it's just so , I would say disappointing at times and but at the same time you know you are trying to help somebody with depression right you yourself are not supposed to feel sad or disappointed because you already try it doesn't it doesn't help him in any way when when when you're trying to do that and uh I think I I recall this this final year project done by uh one of the people in my school previously


they filmed a movie about depression a very very short movie clip and it was very saddening to watch it, because it was about this guy, living with a mum with depression and uh depression anxiety and dementia and it was a very sad movie and angry uh and thought provoking movie because in that just short ten minutes it started off with you hating the main character cause it shows him scolding his mum and screaming at his mother


but, by the end of the movie you sympathise so much with the guy you hate yourself for hating him in the first place because it shows like at at the start he was shouting and screaming at his mother everyone was like judging this guy why why you being so mean to your mum but then they show that when he gets home he opens the door and the mum sits down and then he talks to his mum


his mum just doesn't recall and because, everything he say she takes it as an attack to her and she was so depressed and at the same time she had dementia everything all combined and, the pressure that was being built on this guy it started off with you know like three four years ago when there was onset dementia and there was the start of the mum's depression he was trying to help her continuously and he reached the point at the end whereby it was four five years in already he has done everything he could


but there was literally no solution no doctors could help her and he has to face this day in and day out which led to him being frustrated and starting to get him depressed as well and then suddenly you feel bad for him and I think, ya this this this whole issue could go on for days but basically this this this


this is something that I feel is very, sad that society has progressed so much in terms of so many ways but there's something that we still cannot tackle


uh same thing right clap, part two positive experiences


still cannot hear


I think can hear already you try speaking, eh uh now eh eh, uh now okay


okay uh, uh no I'm okay we can just start of with the first question lah, so what makes you want to


be alive ha , okay so so I would say that being alive is uh the main the main thing I would say it's is that we are not limited towards a certain choice uh I think that's what makes life exciting you have many different choices in life you have many ways that you can choose to live


and along the way you'll make many mistakes and these mistakes are what makes it interesting so I would say that that that's a negative and yet positive thing about life itself that makes it, feel very different from if let's say you are being very controlled and you know you are just going through the the the motion of being alive


ya but how about you, (mmhmm)


(mmhmm), (mmhmm)


, so travelling lah travelling is a huge part of it , , , okay so are you gonna be planning to travel a lot in the recent year


ya after COVID


, , , travel for work okay


, (mmhmm), I see uh I mean that


I see there this there this question about you know describing a travel experience that left you in awe I think after all this travelling you've been doing for work and all, what what was the best travel experience you had,


(mmhmm), , (mmhmm)


(mmhmm)


okay okay, I think I think for me ya I think for travelling itself one of the the the best, experiences I had so far was actually going for exchange err similar staying overseas for for a prolonged period of time allowed me to appreciate a lot more about the the foreign country instead of just going there for holiday right I mean in terms of holiday almost every country you go will appear better than singapore you're just there for two weeks and then you are go on or one week and then you just enjoy whatever you have


but uh I was having my exchange in sweden, and uh I think one of the best things that that uh that left a deep impression on me is that, uh it's so different living in somewhere, with a very low population density I would say such that everything can be


planned out so perfectly and I think that was what so wonderful I operate like I like to operate like clockwork so in the sense that I like to get, to different places on time exactly on time not too early not too late and I think sweden helped me to fulfil that dream because unlike in singapore whereby you know you use your bus apps and it say [orh] your next bus is five minutes away and then you you look at your google maps you look at go there dot SG and they tell you okay it will take you thirty five minutes to get from


Tampines to raffles or something but that's never accurate you have to buffer in plus minus you know like twenty minutes thirty minutes cause your bus might run late you'll be caught in a jam you might not be able to board the MRT or you might you know your MRT my breakdown or everything so there are so many different factors such that you cannot plan a perfect journey


but in sweden everything ran like clockwork so, we don't have a bus app you get there on the first day and they give you this brochure they tell you okay you take like the bus number three to town you take the bus number one to school and you take bus number five to shopping something like that and


on that piece of paper they state down every single timing going towards town you know three fifty seven there will be one bus four O five next bus and the bus comes exactly on the dot not one second later not one second earlier even they are early they stopped at the bus stop and they wait they will know like three fifty seven then they start moving off to the next bus stop


they won't leave early they won't leave late, and that allows you so much freedom to plan so if school starts at eight thirty I need to reach the school bus stop at eight twenty five I know exactly which bus I need to take and you will never miss it because as long as you plan your walking journey there, it's fine you it it and it and it's so wonderful cause when your friends tell you that you know their what time you're supposed to meet at the mall and they are late you know it's clearly on them they can't blame their buses they can't say I was stuck in a traffic jam you you know they woke up late so so everything it it it it it so it so


perfect because of the fact that you know the roads are so empty that the buses can really regulate their speed and reach exactly where you need to exactly on time and and the experience itself is just mind blowing I really wish that I could experience it again in singapore but I don't think we we'll have it anytime soon


it it I think it's nearly impossible I looking at the the crowd and all even even you know with circuit breaker going on back then you know people can't go out right , I think I still think it's so hard to plan stuff like this because your buses don't run like clockwork the bus drivers just untrained to do that ya so so I would say that's a bit different uh uh okay maybe we can we can choose another topic


but ah okay what what skill or ability you are secretly proud of having I think I know what's yours but you can share it


, , I think it'd be working very hard for languages and all, , , german


uh okay I think for me unfortunately I have no talents in terms of languages and I I'm just terrible at learning a new language but I would say one ability that I'm, I'm sort of proud of having it will be uh problem solving


think it's something that I really discover at work that uh even back in school in my final year projects and things like that I think problem solving is a very huge skill set that I picked up along the way, , there's because I I just enjoy reading and I love reading uh about global economy global what's happening you know like social work and stuff like that so


that gives me a very wide perspective not not deep but at least you know I have a huge variety of solutions to choose from and whenever I face something at work that could become a problem I'm able to come up with a a solution that had been tried and tested and then from there you know we will start to research a bit more about it to find out how we can implement these solutions


and uh even things like finances I think it helps out so much also because you know sometimes you face the difficulty like you have your problem right I'm not saving enough I I need to save up for house what do I do so uh because of all the different things I read so far I do know that can you can do this you can you can try doing this you can try doing that there's no


uh and I don't believe there's only one solution to the problem there are many different types of solutions you just need to focus on what's what can help you at this particular juncture and uh that's I that's something I think it was something really good that I picked up along the way in school and it has helped me a lot


uh along this way lah I don't think I would be able to even graduate if I hadn't pick up the skill sets you know finding the group project group is always good to have a person with the solution inside right so all these helped me to secure stronger teams uh as compared to if I didn't have the skill and I think it has really helped me along way


yeah, so maybe we can move on next to activity to unwind and relax uh, I think my every everyone enjoys relaxing you know doing nothing watching show stuff like this but I think one of the greatest uh relaxation and unwinding is actually going for a very quiet uh run for myself I think after work when I have a very long day speaking to people going for meetings when I get home uh then starting I enjoy more than just


shutting off my phone you know just plucking in my earpiece and going for a run for about, five to six KM you know just clocking in thirty minutes if I have more time one hour, and then at that point nothing matters you can't see your phone you're away from all digital uh I would say stresses it so you won't you won't feel the need to reply because you can't you won't feel the need to speak to people you will just keep moving and you will just blank out and that that that's just the ultimate relaxation


how about you, (mmhmm)


uh I can guarantee you will not feel more relax after driving in singapore like you gonna feel more stressed, but you were driving where in Hokkaido, oh you are driving in Hokkaido or was it Tokyo


Hokkaido is it okay lah, ya ya


I totally forgot you bought a car in Hokkaido only when you are you driving around, , ya ya ya, and I think I think is is it's too stressful to drive here it it's gonna make you feel so much more angry at the end of the day when you're driving around


err, , ya I think I think in singapore the best activities you can do are more physical uh you know like all your sports and of course you your watching on shows you will help you to unwind better than


playing games or driving all these will just add more stress, okay, uh I just like that one is quite interesting despite the ongoing global uncertainty what makes you optimistic about the future uh okay maybe you can start on this what what what makes you feel optimistic about our future right now


so so basically the opportunities that singapore present for you makes you feel very optimistic, okay okay, , I think I think one, interesting thing about this entire uncertainties that it gives us a lot more uh


like you mentioned opportunities but I will say may maybe not much in terms of employment but in terms of a global market crisis where you know everyone is always talking about the financial cyclical , process that you go through you know how much we're paid ha uh I'm not paid sorry but how much you should invest you know when the lehman brothers tank you know all those stories of people throwing their money in at this age and then after that retiring on uh on more I think this this is one thing that makes me positive because in that sense if you are facing the crisis now


and we are putting where we are at the age to to start investing I think it's the best time to start and that's when you get better returns right in the next few years, where everything starts to recover and also I feel that , a bit different from other countries when we're looking online uh while I do understand that there are some countries that are putting in a lot of effort to to improve things I think singapore itself


we have focused a lot on learning new skills during this period of time and picking up skill sets that can help you stay competitive once everything recovers and that makes me feel more optimistic about singapore on its own not just the the world but ya and


looking at how our government is handling everything I think it makes me feel more even more, supportive to stay within the country itself to, to, ya to do all this kind of stuff, ya ya it makes you feel like you are being taken care of lor


