the online shopping uh was rising because of this and and I think, uh because of this it's going to change how uh the world is going to work so we we gradually realise that it might not be as efficient uh to go to the office sometimes it might be more efficient to work from home because like you know commute time and and


maybe travel expenses et cetera et cetera and I'll say like there is going to be a lot of change coming and definitely for the better because you know uh actually depends on how you look at it but I believe like, the world will come out like stronger from like this whole situation what do you think


a moment that I felt the luckiest ah uh, maybe just like when I am playing poker with my friends you know like it was like


uh I was one of like very unlucky one then and like like you know on the verge of giving up and then I had like I was felt like this very bad hand then I just like okay I'm done with the game so I'm like I left like I think uh couple of dollars, then I just like ah anything I just say that I just bet my all in actually I just throw throw over my card and is like some very


like very meh cards you know like it's like maybe seven ten or something not sure, but then like turns up someone with like ace king actually won ah I mean actually lost to me so I I felt like very lucky over there and then you know after that it was like a turn of events


and I I I sign had a very good run and I end up winning that that time when play poker ya


lawrence part one, part one financial related topic


uh lawrence, okay I'd like to share my personal insurance uh recently I bought a policy uh from two providers which is NTUC and aviva


uh so basically I bought this insurance like maybe like two to three months back, so as actually uh, uh I bought a, uh integrated medishield plan to upgrade uh my standard medishield life plan so actually I bought I bought two one is from


uh NTUC the other is from, , another insurer, uh which I can't remember for now maybe is great eastern so actually uh great eastern do not cover some of my uh pre-existing conditions so I chose NTUC life which which covers my pre-existing condition


you , uh


okay does your endowment have a cashback uh cashback every year, that's


okay but you have the option to uh , to accumulate your this cashback right they will give you a a better interest it would add up to your final uh final surrender value, okay


okay , so okay so actually I also bought a new endowment plan very recently is from aviva, so I think the name is called , my uh my ideal income


so actually this figure is very flexible so you can have the option to , to pay by lump sum or pay by regular uh regular premium so actually uh my insurance agent uh do a do a comparison with me uh


whether to use a lump sum payment or use a regular premium payment so at last week uh we chose the regular payment because it's more flexible I can pay, uh pay for three years uh then you will get you will be locked down for five years then I can


I can take back the the value it's capital uh protected capital guaranteed , uh of course there's there's a uh int there's a interest accumulated at the end of the five years so it's it's very it's quite short term it's only five years and you have the option to actually don't take out the value after five years you can accumulate until


maybe after your retirement age or even longer, yup, this the flexibility of this uh, uh policy also the accumulated value at the end of the five years is much higher at than the rest of the insurers


if you compare to other insurers like uh manulife or or , or uh NTUC yeah it's a much more flexible one, yup


do I have a insurance when getting a property , uh maybe, fire insurance is the it's a standard one that ties with the with the bank ah that time I take a loan a few hundred thousand loan from


from UOB so they have a they have a embedded uh insurance plan lah which I which I'm I've not visible lah so so they are they is all managed by the UOB bank they have fire insurance uh the property insurance all these ya


as long as uh I'm still paying uh paying interest to them so I'm covered lah, no no after paying the loan I I don't have already of course ya


I I don't know I don't think so


okay uh recently last year , I went to a trip in korea so actually , I bought a travel insurance so actually I I don't engage a, agent for this actually I use internet to find to compare the few the few uh travel insurance like like those very famous one MSIG aviva uh even etiqa and and so on


then finally I chose uh MSIG so it has a broader coverage , uh like uh loss of luggage or whatever they can they will compensate you also , uh travel delays after maybe


, delays for up uh over eight hours they will compensate you, ya so better coverage and , all is done online it's very fast and you can call their customer service officer at any point of time, yup


okay for my age


actually it's very important to cover your uh hospitalisation expenses medical expenses is the more important one because as one grows older there may be some health health minor health issues


so uh it's better to get coverage when you are healthy rather than uh when you are when you when you have certain illness then probably, most of the insurance won't cover you or they will they will exclude that condition so it's better to buy early


from one of the health insurance like NTUC or aviva, ya great eastern, yup


actually is not this is not the way to look look at uh actually uh around mid thirties you you should have already upgraded your uh medishield life lah so, when it's it's better to buy when you are healthy so it will include all any any conditions


actually uh is uh premium is uh is very uh , payable so at at your age so actually is covered by your medisave, then those riders you may have to top up cash but at your age it's gonna be in terms of a


uh maybe a hundred dollars or one hundred to two hundred the most ya for my age I I bought uh riders from NTUC so it every year it cost me is only three hundred plus at my age, so but they will as it will go up as as you grow older lah I think the age band is for after five years or ten years ya they


there is the standard plan because when you're hospitalised you you you want to stay in a better ward you have to fork out your own money or if you upgrade your medishield life ya


but you also but sometimes you have urgent operation for very minor surgery then you if you go to the uh public hospital you have to wait maybe as long as one month because yours is considered uh , uh non cancerous or whatever they will make you wait very long ya uh someone shared with me this experience so actually is a torture to you you cannot operate then you every day you suffer


you can go to private lah of course you have to fork out your own money ah if you choose any of the medic integrated medishield plan uh you can you know you can even go to a private hospital if you buy a private plan or you can uh choose any any of


the uh , uh hospital or community hospital ya more choices and, ya and faster


uh ya it's not from CPF it's from one of the insurance like aviva or NTUC , ya just even you you even can buy online for NTUC I bought from online before for NTUC, ya uh


yes yes those standard one ya so basically uh I because I never claim before lah basically I think if you go to hospital they will ask you do you have a integrated shield plan so actually the bill will first go to the integrated shield plan first ya


no lah the the the standard medishield plan we we don't consider level lah then there's another, another uh it has an integrated shield plan is the integrated basic shield plan that you can pay from your medisave, then there's a uh rider from the integrated shield plan you have to pay cash that's the two portion


ya, so example uh you upgrade to a private plan then you you need to pay uh another maybe three hundred dollars from your medisave but uh every singaporean or PR are covered and uh covered until


for around six hundred dollars above six hundred dollars you have to fork out cash so three hundred you still you still within the limit, so you can pay from your medisave , then uh but the the rider you have to need to uh payout cash so maybe the the rider uh for this private plan you need to add another hundred hundred twenty hundred fifty dollars uh which you need to pay by cash ah


so uh mabel what do you look out for when buying an insurance policy do you do you feel that uh having an agent is important or you actually can uh go to internet and do a comparison your own


okay, okay for myself because I have some uh financial knowledge so actually uh I can look up my own lah for those simple policy like endowment or so not an issue lah , but for those health policy uh I prefer an agent lah because it gets more complicated when you want to know those uh coverage by or by by who what what is the coverage how what about the claims all these of course you can search internet lah but with an agent


they they they can serve you very easily , then another important thing is that the agent uh what I look out for for for agent is that he he must be able to do some comparison lah uh besides doing my own comparison he should be able to do his own comparison to not just say


or buy from one uh insurance from from from his own insurance so I prefer to get an agent that that uh that can cover uh multiple different agency like the


like independent lah like a independent financial consultant he can buy he can buy insurance for you from aviva can buy for you from NTUC he can buy for you from uh , uh uh maybe manulife or so but those proprietary one like uh prudential or great eastern I don't think so they can cover up because prudential you need a prudential agent ah something like this


but for independent I think those manulife NTUC aviva they can they can sell ya also uh convenience is important, I think some of the agents can like very flexible they can like meet you meet you at your block downstairs or nearby your house uh to talk to you about insurance and to ask you to sign sign on the paper ya this is also an important factor the flexibility and the proximity


okay I think your this kind of plan is referred to ILP ah investment linked policy so basically the agent this depends on the agent because some of the agents they sell to you , they they don't do anything already because you know, uh you they only take instruction from you do you want to sell or you want to uh surrender part of your policy or you want to add in uh uh you want to change the uh change the fund uh switch switch fund switching I mean ya


yes no no uh actually I bought recently also uh end of last year, uh not say investment linked plan is related investment one but ya almost the same lah because I buy directly from


uh , ya that that that kind of uh their commission fee or management fee is embedded in the price lah actually you can don't see it usually but what I bought from is directly from the bank so from the bank uh from the bank I buy it there's no management fee or or or whatever


sometimes they launch it they they have a special launch where you don't even need to pay uh uh pay any commission fee when they sell off this uh unit trusts or funds so I bought one from , uh OCBC OCBC directly last year is


is a, it's a REITs fund initially yes because initially ya yes because uh REITs you know what is REITs ah REITs are basically real estate investment trust basically uh


yes REITs because uh according to my experience those REITs like I buy directly from from the SGX they are making money , so it's very stable they give you a a stable cashflow every form uh every quarterly or every half yearly ya so this is a better sing REITs


singapore REITs ya ya , yes I also bought straight away from stock market also but also I have the option to buy it from the bank because they launch it at a special rate they they don't have any commission or whatever


uh because you buy it from the stock stock market SGX is uh just one single REITs if you buy it from the OCBC they will combine they can combine into uh , some percentage thirty percent percentage REITs from overseas so you have the benefit of international exposure diversification so this one is a good one


ya so not influence not singapore REITs is mainly maybe seventy to seventy five percent twenty five percent is from overseas so , during this COVID period actually the singapore REITs drop a lot but the oversea REITs uh uh the the COVID affecting it is not as much as singapore so my REITs is


