breakdown because you are in this marriage together you are equals right partners so like is not fair to make like one person pay more however I do feel like you can come to agreements like for example if you cannot if right now I am lower on cash or I am making less right


then let's say I pay lesser but then like next time if you are earning more like if I'm earning more then I can like cover something else you know what I mean yeah as long as like at the end of the day like you all talk about it lah and you come to like equal compromise


ya ya ya that's sound smart ya that that's smart


part, three negative experiences, what frustrates you oh so much


oh ya what was that about


ya


I get get I get how that is like super frustrating and like the more of effort that you take to like put your stuff nicely to arrange everything you know my skincare stuff right I arranged it in order of which product to use so like I know that I can start here and work my way down and it's like perfectly


like insane right on then people like shift my stuff right and then I'm just like stop it took me a long time, ya


ya, nothing, oh no laughing sorry yes okay ya


and then it like something else that frustrates me a lot is like passive aggressiveness, like when people are super passive you can be sometimes but like no I'm talking about someone who like has a problem with you right but like will not tell you straight to your face


they will just like make comments or snide comments or like low key trying to, hint at you but like don't want to uh like say them just like, stop it lah just tell me to my face what is the matter like what's the problem if you tell me at least I can fix it if you don't tell me what am I supposed to do ya then they are like super angry when I passive aggressive but


to them because you give what you get I guess ya but I just !wah! cannot frustration max level, [orh] I would have just call you out on your shit or I just been like stop what you doing


but some people you cannot you know like ya,


or someone with like really strong opinions and then you are like, okay I hear you I don't necessarily agree with you but thank you for your comments


, ya like it's it's okay to have your own opinion because everybody does but like is not okay to


and insists ya, ya exactly because and it is an opinion like you know, more


ya, ya like I mean like, we can't change people can only change our reactions sadly, ya okay


I don't I don't think there is anything that was damn bad that I witnessed like


nothing that I really kept quiet nothing like illegal or anything like there, , I think my friends all quite Guai ah never never do illegal stuff like that


I guess like not really, I guess one one thing could be like so I have this friend okay he is not a friend he is an acquaintance or he is a friend of a friend and like I know that he is not really good with his relationships, and he always like


so he has like girlfriends and stuff but he he tend to like cheat on them and I just get really pissed off at him and like so he's not actually my friend because I don't I can't deal with that kind of thing I can't condone that kind of behavior but in a way I guess like I did keep quiet about it like because I didn't like voice it out I didn't like


call him out on his thing but because he's not my friend so it's not my place to call him out you know but I have told like our mutual friends that like I don't like his behaviour lah I think you should tell him not to do this kind of thing, so I guess on that time of low key keeping quiet


okay let's let's move on , recall a scene from a movie that make you too angry to watch, have you ever heard of the central park five


so it's not okay it's not really a movie but it's like a true story of like these five american african american teens in the US back in like the eighties or something, and they were basically like they were teenagers at that time like not even legal miners and they were tried for whipping these gold or some


thing like that and like they basically were coerced into a trick and manipulated into confessing for the crime that they didn't even commit, and like they went to jail for it lah some of them and like I think I I watched the documentary on it I was so angry I was just like this is what is wrong like


this is so wrong like I cannot even do anything about it right but it just come to that point where you just so angry that you are like why why is the world like this stop it you just want to like grab the actor and like punch him, ya


oh


I feel like should be something philosophical like dying tree of death ya I know not that,


ya like they have kids and all that


okay in comparison I feel like my fears are like nothing lah I'm scared of like falling, ya like can't stand like roller coasters that drop you know I'm out but I think on a deeper level I have this fear that


I will someone like I love or someone that I am close to will kill themselves or commit suicide and I wouldn't have been able to prevent it like I wouldn't have like they were I think one of my biggest fear is


is like missing the signs ya like not seeing that they need help or not like hearing their, call of call for help ya I think that's something that, really really scares me like because I mean I had like friends who have


unfortunately like done physical harm like self harm to themselves and like all that but I always seemed to like not see it until it's too late , ya but like I think like one of my greatest greatest fear is having like a part to play in I think people will say it's irrational and like it's not your fault that somebody


kill themselves but I feel like there's a certain for me I would feel a certain level of responsibility over the person, especially with someone that I was close to or someone that I was talking to or like if I saw their post on instagram I didn't reach out to them


I will feel so so scared, ya


describe a time when everything that could possibly, go wrong did go wrong like every events job ever, that's when you think things are going wrong


like there's always a contingency plan, phobia ah I guess like there are things that I'm scared of like I I don't like flying insects that kind of thing but it's not really like it's not like crippling phobia where like if there is I cannot I cannot move kind cannot function


ya like I will scream I will cry but like I can still move on ya, I guess my phobia will be like flying insect, in general a bird oh my gosh birds birds I'm so scared of birds


how did you overcome them I don't I don't overcome them I just sit there in fear, !huh! ya remember the time by the time I was in a taxi and it was like I think around orchard road or something and there was like you know at the traffic light then there was like a ton of pigeons at the sidewalk hence I was staying out


inside the taxi I was safe windows are close everything but I was looking at the birds and then like the birds flew like you know how they all take off at one go I jump so hard you know I flinched right I full on jumped to the other end of the taxi and then the taxi uncle was like


girl you okay or not then I ya I'm okay but like I was shook inside I was like, no I'm done with this like cannot birds are the worst, it is a very bad experience


or the time the pigeon stalks my house like it just there was this pigeon that for one which it decided it wanted to stalk my house and it just kept flying in, to my living room, and this is crazy like I stay on the I stay like in a like high rise building right and like this


bird literally set outside my front door and every time we open the door flew into my apartment and we were like how and then okay so then after that like we got smart we look out on the peep hole first to make sure the bird wasn't there the bird got even smarter he sit below the peep hole


so you cannot see him, you know I was I I freaked out when I feel on freaked out for one whole week I couldn't even go to school one day because like the bird was just out there and I didn't know what to do is not positive experience


ten out of ten would not recommend yup per zero, ya I hate those


I still have not watch chucky so please don't give me nightmares


oh my god you know something I'm so scared of you know you read those like you mean you read those stories about like kids who say weird things to their parents


ya like these parents like I don't those like facebook clickbait kind of like, articles that say like ten creepy stories from parents of their children or whatever then you read right those really gives me goosebumps that I'm damn scared like if I ever had a kid next time and like


this kid comes up to me and points in a corner and says mummy what is that kid doing there or something or what is that !wah! I tell you that will that will freak me out like oh my goodness


ya,


nope nope they say like dogs barking is like the number one sign right !wah! I cannot deal I cannot deal,


I think that is one of my biggest like living in a living in a like landed house !wah! cannot like that kind of thing will freak me out the most, ya


, ya like you smell the thing you just like walk away


ya ya ya ya ya !whoa! nope no thank you, no ah thankyou nope I'm not I'm


oh yes that is a creepy one it still does, cannot man


I think my sister used to say last time like she used to watch like criminal minds and all that right then she get really scared then she don't dare to like go and shower at night or that kind of thing then my parents are like why you so scared our house is blessed, like kind of thing like don't need to be scared of spirits or ghosts that kind of thing you know then my sister was like is not the spirits or the ghosts like that kind of thing jesus can keep them out but if a guy is standing there with a knife like


he come like, you can bless the house it still not gonna he's still gonna be there right !wah! I know this kind of thing like just thinking about it I'm a bit stressed out,


the sky like, time where, you feel that nothing you do is good enough oh how to summarize in fifteen seconds, so much ah


(mm) ya [oh] that's a big one, thank you


part two part two positive experience


okay [hah] what makes you want to be alive, uh that's that's a big question there is so many things to live for your friends your <B>


ya I guess [orh] [orh] I get it I get what you mean, you are a very big nature person ya outdoor I see


I think for me it's just the people that I spend my life with that keep me alive ya cause I'm more like huge people person right so like hanging out with my loved ones hanging out with friends I think that's what really keeps me going more than anything so it doesn't really matter where as long as like the people


that matter are they I got a feel I can write a doctor Seuss book , ya


I think that is like one of the biggest reasons why I would never move like I want don't want to move, away from singapore as well just because my family is here and my friends are all here ya ya


okay describe your perfect day, what is a perfect day to you ya, ,


yes I think sun is important I love the sun so much, yes that is a very important point


what would you be doing on this perfect day just chilling I want to say lying in the grass like and a picnic, but but I don't think it's like it's so, desirable like you look so glamorous right you wear in good and it confirm like dirty muddy


oh did I tell you there's one time I went to like marina barrage for picnic in the middle of the afternoon at like three PM I got I got really burn like sunburn, it is really bad it was a really bad day


but like I mean it was still a good it was still a good day it was just, that like once I went home after that and I look at the mirror and I was like oh my gosh you are so burnt this is ridiculous, and I think I was wearing like uh like a T shirt with like cut out, words so you could see the shape of like the triangle shape of the shirt on my arm


then I was like oh no this is never going to go away ,


oh secretly proud of having, I don't think it's really a secret but I'm actually pretty good at like figuring out tech stuff


tech like technology lah I'm actually pretty good at like figuring it out like I'm very good at like troubleshooting my own, computer stuff, ya did I tell you like the other day my MacBook didn't want to start up right so it like I tried to switch it on but it was making like a beeping sounds like beep beep beep like three consecutive beep


just for like the longest time so I went to like Google why is it making that sound then it said it might be something to do with your RAM disk or like your your battery might be like basically the, mother like that inside of your laptop like might be dusty lah say you need to clean it, I dismantled my laptop leh I actually like unscrewed it dismantled it took out all the parts wiped it down dusted it put it back and the thing work it let me tell you how much I'm proud I was so proud I did like


on my own and it works perfectly fine now, felt like a , irene I still wouldn't like trust myself to completely fix problems but like it makes me really hopeful like now I feel like I should go and


buy like a new like RAM disk to upgrade my laptop because my laptop is so old right there are like is a bit like ya so I feel like I should like upgrade it then is cheaper than buying a whole new laptop


what's your secret ability


right I'm like just like a Toyogo box I can totally carry a Toyogo box but people are like are you sure no no no it's okay leave it for the boys


events adapting flexibility, ya that's always ya that's something that you actually really good at must admit must admit


ya, oh yes the yuppies or the wires,


ya uh that is a skill I do not have the patience for that ah for me just like I can't get it until like the thing breaks and then I like oh what now