(mm), ya so I think that that that on its own will will help out a lot as compared to, (um) being overseas right now I think a a lot a lot (uh) not a lot of countries are handling this well


part one financial related topic


okay sure I think this is something I probably would need to say to myself five years ago that it's probably the fact that I think you should save for me simply because , in the past five years for some context I've been living overseas and I've been drawing a salary but I haven't really been saving so


because I haven't has have savings yet I actually I feel that I'm lagging behind in terms of like the financial options I can take and what kind of risk that I can take in terms of , firstly spending my money and also like, in terms of what I can plan to spend on so there is I feel like there is some sort of how to say restriction limits on how I can control my spending right now because of my poor savings habit in the past


ya so for me one financial advice is to like start saving early yup what about yourself


ya


okay


right so actually right now right I more in the DIY stage but I personally feel like I need a financial advisor it's just that I'm so basically I was based overseas so everything that I was


taking off in terms of finances were based on living overseas so right now having come back to singapore right I am still relatively new in singapore I'm still relatively lost, and in terms of like financial planning, I think right now I'm not at the stage whereby I can one afford a financial advisor yet but like what #jia rong# has mentioned right I feel that having a financial advisor or rather someone who can basically give you advice and also give you updates on how the world is doing how


your investments and all your other financial products are being handled and somebody who can help you to handle that, portfolio would be really helpful for you to focus on other aspects of your life because I personally feel that if you are spending too much time on just err managing your own finances it's gonna be very draining because it's probably a lot of things you've to track track uh keep track of


and also that it just takes time away from things that you really should be doing to, in short enjoy your life lah ya so I believe that a financial advisor for me would be ideal maybe say one or two years down the road but not at this current stage whereby I'm still like really fresh into like the idea of personal finance of really taking responsibility for my own finances


ya, , yup


(mmhmm)


right so for this particular question I think I need to split down into two parts because, how do I manage my cash flow comes from what I've been doing until now whereas how do I allocate my income is probably I view as something as I'm actively working towards too lah so I haven't really be doing a good job so I'm gonna like change my strategy so that's for now


so how I used to manage my clash cash flow, was that I would think hey maybe I can just save a little bit like say maybe five hundred a month in the context of me uh having to pay rent having to pay my own utilities, supporting while having a vehicle car and basically just going out every week every other day so that was the time whereby I just maybe say save two three hundred dollars a month I was happy I was just like spending money like crazy


and I think that was also quite complicated because, well I ended up in debt lah in short so from that experience and me coming back singapore I recognise there's something that has to be changed so right now for this uh income allocation like how much I allocate income to savings and expenses and insurances right I will just


touch on a different uh aspects but in terms of expenses I haven't really been , saying hey maybe I can only spend five hundred or a thousand a month I just have a right now I only have a very vague budget in that sense like maybe say I have bills to pay I have


probably money for food some set aside some money for clothes and that's roughly gonna be about eight nine hundred dollars a month maybe so that is the rough budget I work with it's not a strict budget on months where I overspend I will overspend if it like, facilitates me doing other activities but if not well it happens but


I am very conscientious right now as to not over go too much over that budget so in terms of expenses I think probably right now it's probably eight hundred to a thousand a month and in terms of savings


after being CPF and all that stuff, the rest of my salary goes into savings so one K Ish for expenses and rest to savings why that is so right now is because, I'm as I actually just came back to singapore so I haven't really read up on insurance here yet and I'm not at the stage whereby as I mentioned previously I didn't have much savings so I'm not at the stage whereby I'm ready for investments so right now it's mostly I'll say thirty forty percent of my pay towards


sorry after CPF about thirty percent of my pay goes towards expenses and the rest on savings ya


ya so for me actually ya this is something that I have been consistently thinking about recently besides so in a sense that I want I want to reap dividends and stuff like that based on invent my investments but, like I've mentioned earlier it's not something I'm comfortable doing within the next year so that's something I've put on aside but I think it'll be better for myself to have an extra source of income and actually right now when I'm free


I do some translations, online like it's it's a freelance thing and also if there are events going on probably not so much due to corona not to due to uh COVID nineteen but, basically I used to do translation interpretation for events and it's not a reliable source of income in that sense but it's some extra income that I can get when there are such events going on lah


ya so that is like my, what I'm currently currently doing to like get more income, but it's not a very sustainable source of income in the long term, ya


, ya so in my case I'm frankly speaking just starting out trying to build a habit of saving so


I am still in the midst of building my savings I don't really have a habit of like, saving a lot of money and in terms of saving goals right now it's like what #jia rong# mention earlier I'm trying to actually build something similar but currently my savings is only for like I call it the emergency fund lah so basically if anything sudden happens I have a pool of money that I can tap into


but in terms of saving goals per se the long term goal obviously will be to at least from what what I'm seeing right now for myself would the long term savings goals would be to save towards a house to repay like for example housing loan, and right now in terms of like other ways to use the money I haven't really been thinking about it ya so it's I don't really have much a clearly defined clearly defined saving goals at the moment ya


(mmhmm), , ya


yup, ya so , for my case right in my case how I been spending my money is pretty ridiculous lah it's a ridiculous way of spending money so I spend quite a bit on rent probably like around thirty percent on rent previously


and basically as I was mentioning I didn't really have a habit of spending so uh of saving so basically whatever was left of that I would use it in a sense in my own words to get experiences I would go travelling and I would actually buy a lot of material stuff lah


so that was how I was spending my money, and I didn't really exactly justify my expenditure but I recognise that I've been spending quite a lot lah so basically spending a lot of money on material stuff and right now that that was in when I was overseas back in singapore right now I find my expenses had


I find that my expenses have have basically uh decreased so I don't no longer need to pay for rent I no longer need to pay for utilities and, it frees up that amount amount of money I can spend but also at the same time I think right now I'm more choosy on what I spend on


like the stuff I spend off if it helps like my family with like menial tasks like maybe say a cleaning robot or something or or say maybe it's for my grandparents or my my grandparents like medical fees and stuff like that I'm totally willing to spend so


I don't think that's something I'm spending a lot on even though like it's quite a huge ticket item when it comes ah, ya, (mmhmm)


(mmhmm),


, (mmhmm)


so in in your case you are saying like basically you're cutting back on spendings and trying to divert that spendings into all these big ticket items lah, , okay like for me basically I actually besides buying a house I haven't actually thought of like a like strategy to like afford many things like right now so basically


right now in terms of big ticket expenditure for me personally is just a house right now like I want a house but I realise in singapore there's also a lot of different factors that play into getting a house so I you need to have CP CPF to fund it or you need to have enough basically savings and


also there's the age limit if you are still single then so right now, in terms of just sentiments a lot because I haven't actually uh actively act implemented these strategies I find it's similar to what err #jia rong# has says so basically you have to cut back on your spendings but to pay for this big ticket items but I feel that another way is it depends on your commitment level also but


another way I feel that you can uh try to afford these houses big ticket items to look for sources of side income, obviously I'm not saying like go buy lottery and just try a TOTO or something lah but, but I think if you have a skill that is


separate from your day to day job or maybe whatever skill you have that you are trying to improve on you can try to make find a an avenue to, basically in a sense sell your labour sell your skills lah and actually get an a side income for that ya so I think that may depending on how what your commitments are may help to like ease the burden of basically affording a big ticket item


ya,


ya, , , ya


(mm) ya okay so


part three negative experiences, yup, okay


for me recently recently I think it's people who are late and then it's ironic because I used to be the one who's pretty late who's always almost late so I think it, it's not a matter of principle for me right now or in terms or like some someone is late so that it means that they are not really thinking of how


it used to be that I thought that okay I'm frustrated by someone who's late because they're not thinking of like your time like basically they are they are wasting your time lah in that sense but recently it's more of like what they could have done to prevent themselves from being late


so it it's a minor minor thing right now but I think like in terms of like late people that's one actually I I can answer this question in a lot of ways because I have a lot I get frustrated at a lot of different things, uh another another thing would probably be uh


really trying to learn new things it's very frustrating especially like say for example I've been taking err coursera courses online lah and right now I'm working right so it's becoming slightly challenging basically running into


having to juggle with work and learning something on the side and also at the same time whereby you are learning and I think there is like school culture in singapore so right now on the coursera platform as I don't know about the other courses are but for the course I'm taking there is a lot of information that is not


provided so it's it's not really as a perfect course in a sense and I think learning it is in itself is rewarding but it's also extremely frustrating because, you're trying to know things that you do not already know and you have to find a way somehow


to learn and at this point of time I I don't think like I have I know a well defined way of learning and I, think that that like really frustrates me everytime I try to learn something new ya


ya I just keep like those two for now what what about you, (mmhmm)


