being brought to task number two I think you know I I read, call a a advertisement that I saw on YouTube a couple of uh weeks ago , uh where Circles Life just now Iskandar mentioned on a competitor where Circles Life actually spoke about what happens to the balance leftover data that users don't use for this month so in circles life I've learned that you know if you don't use uh you're given twelve gig gigabyte and you use you use only six you get to bring forward the six gigabyte to the next month because at the end of the day the understanding is you've paid for that twelve gigabyte but you know things like this makes me wonder eh actually Singtel has been you know kind of using our balance leftover gigabyte for for nothing you know it's almost unethical uh uh for for the pay as we because I've paid for twelve I use two for example on the month that I'm always at home and then that ten is being subsumed into almost nothingness for the user so I know it's some sort of a you know uh cost-saving measures for them but I think again if when we talk about ethics maybe it might be a good motivation for us to move into more ethical providers thank you


part two positive experience, okay so we are going to uh share about how we find uh happiness when we go through the Singapore Airlines experience to SQ experience so this is quite a big topic and both of us are travellers and we before COVID started of course we travelled quite a bit uh right cross the world


uh sometimes we travel via Singapore Airlines sometimes we don't and during the times that we don't we find uh some sort of a void or some sort of a uh you know things that we miss in the SQ experience and I also work in the aviation industries I get to see the behind the scenes of how the SQ experience is being made


so I think and the SQ experience uh you know the brand is one thing I mean when you travel SQ you know you are travelling premium, even when you buy the cheapest ticket right so you know that you're going in you're starting your travel you're starting a trip in a positive note so as a traveller when when the moment I enter singapore at uh singapore airport


the first thing I know at uh the first thing I can see is the singapore airline counters are very different from the rest I mean the workers in the counters they're dressed in the a Singapore Airlines uh you know jacket and we already get a sense of okay somebody is travelling with us we are travelling with a brand


that it assures our uh assures us so when you go into the transit you realise that okay uh you know Singapore Airlines is uh usually they usually give the nearer base to the to the uh immigration and things like that but once you get into the the uh cock uh the the


aircraft uh the cabins sorry the cabin you realise that okay , number one the interior design is very much different from some other uh airline so it's comfort for sure and most importantly the service rendered by the airline crews uh stewards and stewardesses are very much different from the rest of the airlines I think many of the airlines to be fair to them are are you know very


a good it good also but in singapore it's a different level they speak very good english and also they speak with very very good uh you know politeness and kindness and I think you can feel uh you know the SQ uh service even from your seat so what do you think


okay so I think the most recent SQ experience I had in twenty nineteen last year was the my trip to india #new delhi#, and I think we we all understand that uh when you when you fly singapore to #new delhi# you are flying on an a three eighty means it's a big airline uh big aircraft and there's a lot of passengers to attend to and I realise that number one Singapore Airlines has done extensive research to kind of


customise the experience to the route so for example in a in a singapore to india route you will find a Masala tea being served you know and you won't you won't find that in any other route uh route for example so I I learned that Singapore Airlines Masala tea is really really nice and uh I I find that


uh it they even have uh of course they have indian food uh uh served by you know indian kitchen and things like that but the they're going the extra mile for like Masala tea and ginger tea because they understand the the the demo demographic , is you know uh


comes into uh the demographic uh is is for just people of these taste buds you know uh that's one and number two I think when I travel with my parents I would surely bring them through uh to to with Singapore Airlines, because uh you know we've tried many other uh airlines and we find that you know uh Singapore Airlines might be able to be the one that gives them the most sense of security before during and after the flight so for example when you travel Singapore Airlines you are given an access for free wheelchair service if you are above fifty fifty years old


so that means when if my if my parent for example in a in a big airport like singapore Changi airport for example you uh you can't expect somebody sixty or seventy years old to walk across the terminals , so Singapore Airlines actually give access to uh wheelchair uh wheelchair accessibility so or buggy buggy accessibility means you can request during a fight that my parents need buggy or assistance mobility assistance and


you can have a free of mind that when you arrive somebody will be at the gate uh fetching you to the immigration and through , to your uh transport that will bring you to your hotel so it's really from end-to-end from door-to-door experience that they allow us, not at at the price of you know of course it's a premium price but if for it to be an all inclusive premium price I think it is a good uh price to pay


number number two I think this is also very important for long flights for example to london your entertainment within the seat within the uh aircraft is very important so the list of uh eh uh movies that are , uh in the inflight entertainment system at least of music sounds that we can uh you know be listen to when we go uh to sleep at uh in the air is also very important uh I think because the for the fact that we are singaporeans Singapore Airlines have everything covered if malay movies chinese movies


indian movies international movies hollywood movies and so on and so forth, even music I've I've listened to some of the music I think it's it it is representative of the southeast asian experience yup , uh I think okay I work in a a ground handling agent and also the airline food industry we serve food for Singapore Airlines


and I think people don't realise how much details we put in our uh food preparation and serving so for example even in in the utensil pack although uh you know I think Singapore Airlines if there's one thing that they can improve is maybe sustainability you know how they uh wrap each and every utensils in plastic wrap uh to ensure hygiene


even the wraps is also labelled with their uh iconic bird logo so I think these are the kind of detail that uh Singapore Airlines can, offer to to travellers and it makes us really happy when we see that of course I think the food is freely uh premium also compared to the rest of the airlines yup


okay uh I think for SQ right the fact that they have, been through years of listening to the uh customers , uh for example they have the voice of customer uh scheme where you can you know say anything and they will try to uh fulfil that after after your ride for example if you say that uh during your your ride you didn't have a good uh and uh the food wasn't tasty I thought of examples when they would deliver the food to your place


to to you know kind of compensate and things like that so the voice of customer kind of, uh you know it's kind of reflected during this COVID period when they wanted to , have a flight to norway and then after that and uh at SG climate rally and you know green enthusiast told them not to again they listened to to these people and decided to change to to things like the dining experience the behind the scenes tours of the airport and also to see you know the aircraft interior so I think this uh you know uh


very necessary uh movements because they can't fly and they also want to ensure that organisation and sustain it is not just about uh making money but it's also about saving jobs the out of them of the fraternity of Singapore Airlines so, it is our it is our brand it is our pride so the falling of Singapore Airlines would mean the falling of a a part of singapore and the in very integral part of singapore so I think it is necessary number one and also I think it is good that at this time the fact that many of us can't travel and already experiencing like some sort of


cabin fever it's it's get you know going behind the scenes to understand , uh you know what it takes to clean an aircraft you know we don't get to see this on a daily basis so if let's say they open tours to see how an aircraft for example a turnover aircraft is cleaned within twenty minutes of arrival means the the aircraft lands and then twenty minutes this group of janitors will you know sort of


clean entire aircraft quickly for the next batch of uh travellers to fly it is not only fascinating but it's also you know sort of life changing for the next time you travel after COVID ends, so I think it's timely that we discuss about this and I think it is very healthy that the singapore government is helping the Singapore Airlines float uh it is a very tough time for everyone in the industry uh including myself who works there but


it is a I think we will make it through you know by by the singapore's uh commitment to help a brand like SIA I think we'll make it through and I think when we build we will build better, uh after COVID so I I I also think one way we can catch up after COVID is really to


maybe start focusing on uh ASEAN routes and asian routes because I think singapore airline map is very very international we have the direct non non-stop flight to alaska for example direct non-stop flights to USA and things like that and it becomes a very international brand but I think slowly when they catch up after COVID they should start


uh small across you know southeast asia because I think at at a a bit to be to be to be a strategic , a lot of the budget airlines are also going through trouble so if they can bring down their price to a budget airline uh uh level I think they might be able to start you know small steps before they move on to to engage the european market and so on yup


part one finance


okay for me as well the personal invest, into financial planning or financial management has never been a topic of concern initially during my growing up years so now I'm currently thirty one years old and it took me quite long into life itself


to kind of see the the importance of it, so what actually raise the the the the pressing need for it for me was actually having kind of an abrupt medical condition so previously even when it comes to coverage I was not getting any kind of health


insurance or lifelong insurance or any kind of investment insurance schemes, for me it has always been very sporadic travel insurance so having travelled quite extensively for the last five years or so


