actually if you have a a skill set that it can be, it can be like disseminated online I think why not like like I know some friends who like back then when COVID didn't hit they were doing like a they what what is actually what they do was they offer service where businesses would hire them FNB businesses would hire them to take like really good photos of the food


so this is basically like advertising, in a sense but they take really really good photos and they're at the level where like, they can charge pretty pretty good amount so like a few gigs and then they are like set for the month can say uh


(mmhmm), (mmhmm) yup, but have you ever thought of doing like a side hustle


that's true ah, I guess you got to plan properly also,


product or service ah like what's the most common one nowadays, e-commerce ah like drop shipping ah, oh ya that seems to be quite popular now ah, like lots of people are doing that especially e-commerce


fiverr, , actually speaking of video editing video editing is kind of like, a really valuable skills once you you can really put the word out there that you have the skills to like if you can have so many clients just by having that skill set of video editing is really good


kind of underrated alright , so I guess, saving's kind of ingrained since young ya just save save save I guess the last the last thing I wanted to save for was


my current laptop ya, ya , like my my my my old one was like what like since poly so it was five years yeah come coming to six and I was thinking like


I was thinking like I just wanted to buy like the most cost-effective laptop like the cheapest one but the one that will also get the job done, that's really reliable ya


, for me what I did was because back then I was still working at part time job so it's kind of easy to manage my expenses I kind of like like every month I'll take maybe like, at that point of time I was doing like a seventy percent rule so I'll take seventy percent then I'll stash it to my like my laptop fund or like a laptop jar so I'll just like the money will slowly pool up and then so like just like initially s really


it's very daunting lah I would say like !wah! dude it's only the first month I'm so far away but you gotta remember that you know it's like like a step by it's not like a instant gratification type of thing you gotta slowly build and nurture the the account, and then the other thing is like not to get carried away I'll say


like, it is good to save but even if you save you you have this like X amount of money it's good to put it to like like what you said like investments or like sometimes you get too comfortable with saving


you will get this mindset where since I'm already so comfortable right like just continue to save like like just stay in my comfort zone don't venture out, which is kind of there's good and bad lah I would say ya


(mmhmm), , ya that's kind of smart


(mmhmm)


, , number one is food man food is king ya food is king but I guess thanks to the current COVID there's not really much spend on other than other than food delivery food delivery and food delivery


ya that's the top three man but before that movies man lots and lots of movies the remember we used to I miss going to the cinema now it's been so long


food, once in a while lah, but I I guess ya once in a while is okay lah like is you you you gotta treat yourself you gotta take care of yourself so I think that is good it's like at a healthy pace ya


but I think now that now that the now that with all the reopening and stuff I guess you don't have to wait long ah is back to slowly ya


, I would say it's all about planning like planning that's how you win win the battle, in this case like say if I would want to buy a car I have to work out like like if I have a stable job I'll start putting like hard rules like same thing ah percentages uh save this much but even even so I'll


I would say not to tunnel vision on your big ticket expenditures like even though let's say you are already saving towards a car or house right you you must not forget like, your safety net account the one that where you touch, in terms of like if you have uh like a medical emergency you know like like that's that's one thing you should not forget like even though even though the car is your main focus you still can't neglect your other accounts as well


because that's what I see most my friends are being like they'll just blindly save for something they really really want and then they get blindsided because they're so focused on, that they can just make it their whole their whole mission to chase that chase that goal but ultimately also cost them is kind of sad


(hmm) correct like really planning is really everything ah, planning is everything okay


negative experiences okay, when was the last time you felt really stressed


, definitely


yup security is definitely a thing


, , deadlines ya especially when uh back then when I was in


back then when we were in poly and then, you know we have all these different modules and the different projects right and, the deadlines is always like especially when it's a big project with a lot of weightage like most of the time I'll be kind of worrying like did I do enough


or am I doing can I be doing more and then like like one week before the let's say one week before the deadline I'll be like thinking really hard like there's probably something more I can do, or like you have a uncooperative uh partner in the project


and then you feel really stress because like I'm already trying to do my part but at the same time you're not so it means that I have to cover for you so that's really, that's that's what really gets me like I won't say stressed but really numbing where I have to


like in this high pressure situation I got to really find a solution in just a short amount of time, that and, I'll say finding a job as well, like adding on to your point especially in COVID, ya like if you want if I if you want for me finding a job with healthcare I'd probably be


like wrecking my brains finding a part-time job just to support myself and my family ya ya I would say ah just those two points on me


getting lost, ya getting lost when I was a kid especially


ya because back then when you were a kid you I mean you don't really know your way around ya, like I had this memory when like I was at the I was at Takashimaya with my mum and dad, and then I was so caught up with the toys that I didn't realise that they already walked off to another section


and then I still remember at that moment right I've never felt so, alone, alone and like helpless, because like like the two most trusted people that, like I I was supposed to be I couldn't see them anywhere


and ya to me that really really scared me like I I I just like broke down on spot started crying and, it's it's thanks to like uh you know you know you everytime when a kid you see a kid crying in the mall you just bring it to customer service right and thankfully there are people kind enough to do it lah but even till now like sometimes I'll just like have these random fleeting thoughts of that memory


ya that it was that traumatic where I like till now I can still remember it, that big of a deal but you you have anything like that,


, a van,


(hmm), !wow!


it's kind of like a near miss ah, !whoa!,


would,


these are minor cuts ah, did that really put you off skating for like a good amount of time, ya


how long do you take before you actually started skating again, (hmm) but that's scary eh ya,