(mmhmm), (mmhmm)


ya I I think a source of frustration really is that you have been brought up saying


brought up in a system whereby they are saying okay this is step one this is step two you get to here and then you'd be good you'll be set for life that kind of system and that used to be true in singapore but right now because like it singapore has become a much much more globalised place there's a lot more uncertainty so I think that is really


it's just life it's just like how it happens it it is extremely frustrating I kind of understand that but it's also I feel it's something to learn for lah basically, exploring your options and if there are no options at least being able to take charge of your how do I say this


decisions take charge of the decisions or rather take responsibly for decisions that I've made towards moving towards your goal I think that would like help alleviate it in a sense lor, ya


ya, ya


(mmhmm), for me I think maybe not, context again is not really the world in a sense we're in singapore and I think similar to what you've mentioned it has been amplified by COVID and so I was just reading up but I don't really have much personal experience but it's on


mental illnesses in singapore like so basically like with more people being cooped up at home right in singapore due to COVID especially I think during the lockdown phase like we see a lot of, I think it's similar to what happened in japan as well basically


increases in like DV uh domestic violence that's one ya so just, I think it's quite terrifying just reading for but like how people can't really, stand their family in a sense like they are just living with them because they don't have other means of doing so I think that is really really sad but maybe it's just because of my values like I I believe like if you are in a family you should give each other some space but obviously it doesn't work out that well and I think


the result of that is that like so a lot of people are not very well adjust like, in terms where mental health are not well adjust in the sense that they might look fine on the outside but on the inside they are actually honestly dying but just not doing very well and I think personally there might not be a


I'm not experienced in this but I will say there might not be a very obvious, solution obvious support at work to help with that to deal with that because I think mental illnesses especially in singapore is something that is rarely talked about and to start slightly negative about it right it's more of like when you see someone who probably


is has some sort of mental illness I think what I used to see was eh this this guy Siao one like this that kind of comment which I think doesn't really contribute, and also


I feel that there's not really a strong


ya, ya, (mmhmm), (mmhmm), (mmhmm)


(mmhmm), (mmhmm) (mmhmm)


(mmhmm)


(mmhmm),


, (mmhmm), yup


(mmhmm), ya


, (mmhmm), , I can't really I can't really speak about other illnesses but in terms of just like depression itself like you say it's probably one of the most major things but I think the stigma and also people not properly understanding depression in a sense that


depression as an illnesses stereotype like if you are depressed you are very gloomy and then you harm people around you but I think it's a very simplified a very I'll say a dehumanised way, of looking at depressed person and I think like the first thing people have to understand and something I probably strongly feel about is that people have to understand what depression actually looks like actual actually is


a person could be depressed but maybe say high functioning he can be doing his work basically he can be doing his work properly he can be doing well but he just doesn't like it that kind of person can also be depressed so, I think personally like you have to at least for in the case of depression we have to like understand it lah


like get the public to understand what kind of illness it is actually and not just like watch some sort of I don't know what or something and get our stereotypes from them ya


(mmhmm), (mmhmm)


ya


, ya and I think it's in a sense it's something that the society has to work towards it in a sense like you cannot say like hey I want this ideal to be ideal to be fulfilled but like as a person itself when you interact with someone else you are just like ya I think should avoid him because that like he doesn't give of good vibes that kind of


like interaction like so like everybody has a part to play in that lah in that sense, ya


(mmhmm), ya ya ya, (mmhmm)


ya ya , , ya


okay, ya press the record button already, part two positive experiences


(hmm) you can't hear me part two hello hello, yes I I can hear you guys can you guys hear me can you hear me, (hmm) okay wait one second let me just reconnect my


can you hear me now, one second let me uh, reconnect my earphones


how how about now ah, is it, is it very choppy right now hello, can ah sorry sorry about okay


uh yes I press the record button, uh, yes I have basically clap and read out the uh part two positive experiences part, ya, ya, wait so uh first first things first if there are any are there uh any questions that uncomfortable saying uh or talking about #jia rong#


okay okay lah, , ya


(mmhmm)


(mmhmm), for me personally actually I think this is something I haven't really thought about deeply but in terms of what I want, I'm really how to say I want to be alive for the experiences like the different things you can experience like you mentioned earlier but also includes not just like staying singapore lah so singapore is staying in singapore and being in singapore is one way to experience life but like for example I went overseas to like


basically how how do I say this, have stay in different place and have a different perspective that's one and frankly speaking I don't even know like maybe five ten years down the road road whether I might move away from singapore again but, for me it's about having the opportunity to like go different places try out different things and also basically being able make connections that uh I think is


worthwhile ah to or rather say not really worth how to stay alive but like makes it better to stay alive in that sense ya, travelling travelling is a huge part of it ya


you mean like after after like COVID lah , I don't know because there is going to conflict with my like based on my past


propensity to travel I think that's gonna eat into a savings goal so right now I'm try to work out between like both of these ah like savings and finances and also with travelling like right now I'm at a stage whereby, I don't want to travel just for like as a tourist I don't want to travel as a tourist so that's something that I've understood but rather I want to travel through


my work, so in a sense I'm still ya like not exactly travel for work but have a work whereby have a job whereby you might not be based in singapore might be based overseas and sometimes I feel the thing that I'm not sure how other singaporeans think lah but for me personally


it's really just taking that leap of faith ah like there are some job markets overseas where it's gonna be very hard for you to compete but some others which are not I think as singaporeans it's pretty easy pretty easy to go overseas lor in for job anyway ya


so I so I think in a sense we are pretty privileged ah, ya, (mmhmm)


for me ah right now okay lah let let's just say so I mentioned I live overseas right I think, japan japan was where I went to I out of all the countries I've been to like maybe say the states when I was doing study abroad I have been to other different countries for just normal travelling like taiwan hong kong and stuff like that and for me japan holds a special place in my heart lah so like the best travel experience because


I would frame it as a travel experience even though I lived there for a few years because I live in two different places of japan in Hokkaido and Tokyo and, it was frankly speaking meeting there local people there I mean being able to talk to them and regularly hanging out that made the experience worth it so at the end of it I feel it's still for the people and also like what


you get to try out new things you get to try out when you're travelling, so for me in terms of that in terms of what I got from this like particular travel experience was that obviously I spoke I've started to speak better japanese that's one and I'm actually pretty happy about that and also


the different places and different types of people I would meet there I would probably not really meet in singapore because like I think singapore is still quite and you don't go out to meet people at our age unless you are like an events person or you go out to events and stuff


ya, what what about you ya


, (mmhmm)


, (mmhmm), (mmhmm)


because singapore isn't really running on fixed schedule right, ya


(mmhmm), , ya ya


okay sure so uh recently after coming back from overseas coming from japan I I think something I actually happy about is my ability to speak japanese and I think I I only started realising this like recently while I was watching netflix


and I was reading watching a japanese show with only japanese subtitles, and I can almost perfectly understand what's going on like of course like there will always be some like discrepancies ah like I don't really know like what a particular word means but with context it's like it it's like I understand


it's a it's like that moment where you're just like, okay I'm not at the stage whereby I'm just learning I've kind of gotten it, but of course I'm still learning lah but it's kind of like you feel a sense of achievement because you are already at that level which you previously probably if a beginner looks at you and be like how how do you do this that kind of level so I think I'm pretty proud of that lor


ya but ya so it's like ya japanese the next language comes german maybe I don't know oh ya what about you


(mmhmm)


, , (mmhmm)


, ya ya, ya, (mmhmm)


(mmhmm), (mmhmm), (mmhmm)


, ya so for me personally uh I I would say is something I'm still discovering especially in singapore like so what I used to do was that I'll go out for a drive, and ya maybe one two hour drive and then it will like just help me relax unwind and you're you're pressing the paddles you are ya basic the paddles and listening to music that was like something I enjoyed doing and then


recently it's more it's more of like okay let's just watch some shows learn some languages and like, I think that's it lah like I feel like I haven't really had a chance to explore this like particular different activities that will help me to relax


so right now it's more of like so after working I'll just like watch netflix netflix or some some show some TV shows lah in that sense and I think it's just something working on lor like discovering different types of uh activities I can do


ya, , wait wait I I can't really hear you now what do you say


uh Hokkaido that I I think the the traffic in Tokyo is kind of similar to in singapore lah like for me right now is it's quite scary once you get used to driving on Hokkaido like not not much cars and then you can just like speed by by however you want lah however much you want lor


ya, , you never see me drive in singapore lah, ya, ya


I think there's there's gonna be a lot of pent up frustration lor if you keep driving like you you drive out of necessity here lah ya, (mmhmm)


(mmhmm), ya ya sia ya,


right now actually right I, obviously not very optimistic but I think at least in singapore it's it's pretty good because I feel like there is some sort of, support network like I have a support network in singapore that would uh basically be able to take care of me and support me in that sense if say for example I lose my job if for example I need advice on how to proceed with like


my plans for the future and I think that is something that is permanent it it's not like regardless of whether that is like COVID nineteen or something else it it's not what's gonna change lah the support network so I feel pretty optimistic because I feel like I have a


