ya some more these like uh online instagram account so, ya I guess she was like careless also and ya a bit dumb ya , but I hope that like she had she learnt her lesson lah like so after that like actually we accompany her like to go to the police station and like lodge a report and all that but uh I don't know like uh


her money like uh I think it's gone lah so I don't think she'll be able to get back her money lah , like uh and I feel that uh it's not a big amount, but I mean it's still like money lah It's still like five hundred dollars and, ya it's still like hard earn money so, I do feel bad for her lah so I guess like


like right after the incident I feel that uh I I feel that like this online scam thing is like getting like, sometimes a a bit too much lah cause like I mean there are people like , who will like get scammed like so unknowingly so I'm quite worried like, for like people like of older generation like for example our parents and all that like


they'll they will be like even like easier targets for the all this online scams lah, so, so uh like I mean after that incident like I really like educate my parents and like people around me like oh such things could actually happen lah so , I hope that like people won't get scam anymore lah cause of like stupid reasons


ya so I guess like , uh I also hope like scammers like this like , like they should have their own conscience lah but I don't think they have so uh I hope that I hope that like, I hope that things like this won't happen to people around me lor ya


like for me, I don't think I don't think like I have any like, encounter any scam or what I don't know but maybe you can talk about like, that time when we like uh wanted to buy this uh airline ticket scam you remember uh ya actually like uh I asked #Yu Chen# uh help me to purchase like this airline ticket but ended up he got scam and all that ya maybe you can talk about it ya


I guess


ya I understand like, uh I think I think for me like, ya nothing really bad has, happen to me lah but, I guess like whatever if you want to like think about like uh negative experience like


throughout my whole life will be it will probably like maybe , uh in terms of my, uh a level results I guess like cause maybe I didn't like , get uh I didn't like score as well as I hope lah cause apparently for my peers for like pass a examinations in school like PSLE o level like I scored like relatively well but when it when time when like it was during the A levels or you could say like the most important examination


uh one could have could have like I kind of like screwed up cause like it's like, the A levels are actually like the ticket for you to go to like uh a university and all that lah so apparently that I didn't do that well so I was like I think I was, uh quite depress at that point of time


because like uh that wasn't really too good lah but I mean in the end like although I still like managed to get into like uh uh my current university and all that but like recalling back at a time uh ya guess it's like it's really quite a hard time for me lah I have like even like


thoughts of like uh trying like like uh wanting to like just retake the, whole A level all that lah, ya but , I guess it's just a really , short uh , adrenaline uh it's just a low


uh one of the one of the low point to my life lah, ya but I'm glad that like uh like after that like uh I guess I managed to bounce up lah which is a good thing after all, ya maybe you like to share about like other any low points of your life


ya I have to agree lah like like every like low point in your life I guess, like it's like a learning experience for you, so that you can like bounce up like the next time round lah ya


, so do you have any questions


fears we uh I guess for me I, uh, I think that I only have uh one, fear which is uh I really I'm really scared of snakes, so, ya so I guess like , that's really big


a great fear for me lah like I've been living living with that fear for like whole of my life like even and like even till now like I can't seem to like overcome it and , I shouldn't think I'm I'll be , trying to overcome it either lah so, uh


so I guess it's like one of my phobias, ya how about you


[oh] okay okay thanks for sharing them (ppb)


okay uh part two uh positive experiences, okay I think , to me what really makes my life, uh happy is like I guess


uh travelling lah cause I think that I really like, travelling around like I'm I I know that like now is like a very bad period to travel cause of the pandemic and all that, but ya like, I believe like uh I believe like the majority of like


the uh people like, really like to travel lah cause like it really gives you a chance to like uh see what's like, uh outside of like our small country ah , so , maybe like #Yu Chen# would like to share like, like uh do you like have you still recently like make any plans to go overseas or anything like or is there like anything fun


that you see like overseas or, or you just any do you have any like positive experiences regarding like uh travelling and like uh travelling ah regarding travelling


(mmhmm) okay, uh you totally didn't answer my question ah cause I was asking you like what's your what's your past positive experience of travel lah so you didn't answer but whatever


ya, ya lah I mean the topic is about positive experience in your life where but never mind I would share first lah so I think like recently like one uh, positive travel experience would be probably my uh exchange trip my one whole semester exchange trip to china like uh last year


uh during last year like august and september lah I and then I actually flew back like right before like the COVID thing actually started ah so I I guess I was quite lucky so I was actually there in china for like, about four and a half months lah uh it's like basically like uh


uh exchange lah with my group of friends so uh we are we actually we actually study in uh Hangzhou in china, so , ya like to me I think the main reason why we choose china was because like I guess, it was a country like which I think most of us haven't been to before and like who really like to explore lah cause you know right like uh china is like so big and all that


and ya, I agree lah like during like my short four months, uh uh uh as exchange group in china I really like travel like a lot of places lah like I've been to Shanghai or like been to like Guangzhou or even like inner mongolia lah


so I guess like uh I really travelled quite a lot during like my short four months and and I think the good thing is like I actually didn't really spend a lot, ya cause you guys like the food there is like really cheap it's like so much cheaper than singapore and and of course compared to my friends who went like uh exchange in europe where like the things there are like mostly more expensive


I guess like I really save up quite a lot lah, ya so , but thinking back like what I really miss about like exchange is ya obviously like with my friends lor I guess like uh can we like, like although it's like exchange but like I remember like uh


I only had like a three day week three day school week lah so basically like for the days which I don't have school me and my friends will really just uh travel elsewhere lah like a bit like taking planes like, uh from like Hangzhou to like maybe like inner mongolia for like one whole week and all that so I guess


that's really the that's really the most interesting part of exchange I guess and I guess it's the same for a lot of other students ah, and I really feel like uh I'm quite fortunate to be able to go for exchange lah cause like I understand like right after I came back like uh once the COVID pandemic actually started uh a lot of people's exchange were all like cancelled ya but


but I'm actually quite happy that I've managed to finish like my whole exchange experience over there uh overseas lah, and, ya I guess that's all for me maybe like #Yu Chen# would like to share about his, you know his other travel experience


uh maybe like about his exchange I also know that you went for like this winter exchange, sometime back ya oh, but that was actually two years ago , ya oh ya there the recently one is, ya I I remember like when you went to find a find a friend over and


somewhere in europe right ya maybe you want share share for that


oh so you actually celebrated christmas over there and the new year is it


uh, okay okay ya I guess same for me lah I also spend like uh the countdown last year like uh when during my exchange trip to china ya I remember it was like uh I was still I was still like in Hangzhou lah but uh uh because we still have like schools like uh a few days ago and ya we didn't really like


uh we were not early enough to get like tickets to go celebrate uh countdown like elsewhere, in the city lah I guess so probably it's just me and my friends we just went to like this countdown festival uh, like uh nearby our school ya but it was really recorded lah so I guess like can really feel like the


can really feel the atmosphere and all that lah and , uh and ya the people there are, quite nice and I think I guess we get to know we also meet a new a, a few new friends lah which is like not bad ya , and I think, ya I think like, for me like uh my exchange experience is very like very positive lah cause like uh


I guess I really get to travel a lot lah then, uh I guess it's like very different from, uh schooling in singapore I get uh singapore also ya and really like like mini step out of my comfort zone and, all that lah so


ya talking about stepping out of comfort zone right maybe I would like to share like another trip of mine which was also last year where, uh I went like uh, uh I went to nepal to do like this service learning with my uh hall people lah, so I was actually the team leader lah so I brought this team to nepal


uh for like a two week short uh OCIP in short it's overseas CIP journey ah so , I've always been like , doing this kind of like overseas everything lah because I I guess it really interest me and like like , like I feel like uh I would like to I was like


I would also I would also I would also like to bring like people , to go like overseas and to experience like life they will never experience in singapore lah and , like from my short two week uh journey I can see that like uh a lot of my this participants they were actually very thankful to be like part of the team lah of course like


they really like !wah! they really like open up to the whole world it's like, ya and they've never they've never seen like, uh people like living like this kind of condition and all that so I guess like , like after the trip they will be like a lot more uh thankful and fortunate about uh fortunate of like


being able to grow up in singapore ah ya , although like singapore have its own flaws and all that but a bit you know like, as compared to like a lot of other countries I guess like uh, we do have our like uh , strong point and like, ya I think it's quite lucky if we are like born in here lah so