I don't think I really blush I guess like an embarrassing moment or like happy moment, maybe but I've never been want to like physically blush like you know what I mean


maybe I think like I think one of the most like happy moments right but but damn awkward moment is on your birthday when everybody is singing happy birthday


to you ya just sitting there like, what do I do now thank you thank you , and then like is is I mean when they sing like happy birthday to you then after that they continue on with like #zhu ni sheng ri# and then like may the good lord bless you then you are just like


stop please stop please stop please stop oh my gosh, ya that's like that's a super happy moment and I'm so blessed and grateful for it but like it's damn awkward


as like the spotlight is too much you all are too nice, I think that's why I haven't had like a huge party since like many years ago like twenty first maybe my next big birthday party will be my thirtieth


eh we need to plan early that's it that that place like it getting booked up super fast


like six months in advance must book already oh my god, I wonder if they still do those big like McDonald's cakes you know the I don't want with all the cast members we will find out


like you know when it used to be twenty five cents


now is twenty five cents is like I always ask my dad then he will give me like fifty cents then like a one dollar then all of us like all the children all the cousins all can go and buy ice cream with these one dollar coin, now you are like one dollar coin can be maybe buying one ice cream right


I think it's ninety five cents now I think I think lah I'm not sure I can't remember already haven't had it in the fond okay if you want a chocolate-coated one maybe not


ya during the circuit breaker ya yours, ya cause it so soothing and I love like decorating the house I don't play the actual game you know I only build the houses


like that's all I do so I just like once I'm done building the house I like gameplay to see if it works and then after that I just like move on to build the next house


okay but this is like what I have been doing right but my ideal like dream way to unwind and relax right is to have like a huge like a mini patio with like hopefully maybe a fireplace


and then it's like semi cold at night then it can like drink like a hot chocolate or wine and then like wrap up in a blanket and like sit there and just chill with people, like just chill with a book !wah! that's like dream


one day, Anime you watch Anime


how did you get Levi how did you get Levi from a japanese cartoon like from japanese shows letter L doesn't even exist in the japanese alphabet


ya cause my name in like japanese is like lauren right like without like caused there is no L, you should go Google it ya I'm surprised it didn't make you want to learn japanese


to japan like many years ago and I couldn't understand the language so we went to this like random eatery that sold Ramen and then the guy was like gesturing to ask and asking us like


which bowl you want then he kept saying like something and then we were like then he showed us like a huge bowl and a small bowl and we were really hungry right so we thought he was asking us if we wanted the big Ramen or small Ramen so we said big like big ramen , then what actually came was like that was our first meal there so we didn't know yet but we what we realize later on that in japanese like restaurants they will serve you know


Ramen and another bowl of rice like a small bowl of like side rice ya like he was asking us if we wanted a big bowl of rice or small bowl of rice , so we ended up with a huge bowl of ramen and a huge bowl of rice then we were like oh shit !oops! we like !oops! we over ordered


, then was like okay now we know now we learnt but it was so funny ya like many years ago after secondary school maybe or poly


I was supposed to go this year like around august actually like around the next couple of months like go to japan and then stop in taiwan on the way, ya but I mean plans change, ya but I guess like is good lah save able to save my money also if not I would have been traveling so much this year


, oh I don't think I have made a comeback that make everybody shut up


, but I can really get sassy if I wanted to


I think there's a problem with comebacks right you have to be like there in the moment for the effect to be in full, oh my dad had a really good one the other day ya, because like so you know how I told you about aaron scraping his leg and stuff right


ya so then he was talking about going running while drinking then my dad were there, I said like why do you drink then go and run then he said I always drink and run then my dad from nowhere right out of nowhere he just, said see that's why you're falling into drains then everybody I laugh for five minutes straight you know I was like


what do you mean, he's totally no like no prompting nothing he just like snap came out one sentence like then I was like !whoa!


no one, I'm not actually a surprised person I'm not very good with surprises


yes I have but, I never really enjoyed them because I don't like this surprised ya so they are I mean like they're very thoughtful gifts and stuff but like, I just cannot like


fully appreciate surprises because it makes me feel very like uneasy you are like anxious that I'm not prepared for this situation


oh my god I can't remember I'm horrible


ya okay yes sorry you wanted to ask, fiji fiji was great actually there's so many eh


ya like fiji there is like one private island that was really good we always loved hawaii so, (mm)


K financial related topic, so we start with the first


okay sure sure, uh Johann why not we go through question one first then we slowly go down according to the list, why not you what do you want to start first uh we just start with the question one first


okay, okay so for my invest okay on my investment strategy I would like to think of myself as a passive investor because uh I'm very new to this so uh because right now I do not have much capital so and I do not have much knowledge about investment so uh I do not want to take unnecessary risks


and then uh that's why I I I start with the passive investment strategies such as uh investing into robo advisors uh right now I'm looking into uh mutual funds or index funds, uh and then uh how do I plan my investment portfolio right now I do not have the necessary knowledge yet and that uh I know that it is important to diversify


that's why uh I I'm doing it via the robo advisor because they do uh for my understanding they do uh, diversification for you they do rebalancing for you so I think that works for me for now and for my investment horizon is definitely for a long term wise probably twenty to thirty years so I I would not be swayed by my emotions to to sell


uh sell when the stocks are not doing well all this and that so ya that that's for me, yes


okay but have you uh, can you just do you mind sharing your current portfolio with me


can I just ask how do you select the stocks (ppc) how do you select uh the stocks that you have invested in and what makes you think that amazon has a strong I mean companies like amazon apple microsoft what is so unique about their business that that enable them this competitive edge against other companies


in the same industry of course


(hmm)


uh okay because uh I'm still young, so I guess my I can still afford to take some risks and then uh I I I read online that there's a formula there's a I wouldn't say it's a formula but I will say is a guidance that you can follow which is hundred minus X


the X is your age and then that that would actually tell you the amount of allocation you can put into equities and stock, eh sorry, equities and bond okay so, I'm currently twenty six years old so hundred minus X is about uh seventy four so I I I mean this this percentage tells you that you know I can actually afford to put more allocation into equities but because I do not have I


I I, I feel that I'm not ready yet and uh, for stock picking or for investing, I I always believe that I need to do my own due diligence and not uh have a herd mentality and then uh I mean that is why you know I I've known some friends that


they invest in things that they don't know, I mean take for example hyflux have you heard of that, so you know people invest, into it because they they thought that it is government backed, okay and that's why you know some of the people who do not have the necessary knowledge they they put in their retirement funds into it


and then something happened to hyflux and they they wouldn't, they couldn't get back their their funds so this is one, , classic example of investing into something that you do not know, and I I I like your analogy that uh you when you invest in something such as you mention about amazon apple or what you do have your


uh where uh you have done your homework you have done your research you know what you want your preferences and uh I particularly resonate with the fact that you would like to invest in companies that have economic moats because I I I I do want that as well and uh do you consider more of yourself as a investor or trader as a trader


