing to have CPF or you know you prefer saving on your own and and not having to feel compelled to to save a particular amount every month


(mmhmm) ya, then ya so , talking about emergency funds do you think credit card is a is a uh is a must in in in like in this time do you think credit card is a must for like newly joined executives or it's a good to have


like for me I think credit card is if you don't need it then don't have it but if you really need just have one and and you know do they must do the research to, to to find one card that that has you know that's commonly used in singapore and and that has zero percent interest rate for installments and whatnot so you really save a lot and you know you you don't have to give a big lump sum at one go just


pay little by little but you don't incur interest so that's like uh it's a it's a it's a it's a good thing lah what what what's your take on credit, cards, is it a necessity


(mmhmm) yes yes ya


ya especially when people think like oh I've got a credit card so I'm gonna you know , if if there's no one to manage it for you you know you're just going to tap away and you feel like I have the financial freedom but if you don't know if you really don't know how it works the interest and you know how payment works you're just gonna end yourself up in a bigger debt than you could have saved yourself from ya so


, so do do you do you save particularly like do you have the habit of saving if you do how do you meet your your saving goals like I'm sure everyone has a saving goal every month I think this this amount of money I wanna save this much so do you do savings from your monthly income


(hmm)


ah so coming to about about about uh sharing the the funds with your partner , so how do you manage your financial commitments before and after marriage I'm sure there's a drastic difference so how because I don't know I'm not married yet so probably advice or two on how you manage your funds


(mmhmm) ya I think uh ya I think for me now I I'm I'm really free of commitment the own commitment I have is my monthly phone bill my insurance and and probably you know contribute to to family so I think you should really have that you know before you get married I think you should have the understanding with your


partner you know that it's gonna be a shared commitment so it's it's it's very important to understand what the other person uh wants what is the opinion on on expenses like what they feel is important may not be important to you so I think it's very important to come to an agreement that okay this is what we're going to spend on this is how much we're going to set aside because


it's both of your money right you can't just take the decision for the other so I think ya that's very important and that's a major difference because you kind of lose your your independence in that sense with money ya so, and then


so what what what is one advice you would give someone if they wanna retire comfortably what do you think they should do


ya it's just a thought but it doesn't really happen because you don't start early I mean even at this age you know I was talking to a agent recently and when we're exploring how much do I need to save when I want to retire it's hundreds of thousands and


they even say at at this age it's difficult I mean it's it's not difficult but it's it's a bit late so I'm like, as soon as you start working ya the the pay may be low but you got to start to set even a little amount it will grow up you know so as you progress as in in your career as you earn more it's you can set aside more you know so


ya and and also one thing I think that's really important live debt-free, if you don't need to take up loans if you don't need to you know like have a have credit cards if you don't need it just don't do it because now it may seem like it's very it's a easy way out because if you have the minimum pay they will give you all sorts of loans so ya it's good to splurge and spend on unnecessary things


but at the end of the day when you will need to pay it off you you're just going to pay , you know uh interest after interest every month and you won't you're spending the money you pay on interest, you you can just pump money into your savings that's going to act as your retirement fund


ya so that's another , thing that even youngsters we should start to think about it ya if if you're not looking at early retirement at least when you retire you should retire comfortably right that's one thing ya I it's it's very it's very important lah so


, I think at this point I would say any any kind of side job you know that you can like maybe if if you are good at baking can do baking like for me I think I can do tuition or


tuition or or, you know helping out at if my friend needs some help at working and it's a paying job then I don't mind doing it because , because weekends are kind of free so if and this is the time you don't have commitment so you can go all out and you know you can earn the money while you can because once you have family kids you don't have time for yourself so I think ya this kind of side jobs will actually help


ya what do you think how how do you think you can, earn a little some extra cash while we're at it


(mmhmm) so it's like a side savings but you know it's actually growing ya that's nice


so while we are at expenses how do you spend your money you know which expenditure you think is justified and what do you think is one what's one thing you think you spend too much on


spend too much on food and so what what are the expenses you think you are it's a necessity that you justify doing that that that that spending


(mmhmm) and that's a justified one I can see that because ya we were just talking about it earlier right gold gold investment it is a stable investment I would say


I think nothing much because to start off I wasn't spending a lot okay one thing I spent a lot on is transport I think that has gone up it has not


changed uh does not change positive but they still negative since COVID started because you know we are all, we're we're all panicky we are all paranoid to take public transport so you know ya I I do take a lot on Grabs and you know taxi rides now


ya that that's one cons but another pro thing is I've come to realise savings is very important because you never know when you can get kicked out of your job you know and you don't know when is the next time you will get a job that you like, so it's better to it's really important to save up


so that you know you can at least sustain yourself for about six to one year, in you know by before you you get a job you want or before you get a good stable job ya so I think savings is very important that has that has been like an eye-opener another thing is stay debt-free ya


because you know if banks don't support you and if they're closing down they want their debts back and you never know when they want it all back so ya so it's good to lead lead a simple lifestyle I would say


yes yes yes or even loans for that matter like it's not necessary because our our public transport is well-connected and I think the fares are not crazy you know and ya I think you you can rely on


yes including the petrol and your E_R_Ps I think taxis are a (ppb) much better option ya it's like unnecessary expense in singapore, ya


part three negative experience, so describe a time when you felt that nobody cares about you like they cared about you


ya were were there times like be it when you were younger or now do you think that no one cared about you or your feelings you know you just felt neglected


ya because I don't openly open up to people so I just tend to bottle it up so ya partly t's also my fault I think because if I don't say no one will know, ya but I think ya I've always felt the that no one really cared about me or about what I feel ya should have been there but ya so


do you have what's the one most heartbreaking thing that has happened in your life, that you can't get over it like till now maybe


ya and if you tell them they will just be like oh life is unfair you just got to suck it up, you know which is which which is ya


which is not fair really I mean to say something like that is because as bosses for example you need to be there for your employees, to to to, to make sure everyone is treated fairly and everyone's


emotions are taken care of but well ya it's unfortunate right that this happens , ya for me something that I I still can't get over is the fact that uh my very close cousin passed away


it's been like ten years now but it's still a void a very huge void that I I can't overcome we all move on in life yes but that void you know like if he was around life would have been better you know ya that that void is


still there lah but ya just coping and moving on ya that that that's one thing I'll never forget ya most heartbreaking phase I would say, ya have you ever hurt hurt someone's feelings like have you realized or has the has the person told you directly that uh you hurt me and what were your thoughts on that