(mmhmm), okay, so our next point is I guess we can discuss like what's the biggest thing holding you back from your goal, (mmhmm)


what do you mean by yourself, it's not is it to do with like confidence


(mmhmm) same same for me


(mmhmm), (hmm)


ya I think we've all been there


I guess on that on your point like holding back ya for me it's like the fear of failure, like you know like what you say you know what you wanna do but at the same time, you not sure you have the will to act on it or even if you do like, failure is


ya to me failure is like the biggest obstacle, like although you know they always say that you know failure it's like it's like how you get back up from the failure and rise stronger all that cliche stuff but it's true ah but initially like


if you are talking about something that you have never done before I'll say naturally ya, like you'll be afraid of failure and it's not easy to overcome it, ya that that's that's one of my biggest fears I would say like I should have believed in myself ya laziness especially like laziness is like a hidden monster man


ya ya, I actually found myself doing a lot of that during, you know back then when we were still in school


like procrastinating was, it's like the thing where if you you you leave it to snowball it gets really bad at the late stage ya I think that's one of the biggest, more underrated, obstacles in life procrastinating


ya, (mmhmm)


ya to a certain extent I would say ya most of it I mean you've because you you kind of have the ability to, change, that's why is that's why it all starts with yourself ah, which actually yeah you're right it's all about yourself


okay, describe a time when things turned out not meeting to your expectations


[orh] it's all out of your control anyway right but that's the worst part


like what you get angry how would it go,


the worst part is when you plan everything kind of like you you kind of had a schedule and itinerary and everything but when just like you did everything you could on your part, ya but it's just like the the uncontrollable variables that failed I guess that's what made you angry right you're frustrated rather


ya because you did so much yet still didn't come to the expectation, (mmhmm)


presentations ya like kind of kind of the same kind of uh the same context where it's all about planning, but the worst part is, I'd say is most of it is


in my case it was in my control like I had the script like this was back in school so I had the script where I was rehearsing in my head then like I was like already expecting myself to like since I already have such a solid, uh road map right I should be able to deliver on the actual day


but when actual day came, I really didn't account for one thing which was like stage fright so, like I that totally came out of left field I did not expect that at all


so that was one thing that also kind of like made me, like realise that you shouldn't be complacent lah especially when you when you expect a expectations are like a form of greed


that you expect someone else to fulfil, and then you will always compare yourself ya to that person and that's kind of like that's really unhealthy as well ya took me a long time to realise that, a really long time


ya exactly exactly that , nobody cares


what happened, , yup communication ah


it's like a natural response right in the house, (mmhmm)


I think we , , I think this was more common back when we were young like I would say secondary school when you know we're at that age where like you know we always wanna


rebel and like no one understands us except our peers, ya like when you're especially with your parents who try to reach out to you and you push them away because in your head you are thinking like they'll never be able to empathise, or sympathise your situation whatever you're going through


ya, I I kind of did the same as like what you did when they were trying to reach out I pushed them away as well, because back then I didn't see that they were actually trying to they were actually like extending a hand to listen to you, it was like right in front you all along but yet like you know you are too blind to see you know when your rebellious phase


like naturally I I guess all of us go through that at some point of time when we were when we were young, , now that I think about it, probably if I had my emotions


in a better place I will say, one thing I could change but would never be able to,


I would say, the fact that I would, !wow! this is kind of hard because there's a lot of things that, there's definitely so many things I want to change like, like the course I studied


or the certain life choices I made, probably one will be, it is kind of personal but, I kind of regret it'll I guess it will be more like something I regretted


it will be, lashing out at my parents ya I I think at some at some point you know as we have done that before right like like we bottle up so much and then be it from work or whatever and we come home we just like unleash everything


and sometimes that unleashing that, that all those feelings or those emotions that you bottle up right really has like a yes it's like it's permanent and especially if it's and my kids I did it to my parents as well so


that was, even till now I'll think like I kind of regret because it's just one like it's a if there's some people that I shouldn't lash out right is definitely my parents as well because they spent their whole life taking care of me


they raised me, they brought me up they put a roof over my head and then back then to the biggest thing I did for them was lashing out at them so that made me really, really really


regret ya I the damage has been done even though they say that they're over it they they kind of knew like what I was going through, I still wish that it never happened,


!wow!,


ya ya , ya it's totally out of your control that's the thing


no matter what you do it's not like ya (ppo), okay


okay yup, alright let's go, okay first stop your best birthday present


think hard and carefully after all we've done , !oi!


ya you were never really a book guy as far as I remember what was the book about, be the miracle


ha yeah that's true that's true ,


so it it's thanks to it that you started reading a lot more lah, who is it by that book, it's a friend lah, as in who is it written by


but it's good lah, , best one I got was probably okay this is this kind of so there was this character I like from this japanese cartoon it's called Domo


ya it's like this brown bear so so when I was young I used to I used to watch the cartoon all the time I I really love the design you know he has this he's this big blurry brown, stature he has this white teeth it's kind of cute so like since young I have really liked him but as I grew older I slowly forgot like you know because as you grow older you stop watching cartoons ah then the thing I was like my


twentieth birthday and my mum got me a a Domo soft toy , , you can see it ya it has this big blurry eyes and stuff


ya and then that brought like uh brought back all memories I had as a kid like watching with my mum the cartoons and stuff so I think it's not it's not really the toy that was the best gift it was like the nostalgia ya it's like back when you think back a childhood where everything was so simple


and thinking like all the good times you had, ya it's the nostalgia that that was really the, the kick , alright, so do you believe in comfort foods


