there was beside me and them between a long way to go I really just had to carry him lah, but the, the traumatic part was that are halfway when I was carrying him over my shoulder I risk started to form it, uh yeah we will are few and I don't really know what to do so


so we started panicking I was like what what what's happened to uh this guy is he going to I mean something serious going to happen to him because err he was like forming and all around his mouth, then that's when I know like shit just got serious and, and there are and yeah we need to do something about this guy so we started panicking and all uh I'm hoping that nothing bad happened to this guy because uh


it could be anything that I I really wasn't sure could be anything and then that's when we like uh we that's what we like that's when my instructor came over and then, took over because uh I mean I think the the situation was really, quite escalated already so that's when we actually


I've, I followed him to the hospital in a truck, but then uh like, at the point in a where I was sleeping in a hospital there I couldn't do anything because, I'm, but doctor but yeah so the the the the traumatic part came


after I saw him foam and also especially even so when I was sleeping outside, uh not knowing what's happening to him and not, being able to help him, I feel like there was the quite terrifying because, uh the fact that he was actually a very healthy young man


and, uh such and such a, uh thing happened to him could also happen to me that was uh also one of my worry then, but it's okay uh he he I think after one day he was or, better, uh definitely slimmer than before but uh I seen I could see that the that the difference in his face lah but uh but then uh he's all okay now and uh nothing actually bad happens to keep lah but uh it was definitely shocking


to see that happen in real life uh, and definitely eh sorry and also uh especially so when it was right beside me, me, ya so that was actually quite the traumatic traumatic experience that I have experience, yeah so what actually


all this talk about worrying uh this all this uh, experiences right actually, what do you often worry about is it like hell because we experienced so many, people falling before beside us or is it uh I don't know future like we mentioned


what do you actually often worry about #Chiam#, uh


yeah oh luckily said luckily said ah, future is one artillery ah health it's also that because uh, not exactly am I with the ah one that actually, eat salad every for every meal uh and or what not to watch my calories and what but I I mean I don't really over eat and uh always go for the fried shit uh fried stuff


but uh, but uh the fact that uh, uh the COVID is able to wipe out, billions of people, uh, in such a short span short short span of time and also, uh all these I mean there's also a potential second


second uh outbreak pandemic swine flu in the in the other countries, uh yeah so all these uncertainty definitely puts health there uh as part of my as as an what about worries lah, uh and also err like the


worrying about health but it's a doesn't also only apply to me I also worry about the health of my parents, and my, family uh because, uh because health is such an important part fast to uh to people to live healthy it is is such is such is essential lah


suffer but we live so, uh another worry that I might have uh I mean it's more of a short short term worried is the, is to able to enjoy school, how I still


have before at the time while I still have in school before uh adult, so the I just have fun at this point of time, uh before I graduate and into the real adopting uh where it's just all work and no play I mean hopefully not hopefully they start over and hopefully


but the, for worried that I have not is not being able to go back to, school normally because of the many restrictions that are, are that are, okay not not not being able to go back to normal school life like it was before uh because of the so many uh restrictions


where sorry, so many restrictions are imposed err by the government and also by the school itself, so that's just very short term worry that have them as full time at I'll be the next semester might not be as fun


ya but it's very spoke, okay so Ziyang can you just tell me, erm what is what time where your expectations were not met


for of a case uh, be similar to you uh where it was the sports, kind of a competition, , the fact that my team was okay sorry this was back in JC days the fact that my team was training very hard ah for I think a consecutive of six months


uh where we were, studying in the day and then we were trained in that uh at night for, for it I mean even during a close to sorry for I think about four days a week, but during the school days and then once in a while we'll meet up in the


uh the weekends to train up even more so the fact that uh, the fact that we trained so hard but then uh still didn't get to win the champion was a bit disappointing so uh I mean we came out to be third but then uh that was really not where we


set off to be uh to be kept to that was where that was not where we set up our time, could be, but then uh and then and then also at the additional fact that we train so hard and then my team was, always there with me uh the expectation that we didn't meet this time round was a bit a bit sad but then we only have one chance at its completion and wouldn't really


change and think about it I feel like uh, the !aiya! this experience here was really, I mean you really with (ppc) sorry sorry the surrender, the not meeting expectation art were really saying, for what we're ready stay in my heart for quite awhile lah because of the fact that


we can't really change anything about it anymore, so, uh I mean if I were to be able to if I I mean and if I were to be able to given a chance to change it ah, I wouldn't say will train harder but uh ah I wouldn't say to train harder but uh


the fact that uh maybe during the game time because I I saw how stressed my, teammates were ah they were all breaking down even though I was trying to, pull them back on their feet uh but they all they were all zoning out and what not, so if, given another chance I would like


uh is not about training the changing the, the training is a more of uh, exposing them to more stressful situation games more games like that, where they would learn and overcome and also grow as a player, uh such that such mishap will not happen again because erm


uh it was a team sport uh definitely is not just one bad effort I I myself cannot only, uh carry all of them, per say but then uh so that's why I feel like if there's something I would like to change is to, change how we train uh change how


sorry to change how much exposure ya my team was given, so that (uh) maybe we might generate a different outcome


sure


okay so for my best of papers, uh it's actually one have gotten for myself on twenty first birthday uh it's actually uh chain watch so , uh I always have the impression that all these silver chain


watch will make one more look more mature, as compared to one, to expect the as compared to those that, that's uh, that are the strap or rubber strap, so when I was twenty first when I first when I turned twenty first uh I picked myself a watch that I've been saving up for


uh and then, paying to watch the uh paying watch nowadays and I always forget about I always, like realize how far at far and uh into adulthood, and, it's just a reminder everyday that uh actually turning to an adult now and then I need to be more


more serious more, more in the know of what to do with my life instead of just playing around so ya feel like this the best birthday present that I've gotten myself or and or a best birthday present that I've received, but


also because uh it's a little bit biased as I'm always I'm I'm actually into watches, and ya so watching that always been something that I like and and, fact tabbies watch has such a significant meaning and and it being a, reminded to me I feel like it's the best watch


that's was it's now best was the best present that birthday present that I've received, ya so (mmhmm), actually a watches right and, can I just share also share with you, through of my watches so I actually


actually ya rich-miller uh there's this brand called rich-miller are the RMO five seven right is actually a very beautiful watch, you on your free time I know I mean I mean maybe you can go and take a look at it and also there's a patek philip aquanaut, forty forty millimetres yeah it gets you can take a look at that


but, the watch that I bought for myself I would say it's the best uh gift that I receive lah the birthday present that I receive, what about you Ziyang I also know that you recently just uh turned twenty soon, what would be your best birthday present


uh to you


err easily one of the best uh happiest party birthday celebration I have, because uh, like uh I had over, I forgot how many around seventy gets over uh it was very


I wouldn't say very big but uh to me it was the biggest celebration that I had, because I don't usually celebrate my birthday but I thought that on the twenty first I should be a marking the stay down so I actually invited all of you to come over to my birthday party


and uh it was great it was great I see I can tell that everyone is having fun, uh I mean even though half the time, half time I was just trying to jump around, uh try to entertain the friends try to, uh mingle around plan to


just see what they're doing but I feel like uh uh many might feel that it's tiring but I feel like I really enjoyed that, that day uh because, that's just what I what I like to do uh just to mingle around people mingle around friends that's also what I actually love about myself I'm actually quite uh quite a social butterfly I'm say


uh ya and then to be able to gather all the closer group of friends around the, I guess forgot how many about seventy of them a this closer group of friends, uh together all of them there, at that, the birthday celebration I feel like uh it's really a happy thing


I felt a lot of energy from that day I was I was not tired lah rather, like people who like how do you do it how do you do it how do you do it but I mean to me that day was really not tiring, I really love the fact that I was able to sustain it I was social I I am a social butterfly and then I draw his energy and out from people


ya so that that that birthday celebration was really one of the best, I had ah, so what about you Ziyang what do you love most about yourself, okay so


some food okay food every like highlight simple asian dishes uh I love thai food, I love uh chicken rice and all this food that singaporean food eh it especially like #char kway teow# and all so , but, my comfort food I would have to say my comfort food have to be pasta


uh aglio olio to be specific, uh because I really like how this dish is so simple, but yet could be so tasty, ya so actually whenever I'm feeling a little down uh during the day I will actually, whip up some of these are #aglio olio# uh I mean


they mean it there's endless possibility to displays are actually because ah, any additions to this dish is like a touch of magic to it, and so that's why ever since I had, my first agli olio when I was speculate I think fourteen years old, I came to fell in love with it and then I feel like uh this dish is for is a dish that I always go back to whenever I


feel like a a I need a some sort of comfort, uh whenever I feel like I need to, to, fall back to something familiar I would always go back to the #aglio olio#, so, I would say it's not my favourite dish not my favourite uh


food but I definitely is out there, in the comfort food segment what about you chiang ah, I see you like Sushi a lot is that your comfort go to comfort food


a perfect day for me would be waking up knowing that I, nothing to do at all for the recipe uh basically just having time for myself and I can do whatever I want, and just uh I mean just trying imagining waking up to


to I mean, waking up in a beach resort, maybe, ya so you just wake up enjoy the sea breeze so the way, and you have absolutely nothing to do for the rest of the day, uh I feel like that is really, because having a time for yourself uh especially now that I've started working


uh having time for yourself to do things, that you want like maybe like what you mentioned watching shows exercising working out, uh even just doing some light readings or just looking at, or kinds of, I mean stock market and what not but it's really a a privilege lah I would say like like uh at this point in time


because uh work is very hectic and at work you can afford to do something else I mean if you are doing something else then your not working right yeah so you're not really doing your work so, uh the perfect day to me would be waking up having the whole day to yourself not doing uh not needing to do anything that you


made for like lah sorry uh not not needing to meet to do anything that really that's related to work or anything else just having the day having time for yourself uh to do whatever you like, I think that's the perfect day for me what about you


okay appreciation for hard work uh hubs in many different forms, I feel uh, so there are time that I received compliments for my work there are times where, , my work actually uh turned something a difficult situation I would say into one that is manageable uh to me all these recognition count as a form of appreciation uh don't need to be verbal about it don't need to be uh it to be tangible lah I feel uh because all these are is what