I see I see, I see I see I see I know I see I see


I see because uh what I understand uh based on my understanding of what I've read online like uh there's a difference in the strategy in the strategies, being employed for investing and trading so for investing you do uh fundamental analysis and for trading you do technical analysis so


would you mind sharing what's the main difference between these two


I see


K that's good to know that's good to know, uh


I see I see understood, uh I would say that uh if I want to invest okay I I I do not want to


to because, uh for trading right I understand that you need to uh okay I correct me if I'm wrong but uh trading is meant for a more short term purposes right whereas for investing is meant for a long term purposes so uh I I believe I I'm more comfortable with the long term


purposes because I do not want to you know uh check I do not want to check on the on the on the web for the for to look at the graph for technical analysis for trading as you mentioned earlier and then one thing for sure is that if I were to invest I want to be able to sleep at night in peace so


uh I do not think that trading is for me right now, but I I would very much uh I'm very much chained in investing but then investing there are different uh entities that you can go into equities stocks bonds index funds mutual funds they can be used they can be used interchangeably so uh right right now because uh I've yet to secure a job


or I'm starting work soon so I I I'll be uh I'll be getting some capital but uh so right now what I'm doing is that I would like to brush up my knowledge, and then uh hoping that I could tap more into the investment field in the future


but, of course I would I would want to understand more before, getting into something that that that of such sort yes yes


yes I agree but it is also very very hard to, to achieve it I feel because you do know that uh stock market is they tap on the emotions of human beings okay, so the thing is that , everyone wants to buy low and sell high and because of that people tend to time the market


and the thing is that uh, there's a saying that uh time in the market is more important than timing the market, and that nobody is, no but I I do not think that uh one person can tell hundred percent for sure when to enter the market, so I think buy low sell high is actually a very good strategy but it's very very


hard to achieve it, so I would I would rather uh go in at a time that I feel that, it is right and that I'm confident that uh it is the best possible price for me, what about you what what do you think of this strategy


yes yes yes


I see okay understood so how do you okay ya you're saying


understood understood, okay uh I mean uh as a beginner investor myself actually I'm actually doing that so I I I feel that it is a very good strategy it can it can actually eliminate the the emotions that human beings do have when it comes


to uh the stock market because dollar cost averaging, uh in short it allows you to to contribute a fixed amount on a regular intervals, so uh you know when the market is good okay when the the prices are high so you buy lesser shares and then conversely if the market if the market is not doing that well


you get to buy more shares so uh I I feel that it's good because uh it actually, uh doesn't require me to to think so much you see to to how much I'm supposed to put in all this and that I I believe, uh at least for me consistency is key


in investing okay what about yourself


yes yes yes yes, understood


understood understood, I under are you still because uh right are you invest are you doing any dollar cost averaging right now, okay


I see I see but


I see so err, may I know what robo advisor are you using right now, uh are you considering other platforms,


uh I'm looking into syfe they uh have you heard of the company have you heard of the robo advisor, uh okay so they invest uh in REITS, real estate investment trust so uh I I feel that it is a interesting field, but you know because of this COVID situation that uh working from home is a new norm so I'm not so sure whether uh commercial spaces industrial spaces will will be as good as before so uh I I'm interested in looking into that but whether I'll put my money into it


that's another issue, and then uh they recently come up with another profile another portfolio is actually called uh uh consist of hundred percent equities so uh they they track the index like how like STI or like uh S&P five hundred so I I I feel that uh it is good for beginners if they want to get exposed to


uh you know to equities to US markets all this and that, so I I I I'm actually thinking about that but, uh before I do my due diligence I will not, err, put in it put any money in for now


yes yes , uh okay because uh I I don't track the I don't track the S&P five hundred market or the STI so I can't really comment much what about you


(ppl), [a'ah] I see I see


negative experiences, okay err


okay because I I I would say that I have high expectations of myself, so not being able to meet my expectation not being able to meet my expectation is something that frustrates me or sometimes when you do know that human beings are greedy


and that once you have reached your goals you always want to achieve more so I I feel that uh uh this is frustrating for me because uh you know when I first set up a goal, and when I achieve it I don't


I I, I I don't think that I was as, happy or, or elated as I think I am, and I always want I always want more, do you do you get what I'm trying to say, yeah I do I do uh


yes for example uh in because uh, let's say university okay let's say I I always strive to, to have the best grades or whatsoever and then I will put in the necessary effort, okay so uh when I actually achieve


achieve the target that I set for myself, I I I wasn't happy I I I wouldn't say I wasn't happy I will just say that, I I wasn't as happy as I thought I would be, if given the amount of effort that I have invested into it


so that actually frustrates me, but then you know there are always, two sides to a matter, to to how you look at things so one way it it is frustrating to me another way you can look at it is that uh I always strive to be better and that uh I always have a goal that that drives me that motivates me


so it depends on how you look at it, yes yes yes yes yes yes


yes yes yes yes, yes yes yes do you have similar experiences, I see I see


that's good to know,


I see, , I see that's good to know that's good to know, did you ever encounter a negative setback, if yes how do you overcome it


oh


ah, I see


so, so so, yes yes yes yes yes


yes I totally, uh I do have I do have uh, but I probably not as as bad as you I will think because I I cannot imagine


how you must have felt when you felt betrayed I mean when you were betrayed and I think that it is a very mature response from you, from trying to think from another perspective, you know try to understand what the person I mean the rationale behind what the person has done so yes I'm actually very very


proud of you as a friend to to have this, mature response so for me is that uh when I was actually, taking my license okay because I I do have a very, err, I do not gauge the traffic light very well


uh you know when you drive when you are pro when you are approaching a traffic light there are three arrows right, okay not all not all the traffic lights but uh on some traffic lights you will notice that there will be three arrows leading up to the traffic light itself so while I was driving because uh it was a


saturday morning the traffic was bad, and you know people people can be , they can be uh they can how should I put it, they are very annoyed and then they are impatient drivers yes that's the word so uh because


I was still not very comfortable in my driving and then uh I didn't gauge the traffic light well, and, I the the traffic light turned yellow, so when I was about to, to, I was actually at the second or third arrow


and I wanted to s you know just I stepped on the accelerator and wanted to go through, thankfully the, the instructor beside me he stepped onto the break, okay and then the car came to a sudden stop, and then I could actually smell the the tire screeched the the s the smell of it so it was actually a very bad experience for me and after the uh after the lesson I was told by the instructor to take a break you know


because he felt that I wasn't in a very good state I mean nothing happened to me as in I wasn't faced with an issue or whatsoever I just, don't feel comfortable, in driving then, so uh I was told about that and I was up


I was very disappointed and upset, because uh, hearing from an instructor, to to say such things, , I don't know how to put it it just I just felt very demoralised, especially when the test date was about one or two months away


so err, I uh uh thankfully I have I had a friend that I can, err, to to tell this story to you know so that I I I wasn't alone I I wouldn't feel alone, and


what I did is that I I brushed it I didn't brush it off but I tend to look at the bright side and that, think that okay uh, today is just a bad day is not a bad life it doesn't mean that my driving is bad, I will just take a break as instructed use this time to


to to, to you know err, calm myself down analyse what I've done wrong, and then, I'll go again you know, and then eventually I managed to pass my license, on the first try, so uh I I mean like if you were to ask for


one of the happiest moments of my life will be that I actually pass my, driving on the first try I mean uh it is something that that is hard for me personally, and I'm I'm actually very proud of that I mean I'm proud of myself proud of


my achievement and I couldn't agree more with what you have said like you cannot control what happen to you but what you can control is your emotions to the matter itself and that if you are pessimistic, you know if you choose to, have some self pity you're just going to spiral down emotionally you know


and and it's just going to make matters worse so, I think it takes a very mature mindset to to come out and say alright toss it off, come back stronger I think that's a very, admirable trait yes yeah that's that's my story


yeah, , yes yes yes yes yes


yes yes yes, yes , , yes yes yes yes


yes yes yes yes yes yes (mmhmm) uh agree agree okay so


uh yes I do have I have a phobia of height so uh so you know uh whenever, there's a there's a team bonding session, or you know sometimes when we go out with our friends they want to go to a theme park or whatsoever I mean I I will I will say that I'll give it a pass I mean it sounds like a bummer but the thing is that uh I'm just not comfortable with taking like roller coasters all this and that yes as in uh


I mean I I mean, I should try to deal with it but, I I don't see the need to for now at least, yeah what about yourself sorry, not really I I guess it was just uh


it was just innate yes, ya what about you do you have any phobia, rats what happen why though did something happened okay


, oh


, K oh okay okay okay okay okay okay okay


yes , K a'ah


a'ah, , so is is the same rat is it,


ah okay okay, okay okay, oh no


that must have been terrible , oh okay


okay like we just we have two minutes left just I just want to ask you this question real quick so in this post COVID world so uh do you have any worries or anxieties that you might you may face, okay


yes yes yes, so like okay, yes so okay, okay


going forward right other than the digitalisation effort by the government do you think that that more can be done, to improve this situation,


I agree, but I I guess singaporean should be thankful that we have a strong government support to actually help us through this tough period


positive experiences, yeah, what makes you want to be alive okay err


I would think that err, in life it is short and then err, for me it's just about accomplishing, things and, having a purpose okay so, uh for me what I want to do is that


cause now I'm entering work soon, okay so uh with the money that I'll be earning, I I'll I'll be looking for the next, next next step in life which is to start a family, okay so I mean having purposes having goals


is something that that keep me alive and, to look forward to, and then to achieving it and then from there, uh, hopefully I can build more purposes and, uh live my life to the fullest and leave no regrets, what about you my purpose in life


okay uh as cliche as it might sound, I just want to make a, I would like to make a positive contribution, okay uh okay because uh I'll be starting work soon as a prison officer, uh so this job I feel that it is not common at all and that uh why why I I I choose this route even though it's uncommon


because I feel that there's a stigma attached, to, convicts or ex offenders, people are not willing to I I feel that the society, they most of the people they are they are not willing to, to to give them a chance and then