okay


so I'm I'm sure everyone has been hurled hurtful words you know and you felt like that's unfair what what what has like are you able to explain uh express what are some hurtful words that that kind of haunt you till now you know you can be like from negative expressions to you


of course so I've got relatives who who will have told right in front of my face that they dislike dark girls and there was a partial treatment between my own sisters and cousin sisters so they prefer the fair ones and not the dark ones which was absurd but


ya oh well ya so I've learnt that cherish only the people who cherish you so being born dark is not my, fault and if they're so small-minded, to to to, bring across such an argument and then told to the person itself it just shows how small-minded they are so ya I learned to distance myself from this kind of people so no matter how I like how far I've gone in life


no matter how far I've gone in life, ya I will never forget this this small things that that happened this uh remarks so uh when I'm successful in life these are the the people who will come to me and say oh I'm so proud of you but I don't need them to be proud of me because I don't see them as a part of me anymore


ya sometimes you wanna be the bigger person and say oh yup please welcome with open arms but deep down you will never forget lah whatever he said and you just you're just happy and proud that you you prove them wrong you said I was incapable I showed you I'm capable end of story


ya and another thing that is very very hurtful is body shaming, you know even if it's brought up as a point of, humour there's no humour in body shaming someone you know colour shaming so ya that that's one thing that has been haunting me since colour and colour and body shaming lah like since school days but yup we we have


grown to to , be used to it be accustomed to this kind of comment but deep down the hurt, is will will always be there ya that's unfortunate ya so


(mmhmm)


yes and there's a breaking point where you need to vent out and just a listening ear will be great but ya totally get it, Vya ya


so talking about that what what are some things that keeps you awake at night what kind of things worry you that you can't have a peaceful night


oh !wow! okay deadlines


finish up the tasks (uh huh)


I worry about the randomest things and you know uh maybe it's overthinking but ya it's just like


ya overthinking that people may be talking about this about me may be talking about that about me and ya it's just overthinking I would say that keeps me up at night ya but everything on earth that does not concern, uh me you know worrying for others has become part of my routine which is uncalled for but ya it's something I need to look after if not it's going to consume


me ya ya , so is the ya go ahead


oh having to lose a dear one that's something, I'll never ever want to happen ya like, yes I have and ya you're not not really losing


them for for good but even anything happening to them or you know getting them into trouble or ya or losing the for good ya , these are the things that really ya can really can really make you go sleepless I would say ya and for yourself


so , what's one thing you will never joke about ya this is very very important , what's one taboo okay it's not taboo what's one negative thing you'll never you think it's not a joke and if someone jokes about it you'll get pissed you'll get mad ya


oh ya never mind ya just just jot down whatever you think is


yup yup


because you can't say no if you say no they'll be like oh you're not helpful


yes you know what, I like if I say it it's fine like about myself but you don't talk about me , that's my approach so ya same thing about colour about about about weight and all


it's not something that's funny you know and it's it's what it there's a very thin line between humiliating and uh joking, so when the thin line is stepped on then it's no the joke should be funny right shouldn't be hurting an individual so many people overlook this and ya of course and if you get


if we get if if you get offended they'll be like oh you can't take joke like bro that's not a joke in the first place you know , so ya there are insensitive people around so I like I said before I'm desensitized but


the hurt will always be there lah ya, know what to talk about know what to joke about if it's not funny and if someone says that it's not funny stop it you stop it you know if not you just don't go on and you're just not respecting the person ya


it's easy to said then then for it to be done right


ya it's uncalled for yup


part two positive experience


okay , what is one hobby that you felt the happiest when you to


oh one thing I and I didn't enjoy when I was young but I I wish I enjoyed more was sleeping, I think when parents , force you to sleep back then you don't but now ya but it's a ya it's it's a


because back then ya I did get to sleep a lot and that's one thing I really enjoyed ya, ya simple other than because you know my my father was very strict and he didn't allow us to play with toys or watch cartoon so , playing with sisters was another thing


ya that I remember, best part of my childhood was


think ya, not uh ya actually being with family to to be able to grow up in a in a positive environment that's very very important you know to to have a healthy environment to grow up in , ya I think that, that that it's easily one of the best part because you know now the cases you see of child abuse and whatnot I'm just thankful that I grew up in a very good environment to be the person I am today ya


, so I know you like to listen to songs right so what kind of genre uh uh what kind of genres do you listen to


and what is one, thing that that that that you consider your biggest blessing in disguise, very family-oriented person I see


true true how how they, see, your family as their own is very important


one person I cherish I think


ya what happens if we stop and I start again, like ya if I stop what happens okay


okay can ya so ya sorry , back to it one person I think I would, who are the , who are the people I think family other than uh family for sure because through ups and downs they've been there like everyone plays has played an important part in my life other than


family I think some one or two some genuine friends who have come a long way , who who kind of know what's the , what's the, you know when I'm sad when I'm not you know uh when I'm happy they really they're they are like they hype me when I do something right you know this kind of people are very hard to come by so that's one of the the the so a group of friends and family I'm very thankful for these two and what about you


I'm sure you're going to say family but other than family any other party who has has has has had an impact in your life


that's nice so what's the one thing you have done for yourself that , you feel that is what what is one best thing you've done for yourself in your life that you are very proud of , !wow! ya, for a brighter future yes


never say die, your husband, oh that okay (uh huh)


very nice,


I there are a lot of moments to be honest like , ya I'm I'm a, person who really cherishes each moment to the fullest so and I will I will make sure I every every single time when I feel the happiest it always gets played back in my mind so there's not really one or two like ya there there's a lot


ya I think if I start, saying all the session won't end so ya , and what about what about you what what's one happiest moment that you had in your life , either should be oh ya okay I think ah yes okay let me tell you just one