, right I think you disconnected , hello hello can you hear me


ya I think you you disconnected for a second, what's what's the last thing you heard me say,


ah okay okay sweet nah I was gonna ask you like do you do you believe in comfort foods


like everyone has a comfort food right like like a certain food to bring back like something you always eat do you have one,


pizza any particular pizza don't say pizza , let me guess domino's ah


but (hmm) but, but you don't really eat that often right so you don't really rely on it too much ah I'd say


it's not like, how people really like you know when they like ice cream so they'll they'll eat ice cream, mine, my comfort food will probably be


my old school canteen laksa but then it's uh like or rather just laksa in general lah I would say


because like for me when I was in when I was a kid in primary school I used to eat this like canteen Laksa, and even though I couldn't take spicy food like, uh I'll I'll I'll still eat it


because to me it was just it was spicy but it had that kick it had that flavor, , so even though I can't really taste that that ever again I am definitely not going to school anytime soon back


I would still try to find like, Laksa that still taste like that primary school, and once in a while I do, ya man it's like you can never you can still find outside but it's kind of rare so I found one like near, near #toa payoh#


uh block seventy eight market, ya so that's the one where it's the it's the closest thing to my, primary school Laksa so if I really feel like I won't say if I'm down but just once a while where I really wanna feel that nostalgia again right I'll just go back to block seventy eight just to have that bowl


and then, it just brings back like so many memories of primary school even though I couldn't take spicy food back then , ya


like even till now I still can't take spicy food lah as you know, but, all the all all reason I'll still eat just because of the the nostalgia, it's the memories man it's more like feelings,


I know right of all the food is spicy food right , speaking of comfort food right, what's your idea of like uh, a perfect day like is the comfort food included in your perfect day


then I'm quite curious then then what's what's a perfect day to you


, !hey!


ya run's good man gotta keep fit , what type of coffee


(hmm), (mmhmm) americano is like the go to man


(mmhmm) , !oo!, you making me hungry man


, you're quite a simple man lah, for me I would say


I'm definitely not a morning person also so I like to wake up maybe just before lunch brunch ah brunch and for brunch usually, I will I will usually to me perfect wise will be eggs benedict


ya eggs benedict sounds good, ah then after that, I'll probably go back it'll be it'll be what I like to do most ah listening to music new music and music that I like then at the same time probably think of what to cook for lunch


and then if it's a talking about a perfect day right it'll always be pasta, like it's either Carbonara or #aglio olio# ya between those two, pasta is like my cheat code man, like if if you just want to make me like


you right just cook me pasta and we're we're cool we're Gucci, and then after that ya I love Pasta Pasta a bit I love Pasta a bit too much and probably after that


it will probably be music or youtube the whole day, just really chilling, it's just but most of the time I'll probably ya I admit is youtube ah youtube is like a rabbit hole man one you one video and the related videos right it's a never ending backlog ya for and then for me


I'm for me I like, to run in the night like I really like to run when there's no one there's no one out so like maybe on a weekday I'll run like definitely after like after eleven when the streets are quiet


ya I will usually run if I really wanna chill I'll run without music so I can hear everything that's around me, ya that once awhile that feels really good, and then because of the run I'll probably be quite tired and that's why I can have a good sleep


and that's perfect day completed done, ya dude the run hits so much better after work, way better


in army I'd say ya back then when, it was when I think I remember if I told you I was doing uh I was doing some audit or or rather like I'll had I was writing a report for audit


because of all the discrepancies they flagged during the ya so what happened was some uh think head logistics came down to do a audit logistics audit of our whole camp, and


we didn't do so well so my boss was like okay we gotta we gotta head back we gotta draft out a whole a whole explanation report, like to to counter all the so called lapses that they pointed out so it's like


a good two weeks of, like I'll be like once I done on my normal duties in a day I'll be like working all the way until like, two three AM, on the computer just just typing typing and typing away over the audit report and my boss will be up there also so to me when I saw my boss still working that late in his office right I'll think like okay I gotta I gotta support him ah I can't just like let him do all the work because the amount of the amount of data that we're dealing with


it was like, thirty forty pages worth of content that we had to manually type out, it was like a pretty gruelling two weeks, but it was worth it because after that when we submitted the paper right we had a


with a, a drastic improvement in our logistics grading so that was pretty worth it and then and that that pretty much it's just pretty big deal because, the whole the whole base does not need to go through a a re-audit again every audit is basically like


it's not good no one likes be audit especially my CO , ya like those two weeks were were hell man but just hearing the words where like we don't need to re-audit right that's all I needed to hear like my work is done


like those two weeks right were nothing what about you , what happened


, !wah! that's tough eh


oh


that's nice that's nice ya, but initially it's quite hard right


!wah!, like you don't know whether to like you want to accommodate everyone right but the same time is not easy as well


, nice nice


but that was probably like, towards the end right I would say ya I can imagine like the initial part was really hard trying to because everyone has their own reasonings on why they don't want do this this this duty or that duty right


, you mean at my workplace now, (hmm)


