uh whatever is available there even though it might be outside your budget and I think about that also like around, university maybe they might not be the kind of food that you want or the kind of food that's within your price point but because you are studying you have to buy it, ya so even though it's it's expensive I would say in this case it's actually justified even though I agree I have been spending too much money on


expensive food uh depends on my mood, and depends on how nice the food is, yes


because healthy food is also like healthy food is also expensive, but for me because like because we do sports we have to, like there are sometimes there are, sometimes where think about it like yes I should not, go for that really cheap but really nice


fast food, you have to go for like the more expensive but like, more healthy food ah that's your choice, should I DIY or get a financial advisor to plan my finances


just, get a boyfriend who is in business can already , an unnecessary expense


I think we're just fortunate that we have a lot of friends that have knowledge about this so even though we personally don't know much we'll always have access to people who, do know about it and will do it for us like, and will help us with it for free, like we're just fortunate enough to be in business school, so that ya that happens what


advice would you give to someone to get him or her out of debt, yup


I think the most obvious one also would be to, please don't try to fix your current debt by getting into more debt, so like, I mean the when I was when I first read this question I was thinking like oh maybe I can always ask my family members to help me out, like temporarily because then there's no one chasing me they'll forgive me and stuff like that but I realise that technically you're not solving the problem you're just pushing the source of it


and you're just like making it last longer for you so honestly the best way already is to get to get rid of it is really to just, like, tighten up your belt and really find the cheapest way for everything and really put off anything that you don't need for now, and obviously to find a source of income lah


and work hard for it , how do you manage your cash flow, how much of your income is allocated to savings expenses and insurance slash investment, I have zero cash flow


uh so zero goes to my savings zero goes to my expenses zero goes to my insurance, oh okay so, if I get allowance or if I get like if I do like small jobs then what I'll do is I'll just dump all of the money into an account


first and then like I try not to monitor I, just know how much is there and then I will plan like okay for this month, I cannot spend more than a certain amount of money, and then I will make sure that I hit the target even if it means that oh I have to go home and eat lah I cannot go out with my friends I will stay home and eat or I'll make my own


food and bring that kind of thing, and if over time I realise like oh no like it's going down, when like it's going down faster than it should then I will be like no this is not the way it should go then I will cut down my, expenditure so I don't I have, I've not reached the age where I want to compartmentalise everything because I have no stable income as of now


so everything that I have usually will just go into my savings and then I just plan from this like steady stream of like, say I get X amount per week I'll split the X into, don't know different what I wouldn't save the X lah, basically ya Ngeh


what are your thoughts on CPF contribution, I think the good thing


I think one thing that you mentioned about CPF I think the, like what, problems that people find with it is that because they have or maybe they have a certain income and that income isn't their income minus CPF is not enough to cover like everything that they need


to purchase at that moment in time which I think is one of the bad things about CPF but it is more of a long term conservative mindset that, if I make do for now in the future at least I still have this and it's not to say like CPF is completely untouchable like they have made concessions you can buy it you can use it for your medical expenses or you can use it for your house


like your property ya but, I honestly think that CPF is a very good thing because it's something that most people don't even think about but actually they have money that is there, and it's like a automatic saving scheme lah like in a way like maybe if you have insurance that you buy insurance already then like oh ya actually I have insurance that can cover it's like surprise money which is good lah


but it's just sad at the moment that, like you cannot use that amount of money, and you also how to say like, for some people who actively think about the CPF that they're keeping inside maybe the reason why they get upset about it is because they want to use their money but they know they can't until they reach a certain age but maybe they really just want to use that money now when maybe they think there's no point in using in having it when they're


older, I don't know maybe for other people it's different but I agree with you that generally it's a good thing, to have outside of the CPF also oh ya ya ya


the people who want the CPF money the most might not be may be the people who need CPF the most because they'll be the ones that spend it the fastest, I agree next question


yes but only, yes only if you, have like, enough money like technically if you think of credit card as your nets like you have to keep track of your credit card expenses, so like, if you already know you, that you max out the your budget of your spending right


don't think of it as like, the company is paying for me and then I'll just pay them back later when I have the money like no you don't have the money to pay for it so you shouldn't be buying it it's just a matter of convenience because you can like tap tap then you can just leave, you know


I would think that the convenience about credit card is that some people have money that comes in later but technically their money is already secured, why you raising your eyebrow at me


but ya I agree should just gets debit, card , but don't use it much okay we done


part, three negative experience, ya I know you have to okay nevermind


describe a time when you order a product from an E commerce platform IE lazada shopee taobao taobao carousell et cetera and it failed to meet your expectations you may refer to the following pointers ah it's okay I don't need to read the pointers, but (hmm)


any failures in your I don't buy, much I I don't really, online shop a lot


I really think it's very problematic that you have like I think it's called Carouhell right, where you have like all of these really like terrible buyers, I know like my friends, even though I haven't had any personal experiences like my friends they'll always post screenshots of like they will have a price on their website and then maybe like I think on the price


item like the title they'll they state as no nego like you cannot negotiate like the, price but people will be like okay I'm I'm only going to pay for example I ask for twenty five dollars I'm only going to pay you twenty dollars take it or leave it then the then my friends will be like no what the hell I ask for twenty five dollars then then the person will just like no like why you so bad why you want to do this to me then they leave a bad review of the of that person even though the person already stated no negotiation


and I think like carousell is just terrible lah (hmm) but, I think taobao from what I know a lot of people have been getting like like, taobao the the thing about taobao and lazada right is that


, I think if you are very diligent with checking your reviews, I don't think you should have any disappointments, with product quality but I think, the thing about uh for me like


my only experience with E commerce is maybe like my dad he needs to buy he he's kind of a cheapo, so he'll go and buy stuff on ali express, and then like , ali express he'll be like read some of the reviews and he'll like okay and then he'll buy it but it will take like maybe like a month two months to come


and I think I guess I guess that is from china but then like in terms on delivery time a lot of people will be like oh okay can deliver within this this this time but then like ali express is always, question mark when will they come you know, ya, I think that's the problem with E commerce like


bad sellers or like things that you don't expect or delivery times you have to wait really long for as compared to like you go to the shop and then you just go and get it, like physically, describe your worst vacation, do I go hello oh right oh ya okay oh my god that place was


terrible okay not terrible but like I mean I don't know what I was expecting also lah it was kind of like a driving trip so we stopped at something which was like I think it was called the strawberry motel, or something like, that so like it has a strawberry farm at the back but then like it was just this really like old building then we enter then the


like, the mattresses, like you know in like usually you get like really good quality mattresses at hotels right maybe even motels like you have like, a a, okay mattress ah these are the really cheap you know the kind you get from #pasar malam# kind, the bed and then the I don't know I can't even remember whether they had sheets or whether it was just the mattress or not but whatever it was right it was like super like


scratchy, I think probably the bedsheet also they get from #pasar malam# lah, ya but then like I, like okay so it's a very it's a mountainous region so it's quite cold but there was no hot water so I had to just bathe in cold water and just like live through it and then at night there was a cockroach in the room and then like obviously


things just went crazy lah like if there was a cockroach there that means there must be like a huge number cockroaches everywhere that means the place wasn't, clean, and I just think like I just look back on it lah which is like oh my, goodness like, number one it's not even in like a very good location it's just like a strawberry farm


but then like, I can't remember what the stuff was but just the amenities like and the standard of, like, the basic things lah like the bed cleanliness, hot water that kind of thing it was just really terrible, but I don't think you'll experience this kind of things in singapore unless you stay at


I don't know, where is a bad place to stay hotel eighty one , oh ya oh yes ya


what question the gym membership question,


also cause you are tired from doing the rep right


that is not a very common issue for gyms though like uh from what I know like my friends that always go to the gym they, they just always complain about how crowded it is but I don't think that's an issue with COVID anymore I guess, ya but I know uh for a fact that I think because gyms in singapore are very expensive


like okay there's there's different kinds lah see there's the private gyms and the public gyms right, and mainly the nice, the facilities the gyms with the nice facilities and, like not as many people will always be super, expensive, but then like meanwhile the active SG gyms that are available are like


number one they're cheap lah so like at least you can go to a gym but they're always super crowded, like last time before COVID always super crowded, and they always don't have like enough equipment or they're too small, so I think those were mainly the concerns or the problems that my friends had with gym but this this worker


is a bit too much eh ya okay yup


okay I think I'll I'll go first so I'm using the Lenovo yoga C seven forty I just got it a few months ago and it's the first time I'm using a two in one, laptop and honestly I'm really very pleasantly surprised by it because


before this !huh! I know okay I'm I'm getting to that okay, the reason why I'm very pleasantly surprised is because I had a bad experience with the previous one


the reason is like okay, I don't wanna this is such a this is such a controversial opinion but my previous laptop was a, macbook pro, twenty seventeen generation so it had a touch bar already but, the reason why I will so not buy it is that actually I took


care of it, relatively well but, apparently according to some people I'm a bit violent with it, but I don't know lah I think I took care of it quite well lah but, I think one thing I discovered was that, , function wise it was really good like, cause I'm used to mac


so I'm very used to how it works I'm really used to, like like, using mac OS and stuff like that but the problem was that it's durability is just horrible and I think this applies to like my other friends also like what they said like, the newer macs don't have that durability that older macs did


so, the problem with the touch bar especially because it's the first generation to touch bar right apparently there was some hardware problems who were related to, related to the wiring inside, so like, over time like the wire will just disconnect because of how the touch bar is placed and


stuff like that and then like it caused my screen to blackout, and then I had to go and get it fixed and then after I got it fixed it was working fine again and I was very happy with and that I had to and then it got spoiled again then I just decided to give up, and then like, like because I was thinking about it I already spend so much money on this laptop and then I spend money on this repairs also how much more money will I have to spend repairing it where I can just get another laptop that won't fail me


the same way this macbook has disappointed me you know, so like obviously yes function ten out of ten but durability and, value for money in terms of how many times like, you have to go and get macbooks repaired I would say not very, good lah, yeah what about you