I've only had kind of isolated travel insurance schemes which does not even cover kind of extensive coverage, so needless to say I think what what like I said what changed the perception towards the need for coverage is uh the medical concern so I think growing up especially with some kind of


back pain or Sakit uh what you call this slipped disc issues then I realised a lot of the coverage when it comes to hospitalisation or even checkups, and the uncertainty of it makes me or prompted me to actually apply for coverage so this started the uh early this year in fact


before I'm turning thirty one I I began to consult around for you know what what could be possible schemes in terms of policy coverage and I stumbled upon AIA, so I've been with them for a few months now and this was a coverage which is prettier the first one being the the accident coverage


the second being the idea of hospitalisation and the third one as critical illnesses which also covers investment so since then I think the last four months is when I began to open up to learn more to kind of uh built knowledge and capacity in terms of financial planning


and then I realise perhaps I can also begin , sharing about the idea of how wide and how long term it actually is because initially I thought it's quite short term you know like in in case anything happens in the next few months or in the coming two years


but I realise a lot of financial planning takes place firstly in time based so it's quite long term there's a lot of assessment of what you need not just now but also in the future uh when you know perhaps employment is not a thing anymore so it comes into the retirement concept


and also I think uh for me, just to add on the point before I pass it over it's also in the idea of not just individual insurance coverage on not just individual financial management but also in terms of family unit so for me like uh for us siblings and parents who are still living within the same house


it allows us to kind of assess a situation as a holistic unit rather than just the individual uh perspective yup so that's from me, (ppc), (ppc)


(ppc) (ppc) (ppc)


okay I think since also we are talking about this idea of conservative investment and being quite not averse to so much risk I think one way to look at it is also not just the quantifying factor but also the very qualitative nature of planning itself


so for me I'm always very concerned about the idea of constant reflexivity uh meaning like always checking or re-adjusting re-assessing as well as re-aligning all these factors, because as we as we talk about things like investment or you know motivations towards financial matters we also have to think about certain criteria such as


livelihood like personal livelihood , the personal life also the livelihood of those around us or those who matter, uh which is basically the family unit or or support system we also have to look at the country's situations or the economic factor uh surrounding certain situations or circumstances and also something like speculative factor


so all these are very very for me important so it's not just about having the right amount of policy or just the agent to guide us but also that constant need of faith towards trying to keep on re-brandishing our knowledge into these factors


I think some of the key component of personal finance , includes very dynamic factors such as like I said the the need to assess, because things may change abruptly right now right now itself is quite a telling situation with COVID nineteen right a lot of people did not plan for this I mean it's something which we can't plan for but there's always that risk involved so how do you go about after this is important as well


how do you take things take matters into your hand is important secondly also the goal setting criteria what kind of goals are you setting for yourself what kind of prospect do you see in terms of career wise, what kind of lifestyle are you leading I think that's important as well matching your goals not just having something beyond reach


and then we have things like plan creation so then you have to take plans to start upon it so just now if we mentioned idea of investing in property we also have to think about what happens after the investment then on you know like this whole cycle of uh putting in the money and the ah the the asset itself


where does it go after this what kind of depreciation happens what kind of appreciation happens, they also can talk about the execution of it so not just having a plan but also executing and, constantly building upon that is important and lastly monitoring and re-assessment so like I said it is something which is very dynamic


it's not just one time , but it also it involves a very fluid monitoring and in in our end and also I think why is it important for initially I'd like I said I was not so concerned or my keenness on this is not that dominant but now I think it


there is an a critical need for personal finance because I think, some or the idea of the education for it is quite lacking in terms of the public sphere you know people uh especially a youth growing up we we're we are not so aware on this maybe insurance also for some people it is something which is a very


mysterious or people will think that oh is it even aligned with my faith or even with the lifestyle I'm living but I think it's always good to be informed and be educated in this, also in terms of employability like I said in terms of COVID situation


it's always changing no matter if I mean if whatever job you have now it's not something which is definite so I think, having that kind of backing is always very important, and also perhaps the the idea of life expectancy and also medical expenses so all this infrastructure has to be looked into because if those policies when it comes from the governmental


top-down approach changes then we also have as you know members of the society have to kind of re-adjust to meet these demands of of the general public so I think from me all in all is the idea of, trying to constantly position ourself within the bigger economic spectrum yup


I think to sum it up as well I think it's important when we dive into something quite economical uh very very rigid in terms of the the tools and instruments it is always good to remain human , and to have that very cultural and very fluid look into economic sense which something the society might lack sometimes when we look into you know like money sense and capital so my advice is always to always always have that kind of cultural


support and backing and understanding of how your lifestyle and your culture and also your family and your support all aligned together as one because at the end of the day it's also about how we live our life and I believe that delayed gratification is something we should


kind of allow us to feel or uh uh to urge us to have, but rather I think to take things slow and to really understand all these possibilities in one hand and then to act upon it with kind of refined understanding execution planning as well as the proper guidance from our agents as well as advices from those around us thank you


part three negative experience, alright so I think I'll start first for this round I think in terms of negative experience just to put a disclaimer as well it is not just a purely


, it's not just a purely condemnation from our part, uh in terms of that uh in terms of a certain service or industry or firm but rather after much deliberation we feel like, uh we want to talk about uh uncertain displeasure when it comes to our relationship with a service provider which is Singtel under their home wifi system as you can attest to I think there is a lot of even technical difficulties leading up to this chat


to this meeting and conference in a sense that there is that grievances that we have towards, the connectivity and the unresolved over the years the continual dissatisfaction not just their surface but I think is that that much uh for us is a very necessitating in a very necessary thing


for us to have that kind of wifi support , I think I'm coming from a point where especially now I think let me just give the context that especially now with COVID a lot of, restructuring or or the way we handle or the way we conduct our our our profession is through


this idea of being home based right so the reliance for wifi system or or the connectivity to the internet has to serve a certain function that, eh it allows us to conduct our businesses our jobs properly at from home so I think there's this very form of exaggerated


concern over the last five months perhaps since circuit breaker happens because maybe perhaps before this we don't quite notice it because we don't use or consume this wifi product, quite dominantly uh because uh most of the time we'll be at work use tapping on to different uh wifi systems but I think over the last few months during the circuit breaker especially especially for myself when I'm conducting


lessons through zoom meetings or through you know web conferences with a whole bunch of students in front I think I especially need that kind of environment that supports that system that supports this kind of a lesson


uh to be conducted remotely however I think Singtel so far has not lived up to that expectation that I have , set for myself so in terms of that I think perhaps it is also not something one-off and it's also a very not an isolated case so there's six of us in the family and also from different corners of the room all of us have add our grievances into very weak wifi signals


and of course uh we have kind of readjusted that I think uh I'm taking leap in in trying to add this first is because uh as someone who is very closely connected, to the wifi systems and the technological aspect of the home I think we have tried to even reconfigured meaning reapplied for a different router services for example ya


so we use the new airties uh systems given by Singtel as a proposed seemingly better connection system however having's having used that we also realise there is not much change, in terms of the speed and reliability of it


so even now having just in a five room flat, which is not that physically expansive right and in terms of the wide and the uh the space we expect you know not much disruption into having the signals flow into our space however I think personally I just want to set the premise of this discussion is that we have not


gotten rightful stability in terms of wifi connection from Singtel, yeah that definitely I don't have that something you experience as well in terms of your profession and settings yeah


I do agree on that also because I keep going back to the idea of the circuit breaker and the idea of uh being home , for for a lot of us who are affected especially during the start is because a lot of time , it is not just about their connectivity in terms of you know economic reasons or profession but it also about the a very personal ways of how we cope with the crisis at hand and I think a lot of us tend to kind of turn


to the idea of entertainment right like for example I think there's a rise in Netflix subscription I am sure of it with a lot of people going turning into kind of distractions also we saw how the world is being


I I would I don't want to say run but also how the world is our with its ailing and its illnesses so with that in mind I think Singtel should have it actually , prep up or actually meet kind of exceeds that initial inertia for internet because now more than ever we are relying on this this


reliance on the internet for for using movies , for using even carousell you know like things which are usually not that common for a lot of us folks at home so I think, uh what Idafi said is important is because then it shows an neglect of certain fragments of their uh of their consumers sorry


so in that sense they should have kind of also uh how do I say really utilise or reoptimise the way they handle their customer service, I think one thing that Idafi uh forgot to say is perhaps also the the very awkward situation especially when we try to uh connect or engage with their aftercare services


and then you got someone who presumably is not a local, trying to understand the ways of a local I think uh not in terms of prejudice or discrimination but they have a someone who is not from singapore handling that call uh say from india from bangladesh


from even malaysia then there is a cultural dissimilarity that they cannot empathise with you know they'll be asking questions which to us is quite, oh that's quite a obvious answer kind of a no brainer a response so why is that being asked back to us I think this kind of communication gaps as well uh create or further accentuate the


anxiety that we have as customers can you imagine like oh here I am trying to rectify the issues of our modem or wifi and then over there the the customer sales agent keep on asking , weird odd questions you know trying to ask how many family how many lines do you have with us how many uh what time I'll when can we call you back or or what kind of uh did you log in from the west of singapore like things which does not make sense if they actually employ people who are more


familiar with our cultural context so that's one thing I think also Idafi, just mentioned on it's not just the wifi maybe now that we are conversing about it a lot of things are being unearthed , into Singtel's uh way of handling things I remember as a traveller last time you know I always uh relied a lot on the on the internet as well and Singtel used to offer these plans as for for data roaming


called I think dataroam or something like that and they started off with ASEAN countries first and then the packages kind of increased for international boundaries so you pay say five dollars for malaysia and then you have like one month of use or


after you exhaust one gigabyte so my grievances with this is there's a lot of loopholes in the services that allow for customers to kind of , uh have to cover for cost which is usually not under their purview because due to the negligence or or the very