I wouldn't say the nicest thing but something that really made my day lah it was when when same thing when I was an army when I had this guy


he was having a tough time in army because she already had three kids, and then there was a fourth one on the way and, the guy was so stressed that he didn't even wanna, he didn't want to book into camp, ya so it was it was getting very hard because my boss was also like


like, he was also trying to like pressure him to just just to come to cause if he doesn't come to camp we can't really account for him you see ya so I just told my boss like it's okay like, I'll settle it, so I had I had to like personally pay pay a visit to his house to visit him when ya so he's with his kids and all


and then, it was really tough because I was on my own, like I wasn't even trained for this like dealing with, like people who have some serious like social problems in this case because he was in his in his situation it's really stressed out he had like three kids fourth on the way he couldn't find a job


and technically he's not supposed to find a job because he's still in the army you see ya so moonlighting is already an offence so


so, we actually took it up with our boss so we discuss lah since because he needs a lot of he needs money to provide for his kids so we we we worked out a situation where he got special approval from our CO, like he books in in the day and once he books out he can go out and work


so initially we were thinking like will that be easy for him, ya but we decided to just give it a shot lah, so we so we give him the options so he booked in, and then every night will he'll book out he will do some of his ad hoc jobs just to support his family and that happened all the way like for a good three months until ORD


so after ORD you know whilst I was packing myself then he actually called me he was like, he was like eh isaac like I know you ORDing already but thanks for protecting me, like when I was at my lowest ya and and back then I back then I didn't expect him to do that I was like oh you know since I served my time you know I just I just leave quietly but to him I guess


it's good that we were able to help him ah, ya so that was really but when he really told me that he really appreciated that help that we did for him right I was really happy to, I was happy that we really made a difference to his life, because back then he was really at his lowest like there were so many things going on ya especially I mean he's a dad already


ya I know right it's really hard lah the more I think about it the more I was thinking like if I were in his shoes right I wouldn't know what call to make as well


, ya ya, yeah exactly exactly like it's not it's not a it's not really it's good that it has a a great outcome


but to see it to actually see it like, in action and he's you can actually see first hand that his situation is really improving right that was really good, ya but really one of the better experiences that I had, in army I'd say


ya yup, ya it's really a case, (ppl) the good and bad stuff [lah] that I did but ya one of the better ones


okay, financial related topic, ya I clicked though ya


so you're asking me right, so


five years ago I'll probably tell myself not to be afraid of to spend money, whereas like you know we came from, a mindset of a scarcity and then our parents are always telling us to save save save but what I would really should have do is


just use that money and, venture into different different parts like business opportunities or like investments or just to even like get experiences you know experience everything in life, ya


that's that's an advice that I would give myself like the five years ago me, what about you


yeah, yeah


alright, yeah


, yeah


ya ya so I started, to, of course watch my budget still but when it comes to like business opportunities or adventures or like just simply things that I wanna do


which I know that is going to benefit me in terms of like ROI like return on investments then I will just move move forward with it, , but I feel like also, we don't get enough financial advice these days in school especially like they should start teaching


in in, I I think like secondary school, no nothing ya


which brings me to the, ya, and so which brings me to the next point like should we DIY or get a financial adviser to plan our finances, with the amount of knowledge that, we have you know or like self education


right


ya,


ya, I actually why not both if you are able to have the time and uh capacity it really depends because some people for me I would DIY a certain part of my financial portfolio and then for another part I will DIY more of like stocks


and then for for, insurance I would go over to, uh a adviser so, so so it's also based on like your circle of confidence which one are you more familiar with


and, the reason why I will go for stocks is because I understand my own risk appetite better than anyone else, so, I would and for adviser they have a better


better knowledge of , insurance right for example like prudential or like AIA, ya so, financial portfolio is really broad they there are so many sectors of it


so my answer to that would be actually why not both when you, when you are able to , contribute to your own portfolio


I would, for insurance basic health insurance I would I would approach, an adviser and if, the adviser is able to value add to my portfolio, and then maybe I can move forward with them


, not really most of them are uh for their health insurance saving plans but then again saving plans is huge like DBS they have their own


high savings yield account, and then, the the rebates the the interest rates so different, ya


mmhmm), ya ya ya ya


yup ya, ya like, , you gotta hit a spending limit, ya


correct that's the main that's the main requirement for savings account like high yield savings account you need to have uh salary credited, but


I think that will be, the basic level of savings because if you put it in the bank inflation is gonna run it over, ya ya ya


but then no and for insurance that's ya only for insurance ya, so you you were talking about your looking into savings account right so how how do you actually manage your cash flow like how much of the


income is allocated savings expenses investments etcetera, ya


!wow!, ,


ya, ya ya of course of course


I know ya, it's a need not a want it's a want not a need, !wow! that's huge man


, ya


ya kind of so I will allocate fifty percent of the savings, and then, thirty percent expenses and then investment twenty percent


ya this is, just a a a rule of thumb that I I I try to follow, but so far it's okay


so far it's okay ya surprisingly ya


it will change if, my ability to earn increases so for example because, your you only need a certain amount of money to maintain your lifestyle right, so if your income increases and then you can then allocate this excess amount into investments savings


that's to me, because I believe if you hit a certain level of, lifestyle, extra money isn't gonna help you do much, ya so


ya so talking about increasing our income right how can we actually


(mmhmm) ya ya, ya, yeah I totally man


I agree because it always boils down to what can you give value to the world you know, so to earn extra income equals to extra value, input to the world


err, the thing is like I I'm just trying to focus on one thing first and then stable that, and then, move on to because if you handles too many things right nothing will move, ya but ya


but I believe to earn extra income is always you know sell something sell a product or a service always boils down to these two, e-commerce, like a side hustle you sell somethings on amazon or


uh online business ya ya, or you can go on like fiverr upwork, you know, ya or offer video editing services that kind of stuff


ya at the end of the day, but, do you have the habit of saving how do you ensure said like you meet your saving goals as you mention you save eighty percent


ingrained right, any, ya man I remember


ya, but I sorry, I see


any specific tips or tricks on how you save money, right


ya, ya


ya I agree, ya,


ya, true true true ya but for me, I will just simply put like the X amount of savings X amount of percentage of my savings into


another separate savings account which I don't have a ATM card for so I know I won't withdraw, or if I want if I want to then like I can't, ya so it it really helps me, so far over the years ya


but how how did you spend your money your money that is not, saving like the the money for, for fun how is it justified and what have you been spending too much on,