still better off lah so now it drops a bit but in it will grow in the future lah, yup okay


stop and submit (uh) the red button right


part three negative experiences


okay mabel , so we go through some uh negative experience in your life, maybe you can, describe some of the hurtful words someone said to you that you wish to forget


arrogant you mean ya


so ya so they feel like you are lecturing their your your students lah ya


okay for myself I think regarding this is from my ex workplace, that time uh it's a it's a new role, uh which is an unknown place which I was attached to a, a female supervisor which in is in her fifties so actually uh you know by benefit of doubt we feel that everyone is a nice person you know to work with so after going through you know your experience with her then you realised that


uh you know uh so uh, so what would you do the then the way she supervise uh the thing that you do everything is like wrong you know nothing is correct then no then that's that's why she will says a lot of things to you why why everything wrong uh you cannot get something right


you see then of course you have your own self belief you I been because I'm not a fresh grad I've been working for whole, like uh uh more than fifteen years so actually I accomplish a lot of things then this is a is a role which is not as great as my previous raises which I done much more so actually I found out that is because of certain reasons that she behave this way you know she uh uh


you know as from from the feedback from other colleagues , uh you know she also uh sh uh she also done it this way all the previous colleague that cannot work that cannot agree with her all have already tendered as you see so this is the track record for her ya so sometimes you have to you have your own self belief


ya, witness ah okay yes yes this one I remember


uh yes yes this uh not in funeral lah funeral is already sad enough ah, so uh, saddest thing is like uh that time when I was very young I can't remember maybe secondary school or ya maybe it's around


secondary school , ya actually is is is two lah one I mention first thing first , in secondary school actually I went to a polyclinic to see a doctor I'm not sure that time I , I have a flu or whatever so actually I witness someone like sitting on the chair just fall down just slip down


fall down at least you know just uh maybe uh uh you know just concuss you know lay down then some then after , uh, uh some uh maybe like thirty second someone someone gather around and try to, uh try to resuscitate him uh but I think uh I think is is too late ah I think he already uh died on the spot so probably I as I believe I I believe lah is is is can't be saved already that's why yup


it's so to to witness someone died at the polyclinic ah probably it's a heart attack ah ya, and the second one uh also I think is a I think this one I can say it's the saddest thing ah because it's , is is is belongs to the person I know you know it's during primary school is even longer


you know my own uh my own classmate you know uh my own classmate uh pass away, uh but I'm not at the scene lah because uh I went to his his funeral funeral during the primary school is so it was very very sad to have someone passed away


when when only in primary six ya only primary six you see, (mmhmm) okay , uh mabel describe a time when you feel that nothing you do is good enough


oh yes sure I think this is like maybe like maybe at least twelve years ago twelve years or more ago when I taking uh uh exam my final stage of the exam so after I pass the exam actually I have the qualification you know uh


got certificate and the yes yes, so actually that day that time is like you know at a critical stage if I pass this exam I will get the qualification so this actually is a tough very tough exam is one year for once yup so actually that day uh actually I do I do not have a


the leave that I wanted because actually a lot of people even take one month off to to to prepare for this final stage of the exam to do all the revision at least two weeks lah for me it's like I got only got leave, uh I can take only around three days three days the most uh three days I think I think three or four I cannot remember so it's very short so it's very rush so uh I can say not not as well prepared although I start I start to I start to uh


to prepare uh much longer before at least maybe at least six months ago before , ya but the final preparation is the most important because you need to like summarise you know , to to you need to memorise a bit although although not all like do do more practice practice exams so actually during that time


uh the exam is on a sunday I forgot to take my uh photo ID yes I forgot to take my photo ID so actually I cannot enter you cannot enter with your credit card just with your name you need a photo ID at least NRIC or


uh driving licence ya , so so you you get nervous so actually ya actually I call my my my my father he he brought my NRIC or or, driving licence to the exam hall


but uh supposed to start at nine nine AM probably I'm I'm late maybe like I cannot remember maybe nine thirty or so after I go in so uh uh I I try to take exam so I try to do my best , uh of course I can answer but it's uh you because you are short of thirty minutes already you are very rush so uh


ya a lot of things you forget so it's it's not the best moment in life so actually uh it's a struggling during the the morning session uh although, most of the question I answered so but there's another afternoon session is another brain blocking session so


actually for this exam I I didn't pass so I've to wait for another one year yup so this is the time when I feel that nothing nothing I can do is good enough for me to pass the exam so I've to wait for another year to pass which I I pass it yes


okay mabel describe a time where you feel that nobody cares about you


okay for , uh yes yes of course in quite a number of years ago when I work for work for uh, a company uh as a contract so actually when you know when you join a so called as a contract you are not a permanent staff so actually you know uh


they can ask you to leave anytime uh without any hassle or you can of course you can also leave with a one or two weeks notice lah because you are a , a temp or contract staff so actually when you go in is like you know they only give you a very uh surface surface introduction then everything is by yourself already


yup so actually , , so everyone is for himself so you see actually uh you know you are experienced person but you you coming here as a contract then maybe a lot of people experience are not as good as you or you know uh


a lot of foreigners there you see even foreigners can get a permanent position but is you are singaporean you can't go in as contract which is uh you know, doesn't doesn't seems right so actually the person all those just just work for themselves you are temp staff contract staff actually they don't care about you so you know if you are not happy they just you know they just like


uh trying to get you in to see whether you can uh , you can settle their issue or not if if not they can just uh push push the blame on you then get you to leave and and it's just so cheap and they can save their own skin


this is how they work lah yup , okay uh mabel , what do you often worry about


okay , okay because at my age already so basically health lah so actually health is a something that I try to manage uh , uh every day so actually is is important to maintain healthy and at this this this kind of age


because as we know the medical expenses in singapore is is enormous uh so, once you fall sick a small illness is still okay but those serious illness !wah! is like besides the you know the financial burden another one is the inconvenience is is very great you you basically it's like you know you cannot uh continue your daily life you know you


cannot enjoy your things you suffer and and plus the all the inconveniences ya so , uh it's uh something I worry about beside this also my parents because they are, in their seventies to eighties so they are very old already so actually you know


uh you don't know you know , actually how you know, how to make them more happy forever this is something I try to manage yup because uh for my father is still okay because he, he's able to do his own


self reading because he is literate he can read newspaper watch TV even play games on the tablet ya but for my mother is illiterate so ya it's it's much more difficult to, , to you know to educate her or


or make uh how to make her happy ya, so this is uh something that I worry about lah, ya , so uh mabel how , is there anything you wish that you could change but will never be able to


okay part two positive experiences okay my best birthday present is probably uh probably similar to mabel what she say my from my girlfriend, a birthday present uh first birthday present from my girlfriend uh I think is a power bank


so actually uh it's something that I look forward to because uh, that's what I I I needed lah to to to charge my handphone at that time so it comes it comes in useful at the right time yup and it's also given by my uh girlfriend so it's a it's a great gift ya


my biggest blessing in disguise ah, okay maybe


maybe in my entire career, uh which I you know offered a job which I leave my uh present job which I'm quite uh close with my colleague , so to to go into another new environment which I I you know I do not know what's the environment like how's the colleague how's the supervisor how's the management like style


so so I I went into the job because there's a at least there's a pay increase lah but other than the pay increase I don't know what is what is what lies there lah so , everything is unknown lah until you go in then after go in after after go in the first few days I feel that uh is you know is


not as good as I expected you know, ya the colleagues like do their own things ya, everything's like very quiet you know yup so until maybe after a few weeks that I find that eh, actually uh those colleagues are quite helpful you know when actually uh things goes wrong you know they they will personally come and uh solve the issue for you ya this is a great blessing in disguise so at least I got a pay increase and at least the colleagues is as good


ya how about you mabel


ya ya ya I agree actually the happiest moment in life is that when you wake up right you can see your loved ones then you are in healthy you know you don't have any discomfort, ya that's the greatest thing in life ya ya because money is not everything yes ya if you have if you if you have adequate so you actually you can enjoy your life


ya maybe every year travel to a few places you enjoy , ya I feel that this is the best thing in life, yup , okay mabel uh what what is a a comfort food that you can always rely on to cheer you up


okay ice cream, ice ice cream and chocolate lah right, okay


okay anything else beside


okay for me is like every day I need a good cup of coffee uh actually especially during the lunchtime, because breakfast is usually very rush uh I need to rush to work, then uh after lunch a good cup a good cup of coffee is very important for for the rest of my day because sometime I work very late until nine PM yup


so ya , yes yes food, yes food also I enjoy actually I'm not very particular on food lah as long as it's nice , and I also prefer uh hawker food that is very nice like those uh famous Char #char kway teow# or or or carrot cake uh carrot cake stalls ya so I will actually I will find those uh special stalls that is mentioned that is very nice and I will try it out yes


okay uh I what do I love most about myself ah , actually I don't I don't self reflect so much lah uh just that you know maybe that I can manage my manage my daily life well you know uh as my mentioned just now is to stay healthy is to uh actually is self discipline is very important


ya especially uh in this kind of uh, , situation like COVID you need to protect yourself you know don't don't go to those crowded places uh wear a mask you know, ya so uh, to take control of your life lah basically to to manage your daily life like to for me I exercise at least twice a week I jog around