I feel keeps me going and a kind of a self motivated guy that really need myself, uh affirmation ya so so all these are what I feel appreciation to my work, and, the fact that uh my work is able to help anyone or anything in uh to the even the slightest bit


I feel like that it is ready something to be, uh proud of okay so uh actually for, the my goes recent encounter would be one with a client where he actually complimented me uh after having a I think one hour conversation with him


and uh, even though through this uh conversation it started off with a simple request, uh started with a simple request but are somewhat somehow the story that he told me complicated things, into many different form at first I felt like I needed to ask a


a higher up for some help but then I realised that after sitting him down, uh listening to his stories the complications, uh the complications that he brought up right was actually something that I could manage, ya so after the one hour plus conversation that I had with him


uh I was able to help you solve his problem, and, that was really really something that I was, very happy about uh even though, even though it might uh I mean even though, it was a one hour conversation the thank you that I received at the end


and, and and also if he even came back with some bread for me but I couldn't accepted anyway yeah so yeah that that that small gesture really uh, they really lifted my mood for the day and uh it was really, one of the most recent encounter that I can


think of that I can call uh for the compliments for my hard work lah, what about you Ziyang do you, actually receive any


okay for travelling you are definitely something I like to do now uh given that would be locked down for so long uh, I would say one of my most uh memorable experience will be the first time I went to taiwan with the army


(mmhmm), it was although although it was a, more like eighty per cent training and only twenty percent of fun but uh no doubt it was one of the most memorable because uh, it was only after that after you've suffered and then you get to enjoy it as whether the fun was so much more worthy so much more


uh enticing to you, and also the fact that uh one, they I was at sorry one night I was at a #xi men ding# that's when I was, almost kidnap I think, if you are like a kidnap situation so I was kind of fainted into a shop


uh the moment I stepped in there was when all the staff, and the customer uh were, kind of, turn and closed in on me that it was where that was when I felt like something was fishy and then I just kept running away from the shop but then the fact that the the lady the lady from the shop uh chase me I mean why would a lady chase me right


and anyway the auntie was chasing me and then uh, and ya the the fact that the aunty chased me right are there that was really a the a red flag lah to me so so that night was actually the highlight of my night, taiwan trip lah I feel because uh, uh it was really a


because, like no one actually said anything about taiwan being, dangerous but then that night, like, a bit suspicious of and a bit of uh I mean definitely uh there there were fun times, and a, wisdom park and what not but the night at the #xi men ding# that really


felt like it was a very memorable experience uh which I wouldn't want to express again definitely but uh it was definitely, there to stay lah the the the experience, what about you Ziyang you seems like, you have been to uh many many different countries, but will you pick as the most memorable one


ya okay, so we need say out it's our financial related topic now


so uh, for, financial related topic I guess we can start with our insurance so personally I have a a I feel different thought insurers available that that if a insurance product that I have, the first one is the health insurance and a life insurance at the educational insurers then I also have a endowment plan so basically the health insurance and life health insurance is so that if uh there is any


medical issues right should I faced any accident that I'll still have the ability to, pay for the hospital bills or any other, related fees that, that I might need their life insurance is that just that uh if at any accident let's say unfortunate to what happened to me then my parents were at least have a sum of money to deal with all the problems that


they need to do afterwards ah so for endowment plan right endowment plan is something that I recently bought because uh it's cycle lives uh cycle savings insurance where, it encourages the young person to save part of his salary which is something I feel like it's a very important at this age


because for us at a young age right it's important uh to start saving early right means that we are able to have a better life in the future so uh #zhen jie# uh didn't have any insurance that uh that you buy yourself


uh okay so I fully agree with you uh on the importance of getting a travel insurance, because personally I travel a lot with my parents right so whenever we go overseas right you always make sure to buy the proper travel insurance to ensure that all our money issues that you may face on the travel can be covered so when I was younger right when I travel a lot


I used to fall sick very easily overseas so every time we will need to go to the hospital to get like treatment for me like for example when I was very young, I remember having food poisoning in shanghai so I had to go to the hospital for a drip so all these travel insurance right will help to ensure that when you go overseas for this treatment we will have to pay the huge amount of bills or faced any financial difficulties


like what you said previously in the in the US where the guy managed to check out a million dollar bill, I think in US right is a very common for them to have very high medical bills as uh so it's especially important if you go to discharge countries right to have a good insurance plan that can help to cover for


all the medical bills also looking at this current climate right a lot of flights actually during the COVID eh COVID first started a lot of flights were being cancelled so a lot people have problem taking flights home back to their country, so with travel insurance right it will help cover for the any additional fees that they might have to face while looking for a new flat so


from what what I what I recall uh reading about other people are not able to uh quite worried at the time because they do not have their money or the financial means to ensure that they are able to stay at the country the the country they're visiting long enough is to


book a new flight or to look for look for a housing to stay while they wait for their flight, okay so uh also for travelling overseas right travel insurance can help to cover any issues you face if with regards to like maybe pick pocketing or like losing your stuff


so when my parents and I went to europe a few years back uh my mother was unfortunately pick pocketed so she lost her wallet but then because of the travel insurance that we have right, all the fees that she has to face while, doing all the reports are being covered so I think travel insurance is definitely something that is very important that we should get when we traveling overseas as it's uh is uh you won't be able to know what you might encounter and


especially when you're overseas right and you faced problems right you will feel very stressed out and you will know what to do so with all these insurance right they will help you to guide you through the stressful process so that you can get home safely which is obviously what we are looking for, so #zhen jie# uh I know that we both don't have a car now but let's say if you were to get a car in the future will you also get insurance for it


okay so for people our age right I think the most important insurers is definitely health insurance and life insurance I think these two insurance right regardless of your age right is something that you should have, because life insurance will help to as I previously mentioned life insurance will help to, I will give out a lump sum or a huge sum that can help your uh close immediate family to tide through any accident that you happen to you and then for medical insurance right


let's say you unfortunately out uh unfortunately contacted like maybe some life threatening disease that have a high bill to pay at such a young age right our savings is not as as huge as maybe someone that have worked a long time, so this life insurance will ensure that if you were to tide through the event we still we will not have a huge financial burden on us I also strongly believe in uh having a endowment plan because the endowment plan


will help to ensure that uh you start saving from young age so that endowment plan, uh my current endowment plan it's just such that every month I put in a few hundred dollar then earn about fire five years times I will get a lump sum all of it so five years time is maybe uh right after shortly after we graduated then after we graduate right having this amount of money right will allow you to


not only pay for your school fee initially but also put you on a good path uh to have a good career to do the things you want, so #zhen jie# uh uh turning the question back to you what are the insurance that you think are important for people of our age


okay so for my insurance had as I have previously mentioned I have a few different insurance right so all these insurance are from different providers so I have one, that is our endowment plan is currently with a prudential then I have a life insurance with a NTUC


so to me right I think when I take I would rather pick a single insurance from only a pick insurance from only a single provider because, every provider right have like different different uh insurances plans so I think the most important thing right is to look at what you are looking for and then see which company can best suit uh towards your need so