I I believe it is unfair and that they have actually paid their bills the dues, and it is our responsibility to actually destigmatise this you see, so I'm actually uh quite I'm a little afraid of going into this job because


like I say it's very uncommon and uh I'll be working in a very different environment, but I I guess with this purpose that I want to make a positive contribution, to these uh to the lives of these ex offenders and the societies, I believe it will it will actually put me through and give me the drive to do so


yeah ya , yeah what about yourself what what what makes you want to be alive ,


yes yes,


I see I see but uh, can I just ask if you are, would, do you do anything recently to, or to, improve your life to make you more to make you feel more alive,


nice nice so you do you do speak to a group of people what do you speak to them about, okay


I see, I see, , that's good do you have this experience when you were a freshie


oh that's good that's good


nice, so ya ya in other words you're just giving back what you have received, nice nice nice nice


okay err, a skill or a ability that I'm secretly proud of having, uh okay let me think on that I mean can I just okay I feel that


uh okay because I play soccer and then uh, I I would like to think that I'm a very I'm very fast ya so I I think that's a uh I've been I did not have much training on that I mean it just come naturally to me so


I would think it's a blessing, so yeah I I guess it is something that I'm actually I'm secretly proud of because I I did not have to really work on it but but then uh with with that said I I'm not doing, anything to jeopardise on it


because uh I have been watching my diets I've been exercising I have been building on the necessary muscles all this and that so, yeah I'm actually quite blessed that I'm actually have I have this ability, what about yourself so


yes yes because uh I mean I'm twenty six right now so when I do when I play soccer I do have people commenting on my speed and then uh they were shocked that I'm actually much older than them so and I'm actually faster so I I guess it's a it's a good thing but uh


I shouldn't be complacent yes yes, how about yourself would


I see you said that you are you are you are self aware right and it is something that you are proud of so would you consider yourself as a sensitive person because you are self aware, uh uh yes sensitive, cause I do share the


okay because I I I do share the same, I I believe that I do share the same trait as you as beings I wouldn't say self aware but the thing is that I can read people's language I am, more tactful because uh I'm worried that I might hurt their feelings I I I I tend to be more courteous in the way I speak


because yes uh I would consider myself, sensitive that manner, but the thing is that uh because of, that issue sometimes uh you might interpret people's messages wrongly, and that could have a negative impact on you so uh do you have the same thing do you do you share the same


as well okay I see okay


okay that's very good to know, so uh can I just ask you what leads you to experience an adrenaline rush,


yes yes oh okay , nice nice okay


so did you en do you do you encounter that sort of adrenaline rush when you are playing football as well,


, , so you do not experience this sort of adrenaline adrenaline rush before the game, I see


because I'll I'll I'll it been okay you were saying, , I mean I I agree that uh because we are both manchester united fan and I do feel like that kind of adrenaline rush but uh if there's something that I don't I don't disagree completely is that uh I'm not as composed as you


and I do feel the sort of adrenaline rush uh when I'm playing soccer and it is something that I can work on because composure is actually very important with both, so do you have any recommend like advice on how to work on it, I see I see nice


okay okay that's good that's good that's good to hear, so what is your proudest uh sorry okay, okay


okay uh I okay because of this COVID situation okay uh we were un my girlfriend and I we were unable to travel to taiwan for our grad for gra for our graduation trip, and then uh so the last time that I travelled was in january uh my girlfriend and I travelled to Krabi to celebrate my birthday so


what left me in awe was that uh she plan an entire day of activities on my birthday, and because it is a for it we were in a foreign land, and it definitely , uh she she had she had more difficulties because of the language barrier because of


uh her familiarity with the place, so uh I I'm very amazed that uh because she she plan and, a trip to to a elephant sanctuary, which is rare because uh we don't have that in I I believe we don't have that in singapore so uh we were we were actually uh allowed to to have close contacts with the elephants we made foods for them we showered them and then uh I I I feel that it is is is a very refreshing experience


so yeah I mean yes yes yes so , uh I'm actually very impressed at how my girlfriend managed to, to do all these I and and uh besides that we we had a awesome authentic thai meal so


uh to cap it off I think that's a very good experience, Krabi thailand yes yes yes


uh I do plan to travel but the thing is that because uh we are uh my girlfriend has started work and I'm going to start work in, I'm going to start work soon so we'll have our restrictions because you see uh when we were studying there was this semester, semester break there was a sem there were semester breaks which lasted for three months you know so you could actually


, plan for a longer holiday, but the thing is that when you are working when you are a working adult, you are restricted to a number of uh leaves that you are entitled to get, so I guess err, yes we do plan but the thing is that we need to work around our schedules


what about you do you like to travel do you like to travel


how long were you there for I see ah


I guess it's a very different getaway because uh you are away from the city you know away from all the noises, all this and that and like uh you get to enjoy the serenity like you mentioned I think uh at least it's something that I I I look forward in a


in a travel because you know people they they they do have preferences when they go overseas they like to shop they like to, travel they like to go to the, tourist attractions all this and that but you know I think it's good to it's good for a change you get to enjoy the


yes the serenity all this and that, yes


yes yes yes, uh okay so , I, I would prefer a beach getaway or something away from the city state because you know uh


things are so fast paced in singapore, and that , uh and because of our hectic schedules, I I feel that it is good to, to take a break from all the noises from all the crowd all the people


sometime, so for now if you were to ask for my, if you were to ask for my ideal travel destination or, or preferences I would say, probably like uh like a resort or or something similar to that


, uh it depends it depends uh, mountains uh I do like because uh I I mean after the hike you get to enjoy the the great sceneries all this and that but then sometimes you do have to take note of the the risks involved as well


so I guess there's always a balance you see, yes how about yourself,


I see I see do, nice


okay do you had


do you have the necessary gears for hiking, ah I see I see I see I see I see


true true understood


okay, ya correct where's the question, any question is it


sure, yes can, uh my investment strategy is basically I would like to set aside twenty five per cent of my income every month to do investment but I will wait for the right opportunity to invest I wouldn't invest immediately when my pay comes my investment strategy is when I would like to buy when it's low


and sell when it's high and I do intend to have a long term investment plan so the investment plan will be for at least five to twenty years, and I would definitely sell when uh the the market is uh hard


ya so, yes that's for me, what about you


, uh so for me how do I plan and my investment portfolios I do intend to set aside different percentages in different markets I do plan to put about fifty percent of my investment portfolio in the US market


and another forty percent thirty to forty percent in chinese market and the last ten to twenty percent in the singapore market


ya so I have quite a lot of investments in in the US market I do I I select the top few companies that I would like to invest in ones that have economic moat and economic mode really what it means is that it has an advantage over


other companies for exam for example uh one example is like amazon I think it is a company that has the economic moat the economic strength that other companies are not able to overtake as easily because they dominate the the in in their field of uh business


uh other companies like also apple and google uh these are some of the US companies that I invest in, I also invest in some chinese companies such as tencent a gaming company uh alibaba, yeah and I also do invest in some of the ETFs ETFs that cover NASDAQ one hundred and for chinese is KWEB I have yet to invest in it because I have I have not started work but I do plan to in the near future


uh , part of it is uh based on my own preferences uh and and also what company I like, but the other part is also looking at the the graphs looking at how the company has performed over the years


and if I see that they have like a higher potential to go new highs in in their in their in the market I would uh intend to invest in it and also base have a very basic fundamental lookout of what they are doing, and look at the competitors that they have for example like amazon we have


uh competitors like uh the other delivery services and all, ya apple we have other competitors like samsung other phones but personally for me I I also look at preferences on what companies I I like and and then I decide to invest in it yes so for yourself ben uh


what what do you plan to uh what is your risk appetite when it comes to investing and trading


I would say I my long term goal is to see myself more as an investor, but recently as I I picked up I picked up trading and trading is more of like a side hobby for me uh and yeah it's something new that I learn because I can I found a platform where I can easily trade with small amounts of money as low as fifty dollars USD


and and I do plan to keep it for long term but I my trading strategy is that uh if it's at a positive value if it's at a profit I will set a trailing stop loss and a trailing stop loss, follows my profits and that means I will never I will never lose money and even if the company suddenly drops in market value the the platform will sell these trades for me so in a sense uh


my tradings will always do well if if it's something that at a starting platform it will it starts to do well and show profit already of course there are some stocks also that uh I didn't do well in for example I I made a few good trades in airline stocks uh


for US airline stocks uh then after that I traded in again but, uh the I made a mistake where it it went down so currently now I'm holding it I I'm in a negative value and I've not sold these negative assets yet I'm waiting for a right time where these trades will one day go up again when the investors are more positive towards investing in uh for example airlines


and cruise even cruise lines in the US, ,


fundamental analysis looks at the intrinsic value of the company calculations your own calculations on how the potential market value of this company can be in the future so I I don't do any


fundamental analysis where I calculate the intric intrinsic values but I look at certain key areas that I feel that are potential for the company to continue to grow in, and for trading there are trading options of looking at technical analysis this is where you look at you use different analysis to look at how the stock is doing based on a daily graph or a weekly graph


and I do look at it uh when I do certain trades for example if I start to see a peak drop, a sudden peak drop out of in a week or even in a month, I would do consider to trade it and for example I I I saw uh a big drop in the airlines and cruise liners ever since the the COVID uh nineteen and there was a crash in the market in march


and it all it hit all time lows and that's where I decided to trade in it and not and not long after it it surged up and the the value uh almost, uh going up by twenty to even fifty percent ya so I would say these are some of the differences