I'll just tell them that ah like, I will say the functions is very good and we're used to using a macbook then I would think that you'd want to stay by, macbook but I will just


I will just say it's not very durable, but maybe things have changed now I'm not sure about the newer macbooks cause they just came out and there's not many reviews about them yet, but I would say that, I will just say people I would caution people like disclaimer like oh if you are not someone who who treats their macbook like a baby


there're those kind of people that just like, know that I don't know I didn't even I didn't even like, swing it around and stuff but if you're not the kind of, person that will treat it super super super carefully then it's something that you have to consider yup what about you


one two three part, two positive experience


bubble tea bubble tea, caramel, milk tea okay no I need to say the brand first Koi caramel milk tea thirty percent with pearl


the best, okay no let me let me explain okay so right, Koi number one number one is the pearls, no other no other brand can live up to Koi's pearls, okay then number two like I like the caramel


okay ya Playmade is okay Playmade Playmade Playmade okay Playmade's pearls are number one but Playmade is not very accessible so in terms of, the ratio of accessibility to, niceness of the pearls right Koi wins !huh!


but then no like like Playmade is so inaccessible, eh #nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh#, anyway okay so right and then, like, caramel milk tea because milk tea on it's own is just like eh but then the caramel brings up another level of like a bit of burnt sweetness to it and then you don't have to go so high on the sugar level so it's just thirty percent then it's


chef's kiss ya and like, and like okay that I admit Koi is not the most price friendly it like Liho is cheaper R&B is cheaper Sweettalk is the cheapest Each-a-cup is cheaper


but like, for the quality that you are getting I don't mind paying that much, lah and I don't, say it I like it's good lah because if it's too cheap I'll buy it all the time, like, I don't know I think that I I I know someone who buys very cheap bubble tea all the time because very cheap what


but the pearls are so horrible


it's like the cheap things combine like make for good, okay okay okay understand, I did not pay six dollars and ten cents is only four dollars something it's less than five dollars


that's your choice lah why you want to buy large, please


definitely true bust the out of the charts, yes so like, but the thing is you have to think about it, eh the reason why it's so cheap is because it's so bad, is it


sure that's why Sweettalk has more chains than has more outlets than Koi right, sure


sure, I like how we didn't even talk about Liho here though, the student discount is worth though


but like it's but the fact that it's two dollars but is, not as good as, Koi and not as worth as Sweettalk, , okay next question describe what are


describe a product that you bought which lasted longer than it's expected lifespan and discuss what you like about this product, (mmhmm) sure what's the brand


it's very durable also is it, Swee chai butterfly


it's actually this pair of shoes that I bought from Zalora I didn't expect them to last this long, but, they were only twenty to thirty dollars but, I it's the shoe that I wear I think most frequently basically it's a pair of like these brown loafers then it has a gold chain on it and then like it's very comfortable cause you can just


you can just shove your feet inside right and then you just walk around it's very happy then like your feet don't hurt it's just like maybe if you run a bit then maybe got blister lah but you don't go running when you wear loafers you know but then like it's like I didn't expect it to last this long I think I bought it a year ago


I'm not really very sure but maybe a year ago and it's really, ya, I wear it nearly every day and it's been a year and it's still like, it's like worn, but it's broken in lah it's not falling apart like it's not even it's not even like close to being torn or anything it's still like in very good condition and


it looks very formal also and I just like how versatile it is because even though it's very it looks formal actually I can wear it for very casual thing, because it's very simple like I don't have to go and like tie shoe laces even I just like shove my feet in, and I go and it looks very nice also worth ya


describe the skincare that you are using why you choose it over other types of skincare okay you may go first, , do you even use a moisturiser, ah I've a question


if you are out under the sun nearly all the time, if you are not in training, do you use sunscreen, why not sun screen is the most important thing


no matter what you must always wear sunscreen, always like though even if it's just like one minute of exposure you should be wearing sunscreen, you describe already what okay so what what what does your current what what do you like about I'm sorry


anyway partner why would you choose this this cleanser over other brands that you have tried before


does it leave your skin very dry though, after you wash okay okay is it my turn now


describe the skincare using you are using why you choose it over other types and brands of skincare okay right I use Innisfree, at Innisfree being a korean skincare brand you would think that oh like their products are good but like I realise right after watching videos by skincare by hyram and


and all that stuff, Innisfree actually uses a lot of fragrance in their products and like even though they have the korean technology and then maybe they have some good ingredients inside there right honestly like it might not be, it might not be what is best and it's always best to actually read the ingredients first so like if you ask me why why would I choose Innisfree over other types of skincare number one is honestly is because


I'm just trying to finish the products I already have, and number two honestly I really like having fragrance in my products because I like the, experience and I really like the more nature smell of Innisfree products, and I would think that honestly like using Innisfree is, still using better than something from like NTUC or whatever because at least they try to use like natural ingredients in in their


in their products, but honestly I have not been seeing very amazing results of Innisfree products so like I've been using the cleanser the moisturiser the toner the clay mask sometimes and honestly they're just not, as


amazing as I thought they would be, so actually like, while I will just use Innisfree if I'm too lazy to like think more about it right now I'm in the phase where I'm actually trying to look for other stuff, but ya I will look for the other stuff and choose and based on ingredients


cause ingredients don't lie, okay so right, but you don't buy them them often so maybe every three to five months I'll


spend like sixty dollars, ya I mean cause they last quite, long and, honestly like I think with, the increased attention to skincare actually there's a lot more brands which are coming out with better formulas


so I honestly think now is a very good time for you to like actually try and get into skincare because there are ones which are not, super expensive then just super basic but they're actually really like super, duper useful (mmhmm), we still have seven more minutes you want to talk, more about yes


I want to buy them too, just buy for me to up to two hundred of course


honestly tights are are disposable thing anyway clothes in general like that you use for sports you can't use them for very long period of time because they get worn too so there's no point in, unless like it can really last for example that one pair of X twoXU tights tights can last you for like ten years then maybe it's a worthy investment but most of them don't because you use them for sports


ya, so might as well go for the cheaper thing and then just go through them, quickly I want I, I want to talk about


personal care and cosmetics, I think it's similar to yours so right there's this thing that I think a lot people know about it's also related the skincare I'm sorry but it's like the Foreo luna two, it's like this silicon brush with like little bristles but the bristles are made of silica so it's like soft right and then yo put a cleanser on it then you just then you click it and then it will vibrate like zoom and then you go and like use it to wash your face then the actual Foreo luna obviously has an app


so you can time like how long you spend on one part of the face and then like you can have different modes for different parts of your face also but right it's two hundred dollars, so I've I, I bought I wouldn't say it's a knock off because it's not the exact same thing but it's like also a silicon facial cleanser with bristles that you can hold then you can like it will vibrate and it has different settings for like how strong you want the vibration to be and different like


surfaces depending on whether it's like, the you want it to be like, more gentle or you want it, to be like more rough, so like it'll just like vibrating you just, like wash off first right, it's only twelve dollars compared to the, luna is two hundred dollars


and I was very pleasantly surprised by it because, I thought it wouldn't work like I thought that oh maybe it will be like wonky like it won't be waterproof, or like it will like die or the silicon bristles won't, be soft but they're super soft, and it's been working and I don't even have to charge it that often I only charge it like


once every one and a half months, and I use it every night and honestly think that it makes my skin feel a lot cleaner, so ya, that is all I want to talk about, can spend the last few minute talking about something what bubble tea point


why would you pick Sweettalk over Koi Koi taste so much better cause so much more quality you enjoy that cup so much more that you don't need to buy a Sweettalk, you don't need to buy a Koi every single day because the one is an experience but Sweettalk is just a drink


okay but starbucks coffee is taste bad Koi taste good


but the thing is right like for coffee most some people there are a lot of people that drink coffee just to stay awake for the caffeine but for Koi it's really about enjoying what you drink


because to me it's not to me it's not a lot because I don't spend on it that often it is a luxury, (ugh)


sure why not we talk about a mutual product what the grass jelly I have I want to try but then it's not at every single Koi outlet it's only at certain ones


why oh no I wanted to talk about a mutual product that we have ya worthy investment the Nike offcourt slides very worthy investment very comfortable


but all all slides are around that price like all the sports ones, okay, but you think about it right it's because it looks if more it's like the matte kind of design so it doesn't look so #lap sap# like it's not the you know the plastic kind the Adidas ones that people wore around in it's not that kind ya


is it I didn't know


but it's so comfy


yup okay


part one finance, okay


okay like of course for me like as a student like it's very hard to want to invest in like uh , things like stocks and everything like that because most of the money that I have is mostly used for uh ya paying for school fees paying for necessities and stuff but if I were to invest my money in something definitely it will be something safer so definitely things like government bonds for example because


as you know stocks are very volatile so uh because of that like I wouldn't want to jeopardise uh not being able to pay for my school fees just to sort of uh potentially make a profit by entering the stock market


right so you mean like diversifying the portfolio stuff like that lah, okay sure,


okay ya makes sense so do we move on to question two so ya what strategies would you recommend to someone planning for their big ticket expenditures,