I've a not exactly a fall back but something that would keep me going in when there is like no there's like a lot of gloom doom and gloom in the uh job market lah and I think right now actually I haven't actually gotten


like, direct job offers or for or like err traineeships internships because I just came back to singapore I haven't got actually gotten like all these different uh traineeships gotten into basically different programmes that the government is unveiled recently but I feel like this is


I feel like really this is something that's uniquely singapore like something that it's something like the government babysitting us in a sense in a sense lah because a lot of other countries they are like okay we'll give you cash like some sort of subsidies and then that's it, maybe some other countries they will have like


uh wealth uh welfare system in place ah but a lot of countries which don't have that kind of system with the COVID nineteen and basically the, financial impact the the impact of the job market that it has brought to people living in different places different countries other countries which might not be that fortunate for because they have their government supporting them right I think that is something that


we are really fortunate to have in singapore and I think the governance itself like the policies but it might appear to be a bit little bit more uh protectionistic makes me more optimistic about our future in singapore if you know what if you know what I mean lah


(mmhmm)


, (mmhmm),


(mmhmm) (mmhmm) (mmhmm)


(mmhmm), so it's there some sort of risk reassurance lah, ya, , ya let's see


, ya


okay


financial related topic, okay so uh who want to go first I think hector want to go first


that's it my turn ah okay uh since we're going by one two three four okay so on my take uh, my own personal philosophy in terms of financial related matters is I always look for things that has value and I always have a long


horizon overview of things that I when I make any purchase, uh when you talk about a personal insurance, uh I do have a few but sing, same thing like what ethan just mention he uh believe in more uh technicians rather than the participating uh products why because in my opinion I I feel that I can have more control over the funds uh on money when I when I make any form of purchase


rather than giving the insurance company at their own discretion to to do the investments and uh in return for a very peanut uh, bonuses that they declare every year, uh talk about personal insurance I have like uh critical illness insurance I have like uh whole life insurance for NTUC income uh from Aviva will be the critical illness and (uh


I guess I guess for for my take in terms of uh, insurance I would strongly suggest with uh buying a a term plan oh ya I also have this Aviva SAF uh group term plan which cover me for one million


so basically ya that's my insurance portfolio let's move on to second one I shall start first, do I have uh endowment plan, my answer is no uh because like I said endowment plans belongs to uh this category called the participating funds where you pass the money or pass on pass on the money to the insurance company and they in return do their investment using their own portfolio uh the investment portfolio mix


so uh being at where I am right now I'm pretty sure and comfortable with what I'm doing right now which is to manage my own funds and my own investments, and believe it or not I guess since since


the start of my career uh I've never buy uh I've never bought I've never bought never buy a a endowment before and, my investment has always given me more than what the insurance company can can declare on a yearly basis for their bonuses so therefore I don't believe in the endowment


okay so for for me I mean I do own a car I do own a property uh I do travel, uh and all these activities and liabilities offset whatever you call it uh I I believe in insurance in protecting them for all the more reason of like you know unforeseen circumstances that


my forth might be for you and and you can get some form of like uh financial aid, just by you know paying for a small premium and getting a uh some form like protection against all this I have children I have a domestic helper uh the only thing the only thing that I don't do is commercial activities


, which well uh I'm not in a business uh other than financial business and uh kind of interaction and transaction that I do is more on like , virtually or digitally uh not so much or so into like a physical form of goods keeping and all


for cars I I think I recently, switch over from NTUC income to DirectAsia I was doing my LTA inspection checks the other day uh just a month two months back


and, it happens there there was this DirectAsia that you know the salesperson came out and offer me a quotation, to to what my car can get insurance since, my cars you know going to give me some extension for for for the LTA to to get the the driver's permit every year annually


so yeah I I went into DirectAsia even though I I mean I feel that uh DirectAsia is not something that I'm very really familiar with because DirectAsia seems to me that a a company that does very


, surface stuff like uh for example they don't provide uh they don't really have a uh a very good or, , for this way uh it's just like walking into uh NTUC finest and we're going to a wet wet market yes wet market have like you know the the things that you want but uh it may not have the whole range of


a comprehensive kind of uh goods or services they provide so I mean I even though that uh I went in that I I went went onto went ahead to get on with the the DirectAsia because the one that, is sitting at the behind the counter is actually one of my ex colleague so I was kind of like supportive of her business so I went in okay I just got it from her yup uh for property I got from


uh, DBS I guess you have DBS because whenever you do refinancing the the the bankers will always try to sell you certain things and the bank was also call you to to get some kind of some form of like insurance


and , like I mention property is uh quite a good asset uh it's a big asset big part of your asset , you should you should do some uh protection on it but on the general insurance term ah I think uh might want to look for ah look out on it if you have a property price at six hundred thousand and if you get one million


according to what I know about the terms and condition uh even though you get one million doesn't mean that you get the full one million payout, they will subject to the property value of your current existing property so let's say your house for instance get burn off the whole place need some kind of refurbishing they will not based on one million instead they'll based on the six hundred thousand that is price with your current property price


so so for me I will strictly go by uh the property price and buy my insurance instead of like you know having something that uh is over insured and then it if something really happen uh you can't really get the full payout ya so something to think now of


and travelling oversea definitely I will buy a an an oversea uh insurance because I travel to malaysia but seems like I can't go to malaysia nowadays uh because of the I mean the the lockdown, uh in malaysia don't know what I call it uh so I mean I still have my annual travel oversea uh with Sompo


and, and children uh well children I have some form of like insurance for her for him uh my boy is uh two years old he's got like term insurance and some ya term insurance and TPD protection I think that's that's about it and I'm doing investment for him for his uh financial planning uh for his education not endowment


yup domestic helper yes I have uh one and I bought from, if I'm not wrong I think it's also NTUC income ya for my helper and that's it, let's move on to the point four what do you look out for when buying an insurance policy I mean like I initially mention the first thing I buy uh any any form things is to look at the holistic part of course look at the value of it whether it serve any purpose


so when I buy insurance it it will comes to me as uh well one first of all is the cash value does it have any cash value, and two does it serve any purpose in terms of what's it protecting for I can't be buying just a a repetitive kind of protection or coverage


that is well it's not going to be good for for for any any any individual if you buy uh a duplicate, but instead of like I mean financial planning is so big and so vast that it covers a lot of areas uh we can talk about like in critical illness and critical illness can also go into like the late stage early stage intermediate stage


uh this out sorry ya uh, uh this are the thing that uh I will look out for and also maybe talk about like legacy planning well I I I'd I'm, based on my age I don't think I'm I'm supposed to talk about legacy because again I think I right now am I my my period of time this age this era uh I'm supposed to build up uh wealth so I'm trying to work hard to accumulate more wealth so that I can retire and maybe later on I'll talk about legacy


so you see like a financial planning is is uh is not just one part of it just saving or investment is more like a depending on where you are your situation and where you want to go in the future, so this is something that I always uh tell people hey if you want to talk about financial planning you sit down have a chat and uh look at what you have


two person being the same so every person is like a thumb print which we all have different needs and ya unique needs and unique uh position that we should look at


ya and I think that uh insurance is also a essential expenditure because if if you are I mean even the rich buys insurance so how can anyone tell me that insurance is actually a non essential stuff ya


so this as this is the point that you know you you if you if the rich knows that you know to to have certain form of protection you need insurance to a product like an insurance to cover all costs or any future dispute that could happens to your family


uh, ya so my point is, I see as a essential uh part of product kind of product to to protect either your love one your business ya


okay thank you so much ethan for wrapping up (ppl)


negative experiences, okay uh I shall start first then have you gone through any loss in your life if you have describe your emotions at that point of time and how do you deal with their loss


, while the loss, actually at this point of time I think like I don't have a major loss in my life, except perhaps maybe money , like uh venture into businesses and


and uh so so there was like this maybe okay let's talk let me talk about my my business venture uh a few years back that was like probably about four four years ago uh where I met some people from the PIAS where ethan is currently working at uh he's he's also his


so I met two of them uh a couple, uh one name is called jonathan the other name is called rachel so both of them are my uh they they were both my business partner at the point of time four years back uh we ventured into this uh this business called the crypto currency uh


mining ya so so I I guess when when I knew jonathan he was , he was he he looked like a very decent guy, uh of course he he he show me that you know the way he portray himself is very decent and and


very clean and and uh very loving with each other uh jonathan and rachel they are the couple I and things got, move on ahead with uh with me and


together with the two of them uh our our relationship into from friendship to become a business partner when jonathan he brought me to this place in china, he told me there's like uh aa great opportunity and all and so I I mean I eventually I went went to china with him to to see what kind of opportunity there is that he's talking about which he didn't want to share on the spot when I keep asking him so