I think it'll be me graduating because, I thought I will not, make it , for real ya I thought I will not make it so and also my last semester was kind of messed up so I thought you know what I'm gonna do one more semester


and then so my my, graduation is gonna be delayed , so it was supposed to happen in , so I thought it would instead of happening april is gonna happen in october which is the next round , but when I saw my results I legit cried I cried because like it said congratulations I'm like oh my god I actually made it so that was amazing so that's one thing I will never forget ya


ya so and what about yours


ya that's amazing, like getting into a managerial role at at a young age is very difficult so ya so glad that you're constantly climbing the corporate ladder ya that's that's really impressive


oh okay I've always wanted to see snow so I finally got to see, snow about three years back when I went to london uh actually in scotland this was in scotland so we went to this mountainside and I touched snow with my hands for the first time I took a video and I showed everyone oh my god this is snow and I wanted to bring a bit back home but ya that was not possible but


but ya that was one amazing view ya it was so cold like and I got to experience zero degrees celsius there that was like oh I took my weather and then uh the weather in my phone was zero degrees and we were literally , shivering like crazy ya I think all this and I kind of hated that trip because it was so cold and then I told myself I'm never going out


you know in this cold weather but that's something a lot of people would want to experience but you don't get a chance to so really thankful for that experience actually the the whole trip three weeks was , blissful ya I would say so if given a chance maybe I'll still go lah ya I'm just kidding that I won't go back I will go ya


oh my god you totally should, uh oh ya so now I'm I actually look back at their photos I'm like okay luckily I've one photo in winterwear because we'll never know when's the next time we can go to you know


ya so thankful, ya so, my best surprise , my best surprise, ya surprise was graduating


like !wow! I graduated ya that that's a big surprise I think other than that ya you know those, the small little surprises I get during birthdays you know in forms of gifts and then my twenty first birthday was actually kind, a partially a surprise it was done in a very big scale so that was a surprise for me


ya and then you know occasional food deliveries food deliveries flower deliveries , all these are the little surprises what's one big surprise I think I know but ya, what's one big surprise that you're thankful for


ah !wow! so how how did it happen, , yes, that and actually the the day before your wedding


oh ya how can I forget ya


he came in the form of fireworks


ya and thank god we were in you know we were in malaysia not in singapore if not , things would have gone the reverse way , ya


(mmhmm) very nice so have you attended any concerts before, or that what what's one concert you feel like you wanna you can't wait to attend like after COVID like it got got postponed and you can't wait to attend


ya and I think in other countries it's it it it the the rules are kind of relaxed but ya we can just hope that all the all the concerts that were postponed in singapore happens like real soon , ya


oh !wow! , so there's a concert happening in uh malaysia that's by my favorite musician and it was postponed it was such a also bumped but ya I can't wait to attend that one, he's a music mozart so ya I I really really can't wait because the last I saw saw his uh went to his concert was I think at least good six seven years


so it's back again so ya I'm really looking forward too so other than concert actually you know even going to a theatres is a, ya, looking forward too because we I I used to go to the theatre so often with uh family so ya that's one thing we are kind of missing out on now


to be surrounded by so many people during my because I I don't like limelight like never want to be the centre of attention ya I that's something I dislike so when I saw so many people turn up for my twenty first , birthday you know on such a grand place with so many people like friends relatives that was like !wah! not bad ah I also got people to


who who who like me you know who cherish me enough to to get me gifts and be there ya was uh such a fun night so much of laughter ya that that's that's one night I thought


part one finance


okay uh I think uh the the, simplest way to start off right is uh when you actually purchase your house uh the the planning is very important so you can actually begin with uh BTO flats and so on instead of going for a resale flat because it would allow you to


uh get more grants uh and at the same time you would be actually spending lesser as compared to like a more matured uh I mean you get to choose between matured and non-matured estates lah so it allows you to


have the the governance over what you're spending on in that sense , and uh once your MOP period is over you can actually uh move on to sell the place uh and and I think I think


that would be a very good way to uh invest lah ah, and accumulate wealth okay the other one would be uh to invest in other real estate, uh trust


okay for dividends to yield range of five to nine percent uh of profit okay


uh to to accumulate wealth is it, I think uh the the other way I think the government has already come up with this uh, uh CPF investment as well right I think sometime back so I think CPF investment is another thing we can look at other than just uh uh those standalone companies like uh


investment I mean uh insurance companies that offer this investment option right we can actually uh work with uh the CPF, uh option as well to invest our wealth, uh I think that is another way for you to grow because


currently I mean because in singapore setting we have uh CPF in the picture right some people may think that it is not really useful to to on a monthly basis you are you are actually paying to CPF and then how are you going to use this money at all for your retirement


so one way is to let it grow uh in this investment area okay via CPF and then , uh thereafter uh use that amount to get another house uh or what so ya


okay honestly I think uh both is important you can't actually go uh okay because many of us don't have the financial knowledge especially when it comes comes to CPF even for me as a layman so I would believe that uh it is important that you


regardless of whether it is it is going to come in useful or not right uh at least for me personally I I still continue to contribute to my CPF and as and when possible I try to uh see avenues for me to invest whatever that has grown in my CPF


uh OA you know uh and then separately uh on my own I also have my uh savings so that I I have some E fund lah ya emergency fund when there is a real down time so I think, one should actually invest in both and juggle both


uh when it comes to uh accumulating wealth lah because you don't know when it will come in useful yup


uh, I think credit cards wise uh they are good to have okay but of course , a lot of things that we are buying it could be either emergency items uh or really impulse so of course when it comes to emergency when you have already dried up all your funds uh your your cash flow right


that's when I think credit card comes in really useful but then again if you're a person who, doesn't have the discipline to uh you know manage your funds well and you think that you are just going to tap away and uh accumulate right yes I think I think it's of no use that you even have it lah because you are going to end up with bigger debts ya


uh I'm never a savings person lah honestly uh but ever since I got married off uh I think, I have I have kind of recognize that savings is very important so uh I once heard from a financial planning friend uh financial planner that uh


it's always good to keep aside ten percent of what you earn so uh I try my level best to keep up to it and on a monthly basis uh my husband and I both of us like you know try to, uh do the savings uh at least to a total amount that that sums up to about ten percent so that we set aside that money ya


okay so before marriage right I didn't really have to worry about uh bills and all these things because everything is taken care of by, parents uh of course I was already working but uh because the financial uh management was actually done by my dad we didn't really have to worry about it lah but I think at this point in time since I'm married off uh both husband and I


what we do is we split uh the the bills that we have to pay so he takes care of things like uh the household bill and so on and I do take care of the like phone bill and and other miscellaneous things so that there is still enough uh amount uh uh enough money for


both of us to save individually and there is also enough uh enough responsibility shared lah it shouldn't be just one person sharing it ya eh doing it ya


ya


I think you should start early I think people have this general mentality that uh oh even for insurance lah when you have to pay on a monthly basis right you end up


uh thinking that !aiya! I'm paying for nothing you know I I don't even see the the outcome anytime soon so , can start saving later lah you know that kind of thing but uh the the sad news here is when you it it's the it's the only time