I feel like a different insurance had have like different coverage different premium different, different type of payout so you must see you must be able to see uh what are the, month as the premium that you are willing to pay as, uh insurers works by or paying a monthly premium so


the higher your premium, the more obviously the more coverage and the more payout you will receive ah so but then sometime when your premium is too high and then you cannot afford it you will just because uh financial burden itself to you instead of being something that can help cover help you help aid you in the future


so obviously when I look at insurance I wouldn't only look at one single provider it's always better to have a wide range of choices so #zhen jie# when you look at your insurance right what is the most important thing too actually the premium coverage or the type of payout that it includes


okay so uh when looking for an insurance agent right the most important thing is obviously whether or not the person is a is a very uh trustable does he have a trustable vibe to it and then whether or not he's speaking honestly because sometimes right people want to sell insurance then


they might they might skip over skim over certain stuffs at any point out to the important stuff that they think is selling, point to you so like maybe oh maybe this premium these premium low this insurance are very low premium and then a very high pay out so you only be attracted to it but then to achieve that pay out right maybe you need to go through a lot of different kind of uh hoops and a jump through many different hoops and hit many different kind of uh criteria before you can get there


premium so the most important thing right is obviously whether or not the insurance agent is able to extreme fully what your insurance plan is about, so like okay uh maybe let's say you have this injury uh how many what kind of injury uh you get before you enter the


payment and like what kind of how my degree of injury it it has to be before you are able to get the full payout of the insurance if the insurance agent is not able to, tell you what is the shortcomings that their insurance plan is not able to cover you with then I don't think it's a good enough insurance agent as you might there might be some unforeseen events that just nice for out of the coverage and you didn't expect it and he didn't get another plan to cover it because you thought that your current insurance plan is already good enough


to help cover for it, so, obviously the first thing is to be a trustable and honest, and then obviously they have to be friendly and uh are able to, uh advice you any anytime you need so sometimes maybe uh let's say you when you get into an accident eh car accident from what I understand you have to call your insurance agent to let them know about the accident so that they can do the necessary uh paperwork for you so if you are unable to even reach your insurance agent


then no matter how good your insurance that is you won't be able to use it, so I think uh bring back call to conclude I feel like the most important thing is whether or not the insurance agent as trustable whether it's on it's on honest and whether or not he's able to respond to your needs or wherever you require so #zhen jie# uh do you agree with what you say or were you do you have any other


uh things to look out for in an insurance agent


okay so obviously if I were to buy my own insurance at since I'm not insurance agent the best thing is still to look for an insurance agent to consult them but before that I will definitely look at the various plans they're available online so there's you can always go online to search all the various insurance plan offered by


previous companies so there's a few like prudential NTUC, that I previously mention so I will go online to look at the insurance plan that I think will be suitable to me but ultimately is still the best to consult an insurance agent, as they are able to provide everyone with a best informed their information needed so some of them might be some part of the plan that I do not know then insurance agent can better advise me on it


so I even though that I have some knowledge in insurance I still wouldn't personally buy the insurance myself without consulting yes so #zhen jie# uh what about you were you find insurance agent when you buy your own insurance


so I pause the thing


okay so now we are done negative experience part so now let's something uh less heavy so #zhen jie# uh where our young age at so, what do what makes you most stress or what do you often worry about


okay like you said rights stress, what makes you more stress so obviously school as you know uh we are both junior students now so it can get very stress very stressful uh where all the school start piling on you and then uh you feel like you are not able to complete all your work in time especially during uh


during exam period where as during exam period one two weeks before where you have all kinds of submissions and instead you prepare for your, for your exam paper so ya definitely schools school will made me makes me one of the most stressed out, as sometimes you just don't know whether or not you are able to complete your


your all your submission and then still study for your exam and uh what makes me worried I think now the thing that worry me most will be having a good future like you said the having uh having a job after we graduate, so like I often worry about uh whether or not I'll be able to have a good enough result to do what I want to do and I have a good future uh


find a good job so, ya these are some things that I definitely will worry about but then I don't think this only me I think uh every young, people around the world are also worried about whether or not uh whether or not they can have a good job have a good career uh


especially now with the all the COVID situation the world is often changing so quickly you won't be able to expect uh even prefer to prepare for the future so, undoubtedly this is something that are all of us have to all of us worry about


so #zhen jie# moving on to uh something uh, more heavy maybe you can tell us a tell me one time where uh you felt like nothing you do is good enough


okay so so ya I definitely agree with you that uh during army we faced a lot of different situation where we feel like what may not what we do is not good enough and that the instructors always uh saying that you are not up to standards but I think the the time where I feel most like nothing I do was good enough was uh during our


during the game basic military training period where there was the release of A level results to the end where we know our posting so unfortunately I didn't do very well for my A levels so I was already quite sad uh at that time when uh when I got there result


then when a BMT and the uh it I always had a plan to sign on and uh go to OCS, unfortunately I didn't get into OCS so that was I think it was time that time where I felt like the felt the most, like nothing I do is good enough because firstly I didn't do well education wise and they even after I perform well during BMT I was not able to get into OCS so I was really very sad for like that one vic that we way but that I didn't want to do anything so


ya I think, uh there was a period where I felt like the really nothing I do was good enough because I can't do well education wise I can do what I was aspiring to do but I think uh, it it helped to the experience really help to strengthen me so when I went on to my new posting army even though they always say


uh you are not good enough I know that uh so long I keep trying I will I will be able to get to the why why eventually maybe just through another path, so uh, #zhen jie# why not we move on to another topic uh let me just start with it we can just we can maybe share about one of the most traumatic incident that you have experience in life so just let me start off with mine so okay let's bring on let's bring back the to the army again so during army I think the one of the most traumatic experience that I had was when uh


cause we have this uh we call this because we really this team uh we do team training so one of my, teammate are actually a fainted while during the while doing the training so I think that was the most traumatic experience as he was a close friend to me and then to see one of my close friend just uh she's body to just give up and faint and they're having to evacuate him was a had uh had left a huge uh


impression I had left a huge a memory on, be as a huge part of me as, it's really traumatic to see uh your friend uh just giving out and then uh not knowing whether or not, uh there will be any uh effects on him and then uh after that he was sent to the hospital and we know that he was a


he was uh not feeling very good so yeah I think there was one of the most traumatic incident as I had furthermore uh part of the reason why he he had to do the more strenuous task was also cause he was covering for me so I really felt very bad about it


so #zhen jie# do you have any traumatic incident that you experience in your life that you can share with me


I think like just now what we said right uh we all we work we worry about our future so uh there's no need for me to uh down there again but definitely health is something that we that we're worry about a lot or not only for my health and also from my parents' health and uh my friends uh surrounding the people around me


especially now during the COVID situation where you'll never know, who have the virus and whether or not you contact it and the fact that there's still so much unknown about the virus like many people don't know whether or not it will have a long term impact on people who had COVID contacted COVID and then uh even with they recover well they have any after effects so ya


definitely something that is worth of that is a that I worry a lot about now is uh health cause uh, a healthy person can even a healthy person can suddenly have like a heart attack like you often see uh, very fit people like athletes they do marathons then suddenly they after running half and then the they just suddenly uh have heart attack and then they just uh unfortunately they leave the they pass away so yeah health is definitely something that we worry about a lot but


I think such things are out of our control or the best thing we can do is to put in a lot of precautions eat healthy stay healthy and and uh try not to worry so much so #zhen jie# do you also worry about your health


okay so I think the the most recent time when my expectations where things did not turn up meeting my expectations was during the


a competition the badminton commission the inter hall games uh so that was the it was the first match it was my first time competing in a long time as a I didn't really compete after JC so, uh it was her first match back and before that I uh we actually put a lot of hard work a lot of training so like training three times a week four times a week just to prepare for the match so


I was really looking forward to the match as I really wanted to perform and then my team was looking out to me to do well so that I was against a very shook opponent so my team was already looking to towards me to do well and perform well so we can scale to a good start, so my opponent was a someone that was stronger than me uh and then also know that he is better than me but uh I was still hoping that uh I'll be able to put a good performance in a and a had a good match but unfortunately uh I didn't do well for the match not only


the eye not with the the most the worst part was that I didn't perform optimized standards so ya that was definitely one time where, I feel like the it the things definitely did not meet my expectation because uh I know that I might not win but I really expected myself to at least uh put in a good performance per a good match so yeah there was a


one time that uh the expectation was definitely not met and the most recent one so uh is the one that uh are the most memory about so #zhen jie# uh want a share one time where uh things did not turn up meeting your expectations


okay so now we are at the positive experiences okay so #zhen jie# let me begin by asking a question so we can go with the one of the best experience one can, one can always experience birthdays so what is your best birthday present and why


okay


yes sure


okay so personally right for me I don't really celebrate my birthday that much like for example for my twenty first birthday


it was just a simple meal with my parents and uh and then uh that's about it so the best birthday present I think I received so far right was the one uh my twenty second which is the one that just passed in fact uh #zhen jie# was there also, the best birthday present was when my parents and friends surprise me uh for my birthday uh at at hall


so on that day right erm #zhen jie# and my two another two other of my close friend told me that we were all going for, for dinner so I thought I was a normal normal dinner with a group of close friends so I was just looking forward to however when I step out of my room and see all my other close friends as long as my parents are making the trip all the way down to my hall to celebrate my birthday with me


so I think this one of the best present as a, all these material goods that we buy right it's just uh it's something that uh for ourself only but then, having the ability to share your birthday with all your friends and family that you love and know can count on beside you