I flew in a plane to this place called uh guang Guangxi ya Guangxi it's called Nanning Nanning Guangxi ah ya and and it turns out that it's uh it's actually not very good, treat because I guess they're the business is like something like MLM and uh eventually I was told that if I want to join their membership I have to


contribute or I or I have to pay and buying to the membership which cost me thirty thousand or fifty over thousand, uh these are the two options so the fifty thousand why is that because it's it's easier for you to to earn money to to ask the next person to join and you get a higher payout so that's what this whole scheme is about


and and I I personally feel that it wasn't a very good business platform but either way I trusted jonathan because he told me that he he pay already and he was part of it that's why he's bringing me there so and that point of time he also show me another form of business which is uh doing with crypto currency


and uh how he he build his machine and then uh he has this vision of like becoming a million multi millionaire by the age of by end of the year and and, and he's he strongly firmly believe that he will become and and I mean I was riding on that uh his ambitions not so much on the greed but it's more like a friendship where like I I trusted him


and and and later on that that trust was broken because , I mean, six months down the road I mean I contributed the thirty thousand to the Nanning but I know that I'm not gonna do anything I just believe in him so I contributed luckily I took the money back uh I I I managed to get the refund full refund of my money back on that


uh and I also did the the crypto currency with him and together with rachel and well he he showed me that he he committed a large sum of money which amounted to maybe, hundred twenty thousand


ya hundred twenty thousand around there and I contributed sixty thousand to building a a factory uh which constitute to this crypto currency funding, and well well the crypto currency market crash in two thousand and seventeen or eighteen uh


, the I mean things could have turned out better if we were to manage the business better instead of like just blindly following just one person's uh theory and and focus business focus, uh which he's only looking into farming and he doesn't learn how to he doesn't know how to sell parts or build parts and and there was a lot of I mean ya there's a lot of things to blame on but eventually


this was what happen and and he just one of these days he just MIA and I just ask him lah what was happening and and there wasn't much reply and respond from him and it seems to me that he's decided to to to close off the business and do something else so


he didn't consult me and didn't tell me and and I didn't I wasn't aware of what is happening so that was something that I feel I lost not just a business and money, I feel like I lost a friend and that point of time was quite a big blow to me because I mean this is sixty thousand we're talking about it's not a big part of money


but , it's some it's hard earned money I would say, ya but of course later on I met up with ethan and I and then I invested seventy thousand with ethan , , ya with uh NTUC income ya so that was the I mean that that was something that I


that I am thankful for for on on this on the flip side of the coin I mean thankful for ethan because, he he he saw me even though he help me with the with selling me this product which I wanted he reimburse the the full commission to me and he didn't get uh a single cut of it maybe in terms of like


a little bit sharing with him that him and the manager and of course the I would call the the points that you know earns you another level to maintain the the the current position and what you he's doing in PIAS uh and I'm thankful for him being a good friend on this


ya, over to you ya , eh I took all seven minutes eh , , ya,


okay okay I know, wait, no, you go and bathe lah having meeting you don't disturb


okay okay never mind uh I'll think about what makes you stress uh, I guess my stress uh comes from form of like , money also like if I don't bring enough money back home, I feel very stress or I don't, I don't provide I don't have enough


, I would say their their bank account value I would feel stress because I don't want my kids or any of my family to feel what I experience when I was younger which is being poor and feel that you know you're constantly always look out for for things that you you know you don't you do not have and you can't you won't be able to own


ah okay that's what is the most traumatic incident you have experience in your life uh, traumatic, I think I think it's when my, ya I mean yes there there are quite a few but I think the thing that hit my mind was when my father was uh was in uh was he when when I was in secondary school he he got stroke he was the breadwinner and then he got stroke uh he was working at the shipyard uh worker at that point of time


and, one day he came home and then he he just couldn't speak he after he he took a nap and then he woke up he couldn't speak and then I thought he was playing and at home my brother my older brother and my younger sister do not don't really know how to handle and and we thought that he was playing


and he wasn't and he tried to stand up uh from the bed he he couldn't walk and he just fall down uh then after that, just bring him to the hospital uh then after that after he's uh recovered I mean, he got discharged from home he was still on the wheelchair and then uh because he have to take this uh


this this medication called a warfarin I still remember the name that that because of I mean because the complexity of the blood that is taken in the it in his body in his body system he needs to take this warfarin medicine to in order to


thin the blood and and and he's got this injection on his hand at this Kopitiam I still remember there this Kopitiam at novena uh the the #tan tock seng# hospital so he came out after that uh I I think it was pretty itchy or something then my mom go and press the the wound uh


and the blood just squirt out just squirt out and and got into my face ya so it's quite traumatic ah ya so that's the most traumatic incident for me, ya


(ppc),


, wait uh why what it could be like what is your goal uh financial goal or ya since you're on this topic


(hmm), ya I mean to add on to it uh I I don't think I have I don't think I have the capability to not work and and uh uh have that kind of ten K when I was younger but even if I have uh


I I don't I don't think that I will have this mentality of like you know you you you spend so much effort to save ya just in order to spend it all, uh that that kind of concept doesn't ya it doesn't ring a bell to me because it doesn't make sense uh I would like to continue to see how I can build on it uh and continue my goal


what's the biggest thing that is holding me back for my goal, , my goal isn't it's pretty simple I I don't really, I don't really have a very ambitious err goal of like having big empire business empire of having uh you know being a director or having my own company


uh which, house like hundred or thousands of employees I, I don't, I don't think I want to live so I I don't have the urge to live so luxurious lifestyle that is needed for me at this moment


I just need like you know uh my current goal is basically to, well first of all I think based on my age and our age group we should be more focus onto onto like uh the key thing is what if you are no longer around, what can you provide for your family the next generation and what would they their live life be live moving on and living on


, ya and the second of all I think the the goal that I have is uh to retire properly I mean at this point of time uh, I will say that, maybe I'm not doing as well as I am in PIAS in terms of monetary and getting more uh


savings and and more earning more more than I should but I do get a sense of like stability in where I am right now so it's maybe if you ask me what is the biggest, thing that's holding me back is, perhaps uh


are not doing as much as I am right now uh or in terms of like work or reaching out to people that should know me and how I can help them in terms of uh growing their wealth, uh, in short I think I should be selling more that is something that is preventing me from earning more money which eventually equates to my goal to


to to, retirement early retirement so there is (uh) okay let's move on the next point [eh] no more already okay


positive experiences, okay uh let's have a heart to heart chat regarding your positive feelings with your conversational partner uh what was


best birthday present and wine, ethan do you have any best birthday present, ,


just just share any I didn't know you're so popular , whichever


okay then my turn so I


basically I think for best present like yourself I got a lot of presents lah, , a lot of material uh things expensive one uh ya mainly mostly expensive ones lah, I think, but I think you should know I come from a very humble family


where things wasn't so so ideal when I was very young I five of us staying one room flat and that was the kind of uh environment I grew up in and we don't have money to to feed ourself uh for lunch or dinner I mean meals we always


have, I mean my family used to have a a lot of issues with like, uh, meeting the the our daily needs, uh every month ya until we got better later stage of our life so birthday wasn't something a birthday celebration of birthday gift wasn't something that we some


is something that is uh we we we need or we we practice, uh it's more like something that is a luxuries that we we ya we we we will do to give to buy gifts for for to celebrate at home so uh


but, I think the best gift for me was when I was in, two thousand eighteen ya and my, my my birthday was on the march, and uh I still, feel that uh that was the best gift because I think that was the year that my my baby son was born his name is jacob and that was the the ya the most awesome gift that I ever had from from anyone and that was pressed from my wife who did the hard labour the labour to push him out


uh and and ever since ya I mean I've been in love with uh jacob uh he's my son and and I really feel proud of him and ya he's the best gift I have had, and, I mean ya birthday gifts I I don't really look into birthday give so much but it's more like uh experience or gathering I have with all my friends the meaningful friends that I keep for long term example ethan


uh, friends were celebrating my birthday at the changi uh airport that was something that was out of the norm because that was the period of time where where the COVID nineteen was hitting singapore pretty hard and ya it was the pre the pre pre shut down of singapore so to say


and uh ya every year I will do celebration and for me celebration in birthday will not comes in terms of material it'll comes more meaningful and more positive uh to me as a gathering as a form of gathering where people come it's just a cake I think cake will be insufficient for me


let's go with the point two what is the biggest blessing in disguise , I guess , for me the biggest blessing in disguise, I I honestly have to think back when I was younger where I'm poor I mean I first of all I'm poor


second of all I do not have a good or high qualification education standard as compared to many people I think, I I uh, I saw like I come from the neighborhood that was like you know hooligans and uh, don't really study and uh ya eventually I fail my O levels then after that and and all these failures and all uh in my life that happens to me uh I guess it it brought me to who I am today and how I think


for for for whatever, encounters that I have so for to call your instance is when I fail my O level, I was so depressed uh but not to the stage of depression or going to commit suicide uh but it's more like uh all my peers are ahead of me and I'm still I'm being left behind and to take my O level all by myself in privately until I pass it


and the diploma that I got was uh multimedia info communication technology which was something that I don't really fancy uh I mean I'm not doing something IT related right now so it's not something that I I think but through there I learn and knew so many people


and, some some of them actually got me and introduced me to to work in, a cafe so I I do a lot of like part time jobs as a waiter wait uh as a hotel server as a burger king KFC mcdonald's uh ya so many so many uh jobs I've done before uh even the <NEN> the


the lunar month for the ghost festival uh those kind of like tentage I was there to clean out the cups the glass cups and all those are the things that, push me to to to work hard, and to perhaps, take on some time some form of like hardships and that's what builds me who I am