I guess we can all agree ya, (mmhmm), ya same


!woo! movies, for me is definitely food as well, ya, like one dinner is like fifty bucks gone


, I mean sometimes it's nice you know sometimes it's nice to sit down and have a dinner, ya but sometimes it's really unnecessary, ya


agree yeah, don't have to wait long


but have you thought about next time if you want to buy a house you know, a big ticket item for example like a car, do you have any strategy, to recommend


correct


ya ya ya


ya so it, ultimately it always boils down to planning and allocation


negative experiences


actually this period and actually is this period of, of of time, in in times of COVID nineteen, a lot of uncertainty a lot of


potholes cause, we just finished army, and then, the economy is bad now, it's not easy to to to start anything ya so


during this period of time it it is a stressful period of time not only for me but for everyone for a lot of people I feel as well, !haiya! I would say is the


is the uncertainty because people always look for security right, ya, ya but during uncertain times is also when, we are pushed and pressured


to, produce something, that is gonna work for us, what about you what makes you stressed, deadlines


ya, , ya ya ya,


what what is the most traumatic traumatic incident that you've experienced


, ya


ya, , ya


ya,


for me it was, an accident while I was skating so I was skating in the night on the road which I shouldn't have, done that but it was it was late night and then there were no cars that's what I thought


and then, suddenly there's a, a van that came approaching me from behind so the the the headlights, kind of caught me off guard so and I was going fast on a skateboard


with a couple of my friends and then when when I see the headlights coming from behind while I was looking back right I fell in and then I lost my balance, so on on the road


ya, and I can see that the van is approaching my direction, literally like literally like he's gonna come into me, but the van braked in time luckily and ya


that was pretty traumatic like I I can literally see my life flashed, in front of me, no no no lie, like as as crazy as it sounds, ya and then after the, fall I can see like I kind of blacked out


and then, luckily didn't have to go to the hospital it's just abrasions, ya, but that was really ya but that was, traumatic enough for me to know that, you should stay off the roads


while you're on a skateboard, , ya, for a good amount of time cause I was injured as well


I would say a good two months, ya, a month and a half for the recovery, of my injuries and another two weeks for the traumatic experience, ya


honestly is myself, like you are the biggest thing holding you back from your goal straight up


it's because, like, you're you're I'm I'm afraid of failing I'm afraid of not doing well enough I'm afraid of how other people look at me uh I'm conscious about how do I look when I do this how how would I fare if I didn't do that


all that ya, I know like, I feel like everyone knows, how to get what they want, and it's also about asking the right questions


you know what you need to do to get to where you wanna go but it's just always, the the fear of, of always the fear of something that's holding you back and that's all you


ya, I really like resonated with this because uh, after after graduation I I I always don't know like what I wanted to do, but ya


like at the back of your head you know what you want, to do, but it's always you stopping yourself, always that's the biggest thing, no doubt that's to me, but maybe to you there's another reason or other reasons that about things that are holding you back


it's true, for sure for sure


and laziness right, and laziness right, holding you back, it's crazy, like I'll do it tomorrow I'll do it later type things


ya ya, this is underrated, but the fact that, you you we have to be aware of what's actually holding us back


so once we know what it is and then we can actually work on it, ya but I would still say it's always yourself, (mmhmm)


ya, I will say when I was planning for a friend's birthday party


it was it was really well thought of, and then I got all the logistics ready, but on the actual day itself the cake the cake didn't come on time


you know, and the the decorations didn't come on time, ya ya, and, the the thing is I used to be really heavy on myself in a sense where when things go south I'll flip


you know, ya but, due to these kind of situations I, came to understand that there are certain things we can control and there are certain things that we can't so we should we should just focus on what we can control at that right now like at that point of time


yeah but that's basically it like it was a huge birthday, party I was planning it it was a close it was a close close one and then, things didn't turn up on time, like food and and guests ya


(mmhmm)


ya, ya out of expectations ya what about you


presentations oh,


alright,


ya hundred percent ya, so like you must have felt like so helpless and then nobody really is there for you right is there another is there another time where you feel like that like nobody cares for you


because for me right for me is, within my family alright, and this this is caused by all because of me


I'm very I'm very, , I don't share much with my, family, so if you don't share people, wouldn't know right but, so naturally they they wouldn't ask and even if they do I will just like shun them away


like you don't don't bother me or like let me just do my thing, (mmhmm), it was it was a hard time it was I was going through a pretty difficult phase in my life, and, and I felt that nobody cares about me but it's the fact that I didn't actually


voice out, so I think voicing out is, is is quite important, like people actually care for you just that, you rejected their their care and concern sometimes