I mean ya that will be it for me lah, okay ya true


but ya but ya I feel like uh ya I agree with the points that you raised so basically just uh prioritise which ones that are you feel are most important to you definitely, investments would come in last if you are uh trying to think about this kind of things like starting a family buying a house but also at the same time I feel like you uh for someone who is uh planning for doing such expenditures you should also a a good advice would be to


like make sure that you are keeping within your boundaries like it's definitely good to like sort of, want a bigger house want a bigger car, ya but at the same time you need to realise uh where you stand and uh like plan accordingly ah so like cannot be like if you are like uh like like you're just


ya correct ya like you cannot be like you just be a fresh grad and then you want to buy like a ferrari like I mean like definitely it's a good dream to have but if you are doing more others things like buying a house starting a family definitely that's something that, uh you should consider very heavily and ya factor it into your decisions


yup yup agreed , , okay I think maybe okay lah so for I guess I don't know if it applies to you but as a student like definitely


necessities food definitely , also probably things like textbooks from time to time, school fees ya ya basically ya things like that you know like that you need to buy ya like really Bobian lah basically like you have to buy if not you can't get through uni


ya uh I thought of that , ya which expenditure is justified I feel like those kind of expenditures are a bit more justified because like food definitely because you can't survive without food things like textbooks uh financial calculators this kind of thing also like uh you can't go through


a lot of the courses without some of these things so ya I feel like that would be justified personally what I've been spending too much on definitely uh, buying sweet drinks on the way back from school so like drinks like Koi bubble tea definitely ya I need to cut down on that what about you


but like do you do you finish the food after you buy it, , so it's like more like so it's like it's not saying you're buying a lot of food but you're buying like more Atas kind of food, right right okay I get it that's true


doesn't apply to me lah I always eat mac's after training but ya , ,


no lah I think it's just like I think for us because we are both like sort of business students so like definitely we will have some experience because uh in with regards to like finances cause ya definitely finance is, uh uh


it's a fundamental course that we have to go through so definitely like there's a lot of planning there that you can learn about but at the same time also it's like uh the things you learn, are a bit more like technical that's like if you want to enter the stock market like what what do you need to know but you don't really learn like how to manage your savings how to


like uh manage the the money you have in your bank account so I guess like in that circumstance where someone like has, maybe trouble uh with regards to their savings or even like uh like they're not sure what to do with their savings then ya in that circumstance definitely a financial advisor would uh


like be the way to go where you should like consult one but if I mean basically I would assume most people would be able to sort of manage their money well they know what they want to spend on so in the circumstance like a financial advisor would just, be like a bit unnecessary ya correct


but I mean if like if you really don't know anything you want to enter the stock market ya then definitely financial advisor is the way to go, yup true


I will say it's the same thing as what, we mentioned earlier about uh about people want to like uh plan for big expenditures, so it's like plan properly make sure like uh you put aside the money you need for the necessities but at the same time like don't excessively put aside money for that like let's say like


if you feel like okay maybe I need five five hundred dollars for food is there a way to cut that down where like you don't spend like twenty dollars on food a day is there a way to get it for ten dollars a day then ya because definitely like if you are in a position of that


it creates a lot of problems and definitely the first priority is to get out of debt ya so definitely you don't want to spend more money on food later on in life in life when you're out of your debt ya definitely go ahead but now you're in this situation


focus on getting out of it first then ya then you can think about uh the other stuff later on,


so how do you allocate that zero cash flow, ah kidding


ah lah but I'm sure you like you have like uh like allowance and stuff from your parents, (ppc)


so you don't have to save your X okay sure , ya so for me uh because okay right now I'm working, part time as an intern so for that uh how I


I don't really allocate like that income per se like I'll just sort of like cash in the cheque see that my balance goes up level then I'll be like okay lah cool but uh I feel like when I'm I sort of, uh subconsciously allocate


with regards to savings expenses and like ya uh savings and expenses definitely but investment right now, uh I don't really have the amount of money to do that yet ya but ya, for savings and expenses like when I'm going out to buy stuff I wouldn't


just be like oh just anyhow spend just because like ya I know I got money , but I'll just be like okay how much did I spend so far like I have this like rough idea definitely about how much I spend and I'll be like okay maybe today I won't spend so much or like maybe today I won't buy this thing that I want I usually get ya so definitely how I manage my cash flow is not


like proactively setting aside like sixty percent for savings forty percent expenses for example no like it would just be like uh, okay I have hundred percent here I have so far depleted it down to fifty percent I should at least try my best for the next few days to like keep it at a satisfactory level ya and the satisfactory level like differs based on my mood lah basically


, personally for me I feel like CPF is a, kind of a necessity because like definitely not for people who are like experiencing financial troubles and stuff like that but definitely for like middle income people who like uh ya because I would say in


compared to westerners like we are a bit different in that like we we already like sort of save some money but that that savings also it's like we don't really invest we just keep, our money ya but so uh


you don't know when you're going to need like cause I'm I'm sure something will happen that, I'm not I'm I'm not sure that something will happen but I if something were to happen you're just going to deplete this savings and you're not going to be left with anything for retirement but with this uh compulsory uh money they set aside into CPF it will help a lot of these people to sort of like have a steady income as they grow older


and which they can eventually pass down to their children rather than like ya just keeping savings for yourself and then doing that,


house payments also ya, yup


I think I think ya that's that's the thing you have to avoid where like people who like just oh I want the money now so that I can spend it now, like that is uh the thing that you want to avoid because you definitely need to sort of like a better way definitely is to encourage


everyone to save a certain amount of money but definitely there'll be people who like uh no as in like if there's no CPF like I would say like the best way is that you encourage people to save this money for eventual, like eventually like we don't know whether they need in the future ya but like it's better to make this compulsory rather than like uh not not having it at all because I would think a lot of people would be like depleting their savings super fast and just like not have anything when they're older so like ya to


ya correct but definitely like those people who like are struggling to, uh pay for their like their families and stuff like that ya definitely in this kind of circumstance I feel like there should be some concessions


but like but it's a bit difficult also for that like how do you judge like whether like family A deserves it more than family B like it's difficult also lah so like ya,


can we skip to question nine do you think that you should own a credit card, I say no (mmhmm)


, but you can do that with a debit card also what like why do you need a credit card a credit card is just no it's not it's just it's just a trap


like you you just said it earlier if you think of it as a nets card why not just use a nets card rather than have having to worry about credit card, , , ya I feel like ya I feel like it's not a good thing to use like good to have


because like there might be some deals here and there that you have to use a credit card to like enjoy like fifty percent off for example yes don't use it just because like oh uh, I don't have money now then ya I'll just use my credit card no lah like that's that's definitely not the way to go


yeah one two three part three negative experience,


sorry usually you suppose to do the countdown,


okay ah for this I think for lazada shopping and taobao like uh I think there's a bit more like uh, liability for the sellers because like they they have to maintain like a like if you want to list on the


platform they need to like contact lazada and then like show what products they have and then, and then I've after going through like a process that I'm I'm assuming that they'll be able to list on the platform so that's why like uh it's a lot more strict and stringent but as opposed to carousell okay my bad experience was in carousell by the way so ya so more carousell is a lot


more difficult to regulate because anyone can just set up an account, sell whatever they want so what happened to me was uh I wanted to purchase a bike like a bicycle uh but I didn't want to spend so much money on it because like I I just wanted to like because I stay in Tampines so I just wanted to go like maybe towards Changi for like


like just cycle towards there and like just come back so I don't want like a super like expensive road bike for like to take me around I just need something like to just like get me one place to another like just chill ah, ya but uh so I came across this uh bike from a seller


uh and I think it was around two hundred dollars and like the parts wise weren't very very good but for the price it was definitely, like ya like the best like basically like it it fit the price lah the the components, so after like I I bought the the bike like the person sent it over and stuff like that then uh just as about I was about to bring it out for a ride like suddenly like I realised that the derailleur was a bit off so that's the thing that changes the gear


for the bike so it was like misaligned so like I've tried to sort of manually change the gear but I I couldn't because like ya it was it was not put properly lah but I only realised it after few days because like I didn't I didn't want to go ride it straight away, ya so what happened was I contacted the seller and then uh


he said okay ah maybe you can just try to get it fixed and then we'll pay you for how however much so I did that and then the person charged me like I think fifty dollars because he say that the derailleur was completely like uh like dysfunctional it's like it doesn't work but then uh I told the person that


that it was fifty dollars and then after that the the person kept saying that oh uh ya okay sure ya I'll transfer it to you right now and I gave, gave him my number and then like said ya okay I transferred already but I kept checking and nothing so I just kept like uh sorry I haven't received it oh then he said oh really okay okay I'll I'll go check and uh try it again then they won't reply me


and then I'll just go back and then like ah hi ya like hi uh where is my money and just like oh sorry sorry sorry ah is it you haven't received yet let me see again then never reply again so like I just ya I just gave up lah eventually, ya basically


ya I think it's just ya carousell is just ya, I think it's just it's just very hard to regulate because like anyone can sell on it, ya, yup definitely


okay uh, I think you got you mentioned to me before like you went to this


place in malaysia was it, ya


and I don't think that even that bad also, , I don't know I think for a hotel you want at least you know like what you're getting but for for this it's like I'm assuming it's like a normal hotel that like you will expect a certain level of service but ya


for me so, far holidays wise everything has been okay for me maybe I'm just fortunate lah so ya nothing for me, for the next one then yes I have a lot of bad experiences