I think that's the best birthday present that one can get because all these people all these friends and family are people you can depend on and by them should your birthday you that uh there are people that believe you and you can count on them all these material goods are something that eventually you won't, you will grow tired of it or you will like you will change it so I think the best birthday present is to know that there are people there are friends and family around you that care about you and uh are happy for you


so #zhen jie#, I know that you have a very huge twenty first birthday party so how was that birthday party


okay for what I love both but most most about myself I, I think maybe will be uh how a disciplined I am before what I do because uh personally I like to exercise a lot so uh, I always I'll make sure that I exercise every day even though now we're working right it can get very tiring after we work so


I would want to, I I want to slack off afterward like very tired because uh still need to go an exercise and just go to sleep but uh, I think that's what I think I love both for myself that I can I remember to force myself to go to complete the daily the daily exercise routine that I want to do and stick to it so #zhen jie# talking about exercise makes me hungry so


what are some of your comfort food I know we both love food a lot we are always talking about food when we are eating we are having our lunch all our dinner so what are some food that you really like


okay so sushi is definitely one of my favourite food but is not the only one because, obviously I love eating I always go around looking for a good foods to eat uh less I like the asian food asian cuisine restaurant cuisine, all kinds of different food uh but my comfort food right my comfort food is still the same as you #zhen jie# is pasta cause uh to me pasta there are many different varieties to as many different form you have different type of of pasta noodle like spaghetti then you got the Fusilli then you got the Linguine so so many different types of


a way to cook pasta you have the cream pasta you have tomato pasta like you had the #aglio olio# pasta like you said you liked so to me pasta is the best comfort food to have because you will never get bored this too many different combinations of pasta that you can you can always try out so


whenever I'm set I'll definitely look for pasta to cheer me up there's this pasta that I really like is not from many fancy restaurants just from the, a coffee shop near my house they had this uh #tom yum# seafood pasta I know it sounds very weird at the start but then it's something that I absolutely love so is uh if


if I ever at home on saturday and then there's two uh lunch at home our definitely order the #tom yum# seafood pasta to eat and always feel very happy after eating it and then watching my show so talking about uh having a good saturday #zeng jie# what is a perfect day for you


okay so for me right the perfect day depends on what my aim of the day is is it that I'm going to stay at home the whole day or is it that I'm going out with my friends so if I'm going out with my friend obviously is


to have a to able to go out to have a good meal and then have a good time hanging out with my friends uh have meaningful conversation catch up with them and uh, have fun lah so that's the that's the there would be a perfect day for if I'm going out, however the if I'm stay home obviously the perfect day is to able to sleep until uh I wake up naturally so without the alarm and then wake up feeling uh


feeling a fresh and then uh personally I like to watch netflix a lot so, if I were to stay at home or good day will be able to find a good show to watch and then spend the whole day uh watching the show and then obviously having a good lunch and dinner which is uh probably ordering pasta and then at night to have a good workout so that are two share share all the


all the things that I've eaten so that I can keep fit, okay so #zhen jie# uh I know you you talk about work just now and I know that you are a very hard worker, so when is one time when you got appreciated for your hard work


okay so for me right there are a few times where I can say that I got appreciated for my hard work so, uh as previously I say I love playing badminton so I've been playing badminton as a team sport, uh for quite a long time so the best the two, it's always feels good when my teammate appreciate the hard work that put in so when you step onto the on the onto the court and then you put in a good match after all the hard trainings that you put in a


every every week every daily, then uh when your teams know that you put in hard work and then you are mixed to win the game and they are happy for you that's when you know they appreciate your hard work, also uh uh last year when I was working


I work very hard uh but I always, thought that it wasn't appreciated because ah I was doing always doing more work but then uh nobody was saying anything about it but when I left the work the assistant manager actually all came together to buy me a gift so that's when I really feel appreciated for my hard work, #zhen jie# I know we both talk about travel uh previously so what is one of their best travel most memorable travel experiences


so uh unfortunately uh like #zhen jie# I didn't have the opportunity to travel while I was in the uh while I was serving the country, uh so for me uh I travel a lot with my parents so uh it's very hard to pick up one memorable event by if I were to pick one I would say uh


the japan trip I had when I was in primary school with my when I was in primary school uh that was the first time I was traveling alone it was a school trip and uh we won the trip we were able to go for a trip because uh we won some news making competition are so mediacorp uh help to sponsor part of the trip with the school to send us to japan


so at that time they had a reporter following along so like a news team and they were going to japan to make a news segment on I can't really remember what it was but I think was one of the like those trip trip uh information stuff, so that was very memorable because firstly it's the first time I get to travel overseas alone and I was just a small kid so it was a quite a good experience to go out with your friends where your parents are not around they just playing


and secondly is memorable because I get to watch first hand how uh a new segment was being made so you get to see all the behind the scenes how they set up the camera how they look for a various, previous angles to take their shoots how they come up with their script how they to all the all the scenes how the reporter are able to make use of the environment to his disadvantage and gave up a good news segment so I think there's a one of the most memorable travel trip that I


and another one will probably be when my uh, when I went to shanghai the I've previously mentioned uh I went to shanghai and then, got food poisoning so I was very young so I I had to go to the hospital so that was my first time going to a hospital in another country and I thought


so normally is singapore you will just take a medicine then go to a clinic a GP then you can just uh you can just go home already but then in in china they don't really have like a GP clinic that you can just go in to so I went to the hospital and I thought I can just a take a medicine and then I can just continue or continue on my trip


but unfortunately they told me that I had to do the I_V drip so that was the first time I have to do I_V drip and is an overseas country so that was definitely a memorable event to me


financial related topic, nothing much, uh dude do you have a credit card or debit card or like anyone of them by any chance


I thought of getting a credit card but like I'm not sure, because like, I mean I know like a credit card you know they kind of have that thing where you have a credit term before like you have to pay back your bills or like whatever it is when it comes back after like a certain period of time and like a debit card is like more like impromptu kind of payment right on the spot but like


I don't know, like how's your debit card been like do you think it's like, worth getting a debit card over a credit card


I mean, I mean if you think about it it's like, you get to pay a bit later on whenever the bill comes in and, if I'm not wrong you actually don't have to pay like the whole thing at once, you can actually pay it in parts just that there will be interest charged on it if I can get a credit card but like a debit card is more of like if I want to buy something from the popular right now I can use my debit card then pay at the moment and it's going to deduct money instantly so


ya if anything I think that's quite the difference but I think credit cards are better, and I think it is definitely worth getting a credit card more than a debit card because I mean you have that, longer time to pay back and let let's say I'm working and I want to wait that month before I pay back what I'm spending in the month then I think it's more beneficial


I think so, I mean I think it's good to get it now, because, you're going to use it sometimes or the other it's not like your bank account is empty or anything right so you can kind of pay back and stuff I think I think that's cool


we can actually we should, yeah but how's yes (uh huh) it


I mean that's the thing about, it it's like you're taking a loan from the bank and, so you just going to pay that part of the money first or like the bank pays for you in a way and like later on you can pay them back at when they send you in the bill like okay you've spend this much I need this much money back or like how they do it for some places is like five percent only initially and like you can pay the rest but they're going to charge interest on the rest so


yeah yup, glad that's the bank, yeah you purchase so, but do you think that kind of like relates to like financial independence if like let's say I get like a credit card or something


is there any interlink there, yeah


true true true, yup yup


yeah


I, I mean I don't think there's any harm in, doing so right now like people work part time and like for me and my friends like right now we're on internship but like my internship ends in august so like you know we're looking for part time work so at least there's some sort of money coming in so in a way it's not like you're only dependent on your parents' money or anything I mean come on and a place like singapore where the cost of living is so high


you kind of don't want to just be relying on like one person's income or something so getting some portion of like, your own income wouldn't be any harm ah I I think that's financial independence, how do you think


anyone can like you know achieve financial independence, !woo! (mmhmm) (mmhmm) true (uh huh) and what's that (mmhmm)


true true, yeah


wait like investing in shares that kind of investing, (mmhmm) (mmhmm)


oh what's that, oh okay okay true


eh that's actually quite smart, yeah yeah (mmhmm) oh yeah


yeah I I know what you're talking about, wait but


if you're talking about investing like let's say you start earning or let let's say you start up your own, E commerce business or something right then or okay let let let's move a little further into the, like let's say you grow older right and like you have your own business and stuff happening then


do you think like you know cause of CPF and all that in singapore right, so do you think that's like beneficial and do you think you'd like this system, like how it's been in place and like how this kind of security support system that they've got going on is actually worth it