I wouldn't say dishonest but I think the way it's conducted is very easily manipulated so for example when I have the one gigabyte plan and then of course when you are in malaysia or something overseas , you have to repurchase the plan right using the this the kind of the internet but if you exhaust it meaning you have to kind of quickly turn on your data roaming and then repurchase it


so even that few minutes or second of reconnection because you want to repurchase their plan just uh created a spike in the cost and little things like that and also the idea of sometimes the reflection because they have this app that kind of you know


apps that kind of uh what do you what they call it uh monitor how many how much data you've used, and then when you check on your phones perhaps they put like nine hundred MB so you in your head you are anticipating like hundred MB more so you like okay I'll just do a little bit of WhatsApp here and there and then apparently when the bill comes they kind of extended it to the next package because you have exhausted one gigabyte


so this kind of thing makes it quite hard for rectification because you are so exhausted by that experience because you know that oh if I want to try to make clear all of these problems or issues then you realise that oh no I've to go through this


like idafi said just getting through the line is such a havoc or headache so I think that's one thing to go through I think uh such inconveniences call for you know should we jump ship, like what idafi mentioned in the first part is also there's lots of alternative


uh maybe not as credible yet but there are options so I think it's also our our own understanding of are we ready to kind of dissolve our relationship with Singtel and try to go for alternatives which may be quite worthy or more value for money


I think now especially you know with the data procurement you see all these youth, needing more than six gigabytes perhaps you know all all their gaming experiences entertainment experiences require so much more because it's they are always constantly on the move


and not just at home so I think hopefully Singtel at the risk of not losing more customers because I think with them they are such a a so much on their plate that they are always trying to offer this and that and that but I think that what we mentioned the neglect


for your core customers uh will kind of have a turn-off effect and ripple their way to kind of a bad impression of poor service satisfaction and I think now more than ever also you should be very aware of competitions coming up


uh by uh other other providers so this is not the time to be very complacent this is not the time to, kind of dismiss or marginalise certain segments of your customers and try to recontextualise again when I said COVID I think this is not just going to happen within short term but also when we have our new normal how do we then usher in


new services or or support or have that support system or support infrastructure, to kind of allow for new pockets of uh possibilities and opportunities of, business sectors home-based businesses entertainment sectors education for myself I think that's important how do you support that influx of people migrating out you know from physical spaces to virtual spaces and also how do we then


allow them to sustain because at the end of day also sustainability is important , so how do we then sustain that excitement sustain, that kind of rapport we have we have with our customers and also the brand imaging so it's interesting that we started of SIA and then Singtel


also over time is not officially you know like uh uh uh any kind of affiliation but at the same time Singtel has grown to become you know the pinnacle brand when it comes to telco providers so I think how do they sustain that is very important as well right idafi


(ppc)


part two positive experience


ya I think my agree with idafi in the sense that as an average traveller as well that is one thing but also as an artist, being someone from the visual art scene and being an art educator as well I feel like there's two things which I'm very very excited about to evaluate when I when I go through something the first being that experiential factor the second being the very aesthetic


factor so I'm going to start with the experience I think what idafi says is correct because SQ has a very homely feel obviously because we are all part of the singapore ecosystem but the airport provides such a good gateway , the case and for someone who just enters or you know even for the first time trying to depart from the country that's a very sad that's very coherent or south and experience of


of travel, which you don't quite get you know (ppc) sorry I think for someone who have seen quite or witnessed a lot of the airport setting around the world especially say in turkey in in middle eastern countries in eastern european countries you you get a very uh almost dramatic


sadness when we at the departure hall but I think for Singapore Airlines because of the way changi airport is being built I think there's something to do with the way they designed the space , it is a very cheerful environment it almost it invites you to kind of experience the the idea of travel in a very sophisticated as well as a very holistic way


so even the moment when you step into Changi airport regardless of which terminal you are in even for budget airlines in terminal four you get a sense of wonder I think the amusement factor is very very important for someone who is flying and especially when you have flight anxiety like myself


so uh I think the the the way it is designed is very friendly for all walks of life it is very diverse like what idafi says the service does not discriminate certain groups of people does not discriminate certain class or social uh conditions it kind of invites you to a very promising neutral


happy land so I think that's one thing and then back to the point of aesthetic I think Singapore Airlines have over the years I think through , heavy experience as well as research , they have found the niche to create something very palatable so in terms of the colour scheme you know the the carpet design the nature I think there's all this propping of nature integrated into the terminals it all provide a very


therapeutic sense of experience I think that is very important and it don't just stop there so like what idafi mentioned this experience is being snowballed into you know entering the cabin and then from the very subtle lighting that when the that lift the flip provides


the very subtle dress colour code as well of the Singapore Airlines batik , so all these are very calm and it it it it it it allows for people to not have any kind of you know uh visual dissonance for example which are all all very important in a flight experience and lastly I think it all comes back to the idea of


expectation as well so as someone from singapore and then you are living up to such international recognition you always try to kind of set certain preconceived notions about this airline and so far I think why we are very positive about Singapore Airlines is I think it has personally met


our expectations throughout our experience so far so I'll what about like specific route or you know like a destinations that kind of or maybe you have highlights on idafi, (ppc), (ppc)


very diverse yeah


I think I agree also I feel like it's not just about saying that the other carriers uh less uh able or less competent I think we are also quite very positive with other carriers such as the Emirates themself and also you know like uh Qatar


and these are also why I bring this up is because I think the idea that SQ has become such an exemplar , for a lot of other airlines as well as airports to kind of template after to kind of model after I think that has become quite a a kind of very singaporean thing I think when we said the idea of you know likes it's very


singapore in itself is because it has become very so iconic that a lot of other parts of the world other sectors, uh not just in the airline or aviation industry but rather in the service industry in the retail industry has made singapore such a


a a figure of pedestal I think that's that pride also kind maybe kind of I wouldn't say bias but it kind of dictates and influences how we we we recognise our own airline and are very uh I think I'm all about like the human factor the idea of being being grounded


by by the very aesthetic pleasure and all these so like like what you said uh the idea of security the stability the promise that they have, is something which I can attest to because personally after flying I think more than fifty flights over the last five year uh five years there was once where I personally experienced a quite a frightful incident like a a air air pocket turbulence kind of thing


and it it made me traumatised for at least a year of non-flying so I was heading to malaysia with via train via buses and it kind of created a halt, into my travels where I've never experienced this I mean there there was never it has never crossed my mind but I think


going back you know to to resurface the the to reignite the spirit of travel I I knew that no matter what I need to go via Singapore Airlines because like you said the the kind of promise that it has delivered all this while with very low rates of accidents per se


uh made me kind of entrust my new big admire you know new beginnings with them so I think the stability at the end of the day the the the security that that that this is something which does not add to the burden of flying to the anxiety of flying the anxiety of dislocation


the anxiety of separation with your family because even with the crew even with the pilot with the captain with the amount of food like you mentioned it all comes back to the notion of home, and I think uh for us especially you know for idafi and myself, there's also that that idea of distance and uh kindred affiliation to the airport because we stay just five minutes drive away maybe seven minutes


to put it from the airport and the sense of visual and nearness of it is very important to us since young you know seen the, uh planes just even by uh this window just out I just saw of a plane flew by and to know that oh a a wonderful ride awaits whoever is inside I think that kind of affinity we have


or with uh with the airport itself with the singapore brand has has been instilled within us since young and I think that's why I think oh we we are we are responding quite encouraging upon this and, going back to to just so like I


said at the very familiar grounds I also would like to extend the idea of the airport being a home , for not just travellers but also non-travellers I think singapore has such a culture where it's so different from other country I've never been to a country where the airport houses students or you know like random shoppers or families or kids using the port as a as a hub


for communal reasons and I think this is very healthy because we don't have that separation you know there's certain airports of course due to security where you can't even send someone inside the transit areas or or even the public halls you know


but Singapore Airlines always have these walls down and it's that assimilation uh with different cosmopolitan sectors with au terrains which I think is very very world-class you know we can see even the the integration of


jewel airport jewel Changi airport being this fascinating sight and sound and experience for all walks of life, being something which again points out to singapore's brand having, having that foot ahead of the others in terms of the experience of not only flyers or not only travellers but also even the local people themselves I think to have that


is something which should increase so maybe I just want to ask idafi also this question in terms of COVID you know like there's all these recent news surrounding SIA plan to strategise their models business models because of course now it


kind of disrupted the whole aviation industry so do you think they're going with the right direction with what they're trying to do or with the tours with the kind of restaurants built within the planes or do you think the flying off flight to norway serves a good purpose or it is environmentally discouraging