(ppc) so, ya the gym membership question so, I think I can point to two separate gyms, that I've been to so one of them is uh, okay cannot cannot give specific name so uh it was somewhere near my house so basically I went there


like I I've been going there for like a few months I think like beforehand then like I took a short break eh not say short break actually I I just stopped going to the gym because, like unrelated lah I was just like not into it anymore then I came back like a month like for a month and then


like one of the days when I usually I'll go to with my friends but this time I went alone then like I was uh doing dead lifts so basically it's like just basically lifting up like, a a bar full of weight from the ground and then just put it back down again


but let's say like if you are lifting somewhere around like, close to hundred and fifty KG, like definitely like if you want to, make like cushion the fall of the weight also it's very difficult so like that's why no matter how much I've tried to control also I definitely need to there'll be some sound lah because like


definitely so much weight is hitting the floor that we have sound what ya but then the, ya definitely like your gymming and like ya like I mean it's a common thing to see lah like if you go youtube that like a lot of uh people will just like sort of just slam the weights down because


like it's just very hard to control lah, ya so I I like I tried my best to control but then like for some reason the gym staff came up to me and then because I was using my earpiece, so like he literally came up to me and was like, eh uh do realise that you're slamming the weights very hard maybe you're wearing earpiece that's why you cannot hear so maybe you should dead lift without your earpiece


which I felt like was quite like, it's like if you feel like I'm, doing it too loud you can just come out and just say like eh sorry can you like reduce your volume because you're like disturbing other people, which honestly I don't think I'm disturbing other people also because other people also do it and I'm like I'm fine because ya it's a gym what I'm not expecting you to delicately put every single weight down


definitely there will be a bit of sound here and there, but like this person like this staff literally like oh like try to buster me also like saying stuff like that and I just like !wah! since then I've I've gone to another gym lah that's all I can say ya another one I had was


uh this another gym that I went to so for this uh, it was me and my friend we were both same thing also doing dead lifts, eh no sorry no we were not doing dead lifts we were doing another exercise I forgot what, but uh like the gym staff wasn't happy that uh


like same thing lah we weren't, putting down the weights super gently, which ya again as I say like if you are doing reps at the gym you do not just like calmly and controllably like put down the weights what there's definitely be some sound


ya and then this guy just came out to us and just be like eh can you stop slamming my weights around so firstly it's like , ya that's why it's not even his weights he's just working there, like if he if he owned the gym then I'll be like okay lah ya ya I'm sorry but, and if like I'm there for free or what but I paid also what like I paid to be there and then like I'm like you can at least tell me this kind of things nicely just be like eh sorry you are making too much noise when you're putting down the weight can you like put it down a bit gently then I'll be like okay ya ya sure so sorry bro


but if you are saying like can you stop putting eh doing that to my weight confirm also we're like who would be happy to hear that just be like ya so like ya, whenever I see that guy I just purposely try to slam the weights down lah, honestly oh ya ya but err


I don't know I just I guess it's just luck lor when , like, like you just go to a gym that has a not very good staff that ya it's just it's always just one or two of the gym staff it's never like, gym staff in general are just very adamant about it because it's not like it's not like gyms would enforce that like oh our members should not uh make any noise when they are at the gym


the thing that there's there'll be a rule there like oh try to minimise your the noise you make but definitely there's some exercises that you really really cannot no matter how much you try, so ya I guess it's just like people lah who, just decide to be a bit more, uh


a bit more not nice lah I would say ya, okay so next one should we move to the next one , so ya describe electronic device that you are using and discuss whether you are disappointed by it,


sorry uh uh it says something that you are disappointed by, how about your previous laptop ya just talk about previous laptop, yes


but how will you caution people not to use it, like how you tell someone like don't don't buy the macbook, but you must treat it with superb great care right


sure ya sure you didn't sure you didn't (ppc)


okay for me is this desktop that I purchased quite a while back when I was like I think when I was in sec, sec two sec three, so like ya I think it was like uh my parents bought it for me cause like I think I did well in some exam or what I don't I can't remember but basically like kay I don't want to mention the brand but basically that


uh desktop ya it was like a pre built like gaming desktop so when I bought it like you could customise the parts and everything like that so I upgraded a few of the specs here and there so it totalled up to around like two point five K which was like quite a lot for a desktop


especially back then lah, and like ya uh but I think after like a a year over a year like there were a bit like there were a few faults with the with the desktop so like sometimes the the desktop overheat or ya stuff like that so like by that time I already have like some sort of knowledge about


like building computers and stuff but like I couldn't, like take out any of the parts that were faulty because like it was specific to that brand so basically like kay there's different brands for like let's say for a fan like a desktop fan there's uh


think there's brands like Corsair so you want to buy a Corsair fan and I want to put it into that desktop I cannot because like the socket that they have it's only for that specific brand and they are the only one that that manufactures it and they don't sell like parts


so like you have to call the guy and then I get him to come down and then fix it for you so you can't even you can't do it yourself and then you have to pay him to fix it for you when you can do it yourself, so ya that's why I was disappointed by it because like, value for money wise not there


because I mean I can just spend my own money to buy, a new fan that I know is good and fix it myself but instead I have to call this guy to, give me a fan that I don't even know whether it's good or not and ya put it into my desktop so ya so since then I've just been building my own desktop instead ya so how I caution people not to use the product I'll honestly I would recommend people to sort of just


learn about making a a to build a desktop because honestly you can just follow a video guide it will take, an hour around there like once you know the parts that you need it will just take an hour to assemble everything, and you will get to save like I would say maybe a hundred two hundred dollars


I mean definitely like you compromise in terms of the warranty where like if something goes wrong you can like just call the guy to come over and fix it, like you need to know what part is faulty and then you need you need to be the one that replaces it yourself but if you know your way around this kind of things definitely don't buy uh like premounted stock lah ya


okay one two three part two positive experience,


, ah you start first lah since you're so enthusiastic about bubble tea, I agree


no wait no no wait Playmade, okay fine fine fair enough so what's your ratio


okay I I know I get what you mean I know I know I get what you mean, sure (hmm)


ya okay ya so building on that point that person that you are talking about is me so definitely my favorite bubble tea would be sweet, talk green apple milk tea with pearls so basically that, like honestly the cup is the equivalent to like the large


uh size for Koi but instead of paying six dollars and ten cents for it you you pay one dollar and seventy cents , so, the pearls are not good definitely like but it's just there for texture and but the drink is so good because like the tea definitely the tea is not as high quality as Koi but


sometimes it's things like that that like when you combine right it's like it's like when you eat #tau huay# you know like it's so cheap but it's so good, like the like definitely quality wise not there, yes, but because they like and but then like


when you're drinking Koi you're constantly thinking like !wah! I paid six dollars and ten cents for this, ya that is if you order the medium size if you order the large size it's actually six dollar and ten cents, but ya


you have the okay never mind that's besides the point, quality wise not really there value for money, shoot through through the roof, through the roof okay through the roof


the reason that is so cheap is because they are trying to give back to society and spreading the joy of, uh Sweettalk milk tea to the rest of singapore


there's no because ya that's why because they are so they are so philanthropic that they cannot afford to uh to open up more stores because they are giving back so much to to the community meanwhile Koi is, is, basically a predator and trying to prey on helpless poverty addicts such as yourself


to constantly overpay for such a, no lah Liho Liho is subpar like , the student discount is super worth two dollars for a medium milk tea three dollar for large that is !oof!