ya as I mentioned I I I do sports uh at least two to three times a week so I jog ten KM like uh once or twice a week, yup so actually ya I try to pace my time so I try to improve you can't improve every session maybe uh uh every six months you can see some improvement for ten KM I can jog under under one hour that's a good self accomplishment


how about you mabel


maybe maybe uh maybe you have some good, investment over property or whatever you know all this kind of thing uh


for uh what how many years you say, four are you sure four years so fast before forty years old you can retire, oh , uh okay okay maybe this one I can learn from you


okay okay , who in your life do you look up to most and why


okay for my case is my mother so, since young so she's like a full time housewife she take care of the family my dad my me myself , and my brother ya until even now, so actually all the household chores uh cooking washing and cleaning is mostly done by her ya although we help her recently uh uh uh for for the past


past decade or so yup so now for like maybe like forty years so she's the perfect person I look look uh look up upon even when in youngers days she also work like part time somewhere, uh somewhere at the airport or or or some some uh some uh food courts ya so but she manage the the household well


ya yes , so now our parents are older so we need to take care of them


what is the nicest uh sorry ah what is the nicest thing someone has ever told you


okay for my case is like , in my working environment uh quite some time ago maybe more than ten years ago uh, we are very close with colleagues from overseas so they come to singapore and work with us for so as long as a few months or even uh s uh even short term stay in singapore like one year so I have I have a chance to work with hong-kong colleagues


so after working some time uh for some time with them you know you go out you dinner with with their families ya so we get very close so one day she she come and tell me something about me that's I that I am exceptional you know


there's something exceptional about me so ya I'm quite relieved that someone has told me that I'm quite exceptional is, because I can perform uh perform most of the work in in exceptional circumstances I can pass any exam and any uh circumstances ya


happiest moment in my life ah happiest moment in my life uh it's basically the same thing that I mentioned just now my birthday present from my girlfriend ya how about you


okay uh , describe one of your most uh memorable travel experiences


okay for for my for myself uh I prefer to travel uh you know free and easy because you can because I I like to plan my own itinerary, so actually uh actually some time ago like maybe


ten over years ago I travel to uh taiwan so actually I quite like the place because uh before the trip I search from internet for all the good places to eat uh the nice accommodation so I plan my trip around taiwan initially I plan the trip uh to start


from uh the the south side you know so , once I go to airport I take a bus down to the south like maybe beginning from Tai Taizhong stay a few days there uh explore the scenery there


some uh recreation facilities there and museum and so forth then go to as far as far as Kaohsiung uh the the southern side uh Kaohsiung to Kenting stay a few uh two three days there then move up then the final place in Taipei


ya there's the very good experience to travel there and you meet other travellers uh you can speak to them about some happy things happy experiences , uh some travel experiences and also you know, uh you meet even even you meet singaporean there


part one financial related topic


, I have an endowment plan I bought it under manulife, the endowment plan is about uh is manulife, ten pay twenty meaning I need to pay for ten years and then after twenty years manulife will provide me with a lump sum of


uh returns capital plus uh return so , the policy, basically uh also provide uh cash payout of roughly a few hundred dollars per year and then is quite


at a, good , endowment plan because when I calculated every year I roughly get , three to four percent of guarantee returns, and if the if the


plans is uh doing well they have an extra two or three percent uh return per annum so that would be if it's performing well lah it will have a total of like five to six percent


of return per annum, ya it have uh it provide a cashback cash payment


of every like uh ya every year of around a few hundred dollars, correct correct


correct correct if I have the option lah but I prefer to cash in


so do you get insurance when getting a property


like fire insurance


so you are, so even after you have finish repaying the loan you still have the fire insurance


oh so currently you don't have fire insurance for your property, I see, do you get insurance when travelling overseas


, what kind of insurance do you think is essential for, someone your age


for me I think that I'll probably buy health insurance after forties cause, I'm quite healthy now I I eat very healthily I go for gym regularly and then


ya so I was thinking probably after forties then only I'll buy start buying health insurance policies what do you think


but I'm already covered by medishield from CPF right, it's okay lah I'll just stay in some bad wards


I see


so for my medishield standard plan I can actually upgrade it to a, better medishield plan from CPF is it


oh, so, so on top of my medishield I get extra protection from insurance agencies is it


I see so just now you mentioned about the rider so , the basic medishield plan then I buy from insurance policy the standard plan, then I add more, rider is it so they are like


three different levels


oh


I see, so what


I think I need an agent I'm not very good in all these insurance policy moreover I have no interest in uh researching for all the details so I think an insurance agent


would be better than, ya not having one so at least , uh when, I'm in trouble I need to claim insurance I can straight away contact the insurance agent and then they will do everything for me


I see I used to buy this uh, uh investment plan where every month I would pay four hundred dollars and then the insurance uh company will help me invest in a certain stocks


but, at the end of the day after I calculated my uh the amount of money that I pay and the amount of money that I have, in uh my stocks I notice there is a


very wide gap of loss eh I'm actually making a lot of loss, loss do you think, we should, uh buy uh this type of insurance like investment plan insurance


correct correct


so, you would not consider this as a good uh insurance policy, an investment linked plan


but don't you think the management fee all those processing fee are actually costing you a lot of money where you can actually invest it on your own


oh I see, so is it making money now


you , so your investment is mainly on REITs, and not some like uh great eastern life uh china investment or india linked fund investment or something like that so it's mainly on REITs lah


is it international REITs or local REITs, singapore REITs why can't you buy it straight away from the the the, stock market


so it's uh cheaper lah when you as compare to when you buy it from the stock market


oh so you diverse your portfolio


okay thank you


part three negative experiences


, (mmhmm), (mmhmm)


at one point of the time I was quite uh plump so there are someone who mentioned that I am, quite fat so


ya this is one of the hurtful thing that I wish to forget, and then there's also one thing uh actually uh, someone was helping me to get feedback about, uh


ya , his the person's opinion of me so the person's opinion was uh he say that I'm a bit , inelegant


like ya I'm like very rude and stuff like that so, ya that's also not, really like when I speak that time I'm not speaking in a very soft tone instead I'm speaking in a very


a loud tone like, I'm I'm from the you know ya, from the market like, because I'm a teacher so sometimes when I speak I speak quite loudly so that person says that I'm some sort of like


not elegant ya so it was quite, ya because I used to speak in loud, tone so when I speak to someone in normal conversation I'm also kind of like loud so the person's opinion of me is I'm


not that elegant ya so that is some of the hurtful thing that I wish to forget how about you lawrence


I see what is the saddest scene you ever witnessed, like probably in funeral or


(mmhmm)


he passed away, I see


(mmhmm), (hmm),


at a young age,


it is a time when I enter university I was studying biological science so previously I was educated in malaysia so in malaysia, I would say that the standard of education is not that high and the level of competition is also not that high so for me if I put in small amount of effort the next thing I notice is I got an A


so by the time I go to NTU, by the time I go to NTU uh I tried so hard


study so hard, uh during the first year is still okay I still get quite a number of As then second third year and then lastly the, the, honours year I feel that nothing that I can, I do is uh good enough nothing I do will even I put in a lot of hard work round the clock study


I still get Bs and Cs I feel so helpless nothing I do is like, uh can help the situation, , I would like to describe my saddest scene I ever witnessed


, actually is a is a scene in my grandfather's funeral , so everything uh was quite grim, then , so it was the last moment where uh they will ask the relative to take a look at


the deceased before they close the coffin , so, so when, I I when my grandmother walk over to to have a last look at my grandfather she broke down then my mum and my aunt was holding my


grandmother they also ya they also cried so it's just ya so sad, it's like ya my grandparents were married for at least sixty years so now is like a final farewell they have been with each other for so long and then


they had four kids together they had they, they go through poor together and then when they finally had a business together then they become rich together so so then finally now ya


my grandfather is uh leaving my grandmother behind and my mum my grandmother is so sad , that's the saddest scene I've ever seen,


lawrence describe a time where you feel that nothing you do is good enough


is it CFA


it is a time with uh after I come to singapore to study and work, and , and the time before I, met my boyfriend , so at that time I was quite lonely because I don't really have family members around me


to take care of me or , to chat have a conversation or even just to have a feel that someone is around , so, it was a time where I was quite lonely, and, ya there are also many many nights where I will cry


thinking that, how come how come I couldn't find someone ya, ya so it was quite sad lah I I have quite a a


few nights not not just a few nights quite quite many nights of ya crying myself to bed, ya how about you, do you have a time when you feel that nobody cares about you


I often worry about my sickness , so as my sickness is some sort of like, it can it can come back, , there'll be relapse, so I am quite worried about it so that's why


I try to, work very very hard when I'm, uh and healthy that time , and then I also make a lot of , investment ensure that I have passive income


this is so that I will , I will, be able to support myself even when, uh my sickness, came back ya I always worry about it because it's not a one time sickness where you can get a proper cure for it it it is something that will


sometimes come back in three years sometimes come back in six years so ya sometimes I may not be able to recover from it at all so this this is uh


quite a , a huge worry for me and since this uh sickness runs in family I'm also quite worried that in future I will pass this gene to my children so