(ppc)


right idafi I think also lastly the point of adaptability is very important for such businesses but also at the end of the day I just want to sum it up with the idea for fraternity I think SIA has also allowed, all the staff within their system and structure across the board meaning from the service crew to the cabin crew to the support staffs


everyone has a role reassigned I think that's a beauty and a blessing in disguise during this trying time for example I think SIA was the first few to render support help to kind of convert, the job of the cabin crews some of them of my friends who are being attached in hospitals to kind of support the healthcare workers I think these are valuable things which have to constantly be reminded to the to the people of singapore that like you said


the SIA brand is something so synonymous and also something so in our blood, that we cannot just let them go to waste and at the same time also diminish, the quality and the image of it the reputation of it all, so I think at the end of day why we like it as again the idea of home the idea of identity and the idea of uh fraternity in terms of community and then SIA has


time and again over the years over the many many years personally and as a community delivered success through all these very very remarkable points so thank you so much,


part one finance


uh not really but like a lot of people, like during this time especially since COVID happen a lot of people have been recommending me to take up investments and all, and, I have been also attending like investment workshops sense, yeah I've always wondered why this environment right now is like a very good


place I mean maybe when I want to start investing lah so what are your thoughts on that


like the shares are much more affordable now right


but that is in the future so if we let's say if I invest in a company right now and then like, maybe in the future next year or maybe in two three years and then they suddenly get out of this pandemic and then the economically viable so it'll be a good, err opportunity for me to sell and get more money and more returns from investment lah


how many comes investments since there's a lot of entities involved right now only like shares and stocks and everything so when it comes to investment I think trading is where the real gambling is, so, uh I guess like trading is a bit risky if you ask me but in general if you want to invest in shares like let's say for example I myself ways thinking about Apple maybe you should people get some Apple stocks right now maybe is it a good time and then some companies inevitably right like maybe Apple or I don't know Tesla


err they are growing, constantly especially during this time, where people are using their devices from their products and also so I think like missing in shares and stocks still are still not too bad but if you wish to trade them then I guess err that's a bit risky


ah so you really didn't know how to get the, , market and everything before you start trading and stuff so I guess shares are fine but as far as I know I think trading is a bit risky, and like you mentioned I think is gambling


I mean a bad when it comes to investing all trading or or any kind of investment you know reads accident idiots or whatever uh you really need to study and understand the market before you can dollars it's slack is not just a game like gambling you know and based on lah


this is like a there's something more so ya, I I agree on you what have to say


ya we don't really have a lot of cash see that's the thing right now during this period right like a lot of companies all his big corporate and they are the ones who are facing a lot of issue that's what's coming out the newspaper and stuff and that's what we are saying every day but then, students right like us university students will need to work part time it's very difficult for us to get jobs and everything and like get try to make money


uh while studying the same time so like we don't really have a lot of cash right now, and, so I've always thought about that also, do we really in this period, have, err have to like invest and if so what our options and how do we plan


so ya attended like one investment talk from dollars and cents and stuff they have a lot of for ideas on their website, on how to start and they also recommended studying uh all the banks in singapore, OCBC DBS they have their investment plans to start off with I don't know if you have head of any


I forgot what they were but ya


so you cannot withdraw for like uh one year or something lah


and some of these plants also have like a high interest rates and stuff right so when you leave your money there for three months six months and you accumulates money so that's also a form of investment that I guess students can do that's like a savings account right


ya ya


right it's very safe environment right


yeah but you know that's the thing so like for students like us right so we can start off, uh through these banks with their jumpstart accounts and all that that accumulates interest over one year and then from there uh these banks themselves allow us to invest in shares


uh I think, the SGX they have like a list of all those uh companies that which, like you can buy you know buy shares from and all that and they have the platform, for you to get started so I guess people can even though I don't know I don't know about how much commission do these banks get whether it's better to go through the bank or it's better to use the app or you go to a private brokerage or what but I guess these banks are a good place to start off because your money is safe


and safety is very important and all that so uh for students I guess they can start off with that and I think the best thing they can do is right now is learn about all this and then, after that they can just branch out and then see where else they want to invest their money in, at least for students because you know they are


I've thought about it and yeah I think uh I'm looking into I've already like yourself I, I have the jumpstart account so, ah that's like committing some money and then on top of that me and my friends are looking into buying shares especially flagged for example Apple Apple shares ah I think a good investment


because a guy who invested in Apple in probably about nineteen eighties or what is probably a millionaire right now the company is constantly growing, and right now if you could buy a share and then you probably going to just keep it I'm not the person who wants to trade and like uh gamble you know I just want to buy the shares maybe one or two of them keep it and then


uh leave it there for about ten twenty years and all that I will stop about crypto currencies because crypto currency used to be a thing in twenty seventeen twenty eighteen and it was a huge thing, ah but I'm not sure about how the environment is right now I don't know if you know anything about crypto currencies


uh bitcoin and all that


it used to be a thing last time I think two three years ago but now everyone insist that crypto currencies is very volatile ah there's a lot more high level of understanding required if you want to invest in crypto currencies, better to just start off with stocks bonds shares and stuff like that and then maybe right is not the best time for crypto to invest in crypto currencies for anyone not just students


but I think like you for students you know it isn't a good idea maybe you should just to start off, err with banks and work their way from there lah


uh no, as far as I know, no, the investment there they've done is in the form of real estate, so like for my family and my parents relatives and all they do their investment by buying real estate from outside other housing overseas and all that so I guess that's the only form investment that I know that they are doing and of course they're doing some investment in banks and all that like


the fixed deposits I'm sure everyone is doing that as well but as far as I know I think real estate investment is the one that our parents are doing I mean right now we can't do that, uh because you know, we are still students so I guess real estate investment is still good you know renting out an apartments renting out a condo or something like that so that's a good long term investment as well and for our parents the CPF investment is something they do very actively as well if I'm not wrong I don't know uh your parents are also doing CPF investment and all right


it very flexible but then I guess it's a bit risky also don't you think


like about CPF investment schemes and, parents investing in like everyone people investing in CPF money ah, ya I guess some people are a bit too flexible at it you like you said you can use CPF money to pay off your loans and for student loans this and that and CPF in the first place is err for you to


for your to plan a retirement plan and for medisave and stuff like this right so on one hand there's this on another hand you have the flexibility to use that wherever you want, but whether you want to invest it or not I guess when you start investing you should first consider investing your own money first before you think about CPF money


uh CPF money is there as a backup for other reasons don't you think


yeah yeah


just CPF, yeah yeah


part three negative experience


(hmm)


it's it's like supposed to be taught right I assume but then it turned out like it wasn't even, uh right


right, so you feel like it wasn't worth your money ya


(uh huh)


like like for like the basically the food wasn't good and their service wasn't good and was just an overall bad experience yeah I've actually


had this kind of experience before myself as well so I was eating out err with a friend at #ya kun# Kaya so and then we had like their lunch menu and then, I also had a bit of bread and all that so when you had had get the lunch right so they have Laksa and stuff like that and right now uh in this COVID period ah you cannot go and get uh stuff from


err like you know when you go and dine they have this ya common places for condiments right ya salt and pepper whatever spoon and yeah and all that right now you can't do that now you have to go to the counter and ask and during lunch time everyone is coming to go and order food so yes I agree the people there the cashiers the chefs everyone is busy


but then they should be able to serve you well as well the same time right they cannot just like snap at you and all that so this what happened so we had like this lunch menu so we ordered Laksa and all that and then, that was we needed salt and pepper because for some reason they don't really add in salt and pepper to it I don't know why so