, so ya I feel like ya I feel like I uh uh especially like since nationally is nationally is coming and like although like, we still have this crisis period going on, uh I hope that like maybe this, national day like will bring will bring like all of us singaporeans together


ya something like that lah, ya so maybe for #Yu Chen# like, you want to share like, about any other travel experience, you have or like uh , any any particular positive thing you'd like to share ,


oh okay, oh okay okay, , ya I feel that maybe you should like maybe you should go, like one of the try like once lah but I think it's it's kind of too late but ya maybe you have the opportunity next time


ya because I guess it really makes you like , step out of your own comfort zone and like, you realise like oh there are a lot of simpler things in life lah, ya then it's also like the the bonding you have with like the people ah over there be be it like with the locals over there or like with your teammates lor cause like you'll be particularly its like spending two whole weeks with your this bunch of friend and ya you guys will be like very close after that and all that lah


so uh it's quite a cool experience


very meaningful activity lah ya, it's quite meaningful I think, ya like brings positive experience right to your life


ya actually it's same thing for me lah like actually ah actually we just played mahjong that day lah I think there's like two three days ago ya and ya I mean I do like the adrenaline rush, and ya it's quite fun like playing with like friends and all that like sitting down for few hours like just playing lah ya and I think it's really it's a really good uh hangout activity lah


ya especially during this period ya so I guess that is also something very positive for me [ah] ya I think that's all I would let you share (ppl) (ppb)


part one financial related topic


uh so for myself uh right now, I try to spend uh, lesser lesser amount on uh, on my expenses so such as uh


uh dining out or as well as uh shopping expenses or anything that is that uh involves uh uh spending of money I will try to reduce the uh the amount that I am actually, uh using it for because for one thing uh uh


as a for one thing as a student now I don't really have the income so, uh which is why ya it's important to actually uh cut, cut down on the on the spending and and instead, uh save whatever I have just in case uh


I will actually need more money need more actually uh my money uh down the road so some of the, extra uh plans the I have actually taken up it could be something like a a plan, came up like uh singlife where we actually we are actually uh put my money


uh inside for, uh at uh interest rate of uh two point five uh per annum and uh, this particular this particular uh insurance product actually works like a bank account because when you put your money inside it actually uh gives you the


a higher rate of interest as well as you can actually uh take out take out money any time, so uh I believe that this kind of uh small steps would actually go a long way in the actually in the long run, you have anything to share


uh to clarify I think uh credit card without a limit your monthly income will need your annual income will definitely need to


be a lot to get a credit card without any limit, so I think that having a credit card is actually, useful (ppc) it's not necessary but it's actually useful, because using a credit card instead of using conventional cash or debit card actually can actually help you to keep


uh some can help you to save some money indirectly in the long run because for one thing every credit card has its own person own uh various benefits so different kind of credit cards have actually different kind of uh, rebates some actually give you points some give you


miles so actually the different kind of credit and each particular credit card actually is geared towards one specific, category some credit cards' goal is uh more favourable towards travel some, towards dining and also some towards , maybe just general supermarkets spending


or online spending or, even making payment by just uh visa pay wave instead of swabbing the credit card uh every different every different credit cards have a different purpose, and if you've actually maximise the use of each individual credit card for it it's generous general purpose and actually consolidate all your points together you can bring up you can actually


uh) end up in a situation or a scenario where you actually have a lot of points and all these points can actually could be converted to miles or cash back and all these is actually savings in the long run like let's say if you want to go travel you can use the miles to exchange for your flight ticket


at uh, in this context right you can actually save quite a bit because all these miles you can use all these uh so called uh miles will actually exchange for maybe a business class ticket which you normally wouldn't pay for


in normal times so I believe that uh this is actually this is actually so, we going back to question whether one should own a credit card uh for myself yes definitely I will get credit cards but uh it's also very very important to know one's limits and also to keep track of all your uh expenses and also all your uh all your uh


what do you call it uh that all the due date for the credit cards because if you actually miss the miss the miss the payment the interest rate might kick in and that will not be uh , a nice thing lah because the interest rate is actually pretty high at about twenty four percent per annum ya so that's actually my thoughts on owning whether I should a credit card is important or not


of course if you think that a credit card if you think if you won't don't really think that you can do such control then probably uh you shouldn't own a credit card lah ya


okay so for myself for health insurance I I also have the same uh I also believe him, I also believe that health having a good health insurance is important and, you should always get uh such insurance plans when you are young because uh uh uh health insurance covers you


when uh it can actually covers you when you don't when you need it but then again you don't know when you need it which is the scary part which is why it's actually important to actually gets health insurance, uh, early so for my health insurance I actually cover myself


uh up till uh the price for uh uh private hospital it's like just in case like if one day uh, I happened to need any medical services overseas it can be I can easily find a, a hospital which actually is able to cover because uh such


coverage for health insurance is actually global worldwide, so it's actually important to actually get health insurance so apart from this I have also been get I've also gotten uh, uh, investment plans for, from uh Axa so every month I pay three hundred and there's a it comes with a


it goes into a long term uh savings it's actually like a long term savings plan which, I will only I get back my money earliest in thirty years time so thirty years later it's when I'm like, maybe fifty five where, if I have kids the kids are probably they might need the money to uh for


for their education all these so which is why uh, I actually took up uh such plans so it's actually to help me to actually save money, in the long long term also , uh aside from these uh having, uh having a life insurance plan is actually important as well but uh there are actually many two kinds of life insurance one is actually term plan one is actually life all life insurance and uh I did some calculations with my friends uh


a couple of days back and we figured that having a term life is actually better than having a all life because having a all life, uh, the amount that you actually get back over over uh at that when you uh at retiree age


you actually do not, uh it's actually it doesn't give you much value for money if you take into account inflation, ya, it actually ya so as we were uh saying it actually doesn't give you much benefits over


a long period of time, although it's always better than getting nothing back or however in terms of term plan the amount of premiums that you pay every month will be, significantly lesser but you will actually, if you are able to make


your own private investment outside which you just need you you just need to get like four four percent per annum, you'll actually, have you'll actually find more value in, getting a term coverage compared to having a all life coverage of course the all life coverage is


simpler and it's actually for people who , it's actually more you it's actually quite useful if you really do not know how to invest or you don't really want to invest like your own because the it's actually simply it simplifies things for you because uh the insurance company will actually


help you to do all the investment but, all these investment it the investment that they made is not really is slightly not able to uh fight against inflation yup which is why


uh I have, which is why I'm still contemplating, whether to get a uh uh a whole life or actually a term life plan, because for myself, uh I am not, too sure whether I will be able to what make my own investment who which will which will give me a four percent return but let's say if I am unable to let's say if I'm able to make my own investment I will definitely do a term plan instead


yup so that's my thoughts about uh, my this is my actually my thoughts about uh my financial products the financial products that I own , so maybe to wrap up we will actually it's maybe we can talk about uh


income tax because we are uh actually going to start working soon so probably we will end up, you will definitely and believe most likely have to pay income tax if so long as you are working in singapore uh, but there are actually some ways that I believe that we can actually reduce income tax so


because uh I have been paying income helping my uh various aunties to uh pay their pay their income uh part one financial related tax as well as to reduce their income tax so I have actually, some sort of basic knowledge of some of the ways that we can actually go about to actually uh reduce the income tax so to the income tax is actually paid to your monthly month uh sorry your annual income so


to reduce your income tax you have to find a way to deduct away the annual income that you you actually have so to actually deduct if there are ways that you can do it such as you make uh make donations charity donations, so this one will reduce a bit so if you are having if you have a if you own properties you will add


you can actually make some deductible expenses you can actually declare a certain amount off, because your property will actually you have to pay property you have to pay income tax for your property for your properties as well, so if you make some deductible expenses it will start to deduct the value so in return you actually have you can actually pay less ya then you also can declare your parents staying with you that one you also can


have uh, can uh reduce a bit subsequently I think there's also the, supplementary retirement scheme if I'm not mistaken this scheme is actually requires you to actually make some uh you actually it's actually you are like


paying for your own uh if I'm not wrong it's something like you pay for your own retirement fund, and this and by paying for these retirement fund, somehow somehow you also somehow, you will also this one get a it's also a tax deductible items that's if I'm not mistaken


yup, yes, uh income tax percentage is paid to your income so the higher your income the amount higher amount you have to pay so this uh this this this percentage range from zero percent if you are really very low income


so the government won't won't take income paid paid backs from you lah so all the way to twenty percent if your income is uh a very high one like I think per annum maybe one million I think but I'm not too sure, so it's actually uh wait it's actually goes in a in a range ya


part three negative experiences


of course of course gambling is not a career that much people would approve about lah it's actually advice so, uh my girlfriend doesn't like it when I gamble too much but then again uh, I always like to say that uh gambling is uh it's like an entertainment so


you shouldn't be or while we shouldn't be to involve in it but it is always okay I always feel that it's okay to actually uh, to actually mix uh to actually treat it as some sort of entertainment because some people like to, when entertainment they like to go drinking they like to go there to watch movies


everything also cost money lah so to me this is my so called entertainment yup, so uh gambling is not to me gambling is not that not that bad lah , because it is, ultimately it's still uh it's still up to your


personal uh how you personally manage yourself and also it uh, how you actually it's most of mostly this is about self control so if you cannot control yourself like you you cannot stop you don't know how to when to stop that's when


it's a very that's when it's going to be a very negative experience but of course if you know when to stop and everything I don't see any big problem uh it it it actually it actually it in in in gambling yup


so maybe we can maybe we can talk about uh other other issues such as maybe uh maybe something like maybe like uh


uh, another just uh just generally negative experiences


I think


uh I uh similarly to similar to you uh my


concern is actually about it's also about job security because uh, it's actually we don't know when uh, we we don't know whether uh by the time we graduate next year there will be there will be uh, uh how's how's the job market