it is now is the best time you know when you have the means to earn, when when you are all well and fine you're healthy and you have the ability to earn that penny I think you should be doing it and doing the respective savings because down the road as we know with our parents with our relatives with friends uh we see a lot of


people who actually get get uh health issues at a very early age uh some of them can't even uh uh, earn or go to work after that and they they actually won't be able to accumulate wealth or do any form of savings uh and they end up uh impacting this whole retirement cycle which we all thing would ideally be like oh okay forty fifty plus I'm going to retire already so


yup yup, that's right okay what


okay so so what do you think you can uh do to earn extra income or improve your income level


uh I think part time jobs are good good uh, they are good options lah first to consider but of course like some of us we we don't have that bandwidth because our our full time job already takes up that kind of


energy and time from us so so the next one would be uh then looking at, investment even if it's small investment like uh like we spoke earlier right like insurance and so on uh try to do those like like I know of this company that actually offers uh this particular plan that's like you you just have to put in two hundred dollars every month


and then uh after ten years no more no more uh contribution required it would just uh multiply on its own uh of course, ya so so when you do uh this kind of investments right all you have to do is just uh diligently pump that two hundred dollars inside on a on a monthly basis but


ya ya ya ya, so if if let's say uh how I look at it would be if you have like five hundred dollars to save on a monthly basis okay , so keep aside two hundred to to just pump into this kind of uh insurance areas and then the remaining three hundred you will keep it as your E fund so so you are kind of covering every every single area per se but uh ya


food , yup


uh I think uh, food is one thing I I still spend a lot on uh another thing would be


uh now now after after getting married I think it I have gone down a lot on that lah but I think I have increased my spendings on gold so uh ya


yes yes and and uh in a way right even though uh it is like a two-in-one lah if you it makes you happy and you still do your savings per se so it it is a win-win situation


ya but but now with COVID in the picture , uh we do reckon that uh the the prices have gone up quite a bit so it is going to be a little ya difficult to continue having that hobby of yours going around you know just buying gold every week


every two two times a month three times a year you know that kind of thing it has gone down quite a bit, oh so so talking about COVID how how is how has COVID affected you meaning like what changes are you making in terms of uh your spending or saving habits


ya, I think if you are a person who runs after success and you want to really establish that you are doing well and things like that


I wouldn't say it's bad but uh you have to start off with some some form of footing lah if you think that you can't actually support a car , uh regardless of whether you have the fund, at that point in time don't bother buying a car because you have a credit card ya ya


ya, ya, I would rather you spend ya I would rather you spend that twenty or thirty dollars uh the the max you know taking a Grab down to a particular place like five times or or ten times a month as compared to paying for a car that is like a thousand dollars if you really don't have the money I would say you know


(ppo) that's right ya


part three negative experience


uh when no one cared about me you mean, okay because uh I


I'm the second child right I've always had this middle child syndrome , so uh I've, I've always felt that uh , it it was more of a


so uh it was a a little uh difficult to come out of it over the years but on a positive note I think


I I managed to come through lah as in but there are times where the esteem issues still comes up in me so, yup what about yourself


, until now uh I think unfair treatment lah, be it uh with people around me <B>


uh done fairly uh be it uh, in terms of ah or family members or in terms of workplace so so now would be workplace, uh when I do see that things are not actually done


in a very fair manner or I actually land myself in a very unfair situation where where someone else actually takes the credits for every single effort that you have put in , uh it it does get, to you quite badly lah so


uh yes I definitely have I think it wasn't an issue with the points that were were raised uh I guess it, was uh more of how I put it across because of the emotion build up so uh I think it was


very negative the the scenario ended very negative because uh this particular person actually told me that uh, it it it made me sound like, as if I was being an ingrate lah which wasn't my my point or which wasn't my intent so


uh, it's it's a learning point for me lah because I recognize that uh as a result right I should always be mindful with uh my the way I am actually responding uh especially when uh I'm not feeling very quite good


yup, yup


I can't recall any at the moment do you have any maybe you want to share first


ma don't start


, it it comes ya they uh people only come to you, when there is success which is which is a very sad truth lah I think with time you you recognize it and you actually start accepting it that uh


yup agree


yup


, I'm listening, ya I I think, uh, as with I think for yourselves it worked out uh that way but for me right it worked out totally opposite because uh we would think that


[orh] okay uh someone who is uh you know maybe on the fairer side, someone who has a uh or is, is educated and things like that right is actually having the upper hand is an advantage but, not really the case for me because that in itself was like a a very brutal whip on it's


own, because uh people do uh the the partiality is, there lah like the thinking that uh oh you don't actually have to worry because you are, , you are settled for lah you know you are at a at a very good stage in life you have everything that you need so we don't really need to worry about whether things are going good and all that for you I mean even though there are occasions where people do uh look out for you


on some that they don't uh the the caveat would be then uh oh !aiya! you no worries lah you will cope lah you know it, it can even be management of stress uh be at workplace right because you don't speak up and say eh I'm I'm so stressed up you know I really can't take it I didn't recognize that people actually generally just assume and think that oh it's okay lah


I mean because you don't even talk about being stressed what so they think that oh Hira can actually manage everything one but , it's not the case lah I mean and and that's the thing when you start voicing out and saying that uh eh look I'm actually under a lot of pressure and I'm actually taking up so much and I'm


covering too much right uh it actually comes to a point where you become very negative you start talking about about it to so many people like eh I'm feeling so stressed you know I'm feeling so stressed and then the more people hear it


right the more uh I feel like, it resonates that energy and then more of them actually come across to you right the moment they see you they're like ah ah okay okay like like as if they don't want to hear your sad story anymore so which is quite sad


uh because we all come to a point where we need some kind of uh vent out point you see when you don't, ya ya ya exactly ya


so when you can't vent it out it it gets it gets really hard and uh when you have to actually do it repeatedly right it is quite draining even mentally so uh that is something that uh I really think is very hurtful in itself lah ya


deadlines


deadlines uh I think where you have like a list like sometimes to manage my own anxiety and stress right I tend to pen down every single thing that I have to do but there, comes a time where you don't have enough time you don't have enough time to actually pen down everything because there is just way too many things to do and sometimes you don't have the motivation to sit down and do


that kind of uh <B>, ya you, uh need to finish the task is one thing the other would be to even pen it down to take a list of things because you feel like oh I have so many things to do I better not waste time sitting down ya I don't sit down and and do this lah because it's going to consume more of my time


which can be invested into doing something that is more , productive but, uh then again when you try to do that right that's when anxiety kicks in lah because you don't even know what you have on your plate how big a thing is and I always believe that when you have like when you have the entire list in front of you saying that okay these are the only ten


things you have to do the the, mental space that you have would be totally different from !wah! I got so many things to do and you actually don't know what these so many things are you can't outline, and you can't actually put a number to them so personally for me uh that is one thing that really gets me


of the ya of the book ya what about yourself


your energy ya correct ya, so , talking about uh keeping up uh, at night right what is the worst nightmare that you hope you'll never ever happen in your real