I'm also considering whether should I not have any children in case they get this type of genes from me then it'll it'll be a burden for them I don't want them to suffer something, uh like that ya


what about you, what do you often worry about


I wish I could change, my genes so that I don't have to suffer the sickness that I have now, I wish that I'm as healthy as my siblings


like my sister she can go about and travel around the world after her university she don't have to work so hard, to make sure that she have a safe retirement net, so she can go about and do this because after


she finished her travelling she can actually, uh come back and work, because she's healthy all the way I'm different I have a period of time where I'm healthy a period of time when I'm I'll be sick


so in that case I cannot afford to (ppb) be as ya free will as her so this is one thing that I would like to change


, my best birthday present at oh


part two positive experiences, my best , birthday present is actually a black long wallet, it is uh


actually the first, birthday gift given by, my boyfriend so I guess it is quite meaningful for me


so uh it is my best birthday present probably because uh partly because, I was quite


uh happy that I finally found someone, and I can actually celebrate my birthday with someone now lawrence what about you, what was your best birthday gift


I see , , what is your biggest blessing in disguise in disguise


I see , my biggest blessing in disguise is actually my sickness my sickness actually enable me to, uh actually step back from my normal usual views and then uh help to justify uh what's actually happening during that uh period of time like for example there's one time I fall sick


uh, when I that was when I was still quite young as a teenager so it actually makes me more humble because before that I am a straight A student I was a head prefect


everything go so well for me so I was quite arrogant so but when I fall sick, then I realise that ya health is more important and then I can see that a lot of people start to uh care for me and then asked about me and then


it actually helps me realise that people's touch is actually more important than achievement, so , during that time I actually uh ya, I, I'm no longer that arrogant I'm more humble


so , ya, at the same time there's also one time probably like I think, two three years ago, oh sorry last year last year I fall sick again so during this time uh is actually a very good uh opportunity for me to test my loved ones see whether they are still around me when I'm sick


or will they run away and leave me so ya this is this is, my sickness is actually a blessing in disguise it helps me , look


life look into life in a different perspective,


so , my comfort food is uh ice cream I like ice cream very much


uh , ya true ice cream and chocolate , anything else ah I like muffins too muffins and butter cakes


partly because they they are actually a form of comfort foods that's uh agreed by the, by everybody because no I mean it's consider under the category of comfort food lah because uh after you eat them you will feel happier you will feel satisfied


but at the same time it brings you a lot of calories which is ya actually very bad, how about you what is your comfort food


so coffee will cheer you up is there any food that will make you happy


, I see what do you love


oh yes okay , what do you love most about yourself,


uh sorry I have an interruption someone call me just now through skype, !oops!, ya my recording stopped already is it stopped at eight minute and thirty eight second


okay


what I love most about myself I, I love I love


there's not much stuff that, , oh true true , I love that I have already invested in two properties at a tender age


at of thirty five , I have one residential property and one in a commercial property so they're actually giving me quite a good sum of passive income


so I can proudly say that in four years time I can retire, in four years time, after I finish repaying, yes yes


I am very sure I've already did all the calculation through excel file, sure,


in my life I actually look up to my dad, I feel that he is very wise, in many aspect, although he's not very good in finance


but , in, he's able to uh, carry out a lot of wise decisions when come to life's decision and then he is also able to


see the consequences of many instances like say for example me and my mum we're talking about a topic and then we start to argue about the topic, and then my dad will come around and say what's the point of arguing you are making


uh each other feeling bad why don't you uh, agree on disagreeing and then just stop, making each other feel bad, he's able to, see something in a different perspective


like, ya for us we we are only like so shallow then his thinking is like very deep so a lot of times I will consult him on a lot of matters and then he will, he will advise me on all these different


things that I'm still very naive in and ya how about you what do you look up to who do you look up to, (mmhmm)


so she's like the strong superwoman in your life, , good , do you have a time when


the nicest thing someone has ever told me would be , uh what my, parents told me when I was sick, so they just asked me to


, uh concentrate on getting well , and then uh, ya, and then uh ya I still recall this


there's one thing that my mum told me when I come over to singapore to study and work she say that if there's, anything, bad or anything wrong, that you think that you cannot stay on in singapore just come back okay ya


just ya, ya so she's actually trying to, tell me that I will still have uh the family support although everything is lost in singapore so , ya, that's the actually the nicest thing that


uh someone has ever told me like as if I have a backup somewhere, so just don't worry and go on with your life and ya if there's anything bad that happen just ya, you still have us something like that


what is the nicest thing someone has ever told you


yes, what was the happiest moment in your life


, I see, my happiest moment in my life is actually uh getting to know my boyfriend


so before that I was like I was actually searching for quite a long time and then I even have crush on my colleagues in, ya but they are not uh returning any ya, love back so when I found my boyfriend I


I figure that eh I finally have someone, ya that that was, that is the happiest moment in my life


my most memorable travel experience would be my, , my travels to, korea it is quite a long trip of


seven days I've never been to such a long trip before is is also a tour so we actually save a lot of arguments about traveling should we travel by grab should we walk


or under the the sun then is so hot and sweaty and stuff like that so, and plus everything is arranged don't have to worry about the next day you don't have to plan, you know something like that so I think, ya, my most memorable travel experience is my trip to korea how about you


part one financial related topic


hi #wei lun# , uh so do you have any personal insurance, oh that's nice


uh my parents actually didn't get me any insurance, so I think the only one I have is like the Aviva one that we got in, army ya you also have that, ya so if I'm not wrong it covers total permanent disability


how how how many of the Aviva did you get ah I only got like the basic one, ya cause they still send in like upgrade right like they still mail


upgrade but don't care right ya same oh, ya ya then I also know that I got the the one under CPF, ya they they mailed to me recently I know it covers I know it covers death total permanent disability and terminal illness until sixty


yeah but other than that I don't know much about it lah ,


oh that's nice and it and especially the medical expenses part right, (hmm) then do you have any endowment plans, yeah neither do I


ya, of course not nope


(mmhmm) (hmm) I guess I, like of course mainly I have to see how much uh like what it covers then after that also I guess how much the insurance plan is cause if it's not within my means and I wouldn't be able to buy it lah


(hmm), ya I guess that's like two of the main things I look at


oh what is that about what's that about, oh I've never thought about that actually could consider could consider ya interesting


life and personal what do you mean


cause uh, cause for me I I feel like the most important insurance is hospitalization for our age lah, because I mean there's like higher chances of us getting into hospital than


like ya then just like permanent disability or like that kind of thing you know, ya so I think I will get that first, ya (mmhmm)


(hmm) what would I look for uh, I guess like when I first choose my insurance agent I would want to look for someone around my age like someone that can that can follow through with me throughout my life lah if not later like halfway through my life then the insurance agent die then


it will be a hassle ya also also, and they'll be in a same phase of life as us lah so they will understand like what you said [loh] more relatable


then, what're some of the questions that I'll ask my insurance agent, , maybe like I want to find out how they are as a person like I I don't think I would I would care so much


about like uh like the policy first, ya so like I'll I'll definitely want to find out whether they, how how sincere they are how down to earth they are cause if they're not that then I'll be scared of being cheated of my money lah cause you know there's like that kind of stigma out there


right, then , other than that then maybe find out how inquisitive the agent is like uh like how much he he goes to find out about


like outside of the policies that he is taking care of like maybe other companies policies or like , like you know nowadays insurance agent also do like financial, advising ya so maybe like how much he knows about


those also that kind of thing like someone someone that is competent lah basically how about you


oh cool, that's true


of course of course, usually if the insurance agent is (hmm) sincere enough I I don't think I'll have to ask all these ah


but yes I yeah I'll I'll but yes is a is a good reminder to to us, yup cool , I guess this ties in with like if you are the insurance agent what questions would you ask your client when planning their insurance coverage


yeah yeah


of (hmm), probably will ask them like what insurance they have currently and and also like what plans they have in the future


cause we are after all planning for if I'm an insurance agent ah then will be planning for the person's future, so I guess those are important too, (ppc) (hmm)


(hmm) for me personally I like you know their their insurance, uh plans they're mixed with investment right, ya like from what I heard from like my investment friends like all of them feel like that


we shouldn't lah that those plans aren't uh very good so like following following what what they say like of course they I I feel like they will know more uh I don't think that we should mix insurance and investment and we should like try to keep them apart


(hmm) I I feel like it's more of that that kind of plans isn't isn't very good that's why like if you buy them separately it'll be better


for us ya but not very well read in their aspect just hearsay, , you know about term life insurance and whole life insurance


ya neither do I, but ya like, like what I said just now lor the the investment linked policies right


yup , they do you have any friends that


are working as insurance agent, are you planning to get from them, cause I'm I'm looking into like who I should get from in the future really like even though I'm not like


uh going on to get now, ya, have to we are two years two years more and we're out into the market


ya lor and a few of them have like reached out to talk to try to talk to me and get to know me more lah so it was a, uh, reminder the like ya I should start planning for my future too


(hmm) yeah yeah yeah I think you have to eh


it's like we're automatically uh put into it, yeah uh they emailed me with not email they they sent me a mail recently, like it's quite a thick booklet to explain what it is about


maybe yours seven year lah then uh ya


uh definitely not yeah I, but again I'm not I'm not too sure about that like currently I only I'm only more knowledgeable about like the hospital insurance since like that's what I was looking for lah that's why I ask


my my friends about it then I I know that definitely I uh I won't be just relying on the CPF insurance coverage alone ya you


, research (hmm)