going to be like how the economy is going to be like whether they will still, be hiring or not hiring right now same as you some of my friends actually they had they had they managed to secure jobs it actually depends on which industry you are you are looking at so for engineering industry because that's where I come from uh there are a lot of them are still hiring definitely because uh this kind of industry


it cannot go down it uh it it it cannot go down one like, ya so so so uh, some of them not only get uh actually some of them actually get higher pay even though in in in in


in such a situations because I uh I think that is because the the need the need, for for for such hires is still there so they are actually uh, ya actually actually I was actually actually got a job but the bad sad thing is they have to OT a lot lah because uh


because uh such such jobs are actually in uh, let's just say they have uh lots of demand, the it's actually very demanding, they require because uh like jobs like process engineer or field engineer requires them to be on site


on on on site quite often so actually actually they will require, it requires a lot of effort on on the engineer part so some of my friends are actually uh are actually quite quite, I would say quite shag because you have to work you have to work five to six five days a week and they are OT ing almost everyday or some of them will have to work on weekends as well which is quite bad for in terms of work life balance


ya but of course it's very difficult for them to uh reject such job or to change jobs now because now is actually not very good time to change jobs because you don't, like like like no matter what it's still more difficult than usual to to to get hired lah I would say because


some a lot of companies are actually freezing freezing their hire hiring head counts for for for the year, ya because they just want to be prepared for the worst because they don't know when things will end when things will become better so they just at this point in time they just don't want to they just don't want to hire too many too many uh uh new people lah I would say ya


so maybe we can talk about uh something else like for example, any bad experiences that you have maybe online or anywhere or maybe I can start to share first because uh


ya online experiences there are some uh bad experiences maybe let's just say, uh online scams because that's very uh common, that's actually common uh quite quite common uh one online


scam that I have been uh I have been a victim of its actually, uh uh uh like uh, online Grab pay credits so I I actually tried to buy something on carousell but somehow uh the after receiving the the money the seller seller uh uh


they just ghosted on me lah so they just decided to run away with the money and, it just uh block me off the account but of course after that I made a report to carousell and uh and also made a police report and the police are actually investing investigating the case


it has been over quite some time but uh somehow they have not comment back to me but I guess it's because of the pandemic so they are also pretty stretched out so I guess uh I'll still have to wait for, for for a while more lah, uh the fortunately


fortunately the amount lost isn't a huge amount it's just like a few hundred bucks I mean things could have been a lot much worse but it actually uh allows me to it actually make me feel that I have to be more aware of uh who I am dealing with, the next time and uh ya so this is it's quite uh it's just a quite a quite a negative experience on my side lah so still waiting for the police to actually get back to me


but uh I guess they are all working working working hard to actually tried trying to uh traced out the this scammer because I don't think he just scam me he probably scam a lot of people ya so ya this is uh this is just one one negative experience


that I had on online that I have had online before ya


how about yourself any any anything that happened to yourself or people


I wouldn't say it's a scam lah it's just that he he decided that he he he doesn't want this they have this online seller, it's also on carousell


and uh he decided that he he would, he would uh it would I wouldn't say it's a scam because he he he would, downgrade the the the tickets lah like he's like he was actually instead of uh fulfilling his uh


fulfilling his share of his of his of his of his of his words like, like like for example he will put on a on a, premium airline he will decide to last minute he will change it to a budget airline so, it's not exact uh I wouldn't really consider that as a scam because uh ultimately


uh ultimately we still got got got to got to travel lah so not really a scam, I guess so so ya any other scams that, or unfortunate uh or negative experience that you you have experienced so far


can be uh don't don't have to be uh online lah can be any anything


ya my


my A levels wasn't very well done either it was passable I guess uh but ultimately what's important is that, uh it's still managed to bring you somewhere and it's not nowhere so it's always , ya so it's actually always uh


I guess it's the not so it's a good thing among the not so good thing lah, uh law firm


but I guess for guys even you you have like for guys most of the time have three tries to apply for university so ultimately, because you are in NS so you can actually can apply every year so which is why, for guys it's still not so bad I guess ya


so, maybe we can go for a last question because ya, any ya, maybe anything you


is there any uh what's your greatest fear maybe talk about fears, ya


ya uh actually I fears uh sudden surprises, I don't know what is it called lah but like I don't like it when like like people I wonder any call your fear like I don't I don't think I have uh, fear of any like any animals or or or uh to me it's just like uh it's just one animal ya


so probably my my only fear's just a unpleasant thing is for me uh sudden surprises like out of the blues uh this kind of scare me out of the blue because I get startled easily so I guess that's my, so for my fear ya I will just put it that way lah okay


okay


part two, part two part two positive experiences


uh ya like what you say currently it's not a very good time to travel nor is it a good time to plan for any travels because it's, we are all very unsure about when the next uh when the when would be the next time that we are able to travel because according to the government currently the stance is that for the whole year of twenty twenty it is not likely that one can actually travel


this year, not even not even to malaysia for leisure purposes, so I understand that uh they are having some green lamps for business travels with specific countries but I guess these are just for business travel so for leisure travel I guess we still have to wait


so, travelling is not exactly a it's not exactly a very good time, but we can always make plans for future travel that's all ya so to make plans for future travel many travel companies are actually coming up with things like


uh vouchers or, uh miles or ya most of them are like, they are actually selling travel credits to you at a low price, or they reduce their, uh their their


reduce the it's like giving you a discount lor discount for discount for like uh, uh plane tickets discount for there are also these are the ways that the travel operators are actually giving or to, actually I guess they what they are doing now is they want to have where they want to generate more cash cash flow for their own benefit companies which is why they are actually selling


uh selling advanced packages at a discount, for consumers, but uh this kind of thing the good thing is always that for consumer wise you will always want to get something at a lower price so


the if you actually get anything right now it's actually I would say it's cheap it's definitely cheap ya I will actually use the word cheap because, compared to other times this is the time that you should be this is actually a good moment to right however uh with all


pre packaged tours and everything it always come at the risk that the company might closed down, like recently we heard that many airlines are taking turns one by one to uh to file for bankruptcy and if the airline closed down whatever uh credits or whatever miles that you have with them


will be uh will be will be useless, of course some some companies have uh are smart they actually set up a holding company different company to to to run their mileage programme so if you actually get those uh


those uh, uh those programs, or you buy miles for those programs you will actually save save some uh it will actually save they will actually save you if the accompany if the main company close down because their miles company uh is still run as an independent program so that's how you


that's how it is actually more positive for for for us consumers because, uh with the miles, let the uh other company actually hold is actually uh enough to actually attract investors to actually uh


uh buy over to because of the huge amount of data and the huge amount of uh uh like the consumer that's available so that's actually uh that's actually just one sharing about uh, what we can uh consider right now for travels lah


so anything you want to share about on travel, oh past open uh


oh past past experience on travel ah uh I


oh ya, that was actually that was uh two years ago that's already quite long


ya yes uh I ya two zero two zero one nine was a was a year of travel it it was actually a very good year for travel, it was the peak of the travel season it's what the industry experts call it okay so


travel travel uh in two zero okay so there are a couple of places that I actually went last year so uh one of it is the the most uh distinctive one is actually my it it's actually my trip to europe so it is , uh I actually went to uh I went to UK and uh UK germany uh


france and also austria , uh the main reason for me to actually go there last year it's actually to find my girlfriend she's actually on exchange over there for five months , so the activity is also why I actually went there one thing is to visit her and also to travel uh this particular region of europe


so uh, first I actually okay first I went to UK uh UK is it's not my first time to UK because uh I have a couple of friends in UK and I visited them a few times before that so, uh it's a nice place to go uh


but, but things there are pretty expensive like what jason said europe is expensive uh, in particular UK is extremely expensive one reason is because of the their currency currency rate because


you are paying more for their currency so no matter how low their their price their their per value per per dollar value uh it will still be expensive for us because of this exchange rate


uh then after I actually went to germany so germany is where my girlfriend actually is having her exchange programme in , uh specifically the city that we were in Mannheim it's actually about, about uh take twenty to thirty kilometre south of Frankfurt it's a small city known for its uh uh so known for it's uh the the university's actually known for its uh


like known for it's uh business business and economics programs, and then uh there after we actually went went to, Strasbourg it's a city where uh some some people say it's where all where all the christmas markets in in that region actually started but the germans will always say that the christmas market start from them and not france that's ya there after


ya christmas and new year so christmas I've spend it christmas I actually for the christmas date itself the exact date itself I actually spend in austria, ya where we actually we try to go up the alps


the the the the austrian alps but uh it was uh snowing very heavily up there so we couldn't really see anything because the snow is like a snow storm it's just like uh, the snow the it just came down nonstop the moment you we we we left the building the snow just keep falling non stop and the wind was also very strong it was like trying to blow we were like almost going to get blown off the hills


so they have a for christmas we actually spend it in Berlin so it's the the the the europeans call it a city of ya like life, ya but of course we didn't went to any uh we didn't spend that day the new year day itself in any not like in any uh night in any clubs or or pubs because they actually have a street party


uh so in this street party they will actually uh and they will actually hire the they will have their their german celebrities and also their maybe their, the important people running their country maybe some of their ministers of some sort


to actually like grace their event and it's actually in this event there will be lots of fireworks lots of concert, ya and and also uh, lots of food and drinks because german uh in germany people are known to drink their beer everywhere