, ya, (mmhmm) (mmhmm)


ya, ya


we we could have changed that right, ya, but then again is there one thing that you wish you could change but you will never be able to


(hmm), ya


, it's very hard to take back,


ya, ya, ya


hope that you can change but it's over right, ya ya, , well for me it's uh family with uh


father , ya ya I mean it's not in my control it's never in my control, but, I just wish that, you know I can have a dad


I mean I do have a dad just that, they are separated but that's one thing that I I I wish that, uh I can experience because, it looks nice to have a


family with both parents and then they watch you grow up they give you, life advices stuff like that, ya, that's just one thing that I wish I could change but I know it's (ppl) out of my control


ya I pressed already, positive experiences


!wow!, my best !wow!, I would I would say I have both actually


gotta gotta give that a I received a book, from from a friend, for my twenty first birthday and I never I never read books I hated reading, but then that book just kind of you can say you it kind of changed my life


I was never really a book guy ya that book was was called be the miracle, and it's ya it's basically a self help book that a friend got for me


ya I like it because it's nothing flashy or, like none of that flashy stuff just a simple book but it packed so much value and then, from then on my reading journey, begun


so I just started picking up more books, and then, because at that time we were entering the army as well, so so I had a lot of time free time and I will just pick pick out books and, and


read during my free time week after week months after months a different book, another one ya, so I would say that was my best birthday present, ya is thanks to that oh just a friend lah just a friend ya


I forgot the author, ya but that was, that was the best birthday present, what about you what's yours


Domo ya I know Domo, (mmhmm)


!wow!, so is it big, that's cute man,


ya I ya, it's, ya agree man, I feel like best presents are always the thought behind the gift rather than the gift itself


that's make that that's what make a a good present


can you hear me ya hello ya oh, you just say your mum got you Domo you guys enjoyed created memories that you guys watched the cartoon together


mine will definitely be pizza, ya, Pepperoni Pepperoni pizza, I don't know it's


domino's ya is my go to, I don't know it's just, it it brings me like, it makes me comfortable having a slice, with that Pepperoni, little chili flakes little cheese yeah what about you


oh ya


nice


primary school Laksa just taste different man, ya


oh ya you mean the seventy eight around your house


interesting, never I never thought Laksa will be your comfort food, ya


actually no , I had never thought about including food but now that you talk about it ya it it probably will be in the diet, so


perfect day will be, waking up, in the morning because I hate waking up late, makes me mad so get up in the morning and then go for a run


and then ya and then coffee I love coffee like, depends on the weather if it's cold


then I'll get a flat white if it's hot then I'll get an iced americano, but, ya coffee always set me straight, and then


probably after that I'll I'll have my breakfast, english breakfast with two two sunny side ups you know, ya and then from then on my day is already perfect


ya I am man life is simple, what about yours


cool, we always cook pasta ah


ya I relate to that, ya


!woo!,


especially especially after a day of hard work right, but talking talking about hard work, you remember a time when you've got appreciated for your hard work


in army ya you did really good in army,


right,


ya,


fulfilling right that must have felt,


for me it's actually also in the army, ya cause I I held a I held like uh basically I held like a sort of like a leadership role and then I had to plan their, roster


so so it was, while everyone was chilling during their free time right I was working planning for their roster for the following day the following week, whatever ya so when


so that happened for about like two months and then everyone just did their, their, due diligence which was great I appreciate them for not, like messing things up but then when I was leaving they they sent me like personal messages like yo like we actually appreciate you for always staying up late and like doing our our our our staff


which I thought was really, heartwarming and I felt really appreciated, cause at the end of the day, it was hard it was hard it was very hard imagine your friends are chilling, and you are doing for them ya


ya, which brings me to the next point, about


the nicest thing someone has ever told you, ya that was probably something one of the nicest thing that I've heard like, you know, staying up for all of us, you know, even though we are the same but you put in so much effort


towards the end yes but


ya, but I believe you received a lot of nice things as well right people tell you, I mean in your life, what's one what's one of the nicer thing someone has ever told you


right, okay,


right


right, oh !wow! !wow!


ya, it's hard for someone to say that as well, cause especially in his, ya, he could be self blaming he could be blaming everything


in the world except for him like why is this happening to him but instead he aware he's aware and he appreciate the efforts that you guys put in for him, that is actually nice man


ya, I guess you can say that's a moment when things turn out better than expected, cause you you guys actually fought for him, and not knowing that it will actually go through cause it's really rare it's really rare


ya, ya


ya, it's a first for me also to see this kind of arrangements in army, but you take your you did your thing man


hi samantha, yes so I think we both took uh loan to get our houses so which one did you use


I also use a HDB loan is there a reason you didn't pick a bank loan


I also but I did see that for bank they do have a fix loan and it still lower but I was more afraid of the down payment because I was thinking of renovation and all that so I didn't want to put cash down for the, for a bank loan


apart from the rate was there anything else that make you want to go with the HDB loan, good wife good wife


for me I was actually for me I actually thought of, worst case scenario I heard like stories where during tough time HDB is a bit more forgiving whereas banks are a bit more


strict on their repayment so I wouldn't have thought of this then but now in times of COVID or any other pandemic I would think HDB would be a bit more, lenient in time of difficulties


correct but I did calculate and almost a month we could be we could have half our payment if we have gone with them but today after seeing how the pandemic is happening I’m very clear with the HDB loan


just how out of curiosity which, if you have a chance now when everything is smooth would you consider refinancing, okay