(hmm), in your day to day life uh do you prefer to use cash or go cashless, what interesting


but I sometimes they round down right, , ya


that's true , I do agree with you but then I guess like cashless has its merits too like sometimes I don't want to carry too much stuff out like I just carry my


phone and I put like one card the two two cards like my e z link card too like at the at the back of my phone then I can go out already you know ya, there to carry much tough especially if uh I'm going out on the run or I'm going to like go checking or something


ya, , ya I guess


what's your windfall what would you do with it


you have oh the your student loan, cool, ya ya ya


I think same oh like debt and uh investment definitely investment lah like after all we we we won't be able to survive on that windfall, for very long especially in singapore


yup, are you doing any jobs now,


then so you are surviving on your savings


same oh same oh, ya also trying to save as much money I can now like not spending ah because like I I I work I teach tuition but it's not much lah


although (hmm), ya at least cover some of my expensive so like my phone bills and stuff then don't have to eat into my own savings,


(hmm) interestingly I don't really have a saving goal, ya just for spend , like or or in another or in other words it's like spend not to spend on things that uh not necessary ya like for example sometimes maybe I'm thirsty and I want to like buy drinks then


like I'll I'll remind myself that like the the little bits add on add add onto like a big amount so I just try not to buy and drink plain water that kind of thing


(hmm)


then what strategies would you recommend to someone planning for any big ticket expenditures are you are you going for a exchange or anything,


you didn't move on to sem two,


kay I have similar thoughts, of ya of course you want to get the bigger ticket items of the way first, then


what's your experience of getting a loan from a bank,


same oh you you loan directly from school ah, yeah oh I got everything from OCBC


ya like one of the banks oh, bank loan cool cool cool I remember I didn't really have to do much paperwork somehow, just, just the usual lor ya family income I see that kind of thing


(ppl)


part three negative experiences, hi #wei lun#


, (hmm)


I have and it's actually like (ppc) like I have two friends around me that passed up until now, yeah , I guess like in a way like at least I wasn't as close to them as some


of the rest world but the first was my my JC friend for my CCA then he actually met with a car crash and ya he he passed lah


then (hmm), I guess when I first knew about it it was shocking, like, like definitely ah cause at this age in our life you wouldn't expect any of our friends to just disappear like that


then, ya lor shocked and very sad to have lost this friend how did I deal with the loss uh


I guess I just have to accept it that it happened, and, ya I guess that's how I deal with it and I guess like me and my friends don't really talk about it also may like that's probably a form of avoidance


ya then the other friend was uh an army friend he was actually in the news not sure whether you know like is the is the one where the bionix overturn on the hill in germany


ya is a batch mate ya I I was even, like he he was just in a same uh company but that's it ah never really talk to this guy but also like damn shocking that


ya can just disappear like that ya how about you


you weren't you weren't close to her also lah , I guess that helps to I mean sometimes when you when you think about it then like there will be that fear whether the people around you who just like whether it will happen to the people around you also


uh but don't think about it lah cause, you wouldn't know anyway


okay so what makes you stressed, ,


again what, ah okay,


other things kay not nothing uh for me I'm actually not a very like I don't I don't really feel stress in my life a lot


the only times when I did is like is that, , it's usually those moments when you need to like perform like for example,


in front of an audience you have to do public speaking, or , maybe you are heading an event and something went wrong ya that kind of thing but I guess like in terms of work wise I don't I don't feel that kind of stress that most people do ya for me it's just


maybe , yeah I just I just realize that okay er I got this this this then okay I need to do this okay lor then do lor, ya then I guess that helps ah with managing that


stress (hmm) do you have any traumatic experiences, oh okay cool


, traumatic uh I have one when I was young it was when uh I think I was around primary school then I am a little scared of heights is not the kind where like if I look down I will just tremble and just stand there but it's more of like when you when you look down then


, like you you feel that uneasiness in yourself ya, so so , okay ya that's that's like a prelude so in when I was young I I was on a swing so I'm actually like a little bit scared of swings also


ya especially when you go up then like at the point when you come down there's that kind of a, it's a very weird feeling like like ya the weightlessness feeling, then so at at that point of time I knew that uh it was a kind of fear that I need to get past so I just I just learned to like live with it I just play with swings and like try to get used to that kind of feeling


right then one day when I was on the swing and I was swinging normally with I think I think my mum or a friend I don't I don't remember was like pushing me from the back, then after that the swing broke and I fell then


then uh from then on I got even like, uh more afraid of swings ya like I don't even dare to swing like high I I only dare to like like rock you know so I guess that was like one of the more traumatic incidents in my life


uh now actually I am more daring ya I guess like age also helps ah that , you'll see past it better like okay lor drop then drop lor


but I guess like I'll never I'll never uh forget to look at, the screws on top yeah ever since then, (hmm)


, let me see so


maybe like now we're in uni so I'm thinking about like uh, what kind of work I I'm I'm thinking of like my life in the future and like how much I want to earn what where where do I want to get to in the future lah so I guess like what what one thing that is holding me back now is knowing what I want to work as in the future


ya because like I'm quite unsure conflicted about what I want like don't really know what job will fit me or if I will be if I'll like any of that job so that's one thing as holding me back now lah


, how about you, !wow!


oh that's interesting, kay lah I can understand how what how you feel ya


, (hmm) I guess this this summer break I I did like try


try to like uh correct that myself like cause I also I also feel that way sometimes like a lot of lethargic so like I try to


just write down goals at the start of the day ya so I think that helps lah and to to break them down into like smaller bits, cause you know sometimes like cause you know sometimes like the thing you want to accomplish is like super big ya so I think breaking it down really helps me


ya like like today maybe I do this part that kind of thing it helps a lot for that kind of motivation, kay (hmm)


did not turn out to meet my expectations (hmm) in in like the the big scheme of things right I think my life now has been quite


uh expected, and uh for lack of a better word I can't I can't think of a better word like, I have everything has been quite smooth ah like from primary school to secondary school to JC then go army then come uni


yeah, ya ya ya how about you


yes,


, kay sorry ah uh I accidentally left the app, ya


okay, sorry ah sorry ah


ya I did


yup yup yup yup


!wow!, uh interestingly interestingly I actually quite I'm I'm, I'm quite I'm quite emotional when it comes to movies so uh


maybe I guess like on top of my mind I can think of like, the fault in our stars is like one of the more recent movies that I have watched ya then, you know especially cause it's a second time that I'm watching it like throughout throughout the movie when you know that


augustus is actually going to die spoiler then then you actually feel really sad lah to see like the things that he does, ya then then is like is like welling up inside you until like when he finally told uh katniss is it katniss no what what's her name the the the female lead ah ya then like oh so sad then when he he


(hmm), I like it it feels sadder the second time that I watched it right cause you know that oh no this guy is going to die but he still doing all these things oh no


ya how about you


it's okay I've watched it cool, it's a interesting ending though yeah I mean they saw each other in the end


bittersweet, !wow! uh describe a time where you feel that nobody cares about you, oh man is there such times


hello is there such time for you okay uh so I guess no uh is there (hmm)


yup, cool


cool cool (hmm), probably like how much I worked back in secondary school, studied


ya cause interestingly I actually didn't know I have to study is very weird like in sec one and sec two ya like I just like back in primary school you just have to like read


and just do a bit just do your daily homework and you can like excel, ya then, then in secondary school everything is like you actually have to find extra time to go and read and memorize and stuff so like that that transition took me a while and ya lah looking back I wish I could have studied more


uh what is your greatest fear


broken bone oh interesting,


cool oh interestingly , (hmm) greatest fear I feel like it's not say being alone but like


uh having no friends, ya


part two positive experiences, hi #wei lun# what was your best birthday present and why


!wow! cool cool


, oh that's nice


uh same as you I I don't think any of them are better than the other, cause they are all like thoughts from my friends and, family but I guess a biggest surprise was on my twenty first same as you


uh you were actually there too for my surprise ya so uh I was actually out with uh my girlfriend then she she surprised like she


she actually told me that she was going to uh to find her ex, but like he has a birthday party then I was like angry then after that I realize oh it's my birthday party I'm like what then all of you were there it was a good night lah it was a good night


, so that was the biggest surprise I had, thanks all of you for being there


what's your biggest blessing in disguise, ya ya


cool


of course (hmm) for me you know recently like there was the elections yeah so I was uh reading up on like a lot of singapore stuff and, also because like I started looking into politics then also uh like overseas stuff then also with like the COVID situation around the world then like I feel very blessed to be in to be born in singapore actually


ya so like that, it's probably like the biggest blessing in disguise because singapore is so affluent now, and uh no natural disasters also ya just


quite a bit of good things ah ya ya then plus I'm also currently working on some global health stuff like I'm interning now


ya so like looking at how the different uh other asian countries uh, like the the the kind the kinds of public health they have uh is starkly different from what we have in singapore ah


and ya, that's why like all of these add up together in this short period like in summer made me realize how blessed I am to be in singapore to be born here


oh uh I actually have two different kinds of uh comfort food that I always go to uh they're they're quite general so I really like potatoes and I really like to eat eggs


and ya ya ya and you can say soup is one of them also so these are like the three I usually go for also I'm actually quite easily satisfied like on a bad day uh I just I can just buy like