so you can see people drinking everywhere and also you can see people, uh we actually just celebrating because they are some of them they just buy the fireworks of the suites because only in on thirty first of december it's the only day in germany where fireworks is legal in the other three hundred sixty four days it's actually illegal so people will just buy and just blast blast it off anywhere


which is quite sometimes you can say it's actually quite scary lah because you don't know when they will pop of the way suddenly, suddenly it's like beside you you see it's like you you don't even realise the bunch the the guy the the guy or group beside you actually they just set of the fireworks out out of the blue ya


it's but then again it's a very good experience to actually spend spend new year oversea because every single country actually has different, form of uh different ways to uh to celebrate their their their new their new year I guess ya they do it differently based on their culture


uh my travel experience are always for for leisure purposes so, ya mostly for leisure oh it's hard to ya, actually ya and I never go for OCIP before


ya because I mean, my school has already recently cancelled their their, their uh overseas uh OCIP trips for the past like past two years because of the low take up rate


ya so I guess that's why uh it's very hard to have a have such experiences uh maybe because , I'm not sure why they cancel but, it's probably not because of, probably it's because of either because of money or it's actually because of the experience not being so positive which is why school uh actually cancel it because for that's if not there's actually no reason why school should actually cancel


such a, such a such such a, such programmes lah ya, so so maybe I just talk about uh what are the activities that I like to do uh it's actually not a very good activity but because it's a positive and the uh see that there's a


ya but it's a positive it's not ya but it's because it's an adrenaline rush so , uh maybe I can just say that uh I like , I have this uh uh I uh I really like to, gamble so uh gambling is uh some sort of a adrenalin rush when you because you don't know whether you will win or you will lose so I guess this is my uh sort of a adrenalin rush that I actually


experienced because uh sometimes during this experience is when you feel lucky or you feel not so lucky so I guess I would actually classify this as this kind of adrenaline rush as a positive experience how about you


part one financial related topic


ya ya recently I just uh apply for BTO, but hor uh , but it I stay I apply quite near to my parents ah but they don't give me the additional grant though


yeah


then I think don't have already because mine is more than one kilometre, I didn't I didn't expect the thing to be so close you know !wah! within one kilometre, yeah, but mine also a mature estate ah so all the grant all don't have


Beh I check with you you you you ten years ago you go for uh bank loan or HDB loan


oh cause I still thinking don't know which one to take eh, but, but I think since you say HDB is uh more stable then maybe will will go for HDB lah


ya this one my friend also told me before, like you can drag and you can owe them a few months then they still won't come and disturb you right


uh but my HLE very low eh then because uh last time I used to never contribute CPF, then my HLE only can loan very little from HDB that's why that's why this is a point that I maybe will take out uh bank loan also


ya have to be cash rich then you can take up bank loan lah I guess


so you you bought your house ten years already then you never think of changing ah


oh then then like that you previously you use CPF to pay then, when you sell your house do you need to return it back to CPF, is there any fee or anything interest I heard from my friend ah they say like


like you sell already you still need to pay back your CPF plus the interest everything is it true


ya lah my my wife want to get condo lah so I've to work harder lah


but now buy one HDB I already need to work from day to night already buy buy condo I need to work twenty hours a day already I think,


#bo pian#, no choice lah, he think he he think I, , but I don't want to work so hard leh I happy go lucky one eh


I buy one HDB already half a million already if I buy a condo how much will it be already, Nah , another half a million, (ppc) a'ah


I think twenty four twenty four hours not enough, I need I need to have forty eight hours a day, uh projected


two zero two three another three more years, yeah, but I think, I I feel that I will take renovation loan because I heard from my friend ah the renovation loan is uh quite low


uh I will I will see lah by then, , but for now my wife everything also don't want instalment so everything also need cash lah


cannot she tell me you you no money you don't buy lah why you buy why you want to pay instalment


yeah I think you need to meet her regularly eh you you have to brainwash her lah


I feel that in life we need to fight lah so I will go for the floating ah


but I I feel recently because of COVID I think they won't go that I think the interest will continue to, go low lah because they want the cash also ah they want people they want the business everything, , so I feel that the bank will not go up lah


I I I will consider lah but as as I afraid ah later few years down the road maybe I jobless already then I cannot pay eh


but later no return [orh] later all gone


then you, so so uh when I when I when I get the BTO ah there's a there's a stamp fee of ten thousand plus ah do you know what is that ah


I also don't know what is that eh but but we need to pay like ten thousand plus


oh


but but I heard only singapore law only can have one HDB, property on hand right


so others others are all condo or private housing for


!wah! you you you study a lot ah I I don't even read up all these eh, all all all my wife handle one


she tell me need to earn how much then I go and earn how much that's how it works you know, yeah she she she give me the target of how much I need to earn per month then I go and earn


ah that's, that's how , I earn already I give her,


everything now got more money want to buy this want to buy that, now see see chanel already oh my god


I I don't spend on, things eh , I feel a bit useless


no lah as I told you, as I told you that I I didn't contribute, uh CPF in my early days of working, so maybe , so I were hoping that the project will delay lah so that I can have more time to build up my CPF and then I can pay the down payment all these


the problem is ah my my friend around ah all buy those uh range like three hundred plus, max also four hundred, but my my wife go and choose a, five hundred BTO


yeah so so a bit a bit a bit tight ah, uh


that one dead people dead people live there


, actually I I I I never think of selling ah


you very alike like my wife eh,


!huh! but I'm the more , like working type one eh, (ppc),


then like that I should take higher bank loan !wah! then I got more cashflow what


but you you but you just say that the the money, the spare the cash should be rolling instead of instead of putting in the bank [what]


part three negative experiences


yeah I feel that, you sometime you cannot trust trust a person too much lah, , from my experience back then ah when I start out to work, and then I I have no, I I was a one man operation so I do goods delivery


so there was no, black and white that I have uh gotten a, project from this, guy lah so we are on a trust trust trust basis, (mmhmm) and then end up end up, he started to owe me money and then started to


declare bankrupt all these and then I can't get back all my money yeah so so I don't think we should trust a person ah everything should go like black and white, have proof lah


so if if even if you want to help somebody I don't think you should, it have uh in mind that the person will help you back lah so, so this is what my belief ah


actually even good friends when you talk about money also will tear face one ah so so I think the money ah is the one that that play the most part you know


so better if if you want the friendship to last better have no money involved


yeah previously I was doing a project, and then I I completed that project already so I have some free time, and then my my manager was like telling me eh eh why don't you you go and help


help another uh project engineer, and then the moment I touched on the project right he totally let, go and then I carry on the whole project he like totally wash hand, !wah! I I feel damn angry sia like this is not my job and then I have to do double job now


Nah that's why from now on I just do my own thing I just keep quiet even I'm free I act busy, you you just yeah my company is just that you you they don't care what you do they only want to see the result


but but there's there's also like some politic ah lot of politic in the office one ah, like , yeah !aiya!


but I I always don't get involved lah so, I always try to try to Siam all these, , I'm the quiet one so I I will just stay at the corner and look what's happening


that's why you need to you need to uh observe, the the situation and then you choose the right one, but so far I've been choosing the right one ah,


, then then no choice [orh] everything have to, leave a backup lah


!huh! then my english english is also my greatest fears, yeah, but ah my friend intro me ah to go to attend a sale sales mastery course, at at internet , via Zoom


I think you should go and go and uh go for the course also I think it's, very useful the teacher is very good and then they they help you to , uh all these presentation all the conversation skills


how to start a conversation all these I think you should go and, go for the course , it's very useful yeah , more on sales and uh self confident uh in talking to people then you have all the you learn how to


talk with people all the conversation skills how to open and end, and how to have a continuous, uh conversation all these, , so I think it's very useful for you lah and and you are doing sales now


yeah but recently COVID you got any worry or not


yeah I also quite worried for my uh wife mother restaurant ah, because because uh, they don't they don't their profit, even though they can have takeaway but I don't think that


people will go there for takeaway lah so so even if they the shop is open I think it's only just burning money only, so there's no profit lah even though the government have, all the support all these but it's still not sustainable lah


so that's uh what I worried that, and we have to support her and then come out with a lot of money all these because that is the main income for their family lah,


that one is chinese restaurant eh they they can't I don't think they have any all these #pian tong# thing, yeah so , so I was just hopefully that I just hope that the phase three will be lifted and then everything will go back to normal


ya lah recently I've been to the mall ah


got went to next, the mall is so packed eh, it's like even more packed before COVID you know so they like people are going back to the normal life as if uh COVID is not around eh


yeah yeah it's very lucky that we don't have friends around that got this virus ah, , even if they have ah I think we also helpless we cannot help them,


wash your hand regularly I think next time I should ask my kids to be a doctor


but you are you are the most dangerous also what like like my wife ah my wife, is a is a nurse, and then his the first thing that she after the COVID she's deployed to the dormitory


and then she come back she have to clean up then then then I make sure she go and bathe first when she reach home then sterilise everything and then get contact with other people


ya lah but the the the mask industry is a surprise, yeah we should go and go but it's too late too late to be a doctor now leh


but if you want to be a politician you also cannot have a lot of bad history you know , it's like recently the PAP guy yeah he's being being uh thrown now because he have uh a lot of bad bad history all these everybody go and dig out


maybe is your colleague they Sabo you [eh] make your make your (ppl) presentation corrupted so that they can climb up


part two positive experiences


me ah I I no money to travel so far leh, I I never see snow before eh, I I heard my friend say ah the snow if you never wear the snow hat ah then your ear will drop ah is it true


oh but you but you spend so much and then you never get to see the northern light I think a bit waste of money eh