uh between fundamental analysis and technical analysis where you look at the graph alone you don't look at what you are investing in but you look at how the the company's performing but fundamental analysis looks at the the kind of company that you are investing in the


the nature of the company, , yup so for yourself uh, do you plan to do do you perform fundamental analysis or technical analysis


do you agree with the strategy of buying low and selling high


I do somewhat agree with uh your sentiments about how we should invest to have time in the market rather than timing the market but in the long term sense I do feel that time in the market is a better strategy but


on what on when to buy I think on our side as a investor we can have certain level of control on when to time the market and when to invest in for example uh knowing that there is a lot of speculation, about the incoming crash and possibly if on hindsight looking back you could see that indeed the market crash because of the COVID nineteen I think it is important to actually wait it out to actually


uh not invest in when the markets when the for example if we compare the S&P five hundred with the ETF is a index to it that reviews the top five hundred companies in US, before COVID nineteen in february the S&P five hundred was peaking and we we did not see any movement


and and in march twenty third we saw that the market crash and indeed we can start to see that there is a a large dip so for me I think that uh whether I it is difficult to hit the rock bottom the rock bottom of a market crash


but along the way I think it's a good strategy to buy low at each time it falls it's a good strategy to to put in some money and invest in it, and definitely you cannot time the per market perfectly but there is still possibility of timing the market to some extent to help you still uh invest in an asset that has a cheaper value but all in all I still do think that long term investing


having uh your investments in the market for a longer time especially with a good company will pay off their best, yeah but , ya but I think if you buy you if you buy a stock or you invest in a company that is not a good company to invest in the the longer time in the market might not be useful so it it really depends on what kind of company that you buy


so, uh what what are your thoughts about dollar cost averaging


yes , I agree I think that dollar cost averaging in a good strategy because it doesn't require you to to wait and sometimes on your part when you try to time the market many times


people make mistakes people are waiting for a crash but a crash never happen and then they they out of emotions they start to see that everyone is going onboard investing and then they invest in it and realised after that there is a crash, so dollar cost averaging avoids this where human mistakes can happen and on an average dollar cost averaging I would think would be very beneficial only in the very long term you start to see good results


at least in two five years time but if you are doing a a trade if you are planning to invest in something for over just a year I wouldn't suggest that dollar cost averaging is the best strategy


yup I as as to start out investing I also did try the robo investing a bit and so I have a bit of uh monthly uh, investments that dollar cost averaging that does the the robo investment uh takes a bit of money from me every month to invest in it yes and ya so so I am also doing that method and I'm testing it out as well


oh I'm using stashaway as uh the app, uh I'm not considering other robo investment platforms uh for robo investing I only uh choose stashaway recently also because another local robo investment company actually closed down in singapore


and because it is a very competitive market so I am not very keen to trying out other robo investment platforms what about you, no no


okay in REITS I see,


I see,


okay, in the last uh twenty seconds ben why don't you share what's your comment about the recent performance of the stock market


[oh] I think it's (uh) going back it's starting to to go back again to where it was once was before the COVID, yup okay alright thank you for the


yes, yes this is a more solemn topic, we can start with the first question, uh what frustrates you ben


, !wow! yeah so so do you actually set very high expectations on yourself


yeah I think it's very real it's very normal as all of us are students as men that we set achievements for ourselves cause it helps us to feel good also and sometimes it frustrates us because maybe these goals are


set to highly and maybe unreasonably as well so I think it's important to, set a reasonable target for yourself it's good to have target but when when it it when it's uh overly unachievable target we it will have we will face uh the frustration of not achieving it as well


, K ah uh but I I do I learn my lesson to not set to like high expectations for myself uh knowing that actually doing my best is what matters


of course uh I do still feel frustrated at times when I'm not able to meet the expectations of others, K ah but what really frustrates me is actually when I see uh irresponsibility uh I would say I'm a I I I see myself as a responsible person


hence I I do have that similar expectations on other people as well and I think that when others are irresponsible with with what they are assigned to uh be it at work or something given to them that is something I do feel frustrated with


cause I I believe all of us are should be responsible people and it speaks a lot about ourselves as a person whether we are responsible or not so I think responsibility is one of the fundamental traits I see


that is important in in anybody and if someone does not have that that might be uh that that will be definitely frustrating for me,


a negative setback yeah I in life I think we we face it all the time uh I think there are many negative setbacks I've experienced but one would probably be when, when I was really young I think that was the first major setback I experienced as a secondary school kid and that was when I was betrayed by my very good friend ya I think while we were still pretty immature and young at that time


uh this friend betrayed me by uh telling my other friends that I was like a jerk you know yeah funny thing it was very is very cute looking on hindsight because, this friend we we actually we actually like the same girl, ya so this person was a bit jealous


this person was a bit jealous of me so we were four good friends and this person told my other two friends that I was a jerk try to avoid me things like that so that cause about the six months or even eight months to a year of of a conflict yeah but how I really overcame it is is I try to look on the bright side uh there are many times


I had anger uh and, unforgiveness towards him but I also try to understand where he's coming from, uh as as a kid I knew his his background I knew hes he shared with me how his parents, has treated him and all and I think also it's not easy for him coming from a single fam single parent family and uh and on the difficulties his his uh even his single parent set on him so it allowed me to understand him better


better so from there I was able to learn to let let this setback go learn to uh forgive, forgive him yup and in I think this, this act of letting go actually paid off in the end because, much much later after this setback uh this friend came came to me to apologise to me and and we made amends ya and we could start afresh as as friends so so I think in life for me we we all face negative setbacks


uh but our reaction to it will will affect the outcome and so, so whatever may come can be negative if our reaction is negative but what we do about it matters and we are in control of our emotions we can we can have a outlet to express this uh emotions but definitely


the consequence there is consequence to our emotions if you choose to react in a mature way that will definitely be more positive outcomes about it ya so in life I think that's a rule uh what about you do you have similar, experiences


, !wow! !wow!


oh,


!wow!


K,


yeah, I think that's nice I'm glad to know that you manage to overcome that setback and it must be difficult because the instructor was someone that you looked up to and just being so close to the test as well that must have been quite demoralising but


I'm glad that you overcame it and in fact, on the bright side it happen only in the training in the lesson and not on the actual test and you were still able to pass it on the first test that's very good because most people actually a lot of my friends fail I have some friends who also have to do the test three times in order to get their license


so yes driving is not easy and I'm glad that there there was something you experienced you go through and yeah I I I liked that you also agree that, that ya is what we how we react to situations that matters


and of course there are times where I understand some people might go through more difficulties than others uh some people might go through depression some people might go through uh certain setbacks and and uh have find it hard to overcome it and I but I do feel that every person that goes through these challenges


whether they have uh go through a long time of anguish, of of pain in the end of the day I think it's it allowed at the end of the day there is still light in the end of the tunnel I think that, that that person even through such a setback is able to find themself


at least know themselves and overcome it I think that's why you see a lot of people who have gone through really tough challenges they really they really are good listeners they really empathise with others and so I believe whatever you go through it it it helps to build you and it will be useful


for you in the future be it whether you are, encouraging a friend or even go facing greater life setbacks your the the the previous smaller setbacks helped you to overcome the greater setbacks, yup


so maybe you can share ben do you have any phobias, yes


oh


do you have a negative experience that cause that phobia, , uh for me yes I think I have a phobia I have like a little fear of rats ya ya rats I'm quite scared of them even in fact like small little like hamsters I will also try to avoid them


yeah but definitely rats rats I think they are they're even more, rodents in general are those that are street rats this kind that that stay in the drain or or even mice, things like that that I still see around in my place, and rats are scary because I had a negative experience because


when I was much younger in secondary school I stayed in in a in a terrace home ya but one one day we found there was there was a rat in our back yard yeah and how we found it was because the rat actually climb into


through the window, and into into the room and my mum actually saw it, climbing up, the bookshelves yes, so it was very creepy so so which we find out we lock the door we kept tapping the door to make it go climb out back the window again so eventually it did and it and we sealed up all the windows so he stayed in the backyard


ya but we had a hard time catching this rat because and we had bad encounters with this rat because overnight we this rat couldn't get out of the house cause he was in the backyard in my backyard it was covered with four, four walls so we had no idea how this rat ended up there and but it was it was stuck there it it tried many ways to get out so uh leading to this from my home to this backyard is actually a wooden door and in the middle of the night this rat will actually try to bite


through the wooden door to try to get out, so in the morning one morning we saw a lot of the wooden scrapes, of the door bitten off, so my door is almost uh it is like a little bit of its is eaten so the the rat was trying to to bite its way out so you can imagine how how gross it was and and


many times in in the middle of the in in at night when I when I wanted just to see where the rat was I remember just looking out of the the window and I saw the rat was actually just behind the wall it was waiting just at the door again where uh because behind of my backyard there is also an outdoor like a cooking stove


yeah so it was where the cooking stove was, so you can imagine this is very gross how do dirty it is with our kitchen area as well so that I was really glad one day we were able to, to catch it because my dad like uh put put a cage and and we and we caught it by putting some food in the cage and that the the the cage caught it and then we we drowned it to kill it


it's the same rat yeah there was one rat ya then we we we had a storeroom in the backyard also so once the rat was killed we just went to see how the the the bag the storeroom was and we realised a lot of things in our storeroom they were bitten so we kept a lot of


christmas ornaments inside there and some of the christmas decorations are like fake fruits okay fake like cherries things like that, and we saw that all these fake cherries were even bitten off they were like chewed at all all over the floor because this rat thought it was food


ya so so so so, it was extremely disgusting and so I'm glad that so sometimes when I see at a HDB flat where I walk around there are suddenly rat then I sometimes I would just jolt and and jump and and


maybe exclaim a small scream , I guess some worries and anxieties is about uh uh having uh losing a stable income I think I'm starting work soon I'm glad to have the opportunity uh from for for for a job ya but I think the some of the worries is uh also


how it might affect others in many industry uh many industries especially the tourism industries I think this fear I have even for others uh I am glad to have a job also but I think the fears of, of a lot unemployment everywhere uh we start to see a lot of hospitality areas uh flights not happening resort world singapore are planning to retrench many people


uh I I start to imagine also uh the the city in bali I I I went there a couple of times for holiday before literally the whole city is, is relying on tourism to feed its uh jobs, so you can imagine a lot of people yup yeah who are it will be very difficult for them so so this is something that