today ya, so I am someone that that believe in hardwork and motivation comes to me, easily like uh eh you don't have to tell me much you just have to throw me in the sea I'll be motivated to do whatever thing that's necessary to accomplish certain task


basically for me uh I mean I don't really have a a specific one but I do realize that whenever I'm feeling down , I I tend to go for this teochew


porridge where you the the simple porridge and and you have like some kind of luncheon fried luncheon meat and peanuts and some vegetables which


in fact mostly it's not most of the time it's not the best lah it just doesn't taste nice lah but it's just something that I will eat when I feel uh demoralized in terms of how I'm performing in my work it's also I mean whenever I eat it I will keep thinking about my past like


how how uh how I I think eventually, work it out and make sure that my life is straighten out uh later part so is it it serves as a food that you know reminds me of where I come from, so who in your life do you look up to most and why


uh, honestly at this point of time I I do feel that I look up most to my wife uh why because, uh she's been the one to to take care of money our our little family our family and she's been constantly, working hard at work also due to the all this COVID nineteen she's in the government sector by the way so she have to come up with policies and planning for for the I I guess the nation or the minister so to say so that they can caring herself up


ah so all these planning and programmes she she design and and plan with different departments and I can see that on day to day monday to friday she she's working hard and and, I think just last month when during the COVID nineteen they were she was being activated on a saturday on the weekends to to go and do checks and swab like something like a swabber for for for


teachers and and some some random personnels that ya and and, amidst of all this busy schedule, that she has she also find times to to to plan to go out with families and also plan uh to make food and best of all I think she find times she never fail to find time to sleep and make sure that she read a good books


ya she's just read several good books to to my son before he sleep and my son has develop this awesome habit of reading, and this kind of a habitual because when I was younger I I hate books I don't really have the the need for books and whenever I study and that explains why I don't score so well and I don't do so well in terms of my education


uh and I hope that jacob he can do really really well if he pick up this kind of this form of habit of reading, yup pass onto you ethan the next one


okay or just okay


record but (hmm) okay, financial related topic, financial related topic, okay so uh who want to go first I think


okay sure, okay so the first thing I'm going to share about is uh, my personal insurance, okay uh basically, uh I know lah driving you know like we are in the same line together so


I don't know, I'm I'm not too sure about your personal portfolio but mine maybe I can share a bit of my personal portfolio with you (ppc), basically I think I got uh so called a bit con lah with the word I use a bit con by, some other agent along the road because now I realise I have some endowment policy


so basically this endowment policy will give a cashback of about maybe, uh a few hundred dollar every year after the second year then this post is going to terminate at the end of twenty or twenty five years ah so it's a limited, it's a full term premium payment term but it's a (ppc) uhm twenty twenty five years


term endowment policy, so I've quite a few of them and mostly purchase at those you know, shopping more MRT station and we are also aware that the more flexible this policy gave us that means the cash coupon and cashback the lower the return will be uh so


personally no choice I got to keep it till maybe another five ten years later lah, then whereas for protection wise mostly my uh, a few you oh no no sorry sorry a few term plan lah so I believe more on term plan than rather par plan


ya, so anything more I think is a bit too personal lah so I'm not not going to share with you right now you know, okay ya ya ya ya can can sure,


my own personal philosophy in terms of financial related matters is I always look for things that has value and I always have a,


uh term insurance rather than uh participating, ,


would strongly suggest with uh


move on to second one I shall start first


do I have uh endowment plan my answer is no uh, because like I said endowment plans belongs to, this category called the participating funds where you


and do their investment using their own, being at where I am right now, pretty sure and comfortable with what I'm doing right now which is to manage my own funds and my,


believe it or not I guess, since since the start of my career uh


so therefore I don't believe in the endowment, okay uh personally I have some endowments plan, and like what I mentioned before I bought it like maybe, fifteen to twenty years ago when I met this a few asian


some used to be my secondary school friends as usual okay so but uh, so currently I will not be looking at endowment plan but I will not discourage people from getting endowment plan but instead I will encourage some people to get endowment plan why because certain endowment plan give a return of almost like


high three to four percent lah for those who are not investment savvy I mean uh those who are not in this industry, is and they have a low risk appetite I mean of course people who have a slightly higher risk appetite they will go towards our direction as doing more investment uh


however for certain people who have seriously very very low risk appetite then uh they they seriously only want to get certain point of saving so instead of parking their money inside the bank right, do encourage them to get endowment uh I mean getting endowment is better than putting the money in a bank and not doing anything else uh however those endowment that I recommend to them will be like


a whole life endowment lah that means it is going to give your cash coupon for the rest of your life uh for forever, and the best is it can be capital guaranteed, okay, , ya so which means that getting endowment is better than doing nothing but of course if you have certain form of investment knowledge of course by all means go for investment


okay so recently uh, recently uh I receive some some notification from the a company both AXA and Aviva regarding my car insurance, okay so


so this particular incidents okay so I noticed that a lot of, okay so car insurance is categorised under general insurance and getting a car insurance I noticed that a lot of insurer will give a first year twenty percent discount or thirty percent discount or


uh whatever discount this will attract new customer, however I remember when I get from this company called AXA last year, my premium was pretty low, lower than my renewal this year


so which means that uh this year when I receive the notification it was higher premium even after the NCD discount, ya so in the end I have to contact the manager then after that I contact tried to contact the


various department lah including the uh the UW to get a clarification on on why my renewal is higher than the first year premium, so currently ya so I'm I'm seeing this right now and


going through this process with this particular insurance, particular insurer, ya then about property or travelling of course I do encourage I mean all the points that stated here I do encourage getting insurance but however you will be a


ya all these will be term insurance lah to cover a property that needs a loan then, if let's say you have a property of about seven to eight hundred thousand or even six hundred thousand usually I will encourage the client to get almost up to one mil, reason being not only you need to cover your property I mean in the event where there's a payout


it's better to have some access for your loved one as well lah I mean there's still a living hood for the next two three years for them to get back to their normal life and travelling oversea of course travel insurance is pretty cheap you can get it online and can get it from me as well, uh having children of course having children I will always encourage the parents to insured themself first before their children


uh, like they always said for care taker is uh for caretaker or for air crew or anyone is better to take care of yourself more before the passengers so it's the same logic if the parents is not well insured the parents is not taking care of the parents well then who's going to take care of the children


so engaging a domestic helper I think ya everything or, commercial activity that one I'm not too pretty sure but of course to estimate you need to get a, insurance for them as well, ya


and all these activities and, liabilities all set, whatever you call it I I I believe in insurance in protecting them for all the more reason of like, for unforeseen circumstances that


I'm not in the business


I was doing my LTA inspection checks


DirectAsia is not something that I'm very really familiar with because DirectAsia seems to


goods or services they provide


for property I got it for


okay so , what exact okay so what do I usually look out for when buying a insurance uh basically maybe for my clients is their profile lah so what I look out for myself is my profile lah what you mention different stage of life so we are at this stage where uh (ppc)


accumulating wealth and having certain form of protection is important, uh I do not look out for the brand, because I don't believe in staying loyalty to one brand like uh having everything from Prudential or having everything from AIA but rather I'll see who is giving uh the better decks that means who's who's offering a more value for money that's what I do for myself and for my clients uh


basically I'll usually like what you mentioned earlier I will just, go for term insurance and I see that it is essential, it's a it's a form of essential expenditure, cause there was once someone told me or I read somewhere that uh


you won't you won't get broke if you buy insurance lah but you will become broke if you don't buy insurance that means if something bad happen like or some form of incapacitated than you lose your job or things like that your expenditure goes on


you may get broke one day so I feel that essential and I think that essential is really a form of essential expenditure, insurance is a form of essential expenditure so ya so what do you look out for when buying a insurance policy basically is your profile


okay profile including your uh income and income and liability of course your job your job status then married marital status, then at the same time uh, your age lah basically not about the brand


they're not about uh, not about the brand lah basically, so what kind of insurance are essential of for people of your age so basically people of our age, people of our age I would say ah like what derek say accumulating wealth is one important item that means if they are


they are keen for investment of course you will go for investment if they are not keen for investment they need to have certain kind of endowment plan, and what kind of, insurance are essential for for them I would say that uh hospitalisation is one that is essential for them and that's the most basic form of insurance then


if let's say they are single or people of our age I believe they're single or they're married or or they have a girlfriend they will still need at least is what we called all in one plan that means a a a plan that cover them, critical illness or total permanent disability and death lah basically because uh it is to


protect them in the event where, they are hospital hospitalised due to any or illness or accidents and at the same time if let's say because there's a there's a high probability of us getting critical uh, contracting critical illness or cancer nowadays so uh I feel that critical is very important insurance that everyone should have


and people of our age usually our parents are still around, unless our parents are not around so are providing a portion of, uh income of providing a portion of money for them if one day something bad happen to us it is our duty as well so that's why I say that uh death is also portion of uh a portion of our


insurance that we need to look out for for our age so it can be a term insurance or some not everyone can accept term insurance that's the thing because it's a sunken cost, so some people may go for a whole life plan so I'm either way is fine for me, okay


okay thank you, okay, thanks for <UNK> can you stop and submit


okay, negative experiences, okay sure


and I I personally feel that it wasn't no


, where got NTUC come


oh okay okay okay !wah! eh just to clarify yeah eh just to clarify ah that is the one and only case that I do that that times, seriously, ya okay so uh so for me have you gone through any loss in your life of of course there are plenty of losses in my life just that


how big the impact is on all these kind of loss and if you talk about monetary loss of course uh through investment and through business there are some some losses as well lah but all these losses uh


it could be a big impact at that time, but because , uh you continue to earn more money you continue to work you continue to invest then after certain loss and certain earning all this, impact there's great at that time right uh I I can't