, ya uh I think <B>


feel lah ya


there's no one thing eh there are like a lot of things, , I think okay in the past, I didn't really get affected, about about people having to talk about uh how I look body shaming and all that


but I think, now it does get to me uh because uh I do know how I used to look and the the reasons why , I've come to how I look I right now lah, you know so it it does get to me when people actually insensitively pass comments and all that because uh there are a lot of efforts made


uh to to go down, with with respect to the scale itself but it's it's just very difficult especially when you are working around the clock and I'm trying to make things happen for you the the bigger picture and then there are some people who actually start talking about they start


the whole jinx cycle lah you know they're like oh uh it's going to uh affect your health you know and things like that then I'm, like ya ya, okay we know it's not like we and then and then there are some, colleagues who come and tell you eh you know ah if you


keep doing this ah your health is going to be affected so you should, learn how to take a balance I'm like yo how am I even supposed to balance when there is really a thousand things to do after a time <B>


and it it is two, things ah to uh things of value and things of of uh, uh productivity-related stuff you know so in this case ya so in this case uh sometimes it's very hard to explain and you


and you just go quiet because you feel like it it, it pisses you off so much ya, things turn things turn judgmental ya so it is a very, sensitive thing that I think people don't actually understand and I think this is one thing that really


puts me off the book like I really go from a zero to a hundred like really quickly uh ya so so that is one major thing, lah if you're asking me but other, than that would be like the body shaming the the other things but I think even if others don't joke about it I would joke about it myself lah it's a it's my nature like I just take it with a pinch of salt ya


yup


yup I I think it's it's the the


the one thing that I can think of is this free advice bit lah like eh why not, you go and start working out why not you start doing this why not you start taking a break why not you go on your leave like uh excuse me how did you even determine I'm not even doing that like and and there are some people who claim to be a well wishers right they they say things like eh you should actually


go and talk to your boss about how you are being overworked, I'm like excuse me what makes you think I haven't even, do that so so, sometimes, ya it is one, thing to say it but it is totally another thing to do it so I


think sometimes when people fail to <B>


doing basically yup


part two positive experience


I've always loved dance and


uh I, I've, always wanted to learn Bharatanatyam but I never got the chance to like classical dance never got the chance to but that is something uh, regardless right dancing is something I enjoy what about yourself


, , so so what what were your best parts the best parts of your childhood


being with your sisters


I don't have a specific genre or language per se but I enjoy music in general so uh if let's say I hear it like a a couple of times and I think that I'm addicted uh that's it


, honestly my family because uh, err I I think, I'm very attached to my family I think it was like one of the biggest thing I had to deal with when I got married off because uh


uh, I my family would be my biggest blessing lah because like you mentioned earlier right there are so many families out there broken families uh or or, parents parents who actually


do not , do not take care of their kids and things like that uh I think I was I was and I really am blessed with parents who who still look out for you try their best to uh you know ensure everything is going well for you want the best for you and things like that


uh and of course not to mention my husband I think he's been a very good, son, for my parents as well ya so uh he he really puts in the effort like even with if I


don't ask right he would already initiate and say things like oh can we like go over uh eh can can we like get this can we do that for your family it is a very natural thing for him and and I think that is one of the biggest blessings as well lah


because I think your partner right is is one determinant on how things go after marriage right with your family ya


so of course I try to reciprocate my my best you know I try to give the same to his family not because he does it but because uh family is very important lah at the end of the day


so so uh for yourself honey who are the, people you most cherished in your life and why


who are the people who are the people you cherish the most


I <B>, okay having come thus far right in life I think, uh other than family and uh immediate like like, of course my husband is part of the family as well but other than these uh bonds per se I I don't really subscribe to the


ideas of having like uh friends who are like really important or I would go all out for uh anymore or or rather I <B>, we should all practice detachment lah you know like after a certain point right I I think


uh having people around you is is good you can cherish and all that but at the end of the day things are very volatile things change and people may uh eventually uh, not reciprocate lah unless you are able to accept the fact that people don't reciprocate and cherish you the same way right it is actually going to be very difficult for you to move down the the journey


uh just being like you know the noble person not expecting anything and without being fine without reciprocation so I will think , is it would just be my family in ya


and a couple of colleagues maybe ya because uh a a very huge part of my my life now is actually filled up with, job my my work workplace uh and all that so uh I think having very good colleagues in this case is very important lah so I'm blessed with a couple I would say ya


I think working hard ya


I don't really get uh, , this uh okay , I do get discouraged okay but I I think I'm blessed with this uh characteristic that that makes me you know just keep going it's personally ya ya I I guess it comes from that lah because he is very very persevering I think uh he has come a long way and


that, ya he has come a long way and through all the things that he has gone through in life right even to date you can see his positivity like seeping out everywhere so I think that is something that I do naturally uh it's it's inborn lah I I guess it's a part of me ya


right ya ya, so so okay so , what what was the happiest moment in your life or has been the happiest moment moment thus far in your life


it's nice uh , (hmm) ya I've got plenty too I think graduation is one thing I, there have been many roadblocks lah I would say many many roadblocks uh along the way uh so maybe I will specify two uh one would be to to


to have stepped up as an ops manager in, in my current role so previously I was just doing a non-exec role and all that so it was, it was very uh, you know for the past like six seven years I had I was doing it and then suddenly like you know it's like you strike lottery uh they actually recognize that you have a certificate your merits are there your degree is there uh and and all that so uh given my experience given my


good performance I have actually stepped up, to a role where I actually managed like four big areas now I think, it is a big deal and it is something, ya that is something, yup


, ya this would have never happened lah so ya, ya , so uh, , speaking of travel experience so, so maybe describe a travel experience that left you in awe