!wah! I I I I don't think I can eh, I I went to the Genting cruise ah three days no wifi only I want to die already, I I feel that I I I lost connected to the world already


but I I I don't think my wife can take it ah, I think he will bug me until I die


my last oversea trip ah uh, I think is, taiwan , but ah I I a lot of people


go sightseeing when they go taiwan right, but but me and me and my wife zero, never sightseeing , we spend there seven days, at the same same uh district


for seven days, and then we sleep until we naturally wake up , , and then we we plan we did last minute planning, and then, and then when we travel out and we feel that we lost and then we give up and then we change plan


but but we we like it we love it, we love that we sleep until the sun come out , come, up already then we very relax then we slowly no need to think of anything we just


walk here walk there, very detailedly walked the Ximending, I can remember from the first store to the last store


different when you are in singapore you need to think of a lot of things but when you are at taiwan you can sleep like nobody business


cause we we don't plan she want me to plan I don't want to plan, then she also don't want to plan


yeah that's why that's why we don't travel to that kind of places ah, we we need to have like travel friends like you all to tag along then we can, follow, yeah


but don't don't don't try to wake up so early lah, , but you also spend hundred dollar plus of hotel stay so you have to utilise the bed also


but she don't like she look don't like hotel hop


that's the problem, because the luggage right first day first day we reach there we open the luggage the luggage won't close one until the last day we go home everything dump inside then we close go home,


then then I I should start saving now, uh


that's that's what life is what, !huh! that's that's , that's what I live for if not I don't feel that I'm I'm living you know


working chart everydays is very fun, I I I I eh yeah I actually, enjoy it I can go and see a lot of different thing happening in singapore


like that I can get myself in danger know all the cars are blind like want to bang me everytime, (ppc)


yeah that's why my my leg, all start to aching already, yeah like, right I want to go Genting first


I just hoping year end can go, , , I dare lah why why why don't dare


weh, but you compare to singapore they


I believe ah everything is written in the book already lah so, no matter what you do ah, when times comes ah yous you have to go lah you when you have to go you have to go lah


oh I already I I I already prepare myself already, I can die I cannot sick yeah , if not good enough then I I will just jump


uh I will not be a burden, but jump have to choose the highest one eh don't don't choose the , the want want to die don't want to die that one ah !wah! even worse


yeah after that cannot jump already so you jump you must make sure you go


ya ya ya I I always want to try bungee jump, !wah! but the parachute expensive eh, you spend one thousand dollar to jump down


, maybe when I want to jump, then I go go do the experience, because I pay already I pay then I enjoy already then I don't pull then I straightaway go down then I go


, one hour coverage [orh] !wah!, good eh double pay, double pay up , you buy insurance ah is not for yourself you know you buy insurance is also for your child your wife


yeah so so so no way you can enjoy, no matter what you won't enjoy, , this this is my belief ah so, so so when I die right I my payout very little only I never I never plan for my children one


enough enough can already, I got one friend buy one million I don't know what he thinking, yeah I how I hope that I have a parents like him


then I no need to think so much I no need I no need to work so hard, , then they will follow right then they will buy also right


!huh! , maybe maybe maybe I I can consider lah, consider first,


I think I'm very lucky lah even though we work from home uh we never get pay cut or maybe because my pay is too little so so I don't not affected


by the pay cutting, yeah and then and then I use this opportunity to go and work part time at the mall so actually I'm quite thankful to this COVID nineteen,


yeah yeah, that's why , I don't spend I don't even get, didn't get a chance to spend,


spend some money at where, !huh! but this friday I'm working eh


public holiday public holiday then have to earn more what, public holiday that's why when you need to when you need the money you should work on public holiday and you go out on working days


but I hope my wife I stay at home my wife say I don't want to see you you go out and earn money, a'ah


a'ah can, maybe I can do something about it, (ppc)


everything very very good, I I think they gone auto already, , ,


I think my my GM quite welfare lah so, because we MNC company ah then, he he he's having a lot of, uh pressure by the HQ side also on this,


but I think he's handling well lah so, so I we are not worried ah so anyway if construction cannot start we also cannot work what so everything is on hold now so, yeah, so I don't think HQ will will have anything to say also lah


then I I I I pray for you lah I hope you you won't get it lah, but, but if you really get it then I I you you come and find me ah I got even more even better way to earn money,


!huh! no hard work, yeah you need to invest on, on the on your hard work and then you will get the payout


I heard from my friend she he's earning like nine K per month, , thirteen thirteen hours a day


, , few months already from from COVID start until now,


still surviving , I think you can you


you can work two months and then you rest one month


but for the time being I we we feel that (ppo) that's the, better way to earn money now [lah]


eh, part one financial related topic, okay so I will begin, , #zhi hao# did you apply for HDB grant when purchasing a HDB


I think is based on the distance and on top of that I think uh depend on the mature estate or whether is it a different estate maybe I don't know, yeah so for me uh back then I I purchase my HDB my BTO uh about ten years back uh it was with the grant with the HDB grant so as long you live within one kilometer within your parents then uh uh back then when it was thirty thousand or depending on the income group


so I'm not sure you can check more details with the HDB if there is a grant for you or depending on the income group


no I think you earn too much what that's why cannot, a'ah okay kay but I think the


I go for HDB loan HDB loan to me I think is more stable even though the interest rate is higher than the normal bank rate uh back then but it was a fixed rate throughout the thirty years so we thought that it was more stable, that's why we took up


the HDB loan


a'ah you go for HDB the interest is definitely more higher than the current bank rate but is more stable or any chance that if really uh you can't pay uh at least HDB will not chase us out, so HDB more lenient than the bank lah I feel


yeah that's that's that's the benefit lah for paying more interest, uh for the thirty years at least or now maybe twenty five years


a'ah okay okay but bank loan now I think is very attractive the is is is below two percent I think now HDB loan is two point three eight percent maybe, I think, so I so I think you can consider bank loan is just that bank is not so lenient so


, have to be careful on that only, yeah but over a long term if you are paying HDB loan you are paying a lot more ah uh in terms of let's say if your your house is five hundred thousand you will pay probably


maybe at least more than half more, more than two three hundred thousand more eh uh over the years of interest, yes I did think of changing so I I sold my house


then wanted to go for a new new house, so uh was looking and already purchased a new house waiting for it to be ready


yeah so so what HDB do I mean what CPF has is like that you have to pay back everything that you use from the CPF on top of that uh the recurring interest, throughout the years that you loan from uh to to take your loan from


HDB or bank loan using CPF, so you want they will have a calculator online so in the future if you really want to check right you can always use the CPF calculator online to check how much you need to return as a whole, then from there then you will know whether by selling your house now uh whether is it uh worth


uh worth to, really sell at that point of time because the cash amount coming back plus the renovation it might not be , worth hundred percent worth that uh you sell it and you get a new house then you got to spend money to renovate again


yeah so that was what I thought of lah, so for you any plans, condo is always a good investment


private because HDB will reach a certain years then, uh the house value will definitely uh, on hold or drop down further, so I think, should consider work harder to save more


if for the first few years uh it can help, then, no choice ah you work twelve hours , first year a day, then yeah so uh, no choice but is for the future is for


cannot we must go we must move on to to retire earlier that's why we need a a house , to help us


give the account of profit in the future, another half a million, oh is is yeah is another half a million only so is I think not a very big amount lah for you


you work harder twelve hours a day twenty four, then for for your house coming when is the house coming


a'ah okay okay two zero two three so are you already started saving, for the renovation or you'll be planning to take a loan for the renovation also


back then I also took up uh the renovation loan uh because of the interest so it was I think below two percent also pretty low interest for five years so instead of taking the cash out uh I use the cash to buy furniture to buy to invest to


for other things then I take up the renovation loan uh back then it was uh with maybank then yeah is is uh one of the best, better banks that is promoting the renovation loan so you can consider that


if the renovation loan interest is still low, uh after two years from now ah ,


no sometimes instalment is good because uh you use the spare cash to invest to grow more money, instead of putting in the bank is always losing uh against inflation so you have to take, uh good, instalment with zero interest


then use the spare cash to go and invest to grow the money, it will be even better for sure, , no they you have to use the money wisely of course if you buy things that


the thing will not grow for you then no point mah, so yeah so for for me yeah I will rather put the cash in the uh investment so that it can generate more more interest or more investment return instead


yeah so, after I settled my my HDB loan uh I mean now with a private that I'm going for then of course I have to go for the bank loan, but what do you think is to use a fixed interest package better or a floating interest package is better


because I'm still considering at this moment, he like yeah yeah I, I agree for now also because the floating


now is pretty low because of the economy, uh but of course in the future, uh maybe next year onwards the interest will definitely go up so I'm not sure whether (ppc) over a long run fixed or floating is still good so I'm doing uh a bit


correct correct I think they will rather loan out money to those secured , lender like us with the property because if you can't pay they take your property only there's no losing end for them, so I think the banks are pushing very hard aggressively on the interest package now


so yeah I think even DBS now is going at one point, six or one point seven something like that, so I think it's a very good, uh package to consider or maybe even for your house that is coming up you can consider the bank loan too