I went to go and ask can I have some salt can I have some pepper first of all they I don't think the person I ask knew english very well so I think she give me soy sauce instead of salt, then I was just like okay you know what I'm not gonna ask you again I've asked you enough times and I I don't want to keep going from a table to you ask for salt and pepper they don't even give it in like a small piece of plastic or whatever they don't have


like any means of giving salt and pepper and I don't know how people can eat without it and they don't add in their food and when I go and ask it they just snap back at me in chinese and all that I'm just like okay , or I don't know they they were just a bit mean, I didn't understand the language they were speaking they didn't understand what I was telling and uh that


shouldn't be the case you know there should be at least and the manager I know I don't know what he was doing he wasn't really helpful as well ah so it was so overall bad experience I try to get salt and pepper simple things for my food and then I cannot get them and then in the end my meal is ruined and


you know and when your meal is ruined you just be like oh man let just go somewhere else and eat, I mean have you had this kind of wishes before I'm sure because in during this period right when you can't get this condiments and simple stuff you need to go to the counter to ask for a lot of stuff these days, and these kind of issues tend to the rise more especially during this time


so I guess a bit annoying but I feel like those people at the counter should know how to deal with this kind of situations a lot better they should expect people to come and ask them for salt and pepper and they should be able to you know, cater to it at the very least ya


right right


like you know ya, like I understand like they're overloaded I'm sure like thousands of others have the same issue as you where like the are expecting a refund because of the cancel flights because thousands of flights have canceled right so these airline companies I guess they're really overloaded but at the very least


they should have at least sent like a broadcast email of how they're handling the situation give their customers, constant like err updates, on what's going to happen and just to keep them within a loop you know just ghost them you know and then people are just left wondering oh what happen to my money I paid so much


what's going to happen you not returning my calls you're not returning my emails so I guess that shouldn't be the case so I yeah like I said understand it's a difficult situation but I feel like they could have done and they should have done like, a better job, when it comes to this I myself have had like very negative experiences when it comes to customer service and this is not because of this COVID and all this just exists and is in my school


so before every semester starts right we need to pay our school fees and so for me uh for the past few semesters I've been paying my school fees with my PSA account so here's a thing there's multiple bodies in the school that govern finance there isn't just this one body and here's the thing I cannot


call the person in charge because they know that a lot of students have financial issues when it comes to being the school fees and many do ways a lot of people have loans this and that so there's lot of issues there's a lot of, uh entities over here so what they've done is they said you can only send a email and then we respond to you within three days sometimes that doesn't even happen so for me the experience was this uh I think last sem or the previous semester I was trying to pay my school fees than I wanted to use my PSA account so I went down to the finance office then I ask them


then they told me one procedure which is quite long just to fill up, uh PACA standing order form or something like that and then submit it and all that so this is what the person at the office said, and then ah about one week later and all they said oh it's not process you did something wrong uh we're not going to refund you the money so basically how it goes is I need to apply for PACA and then I need to put in a deposit and then they'll refund me back the cash this is what the person at the office told me so that's what I did


I filled in application then I put in a deposit which they will which I expected a refund lah, so but then uh I think two or three weeks later I email them and they said oh okay we're holding onto your refund we're not going to refund you, so I this was another person this or another officer for financial affairs and all that so I don't know why there's two there's two different officers and people saying different things and all shouldn't it just be one body one person telling what you need to do


they don't have a guideline on the school website as well for all this so I email them and then I said the person in your office is the one who stated that I have to do this yours sure you're telling me a different procedure now what am I supposed to do because I need this refund


and they come at me saying that okay no no no you cannot listen to them this this this and it was just a hassle because the thing is students when we come to school we need to worry about our school stuff, projects assignments co curricular activities other stuff right and we we are not supposed to worry about stuff like fees and all that that should be the least of our concerns when it comes to university and all


and these thing should be settled way before the semester even starts these things happen like in the six weeks like by mid semester this is the period where it happens and I should be studying for my school all that and then I'm at the same time handling this, and here's the thing they don't respond well to emails uh I mentioned that you know they only have a email where I can message them right


I message them they said they'll get back to me within three days I want to replied now or tomorrow sometimes they don't even get back to me in three days because they have uh they have too many messages, so they get back to me and next week and so this process long applications take awhile so I need to know what I need to do now and I need to know how to manage my finances so I want to running out of time and you know I I running out of time so like I feel like the school should know that okay the students


have their own separate financial issues they need to settle it before they focus on their let's help them out, and let's reply them soon let's reply them fast let's have just one body governing it and not just multiple officers and different people saying different things and everything just goes haywire


and I don't want to have to go to the office and talk to them physically ask them what happened to my money where is it what am I supposed to do students should not worry about this at all I feel and I feel like this issued doesn't really only like it happens a lot I don't know if you've had similar kind of issues regarding finance and school fees in your school and all that


right right it's the same issue


right


exactly


part, part two positive experience, okay so you are, I know that you


the like you like to buy a lot of skincare products you know so like is there any like particular skincare product, that you really love and that has really helped you a lot like over the years or does it keep changing how does it work


like cause your skin also all of us skin like ages right as we grow so like maybe like, the skin requires something else there some new problem that comes to our skin we get oily skin one year next year it get becomes clear than some other problem come so like I feel like this skin products every year you need to like


a cater to whatever is happening to your face and to maintain a nice face so I yeah like I guess like it keeps changing every year and you need to experiment with a lot, products and obviously there's a lot of products out there and I don't how how do you like start how do you start experimenting you buy everything at once or you go online check the reviews I assume you probably check the reviews for the products online first right before you narrow down to two or three


well for me


I haven't followed when it comes to skincare I don't really tend to buy products I do more of like natural stuff so like lately I've been doing like yogurt mask so like all this natural ingredients I buy from the store and then I make my own masks


and then uh so I feel like that works for me because I feel like all of us different bodies different skin uh, from different requirements and so I haven't really tried any product yet I'm sure those products will be good but for me I think I'm gonna stick to like


homemade remedies for my skin or anything for my body for my health and all that, and I feel that's working out well so far but yeah if I had the chance I'll probably try because I have oily skin so I'm probably try out something from


outside product because they're tons of product out there that help it that and all that so yeah I might try although but apart from skincare there is another thing that I've been that I want to share but it's about like, clothing and sports and shoes and all that so when it comes to shoes you you buy a lot of shoes also right


like, whether be it sneakers sneakers or, boot like, uh running shoes and all that right, but I'm sure you own like a pair of running shoes and like a pair of sneakers and like everyone has a pair of sneakers and all that right


so I feel like these shoes are really built to last I can share one experience that I have I bought a stan smith sneaker from Adidas like about four years ago and they like they still they they got a bit dirty and all that for sure but then like it's still there's no tears or


like there's nothing wrong with the lining it still looks nice is still looks like it just came out from the box like among one year ago or something so I feel like Adidas and some of these companies especially these sports companies Adidas and Nike they do a really good job at their shoes, and I've noticed that with my football boots as well and I spend a lot of money for all these products by the way for for the boots and sneakers you know that they all cost about one hundred and twenty hundred and forty and all that and uh after it season them because all this shoes have this phase where you have to season the shoes


then get them used the your walking style your running style and all that and after that it just feels so good on your legs and and they just don't wear out at all like what's your experience with shoes I feel like these things like worth the money and I really love them and they're like really serve me well for many many years and


yeah right yeah Nike air max ya all the flyknit right those are also running shoes or are they sneaker, yeah but yeah I've heard of the air max before right


yes there are actually this cleaning is actually a big part about having shoes a lot of people when they buy their shoes they know that when they wear it out once and then it's going to get dirty and then you need to clean it and there's so many different types of shoes out there, like canvas foam and each of them if you get some dirt on there's like different way of cleaning and all that hence a form of maintaining it and all that


but I guess it's worth it and you just need to know what type of shoe you have what you need how it how you have to clean it how often do you clean your shoe and all that,


right that's the thing about plastic shoes uh a lot of these , plastic shoes from Nike or Adidas and all it's very very easy to clean and there's a huge part about buying a shoe I feel like uh like you see let's say you buy a another material like suede or something and then if you get some dirt on it


you have to use a rubber and you have to you so many tools to go and rub it off and all that it's a lot of work so I feel like uh those canvas material is really really good for shoe it's super easy to clean and then the shoe becomes as good as new and then you just love wearing them again


yeah and especially these particular brands right like uh Adidas Nike when you go outside


you see people wearing sneakers and shoes is mostly from Adidas and Nike or Converse or Vans and all that and all these shoes look the same and they all last really long, and that's the thing about shoes shoes usually last longer than clothes you know you buy clothes of course people love clothes you live like to wear clothes on every day and all that but they don't last as long as shoes and all like what's what are your thoughts on like cloth clothing and everything clothing


other I feel like people every few months they want new clothes they want to wear something you just wear some clothes one like some clothing ones and then you're like okay no I'm done, you just wear like a shirt once and then okay I'm done, but is that how it should be or what do you think


yeah


yes yes, yes I agree


but I actually I actually have like a different opinion on that because I feel like these brands such as Cotton On H&M which you find in more shopping malls and all right they as all other clothing stores go they have a lot more products catered to women than men


men usually have a smaller section and all and when it comes to Cotton On based on my experience it wasn't really that positive, like the few T-shirts that I bought from Cotton On they always have the sales and stuff right two for this price three for this price so buy a T-shirt and I can only wear it twice because the moment I wash it again even though I hand wash it or I gently wash it