#solidos popitos#, , and twice the price compared to Sweettalk ya that's why, should I go first


okay so for me it's it's actually this earpiece that I'm using, so uh, uh it's a Creative outlier gold so actually got it for my twenty second birthday if I remember correctly, ya uh so


it's lasted me for slightly over a year which is pretty good because, uh I, like I use it to go run go use it to go to the gym as well and ya like it's like really really good because


I don't, like it's true wireless so, uh there's no wires dangling around and stuff so yes, ya durable ya because ya my last I thought that it was going to last me like just a few months because like I mean a lot of earpieces I've used before to run like because obviously when you sweat like sweat will enter your ears and stuff like that so like it'll be more prone to water damage but this one


it's Swee, ya what about you


oh ya ya I know it,


okay so on to the, okay so for mine honestly I'm not a big fan of skincare because like, uh ya my girlfriend gives me a lot of flak for it I don't use a moisturiser because I don't think it's necessary anyway like because what I'm using now is a Nivea for men so like I think it's a it's called deep cleanse or something like that ya because uh honestly


I've been trying like a lot of different uh skincare products from like uh ya but mostly sticking to Nivea not really sure why I guess just because their packaging looks pretty good compared to the rest


but ya but it's just like in the past maybe in secondary school JC time like it was more towards those like uh anti acne kind of products and ya for now now I've been slowly changing it to like whitening stuff like that because ya definitely because uh I'm


uh participating in dragon boat so, we're like under the sun lot of the time so definitely I want to not be so, tanned yes, no


because when I am under the sun, because when I'm under the sun during training I would be under the sun for two hours straight meanwhile like when you're going out you're at most under the sun when you're walking from one building to another or something it will be like at most fifteen minutes which I think like it's a bit wasteful of a tub


not say tub a tube of sunscreen which can cost fifteen dollars a tube, , okay uh thank you I was trying to describe my the product that I was using but uh ya sure you can go ahead as well


that, I don't I don't see under the specific conditions uh can you please attack your partners, decisions for skincare but ya go ahead,


I think I've tried like a few brand here and there lah one like one or two others but they are not, as good I would say like it just feels like less refreshing and like the next day like when I have like pimples and stuff like that like it doesn't clear out very fast but when I use Nivea products for some reason it works for me and like ya the pimples will just clear in like a few days


and, yes as you can see now not not many pimples thanks to Nivea, ya so ya that's why that's why I choose it uh over other brands, not that I notice like ya I don't really notice that because ya I'm not really a big skincare enthusiast


yup ya but


but don't you feel like but how much do you spend on skincare products, and do you think like it's, okay that's not too bad okay


ya uh actually was wanting to give a review of a positive experience for a sports and fitness product that I I not recently recently purchased but I purchased before so, I don't know if you remember but I wear the uh you know the fake


twoXU tights, ya because uh I found them on lazada I'm I don't know if I still have the link, I will send it to you if I find it because I also want to buy a bit more, because


ya because if you buy if you buy like uh an authentic twoXU you pair of tights it'll cost you about hundred and twenty dollars ya up to two hundred but for this pair it was, less than twenty so like almost ten percent the price even even lesser than that actually


ya and like I've used it, for more than a year now and, I mean like definitely the quality is not as good like uh there's like some like tiny like tears in the fiber this kind of things but it's still usable and like the way I see it is that instead of buying one


pair of a twoXU types I buy ten of these uh like how do you say knock off but, uh replica, replica twoXU tights and, ya they will last me the it'll last me so much longer and like ya and they're pretty good also like I use it for training and


like I mean they yes yup


I agree, , what about you do you have anything, cause I have one more thing after this, sure


okay sorry but can we go back to the bubble tea point that you made earlier, I don't I don't understand why you'd pick Koi over Sweettalk, because


, see this is the same problem as why people buy starbucks coffee instead of just going to buy like uh Kopi from some coffee shop, no


like that is just a matter of preference what but in terms of value for money like how much do you actually spend on on Koi versus like how much you actually spend on Sweettalk if you like go the same amount of times


how can you enjoy it when the at the back of your mind you're like oh my god I paid so much for this cup of, leaf water


ya so see it's a luxury good , so if nah I'm kidding lah maybe maybe just because I'm lower lower SES than you so I I go for this kind of uh products like Sweettalk but meanwhile you are like for me Koi would be a splurge but for you Koi would be like just another day so ya understand


but Koi wait by the way by the way wait sorry for for for Koi have you tried the other toppings, have you tried like the taro balls or like the ai yu jelly


okay can I really tell you about them okay konjac jelly super sweet so, only if you're not getting a very sweet thing then ya maybe that can balance out taro is basically like pearls just with a bit, more of a Potatoey taste


uh ai yu jelly I never tried before grass jelly I don't like grass jelly honestly okay but anyway ya you were saying you were you were saying what skincare products we have one more minute, , what


ah I see okay sure yup but as in like definitely a bit pricey cost fifty dollars right around there, true but that one also not really a sports one what it's like more for like lounge


, ya okay I agree but ya like I will just use it when I'm going out like instead of wearing slippers I would just wear those slides which ya I mean but a lot a lot of people like give a lot of flak for people who wear slides though


ya like, I don't know lah slides I I think because of people see it as like a trend so like if you are just wearing it, then like ya but it's very comfy though


part one finance


okay how do you invest your money to accumulate wealth and planning for your retirement , uh maybe I'll start first yup so I I think there's a lot of ways to invest uh your money uh it could be through


stocks through bonds through different products uh banking products for example so and for for myself as a layman uh we we I I normally just uh save save on on normal banking products, because ya we don't uh I don't have the the the extensive knowledge to indulge in like different financial instruments even though uh I I I know I know the basics but I I don't feel comfortable to to put my money uh at at those


uh investment products yeah but so uh uh those are the few ways to plan for retirement but yeah I I mean it's up to the individual to to choose the path as to how they want to accumulate their wealth


kay should we go to the second question, maybe you you can start first


ah I think I I fully agree as well two main important things one is uh in terms of setting targets and timeline so, while whenever were let's say if ya you were whenever you want to have that purchase the big uh ticket purchase then you just work backwards how long do you need to


work towards that timeline if you need six month then you need to spread out of how much you need to save each month to reach that target and I think the second most important part is actually discipline so not only do you need to have a target and a strategy but you also need to have discipline and and maybe constant reminder from your from your peers or from your family members that uh uh you need to


uh keep towards you are working towards your targets so once you achieve that then you can ya it make it easy for you to make the expenditure


ya true okay


ya for me I mean uh uh uh as the head of the family I I have a certain structure of uh what how my money needs to be spent on so uh, the whatever salary that I have uh I will split it accordingly what how much of it should be supposed to go to the housing how much is it supposed to be to go to schools for the kids and how much is supposed to go to the normal daily necessities like groceries food and and and other stuff


and then the rest will be uh uh uh going towards the the savings part yup so that that structure is uh already there so it's already fixed of how much uh I want to dedicate every month and then uh maybe there's could be some fluctuations here and there but ya basically the the focus is on the needs and then the wants uh that that I have is


if there's some excess then we we we can we can utilise that for the wants ah otherwise then we try uh I try not to spend, unnecessarily basically yeah


yup that's right ya using an app is makes it easier for you to know ah how how yours how you are trending in terms of your side with uh spending as well, yup should we go to the next one number four should I DIY or get a financial adviser to plan my finances uh you want to start first or


, okay ya uh uh uh here personally I feel that it depends on the individual so personally uh for me I I don't see a need to to get a financial adviser because uh at least the because I'm I'm I'm I'm I study economics so I I I have some a bit of knowledge in terms of


uh finance terms and what are the products that is available even though is basic knowledge but I think it's sufficient enough to know how I can uh I need to plan my finances so, uh I think what is important here is actually in terms of the discipline to plan your finances so you don't necessarily need a financial adviser if you know your stuff


but of course if you if you need some additional expertise then ya uh I will uh I will recommend people to at least engage in a a financial adviser for their needs


so I'm the financial adviser okay uh next one number five, what advice would you give to someone to get him or her out of debt uh you want to start first


yeah I think here here similar, to uh that they these strategies to plan for a big ticket item right I mean like ya clearing your debt is not exactly a big ticket item but, it the the strategy taken could uh is actually similar so you need a set of targets you need a set of timelines and then you so you also need the discipline so when once if you you have a debt you actually need to also dedicate a certain portion to to that to clear that debt amount


so so that you don't basically uh risk incurring too much interest or yeah maybe uh forgot to forget to pay and so on, so that that would be the advice the advice I give, ya , uh how do you manage your cash flow how much of your income is allocated to savings expenses insurance investment


yup , ya for mine as well I I like have what I mentioned earlier I uh I've us fixed structure of how how, where the salary goes to every month so in terms of in allocation to savings uh expenses and uh insurance investment uh I don't have much or in fact none to insurance and investment as of now


uh but to savings and expenses I mean the general rule of thumb is about thirty percent that people recommend to set aside for savings so that that's what we uh like try to move towards ya but uh at times it's it's a bit difficult so it there might be some fluctuations here and there, uh yeah what are your thoughts on CPF contribution


you go ahead, yeah okay uh, ya for uh personally I think CPF contribution is a good uh tool uh in terms of supporting uh singaporeans to to set aside some form of money which


is uh kind of hidden and and uh not not seen so it's easier is is less there's less temptation to actually take out the money and spend it more aggressively basically so I I think it's a good tool to to have uh but I don't think it's a must or it's a necessary to have at the same time because it all again it all depends on the in the individual


so if someone earns let's say uh five thousand and with their CPF contribution he earns seven thousand if he earns seven thousand without the CPF contribution and he still can saves the same uh same amount of money I feel uh that that is a quite a a it's up to the individual basically so ya but it's good that it's good tool to have for the layman


uh uh for the local singaporeans


what can you do to earn extra income or improve your income level, you go first


yup ya , what what can one do I mean there's a lot of things right you can do like what uh guda mentioned you can go through uh freelance work additional skills that you can attempt to to maybe uh, do some new product and then sell the product and so on ya you can also if you have extra time additional time you can also take some part time jobs