, no I'm sure you can that's why you have to make the money work for you not you work for the money


must use the money to grow investment, so that you can have the return even while we are sleeping you still can get back the return, yeah so I I, but there's always a risk


but better than putting in the bank is always losing , it's safe but it will always uh be on the losing end against inflation, so your money will not be growing for sure


a'ah fought back then it was uh is it a stamp duty, or a certain fee I can't remember, !wah! maybe is uh is uh tips for the HDB to to secure your bonus


uh I don't know but for private yes there is a stamp duty depending on the property the value of the property so below one million I think now is two percent, uh above one million is three percent


and if you are uh owning more than two properties and uh then you will have more like twelve percent for the second property then if you are a foreigner then is much more like eighteen percent or something like that


so back then it was very easy for singaporeans to really uh use the HDB to to really generate more income so my what my ex boss do is that they, he bought his first HDB


then after five years he refinance with the bank, then because five years later the property definitely will go up so he take the extra cash to down, his first second property in a private, then, after which he continue this and he continue to roll now I think he has four properties you know had on hand already


correct one HDB but, yes, condo and private housing so he take every refinance extra cash to down pay for the next property but that was back then


so government saw the the the thing is too hot so he has to bring down the uh property prices, so at one stage he they introduced some years back they introduced the stamp duties on the multiple property so now it's impossible for not say impossible but it's very hard


for people to do that already, because not only on the stamp duties uh you have to also to pay uh more down payment if your first loan is not uh fully paid you can only take up to a loan maximum loan of fifty percent


so the rest of the fifty percent regarding of how much you earn you still have to pay cash, yeah will need to use


you must read more so that we can use the property to generate more money then we retire at age of forty, no wrong already you need to set a target then you go and earn


, you no target you earn, uh yeah yeah but then the target must go and roll the money then then is useful what if you earn you put in the bank then


!wah! that means losing money already it's even worse, uh


, , but you have to enjoy lah you work so hard, you have to, buy something to, to make yourself happy


then okay so for your new house you you'll be using fully CPF to pay your house for the down payment


right right but side look on the bright side is that ah if you pay more cash eh then back that uh after that when you are selling your house ah you don't need to uh pay back that interest to CPF eh, you take back your cash amount


that location is good it it has a higher growth uh potential maybe in the future


no that that place is a good place those essence is there already on the ground so when your house is built on top of the essence ah you will absorb the good thing from them, uh so it's a good location but the the the area is very big


so I'm not sure by then when you are planning to sell uh how competitive, uh is your price against the other seller


cannot must must we must think far plan ahead so that we can also grow, , you must have plan so now you must plan how you going to earn your first one million


using your property or using how how you going to earn you cannot be working twelve hours a day, by that it will not help you to generate anything


cannot you see everybody has twenty four hours a day I told you already, how much you can use your time to earn the maximum amount of money is limited and your body also cannot you work thirty days a month how many month you can work thirty days


oh so shag ah, so I think the best is to use the money, to really invest so that you can buy a, a bigger property in the future maybe the one next to the MRT it's building now


higher bank loan match but you need to pay more


but that will depend so you have to calculate so if the bank loan now is low one point something, then if your investment can guarantee you a two percent and above return, then of course you use the money you take more loan then you go and do the investment return then you put the money pay the loan it will it will be definitely much worth because you still earn


yeah, twenty fourteen yup


okay, part three negative experiences, okay !wah!, okay so


I have a few uh negative experiences in life, so there was a few time that, uh I try to help someone in the office in my ex company , uh but in the end uh you won't get


that kind of uh, positive uh reply or action back, so there is sometimes that I help to cover one of my ex colleague back then in my ex company, uh when he was late for work then uh we try to cover


but there was one day that I'm late, for work then, he went to report to the manager, so I think !wah! life is really, full of surprises, so you won't know uh your colleagues who is real friends or who is your enemy


or even who is the person who snap you uh, during during your work life uh especially in a big corporate world, so yeah so you have to be


positive at times especially when encountering all these negative experience, so how about you #zhi hao#


I think quite true ah in the corporate world the world outside there is people who are there's all type of people that you will encounter ah, so I'm sure there is people who are out to really uh, eat you up, in terms especially when it come to money


I think this is very sad that we have to face everyday


yeah agree agree because everyone, , yeah true true true nowadays especially in singapore context I think everybody is working hard, very stress to to pay whatever they need to pay so money is always the top priority for everyone


so when it comes to talk uh, to talk about money part I think is very sensitive, so uh definitely that's a lot of negative experience even with colleagues and friends around


I think it's happening everywhere, in the corporate world especially if your company is like MNC I think it will be worse than this, you meet different type of people, so that's why I say uh colleagues, uh you don't know who is the good who is the bad


uh who is the one that is always talking behind your back, uh suggestion very good idea for that


, yeah that's that's the best so you you do your things you achieve what you want then I think that's the best


but that's the best part for everyone, you get what you want then you don't you don't


is everywhere even for a small company


that's that's the that's the good part lah you have to be neutral so that both side you are able to, stand on because you don't know who is the winner at the end of the day


but at that, , at that point of time maybe it's right eh what if, next month it it become the wrong one obsessed already


so yeah for for me uh not only that I think the, uh when I started to to do sales uh back then it was my greatest fear is also uh doing presentation to meet people, so uh back then I I I think you know me uh I'm those very quiet


person that don't really talk much, then doing sales is really a big challenge, so one of my greatest fear is to really start a presentation or even start a topic with uh strangers, so many years along the


the the years experience that we I have I go around to do presentation now even doing training so when I started it was really really a disaster, for keep saying the wrong things to the wrong people, then presentation when I I can't do a proper full presentation I have to stop my words get uh jumble up


and uh I don't know what to say next and I don't know how to react to to the audience or to the customers that, uh I presented to, so back then it was, uh really really one of my greatest fear


so what's yours,


!wah! really is, but the that course help to improve the english or


oh interesting interesting I might I will find out more from you later on on this, !oho! I have of course from the start of the COVID until now uh


every night can't sleep well, , no uh I think because I think there's a lot of worries, first of all I think the health, the uh the safety of the health of our family I think that's the top priority you don't know when you'll get in contact with this COVID virus and because at this moment there's no vaccine to cure you you can only


say by luck that your body can fight over the virus so I mean most of the cases they recover pretty well, uh but you won't know what is inside your body then if this virus really attack and you didn't go through then is really a sad thing especially


for people around you so of course that's the, that's the first worry for me for COVID then of course second uh singapore economy is very dependent on the global uh investment, especially with this and all these MNC coming in to invest


so now with this situation uh, uh a lot of companies are reducing their investment or even stop their investment in singapore which really affect the whole economy and of course the the work livelihood of uh singaporeans especially in singapore


so the uncertainties and when the company will do retrenchment or pay cut or whatsoever the next few months we don't know because uh the recent government uh support for the salary for locals uh I think end in uh june


so in uh july will be the last payout, so I'm not sure in august onwards will there be a a a big impact to more companies uh moving forward


yeah I think F&B is one of the greatest hit industry also in uh singapore especially during the circuit breaker when everything is locked down and for restaurant usually people like to dine in, in big groups like for birthday celebration for anniversary


so now with only five people I think it's also very hard for them to attract people to come back especially for big families I think they will choose to stay at home and then cook or maybe to to takeaway a bit of stuff rather than buying uh expensive food like ordering expensive food in the restaurant


so, yeah maybe you should consider I don't know maybe shift, a bit of trend uh in terms of delivery do more bento set, for for delivery to increase the revenue at this moment,


can can do the #har cheong gai# rice, , yeah but I think the phase three will not be so soon because the cases are still in the hundreds


recently and I think there's no vaccine at this moment so , it's a big challenge if they open up and, if they we go back to what it is before that then the circuit breaker will kick in again then everything will really


become a standstill or even worse


yeah I I've been to malls also it's been so crowded but I think is more people coming out, they they enjoy to come out more than they want to spend money some of most of the retail shop selling clothes uh accessories I think is still not doing well


F&B yes uh I think is picking up but uh uh because of the uh number of tables that they can do ah, the number of turns is much lesser so like what your wife uh mum restaurant is so you cannot do so many turns than before already so I think the sales revenue definitely is impacted even though you see long queues outside


so that's the now part I mean now fortunate enough that we are our friends families are still safe uh we didn't have any contact with any such cases


so we have to , stay safe and and see what we can do the next few months hopefully economy, uh pick up especially for singapore if not everything is affected people don't spend much and everything will be slower


yeah correct correct, but because now I think we travel a lot more especially doing some part time outside, and so, uh the risk is there so just to stay


like during this situation you know that in the world ah uh what is the best industry to go to, is uh healthcare, anything related to healthcare ah I think you won't die one