I guess maybe I'm a bit like sad and and, uh fearful about and how, it will affect uh even my family uh and my friends as well


I I am glad the our government has done a lot uh they have created a lot, job schemes and and all but I think yes more can be done to actually support the elderly who who might not be able to be old enough uh young enough in rather to actually work


ya cause many elderly in their eighties are still working as even cleaners and all so it's a little sad to see that and I hope that more can be done for them actually,


ya I agree ya but I think more can be done definitely yes (ppl) alright we are done


alright, yes uh ben can I ask you first what makes you want to be alive,


what is your purpose, yes


that's nice to know that you have a passion for this group of people and that you are working in a field that can impact them


uh for me I think there there is uh many things to look forward to as uh and especially new experiences so that that is what I I guess can have a hope for to to look forward to every day knowing that you can continue to make a difference to someone's life


and also new things that you can experience a new job uh the feeling of what it's like to to start a family to get married uh the feeling of what is like to to see maybe your long term investments , uh come alive ya doing well and and definitely also I think there's a lot of things that I I do intend to do and but have not tried for example travelling


going overseas ya all these things all these things in I've as a twenty five year old I feel that I've yet to experience and I do look forward to doing them one day through the years,


I think I do what I'm passionate about uh and, recently not more alive because uh because of COVID there are a lot of restrictions I'm stuck at home so I'm still doing a lot of things that I've done previously but I still enjoy for example uh volunteer doing volunteering work leading a group of younger people in my church where I speak to them and and try to impact them in a positive way


uh, a lot of them are in university level so as a uni recent uni graduate I do speak with them to try to nurture them and journey with them through their university years especially when they are freshie and they are in the first year in university


they might be wondering uh what was going on so so at least I'm there to also guide them along in their education and also guide them along in, in their own uh in their own life in general uh in their well being well being yes


ya when I was a freshie I had someone who recently graduated guide me as well uh on top of that not just in university topics but also in relationships where that's where I got into uh my first relationship and I think that's where I had a lot of


uh mentorship and guidance from from this person because this person had experience in it so yes that's that's why I, decided to to stay back as well because I was blessed with with, mentor


yes also ya wanting desiring to give back, ya so, ben if I can ask you another question what is a skill or an ability that you secretly in and proud of having


ya but this ability comes through your hard work of of discipline of your diet and of of also training a lot that's why to lead you need to give you this speed in soccer right,


ah okay interesting, okay (hmm) , ya secretly proud of having is probably uh being self aware I feel that I can be more self aware than others that that meaning to say that I'm also being able to to read others


well cause I I think that I can I'm good with, I'm a visual person and I think I'm good with reading others, uh in their body language in in knowing how they feel yeah based on how they react so this is something that I think I'm better than others not the best but ya but I think I'm happy to have it because it helps me to interact with others it helps me to


to in my daily life, in general cause we are social beings and we we interact with people all the time be it with family or at work,


assertive is it, oh sensitive sensitive person, a little okay


a'ah


, understand , with with the definition of sensitive that you shared I think not really uh I think I'm more of a of a direct person


yup so being self aware is also knowing myself, yeah knowing what I'm feeling trying to compartmentalise things logically and and based on emotions as well so I I think in this regard is another area of


self awareness and on on top of that yes I think also being aware of others as well and how they feel yup,


I think what really makes me is when I'm actually watching football right when I I when I'm supporting uh my favourite soccer team manchester united and in the moments before they score a goal I think and especially after they score a goal


there's that adrenaline of joy adrenaline of excitement and I mean sometimes when when in a in a big game and they lose also there is an adrenaline of, of anger in a sense uh adrenaline of disappointment ya that is so it's a it's a rush I would say it's a adrenaline of emotions uh whenever I'm supporting my favorite team for soccer


yeah, uh, yup uh when I do when when I score I I think I I do do enjoy it yeah but some, sometimes uh I I would say I'm more more of a composed person when I'm playing soccer and


actually uh the adrenaline is more when I'm watching, when I'm watching my favourite team play, uh the adrenaline does not come as strong as I would say watching soccer


yup so I mean yup, yeah I think definitely if it's a big game like a finals yes definitely I would feel that adrenaline yeah what about you ben


uh composure in football uh one thing it's experience, another thing is also training in your feet in training to be quick feet uh so do you do a lot of uh juggling movements you do a lot of shuffling shuffling before uh shuffling movements ya so this helps to train your balance ah and it helps you to


to have a good foothold so that you when when the opponent comes when you're being tackled soon you are quick feet and and quick to move, ya to avoid making mistakes so in the sense this this helps in composure I would say and it builds up your confidence so it's very important to be quick feet to do all the leg shuffling movements uh when it comes to football


yup , I'm interested to find out about you uh ben like uh, I would what's the travelling experience that you that left you in awe


!wow!


!wow! that sounds amazing yeah


oh which country was this again Krabi thailand oh, you must miss traveling now that the uh do you plan to travel once things start to settle down


, okay that's great for sorry


yeah yeah I I do love to travel uh one of the, best trips I had was actually going to nearby in one of the indonesian islands Bintan and then and uh with a couple of friends and my friend actually booked for us a stay at a resort and this resort is very special because


this resort is is on a beach and and literally, our hotel rooms are not the ones usual hotel rooms, you see in a resort with buildings and all but we were staying in like huts, little huts that were made from bamboo wooden and and straws


and and they were just by next to the beach so it was a very run down but really great kind of resort as well cause it was very simple and but yet we had the hotel hospitality from the hotel as well that cooked our meals


it was a small kitchen that cooked our meals so so we were familiar and we we could uh expose ourselves to local food as well, and that was a holiday where we were at the just right next to the beach, so he being able to hear the coming breeze of the ocean uh just laying down at the beachside in in a hut and and hearing the waves and doing some water sports I I I remembered then it was one of the very serene and calm uh but really enjoyable


uh holidays I ever had ya, I was there for almost six days five days so so we did a lot of water sports and and of course it was a good time of bonding among our friends it was it was like a post NS trip ya so after my NS so it was an ordinary trip that


that really really made uh ending NS even better , yup,


yeah yup, yeah I I agree with you because there are different activities that actually people like in their holidays some actually feel that uh certain activities like shopping and all are more something that is more unwinding and relaxing so so maybe you can share with us like what is your ideal uh activity to unwind and relax


yeah


okay so are you uh more of a beach person rather than the mountains,


yeah I I think I would say I'm more of, when it depends on the kind of holiday when I'm more or just wanting to not move wanting to really lie down and rest a beach holiday would be ideal but if I am full of energy and I want to do exploring


then I would say a mountain kind of hike would be the best ah and I'm thankful and blessed to have such opportunities of seeing being able to experience both beach holidays and even, uh climbing up a mountain ya bonding up with bonding with some friends even and exploring the the nature appreciating the nature animals while hiking up the mountain and lastly of course seeing uh the the beautiful view


and and and seeing the view at at the end of the hike and knowing that that your efforts hours of climbing up is is worth it, uh no I I do not have those like I know they're they're so special


uh shoe the boots and also the hiking gear yeah but I've thought, uh in me my holidays I've not chosen those trips where they requires a lot of uh maybe bouldering or or something too dangerous ya and it's a bit troublesome to be also bringing this along with you on the trip


yup, (mm) okay


part one financial related topic, hi karen , just want to know like how much you know about like investment or like what do you know about trading and all that


so like have your friends know that does meeting that trading like uh maybe stocks and all that, okay


uh yeah yeah actually I'm currently taking a course on it lah so just want to know like what's your your opinion on on trading like