the the collar starts wrinkle up and the shirts starts to like you know lose its fabric, err if I'm putting it correctly so like it it just it just doesn't look the same anymore when I wear it the third time and loses the quality, ya


so that's the thing so like for Cotton On err for me is like this so while it was H&M is the same as you I feel H&M their products are they have a very good line up for men as well and their products are they they last very long, and the quality is really really good via direct comfortable


when I shop for clothes I usually my number one priority is like they have to be comfortable, and so the H&M clothing is usually very comfortable they fit me fitting is very important so I like I like that a lot about H&M so I always go to H&M again and again same as you but on top of all this ah when you want the full package quality comfortability uh how it looks like


and and all that I think I tend to lean more towards the err luxury brands so I don't go there often but I go there to just buy one piece of clothing and then then I use it for long period of time, so as an example would be Zara Zara or Top Man on Bershka and I feel like these clothing like those piece of clothing in the stores are of the highest quality and no matter how many times I wash them


uh they look, just as new so at the the quality is really good I love it it's super comfortable and the best part is all these clothing they they look nice, you see when I wear something from Cotton On and H&M right and then I go out one day and some other guy is wearing it over there also so it's like super common like you go Uniqlo and buy like a basic tee and then you see some other guy wearing it most people won't want their right they want one then want to wear something that only like they feel like oh okay


uh it's quite unique only I am the one wearing this and I feel like these high end stores offer that and I love that about that and they change their catalog much more frequently than Cotton On and H&M, so like err every two three months they change their catalogue and for you you have new clothes new jeans new jackets to buy from a jacket especially so for me I'm like


I love jackets I love all types of jackets bomber jackets whatever it maybe so I get this jackets from Bershka and Zara I feel like ah they're very comfortable I mean given singapore's weather still I I I really liked that jackets because they look they look different they look unique


you don't really see those designs anywhere else and they look really fashionable that's the word so I'm sure you have also shop in this kind of outlets right for like the more fashionable products over there, compared to like the normal basic stuff that you can find from shopping malls and all


right right right same same, , oh no yeah I I agree I guess I guess luxury brands like Gucci and all Zara ya I agree it's not really considered a luxury but like it's like yup


I I agree what you were saying ya but the quality is really really good over there but on top of all this I feel like online shopping is the way to go for clothing shoes and accessories and they fit you well, and they look good the quality is really good and like you said you care about environment environmental stuff and all that so I guess like do they satisfy that like a source and zalora and do they have all these


but are the products generally better in every sense compared to the ones that you buy from H&M and Cotton On


part one finance, okay so


do you have any experience with investing


wait so the COVID nineteen period ah after this entire pandemic has started a lot of companies have really taken a hit so a lot of companies are more focused on just business continuity so it's a very good time to


uh get into the market because you can buy a lot of their shares at a much lower, price and , uh not just that they're affordable you know there is a potential chance for them appreciating much more


so if the companies managed to recover well enough in a short period of time the same shares could be worth a lot more money


actually some people have been, forming this idea that, investing or trading is a type of gambling or they they they like to compare it to, gambling at least, and then after this COVID nineteen period has started in particular uh a lot more people have been getting into


the investing, seen you know they've been trying to uh not just stocks , but also bonds reads err real estate and what they are trying to do is they are trying to make this uh quick fix for money


so do you really think that


yes but that's still ah, but that's still a far cry from gambling, right gambling is really just taking risks, you know but, when you invest you know even if you are trading be it you are trading currencies or you know you're doing arbitrage it's not gambling it's you are making a calculated


decision, of course there's risk in any type of investment I agree, but just because there's risk doesn't mean, it's gambling, I feel like there's a lot of work that goes into, investment there's a lot of work that goes into the decisions that you make before you decide to trade or invest in something so to compare it to just say that it's similar to gambling I feel like it's actually not true at all


you know and that's why I feel like it's a bit worrying that during this pandemic period people are, trying to turn to investments and trading and stock stock markets to kind of supplement their income because they think that, it is


similar to gambling in that you know they can just go online look for popular companies like apple or some tesla or something and then they can just you know make a quick buck but that's really not how it works it's not like TOTO or four D where you just enter in random numbers and stuff


like that that's more towards the line of gambling right it's purely based on chance, but, even based on trading if you are trading company stock, , there are fixed decisions that you need to make you need to study charts you need to study actual data before you get involved in


anything, I at least that's my opinion because if


so do you actually , think that you should start investing now because right now we are students right and


from my own experience I, have, a few particular accounts that I feel are very very suited to this so for me personally I think unit trust is a good place to start so you don't need to have


a large amount of capital as as you know as opposed to be reborn or shares and stuff like that, that with unit trust you are, buying in units right so you are essentially dividing up the risk amongst more people


and we don't need as much capital to start with, another thing that I've also looked into is uh fixed deposits so fixed deposits I actually looked into it when , I had an account with DBS so that was just a basic that


bit account, and the fixed deposits they give you, uh you know a period of time where you basically park you money with the bank and you unable to, withdraw that money and stuff like that so it's fixed with the bank


then you can choose, yeah you can choose the time period so it can be six months it can be three months err it can be one year three years five years so they you you choose a time period that is comfortable for you and you can choose the amount that is comfortable for you right it's not the entire


uh no that's similar to a fixed deposit that's that's actually what I'm talking about right because the fixed deposit if you


you leave your money in the bank for a longer period of time so for example five years instead of six months so obviously the five year plan or the five year fixed deposit gives you a highest a higher interest rate because you know the bank can capitalize on your funds for that five years right and you are you are not allowed to kind of withdraw your money


so you can kind of do your own calculation see how much is a comfortable amount for yourself then just leave some of it in the bank fixed deposit and stuff like that I think that is also a good place to start, you know actually for for like students like us and it's something that you know I've done for myself and I'm feel I feel quite comfortable with it because local banks like you know DBS POSB they're quite


huge strongholds in singapore, and, you know that , it's not likely that your money is going to, ya it is a it's a relatively safe lah, parliament so other than just you know going out of your way to invest


things that you can also consider is just picking a good savings account, right so for me personally I, have one savings account with , standard chartered and it's called the jumpstart


savings account yeah, so that account is actually really good cause it's giving younger peoples or young adult students uh higher interest just to get started, so it's a good account to kind of have your savings park there higher interest rate and then on the platform itself they offer you opportunities to


invest right, so after maybe two or three years you have a decent amount of, capital to start with and you can start small in my opinion and, least you know it doesn't always have to be shares and bonds and you know trading on the stock


do you think you going to start investing any time soon


so for crypto currency like the, most popular one that everyone talks about is of course bitcoin right so that's where the hype started but actually crypto has, gone quite a long way since uh bitcoins so of course the hype started with bitcoin but now there are actually crypto currencies being developed in different countries so actually within the asean region


thailand is a very prominent prospect for a new crypto currency as well as china but we don't know how open the china's err crypto currency market is going to be, but we see a lot of new crypto currencies on the rise you know we see a lot of reports on these and


I think the thing about crypto currencies is that it is, quite unpredictable in the sense that you know bitcoin nobody knew that it was going to be a huge hit and then eventually it was right but now with so many people


who are very hooked onto crypto currencies if a new crypto currency were to come out the demand will definitely outweigh the supply right, so the cost of crypto currencies is going to be very very high for any investor I, think


you know regardless of where the crypto currencies are originating from, crypto currencies in general are really a huge commodity, you know it's it's really like trading your oil and your gold it is really a new age commodity and its rightfully so because people are able to generate a lot of income from this


right so, I would say crypto currencies maybe not the best place for students like us to start off with but if you're like a more seasoned investor if you are really really comfortable with the market you know how to read the environment


then it might be a really good idea right of course a capital must also be there, for you to for you to have, like a, a comfortable buffer of of of affording crypto currencies it's it's a completely different ball game


invest in any of the


what do you mean by CPF investment meaning they use their CPF money to invest in, a particular aspect like real, estate, ah honestly CPF investment is a little bit,


tricky to navigate I think that, uh a lot of people are very comfortable with using their CPF accounts you know you can even use your CPF accounts to pay for your children's education housing even


yeah it's definitely a little bit risky in the sense that, , we know that eventually the CPF money has to be paid back so it's about finding out whether our investment, is really worth that


that amount of money that you are going to spend, right I mean, what do you think


ya it is definitely uh dare for other reasons but the the idea about CPF, err, investing your CPF money right so there is a particular scheme under it so its called the CPF investment scheme right so actually you only have the option to invest part of your savings so


you can invest okay you know that the CPF is split into two different types of accounts right one is the ordinary account one is your special so both have different functions and you can kind of err use money from your ordinary or your special it you have the option