, oh oh okay


I, I hope to experience my first snow someday as well uh probably after this COVID ya ya


uh, agree agree, ya ya


my proposal , were were thinking of the same okay ya I think,


oh yes oh yes how can I forget that okay so I think the both of it, the the proposal would be because I was legit feeling like a fool, because I was like I actually believed that it was tense night or something you know I was like thinking (hmm) I'm so smart you know you all are thinking you all managed to uh


get me , you all got me thinking about uh oh probably this whole surprise thing is uh is uh uh prank, surprise for for hens night or something like that, so when I opened and I ran inside the resort and I saw like the whole world


there I was like okay so it is something I I legit didn't expect , but uh of course uh the other one would be, on the eve of the wedding


uh where, I think it was my birthday eve also right so at twelve sharp ya, ya, so so uh, because you know traditionally right we're not supposed to see each other three days uh before the wedding day and everything


the big day so uh we couldn't see each other and I was like actually quite sad lah because it's like it's a very ritual thing every single <B>, so that didn't happen and I was like so so so down and


to my, surprise uh all the relatives were in the, uh ya so he he actually popped the fireworks and everything for me and the one who was doing it was him himself he did it so


and was like a good, ten minutes long firework so it was, singapore ya ya, , yup yup so I


ya, you see me I think the the fireworks would be one of the best surprises ever lah, yup yup yup yup


okay uh honestly I've always wanted to try concerts but the sad thing is that I never once got to attend a concert uh I've attended only once lah but that was like, that was like one


concert that made me think like okay I should maybe attended a acoustic one or an acoustic one or something like real soon but okay ya here we go COVID has given us a a speed breaker


you're a concert person right so so what is it that you can't wait to attend uh after after this whole due period, yup


understand, describe the moment when you felt the luckiest describe


uh I I feel luckiest like, like a lot of times when , little things happen I I usually remind myself see you are very lucky this is happening to you so one one of that was the proposal and then the the firework incidents then


(ppb) (uh)


part one finance okay


, I do have personal insurance personal and hospitalisation under at AIA , for the personal insurance is to cover my like personal items like home or personal possession and for hospitalisation is more of like let's say like if things were to happen to me then it would help to cover my


cover and subsidise my hospitalisation bills and then like I also like I do travel a lot so when I travel I'll get like travel insurance under like C H U B B in case like anything happens to me, err when I'm overseas


okay what about you


actually since I was uh since I was young my my parents actually like , make sure I have insurance ah so that like, it's just to make sure that I'm


err it is like to help me get covered ah, and like I'm not the one paying my insurance it's it's my dad who is paying, uh I mean yeah I I'm not earning my own income yet so my my parents pay for me


and I'm planning to like when I have a, stable income then that's when I'll actually like get, savings insurance ah cause it will help me in the future


okay I don't have any endowment plan yet, ya , ya


I've been mainly plans to, get the plan lah but eh sorry I've having plans to get the plan but I feel like it's not the right time yet


, I do have my own savings but like because like to have savings insurance you have to like actually put aside like maybe ten percent of your income every month so at at this age cause I'm still schooling so it's not the right time yet ah


like


uh I feel like, at least it's you should actually have insurance already I I don't think it's too young cause like you should start young


okay I mean if I were to like have insurance planning I will, approach an agent instead of doing it myself cause like I'm not really sure about, all these insurance thing so like


I mean my sister is a financial consultant so like I might actually approach her if I were to like if I want to like apply only like enrol in any of these insurance plan ah


like read what what type of insurance are you talking about


but I mean like for like MediSave you can use your CPF, because like , ya ya it's not sufficient but like,


I mean like the government is allowing the citizens to pay your hospital bills with your MediSave so the MediSave is inclusive of your CPF right let's say if you like


ya that's why you need insurance cause they will help you in the long run in the long run so like


okay but like like let's say you were to like start your insurance planning will you like approach an agent or


okay, so like err let's say you were to have insurance right like what percentage is from your income


yeah I I I mentioned ten percent only ah, oh , for now it's just


it's just under AIA ah like my sister is under Prudential so , maybe I'm in the in the future when I I want to start my savings plan I will actually go for


the other one instead of, the the currently the one I'm in ah, ya because like honestly I don't know much about this insurance company because my sister have been, like


telling me more about, her insurance company so like I'm more familiar with that than with the current one cause like my parents don't tell me anything about, my insurance plan planning plan


okay but like when you travel do you get travel agent travel insurance


like okay let's say if you were to, let's like when you go overseas and then like let's say you like something bad happen to you or like accidents or things like that then, your hospitalisation bills will they will subsidise ah like


like they will get it covered for you ah, then you don't have to fork out a lot of money, uh, that one I'm not so sure, but I just know that it, it helps you to


in a way like save money so cause you don't have to, like spend, like you will get you you will go honestly you will go bankrupt you were to pay the whole thing with your own, savings or money


ya but like when you're overseas if things happen to you then you're not gonna fly back and, get, like get it treated down, yeah if I'm not wrong that's how it works ah


ya is unsure is


uh, I mean ya of course I will because like I think it's very important lah you don't I mean, you know that, when you're out driving and, you you're just putting yourself in the like


is is quite risky yeah it's quite risky so, like ya


, for me it's , , I think getting a property ah, like I want to get my property first then, car afterwards so always


for property, like in case your, your house like got burned down or things like that, then, yup but it I mean it's like to be it's better to be safe than sorry what


no lah but for me I will get both like I mean like whatever things you like get


like the


I'm okay then if let's say you were to get a domestic helper do you think it's important to get insurance for them, ya okay ya because like I mean


it's important lah because uh I mean, I used to have a, different kinds of , domestic helpers so uh like ya my parents still get insurance for them because they sometimes they like fall sick so it will help them and like so uh


my parents lah ya


so do you think that CPF insurance coverage is enough for your insurance coverage


, okay I think it's like ya to me it's I feel the same eh because like


usually there's a lack of like coverage lah like with CPF so I think it's better to have, it's better to have like, other insurance company, , to


sorry how many person, okay


so at what age do you plan to , get your insurance


twenty two when you are twenty two and above


okay


, when I have a stable income like when I start working, again, I mean by the age of


I think like twenty two twenty three I'll be already paying my own, like, insurance and expenses ah like I'll be supporting myself already by then


like cannot hear you, no I mean obviously I'm planning to further my study lah like like, I have to I mean it's it's a need ah to continue my studies I can't stop here


but like I'll be working so I'll be, I'll be supporting myself cause I don't like to depend on like my parents and everything so, ya I mean


ya I know but like, I I know that my my parents will still be supporting me, until like I really start a full-time job then that's when ya then that's when they will like let me


start paying my own things like my insurance, because like right now for my dad I think, he's paying for me ah under his like MediSave I think it's something like that I'm not so sure