, definitely uh I feel that like trading right you definitely need to have I think certain fundamentals or knowledge of it otherwise like uh the risk management and all that you'll be difficult to handle and it's like uh probably you don't even know what you are you are investing on so when a


people uh or people saying this uh stock is good for trades you know now it's uh it's low it's time to buy but if let's say you don't even know the fundamentals of it or what's going on in news and just trades speculations and just uh juggling into the trades I think that's very dangerous


and the fact that it's not just that it's the amount that you're trading as well like will will it be amount that, it's your savings or it's your main source of income, or is it uh just a side side income that you able to just uh lose it at the end of day ya that's why I felt uh maybe trading is for some people it's similar to gambling


but the fact is that if let's say you would know how to trade you know how to mitigate your risk and how to assess the situation I think is is quite a good to do it yeah but of course probably need to have some knowledge and experiences before jumping into maybe a live account yeah


but of course with with much work being done , there will still be people losing money lah, like you know like uh they will have uh you know I am been investing this and and apparently so our friends right they they don't even have much knowledge and experiences but then they tend to speculate and they has been making money so again it's two sides of a coin lah


ya so if let's say now I will give you a a let's say a ten thousand dollar account of anything anything that you can do what would you do with it,


(mmhmm)


, , okay so so I would say let's say you you say you have a financial consultant friend right who's able to assist you and uh with her advices would you just willing to throw all the money to it or probably a partial or maybe you have to see what you're interested in and all that


, (mmhmm)


yeah


definitely I think uh it's quite interestingly because uh I I used to have this talk with my friends whereby we mentioned about oh you know what if you you you you strike a four D or lottery you know you have this money now what will you do so some say they will spend money on here and there their expenses right and some says they will buy a house and all that I mean it's good to have


plan but probably what they say about diversify a portfolio so what I've heard about in this podcast recently I heard that he mentions that by having people buying different top of the stocks, let's say you buy stocks you buy bonds you buy equity all that right by doing that is not actually uh diversify your three or eight right so what happen is that what if the market crash technically all these could have crashed


ya so with that right it's not it's still putting all eggs in one basket so this person is is like actually he's a FOREX trader so what he mention is part, uh quite interesting is that he says that he do stocks he do trading FX trading okay and he he he have this currency like cash currency on hands it is about looking and he have this shares in these raw materials company


so happened to said that if let say market were to crash, okay say uh stocks crash but then he throw materials his cash on hand still sustain his uh survivability for the next maybe one or two years which he can uh sustain for a while ya which I I think is pretty interesting in terms of


how to do your investment or your your your your diversify your portfolio per se, ya correct


, for me ah personally right cause I am not very super knowledgeable about this investment stuff but practically I will get a house or two, okay then uh probably I would invest a house then uh maybe with my current house that I have probably loan out


to to have disposable income for rental uh returns with that as well maybe also uh invest in some stocks and tradings, and on the sideline if possible uh operates some business able to generate passive incomes and not one with the high assets right means one that able to maybe E commerce business that don't require a lot of capital so that the returns would be much higher as well


yeah then the rest for me to enjoy lah , ya what about you what about you let's say you have one million, yeah


okay question say you have the one million you have uh maybe a spare cash of twenty or thirty thousand dollar cash right would you put in your CPF, okay but if let's say if like you know you know about the basic retirement


right the fact that if you hit the basic retirement or let's say to have more gains after maybe sixty five seventy five they they would generate a substantial amount every month to you I mean that is a long term gain and the fact that the percentage in CPF I believe is much higher than any banks out there right now


, yeah yeah yeah


, yup


understand understand


so now if ya so now if let say your friend want to come to use okay I got this uh this uh stock right and currently it's a very low market right now all right uh but then , this is supposed to put on a long term based need to say it's for the short term gain and all that right so


so will you be keen doing so or what are the question that you ask him first for this uh thing that he proposed to you, (mmhmm)


, yup yup okay


, so I I believe what you mention on what I also the the learn recently is that I watch of these video right the one they recommended me they mentioned the what what is money to you alright what is uh the the sign of like money currency to you so if let's say I will ask you this question what would you say from there


I'm not sure if you watch the episode but if you can record, yeah uh, okay just I mean I mean just a casual question what is currency of money to you


, okay that that's good that's good I think few days back I ask my friends a money question he mentioned that he is uh actually like uh, uh he mentioned it's the asset that uh devalue overtime okay but what while I learn from the


video and quite interesting is that it means actually means credibility okay for example now when you go to the bank ah okay tell the bank yeah you go to the bank say eh I want loan money okay the bank will ask you who are you okay what are your what are your background are you a a a a a full what's your full time occupation what's your what's your job


what's your salary monthly yearly salary or what asset do you have you know all these are what our credibility, the fact that with this then the bank is willing to lend their money to you so that if anything's were to goes wrong they come back upon you on all these things that you have yeah but if let's say you do not have these or sorry I don't have a job right now I don't have a house uh my my income is based on maybe a freelance basis you think your bank would lend you money


I think highly unlikely ya so again it's about credibility like you mention also lah that the part whereby you mentioned that you have extra cash okay it's about this person that whether uh you trust a person or not correct whether are you close to person, ya so ya I think it's a lot about credibility lah but again you see ah recently there's a friend who actually uh came to me for for investment


okay uh on a fintech fintech company, ya so he say eh uh ray just there's you know in a few thousand the percentage is very high and we know to buy to when to let go when to buy when to let go, so uh it's a bit like manipulative kind of things lah so I feel that not very convinced and all that yeah I mean this part is his his person uh is quite a not bad friend but the fact that credibility of this whole company and the whole system that set up is not that


okay that's a fact that I'm not willing to maybe not even put a small amount to get risk it, yeah


ya ya ya, uh yeah so about this lehman brothers thing also I'm finding something interesting that is something I heard as well from the podcast another podcast so it mentioned that do you know why lehman


brothers right why they have the big fall during the the that the the financial downturn do you know what happened, ah in a way yes okay so what happen in US right what they do is that uh example it's a very simple uh analogy right say now a current you bought the insurance policy okay maybe by a company A okay so I'm company B ah


I bought company A's policies I I I bought your policy from company A, okay so you don't know that I bought the policy from company you know you just know that you are insured in this uh say an accident plan, okay so what happen ah this company B bought every policy in company A okay understand so but your take is that you're still insured you think that you're still insured


in company A right so now company C bought overall the policy from company B and you still think that you're insured okay so now one day you got into a Sway ah touch wood ah accident ah you going to claim company A okay company A say no I sold all your policy to company B okay


company B say no ah I proceed to company C okay so this is what happened in the lehman brothers while all the big banks and all that they saw your policies to another bank as bonds and securities yeah but I believe in singapore they cannot do that lah because we are pretty strict yeah but that's what happens in in US and I think it's pretty scary ah


imagine everyone's uh all these plans it just got burned out and they how much to invested in all these things


ya that's one correct , yup and and with that right do you know I mean the US is big lah and the fact that, the people are not very knowledgeable in all this uh banking and financing stuff and the thing is that their authority there right is not even do anything means like you mention right there are although loopholes yes it is and they are still not doing anything


, uh yes


correct correct I believe they have a lot to catch up lah in terms of all the stuff I watched another episode of another video recently is uh, of tax tax US tax right, I think it's the latest episode they mentioned of the tax during the COVID period you know in US right about taxpayers right they have to do their own filing


you you you I believe you maybe you know or you don't know but thinks that you know in singapore we've to file our tax ourselves right every week every year you know we have these portal called the IRAS once to file a tax and I believe it's not so tough and I mean not so simple as well, okay but for them there you know they have a third party to come in to file for you but then you have to pay for their service


and they take it as advantage, to earn from your and it become a lot of lawsuit oh means you say if this particular third party right mentioned that, it's free it's free it's free it's free but when you go to the central to knock in your tax right he mention okay if you want to do this you have to upgrade to a deluxe


and I probably get out of ten of them you can upgrade to a deluxe and they charge them for it and imagine your tax is hundred twenty dollars or hundred and thirty dollars you paid like sixty or ninety for this service, yeah and and that are there it become a very big hole lah and a lot of citizen or a netizen right they don't know what to look


yeah so we believe that we are quite lucky singapore the fact that we have all these authorities to come out, yeah definitely so if let's say you you you currently invested in in say a a a a profiting stocks, okay will you recommend to your friend


to to buy it or maybe someone that's close, ,


yeah I I believe investment has to start young because for me that I I mean I'm currently thirty two at, the fact that the the knowledge of investment is not much right so uh imagine you have


this may be a ten thousand sum of how many when you're eighteen years old and you start investing your at eighteen okay imagine you know compound interest by twenty five twenty six, probably you get not so money as well yeah and by the time which my age right now I think for me maybe half a millionaire already or even a millionaire from there


yeah which yeah I think knowledge is very important lah the fact that uh probably now we should read more it really help the younger ones which to have more time from there yeah what do you think about it


how to earn money right right right, the school don't teach you how to earn money they teach you how to be a farmer yeah to to to to farm for money but didn't teach you how to earn, ya there's this thing lah saying that the top twenty percent of the thirty percent of richest person uh are depend on eighty percent they give them the money yeah so we we strive to be the top twenty percent lah in years to come


yeah but so now we read more first and understand better yeah, okay yeah so hopefully in the near future we can really try to look into more investment stuff lah and really share with each other if let say there's any positive stuff that can to help to leverage in each other