#bee hoon# fish #bee hoon# soup ya then eh no sorry like #you mian# or #ban mian#, then uh those usually is like soup and inside got eggs then I'm I'm I'm very happy already


yes, I don't know eh just something about those that that comforts me a lot, I guess


oh, in army and what


doesn't register , cool, another time I ate


another another time when I ate comfort food is actually like you know last time when uh I first started, drinking then where we are like hangover actually quite Shiok, to


(hmm) uh soup potatoes eggs same, ,


(hmm), (hmm) love most ah I know one of them is definitely my curly hair, like is one of my more defining features that people always ask about and it's also like a good conversation starter ya so


so it it definitely like helped me a lot along in my life ya quite interesting, how about you


oh nice, yes height height is one of them too, for me it's just yeah convenience


(hmm), describe your perfect day


nice,


cool your hobby, interesting uh my perfect day I think it'll be a bit different from yours I feel like uh, of course well rested is one of them definitely but I feel like as long as the day


(hmm), carries out as well as or better than how I wanted like maybe I got like some task I need to complete and I'm able to complete them, well then uh is actually a really really good day already


nice cool, ya makes it makes it makes it a perfect day ,


things turned out better than I expected (hmm)


do you have any


!wow!


interesting, that's nice uh for me I guess is like after JC I I actually went overseas to if I'm not wrong is Batam not sure Bintang I always next to her then after that


we actually missed our flight home so we have to book another one , and like the next flight was uh like quite some hours after lah so but it's okay we actually went out to like uh


to, sightsee more and, ya and after that, turns out like a


so like that's how you spend like the day then after that when we when we finally, uh went back the the flight that we book next was actually subsidized by the the air company, ya so that's nice yeah K lah uh turned out better than I expected


(hmm), describe more of your most memorable travel experience


nice ya


cool uh most my one of my most memorable one is uh the my travel experience after NS so me and my friends we went to hong kong then I actually don't travel much


so like is one of the few times I even get to fly overseas ah, so that was one then, over there we like you know it's the first time I first few times I go overseas without my parents


ya then so we could do whatever we want lah we just, walk everywhere and uh we went to uh ocean park and played a lot that day ya just really very relaxing and enjoyable


yup yup yup cool, (hmm)


I think I think you will be good uh with this uh share a funny inside joke that you and your group of friends still laugh about till this day is there any


oh no, (hmm), what things you, !wah! I can't think of any non non running that I can remember of I thought you'll have


okay then uh talk about the no wait, uh what're the things that you look most forward to when the pandemic ends, you haven't went out


nice your favorite one of your favorite, (hmm) I've actually went out already uh, I guess it's like going to the movies cause I'm actually still quite worried about movie theaters now because I understand like is actually quite


uh, what do you call that dangerous, infectious ya, higher chance lah so I guess it's like going to the movies (hmm) but not much because now phase two already mah then


it actually feels ya it actually feels like, normal, (hmm)


is it what one of them definitely happiest moment


hard to pinpoint lah maybe when I got together with my girlfriend, how about you oh nice


was it difficult for you, cool


for me sometimes I forget to stop eh which is damn bad like during my practice cause cause like you know like when you see uh people drive they don't actually stop at the stop sign ya they see like no car then they then they stop already then they then they leave


ya yes, I always get scolded but okay ya uh the oddest or most unique compliment you've ever received


!huh! interesting


I think the ones actually I I get this quite often is that, uh, I look very young, although I don't really like ah I guess that's why I find it odd or unique


like like they treat me like a <mandarin>小:xiao</mandarin> boy boy uh a little boy and ya it's a compliment to them lah I guess people want to be young, have a baby face


maybe not now lah, definitely some food


I used to hate not but not love as an adult, like I've just grown to be able to uh take some food, now hate but love


yup press, part one financial related topic


alvin hi , hello, ya I do I got personal accident policy that my mother got for me since my childhood


yup what about you, yes yes I got that too yes then ya


same Aitia got the one too, yeah every year they ask whether I want to, whether I want to change my policy, no I don't ah yes oh what is it about does it cover anything


until sixty okay, so for my, so I had a quick look through for my personal uh insurance policy that my mother had it covers accidental death permanent disability and medical expenses for accidental injuries


that's about what I know about it, yup yes


no I don't, uh okay so, so it's safe to say that you don't own a car or property right now right, ya okay so uh there's nothing that ya we can't


the insurance for them is not applicable to us ah, okay so ask you a question what do you look out for when buying an insurance policy and do you see insurance as an essential expenditure, yes


ya same, do you, want to see you like whether your dependents can benefit from it too, like who will pays out to sorry


like maybe your spouse children whether they benefit from the payout do you look out for that too, oh okay, it sounds so late okay


so the kinds of insurance I think, that's essential for people of our age the early twenties is probably life and personal insurance and not that much else that's applicable


life and personal insurance, like the accidental death and stuff which is what we mentioned just now lah that kind cause


oh yes oh ya cause the bills, true let's say you want to


purchase a new insurance policy what do you look out for in an insurance agent, what kind of questions will you ask, ya right


oh okay I see maybe they are more relatable to us also, ya yes they understand us yes


advisory yes, like he's fear of , for me in the first thing is whether they're too eager you know if they're too eager I will flag them as red flags ah cause because it seems like they just want to sell me a policy before understanding what I needs ya so same as you lor


then I'll probably ask them like how often and how much are the premiums, the specifics of the policy, and looking out for any possible exceptions to the terms that I need to take note of, yup


oh yeah they'll cover for you , don't also know what your want first, oh


a search of rows okay I'll probably ask for their rough income to see which is suitable for which policy is suitable for them maybe their age the number of the family members to see what kind of lifestyle and things maybe their careers to see which one is relevant


like the risk they might be facing yup what about you what will you ask your clients, oh yes good idea , oh true true yes


kay some say we should buy a term and invest the rest do you mix insurance and investment or do you give them apart, yes


right not to put all the eggs in the same basket in a way, oh okay


I'm not too sure what a difference is, but from ya, no I think , right so


so you said that friend your friends, and the people you talk to don't really recommended that right, uh yes I had a couple but I don't really


currently no, ya maybe in the future, oh that's good planning ahead


just now you mentioned you have CPF insurance right, uh, right kay that one I'll need to check again so do you think


right have you went through the booklet ya nothing I heard it yeah do you think


the CPF insurance coverage is enough for your, your overall insurance coverage,


ya nothing that might be enough, for me cause in case in the future I am self employed then I will not have, much CPF, but uh yeah just need to do more reading up on the topic, yup


for me I prefer cashless cause is the exact amount and I don't have to carry all too much coins is, yes in real life I mean if you pay by cash they might round down, the cashless nowhere to excuse


one good thing about cash you can visually feel how much you are spending if ya, cause cashless is just numbers on the screen then it's a bit like credit card you wouldn't see, how much you're spending at that point of time


so might be hard to control, yup yes ya much more convenient


but it's still good to carry some actual cash around in case, you know you damage your phone then you won't be left stranded anyway ya


win for like suddenly a lot of you win a lot of money like lottery, that kind (hmm), first I have to pay off all my debts, like, the student loan a lot of stuff ya then maybe can pay for housing also


ya, if got extra then if maybe go to start investing look at investment, like some sort of passive, more passive way to get more money, what about you how about you


spend just


you will have to help you make more money, to sustain currently no, because I'm taking summer programs


for my university ya then, I don't think there's enough time to find jobs before school starts also, yes, and also cause family cook at home ah just eat of them


yes


but at least you can cover some of your expenses, at least can cover some of the, expenses it's good to have a, ya it's good to have a saving habit


how else do you ensure you meet your saving goals, , just don't spend unnecessarily, yup I'm about there too


start necessary yes


oh yes


like housing, uh I actually planned for exchange but due to, COVID it was it didn't it didn't happen but in planning for that, uh no probably two sem taken


to plan for that , the strategy the first one is to get the big huge costs out of the way first like maybe the plane ticket accommodation, they're just put at the top of the list in planning cause it's you have to it's a it's not optional so you have to account for that then with out of the way maybe the smaller stuff like the kind of food maybe extra clothes for ya by exchange


ya , going to be once then sees the small,


I have to apply for a tuition fee loan from the, school, so I have to get the employment status the salary the CPF contributions of my family members, and a lot of paperwork to


you have to submit then need to print out your forms, still got, uh I learned from a bit from bank and a huge chunk under the tuition fee loan scheme, of the school oh see


ah for me I, it's a


it's a sizable checklist (ppl), during the submission just press the red button right


part three negative experiences, negative experiences, hi #ming kai# ya so


if you are comfortable to share have you gone through any loss in your life and if you have you can just describe your emotions at the time when how you deal with, it oh


yes oh


oh the oh so you know the, that right yes


that's someone you interacted with, for me, in a way fortunately I no except for my great grandmother but I was too young to process that until a bit later but it was not too traumatic I just understand slowly


ya cause we don't live together, yeah I was quite young so, it just didn't, ya a bit it does


yes nightmare


!huh! so many things ya lah the first thing okay main the mainly is uh let's say in school when I have a lot for semester at around the same time, so at the start when I realize I have different semester exam time the the stress comes from trying to uh when I first realize


recognize that I have many assignments due at the time the the stress comes from trying to prioritize which one to work on first ya after that it it gets more manageable lah, yup sorry (uh huh) oh yes


maybe there's a secret to your youthful appearance , objective


, well the one I can think of is the damn scared one, in my NS ya cause it was the first time I genuinely feared for my life, I mean yeah in a way lah yup ah


weightlessness, (hmm) (mmhmm) !huh! oh no right


how is it now do you still dare to, swing ya oh yeah what do you think


is the biggest thing holding you back from your goal, fear of swings ,


(hmm) for me is the, motivation to actually start working on the stuff I, have in mind planned out so I can just spend a lot of times slowly planning putting things together but then, sometimes just feel quite lazy to


start working towards it like is the actual is the is the starting part that, that is, uh like a steep hill to climb but once I start it, things get going with the momentum so I guess that's the one thing that