I think it's , I okay firstly


okay firstly, I think it's better for my future and also because like honestly I don't spend a lot on myself is more of like transportation, food and


like my bills so to me is like, it's not that bad it won't be that hard for me, I mean it also it also depends on what kind of , plans you're planning to get ah


ya cause like different plans have different like you have to pay different at different price, ya ya ya


, I mean ya that's true but like it's still like just for your own good ya and also like you have to think about your future kids also


then your family, ya, ya I know but it's just, better it's for your own good lah for your future


twenty minutes thirty six seconds


part three negative experiences, okay


okay describe a time whenever you feel like that nobody cares about you, okay , it's not nobody but I feel like it's a specific person, uh


this was few years back I I've I , because like this person promised that, he won't leave me , ever so like ya I actually believe his words then


when he left just like that then that's when I felt like he didn't really care about me, ya


!whoa! dumb ya , can't take it


honestly I feel like everyone feels that way everyday like they they like not they will always feel like nobody cares about them it is quite common you know, like honestly even I feel that way recently like like I can say yesterday or like two days back I I will feel that way always


ya okay talk about the most heartbreaking moments in your life


okay


for me will be, probably, may twenty seventeen, err because like uh


that's when I lost myself like completely lost myself then , I was very down like like, like err like I don't know just very down so I I didn't know what to do I was just very lost I I just


basically, like okay lost the will to live and then like, I just feel like nothing, like there's no point in living you know, ya so


what did I what, I had to constantly distract myself like every day, then I'll oh yeah and then I, I will just go out alone and I will


ya and then I like went out to work a lot like a lot, to make sure that I wasn't at home because I know that if I'm at home I'll be alone then that's when I'll start thinking a lot so I had to actually go out and do something


ya and then like err, I'll also like, meet my friends cause that's how they distract me, ya, okay describe a time when you hurt someone's feelings


for me will be I think , few months back yeah I actually said something very, harsh and mean, to another person just because I was very angry but like at that point I I couldn't get a grip of myself so


I felt like it was the right it was the right thing to do because this person has like hurt me so in a way I was like, it to me is like it it doesn't matter because like this person have hurt me so I will I will just hurt the person back with my words like


ya but then after a while I realised that it's it's wrong, cause you you just don't say you just don't say mean things to another person lah because it will really, affect them a lot and like they will keep


getting like reminded of it, I did I I I said sorry but ya, , what are some of the hurtful words someone said to you that you wish you forget


okay, okay, for me will be


actually honestly I don't have because like no one has ever said mean things to me, or like maybe or like maybe they did but I don't take it personally like I don't take it too hard, cause like I know, I know myself more than anyone does what so to me it's like I just don't want to like listen to what they have to say about me cause it doesn't matter


when, , betrayed okay uh I don't know if this is because of betraying ah but


maybe, err when this person went for another person behind my back, ya so it was quite shocking cause like I just didn't expect


it, I just didn't expect this person to be doing such things lah, so


again friends drama okay okay ya


okay what was the saddest moment of your life, for mine will be , it will be on my birthday on uh in in two thousand fifteen


eh, ya because that's when, my grandpa passed away so it was it was one of the saddest moment in my life, ya


uh august


okay , honestly what, tiktok oh, okay that's one for mine honestly I just don't like popular trends cause


I'll just dislike ya to me is very main stream I I don't like it, okay ya but it's very rare for me to find a good one like usually to me it's like like it's very boring I don't find like any anything interesting about it unless you really like


like, ya then I'll I'll be like quite interested to know lah about the trend, no, uh describe a time when you felt like giving up


june and may, okay


wait you wanted to drop out of school


okay uh for me will be, that same period uh in may twenty seventeen uh I would, it was my O levels year so like actually honestly I gave up my O levels so I didn't do well at all, err ya


I basically gave up ah but I just didn't give up on, , like I keep on trying cause I know that I I still have hope that hope, knowing that like things will get better so I as much as I wanted to give up


like I was that close to giving up I was still like trying at the same time ya, !huh!, ya so


ya so I just keep on trying and like don't lose faith in myself, ya, , I don't know you you say first


, oh oh ya actually I have the same story ya


for me will be like , my best friend and err ex-boyfriend so like err, cause I know my best friend and I'm friends with the her ex-boyfriend so like I know I know that my best friend is cheating on him but like he kept on asking me and talking to me but I just kept lying to him just because like it's my best friend


you know and like, I mean at times I I feel the need to tell but like my best friend is telling me like not to tell cause like if not like I will put her into like a deep trouble that kind of thing, so like


that's the that's like one thing that's, stopping me from telling him the truth but like I mean, it happened way too many times so like I just to me is like whatever


ya it's just not my issue, if someone's cheating on me, ya I mean, !huh! I don't understand but ya I will I you


ya I will I will force her to actually tell me cause I like no matter what I will still want to know the truth even though it'll still going to hurt me


ya but, honestly I think I did ah eh no no I just didn't tell the cheating part but I telling other stuff but just not that cheating ya, okay , what problems or issues keep you awake at night


for me for me okay, !huh!, oh I I thought is the song like, I don't know what song you know


oh really


for me okay ya I don't really think a lot but when when I do think a lot and what keeps me awake at night is like, those like the thoughts about, the earth like the galaxy like what's outside earth


ya it's not like my problems or like they don't keep me awake at night but, I mean at when I start thinking about when I start having this thoughts I will end up sleeping late but when I don't then I will I'll just fall asleep


ya ya okay, , people's insecurities


ya, okay, what is the worst nightmare that you hope will never happen in real-life


snakes I'm I'm not scared I've touched it before


for me would be , I had a dream that my baby cousin died in front of me, so that's one thing that sometimes it still bother me a lot like bothers me, err cause like it's really like like he's healthy he's he's a small kid you know


and then like I I am getting that kind of dream so it's very it's very ya it's very disturbing, so uh uh I'm I just so ya I'm I don't I just don't want it to happen in real-life, what is one thing you did in your past you wish you could undo