and you, basically are trying to enhance or improve your nest egg uh amount right, but the thing is, even the government has made it very clear, if you are not confident that you can make a very very comfortable investment and


if you're not confident that you can you know outdo the market then you should leave your CPF money, where it is because, just leaving the money where it is you are already earning


money and interest on whatever money is there right it's not that uh the money isn't growing the money is already growing right so you should own I feel like you should only uh take up the CPF investment scheme and you should only do it if you can


earn a higher interest than the risk free interest rate, that's the only, condition for me because if you are able to earn a higher interest than the risk free interest rate then I think it's worth it you know if you are season if you are able to get back that money


but even, if if let's say somebody makes a mistake you know they they get a little bit too excited with their investments and stuff like that I guess they they can err you know always, you know top up the money that is in their CPF accounts they pay the amounts back but of course it's going to take some time


but, initially they they wouldn't have , you know spend all of their money I think you are only able to, invest about thirty percent of your of your money from your CPF account it's part of the CPF investment scheme so they a they have certain rules so if I'm not wrong you are only allowed to invest about thirty percent to begin with


you are only for investment, purposes you're only supposed to use about this amount of (uh) of your money to invest in the first place yeah


part three negative experience, okay yes so I wanted to tell you about this really bad experience I had so I went to this restaurant and it's called #dian xiao er# and I've eaten at chinese restaurants before and I love ordering the peking duck right so when we went to #dian xiao er# we ordered


the duck dish as well but, okay so on top of the peking duck dish we also ordered other sides, so we had noodles and then we had , vegetables and stuff like that but it was such a bad experience because


first of all most of the food was cold, it was it was really not even, warm it was it was actually cold and, it was not a cold dish right so it's supposed to be warm stir fried dishes and stuff like, that and


and I just felt like a lot of the dishes tasted the same, like there was no variety in the flavour even though we ordered like very different dishes it felt like the seasoning was, the same, but we are paying you know, a lot of money to try different dishes and the duck wasn't well cooked at all it was really really fatty and because it was a bit cold right when you eat something fatty that's a bit cold it's


really really unappetizing, yes it suppose ya ya it's supposed to be it's a hot and then you know they give you like this pancake and then you add fillings in then you put the duck in any you can wrap it up and


so we were looking forward to that, but , it wasn't really, warm it was it was more towards like a cold lukewarm, temperature, so end up is a very flaky meat, and when you eat it in that kind of a condition it doesn't taste good at all


so I was just really really unhappy because it is a very pricey place to eat at in general it is more ah it's a little bit more pricey than usual , food places and I, yes I don't mind paying for food as long as the experience is good but overall the food wasn't good and the


people who took our orders and stuff they were a bit cold, towards us because we kept, asking them a lot of question, and you know we were kind of giving them feedback that oh we feel like the food isn't hot but they said that they you know they they didn't even bother to apologize or to offer us you know that they will heat it up for us or anything so that was a bit disappointing


like it's like overall you know the food isn't good it wasn't worth the money and then the customer service is also you know bad, so like I had a terrible time I actually I went with , uh three of my friends so four of us really had a terrible time it was really a waste of money for us


did you eat anywhere like that


I think customer service is becoming a huge huge issue during this uh COVID period because , you know err because of the pandemic of course uh, we, couldn't travel right I actually had traveled plans to uh go to europe for three months over the summer all for our summer break right


and I had already pre booked all my flight tickets and, everything, last year so I booked it last year december err and november to december period so I didn't really know anything about the pandemic during that time it seemed really really distant


and it didn't seem very serious and in december that was pretty much no talk about the pandemic at all it kind of only started in february so I already paid for all my tickets and everything and it's a lot of money to europe right I I think I paid about a thousand dollars just for the


air tickets and after the, pandemic really peaked and you know it was finalized that I had to cancel my trip I of course tried to go and cancel my flight, but, the thing is everyone was cancelling their fight flights at this period right and I totally under


stand, so I booked my air tickets on, the Emirates, and Emirates did a really really bad job of getting back to us I think they they were overwhelmed for sure but all of us were overwhelmed you see and


really the only thing that we wanted was just at least a reply to our email you know they were taking us, they were taking about two weeks just to reply an email or any queries their customer you know hotlines were, fully engaged if you wanted to talk to a customer service staff you have to wait for at least three hours on the line and even then sometimes you can't because I spend a lot of time waiting on the line I I tried sending them emails but they don't have a office for you to go down to so these are kind of your only mean


off you know communicating with them, I think I spent hours and hours, on several days trying to get them to you know just , reply to my email because for you to even uh, uh get a refund before that you have to check whether you are eligible for a refund so they will check when is the date that you purchase than you know what are the tickets that you're holding and stuff like that so since I purchased it last year


uh I'm actually eligible to a refund, so it took me weeks just to get a a response that I will be able to get a refund, and then, uh I still had to fill out, forms I still had to, you know send them for appeal and stuff like that so that process actually took about three months I started this entire process of getting a refund in may


and, and I only eventually got the refund back, back this month, and it is october, right now, right so it it it definitely took them a really really long time and


you know there were a lot of hidden charges for the refund so they didn't refund us the full cost that we paid for so they told us that there's going to be a fifty dollars charge if you want to refund, and we agreed to that so that was the only cost that they told us about but after they sent us the money we realized that it wasn't the full amount even after deducting the fifty dollars right


and then we called up, call them up again to ask them about everything again and then they told us that there were additional charges , that, that were not mentioned to us earlier, you see so the bad part of that experience is that they are springing it on us if they had told us earlier that okay these are the charges we have to charge these to you


obviously we are not going to you know put up a fight because everyone just wants a majority of their money back right out of a thousand dollars if I have to pay you know a hundred or two hundred dollars in extra charges then so be it at least I get majority of my, money back but the thing


think is the only mentioned the fifty dollars and, there were about eighty dollars in additional charges so uh, something about overseas money wiring charge and then a visa transaction fee charged that again were not mentioned to us right so it was a very difficult period because we then had to spend


even more time back to, back on customer service waiting online trying to get somebody to tell us why there's a discrepancy so I understand it's a very difficult period but the bad experience comes from the fact that they are not even willing


to give us, the information that we need, right, so it's I've I've been really noticing that customer service has been taking a hit in this period I think it's because the customer service staff also don't know how to properly


communicate with, customers when situations are very very bad, like in like this was a good example right like like you said just now err you know customers service staff were not talking to you properly and, again it's the same issue with Emirates but on a much larger scale


right, they are not handling their customers well they are not informing us earlier of the decisions that need to be, taken, right like if there is a charge then so be it yup


uh ya I actually had a similar issue but it wasn't uh, uh for me particularly it was , it was for me and my friend together, , both of us had the same issue, where


the school told us to make a payment for a particular course that we were signing up for and we already made the payment, and after that there was supposed to be a certain portion of the fees that is returned to us because we qualified for certain considerations from the school


and, and this amount was again, err taking really long to be returned to us and then when, we, try to ask for the money back and you know just asked about when can we expect the money again there was a lot of issues because whenever we called up the customer service staff the issue that we were facing is that each customer service staff was giving us different responses


so, it feels like within their customer service department itself they are not well informed on what the procedure is so everyone is giving us different answers and we are left confused and so


uh one of them were telling was telling us that uh oh we can't get the money back the money will be held, in our student account, and used as a offset, , fees for the next semester but the thing is you know all of us like you said already have certain financial arrangements for our fees signing up for courses like this are all additional discretionary uh


you know options so when there is a option for us to do this and we have spent additional money on it, it is difficult because what if I'm using a student loan for my fees then I will not be able to get them, money back either, so at the end of the day I'm still out like a few


hundred dollars that I can be using for my day to day expenses so again the issue and the negative experience comes from the fact that people are not informing us in the right manner, I feel like I I can understand and I can forego a situation if it's just hectic and it is just troublesome for example have to fill up a lot of forms I don't mind doing a lot of administrative work


but, it needs to be really really clear all the information should be given to us, properly and clearly, so that's where my my entire bad experience was, coming from, it was the fact that everyone is giving us so many different information and


the stakes are really high for us you know we are just students we are all you know struggling with our finances and it's not fair to us to, just tell us that oh you know we'll return you your money later or it's not fair for them to make the decision that oh we will offset it with your fees next month or next semester


so I was we were we were both really really unhappy and we know when we try to give a feedback to the staff again they were like no that is actually wrong what the other staff to you is wrong and what this stuff, told is also wrong so within the department itself they seem to be very divided


it feels like they have insufficient, uh information with them and, the thing is if they are not sure about something this is another thing that made the experience even worse for me, if they are not sure about something I don't mind if they just say that they don't know and they will check for me rather than to give me a best guess or that they're guessing about what is the best thing that they think should be done