or or some uh ad hoc projects uh which which might may come along to to supplement your income ya that's the easy way and of course there's also the investments part if you are knowledgeable or if you can you have the you have the adviser the to help you then that's also another way


ya personally I think it's not necessary


I we one should be able to plan or manage his finances without a credit card but uh also personally I use a credit card uh but my only reason to use it is mainly to earn the cashbacks and to basically to to gain from it


uh not really as a form of loan but a really as a form uh to to gain uh some additional benefits out of it, ya so that's uh my personal opinion


yup what advice would you give to someone in order to retire comfortably


, to be honest I think in singapore it's difficult to advise someone to retire comfortably unless they are of of a certain uh pay scale so maybe one easy advice would be you try to find a job outside of singapore or retire out of singapore


uh but uh if you want to retire here then of course you need to scale yourself up to a certain level that, uh ya basically you have the sufficient income and savings to to to be able to retire at a certain age yeah


ya it's both ways ya, ya so I I think the supplementary retirement scheme is again it is kind of assistance


scheme by the government uh where one, once you hit the retirement age they will set aside some money uh and then give you a monthly monthly so called allowance uh to it again I think this is uh similar to the CPF uh of how uh how the CPF works so it is good a good tool uh but again uh if


it is uh uh again that there's a pros and cons because uh uh the the cons is that it's one might might not be able to take out the full amount to utilise beyonds some more other priorities that they have so that there's the there's the downside to it but ya of course if you need uh someone to assist you on a monthly uh allowance when you are not no longer working then it's it's a good scheme


how would you make a financial plan investment portfolio for your family or children


here I I I I think personally uh what I aim to do it or I trying, to do is uh to basically sets uh some amount for for the for the kids basically a a monthly amount uh so that once they hit a certain age there's slip that's as clear a ample saving so uh so called to uh for them to to utilise for for their future needs right


uh in terms of uh investment portfolio I've not really reached there yet but I I I do know that there's a lot of insurance uh schemes or investments which combines these savings plus the, uh investment products uh which allows the the the savings to grow uh as as as the more the the more you you uh you put your your money into it ya


do you have the habit of saving how do you ensure you meet your saving goals


yup yup fully agree yup I mean the habit of saving needs needs to be inculcated and and needs to be uh frequently addressed uh uh because once one will easily be tempted to spend more beyond uh what they, they they have so yeah we always need to differentiate between needs and wants ah in order to uh make this habit of saving a sustainable one


uh, what's one financial advice that you would give, to the you five years ago, okay one financial advice I will give to me uh is to be


even more uh prudent in my spending uh and to to to be more disciplined basically I mean I I, I I I I was able to actually uh set aside some money to plan for my uh for for marriage and and for studies and so on uh but I think ya it could have been done better if I if I was more a bit more disciplined back then ya


uh yup so before marriage it was quite straightforward it's just between me and myself so uh so basically the the the financial commitments is uh what I need to to save up


for uh which is education and also uh marriage so and then I think it what it what gets difficult is after marriage bringing up the shares especially when you have kids so you have to split your pie accordingly even more uh not only, to yourself but also to your family your kids and also to the future so ya


I mean uh it it's its gets difficult but there are there is it it requires a bit more discipline to to make sure that you're on the right path


I think there's another question there do you prefer to use cash or go cashless when paying for goods and services


part three negative experience, do you want to start


ah okay ya we we can talk about I'd ya we can we can talk about Ecommerce platform in general like Shopee uh what is the other one Lazada ya these two Lazada and Shopee yup I think back then uh Ecommerce platform used to be very few and uh especially in singapore uh uh (ppc) one of the


first ones was carousell and then I think there was like ezbuy or something but this Lazada ah there's qoo ten yes there's qoo ten as well


are beginning to to be right so there is just a lot of there's a lot of thousands of thousands of products that that they they try to advertise ah on their main page so whenever like one visits the website there's really you just you are just being blown away by so many thousand products of course you can go to the search bar and search what you want but I think uh it just


it just takes away your your your focus a bit and your interests uh out of it that is uh that's what I feel, (ppc) and if you compare it to carousell carousell is a bit more uh not not so cluttered so it is very, uh big size visuals so you don't really you're you're not really bombarded by a lot of different items at one go


yup , uh yeah I think basically that's the main part uh they the the platform uh how they design right


yeah uh uh ya I think that that's where they maybe this Ecommerce platforms will I mean find find it difficult to to have a stringent uh checks or or or screens right ah yes quality checks because if they if they start to accept any and every kind of seller then of


course you you'll find uh this kind of this kind of downsides to it in terms of your experience yup then, I I think ya ya that that that just that is just how it is if if you want to scale up to to a very massive level lah they will you will always have this negative uh seller strength to cheat their way out


ah ya okay okay


yup ya I fully agree as well uh because when when when some when one , makes a booking for for a hotel or for a service apartment for that matter or any any kind of uh accommodation right ya one would expect at least a certain level of standards to uh to to to be met


uh eh for for for the guests so I mean in in this case uh you lack whatever that I mentioned when when we entered obviously with that if it is not to the minimum standard even so you can clearly clearly see dusts, all around and ya they just uh uh it the place just looks uh not not cleaned up for quite some time


so that that really takes a hit in terms of your your your expectations and yeah your you you'd you right you have a rightaway a a negative impression uh that is created uh throughout your stay even though they they they try to make it up for it uh uh towards the uh next few days basically


so I'd ya but for for like the this goes back to my point earlier right for for service uh industries no matter what it is they they always need to (hmm) try to ensure that they meet certain level of standards ya in order to make make make themselves


uh on on on on on the certain uh , certain skill right so if if you don't meet that minimum standards of course you will start to get these negative reviews uh which will hamper your your business moving forward


yeah, yeah, maybe we can just add add on to the the since we are in the this topic was to get staycation or staying in a hotel we we (oo) I also want to add in that we we


we came back in singapore uh last month so we had to go through that that fourteen days uh quarantine period in in in a hotel the unfortunate thing was we were we we were not able to select the hotel that we wanted or or there's there's no selection basic that's so it's just a random pick a a random uh


random choice that are not not a choice uh we were randomly brought to a hotel in singapore, from the airport so we we we actually got in uh allocated to orchard hotel, it it was not the worst I would say but uh uh yeah but again they they the the the hotel hotel facility the the room amenities was it was there is was it was decent


but I would think one one review I had is more on the on the food and the the way they they they the customer service was handled so we had a quite a quite, uh I would say uh, difficulty to get the the the choice of food that we want and uh every time we requested for some things uh through the phone uh from from the from the hotel operator


it's that sometimes it doesn't get through sometimes they they they miss our requirements sometimes they sent the wrong things and so on so ya again this goes back to this uh service levels or the the customer service experience level right so, yup


you want to spoke speak about another product or review what else what other negative experience you have


nope unfortunately not


what other things can we speak about negative, , ya I I think one one thing that I I had a a slightly negative experience as well in terms of using the uh certain kinds types of earpiece so basically


during this period or for the past few months since uh we uh we've been working from homes right so there's a lot of uh online meetings that that is we we required to attend I'm required to attend so I've been using it uh uh different earpieces uh


for for these meetings and uh one of this earpiece basically well when when I use it uh during a meeting uh then the the on the I got uh, some complaints from from the from the meeting members itself that uh there's a lot of background noise whenever I speak so uh I think that that's kind of in terms on


the the the quality of the of the of the of the headphones might not be as good you might you be probably you need to be in a very quiet rooms so that there's not even any any uh background noise that that will be sent to to the online meeting


so yup probably I'm I'm not I would I wouldn't say I'm disappointed because I didn't pay a huge price for it so , obviously if if you wants a good quality then probably need to pay more to have a good quality, yeah but at least in terms of basic uh functionality I expect it to be at least uh decent enough to to not create a huge background noise yeah during meetings basically


yup , yeah maybe one one thing I want to share as well , it's something that that you purchased for the kids so it it's something called coloured markers right


so ya I mean when when you say coloured markers you expect that ya kids or someone can use it to to do some form of colouring okay so the so this product is called coloured markers and so naturally the the kids will just use it to to do colouring on on papers or on any drawing blocks and so on


so what what I observed is that , maybe not not even a month into using it or maybe three weeks or a month into using it they the the coloured markers are starting to like fade fade away, so I'm uh I'm not saying that uh


it didn't it it is not a good quality but I'm just saying that , if the the the the the markers is not meant to be used for like normal colouring then it shouldn't be named a coloured marker so , right I think we personally I believe that there's no such thing as a coloured marker so ya he it which basically the the naming of products can sometimes sometimes sway your


perception a bit so when you when you say that eh there there this coloured markers why not we give it a try and just buy it to use as colouring so, and when they use the user uses it and basically they experience uh, it's not as good yup yup I I would blame it I would basically blame it on the on the naming of the product uh they shouldn't have named it as coloured markers but


maybe they treat this name it yeah normal markers or something , , yeah, but ya it it I mean all markers have colour right what markers doesn't have colour