I cannot really remember them anymore, so to me some major losses in my life, so some major losses in my life that ,


okay so some major losses in my life that uh that I remember and still have very big, that have very big impact on will be uh, the loss of my grandmom, okay so it it's still it's still lingering in my mind lah


why because uh when I was younger I stay in Kallang with my grandma who brought me up, so I still remember that, she's the one who who's also introduce me to my current religion


uh why does it have so much impact seriously I have no idea why is it still, why is it still having so much impact on me, uh maybe because, since young I don't stay with my parents l stay with my grandma, and even till when I go to kindergarten uh I'll go back to my


my parents then go to school but every holiday I'll just go back to Kallang and stay with her, , uh until when I was in primary school, then she passed on so


I feel that she has taken care of me throughout and our bond is, is very strong so uh of course I, I broke down that time, then , after that when I start to work then uh


when you start to work then you have you you want to uh repay people who or I say I treat people better because if you have certain uh you are able to treat them well so, she is one person that I feel that was very close to me and have taken care of me and yet


I'm not able to, uh treat her well and do anything, good, back to her lah so this is one of the loss that, I guess will always remind me to treat the elderly better


treat your parents better because definitely maybe five or ten years down the road they may not be there anymore then, it's a forever thing, ya so, to me losing one person in in in my lifetime is


that that's one of the big loss biggest loss, that I have then uh, maybe side track a bit another loss in my life but in the end it became a blessing lah uh not exactly a blessing that's my mom so at the same time a few years later after that uh during my secondary school


my mum was diagnosed with, uh breast cancer , okay so it is uh, I think it's uh stage three breast cancer so basically, uh when you have a breast cancer operation you need to remove


uh certain part of her body and it was quite a major surgery for her, so that time I was going through, can't remember during my uh I think O level, so imagine you got to go through this during your O level got to juggle between your studies and going to the hospital at the same time so is like I think I'm fifteen or sixteen or seventeen


ya so we took a train to the hospital either with her or at home studying, for your O level but in the end of course, she recover and she's still with me right now, ya so these are some, , uh major impact lah I would say


uh in my life, so what makes me stress ah, what makes me stress uh maybe my wife, what make me stress ah maybe uh, , okay so


this kind of time and things I don't have time one, okay okay can


okay


so my traumatic incidents, , traumatized uh traumatize I'll I'll say again is my job journey lah so it has experienced uh it has happened a few times but it's still very


at that point of time it's still it's still a big experience still I'm I'm still feel trauma by the whole incident that's, imagine you have to, quarrel with one person or two person or group then after they brought up to the management or the whole company knows about it that kind of one one big incident one on one whole day


I'll say this is the most traumatic incidents, experience lah even though it's not, it's like twice ya, the first time not so traumatic lah but it just get bigger and bigger but I hopefully that, this time around not bigger than the previous time


, so what's the biggest thing holding you back from your goal, , basically nothing is holding me back eh seriously, the biggest thing that is holding me back from my goal uh


, so what's what's my financial goal I think both of us are quite similar, both of us both of us feel that we have this responsibility towards our family


uh we are not exactly from, gen Z, gen Z or gen Z or Y or Z which I know because uh recently, I came to know this little girl or, about early twenties


she said she want to take a break from, , after her studies she gonna take a one year break before she start her job, so uh, I am I'm thinking of asking her to join me but the thing is


so I I spoke to her she said uh she want to take a break, from, her her her studies after her studies one one year break before starting the next job, so I was thinking okay so where do you get uh so ya you have a pretty big amount of savings lah she said okay I do part time job while I was studying


the three years when she was in poly, or polytechnic or SME I can't remember okay so basically exactly, uh maybe you can earn a few thousand or a few savings like I believe could be up to ten K I think I don't know ten or twenty K but the thing is uh what different here is this is something that I believe me and jerrick will not do lah because


ten and twenty K could be pretty big when you're in your twenties but seriously it is still nothing I would say, what what can you exactly buy a big ticket item or what can you accomplish with ten twenty K, uh it can buy you a lot of small item


holiday some branded bags, but if you like the big ticket item or to get this, or what we say that uh buy money with money you you can't do anything lah so basically her, her mentality here is again is what we call lifestyle lah so she don't mind having a big break a one year break you know one year holiday that means spending all the money then start over again I believe this is something that me and jerrick


will not do, so basically what's the biggest thing holding back back from a goal, again I'll I'll say is, timing lah it is timing that holding me back


I have that kind of ten K when I was younger lah but even if I have err I, I don't, I don't think that I will have this mentality of like you know you you you spend so much effort to save yup, just in order to spend it all


okay thanks kindly stop and submit


one two three, positive experiences


!wah! a lot leh my best birthday present, , what kind do you want is it you want to listen to those experience or those like uh


like uh like like like watches material item lah so which one do you want, which one do you like to know, , which want do you like to know experiences, uh experiences or material item


okay maybe material items because uh, like a lot I I really cannot remember, too much lah so I will share the most recent one, the most recent one I think one of the best present, err


okay to me is not the item itself lah to me is uh, okay because of my previous job and, I know current job also okay so usually, the gift that I will receive right, will be more of it's a bit pricey gift so usually those gift that I receive from my friends lah


okay so usually they will buy more more branded item and pricey gift but to me all these are not important because I can get all these item myself, so the main thing is I always look out for uh the the things that usually what I want most is the item from my partner and what most impressed me most is


I do not need to say what I want is like she noticed what I need and she get the item for me during my birthday ah, so for example, uh for example a wallet, I have not get my own wallet for a very long time


then usually is my partner who get the wallet for me uh, on my birthday and she will notice when do I need to change the wallet and she would, even know what kind and what brand and what's the design and the kind of compartment that I like


(ppc) to use my wallet so because wallet is a very personal item (ppc), so if someone is able someone close to you and without you telling her she's able to get something that you like during your birthday then I think, it it will be one of the best present


and recently one of my best present uh I think is a, it's a Iwatch ah , uh usually I do not like uh technology watch okay I will go for those more update watch uh those they're the kind of brand of watch but uh I think I'm I'm going to stop using those update watch lah so I'm going to be more


younger I'm go going back younger so that's why you saw that day I got my new iphone and I'm going to get the Iwatch ya so recently she got me a Iwatch, so I'll say uh because she she see that I got the Iphone, then automatically she went to buy a Iwatch to complement the Iphone


so even before me telling her that actually I I'm going to get the Iwatch after the Iphone, so I would say that it's more of a surprise and it's more of the person reading you rather than the item itself lah so to me that's considered the best present


maybe you could do to give to buy those


ya so many so many uh jobs like


(mmhmm), okay


so for myself right uh I think that uh the biggest blessing is, my work journey, throughout my work journey cause I, (ppc), cause okay we don't talk about uh I used to do part time jobs like uh banquet uh waiter in a hotel or kenny roger or your famous chicken I think what's what's that called arnold chicken


imagine I used to work in arnold chicken at #paya lebar# before, okay so uh, when I go into the army and when I ORD that was when during the crisis the SARS period, ya so, it's a crisis so in the end


uh when I was in the army they offer me to have a three years contract sign on, ya, so it is a crisis and yet someone is going to employ me giving me about mid two for diploma holder during a crisis I think it's pretty good so I joined there for three years


so uh towards the end of the three years again why do you leave a job because you can't see any future in this job or it became monotonous or because you quarrel with someone there so basically these three things happen, before I want to extend further so because of some unhappiness I left the job


so I left the job the next job that I got was into the airline, so I feel that !oi!, it's something that okay maybe I I have lost a lot of things three years later I left the job because if I afraid continue staying there, that's why people say there's <NEN> when all things like that but because of some unhappiness I left the job but in the end I got into a even better job that don't I don't even feel like