I do know a bit so like is this, so like let's say you earn like, a certain amount of money right so like there's this thing about like twenty percent to seventeen percent so I'm working in this firm right and so I'm getting like let's say hundred dollars or something


like I mean that's pretty less but let's just go with it so so say I'm getting a hundred dollars so seventeen percent if I'm not wrong is actually paid by me as, my CPF contribution and then twenty percent is putting by my employer so he's going to be paying twenty percent of what I'm earning if I'm not wrong into my CPF so in a way I'm getting like a total of thirty seven percent being saved up for my future


and that saving up into CPF has like these different categories inside, which is like the ordinary account there're like four different account if I'm not wrong there's the ordinary account there's the special retirement and the medisave account so, for them there's like a certain percentage of this


uh amount then goes in and like how it builds up over the years and like whatever additional things that the government has in it so , the part about the ordinary account it's more to support like yours , like funding your housing and stuff so for your retirement funding it's more of just the ordinary account the special account and the medisave account because your medisave is for your medical needs obviously and you're going to need that as you get older because you know


so that and then the ordinary account actually let you get out some some percentage to actually pay for your housing and stuff so that's the only thing you can get out until like you reach like fifty five when you can actually start redeeming the amount saved inside so


I mean I think it's pretty cool because you're getting this forced saving done and yeah a lot of people will be like you but like that's cutting out on how much I'm earning per month right because you're taking out so much of my money, but, I mean if you think about it in like other countries wherever they have like this kind of provident funds going on


they have it and then people go in like fake their documents or something like oh guess what I really need this now and like I need that money so don't get the money out and it's not that restricted in a lot of countries but in a place like singapore, you will know that you can't do that because you know you're going to get fined then like I don't know it's strict here and like


you're going to be saving up for your future so the government's actually looking out for you through this kind of policies so, yeah I think that's pretty cool and you're not just like, losing out on cash and like later on like let's say your kids move out or like they're not able to , kind of support you


for whatever reason you're not left on your own it's like the government in singapore is kind of making you like very self sufficient and like they're letting you be very independent like you said financial independence these kind of works too, so ya


yeah definitely, yeah I mean either for sure


you're paying seventeen and like the employer pays like twenty percent yup so total up thirty seven gets into your account, it's like, new pace increasing you could think of it like that,


, yeah exactly so like they're helping you yeah sure sure that works I think so


I mean you're getting someone to do your managing your finances for you so that's that's pretty cool you don't have to,


yeah they are, yeah for sure


you can actually, I mean you can cause like there's even the supplementary, retirement scheme that's like an additional thing that if you want to control not not exactly control but like add on to how much you want to save or like, minimize your extra putting in then yeah there's that too so like if you want engage in that you can do that too so that gives you a little bit of control


but, obviously the CPF is still in place, yup (mmhmm)


actually not really , actually , !wow!


I mean I think everyone has insurance in this day and time but like I just don't know which one exactly but insurance is pretty cool too like you know that, if something were to happen there's some sort of support coming through and like if something really bad were to happen then you know that your family's going to be like well taken care of with like the insurance policy thing that you signed so yeah


negative experiences,


and it's okay it's good, , dude it's affecting a lot of people actually like in


very different ways like you know just that day, I mean not that day as in like these days, I, I've seen so many people actually become like a little more, like, people keep getting affected by the whole quarantine thing


okay


I don't stop it okay, oh my god where did she go


oh shit oh my god, I oh now I see her now I see her, oh


I think I've seen more of my friends and like people that I look up to actually get quite affected by it like suddenly you see people becoming all like you know, slowly getting into those kind of very different mental states where they're not so


uh confident about themselves or like suddenly small little problems kind of started affecting, them a little bit more like, , as you see I mean a lot of, my people as in my friends, have like kind of gotten a little bit into like you know the depressed state it's kind of sad and like the worst part is that you know you can't help them right now because one you have to like reduce contact


and like secondly it's really hard to get them out of that bubble right now because they're so deep into it and especially because like you know there's the same type of people sometimes they're just quarantining on their own so they really don't have enough people to talk to and like when you don't you don't know how bad your brain can how how


far your brain can think actually and like that kind of leads them to like pretty, weird outcomes or like unexpected outcomes at times and, I mean I think there was bound to happen with the whole staying at home avoiding human contact and I think that's what people realize


now, that there's so much of importance that we should put on, uh close contact so just anybody that we know like we should really be checking on them a lot more, and I feel like people feel uh better when they talk it out right so like keeping it in or like


looking at the same people who kind of irritating maybe sometimes like come on like if you've got a sibling you kind of know how that's like when like the the kids just not going to stop irritating you and like trying to state the same problem back to that kid is like next level irritating so like you don't want to do that, so you want to have some friends to talk it out with but like it becomes a little hard when like you're talking over like video call or like just a normal call


so I think we should really keep our friends families and like even if you're not really closely related to somebody just like check on them and like make sure that they're okay especially during this time because people are taking very drastic steps then I think they if if they were to talk it out it wouldn't be too bad


what do you think like has there ever been those kind of moments where like you saw something happening but like you really couldn't help even though you tried but it just went in vain, (mmhmm) (mmhmm) (mmhmm) (mmhmm) yeah (mmhmm) (mmhmm) oh (uh huh)


true true, (mmhmm) yeah (mmhmm) yeah (mmhmm) yeah


ya actually I mean it's kind of similar to our children stages so like my secondary school friends she also have like kind of family problems and stuff so like it started getting to her to like this next level and, obviously as a friend I'd notice that right because like suddenly like you said your friend grades were dropping and so were mine like my friends


so , I did catch on to that then I was like there's definitely something wrong here so like I kind of figured out what was happening like the , abuse, physical abuse thing happening at her house and all that stuff so like, after kind of getting to the full


understanding of the whole situation I tried to help her from my end or like at least from like a friend perspective how I could help her because she started doing really interesting things and reacting way , uh differently yeah so I mean I did what I could to try and stop her from doing whatever she was doing and it did work but the thing is I never knew what all went down at home


so like my friends and I we actually did kind of get in touch with, our school's counselors to kind of help her because she wasn't doing really well she wasn't keeping up well at all with the whole thing, so we did we we managed to arrange for like a counselor to be sent to her house social work or all that stuff was being done but like it didn't help in the end because she was so affected by by the time everyone kind of tried to help


that, it wasn't helping so now she's just there like chilling trying to get like she she tries to stay happy but like it's obviously not going to help so that's why I felt quite helpless even though I tried so much that we got all the arrangements done and stuff so that that was


very annoying, fence where we tried to help her, yeah and you're always thinking about it like how am I going to help her what else can I do doesn't work


especially cause like uh that experience that I just stated that was cause level during O levels, and, that's what's bad because like, she couldn't give her O level exams properly because this was always at the back of her mind and we will constantly helping her out or like trying our best to do something but it never worked so that kind of really frustrated me like


!wow! yeah, yeah oh


true,


cause like you wasted the day, yeah yeah yeah yeah


I mean definitely cause like like I said internship kind of gets to your head after awhile where like you get really tired then like you just want to, chill for a bit but like you can't because you got work the next day and even if it's working from home I think it becomes more stressful because


work from home they expect you do beyond task but the fact that you're at home and literally your bedroom with your bed near you and everything so you kind of can't do it too much you'd be so distracted, but it still expected of you to get tasks done so like that's really draining so if maybe like the situation was better I could've like planned out you know stuff


to do after working hours like you can go chill or you can go get some thai food or oh that's tough right so that's not possible right now that's so irritating, because I mean yeah okay the situation's getting better and everyone staying at home is kind of helping but


how long more , yeah


I think for me I'm going to be so cautious about it all like forever oh not forever like for at least, I mean okay let's say COVID gets better in like jan next year let's just hope for that I don't think I'm going to be normal until at least Juneish because like


you'll never know right like let's say we go out to eat or something you never know what kind of close contact the chef has or like what kind of person from which contact actually sat at that same table with that use the same utensils I mean I wouldn't be at peace myself so I think post COVID


that's definitely going to be something I'll be very like, worried about and very very cautious about and the thing about like you know mask, that is something that's going to be a part of it for awhile I don't think people will just, start taking it off because I think everyone's really paranoid for like


a lot of, the time ya so definitely I think that's going to be what it what it will be like for awhile I mean not like this kind of pandemic have never happened just that the easing out of it is definitely going to be a challenge for everyone I'm guessing


yeah


yeah I mean you just need one person, , do you think this could be a worst fear right now or like is there some other biggest fear that you have


yeah yeah true true yeah yeah


yeah I mean we just interns right so like in a way you can't counters these cheap labor so adjusting our pay wasn't that big of a deal for them because, uh we're not going we're not like permanent staff right so we're just contributing for like about six months or


however long an internship can last so it was actually very flexible and like as far as I know like interns, and my friends it's especially they were all very flexible with the pay adjustment because we all know what kind of problems that companies are going through and there's no point actually pressuring the company even though you just an intern ah I think we can always like


be flexible with our lead but ya pay skills were affected and the way like the working hours that's a work from home getting and like limiting people to like one meter and or that yup that is something that everyone's going through right now, and it is it is annoying after awhile because


you have to constantly check your temperature and like, make sure that you're always social distancing even though you have to be at work some days so that gets kind of irritating after awhile but yeah, yeah yeah yeah true yeah yeah


especially those people who are leading startups like, for them right now they probably like the worst hit in the companies so, (ppo) yup definitely