I mean that should be the normal practice what even for myself when I came back home uh we bathe we wash up before we really sit down and eat or even to sit down to rest, I think this is the future trend that we have to do already, but I think


for for healthcare it was never dying especially if you are producing, medicine vaccine or even the mask and all these !wah!, is always in in need


I think we should change job already, the next safer job is uh, to join the politician


there is also last time when I I told you my greatest fear is to do presentation so uh, back then, when I do presentation that's also a lot of things goes wrong when the slides when I started there's a video that is ongoing


uh but the video, the slides uh the videos doesn't have any sound coming out from the slides, so everybody look at me I look at them, it was uh a presentation to a group of uh developers and architects to pitch for uh projects uh in a new condo


project , so I think that was uh quite challenging for for me, so , uh always from that lesson I learn that uh we have to try and uh do a lot of of different trial at different situation


different scenario, and uh to know what is the countermeasure, uh before we really step up, so for me I feel that is always a good time to, to trial with people uh internal colleagues or friends before you really uh to go up to the big show to present to the shareholder


so they only give you one chance, if you fail that chance then, I think that's it, so after that really impact me uh it took me a while uh I didn't go for the next few presentation my I joined my colleagues and my colleagues present


uh it took me a while to really overcome that, then I take on the next uh presentation with all the preparation that I mention you have to really anticipate that what if there is no video come out how you going to do what you couldn't do and what if the slides didn't play you need to save in thumb drive


so all these are uh the countermeasures that we have to put in place just to make sure that eh when you are there doing a presentation you need to, be really sure of what you are doing and you are what need to be confident of what you are doing


part two positive experiences, oh okay so let me uh describe a recent uh not say recent a few years back uh travel experience that I have so uh I went to uh finland with my wife


so it was uh also my first experience uh in the snow, uh it was also a very amazing uh place we decided to go there to really uh relax and enjoy the scenery, so it was a long journey there


then uh after that we have a bit of a lot of self drive to different, places of interest we met the santa claus, we saw the snow we play around we enjoy the firework, and but, unfortunately we didn't really see the northern light so that's the down part lah but overall experience I think it's very nice it's worth to go


the food, the the pace of the country I think is really really relaxing, uh especially when you are travelling to the outskirt of the city of finland, so uh their lifestyle is really relax uh you can see how they really enjoy their dinner slowly with the family


so I think this is really a nice uh experience that we should have in singapore uh but unfortunately we don't have the luxury uh given to the current, pace in singapore yet, then it was also my first time going to the santa claus village to see the uh santa claus and meet him in person


uh yeah it is definitely worth another trip to be going there to see the northern light again, and probably to other parts of uh, uh the europe also


soon soon soon we can plan after the COVID nineteen, , no lah not to extent ah you will, feel, you will feel the frost bite but you won't be


having that extreme , in certain probably really, uh in finland maybe towards the really winter the end or mid of winter they have I think minus twenty over degree maybe then that, will have some issue with that ah


but but uh when we are there is only minus I think less than ten so not so bad, , !aiya! to me is not about the light ah to me is about my experience there to really enjoy relax


northern light can see anytime I think can go to norway next time, to to have a higher chance, yeah but travelling to me I think is always very enjoyable and very nice you get to see the different culture the different uh habits the different style of uh


the the people living in the different countries around the world, so it's really really uh eye popping for me, uh so I think next time we can also organise one to the, uh village, those really, (ppc)


uh old, uh backdated village that's no connection of internet maybe, that we can really try out the lifestyle of a Kampong in the future uh back then when our parents live, (ppc)


so, , so so that's the problem with us now we are so used to WiFi nowadays ah so I think, we should try it, uh a few days in the village really to lay back relax uh cut off all connection


so I think that should be part of the travel plan uh that we have in the future, , no everybody cannot take it but we try then maybe you will enjoy it more


uh oversea trip


a'ah okay taiwan taiwan is a nice eh


a very interesting travel experience that you have ah


but this then like that what's the different between uh what you are currently doing at home and what you are doing in taiwan


okay okay interesting interesting, maybe I should try it one of the trip to do that ah I have never tried to usually we we travel we wake up very early to travel to try to cover to as many places as possible


so that we maximise our our travel plan uh to to see as many things as possible, ,


maybe taiwan still possible ah but if you are going to uh countries that uh you are not familiar with, then it might be an issue like going to finland or maybe to going to europe switzerland, US if you didn't really plan ah then !wah! very challenging eh


a'ah that's why we usually get the cheapest or not say the cheapest the cheapest safest hotel so hotel is not important because we spend minimum time


no ah I think I think we should do something we get should plan one uh trip next year, next year end, to go to a further place, , you you you are starting to save for a lot of thing eh


you need to buy present you need to buy house you need to find a


working twelve hours a day, it's not living for sure, very fun okay


oh my that is not that is not, at all worth the risk eh, life is more important, that easy you how you're going to spend the money when when you are forty fifty years old


then we should go thailand really soon, next year eh this year for sure cannot,


year end ah you dare to go ah, uh because malaysia so big ah I don't know whether they test everybody or not, they are, their cases are still on the low side


correct so that's the problem so if we head to malaysia we don't know who is , who is safe and who is not safe the chances of getting


yeah the in singapore ah most important thing ah is, you can go directly ah, smoothly then okay don't halfway , not here not there ah then Jialat eh,


your insurance coverage is good enough already ah for that, , !wah! very nice thinking


now worse you cannot even jump eh after that, , yeah so I think during the holiday trip ah we should do some special


uh uh activities, like those bungee jump, or, or even the the parachute, once a lifetime you need to do ah I think it is is not about the price


uh once a lifetime next time your kids ask you you say I jump before


uh that one is a double coverage eh accident plus your life, uh good ah right, double pay but you don't get to, you don't get to enjoy eh


ya lah so I said you won't get to enjoy mah so worth or not


so that the kids will enjoy next time what, that's that is why you must, no that's why you must do that


so that your kids would, next time when uh you are older your kids would say !wah! lucky I got a parents like that, so is is is


uh your job now given the market, I think still quite uncertain a lot of retrenchment how is the company doing


so at on the negative side is that the market is not good but the good side is that you still can get extra income, somehow, and and you you cannot go holiday you save even more,


okay then we should make a outing this friday, I, we go and spend some money, a'ah, uh I heard my friend told me Sentosa had some firework, display eh this friday


!wah! like how much you can earn you are working public holiday eh


public holiday everybody go out already nobody stay at home one, no everybody is, stay at home already you should not you should go uh work and when everybody is staying home to work


yes we go and see firework to earn money


!wah! then your company is good eh on the positive side I think , can even talk about it


!wah! good eh, a lot of companies pay cut now even I think clear leave is the most minimum basic things that they are doing now


right but is also depending on uh whether the company can sustain, the, profit uh in singapore or not, I think that's the key thing ah that he has to answer to the, uh to the HQ level, but


my company half half, so so far lucky and on the positive side we don't have any pay cut, but, we are asked to clear some leave, add the annual leave for this year, so every month I think there's one or two days that we need to clear


but I think by end of the year nothing not much leave left already, because for us uh our company we are the uh we accrued the annual leave so I think it's a expense for the company so they trying to reduced


whatever cost that is possible, so leave is one of the thing that they are doing, uh but last month I have also two colleagues who are asked to leave already so called retrenched, so we are don't know we are not sure whether any more such cases coming up


yeah #bo pian# [orh] have to see


cause if I were, uh hard work , hard work [orh] really must work twelve hours a day eh


involves uh hard work it really use my blood and sweat to go and earn only, nine K uh per month


but after he he is he still continue to work for a few months already or, he stop already after one month


the body I don't know how how far or how long it can take it lah I think there's always a limit, like, our body is also engine car engine, there is time that you need, go do violent hurt someone but I think after this


this another one or two month the market or the, the thing will open up then I think will be, uh much lesser already I think


(ppl) of course because now more people are worried to go out and because of the group of five more people are still (uh) dining at home so I think it's a higher chance on that


part one financial related topic, uh hi


okay lah so just start off with the first question share your experience, in any of the following investment products, for me I guess


I don't know much about any of them, except for shares I think that's like if you have stake in a company a publicly uh a public company about the others uh I'm not really knowledgeable lah so maybe you can share Ahmad


ya sure sure sure


(uh huh), new company


(uh huh), yup yup


(mmhmm)


different flavour ya, (uh huh)


okay


(uh huh)


if a bit extra lah, if extra for sure lah, (uh huh), so meaning


(uh huh) so meaning to say like any there is a a I won't say it's like a guaranteed amount when you get back at the end of a particular period of time lah, right I I I lend you some money then I'll probably get back what I I lend I uh lend to you and a little bit more right


and it's all agreed lah these amounts I agreed before before beforehand right


ya the last one, ya


money, okay but then like, this is a very interesting uh idea


so meaning uh singapore needs money say for example uh this this company or singapore the government needs money to to to uh build the infrastructure of the country and do investments whatever right etcetera


but instead of getting it from taxes and their own revenue so they getting, people to uh, put money with them which they can be used to to to do all this uh purposes lah is that right


ya I heard about that I heard about the the part where they want to their their so called their package uh is to actually ask their reserve their federal reserve right, to uh print more money but the fear is that if you put more money it become like the the banana notes back in world war two


where the japanese print uh a lot of their currency until it become like worth only the paper that is printed on could could that


ya I mean the value could be just as same as the value of the paper, that uh the the money was printed on uh but then, but why are they considering that kind of option I mean like uh don't don't they have a for for a country as big as america don't they have like deep pockets in their reserve also like singapore like I mean we are only like only how many years old like fifty ~ish


so why why aren't they not able to like like singapore uh have this savings to say lah or reserve our country savings too you know, help help the help the nation


yup, ya


so that (uh huh)