I think we are kind of done here


part three negative experiences, !hey! karen so I would like to ask uh actually


what makes you angry or what frustrates you


, okay


, yup


move ya okay


what frustrates me a lot of things ah I'm a angry person ya no no then it's just that after living a while right I realise that what really frustrate me is that uh people not trying


alright and saying that this cannot, we've done that we've done or or or or I mean without without, giving a try, ya like maybe for example this person says oh he want to be as good as this thing or or maybe he want to be a number one number two in class right


and everyone say oh no you can't do it the parents say you can't do it or afraid that did you even try okay so so so that frustrate me that's really uh have a bite of my patience alright it surely my trigger point to say that you don't even try then you you don't come and tell me you know you can't do it


and and and and the fact that he said , if you asking me for how about advices right and this is that ah the answer that you give me then I felt that, there's so much I can help you lah ya correct if let say you are not willing to have a mind of your own


alright uh, a courage to really go and have a leap of faith to do it, then I'll be very frustrated as a friend as a probably a family you know or or maybe a colleague for personal so eventually this this frustrate will will will will dies off and what actually means by dying off mean that probably I don't care anymore yeah so that's


uh in a way yes but that's not just to only one thing lah there's a few lah, I felt ya but the more critical one is that lah ya so there's one incident I think for me is that ah unlike you you mentioned that if let's say uh like you are probably


more outgoing with your friends but they they don't they don't like why you mention now was then but there's a lot of things that you can't be communicated through, correctly that's why you being alone but I think I'm the total opposite, I'm loud plus I will I will approach I'll initiate I'll confront so for this for this there's one incident right during my secondary schools right so what happened


it was I think there was a parents meeting session so of this boy right who's a I think he's a lower sec I was in upper sec, so he was walking by pass to the canteen with the mother, okay I think I think the boy probably might be not a very good student lah and got repayment by teacher on certain things and as they are working now they're having some commotions regarding his result in schools so then the the the boy just scolded mother like the mother I think can see was pretty old age ah


ya so just walk past me and scolded her mother like talk to her very rudely about that, I I couldn't take it, so I don't even know him or the mother right so I just went above say can you be more nice to your mum you know you can you speak nicer to her she's your mum


okay so he's like uh he he he having the attitude of like who are you you know what are you like reporting I say I don't care it's your mother you better do something about it ya then after that I walk off lah so he got I think taken back as well yeah I mean if let's say I was serious


now in see you on the streets and all that would happen again yeah I I would probably do the same ya provided that there will be no uh death threatening situation for me lah ya correct so ya that that was what I will do lah


, !wah! what's the worst thing I have witnessed and kept quiet ah, , why not what's the worst thing that I witness and I never keep quiet about I pray that's my character right so what happens a group of my friends went to for drinking christmas of the day right so then my this uh one of my guy friend was


uh pretty flirtatious and all that lah so I mean we we've been all drinking and all that for for few times all the time lah, and what happens that he has a girlfriend yeah so what happens that uh, even though he had a girlfriend he still upfront going around doing other girls doing all these occasions yeah I mean I know because I'm a guy and it's your it's your it's your relationship it's not mine


so I'm fine but then what happens is just this one day we went to another drinking place and we saw his girlfriend, was drinking with another guy and another group of, guys and I think she she was pretty touchy with that guy so then my group of friends right


saw her, alright so they they were like taken aback uh, and their their idea was straightaway was that you know how can she do this, uh she she she's uh like cheating on you and all that you know also they I think at least four of them get very frustrated from the situation I was very pissed off I pissed off not because they are frustrated


I pissed off because there's no level playground you understand what I'm saying is like when the guy cheat oh nothing goes wrong but when the girls do such stuff oh cannot because she's a girl, okay that means they are sexists so then uh as we proceed I mean after that I mean during the situation they they went to a smoking corner so then they will putting a lot of situation says that should we tell the guy or no should we Sabo the girl and and all that right


I straight put it across it's the same thing I said why can he cheat why she cannot cheat then all of them like uh, was was getting defensive lah they will mentioning and says that all uh oh no lah you don't understand one uh girl cannot do all this thing, like you know uh it's it's really not good for them that kind of thing so my take is that okay but did he did that yeah he's still cheats right then why she cannot do the same


so my take is that it's a level playing ground and he or she will be to accept this thing if let say he were to do this so I mean again they all got I mean I don't really cares that how they gonna judge me lah to be honest, because the fact that I have my principle at this might logic putting across if you don't accept my principle you agree or disagree or you don't be my friend very simple but I mean now we are still friends lah the group of us but it's just that uh it's so easy for them to jump to conclusion whereby guy can do the wrong thing girl cannot do the wrong thing


ya so that's one of my situation that I met that I witnessed but I did not keep quiet about, yeah how about you karen


the wife


why the wife cannot be that young , , it don't make sense right it don't make sense ya okay okay fair enough


yup, yup okay


okay


, !aiyo!


I understand I think uh uh what you mention right got me thinking into another situation that uh I was at ah not really I was in but my friend uh pretty close one of mine so again ah we went to a drinking place and all that I mean I drink quite a bit lah then


like this group of friends right this one friend he's a very nice guys he's my secondary senior right so what happen is he has a girlfriend and uh happenly uh his good of friend this another guy who I know but I'm not very close also became his close friend so together the four of them are close friends


but then uh one day one day people mentioned that, the good friend brought the girlfriend, to a drinking place alone without him ya and uh they were touchy and all that


so , what happens right the place that they brought them there is where we always hang out with my brothers and all that yeah so ah my my my my my my middle hook friends and all that we're always hang out there, so technically everyone will saw it ah, but then you know what everyone did not say anything to my friend


and everyone knows him as well so even even my brother knows about it yeah so then he became the thing lah so then I ask my brother and my friends that aren't you going to tell him anything you know I sure you asking are you his friend and he says yes then are you going to tell him he says no


I say why I say , if he's your friend you should actually be true to him whether despite whether he or he he will hit you in the future or not, so then I think my my brother told me this is an it's their issue you don't get get involved


ya but my take is that my principle is that he's my friend, okay if I will not do anything about it technically I'm betraying him also even if I know the truth, yes so then eventually I I I I meet him up lah so I told him I says that eh bro you know uh this has been happening and


I've not see with my eyes but I have ears and people telling not for once sort of a few saw her, ya and the the fact that I'm gonna just tell you this in your face that your girlfriend has been cheating alright you can go and find out, but the thing is that my intention is to just to let you know okay anything happens after that it's really your own decision and call so initially he was very defensive you know he says no my girlfriend weren't she and all that right like he he he he caught up sort of like uh hated me for for that but eventually he found out


yeah and he realised that I'm the only person that told him among all his friend that know about it so then he's really sad lah he's really sad that how people don't dare to stand up for the truth uh knowing that they will get pre-judgmental for uh judges for that it it's quite sad lah ya


so uh that's what happened like I tell you again uh something that I witnessed but I again I will not keep quiet about it, yeah okay uh like you know I travel a lot right so I I I think I ever shared this before uh with you before so happens quite recently I went to vietnam with my uh two guy friend


so I went there what happens right uh, generally you will take a grab to hotel right or or taxi you know so in vietnam they say that you shouldn't take a taxi to the hotel because why they will they will scam you and all that so we always see on facebook always see on youtube say !aiya!


this won't happened to me one lah what happen it happens to me so I went we want to take a grab but then the app is like super long we've tried a lot of time then ah I told my friends eh guys come let's take a taxi man because you know they have these uh people at at the at the, custom side right keep wanting to get in for taxis and all that ya so eventually we followed one lah follow one to the taxi so we went in know so this guy super shady when we went in the car another driver came not the guy that brought us another driver came


ya so he keep like one chicken one duck like that we cannot communicate then after that he keep asking us to take out our cash showing what cash we have so he insists of us getting the whole lump sum of cash know so then my friends were defensive lah say no and eventually I didn't know also why I take out my cash because I think it drags me too long almost thirty minutes in the car for not moving on


so after I took my cash right, he snatched a whole pile over so he like act like he's counting okay but then when I snatch over to return on his drivers seat right he dropped the cash half of the cash to his side pocket then he returned to me so when I took the thing right apparently I felt oh shit my whole pile of cash right like


got thin by more than half so I say eh where's the rest of the cash you know then he say no no no no then ask us to get out of the car straight so I almost want to bang him lah, punch him then after that I realised when exiting the car I saw the whole pile of cash beside his uh the the the seat side which is nearer to the door !wah! straightaway he he he he got guilty right I say I want to call police now okay he straightaway throw the pile of cash and throw back to the backseat for me to collect but apparently there's still a lot left so after that


the the the the security came the police came and you know the they wanna side with their own people lah, ya eventually we we almost made a big fuss lah but I'm also afraid lah that what if they they take up the gun and knife all that right, so uh eventually we left but I felt that I think still got a portion of my cash that was missing from there


ya so then I think from that it's a really a lesson learned lah, despite despite how urgent you are just uh pay a bit more you can take a grab or with a a credible taxi company and not get into this kind of scam which is in fact it's quite dangerous lah especially for ladies as well yup that's all


(um)


part two positive experiences, sure hi karen can I know what's your proudest moment of your life


yeah , (uh huh)


(uh huh), (hmm)


(hmm),


!wow!


!wow!,


, so so with that there're a lot of people recognised you ever since that, (hmm)


yup (uh huh), okay that's very interesting okay uh for for my proudest moment actually it happens when was it again


(hmm), yeah I think it happened just before I went into national service so so what happened when I was younger I was actually uh very involved in sports, yup so I was uh playing I was playing football for this club in the youth level