positive experiences


I, , dude dude quarantine has been mad like, you know you know it's so it's so much of negativity in a sense or like okay like the news you turn on the channel and like oh guess what these many COVID cases these many people are critically ill I can't take it okay it is so much but like


yeah but but but how do you, ignore that and like you know kind of stay optimistic about the whole thing like you know it's going to finish I mean everyone saying it's going to finish but like you don't know when


so like, how how do you do that how do you stay optimistic during quanrantine when like you're all alone or like I mean with your family but like usually the same faces the whole time right


yes, like what, (uh huh) (mmhmm)


which is, yes !whoa!,


I mean it is quite important ya it is quite important because like what what are you going into like business or something, ya then man that is important, but like what what kind of keeps you like you know excited that you know stuff's going to finish which is all going to go back to normal or may be the new normal


how do you kind of stay positive about that whole thing, what keeps you hopeful that everything's going to be cool like later on soon maybe !haiya! couple months, you never know , (uh huh) yeah


true true , (mmhmm) yeah


dude and, yeah I love thai food , but yeah yeah it's good it's good love it but like you know did you hear you know the ozone layer it's like repairing and stuff I think that is something that is so cool like in I mean people say like is not directly related but like I kind of think it is because


there's like you know all the people kind of staying home being a bit safer then naturally dude like, yeah and it's so much better for like the environment and I think that's really keeping me all happy about it because even though we're like stuck at home at least there's some part of the world that's recovering and I mean


why not why not just see that happen, I loved it, yeah man


oh like the the almost extinct ones, true yeah true


oh my god so I'm a movie freak I mean, I'm pretty sure you know like come on so like you know movies back to back , when I mean okay then not many releasing right now but like those that are actually coming out on those OTT platforms like man I'm so happy about that cause


one there're in like super high quality dude I'm safe at home, so that but oh my god any day because like you know internship is quite tiring like a lot of people thing it's like you know it's easy work you know you're just an intern but like that's not true we're actually really hard at work all the time so like coming back home to like watching


solid movies or like, even dancing cause like I really like dancing and like we have a page going on, where me and my friend we kind of like post our dance covers and I was even teaching dance online fro a bit so that is definitely something that helps you relax and uh chill out from all the work related stuff in my head cause it really does get draining but yeah I I just chill like that I love watching movies


so that that's definitely something I do, love that


bro , true man (mmhmm) yeah


wait like on your own, !whoa!, nope yeah but like you know you're going to take bits and pieces from like other dancers or like you know kind of like get inspired but then but like really coming up with something on your own is challenging that's so good


, yeah and you're learning different things and different forms too right


ya man it takes really lor and really thinking of like how what step kind of goes on which beat is really what's like it gets so irritating sometimes but like when you finally get the step it's like oh my god yes we did it like that hit the beat love that


oh yes yes yes you did, uh it was good, , , no cause I was trying to remember the taste but it was good and it was good it was good


dude but like, I mean quarantine is one thing like besides that, have you ever had those kind of moments when you're like oh my god I


uh what is what is one of those moments that you know really makes you or like not moments but like what is one thing that really makes you like feel so alive like oh my god yes that kind of feeling


making tiktoks, yeah that that true yes yes right


no man I watched them, maybe one day quarantine will hit, yeah those that people make right


oh I didn't see them yet but okay I'll see them, I think it's actually looking at how people have started like coming up with very different ideas into like helping other people cause I really like to think that people do like the different types of initiatives that people have to kind of help humanity get back to where they should be


stuff like that so like there's this organization that I kind of recently heard of it's called fan kind if I'm not wrong so what they do is they actually get uh fans of celebrities and they organize celebrity uh experiences that actually linked to any donation


company that they want to give so like like let's say you want to go and meet some of your favorite stars right so you have to make a donation and then they randomly select somebody from all those donatees, and then whoever that get selected gets to choose the person or whatever activity that was planned out and in turn they kind of give a donation to this entire foundation so that's really cool and I've I I really like that and I did contribute a couple of times


so that that kind of makes me really happy like how even in like, this very uh locked down kind of time, there are still those kind of people who are coming up with initiatives even if it's not physically meeting your celebrity, like


crushes or whatever it is it's more of like they they even organize zoom calls so the fact that they're actually like opening up to different types of platforms that can help fans connect and like actually make their contribution it so cool and that that does make me happy


yeah yeah, ya ya ya so like, yeah some of them are one on one and some of them are like they'll get like a group of three or five people in one call with that one celebrity and then they'll have a solid two hour


conversation they'll play games they'll chill they'll talk about literally everything and I really like that and they also focused on the point about the donations because they want to see how people contributed and why they contributed is it just because of the experience or as a genuinely because they wanted to make that difference in someone's life like it could even be someone like


uh getting education sponsored or like, stuff like that that's actually so helpful and I I mean I really like helping people even if like come on I haven't gotten selected yet that's a separate issue but like the thing about like being able to contribute even like


like a hundred dollars let's say or like anything, it's so cool and I just feel so good about it like, something was done from my part like I actually chipped in something, to better someone else's life so yeah that that so makes me happy


yeah but yeah and


I mean for me that the meeting someone is really secondary I really want to help people and I think it's, it's really like fulfilling the like give back and like watching people cause like they actually show what goes on in the foundation once they get the money and the uh the donations so the fact that you see those happy faces and like you know people actually getting enough money to get schooling and stuff that is so cool


(mmhmm) (mmhmm) (mmhmm)


oh that's cool, like bullet journal kind of stationary, that's so cool


I mean come on you learned cooking , yeah that's cool oh yeah yeah so


ya we work on like making great earrings and we sell them so that's pretty cool that's like my financial independence starting out , , that's right that's right that's right !hey! have you have to have you had those kind of like you know best experiences that like you know when you look back you're like that


was the experience, that was solid have you had those kind like man that happened do you have those kind of experiences


yeah go ahead,


ya it was so fun, march yes


ya that will be so fun oh my god,


ya oh my god we never came back before sunset , , oh yes


true, and coming back in the no dude coming back in the trains and people just staring like what's happened you good are you okay,


oh my god, yes, yes, and I mean no one wants to get that on their car


true true, yes


(hmm), uni's, humans


financial related topic, !hey! Sneeha what's up


I actually have a debit card what about you


okay that's a good question cause like I never really thought much about it it was more of just like my parents got it for me so I was just like okay set debit card, let me just work with this, but, now that you pointed out what a credit card how credit card differs from a debit card


I'm wondering why is it that we both have debit cards but our parents have credit cards like is it better to have a credit card or, you have any idea


I see


I see so do you think we should get a credit card now or when we start working like, our parents, (mmhmm)


wait for credit card, yeah sorry for credit card you mentioned that like you can just pay back later, so who pays for you at the moment like if I only have like, a certain amount of money in my account but what I want to buy is like


worth much more who's going to pay for the extra stuff, oh I see


, okay so basically the card issuer


uh pays the money for you, I see I see, okay


I think that is because like, since you mention that for credit card like you don't need to pay a interest to the card issuer right, so I suppose someone with a stable, income would want to do that


right cause debit card is like you don't really need to worry about, are you taking a loan from someone cause you know that once the money is over and your, account it's over like no one no one is going to like, make you pay interest or give you a loan right


so I think that kind of make sense cause that's why we, like haven't we I mean we don't really have a stable income right now, so maybe that's why our parents decided to give us a debit card


and they have credit cards cause of course they have a stable income, or a stable source of money coming into their hands, right but you mentioned, financial independence right


so, actually when I think about financial independence like a lot of questions come up in my mind like, uh when do we start when should we start thinking about financial independence, like should I be worrying about my income right now or should I be focusing on my studies


like do you think it's good to have a side income like from now so that uh we get like a stable source of, input of money, from this age, yeah


actually that's quite in, yeah, (mmhmm) actually uh, even I was working at this company at the sales and marketing company and they really, enforced like


the importance of financial independence there, but I was just there like I'm only nineteen do I really do I do I really need to, think about financial independence now, but I mean


they all used to asked me about like do you have any side income or what allowance you get, right now I don't really get an allowance like when I just need money I just asked my parents for money you know so that's when it struck me that okay maybe it's high time I start getting more financially independent


cause you know we're going to uni and we're going to have our own expenses uni expensive as well, so maybe it's high time we start getting a side income and actually taking responsibility of our own spendings


so actually at my company ah, uh they taught me quite a bit about financial independence and like, since I told them that I haven't really ever thought about it so they decided to give me some ways on how I can start about it about achieving financial independence


so some of the things yeah so some of the things they mentioned was like, understanding my savings pattern, like, really observing how much I save every month, and deciding on how much I want to save every month


so like, if I want to save like a hundred dollars this month, I really need to make sure that my expenses are, you know limited so that I can actually save that amount every month, and I I mean they also mentioned a lot about investing


like nowadays like, even like on social media and everywhere everywhere like everyone is just like you know start investing now you know e-commerce and you know all those advertisements on instagram and other social media platforms


but I usually just ignore it because I'm just oh I'm a kid you know I don't need to invest now, but, but honestly like people, do start investing from like, really young like the


moment they get a stable side income they're like okay it's time to invest, so I found out that actually you can start investing like with just small amounts of money, through like


ya I mean like okay so yeah there was this other thing my company mentioned that when you're investing usually to make sure that you diversify your investments, like you need to make sure that you not just investing in like one thing like investing in just stocks


for example, or oh oh there was this term they used uh ETF, so, uh I'm not really sure what it stands for but I know it's a a way you can invest your money, and that