so when you move on to your next house are you looking to move on to a condo or still within the HDB


same, I do intend and before this period I was thinking of moving to a condo but when I thought of condo they only accept bank loan then that actually was the reason I stop thinking about it as well


yes thankfully I enough in my CPF so we paid the down payment with CPF, only the option I’ve to pay cash but thankfully that also I’m managed to claim back because I've enough CPF


okay and how did y'all decide, I think is quite common mine also is fifty percent but I think I pay a single dollar more because the amount didn't split up equally


so overtime I always say that I’ve paying more to the house to my wife , one dollar more a month


okay, for me I actually at that point both me and my wife we have a healthy amount of CPF so won't worried about that but because we both were quite well in term of careers we didn't manage to get any HDB grant we were so called , paid too much to meet the criteria they recently released it a bit to help me a bonus but I wasn’t lucky enough at that point to get it


eh ha I was so called the wealthy with inverted commas but ya I we did actually have to, like I before I got my house now I actually went through a lot of resale say like went through a lot of uh bidding for BTO but eventually when I got my flat it was a bit last minute I got the sales of balance flat and the keys were available immediately


so I didn't have a lot of time to really source a lot and because the location I got was actually a very good one and I was actually more leaning toward HDB loan I made a quick decision to use it to buy a sale of balance flat


I think there is two big differences one is because mine was already ready I paid about at least a hundred K more because I didn’t have to wait, the my neighbour probably waited about four to five years, the other thing is because it was already already my HDB appointment was also much quicker so I didn’t have appointment one two three I had two and three combined together


I didn’t get it because mine is actually already a premium flat so the fittings come in naturally that means everyone get it and in terms of flooring and so for we were given whatever available was in that estate so it wasn’t like this block only in that estate which are the unit available and then we are still under a queue number


luckily my queue number quite high so I got a good unit that I wwanted, satisfied enough that I want to sell it now, no it was I actually I bought this place as a investment because the location is actually very central so when I bought this place at the same value I could have gotten a much bigger place but because I was planning to actually sell it out I actually took decision that five years I shall


make do with what I gotten and then eventually use this as a investment to move on to bigger things, I have half a year before I can do that


can I think you, I didn’t because I had only a short time I actually decided to use my own cash because I didn’t have the time to apply I had my keys I‘ve to go do the HDB rectifications after doing all of these I very little time to go look for banks and send all the forms that required so


I actually did a personal loan uh I took some from my parents I paid the half myself wipe out on my savings, how about you what loan did you take or did you come out with it yourself


okay but did y'all I see just go around to look at the rates for a loan or did y'all already from a start know y'all are going to do from your in laws


true I agreed that was something I thought about as well I didn’t want to take from my parents but they more less said the same thing as you it’s good to have uh this loan as an option cause now I believed the new guides is we cannot borrow more than certain percentage of our income so


in a rainy day I would have thought I would be able to at least take a personal loan out of , the banks


ah no as I was thinking of banking because we already have uh if we have taken a renovation loan and if any other education loan there’s only a certain number of amount you can take out so in time when I need a big amount says because of wealth ah health or any retrenchment when I need a large amount of money


if I needed to take a loan I think the renovation will eat up into my budget, I believed ah you are looking to move on are you looking to buy a second unit and as a investment or to lift in or are you looking to just move on all together


okay, why aren't y'all thought like just to buy the condo as a second unit and then keep the current say to rent or to rent out the condo have you ever have you all discussed about this before


I see I actually before this period I was thinking buying a second property and renting it out that’s mean I wanted to stay here get the second property but, when I was looking at the stamp duty and the amount I need to pay I wasn’t sure it would match up to how much I’m getting the investment for with my amount I can probably only get a smaller condo rent it out


but with the stamp duty with the down payment I need to pay for the condo I eventually back away so I just wondering if you guy thought of it as well


correct


right


I actually was okay previously because as in not say I'll be so comfortable I can buy a condo in orchard but I was thinking more of using the Si Si supplement income and maybe top it up a bit make it


make it like you know suffer a few years but in two to three years you’re become comfortable enough that maybe I can take some time off or to go study again, but my plans I think it’s a good wake up called having this pandemic around it make you think that you cannot just think of investment you also must think of rainy day and in term of


putting off investment not just in houses but in more like investing in things that you can liqudify immediately so that I can get the cash out if I need to have you all thought of any investments, apart from houses


okay okay, I did try to listen or go to some of the classes like what your husband went to but got a bit too technical whenever I see numbers I go blank so when I saw about the shares I saw about what needed I think it takes a lot of time when you need to really sit down and look at your shares and stock and


monitor market trends I was afraid I didn’t have enough time to do that so I eventually back the way and I was I also thought of other investments like , I think maybe is a very cultural thing but we always believe in buy gold and storing it for the future and gold value is always quite


quite stable generally


I’m not thought about business but I’ve been approached by a few companies whether I want be a silent investor in return for shares in their companies so they said that this their business plan I’ve to put in a small amount and take the percentage of the profit


I did think about it but I always thought it was good not to mix business with friends and if something goes wrong their business goes down I don’t want have to chase them for money and so for so it’s better to always go with the bank call and institution chances of you losing money isn’t that high


friends or former colleague, so in terms of your next property are you all just moving out because you all don’t like the location or are you also thinking like the next house I’m going to live permanently or are you using that for investment like my house I bought it for investment your next house are you thinking investment wise or just to move out


okay that’s what I thought as well but just the comment I heard so far that all facilities look good now but when you actually stay there you barely use them


can I think in Singapore one of the assets that rarely depreciate would be investment so as in your property as an investment so maybe y'all should take that into consideration as well I meant location location location so if you get a good location you don’t have to worry about your investment anymore