I used to be toxic like, not so but like like when it comes to relationship I was a bit toxic


ya but like ya wish I can undo that but like now I'm not I'm I'm so much better, I'm like I'm like the total opposite of how I used to be, maybe I can be like at times but not so like like just


ya I know my limits like ya, (mmhmm)


interesting interesting, okay


what oh treated unfairly , it's always just between me my my siblings and like like I just feel like my parents are always treating me unfairly cause like like quite biased you know


cause I'm the third child so they always put the first and the last first then me ya how about you


okay alright


part two positive experiences, okay Shawa ah you can start


for mine would be, when I was a kid I used to uh play at the playground like everyday with my cousins cause like, uh like my cousin literally he lives opposite my block so like, we always we will always see each other everyday


as in like , ya I felt like it because like, that's how we bonded from there ah like as a kid until like now


uh no I mean like usually it will be in the evening like after school


like in the evening after our when we are done with school then we will just like go cycling and meet at the playground ya, ya I I can cycle


I I think the best part will be when, I have swimming lesson every weekend like okay I used to be I used to love swimming but like right now


I'm scared of water so like it's a bit, like ya like water swimming pool ya so , like uh, the fact that I I used to go swimming every weekend and like I wasn't scared of like deep waters like ya it's a bit surprising


ya I am, like waters and oceans, no we're not talking about that I'm talking like swimming pool


uh, so what was your best part, when, okay it it started when I had this bad incident it happened to me when I was swimming so I almost


honestly I almost died cause I was like drowning, so uh from then on, I got very scared of like, water ya


okay so what is the best thing that you have done for yourself


okay for me would be, it will be the same thing like I started uh taking care of myself when basically self love like before this I used to, just like I neglect myself a lot I care about other people more than myself so like when


a lot of things happen then that's when I realised like I think it's time that I should do start doing things for myself, and just, ya like usually have no one else, other than yourself


I mean honestly I do but like when my friends need me I'll obviously I'll be there for them cause like they've been there for me throughout my like hard times so I really appreciate that ya


my family cause , because, if you realise right at the end of the day you only have your family, so


like I know that they'll be there for me no matter what like even if I, I don't know like let let's say like I don't I haven't been like no let's say like I don't do well for, like in school but I still have supportive parents supportive siblings like will like


, just be there for me you know like they will they won't they won't make me feel, uh ya ya


yes of course


understood that okay , how would you how would your life been like if you're a millionaire


okay for me will be actually has the the same answer like, I will help, people who are in need like cause to me I feel like, I'm really like lucky enough to uh


ya ya ya that, , uh ya I feel uh I'm just I'm really considered very lucky so I think like if I were to have a million like dollars I would, obviously help out and I would


I would also travel with the money , uh I will uh


uh, uh new zealand and switzerland, ya err like so far those are the two place top places that I really want to go


no lah I it's not bad I mean different preferences right


ya, uh honestly if oh or maybe I will actually migrate and, buy a house and a property ya okay


obviously certainly lah certainly okay , describe a moment when you felt the luckiest


ya, I mean in you you can't be so like sure that there won't be anything there ,


for me will be , ya actually my answer is the same also like , like ya everyday cause like, I'm very lucky to have like my family around me to have to have food to eat everyday


to, have water to shower ya like like, ya so like some people don't even have it so it it's it's very sad you know like I wish I could help out but ya


okay uh next


I think will be, uh, I think will be, korea my korea trip with my whole family cause like


I mean usually I don't see people like travelling with a big group like, like literally the your whole family so to me it's like quite, quite, I'm quite happy to see ah like my like my own family can get along with each other so well


uh, , I mean I had a lot of fun with them cause like, ya they're just fun people you know to be with, they will just make they they they just make the trip like


ya like more fun, ya


again, oh ya, okay ya I get that


okay describe a time when you can't wait to attend a special event or concert , ya ya it is a special event


for mine would be in twenty ten, it was like my first ever concert it was err justin bieber because like I used to be, err I used to be a big fan of


him ah so , but like ya at that point lah but right now is like, I'm not really into this kind of like concert and, celebrity so it it is not my thing again


no I will but I won't be, the the the feeling of excitement at that point and right now it's not it won't be the same, back ya cause at that point it was like ya I was very excited but right now I will just be like okay it it won't be really a big thing lah


okay uh what is your best surprise, I think mine would be, uh


I think mine will be, recently ah like this year my birthday cause , cause like every year I don't really celebrate my birthday so like this year my cousins actually surprised me


and it was very unexpected cause usually I don't I don't get that kind of surprise so when, when they when we actually went out to actually go err karaoke and then, it everything just felt normal ah because it just felt like another normal day so


and then uh they, they came in with a like cake, and, ya they sang for me uh like the birthday song like okay lah it may be something small but to me it's quite big, cause like


it's something to me, yeah


okay describe a time when you were helped by someone in your time of need


okay for err for me will be, when I wasn't doing so well so I had this one friend where she helped me a lot, like she never gave up on me she she didn't like get tired of my


nonsense so she always there like no matter what, and, oh and then like I really appreciate that a lot because like I know that usually people will just let you be like they will just get tired of


like just just get tired of you and they will just, I don't know, ya so she's just that one friend that, she will keep on repeating her eh her


the same thing just to make just to make me like, realise you know ya, happiest moment I think


I think the moment when, the moment when I realised that, the moment when I actually put myself first, ya


okay ya, twenty minutes twenty seconds


part one finance


uh no you can go ahead with the first question


ah that's the thing I don't have any insurance because I'm still like a student and like insurance cost like your own income so how how come you have insurance I'm very confused cause you're still a student right


so it's not yours lah it's literally your parents money ah cause you still don't have income


well I don't have any insurance so cannot say much about the first question so ya, but the second question, I don't have an endowment plan also but I'm planning to get a savings plan soon ya


so you have savings ah, I didn't have any savings with you


ya I I agree on that cause I'm not I'm not planning to work anytime soon I'm still pursuing on my studies but I think having insurance right now it's a bit a bit too fast, to talk about insurance so ya


yeah but you know my parents cannot cover for me, like your parents are covering for you for your insurance, so it's a bit hard for me ah cause, uh I don't think my parents will ever cover for me so I really have to start from my own and I don't I think if you want to put insurance right your savings has to be at least one K


if I'm not wrong I don't even have one hundred, you want me to start the insurance , ya so ya so that's my part lah I don't think I'll make a, maybe saving sia maybe savings I can but insurance is a bit too early for me, so ya


ya I agree ah cause my sister is uh starting to work in a insurance company so we'll actually go to her I wouldn't uh DIY uh on insurance when first I'm not sure, what are the benefits for some other aspects of I don't know how to say that some insurance are not really important to do it so I don't know if you understand what you mean but uh ya