ETF basically replicate the market movement so it's pretty much just how the market goes, you don't really have to think much it is it just replicates the market movement, and there was this other thing (hmm) what was it uh unit unit trust funds


ya so, that was how they told me I should start because, apparently you use unit trust funds when you want to invest using small amounts of money just like perfect for beginners like us


cause we don't really have, yeah, yeah I I mean we obviously like even if we have a stable side income it's a side income so , , I don't think we're we're going to earn that, much from it so


unit trust funds is actually a pretty good way to start out, but, ya so I found that pretty interesting and , ya so, like I mentioned they said that you should diversify your investments


they also mentioned you should diversify your income sources, so ours is like what do you mean diversify like my income sources I'm studying like, , what do you mean so they elaborated that basically don't just have one source of income


which is I think what's going on a lot these days like you know how people uh go for a corporate job but at the same time also have a E commerce going on, so they're always earning you know they you know you know that phrase that you should uh try to earn while you sleep if not


I don't know I forgot the rest, but, ya so ya these all the kind of things they mention and I was just like okay cool I need to start start with investing and actually thinking about financial independence


and, then ya, (mmhmm) (mmhmm)


ya CPF


(mmhmm) so it'll be like the CPF system in singapore, okay so actually , there's also very uh important aspect of financial independence which is, to make sure you have enough coverage


so I feel like CPF really comes under that, but, I don't really know much about CPF do you happen to know anything much about CPF cause I only know is like a savings plan that's it but I don't know how it works


yeah (uh huh) oh (mmhmm) yup (ppc)


(mmhmm) yeah , (mmhmm) (mmhmm) yeah (ppc) (mmhmm) that's true yup


so you support the CPF system right clearly, I see I mean like we, I haven't really started with CPF contributions yet like the, ya so I didn't really know much about it but after hearing all that


I do know that some people are like, a big uh you know not very fond of like the CPF system, cause they feel like, err you know it reduces their flexibility when it comes to like


their own financial planning, you know like, I don't know like suppose through the CPF I need to pay like you mention thirty seven percent, oh seventeen percent, yeah


I see that's actually quite a huge sum, (hmm) but you can only access it after you're fifty five right,


so so it's basically like the government is doing a bit of your financial planning, could you say that I see


yeah I agree I mean yeah it's cool like, you can either see as like, okay so the government is helping us, by making sure that we have, something to, you know look forward to after retirement something to support us after retirement


but some people also look at it as uh I want to manage my own savings so I want to manage my own retirement plan so , , do we really need this (mmhmm), (mmhmm)


(mmhmm) okay that's cool, actually Sneeha you know recently someone ask me like what insurance coverage you have, and like I was clueless like I did not know what insurance coverage I have but uh I went and asked my parents and I found out that I have the hospitality insurance plan right now


do you happen to know what insurance coverage you have, I know right it's like, as as kid we just really didn't bother to know about all these kind of things, you know and it's really interesting, because like


like and my company under financial independence like to achieve it you also need to make sure that you're covered insurance wise so that's when I was like okay do I even have, insurance , (mmhmm) (uh huh)


(hmm) yeah I mean uh I have heard of like this new critical illness definition which I just came across to like yesterday, so it's basically like an insurance coverage for, when you happen to have an critical illness


so I was just speaking to my parents about it because the terms are tightening for critical illness definition, so and they do not have that insurance so I was just asking them like do they think it's necessary in this day


and they were just like no I don't think so like what's the chances of me getting a critical illness like at this age, so what do you think do you think , , but, , COVID doesn't count under critical illness


negative experiences, so what's up Sneeha


dude I'm like so so bored during quarantine and like I feel like it's affecting me like mentally in so many different ways like


hello, hello sorry, I think my connection


hello yeah yeah yeah


yeah yeah, okay okay, okay, okay ya, sorry I didn't get you Sneeha you were talking about how quarantine has affected you mentally and other people


, (mmhmm)


yeah, ,


yeah yeah


(mmhmm), (mmhmm), okay so actually uh thinking about an experience that


made me feel helpless was uh when I was in high school and uh one of my friends was facing some like family issues which really affected her like mentally so


I found out how it was affecting her because I realized that her grades were falling all of a sudden, and I was just curious so I happen to ask her that like are you okay you know sometimes just an are you okay can (uh huh) you know make you understand what someone else is going through especially during this time


you know so she was just sharing with me how like her parents aren't in a very healthy relationship because uh, want to for uh I think her mother or her father I'm not sure had some


mental problems like was mentally unstable, and happen to physically abused the other partner ya, so you know sometimes it gets a bit difficult to relate to a problem which you haven't experienced


so, yeah I mean I was pretty like, sad when I found out about it cause it like she really like narrated the whole situation to me, and it did seem very serious but I just felt like I couldn't relate much you know


but I'd it kind of, indirectly affected me as well, cause I started thinking about it like all the time like how can I help her or how can I help this situation you know and it was just getting serious day by day and I felt more and more helpless day by day


so I think ya that was one of my negative experiences when it comes to, you know uh helpless so you know as, a normal person would like if you share a problem with me I would try my best to give you a few solutions


right so that's what I did I tried suggesting a a few things she could do but she didn't seem to accept them or she would just be like oh I've tried that before or I just know it's not gonna work


you know and that, like I I feel quite frustrated when something like that happens like when I'm trying but the other person isn't trying you know you know that kind of feeling, ya so that's that's the kind of feeling I got that time I I felt like I was trying my best to help someone but the someone wasn't trying enough to help themselves


you know so yeah I started feeling a bit frustrated, and you know I just I just decided that okay maybe, I won't be able to help her out now since, like I've already given her what I could but she isn't accepting it so I decided to just step away from it but yeah that was one of my negative experiences but


ya like what about you like have you ever, experience something that frustrates you or like any incident that happen, yeah


different 'kay (mmhmm), (mmhmm)


I see, (mmhmm) (mmhmm)


ya actually gets very frustrated like for me, I felt yeah, I know like it starts affecting you as well you know


oh, oh,


(mmhmm) I mean I can really understand that cause, like there are times when I also feel really drained out or like I'm just thinking about something that's like affecting me at the back of my head and


at that time really like I can't do anything like I don't feel like eating or like sleeping or doing anything so at that time I just feel like sitting alone and just like thinking about it again and again which I don't think it really helps much but like


you know when you're in this kind of situation where there's something going on in your head and you know you're not able to solve it you just don't feel like doing anything, so I can understand how like you mentioned that your friend like couldn't give up


O levels right and I'm sure that must have like further worsened her problems right so yeah that's really sad cause I've also had a friend who couldn't sit for her it wasn't O levels


it was A levels so it was a much more serious and she couldn't go for her A levels cause she just had like a mental breakdown like like before the exam cause you know these kind of situations can be quite stressful


like, it it's it's something that really determines your future, you could say, so ya you know, I can understand these kind of things to some extent but like, coming back to quarantine right now like I feel what frustrates me the most right now is that sometimes I just have nothing to do and like I'm just like okay I have nothing to do so I mean what's the issue just don't do anything right


but like at the end of the day I feel really like guilty, you know I get like yeah yeah it's like I just wasted the entire day doing nothing you know and eventually days become like weeks and months and like the guilt just builds up like continues building up and like I don't know I feel like


quarantine also just makes you a a bit like lazy sometimes like you don't really feel like doing anything even though you could do like a few things you know and then, you know my parents will also be like you know what are you doing and then I have no answer to give them you know and that further frustrates me cause like I feel like what am I doing with my life you know I really just start questioning what I'm doing with my life right now


so yeah I mean it's good that you have your internship to keep you busy but, for me like this was something that really made me feel a bit a bit like drained out, during lock down, ya so


like what about you do you ever have times where you feel like drained out even though you have your internship going on or like just times where you feel like I wish like the situation was better, (mmhmm)


yeah, yeah


, (mmhmm)


that's true yup


I know I know but actually, thinking about like everything gradually opening up like do you think like post COVID like, will there be any other changes to our lifestyle like or would everything just go back to normal


or is it going to be like you mentioned a new normal, (mmhmm) a few (mmhmm) yeah


yeah that's true, (mmhmm) yeah yeah


that's true that's true


that's true yeah I think that's something I agree to as well like, post COVID I would probably, still be extra cautious, like, I would probably still go on wearing from like wearing masks for a bit, cause I mean like there are places like new zealand where like the cases when down to zero for a short period of time and suddenly just goes up


you know so I'm sure we all will have, that, like fear in our minds like what if there's still that one person that still carrying it and you know we didn't know, ya ya these kind of things it's actually just one person and it just so contagious that like one person can make a big big impact


honestly like, for me ya I think this would be one of my biggest fear right now that but like there are other people right now like working people I feel like it really like this quarantine and everything really affect affected the economic economy in a very bad way


like a lot of people have lost their jobs, or their pay scale just went down by a lot you know so these kind of things like it's still affecting people right now and definitely like even though we are indirectly affected


we are indirectly affected cause we are all you know part of the economy you know so the economy has suffered quite a bit and businesses have shut down things like that you know, these some of the negative impacts of quarantine and like


this COVID but so is definitely going to take quite some time for things to you know be established again after COVID so I think that's one of my biggest fears


more like you know how the economy's really going to come back up to where it was looking at all the businesses shut down and jobs that lost, you know but like what about you did did your pay scale or anything get affected because of this quarantine and COVID