, like cause you have anything you can do everything, and the bad thing is also you can do everything means you have a lot of things to do, ya (hmm) oh yes


and meeting your goals ya, ah I should consider that so let's say


let's say despite all the nice planning of your stuff but is there a time when things did not turn out, uh meeting your expectation it's a conventional


path so far, uh for more specific things that did not turn out meeting, expectations, uh will be cause you know now I'm I mean I'll I'm in a performing arts


this year, and was in the exco so we have to plan an overseas trip, for the CCA to perform and uh sight see on the way lah, in the initial stages we were in a quite a small disagreement with some stakeholders


over how to allocate some resources we have, and we had to take a compromise for the long term benefit of the CCA (ppc) but either way the trip was delayed and subsequently cancelled due to COVID, despite the plan and uh it was just about ready to be carried out we have confirmed the participants and drafted and finalize the paperwork so it's a it forms a my exco have


during our time there ya, it's okay


ya so that trip being cancelled was one of the things that did not turn out the thing I expectations cause we had the high expectations expectations of it, yup yes


#ming kai# you said you watch movies right, I mean you've been to cinema and all that so maybe you can describe the saddest scene you witnessed , like a movie scene yes anything that comes to mind yes oh oh (mmhmm) ya spoiler alert (mmhmm) more understanding of the


like you understand like his, the thing is basic oh


for me for me you know the twenty fourteen, movie interstellar, there was a there was a scene where the main character views video messages left by his children, and, I don't want to spoil the movie but uh it resonated with me somehow uh ya the one where the children keep going up


yes so that was quite sad yup, yes quite positive, I mean like uh it's not


it's not a sad ending ya, bittersweet


oh man skip skip, yup let's skip the question


one thing I wish to change, , again I was I mean when I was young I was racing my sister running down the hill ah, then she tripped and fell then strike the chin


ya but luckily the scar faded but uh it's not something I want to do so I would like to change it, yup work as in right okay ah ya it's more guided and more manageable also greatest fear probably broken bone


or some serious injury, cause ya like ya , what's you your FOMO like the thing is never the same again ya either way it it just gets to me


ya what about yours


so lonely and not alone [ah] okay


part two positive experiences, hi again hi #ming kai#


ha my best birthday present, , I can't pick out the best birthday present because each of them hold a different meaning to me at different stages of my life but there's one that stood out the most to me was


on the actual day of my twenty first birthday I actually spent it outfield outside mainland singapore as a section training in my unit army in NS, and, that evening I was supposed to demonstrate on setting up a visual enemy warning system that is supposed to flare up with a bright flash of light so when I was doing that


they my my section surprised me by singing a happy birthday song for me then it took me by surprise because I didn't mention to anyone that day that it was my birthday, cause and we're spending it outfield then there's nothing much to do so that was quite a big surprise and quite touching


ya yes, what about you your best birthday present, outfield yes


!wah! oh, sounds familiar I was there yes, it was well planned yes right !aww!


it's a huge emotional, yes , worthy of a surprise, uh what my biggest blessing for me I would say having a loving family and


being healthy cause these are very easy things to overlook when you are living a so called easy life when you don't have to worry about such things, so as, ya as cliche as it sounds, they provide me my family provide me with a bit of support and something to


look forward to after a long day or something, so that's a quite a blessing and easy easily disguised, (mmhmm) ya cause security oh (hmm) indeed k


let's say you have a, a bad day, so what kind of comfort food do you always rely on to, cheer you up ya


oh all kinds of potatoes,


for me, , it's quite filling ah also, my comfort foods is uh sushi


the seaweed jelly one and the Inari, the one like the yes, seaweed jelly the green one, I'll show you next time right


yes what what kind of flavor, so which one is the comfort food , which, ah okay


what do you love most about yourself


oh yes, yes, the first time we met everyone was just asking about it


uh probably my long arms cause whenever I need to reach overhead cabinets or doing indoor indoor laundry just see the hop a bit moment


I can get things done yup convenience ah


my perfect day , my perfect day well, it starts before the day when I go to sleep without having to worry about what time that you wake up so yes so when I wake up at anytime I want then that's a good start


so that's basically like first half of the summer break, I, try not to set any alarm to you know rewind after a long semester then after that after I wake up at uh it should be free to do anything I want to go I I want to do like maybe go out


cycle or spend the whole day reading books or watching movies, yup perfect day, (mmhmm)


oh okay so I just makes your day,


so speaking about good things describe a moment when things turn out better than you expected


for me yes, it was in my first few first week of NS I had a high fever for three consecutive days the confinement period then when I went to the medical officer there they first suspected


dengue fever then ya at that moment it felt really really bad because I was like alone in an island full of strangers as still adjusting to the military routine so all I could think of was like what will happen


when the doctors suspected dengue ah like what will happen when I do I did I do get dengue but in the end it was a lung infection after I went after I got transferred to a mainland hospital, I mean by itself is not a good thing but somehow in my mind it was more manageable so that's


that that's how it something turn out a bit better than I expected, yup


, oh !wow! !wow! ah oh that's good


free extension and cheaper flight , definitely turn out better, travel experience


when I was in primary school my family and I went to genting highlands and, like it was my first time going up high altitude and meet the the experience of my ears popping and, you know those packets of snacks they will just expand to the verge of exploding once you go high up it's quite amusing and funny ah so and I mean since I was young is quite memorable


yup so it's your !wah!


oh new experience


oh I know as in without the family all that just with friends, cool (hmm)


well if it's inside joke then I guess will remain it as inside joke , yes, or you can share any of yours ah any inside jokes, that


oh so much first one is to go out to have a good meal, as in is, uh still being vigilant and not too, lax for now so I don't dare to go out socialize during I mean at this for phase two


so when when I don't get out maybe I can go for korean barbecue with my friends , that's something we yes what about you


enclose uh, yes better


so describe the happiest moment in your life, is it the birthday surprise , the birthday surprise


or anything that comes to your mind, oh


sweet (ppc), for me is probably passing my driving test, cause I've been dreaming of it since very young, that so the moment they showed us pass me the paper yes I passed okay very very happy


some parts like reading the traffic lights yes like trying to time it turns cause ya a lot of hand eye coordination and focus uh is manual yup but some other parts


yes, oh ya the one you want like exit to a bigger road, ya


so it's different when it comes to instructors then like it's not the usual thing you observe, weird complements


there's a weird one cause you know in NS my superior called me stanley, which is not my name at all cause ya he gave me a english name because he has trouble remembering chinese names then according to him he call me stanley because I stand very tall and that's that's how you remembers then my friends and I were like uh


okay it's quite odd, then what what're the odd stuff have you gotten, ah ah


maybe disorienting, that's good, oh speaking of looking young what do you used to hate as a kid but now love as an adult can be food or things to do vegetables


okay, prompt one out of four, okay so first question is uh share your experience in any of the following investment products shares bonds unit trust uh exchange traded funds


and real estate investment trust ya


okay uh okay I guess I also share my experience uh, I think looking at all of these uh investment products I think personally I've done uh at least two of them lah, actually no more than two lah I think three or four of them ya uh shares bonds unit trust and ETFs lah so I think based on my experience actually they're all fairly simple to carry out like compared to


uh the other financial products like options futures uh commodities and forex ya so I think my experience with these four uh especially during this COVID crisis I think is is quite, quite optimistic because when the market crash and everything


it's an I see it I view it as an opportunity to go into the market and buying all of these these four investment products haves have yielded pretty good gains lah ya so I think they are fairly simple for for let's say a normal retail investor to use, and you don't really need much experience or even much you know a technical knowledge to even go into all of these products


ya okay so next question uh do you have a brokerage or trading account and if so can you share the details of the account and your experiences with the account


okay then for myself I do have a account uh saxo lah, ya, so I think is quite quite uh quite normal, where is quite a common account that many people use ya so my experience with the account nothing much ah I just you know trade


a few stuff here and there ya usually now in the the market the main thing that I'm trading is tesla ya but other than that I don't exactly, uh really use this brokerage account much, ya, okay so maybe the next question do you use a robo-adviser to invest and if so can you share the details and your experience with the robo-adviser


okay then for me my roboadviser that I use mainly is, stashaway and uh I also got look at other forms of robo-advisors like syfe, uh kristal AI and on different kinds lah ya but the main one that I'm using now is currently is uh


stashaway ya so the feature of the product uh quite simple is it basically you you you, you fill up some questions right on your your personal you know finance history and everything and you chose the risk appetite uh that that you are comfortable with and they will help you auto invest in a sense ya so you can see the distribution of


all the all the all the investments that they will be going into for example if they want to invest in US they will they might invest in the small capital US uh companies like chinatech know maybe some commodities here and there, depending on your risk appetite ya so it's quite a simple uh tool lah so my experience with the robo-adviser uh basically I just trying it out you know because I I just dump like two thousand into stashaway


just to see whether it works and and how how good it is lah, and going my money, ya so I think my experience so far has been quite pleasant lah because, uh I I did it during the COVID period and, you know markets are recovering so obviously my experience with the robo-advisory same thing is is quite positive also lah ya and I think it's a fairly simple tool to use also


yup okay maybe the next question is uh, what are your thoughts on the singapore saving bonds


okay for myself uh, singapore saving bonds I, I just view as you know something better than putting in a bank but I think now is on a decline I mean look at the if you look at the, the percentage yield that is is giving is about


one percent uh which is not very high, uh there's many other things other than singapore savings bonds that people can go into and I think is is a very very safe to , more for the more for people who focused a lot on wealth protection


instead of wealth accumulation, so when you are young right most of the time people focus more on wealth accumulation because we have the time, horizon and we also have the risk appetite so you can take higher risk and you know in a long time frame this high risk is is very balance out and uh ya so for youngsters I I feel that the singapore savings bond might not be the best to


ya especially with with things like, you know you have robo-advisory where which is an investment tool, uh you know you have you have things that are easily available such like like for example your unit trust your ETF even yield itself you know shares bonds they're all very fairly simple to get into and and to understand so