(mmhmm)


okay, okay


ya with with with regards to like uh how to manage their their money you mean because I think their their government or their person in charge changes quite frequently


right so uh okay then uh


(hmm), four to eight percent of what of tax


okay uh oh, because of his because of his high income or that's for everybody


also, !wow! that's almost half of your income going to taxes


okay, just think ah I mean to to a certain extent


I mean there are people that are have different views on how their retirement should they used lah but I mean I I see I see the, the the financial sense in it because what what they always say sometimes singapore is actually a company not a country where how they generate revenue and


uh, so next question let's try about this CPF money share your thoughts on the CPF investment sorry


when, where


properties ya ya


in singapore right


better option


, ya, ya uh


(uh huh) it, it is is it is it, is it is it because of their low low confirmed cases of uh corona I think they have that the lowest I think they still under


under four digits last I see


ya, correct correct correct, oh at over them probably business as usual they weren't not interrupted so much ah for the COVID because recently I saw the news their number of cases


it was very very low I think like uh less than a thousand a thousand cases I think in their country, ya


oh in general, oh nice, oh, cool


okay thanks for sharing that, eh shall we uh move to the next slide let's see if there's anything interesting that we can, we can chat about


uh okay which one is it which number is it


what is your risk appetite okay at least this is a, ya, I I think uh for for me personally uh I just got to know this not too long ago and uh and I I thought it was normal apparently it's not that there are uh different kind of uh uh what do you call that uh


spending uh spending types ah I can't remember the correct term but spending types lah like even me and my wife we are totally opposites in terms of how we spend our money like ya, uh she is like a more frequent purchase but value is smaller


but for me I'm a uh my my, the value of the purchase is on a high on a higher I on the higher cost but I don't spend as much uh as in the quantity I don't buy a lot more a lot of things as much as my wife


but I think it evens out it adds up I think we we are totally even with each other lah, so for me I still I think I'm I can't remember the term lah but I think I'm more of the like, uh uh


a uh big big risk big, big returns but I'm not willing to put in that big risk even though there is potential profit returns, I'm more of a like uh a little bit of a return it's still a return to me you know a dollar is still a dollar profit returns is still a return as compared to ten dollars so to me ya I think I'm more of a safer side lah but I'm trying to uh


not be too safe you know but at the end of the day I think information helps lah information you know if you're more inform then you can make better decisions so that's important, so that's very very important lah to be uh well well informed whenever you make a decision ya you think that that sums sums me up


ya ya ya,


(mmhmm), stop


part three negative experiences, okay let's have a read uh describe something you've watched or that gave gave you goosebumps describe a time where you felt that you have committed something completely wrong there's no way you can get


uh describe , do you have phobias how do you overcome them


recall a scene from a movie that made you too angry to watch too angry watch what is the worst thing you experienced that you kept quiet about that frustrates you describe a time when you hurt your feelings what is the issue you feel upset and cause worries


actually right I the the one two three four five the fifth topic ah describe an issue you fell you feel upset about and you feel the world needs to know about it I think shall we go with this start with this


, and as you know ah currently I'm I'm I'm taking a personal trainer course with uh the america council of exercise right so I I really feel like because of this uh social media and you know how easy to get content out


that there is a lot of misinformation and with with all these uh platforms you can easily make revenue with the amount of uh uh people that is viewing, your content but if you don't have to be you know uh so called uh uh)


check before you can put out the content lah so what I was really upset was, is that a lot of misinformation about fitness and mainly like the, uh with uh health and uh and nutrition and


which which kind of like you know our our society nowadays like with with increased diabetes uh the number of people with diabetes and the number of people with uh cardiovascular uh illness it's


it's scary that you know these people I'm sure they would want to uh make a change in their life by having better nutrition you know and uh wanting to be more active, but amount of information that is out there is so wrong you know and it's everybody's always promoting the fast fix fast fix you know like four weeks uh get get abs four weeks twelve weeks this and that but actually the fact of the matter is that


it doesn't to to see sustainable results right it's not a matter of four weeks eight weeks or twelve weeks you know, consistency over a long period of time you know and realistically right to to lose a significant amount of uh body fat right takes a long time you know


and and studies have shown that to to the maximum amount of uh body fat you can lose per week, two considered be really uh not any uh


problems to health right the maximum there commended is about uh one pound of body fat per week that is only like, zero point five kilogrammes so if you think about it like if somebody is overweight right the maximum number of uh body weight that they can lose for example in a month lah is only like two kilos


and two two kilos is not a lot of kilos if you're looking for a weight loss and you know but you don't see a lot of people tell talking about this, you always tell them you always hear like people saying like uh in two months you can lose this this amount of body fat you can see your abs in in two in two months eight weeks or twelve weeks


which is which is not the correct information lah you know and you imagine if people want to try right and they have to purchase the plans from somebody you know they have to buy their program


right the program may not be that expensive but can you imagine like the what what what's the success rate is going to be like after twelve weeks of if they really stuck to the programme, you know, I what's the chances of being successful then they'll probably be have a bad experience then they'll be like no lah I I I spend I wasted money on this programme I tried everything then there's no improvement then they start to blame like


yup, yup yup , correct correct they


that's that's the thing as as the person that throws out this content right he's not accountable to be to to to make sure his content is accurate because of this platform they don't regulate


you know I I can I can have a like a nice looking body I can tell people like guys just follow me do what I do for four weeks and pay me fifty dollars I'll tell you what to do then you just follow me for four weeks and you'll get the results does it matter if you get your results or not no but do I get the fifty dollars yes


are you willing to spend fifty dollars yes because it's such a small amount and imagine if I get like hundred people to buy my plan which has a very unlikely success rate, I already be earning five thousand dollars already but all of these hundred people do you think all of them will will be successful unlikely right the chances will be very low because initially the time line is already ridiculous but back to your question the only way that you will know


for now ah it's that that you have to go through the process you have to go through a lot of shitty so called plans and diets then you'll realise that eh actually, all of these have not been working for me then you realise that actually this is not the approach


then you will go through the slow and steady approach which sucks lah which means that you have to invest so much energy and time and money potentially on something that is not going to work only for you to have a better realisation because right now if I tell you right, then you'll probably not believe me mah but if you have gone through it


your your chances of uh believing what I say is will be higher what but but I mean that that's the we don't we don't have much awareness there isn't as many people that wants to spread, there are lah I mean I recently I found people like this on social media which are


are willing to go against the grain you know uh calling all these uh other YouTubers that that uh that that that has this four week eight week twelve week plans they call them out, you know on YouTube on the platform which is which is good lah but the thing is if you compare in terms of views right that's how they make the revenue the people that are trying to spread awareness they don't really have the millions of followers as compared to the others


you know so and because of this platforms they have this algorithms you know and where where if something is hot and very highly viewed they will probably slightly make it into your your uh direction if you're looking for that content


so I don't know I think the fitness industry itself has to like stop thinking of profiting from people's insecurities, you know what I mean like are they really really genuinely wanting to help because if they really want to


it doesn't it doesn't take, weeks you know it'll take months to really you know uh loose, uh uh reach your goals in terms of weight loss and transformation in in a very uh in a healthy way you know so


that that that's that's something that I feel like the awareness should be more talked about lah so hopefully you know I mean locally context locally also we don't see a lot of this uh, people uh talking about the the other way of doing uh the fitness and the transformation part everybody's talking about the why currently being talked about


you know, I mean I I know you you also had had a good uh experience uh I mean recently you you uh had uh attended the class passes before COVID right


so I'm sure you had a, ya you were saying, so then have you met anybody in in the gym trying to sell you


(mmhmm)


yup, one way ya


you're breaking up


well, that's extreme ya


, for sure for sure, worst thing you witness you have any worst thing that you will I don't usually keep quiet about if it's


ya, describe the time when you are unable to help and help someone in need what is your greatest fear what is your greatest fear do you have a greatest fear


(uh huh)


ya, yup


(uh huh), (uh huh)


, ya, (mmhmm)


yup, ya


(mmhmm), yup


nah ya correct


, , oh thanks for sharing thanks for sharing I mean ya lah I mean that time time is the only only thing that everybody got the same of


you got twenty four hours I got twenty four hours only difference is you know how what you do with your twenty four hours and what I do with my twenty four hours, you know your that's that's the only thing that is concerned


ya ya we're only humans, you're breaking up bro


oh nice for prayers


(uh huh) , , who got wait who got one director one Ahmad zero or , uh okay


ah, before lunch