(mmhmm) (mmhmm) I see yeah


yup


, yup, yup


I mean for us we you could say we still have our parents to like pay our bills and like take care of us but like sometimes when I just think about like their situation it really scares me, like can you imagine if you're like the only working adult in your household and your pay scale suddenly just drops


so ya I feel like people like this out there right now it's really a very difficult time for them, and ya I really like it really stresses me out sometimes like how they're managing right now although the government is helping a bit


but ya so, I mean we're I'm glad that we are in a situation like that right now but I just hope that the people out there who are in this kind of situation are able to manage their expenses even at this time


yeah, (mmhmm) ya ya that's true, (mmhmm), yeah I mean there are people who like completely lost their jobs and they are still looking for jobs you know cause no one is


willing to give a job either during this time


positive experiences


okay, !hey! Sneeha, , I'm really bored at home what are you doing


I know right, wait wait wait


we supposed to talk about positive experiences right, yeah


I mean honestly right now I'm really really bored at home, cause like, you're having your internship right, yeah but uh, in a way like I've I did find out time to do some really interesting things which I would not have done if not for quarantine


like, ya like you know we shooted our dance video, so I got to make up time for dance, during this quarantine and, I guess spend time with my family members cause usually if not for quarantine like


my dad's working my mum's busy with housework, my sister's going to school I'm going to school and I only come back at like six or seven every day and I usually just clash , like after coming back, cause


like yeah you know I get tired so I don't get time, to do anything I'm doing right now actually, so right now actually, since I don't really have anything else to do , , I decided to like pick up a new skill which is microsoft excel


, okay so that is part of like my uni syllabus so I was like why not use this time to master that skill, right and I'm sure it'll come in handy


(mmhmm) ya ya ya (mmhmm)


okay so honestly speaking like I have, like, when COVID first hit looking at, the lower numbers in singapore I was just like, and it's going to go in like a few months one or two months , , but then you know what happen after that things got worse


, so yeah that's when I started getting scared, and , I, started losing hope about how, where nothing's going to get normal is twenty twenty even going to exist in my life, , after few years


, but looking at things opening up now, I am so so happy like finally I can go out and eat like my thai food , cause I, I have been craving for thai food like for a really long time and my finally I can go and actually sit and eat like a thai food or Mala just all the things I've been craving during quarantine you know you you love thai food as well right


uh, yeah


uh less pollution, I know right actually


ya like, like like the environmental impacts of quarantine it's literally been all over like, my social media and in even in the news, like wildlife returning back and like


yeah a lot of extinct species also being seen around the world right now it's really really cool, ya ya the almost extinct one sorry but like yeah like when I look at that it really just makes me feel good about like okay even though I'm not doing anything at home I'm getting bored


there is a positive impact, that's happening out there, you know, we're in some way helping the environment by staying in our homes , and like obviously creating less pollution


but, okay aside from this topic tell me, what're you doing at home like only you do to like this unwind then like relax at home, yeah yeah !wow! (mmhmm)


same I've been, I've been watching so many series during this quarantine like literally just been through watching every single day, , like there have been series, where like like my dad, like, starts this series during lunch time and it's just so thrilling that we just go on watching it all the way till like night


like dinner time and we're just like what are we doing but it's so much fun though like honestly we would never be able to do this if not for quarantine like even during Saturdays Sundays we have like homework extra work, my dad's still has meetings and you know it just never happens


but, now we're actually get to been through watch like almost every other day is really really exciting dude, but yeah , but okay dancing okay that's one other thing I really agree on


cause I've been using that to spend my time as well, I mean, I tried choreographing a few dance like, dances and like it actually, yeah uh that's the meaning of choreographing right


, definitely is and that's what makes it like so time consuming


but the same time is good cause that's what helps me past my time, I mean you you, yeah yeah, ya you choreograph as well right you know how long it takes right, ya (uh huh) (uh huh)


oh oh and you know like another thing right I actually put in effort for this quarantine was learning how to cook, and then there was a big deal for me cause I would never try to cook if not for like being this bored at home right now like I actually like


cook like, things like baked rice I think I send you some of the baked rice as well, ya how was it, ,


[sial] why do you have a moment of doubt , yup


wait sorry my recording stopped again, yeah, so do I press on


oh I don't, oh yeah yeah okay so I don't press on record, okay okay, ya so


okay, what makes me feel so alive okay so, actually before when COVID didn't hit and life first normal normal for us yeah, I mean what


used to make me feel alive would really be like going out with my friends or like, just going out with my family to eat dinner outside or something you know just like things like that but now that quarantine hit us


I feel like, I mean I discover new things that make me feel alive like, you know just bring watching with my family or, you know just, ya like it's really just like the small moments of happiness I feel


that like keeps me going, ya so like I don't know cooking dancing, uh, you know chit chatting with my sister you know, and if I'm too bored just going down for a walk and ya


, ya these kind of things there are more like watching tiktoks, cause cause like, that was that that's really addictive though , like you just go on watching and watching when it keeps you entertained I guess


do you make tiktok, (uh huh) yeah, I know you sent me a few, what yeah


ya is damn funny some of them like I've sent you a few too I think, yup , but what about you like, what makes you feel happy like now


and before, oh I see oh !whoa!


with the zoom call you mentioned is it like a one on one zoom call with you and your, bought actor you chose, !whoa! one on one, that's damn cool


ya that's actually pretty cool like, ya sort of yup going a step closer to fulfill your dream, of meeting your favourite actor, and at the same time you're helping people by donating money in a way, (mmhmm) oh yeah


yeah that's true actually it's quite interesting you know how like during this lock down period so many of my friends have like started something new, like for instance you started your own dance page, you know another friend of mine started her own stationery business


you know so she's creating stationery and selling it you know and like, it's really cool to see, ya ya like bullet journaling yeah that's something she's focusing on, so like ya then really actually motivates me to actually make more use of my time right now


, ya okay that that that was really important skill I needed to like catch up with some point of time you know, but, yeah I mean even you have like your own uh


clay works right like you you use clay to make stuff, I remember coming to your house and seeing that sometime,


your side income coming in, I see, solid ,


for me I think, that, experience would be holy holy , yeah I mean like it was so fun like I'm really sad that like this year we couldn't have holy but, but looking back at the good times like


ah, I remember having so much fun like playing with colors dancing around and like meeting so many different new people and you were there as well so you know how it was ,


but ya like literally every year I'm like always looking forward to holy like I'm always looking forward to like that month when is it again is it's in march ya march so I'm just like hoping that the holy comes back next year cause that's something I'm really looking forward to


, dude like yeah I really I really really like missed those times actually like we all going out together and like having fun and like, this is dancing around for like hours


but, yeah and like I remember how like I would have a test till next week but like I could not but I could not sacrifice holy for that


so ya and like our stained faces the next day, for the next week , are you okay,


the no the the best part is like right after holy when I need to take a cab back home, , like no cab would stop for me cause I'm drenched in like colors, and like, exactly but like still it's worth all the fun I mean


it it's just really makes everything worth it, so ya just hope hope it comes back next year, yes and right now I'm just, waiting for uni and hopefully I'll get to meet uh new people and that's something that's exciting me right now cause finally I got to meet some people


, yeah actually I feel like it's going to be so weird like oh my god like I haven't seen human in so long like and then suddenly like a bunch of new faces, but I'm looking forward to that like I'm looking forward to make new friends


okay so , for the first question so what one what's one financial advice I'll give my I will give to the you to me five years ago


I think will be to start saving earlier and like to, to to to understand the power of like compound interest years ago, so that I, is is you know how compound interest works as the as the year goes longer and longer you you actually earn exponentially more so ya I think five years ago I should have started like saving more earlier


okay , so the flow is like both of us will answer one one one by one lah basically, okay so second one should I do it myself or get a financial adviser to plan I I would say I would get a financial adviser because I think ultimately


you might you might know a lot of things but uh you might you might read up on a lot of this kind of plan and stuff like this but, to get to get someone who act who who is actually , part of the company or part of the, financial adviser the insurance company let's say or


banking company so, I would get a financial adviser in this case ya