, ya , , yeah what other things you want to


have any negative experience, , the the I think what one thing uh not really a uh uh I mean it's quite a negative thing and uh but it's not a product


basically this this safe safe what what is it called safeentry yup so, I just find it a little bit annoying because yeah especially when you go, into malls where which are quite quite crowded at time so you have to like really go along the queue and try to


scan this this so called what is it called QR codes ah you know in order to go into the the, uh the mall itself so uh uh maybe there could be of some other better ways right if they can find some I don't know some other automatic scanners or something ya and they they just creates a bit of hassle for for me personally


negative experience with customer service suzanne I think this you have a lot of experience


yeah, ya I I think that's where companies uh or customer service uh companies will have customer service departments or or or employees needs to have their the employees well trained enough right to to really cater to the requirements of the customers


yup uh maybe just to add on to this uh customer service uh issue so there there's a lot of companies going back to the root of automated uh voice customer service basically so instead of waits for example if you call


to Singtel instead of like directly being able to select zero to call go to the operator you will have to go through a whole list of options uh which doesn't even mention that you can connect to operator , so you have to basically wiggle wiggle your way to find that that particular option where you can speak to the operator


so I think more the more often than not you your your your the the reason why you call is because you have something specific to request uh or to to ask right, so so I don't think this uh automated uh options is actually serving its purpose in terms of helping the the customers is is basically helping the the companies to to to ease out their ya to ease out their their customer maybe the their front line customer service uh


issues or or or to cater to us to to to to, maybe dilute that that volume down but ya I I don't it's helping the customers at our end to be honest


yeah at I I think the irritating thing is that they will eventually have that option it's just that it will take so long and why can't you just keep it at the first start and then like just allow people to select if they need to speak to the customer service right


okay done, part two positive experience


you want to start first


yup maybe since you talk about Uniqlo I I also uh agree in uh that Uniqlo is a very uh, with reasonable price point product uh and also very good quality so uh not only the the price is reasonable very uh uh not not not super high cost uh the quality is also good


uh the material is also good uh that uh so far we've been using a a lot of Uniqlo stuff and it it is quite long lasting and especially in, in this in this climate uh I think they have this special technology called airism so it's very comfortable and uh soothing to wear uh cooling to wear as well


so ya it it helps uh uh in in this very humid climate lah of singapore


yup agreed


I I I I think I agree but also I disagree with I think they they they they they, they kind of market it in a way that uh is very useful to help you in a lot of things so yeah maybe maybe it is it it is, uh maybe useful to help uh in uh to help you uh


rest or sleep easily and yup it the the the nice smelling scents is also uh kind of give you a positive experience uh, uh but ya I'd I think in my opinion I I don't I I still don't believe it if it indeed hundred percent but yeah uh I think it's a it's a good thing it's a nice thing to have


, yeah, maybe you can discuss talk about the uh bubble tea your what's your favourite bubble tea,


okay yeah I I think, for me like there are different bubble teas uh of course have different different uh quality or values right so the when when I'm buying a bubble tea I'll I'll


let's say from Koi uh it it is one of the better ones I feel because uh of not only the the price but the value, uh but also because of they they they the the quality of the of the pearls or or the or the jelly in for that for that matter it's very soft and it's very easily digestible and it just keeps you coming back for more so


yup ah but uh this one not not only the flavour I think is also the ease of purchasing it because Koi has this , this standalone screens where you can just purchase it without having to go to a so called cashier and so on so you can just purchase it on the screen and then get your ticket and then just wait for your number and then ya you you'll be given the the the product that that's quite uh easy process


shall we go on another recent purchase that we have uh which is shoes ya, so I yeah, no so ya so so this is a positive uh product review right for for some shoes that we bought recently uh from Nike


so uh so they we we bought these uh running shoes for for myself the mum the who uh and also the kids as well , so Nike shoes are actually uh very, uh comfortable and not not not only that they are comfortable they are also very aesthetically pleasing so ya it it comes off uh serves the purpose of of like uh you wearing it to exercise or to or to run and also uh you can also take it uh uh out for normal uh your your day to day uh or whenever you want to go out to the mall and so on


so it it it helps and then uh also it's it's it's very uh comfortable to wear, and also comfortable comfortable to run because of their technology I I believe uh with uh in in their soles which makes it uh very comfortable when one uh goes for jogging and running not not only that I think the other point is also that because they have very good sales and discounts especially at their branch in Changi city point


uh where they often have like thirty percent uh discounts or you buy it when you buy it three or four you get forty percent ya addition uh uh discounts and so on so I think that that kinds of , to pulls you uh uh towards uh their their brand cause like ya when when when we went


to Changi city point to buy that uh to buy shoes we actually visited a couple of shops and uh like between Adidas and Nike for example Adidas didn't have much of a discount even though their their shoes are also comfortable and uh aesthetically pleasing as well yeah but because of the price point then yeah uh it's easier to decide on on Nike shoes


yes I it is indeed uh value for money because uh I think they schools uh in terms of education what what the kids are receiving is actually something that is uh not uh they the the way singapore


schools are are teaching basically so it's it's a wider spectrum and uh there there's a lot more topics or or class discussions that that the the kids go through and I, think there's also lesser exams so that that is also something that is good because exams is good to review one's progress but I think frequent exams might not be might not be also ya


good at like what like what we have uh here in singapore because we might take the focus away from the kids uh or into the focus for of learning and ya focusing on exams so ya, uh I think yeah, maybe you can add on to that


okay we uh maybe we can go to travel and tourism or ya you can speak about airlines


yup uh ya speaking about Emirates ya I I think, being it being a in this the the the service industry like that like airlines do uh I think the one of the most important thing is actually customer service experience uh which we kind of really like uh in Emirates uh because no matter who the the crew that you're whom the uh the crew that you are facing or who's who's actually serving you


uh they all have the stem same uh high level of standards uh in terms of uh giving you the service that that you need, also uh like besides the the customer service experience I think what what is also very good is the the the comfort level or or the the


the available services that they they offer uh on board on board their their planes right so they like what you mentioned that the seats are comfortable and also, they they the screens are now now replaced with very huge and uh very nice uh looking screen so and you have a lot of different options to view movies or TV shows and whatever you want


ya which is also available on another airlines but the I think the comfort level is just one notch better than what you have for and let's say other other airlines uh across the globe so I think that that what that's what makes uh me feel that Emirates is actually one of the better ones uh that that that I prefer


yup yup


ya I think that that's also another point of the the the planes the plane types like you have altude more a three eighties and so on and also they uh the flight schedules so I they they have more frequent flight schedules to choose from


better timings ya so it the the gives one gives the overall positive uh experience there, shall we go to another another product


yeah I think I'll go with, eh ya how about what , okay I'll go with uh a a product on uh on Apple review actually so I I I think but for I I've been uh quite a not a fan but I when uh ever since


Apple launched its first Iphone uh I I I was one of the first few ones to actually uh very curious to to get my hands on it so I actually bought one one of the first Iphones way before singapore has it so I I imported it from overseas uh and ya I I think it overall Apple's product Apple products has


been very very innovative and and very different back then, now obviously you have a lot of these these competitors coming in to to match this phone Apple products but I think Apple stills uh holds that value in terms of uh setting itself uh uh slightly different from the others in terms of how how they they create the products in terms of the how they they market their products as well so yeah


that that that gives them give them the slightly different edge uh and uh different customer experience ah basically so I mean I'm just I'm using one of the Apple products in front of me right now the the macbook, macbook uh to laptop, and it's been with me for almost like more than seven years I believe eh ya or or so it's very durable I don't think it's it ever has crashed before so yeah so that that's very positive because if you use Windows uh I'm sure you might you will have experienced the


the blue screen in one one one way or another uh, yeah so mac is very versatile very durable , ya yeah very user friendly basically, uh to to use so I'm very happy with the uh mac products [orh] Apple products


ya I I I I also have a uh just one more uh uh comment on this Apple I was speaking, with my friend yesterday as well he has been a long time windows user, and he just recently installed a software that that enables the Apple Apple operating system to be to be embedded in his uh windows laptop uh Windows desktop basically so uh he he's all praises for for the the operating system of of uh Apple and ya ya it's amazing that someone who


who I I mean for for for me personally I've using I've been using it for more more than ten years I guess and to hear from someone that he just realised how good or how awesome it is ya we just, speaks a lot on on the the the the ya user experience of of these Apple Apple products


yeah ya, uh yeah you want to choose another topic


yeah yup I think Carousell is a ya uh, I'm also a user of Carousell uh right from where when it began uh uh right from the start of it so


it is very easy and intuitive platform uh it allows you to find, almost everything that uh whatever that you need uh especially if you don't mind buying it second hand because there there are a lot right of items which you don't really need it to be brand new right


uh for example if you are buying uh games or certain electronics uh that that is physical and that that you don't use it on on yourself for example so it it it it it is still okay to to get it uh to get it second hand, you still get to use it in terms of the usage but there there also the good thing is you get a it at a very very valuable uh value for money price point and I think they the the very good thing for about Carousell is that you also able to somehow negotiate with these sellers uh even without


be uh be uh I mean calling them or being face to face with them as well so that can that kinds of make it very easy to to interact, or to to buy and sell at this platform ya of course the uh and uh there there are certain drawbacks to it but yeah I mean this since this is a positive review uh I will I will speak only about the positive things uh ya and then the