and then, ends up that that ends up being the wrong option and then I have to do a whole new set of things, so it is better for them to just tell me I don't know but I can check and get back to you


part two positive experience


okay so for skincare right I am very very particular because you know I have a little bit of a sensitive skin and, when I was young I used to have, a quite uh troublesome skin because I used to have quite a lot of uh acne


so I think in, particular one of the skincare products that has really really worked for me is the, the aloe vera moisturiser that I used, and it's it's very light any it it's very very suitable for singapore's weather because singapore weather can be quite hot most of the time


right so a lot of the skincare items that people recommend, you know when you find things online, it may be suited for different countries weather's so it's actually a little bit tricky to find good products that, actually suit to skin for the singapore weather so I feel like one of the skincare products that has really helped me is my aloe vera moisturizer


and another thing has helped me is one of my serums from the brand La Roche Porsay it's a drugstore brand and it's quite affordable but it it has really really help to clear up my skin and I like it because uh like I said I have a little bit of


sensitive skin right and it is really really not aggravating on the skin at all so this brand is specifically for sensitive skin, right so they they make, their products fragrance free because usually fragrances and cosmetics tend to trigger the skin and tend to trigger uh reactions allergic reactions or rashes and


stuff like that, so this brand is completely fragrance free and they use very very simple uh ingredients, so and in in's drug store so it's very accessible which is one of the reasons I like it even more right so because if I have to keep ordering online then that's even more expensive because I have to pay for shipping and stuff like that yeah


so I think for uh skin care these are the two like constant products I have but other than that, like you said skincare is a little bit of a changing, uh scene you know every


ya I usually start with okay I usually start with finding out what is it that I want you know like identifying what is my issue is it that I have, you know a particularly dry skin that period or I feel like uh I'm having a lot of breakouts so once you have identified the issue then you go on to find a particular product to access you know that particular issue right


then you look for reviews then after that you see which uh of the products amongst your options are actually even good for that particular problem like I said there are additional factors you have to consider maybe shipping or maybe the weather, in your country and stuff like that , so these are all additional things that you know we just need to think about but


yeah, so is there anything else that you've tried lately that has been


err I think for me if there's one shoe that I really really like it will be, from Nike, and it is actually the Nike air uh range, I think it's a Nike air max


alright so act, I think they were just sneakers yeah, so actually the, thing that I like most about my Nike shoes is it was actually part of this environmentally friendly range


Nike air their entire air range is part of their environmentally friendly range so when I saw a lot of promotions for it and then I was feeling a bit skeptical but after I tried it out I realized that the soles are actually much much softer so these aren't running shoes they are just


uh like, sneakers and, so I was a bit skeptical because they said that they made this the shoe, and the sole with mostly recycled materials so they they actually collect recycled materials and then they you know send them into production and then change them to exactly what they want it's really really soft the soles are very comfortable and I feel like


you know you wear them out for a long day or anything it doesn't feel, stressful on your feet you know sometimes when you wear like a really bad pair of shoes your feet really aches at the end of the day but I think these soles were like really


the right, thickness level I would say I think that is my biggest issue will shoes which is why I don't shop for shoes as much as because I find the the soles a very big issue for, me, so I like I love the quality of the of the sole it was very soft but I also love the quality of the overall the canvas and they don't have too much of the plastic material on it is mostly canvas or is mostly the foam material which is easy to clean so that's another reason why I feel like the entire ranges is is is really


okay because my shoes are black I don't clean them very often I I trend tend to clean them only once every two months, so just a general washing and then, you can actually like google for tips on how you can clean it so if you have the plastic portions you can kind of use a


so the Nike air max that I that I bought I actually got them about, four years ago and I still have them, so I feel like it really, lasted a lot longer than I thought it was going to


uh it was it was one of the initial air uh, series shoes that they released and err it was very impressive I I I still didn't throw them away and stuff like that because with shoes , I find that sometimes two to three years is kind of the maximum people keep their shoes after awhile they they tend to move on to new shoes whether it's uh the style or whatever but I feel like the style was also very simple so it's not something that goes out of date or goes out of fashion so


that, mixed with the actual quality of the product and it's easy for me to clean and after I clean the shoes they don't you know like shrivel up or, uh get wrinkled or anything so would you have if I would say is really value for money it has lasted


a lot longer than I thought it was


err I mean, that's not how I am at least, I wouldn't wear a shirt once and then, throw it away and also I feel like with clothing right,


you have to look more at the particular brand like, whether or not their clothes in general are are comfortable for me one one brand that I actually uh go back and buy a lot from


is a H&M, and another brand that I usually buy from is Cotton On, so, I usually buy like basic items of clothing for example just you know T-shirts or tops that I can mix with other things


and the reason why I love their basic items their basic clothings a lot is because you know first of all it's not going to go out of style these are just basic outfits right second of all the materials are actually really really good you can use them for more than two years I have


clothing items that I bought over two years ago from these brands and you know even after multiple washes they're, they are in a decent material, you can still wear it out and it's very durable I would say for casual wear you know uh because these are not things that you know you go to work in every day or something so for casual where I feel like these are really really durable after you wash it doesn't


lose it's color that's a huge huge plus point for me for Cotton On, clothes their basic items you know the the colour doesn't run when you wash them and the material doesn't fade


after washing for many times so I think it's really more of the brand like you said people are always going to want more clothes you know they they find the need to buy new things and of course that's very exciting, and that's the way , you know things are but I think with clothing it's important to look


look at the brand, and have a more like, positive experience related to a brand itself rather than a product itself, because, they are always gonna have new clothes they're always gonna have new products right, but like for H&M


another thing that I like about H&M and the reason why I shop with them a lot again they have like an entire line of clothes that is also environmentally sustainable so they use recycled clothing recycled materials and, stuff like that right so, you can you can choose I have a choice given to me


by the brand like I can choose to shop at a normal section I can also choose to shop at, is environmentally friendly section right, and that's another thing I like about H&M and the environmentally friendly line their clothes, are still soft they are still durable everything is as


you would expect to be, you know the quality is really really there, and if is it doesn't let you down at all so I feel like, with clothes there are definitely more aspects to consider, do you have any uh brands


but what about more positive experiences that you have or do you have any positive experience with any brands


don't consider zara a luxury brand it's kind of like a middle ranged, brand, ah and yeah I do frequent, them sometimes, but I would say not my, not uh very common for me because I


I think for me I still, , try to be a little bit more cost effective, , so maybe sometimes but luxury brands for me are more like you know maybe gucci and stuff like that which I really don't shop at


ya I I do shop at ASOS quite often I ike ASOS's offering and I feel like their delivery is really really fast


you know when I order something within a week or two it arrives so that's, one of the reasons why I love shopping at ASOS in particular and it has


ah I would say the quality is equally good and the fit that they describe on the website it self is also very uh accurate, so I constantly have a lot of positive experiences with shopping with them because, you know it's convenient and and my sizing is always almost accurate


and the materials are really really nice and comfortable so I don't really have any (uh) negative experiences with them it's pretty good


one financial advice , I would say that I should start investing, now compared to when I'm working, because I feel like, once I'm working there's so many insurance plans that I will have to look at and if I have no knowledge like prior knowledge to those insurance plans


I would be signing up for those, redundant plans that will be wasting my times, saving so yes, that's one financial advice I'll give myself


save often like do you have the habit of saving


I would differ I would say I'm actually spending more, because since, in this COVID situation we're just stuck at home or school, I feel like it gives more liberty to explore other online shopping options


so I tend I have a tendency to splurge , , so for me I differs but, I do have a habit of saving I do save like if in a week I spend about hundred dollars I do save ten percent of it


so I try to save like petty cash here and there but, to meet my saving goals I feel like, as of now, it's a bit difficult but usually what I do is I save up those amounts of cash that I have left over for the week


so that's how I meet my saving goals, so for now currently


uh I spend more on uh, my essentials, so I feel like in this COVID situation I feel like food is much of a necessity and you need to restock it more often, so I spend much on that but


other than that I think it's more on uh, online shopping , what would do you give


like a word of advice to someone to reduce their income tax


is there another way to reduce your income tax in a way like, uh you earn lesser wages


so like the working class, middle class is it


so essentially like a income bracket, okay so not by social plus but, by the income bracket


to retire comfortably, , okay first of all I would say to invest, so that when you retire you have, money to support yourself since you don't have a, active for income at that point of time


and I would also say to save, so the small even a small amounts you save like hundred dollars a month, in a year, hundred times twelve you get like one thousand two hundred dollars right so, if like you multiplied by five years you get a large sum of money so I feel like they should both invest and save when they are still young and working