I I feel like singapore saving bond not be super super good for youngsters but it is a very safe tool so, maybe more for the the older generation, and singapore savings bonds a good thing is that you buy it right you can hold it for ten years before it matures


so in this ten years basically you don't have to worry about where do you have to park your money anytime you want there's liquidity so anytime you want to sell off the bond right and and receive your, your your so called lump sum then you put in back is doable lah, ya so I think it's a very safe tool but


currently is on a decline lah ya with all the different kind of uh instruments that are available for let's say a retail investor or let's say someone who who intends to grow their money, ya, so that's my thoughts on the singapore savings bond


that that is a very good point that you brought up, ya, okay so maybe we move on okay uh, what is your investment strategy how do you plan your investment portfolio and how long is your investment horizon


maybe we start with the first one the first part lah what is your investment strategy


okay so my personal strategy uh quite simple lah there's there's three things that I always employ so the first thing that I like to do is diversification, uh I think this this this considers this this constitutes a strategy lah so diversification uh very simple terms is just don't put all your eggs in one basket lah


so what that means is basically, you you you if you let's say you are trading right you are buying let's say uh stocks and shares right you don't just buy stocks from one individual company you buy stocks from multiple companies


ya so diversification you know, take cares of things like for example what if a company goes bankrupt, what if you know uh the company doesn't perform alright so if you have, uh uh I mean a huge sum of companies right the chances that majority performs is is higher lah than the the number that won't perform


so that's diversification so a second thing that I always employ right is is this I mean it kind of answers the last uh question right which is how long is your investment horizon uh the second strategy is a very long time frame, why because with a long time frame right I mean if you go and study the markets


even though there's there's a lot of fluctuations but in the long run the markets almost always recover right with the exception of japan, with a very long long time frame we're talking ten twenty years kind so in order to reduce risk, personally as much as I can


right other than diversification I I'll make sure that, okay that's a I can hold this money for a very long time fame so when I invest I don't invest with money that you know personally I would need or you know uh money that I feel that in the short short run or even in the medium long run I I might need


uh I invest with money that I'm okay to park with, ya so in that sense I can I'm able to hold my investments for a very long uh time horizon, and I feel that it's very beneficial in terms of uh lowering risk as much as I can


ya and for my last uh so called, investment strategy, uh it has to do with this thing called dollar cost averaging, which is instead of I just buy a single lump sum of let's say I want to buy, uh let's say we talk about unit trust instead of you know uh throwing in a single lump sum


dollar cost averaging basically means at periodic intervals I I throw in like a bit right so instead of throwing in one thousand at one shot like I'm throw in hundred dollars every month for example, ya so what's important, uh with this strategy it means that you are not trying to time the market you just trying to


trade in the market at different interval so, this takes out the risk of what if I buy in at the wrong time right and what if, you know uh I I keep thinking you know when is the best time to go in when is the best time to go in instead of thinking that, sorry I think more about you know time in the market so every interval I go in like so even if it's the if the price is high I buy less if the price is low I buy more and if you do dollar cost averaging usually the average out


now you're buying, I mean the units at, usually a cheaper price with the same amount of sum the same sum, so that takes out the whole idea of when should I time the market instead you know you're you're you you focus more about timing in the market so you add all these three together I think uh for myself that's my strategy to so called lower risk and also to get the best kind of returns lah


ya if let's say I'm not so focused about you know trading and during the short term uh investments I'm more about a long I'm more for the long term uh investment horizon to look cause I'm I'm not that big of a risk taker, yup, okay so the second part of this uh maybe how do you


plan your investment portfolio, ya


okay, ya so myself how do I plan my investment portfolio uh basically the idea of diversification right so not, for me it's not just like within companies not just within uh so called the industry right but I look also look towards planning in terms of region right in terms of


your industry in terms of uh your country ya because all of these can affect your so called your investments like if I just do let's say one industry uh recently right the the oil industry like #hin leong# went bankrupt right so one industry is not


uh ideal for diversification right uh we talk about one region okay one region can also uh face difficulties so for example you know let's say, uh ya america right then after that there's political unrest right maybe they go to war right maybe uh the the just the country doesn't it's not performing right if let's say I invest in different uh companies within that country right I also face difficulties and uh I'll also see losses lah right so


ah other than country right you also talk about region so regions itself can also impact, uh your so called investments because let's if we talk about uh regions maybe we talk about brexit right brexit the entire european region got affected by uh in terms of the investment in terms of the economy and everything so for my investment portfolio I focus mainly about


uh going to different sectors right going different industries different countries different regions to make sure that I have, you know basically is a very global kind of investment uh portfolio lah ya and my my my investment portfolio mainly is more about passive investing instead of uh active investing


and because I believe that next time when I have a job when I have a family and everything I'll be very hard to sustain a active investment portfolio and that's why I looked towards you know settling my, so called passive investment portfolio first and then whatever extra after I set up you know my core investment portfolio which is the passive uh then maybe I'll look towards doing some form of active investments lah


ya, okay ya so the the last part how long is your investment time horizon


prompt three out of four, okay uh maybe we start with


what is your greatest fear


okay I think for myself my greatest fear is actually uh, something like socialise is the fear of rejection, ya so uh I first realised this fear when I was in, JC I think


ya so, why because okay back then okay uh, why why I realised I got this fear of rejection was back in JC I mean secondary school we will is like you know you start making friends and you start you know growing and maturing as a so called young adult young teenager right


so in back in secondary school everything was fine lah because you know you started out with having your friends and your colleagues and everything uh you know and and you are in school and everything everything was fine, then you go JC and you had to mix around with people of different walks of life right people who are brought up differently uh based on you know their secondary school experiences and everything


so there was this so called, difficulty right in so called uh, mixing around lah with others because uh I came from, more of a neighbourhood school and I went to VJ which people usually, come from a more uh Atas place lah not Atas lah but like more uh


brought up differently lah like from people who are in the neighbourhoods also the things that they do the things that they say and so called their their habits and nuances right everything, is very different lah from someone who is brought up from a neighbourhood school so at that time right uh I was very different from everyone and


it was kind of like alien lah right so it was very hard back then to mix around with everyone uh you know, young teenagers and everything so back then uh, it was very hard to so called, ask people out you know I mean not ask people out to do what lah but


you know just to go and eat right friends to make friends and everything it was difficult so I think that was when I developed my fear of rejection which is like when I ask people you know you wanna go hang out you know at don't know what don't know what like for example go play land or something, then they say


what is playing land ah right uh you know it's something that we don't do oh uh you know, and it's just a whole culture shock and everything lah so I think back then it was when I develop this fear of so called rejection you know uh fear of rejection in terms of my person alright in terms of who I am and everything


alright so I think that is uh so called my greatest fear lah, ya, okay maybe next uh, okay, maybe , describe a time when you hurt someone's feelings


okay I think for me uh, I think one time or is quite recent also lah uh I think it was with my brother right so, uh there was one day when we went out for like family dinner in some and and everything right


and I think he asked me for, help regarding some form of studies, ya cause he's still studying and everything, so he asked me uh, if I have a time to so called tutor him, and and I tell him that uh


I I cannot lah because I'm working and everything and I don't really have time for him, now lah right so ya I think then I mean it was just uh like, a few weeks ago right so, I think he felt quite, I think I hurt his feelings lah because he he expected me as a older brother to so called uh helped him whenever he he needs help right and


me rejecting him out like like that, I think he felt quite bad about it lah ya but after that I think it goes fine lah because, you know uh, it was not said out of like spite or whatever but it was because back then I was quite busy so, I just afterwards you know like or a bit later then when I had time I went to find him to help him lah so everything was good lah but


ya I think back then like it was I think is is just the way you say things right so for me I think cause I'm so I just like outright say uh no I cannot, instead I should have just you know explained oh actually you know I'm quite busy now but you know maybe you give me about a week or something alright when I can help you I think


uh that would make it a lot better lah, ya but I think that was one time when I hurt someone's feelings


ya I think uh just to add on a little more also about that ya I think uh what you say what you said it's very true lah right so, I think with every negative experience right is very important to take something out of that negative experience so I mean uh in the previous discussion we talked about stress right and a bit of anxiety and how we deal with it like how you cope with this kind of stress right