ya basically the ease of usage and you you don't need to to to pay as a member basically to to to join or to to sell and buy buy and sell items that make makes it a very uh good uh uh a big hit basically


part one finance


I think that to to invest the the money to accumulate wealth there's always the you need to divide your savings so there are some some some some months that you have more savings and some months that are are are that that are less savings so that uh


uh certain bank products like fixed deposits which have uh low, lower lower uh, amount to be committed to it as opposed to having uh, like bonds uh which has a certain uh a bigger minimum sum to commit to so ya


shall we, what strategies would you recommend to someone planning for their big ticket expenditures example starting a family buy a car or house, so for big ticket expenditures I think it requires a long term planning maybe not not say like ten years but like one to two years where you actually set aside a certain amount of money each month to dedicate to saving it so for example if you want to save twenty K for your


for your for for your wedding then I would say you have to plan out if you planning to set aside thousand dollars each months for for for for the wedding then you should set up for twenty months so that way you have to manage not only the finance part you also have to manage the


uh times that part, to reach your goals


yup that's true ah but the other side is also to when it comes to buying a car or house like usually you take loans for it like example buying a house in singapore you have to take a loan a HDB loan for it uh and that would require a forward, uh planning instead of like a backward planning


okay how do you spend your money , which expenditure is justified and what have you been spending too much on so how I spend my money is usually I uh whenever I I get the set of uh the amount of money at the


beginning of the month or at the end of the month uh is that I will divide my finances into three parts uh usually I I'll try to dedicate more towards savings or half uh, as much as I can so it'd be like, I usually divide into three parts but technically I'll try to dedicate a larger portion maybe half to savings and then the other


half I will I will plan it out like uh, there are always financial commitments within the month so those are separated out and finally the last part it's a want so uh usually I will check how much I have for for for that amount before I justify an expenditure


yeah and I also know you used and uh, an app to to, track your expenses I don't but uh, I know you do use an app why don't you share more about it


no you you you can start first


yeah uh I'm a stay at home mum so I don't earn a lot, uh and, so I usually depend on you to help me with my finances


we we all have had debts before and we are we all have debts now but it's a matter of how you can manage the debt so, uh, like for example if you have and and this is where your your financial advice came very useful back then when I had a university loan and and you were the one who uh advised to dedicate a certain amount of money from my salary to commit to it and it really takes a lot of discipline


my cash flow is very simple and, like I mentioned earlier uh I try to dedicate as high as half of my, uh allowance, allowance to savings and then if uh, the expenses uh, I divide it between wants, and needs I don't actually


uh uh, uh I didn't uh I don't actually dedicate any any to insurance or investments


[orh] I don't really uh


so you think that uh it helps to discipline someone to to actually set aside for their CPF uh for for the savings basically but I also feel like CPF can get a little bit restrictive like you can't use your money and then there's a lot of policies in place that, uh they can be quite restrictive


, nowadays there are always like uh what do you call that, freelance gigs and side hustles so that's what I do to earn extra income and


uh , yeah uh uh, I guess there are other ways as well like you know investments and or insurance, for yeah what about you


but it always carry some risks right, yeah, okay so do you think one should own a credit card


ya I find like ya credit cards are like uh taking out small personal loans and it's like uh encouraging someone to spend beyond your means but uh if you use it wisely, then that uh there's a lot of benefits that you can get from it provided that you're very disciplined


ah we have not retired yet so , why don't you go first


, or scale yourself down and like you know manage your lifestyle expectancies


okay what are your opinions on supplementary retirement scheme, you want to go have a go on this


yeah it's sort of like CPF like trying to discipline you into your savings and now try to discipline you into uh proper management of your finances


exactly !huh! is this question asking like for future generations like no right like for your family or children it's just for throughout, the our life sorry ya, okay uh ya uh I don't have anything much to say on this I do know that you have you have you have solid financial plans and you are looking into investment portfolio


yeah shall we move on, yeah I guess this comes back to uh what we've been saying earlier like uh setting aside money for it first and then


uh, before before spending any before spending anything beyond your savings yeah


maybe you want to go first I'm still like formulating my thoughts on this


yeah but the thing is that I feel like, it depends on which phase of your life you are at but I just feel like when I first start out work it would have been a lot a lot a lot easier to save money as opposed to now, when you have a lot more financial commitments


yeah, okay so how do you manage your financial commitments before and after marriage (hmm) you want to go


yeah I feel like you're very much more I I feel that I'm very much more disciplined now then as opposed to before marriage I think I was quite spendthrift at that point of time and I didn't actually have a proper structure in place so and I think basically that's because uh


that's because I don't have much financial commitments to begin with before marriage and after marriage there's a lot more


I I prefer to use cash cash because uh when I set aside money, it actually makes me more disciplined uh like I can see physically what I have in hand and what is available for me to use, when I go cashless I tend to take it from from the bank account and it tend uh it makes me more ill disciplined in that sense so I do prefer to use cash


part three negative experience, right uh you want to talk about that E-commerce platform that you were recently like complaining about


Lazada Taobao


another one is Qooten there's always Qooten


yeah, it's a first feeling


yeah and and uh I find like this particular E-commerce platform is not only like uh uh cluttered but I find, that the ease of ordering like sometimes it's it's it just hangs and or like it doesn't move on


to the payment page even after I put all my things to cart I think it's a good thing for you lah but I find that it's a negative experience for me not being able to buy what I wanted to buy, yeah


[orh] but there's also the other part there's also the other part where like sometimes uh the, uh, product authenticity or like uh, the product that came to to uh being delivered to you is it doesn't match up with what was promised or advertised in the platform as well you know like there were times where


uh, the uh we ordered uh, what do you call that a a screen protector and it just doesn't match up to like you know I ordered it for a Samsung, uh phone and it doesn't come for a Samsung phone uh there were times where we had to experience that


quality checks


that's right that's right


ya that's true that's true, uh, uh let's talk about the the uh the the the the staycation that we had at the , near, Dubai malls the recently like when my parents came over and then we had like that staycation I wasn't very happy with that apartment that we


yeah so uh where we we we had a staycation in Dubai uh it was at this apartment very near to Dubai mall uh which is near the the tall tower and, then uh I was I wasn't very happy with that one because uh the the uh the most disappointing thing was when we first entered the the the apartment it was terribly dusty


(ugh), and and and we had to we had to uh find cleaning tools to to, to clean up the entire apartment and uh after that subsequently we found out that that we actually had to uh call for for the staff to clean the the the apartment and we had to pay extra for it


so it was it was it was very disappointing at that point of time yeah, and it actually spoilt the holiday quite a bit


uh but then again it was a good location so that was actually a draw point but they didn't match up to the decent level of standards


especially for for for like staycations and holidays like the user uh the the the service levels are are are what we we really expect from from them for the amount of money that we actually spent on it and uh


ya choosing food then was uh uh uh was difficult and uh what made it even worse was that we are actually quarantined in in in the in the hotel room and we don't really have much of an option, and uh I find that the service standards of uh the staff then are really fall short uh


in that hotel I agree


, [orh] how about like skillshare, skillshare is actually a a a website that's uh , that's uh designed to uh uh it's like a platform where people can like host uh online lessons and uh others can can follow follow these lessons to pick up skills and


in general I find that skillshare is useful but after a while I I I realised that like, the the uh, type of lessons available are actually uh are actually not of quality quality what do you call that uh quality lessons like ya you do get like uh artist to show you how to draw and uh how to write a calligraphy for example but I find that the people who are


the calibre of these people are actually maybe just intermediate, and not yet uh, not very advanced so I, I find like I wasted money on it have you tried skillshare before


no [orh] , ah I guess there's always that ya, so uh, it was a negative experience I I didn't I mean I like the idea of having a platform to to learn uh to pick up different skills from but uh


uh the trainers that were offering the skills were pretty mediocre after a while I guess for beginners it was pretty useful but, after you reach a certain level uh it I find that it was uh disappointing uh


return on my membership fees


(mmhmm)


experience trying to buy tickets from from, I wanted to visit uh uh an attraction here in singapore and, uh, the tickets sold uh for attractions in singapore are being sold by different platforms so there are Klook there are there's Headout so what happens here was that uh


so I just google search it and then I, picked the first uh the first uh, uh, website that offered the tickets uh I didn't realise that I wasn't buying from artscience museum itself so that's where I was trying to buy the tickets uh for the attraction and uh


uh I realised that uh the artscience museum itself actually offers different time slots when you buy the tickets but if you to buy it from a different platform the the the tickets, don't offer a a time slot to for for you to book so


, uh for a popular date like say for example a a holiday uh like like children's day or deepavali uh these, time slots are important because it will ensure that, uh you get uh, you get to enter the the the


place uh without crowds uh so I was uh a bit, disappointed that when I contacted this the platform that I purchased the ticket from they refused to refund the money or assist me in getting a time slot, and it was it was just a bad experience


that's not fair it's supposed to be coloured because it has colour


okay ya obviously don't agree with those, markers I actually quite like them but ya it's okay ,


ya I I don't actually like the part where they actually close up the entrance and to the malls but beyond that I think that it's quite necessary