I I am working it's like a holiday on every job trip, and why is it a blessing because , it's really like a play trip it's like a play job and you get paid quite uh comfortably ya so there's really no need for you to worry about anything and the best thing is I


met my my wife there, okay then after again why is it a a biggest blessing again towards the last few years before I left the job why do I left the job again again it's the same reason, there after I work there for about seven eight years I cannot see myself working there for long because it's you are keep doing the same thing yes you get promoted you get


uh money increment you your your rank get higher but the thing is uh, eventually what do you work for you work for money so I already know where could I reach, uh what's my highest pay or what rank can I be so when you know something that you can foresee something where you are in twenty thirty years time it will become quite uh it'll be quite a bored to you


or you you will say that it cannot satisfy you anymore and at the same time again at that time I had a quarrel with someone, one of a higher rank then got into a big mess again of course, we go back to office and then I submit my resignation letter lah so it's the same as number one


then after that why do I say it's a blessing again that's where the next job I got into is into this uh the the same company as jerrick then it is something that I would, it it did really improve me further in terms maybe not in terms of uh I'll say status or not I'm not too sure but I don't really care about status because to me uh


what is the improvement in lifestyle or what's the improvement in job to me is not the status status is power lah to me uh it's all about money, why do I say that, because you see you look at the pilot ah the first day the pilot graduate he get its first wing okay his first bar till the day he become captain four bar he's still doing the same thing that is taking off and landing the plane


so what makes him so special is his pay get higher and higher, does he do anything differently no he don't do anything differently he still drive a plane just that his his his authority get higher but he still drive a plane, his authority get even higher he still flies a plane he still lands a plane so it's still the same so what makes him better it's the money that he bring home


so eventually when I drive here I guess of course uh there are certain like certain things that I lost from my previous job is, so those thing that I lost is like uh freedom lah I will say or lifestyle, lifestyle lost a lifestyle I lost the freedom but in the end I got something what I want more there's uh bring able to bring more financial aids home uh providing a better lifestyle for my wife and also I came to realise something


singapore is a place that you can get basically anything in the world, unlike last time, but just that it is more expensive, so how do I solve the issue just to earn more money [loh] so I say that, throughout my whole uh working journey whenever I hit something or whenever I reached a point that I see that I cannot continue anymore then


maybe it's in me or not in me accidentally or not accidentally then, you you'll get into a heated debate with someone then after I left the job then in the end I'll I'll get a better one so I always believe that once you leave a job because of whatever reason but uh after if your life managed to be better off after that then I'll say that it's it's meant to be and


it's truly a blessing that you leave that particular place or that particular person lah, ya so for comfort food that you can always rely on to cheer me up whenever I feels down, seriously uh


maybe I used to have lah it used to be KFC but you know the KFC but nowadays KFC don't taste that good anymore lah so I will say that maybe certain drinks will be my, comfort food lah I'll say it's more of comfort drinks than comfort food


then I don't have any particular kind of drink of course any alcoholic drinks will do then, uh I prefer wine than any other thing, err if you ask me what kind of wine then I'll I'll say that I'll prefer spanish wine uh not to go into detail about that but maybe any french or spanish wine will will do


so I guess that's more of a comfort food then of course after having some wines you need to have some food some really comfort food lah so KFC is out right now


okay so uh what do you love most about yourself, , maybe what people love about me lah people what people love about me and what I love about myself is totally two, two, it's a very different thing what do I love most about my myself I'll say it's my flexibility and my ability to get along with everyone well I will say that


uh basically why do I say that uh it's what someone told me about it lah and, I feel that I'm uh quite a understanding person, uh why do I say that because, I can view that uh I can view and understand that everybody has their


as their strong point and weakness, uh certain people they cannot accept some other people's weaknesses and they will start talking about things like that then create some office politics or some people have their own clique in the office or in a play group


, I'll I'll try not to get into a certain group lah I'll try to get along with everybody and talk to everybody, those of the lower rank or of the lower income or highest rank or the highest income, so


I'll say that uh what I love most about myself is my flexibility and my sensitivity at certain time and, not being sensitive at certain time helps as well so I guess what I love about myself is besides the look lah I mean is about my sensitivity or flexibility


okay, ya ya ya I think I I think I think I think that's, there's enough for well


okay, uh financial related topics


okay for me I I always have this rule like you need to get your first uh saving uh saving plan or uh in terms of anything like insurance or any endowment or any any platform you can get your first saving plan at twenty five, so I got one very small amount at twenty five so five years ago I'm around before thirty so my another rule it's


uh get a life insurance and uh something like uh, , for myself lah it's only for myself I get a investment plan , five years ago so err I'm glad that I did that, so it like I'm well covered and then uh I still invest a bit so oh another


that's what I'm glad that I did but one advice I would give myself would, be maybe , I should learn from the ex colleagues that I had in, err RICO like uh they actually, uh invest quite a lot so I should actually like actually start a small amount investing in Fundsupermart that time


but uh I didn't lah cause I just started my uh own investment plan in uh under insurance Pulsar then I didn't do the rest so if one advice I would like explore Fundsupermart or any other investment platform for for me lah


for me I also like both but uh I'm someone who will do my own homework so after uh, financial advisor give me some advice I actually do study what they actually give me and then err analyse myself and then think that whether it's good for me it's suitable for me then I will consider getting it if it's fits my needs then regarding DIY


I don't really invest myself so I will listen from different uh financial advisor and then , study myself and then uh see what I need and then I get the one that I think is suitable for me that's my point of view and then recently I get a bit confused like I don't know what to do so


, I meet up with quite a few friends from as uh they are a financial advisor so err, ya I need to do my own homework so uh I should uh do some DIY, soon


okay that's uh that's that's for me so uh for me it's also both lah but err, I tend to have listen to more to financial advisor than I do I do my DIY


I actually though I actually usually listen first then I do homework so then but recently I get very confuse lah so I listen to a lot of people a lot of them tell me then now I quite lost I don't know what to do so I need to like really find out what I want, okay next


how do you manage your cash flow how much, of your income is allocated to savings expenses insurance and investment , so how I manage my cash flow , uh usually I have a very standard


style so , okay lah there's actually three rules lah but I don't really follow the three rules so it's like fifty fifty percent goes to [orh] the correct rule the the golden rule but , I I I don't really follow ah so the golden rule it's fifty percent need thirty percent want twenty percent savings but I think I had


more percentage of savings then uh the the the, their golden rule lah so I I should be fine


ya invest in yourself


I also lah that is very standard mah ya, ya


actually your condo have gym lor , ya I paid I I paid for my yoga


okay lah but your gym your gym is more expensive than mine my yoga is cheaper , okay lah that's the different between ladies and guys mah


like girls girls we will spend on facial we'll spend on clothes we'll spend on shoes that is like very standard stuff for girls lah then then for guys it's like more cars more on gym ya


so what do you do to earn extra income or to improve your income level


okay that one I need to learn that one I not very good at it okay for myself, err what I do for extra income sometimes okay previously when I'm not so busy with work uh when uh my work is more relax I actually take up some uh freelance like I help my friends to do e-books like what I told you last time like e-books graphic design so earn a bit extra income


then uh that's usually that's all lah but for my earlier earlier years I still although I work but I still teach tuition but I have stopped doing that, for quite a while so I don't really teach tuition anymore but if there's a need I think teaching tuition is very fun for me so ya I I don't mind taking it up next time if I have the time


so as for improve my income level so now I've engage the uh government right, I hope they give me to attend courses free so ya so I don't need to pay then uh they can help me to improve my income level okay if they are not giving me courses then I go myself


ya, ya then in terms of the investment of stocks right then okay lah I'm not very good at it yet so okay that one need to learn next


err for me err I do have pretty good saving habits 'cause I think inherit from my mum lah so err I I do uh have the habit to save and then uh how do I ensure I meet my goals so


, I don't go for, small luxury items yes but I don't go for big luxury items so it's very easy for me to meet my savings goals so not hard so I think, it's just a habit of it so I do go I go for simple meals and go for some uh so called Atas or luxury sometimes too


uh pamper ourself but overall I can actually meet my saving goals so, not a problem okay, how do you spend your money which expenses is, justified


and what have you been spending too much on myself ah err, I, think most of the people nowadays spend more on food which I actually also spend more on food so in terms of clothes bags and then items there is


external I think is moderate but mostly is on food cause my mom don't cook so err I usually eat out then so eating out is not that cheap so,


ya mainly on food, then what do you spending too much on too much on, , I think I'm okay leh just maybe sometimes I travel then I spend a bit too much on traveling that's all


so but I think it's justifiable so okay okay for me


cannot go already


so sad , sad, you cannot go eat anymore, on


oh your gym , okay


okay then I I need to say one more thing uh I think I spend too much on facial lah, so ya my facial package is , ya okay, uh I still got a lot lah so ya ya make sure they don't close down very important ya


okay that one I spend a bit too much on so ya, , what okay one more what strategy would you eh is it this one uh recommend to someone planning for big tickets expenditure starting a family buying a car or house et cetera


okay I press stop


ah negative experiences


, what, frustrate me people with short temper or people with people who cannot listen like uh, like uh anything then they they want to debate they want to be always right ya that frustrates me


uh it's talking about what mah it's not talking about who mah


just very mean people,


what is the worst thing you have experience and kept quiet about


oh oh my god okay


how old are you oh my god, or JC uni


okay, for me it's err one of the worst thing I witness was maybe a gang fight, and outside a arcade


so it was quite a horrible gang fight so , ya so the only thing I can do it's to stay, hide and do nothing I I I don't even dare to do anything so I kept quiet about it and then after that


police came and then et cetera so, ya, nothing much it's just a very uh, secondary school kids gang gang fight I was around secondary school at that time uh primary or secondary school at that time also so