I don’t so me and my wife we have this plan where I take care of all the bills she does the saving so she has a certain portion of her income going into a joint account that we are not supposed to touch so it’s joint so that both of us must approved to it going out that’s the only way because I don’t have a decision plan to save


okay


I can't I don’t think I have that discipline I will end up using it after forty five


negative experiences


I think there’s a lot going on a lot of protest a lot things and I just feel like, I find that nowadays times it’s easy to get angry about almost everything and anything there are some really justified anger but for all of it to come out at the same time just make me think that the world is a very depressing place right now


I agree I’ve to agree I think I have an experience of that as well I just feel like with the legal system it’s easier for those with money to get away and even if you are not the guilty party if you don’t have the proper like


I was reading this case and rental now with COVID a lot of people can’t make rent so the landlords are actually finding ways to get rid people from their own flat by cheating them out of their contracts and because they’re already poor they cannot afford a lawyer a lot of people are being kicked out illegally


so I caught this in a netflix show but when I thought of it in this bad time and you want to cheat people out that’s really make me feels so angry and even more because I feel like we can’t do anything about it that really make me feel like I meant as a fellow human why have we become so


it’s not even say being human we’re being animalistic by behaving this way the fellow human in, I mean we all here to make money we need money to survive but to, prey on the person during a tough time that kind of things make me really not want read the news or watch shows that show this kind of investigative journalism


uh no it's actually watching a show by hassan minaj the he does a weekly podcast on the US uh situation so I was actually reading over that I did hear about that epsign case but same thing I just mentioned to you I think I get very angry so I rather skipped it


it is it is and my guess sometimes, we just have to accept it but it’s getting too common like we use to hear these kind of cases maybe once a year or it happened so rarely that it become such a big deal nowadays this thing happens and it only becomes a highlight for a day because next days something even worst happened


it is it is how about you personally is there like times you felt that you were treated unfairly rather than we talked about the world


I did and for me is a combination of things like like what you said I actually was from a previous place where we all work really like a family because of doing shift work use to cover each other like if we couldn’t get leave on that day I use to take over the person shift


act like I’m that the person working all my reports I will signed off at that person so we used to cover for each other and maybe because is me I use to feel like do this a lot for my colleague but I’m also a very private person so when I had a rough period where a lot of things happening with my family


I’m sure you know I my nephew and nieces are very important to me so when things happened to them and I had to leave work and I tell people to cover for me I started feeling everybody reactions to me became different, and then my boss is someone I actually treat like a friend he came to me and told me that people are telling that they don‘t want to work with you because


uh there was this instance where you left work a bit earlier so when they started telling me all these I that actually was the main reason I left a job I love and I build myself to the point that I was next in line but I left because of my colleagues I felt they didn’t do the same thing for me I did


the only difference between them and me is they used to come to me tell me their soft story and I will help them up but because I choose to tell them my personally issue and that’s that they thought I was, making use of them so I left to a different position even though I didn’t want to


but when I move over even there I second combination I was supposed to join a, I supposed to join netflix actually but eventually that post got retracted and I joined the company still but I was in a different department and every day the workload was crazy they will just piling work onto me so I actually understood what you meant by anxiety attack I used to see the screen go blank or go


I cannot take it anymore I walked to the toilet to hide everything sit in the toilet and think okay I cannot do this I cannot do this and then I tell myself I got things to pay I need to be stronger and come out so I know what you meant and I think I understand maybe is wrong to say understand but because work is


the place we spend more hours some time than actually our house so having a good work background and having supportive colleagues and bosses especially make a very big deal in our sanity especially


I think I know what you meant I maybe when I was younger I never thought that mental hurt was something that can really affect me I was physically there but mentally I was very unwell and I actually did actually went to check my insurance for mental health and how much it can support me in that because


I started feeling that that was the only thing that was really wrong with me and maybe physical health you can put a medication or you can take, other body part can help cover that but from mental health is really very important so I think that primary especially even now for travel I meant the travel industry everyday I go to work I see an email from my boss I hoping that it doesn’t mean my company closing down or it doesn’t mean that I’m going to lost my job


so everyday I go to sleep thinking today I’m working hopefully tomorrow I still have a job and all the times I wake up at night thinking do I still have a job and I’m actually on the fifty percent reduction now so


to sustain where I end now I’m actually having to work even those this where I I‘m supposedly on leave I’m on unpaid leave and I’m still on working too but we cannot complaint I guess because their people who do even have fifty percent I think is unfair but at the same time I still have it better than others so


I can’t really complaint with other people because they have lost far more than me and that also I feel unfair like, I think it’s fair enough that I should be able to tell people that I am suffering because I’m taking reduction by not fault of my own I didn’t do my work badly I’m doing better than most people and my department is actually one of the department that’s extremely busy I am


working crazy hours part yet I take a reduction to support other people who are more less at home watching Netflix so feeling that everyday and seeing the flood of email coming in and of work and every now and then they come out with the town hall and meeting and ease them I’m going thinking


why am I working so hard today they can just say that we no longer need you


ya and I meant usually I would say that if something I did wrong I can think of something to do to make it better but nothing I do now is going to make plane flies again nothing I do now is going to make people travel more and because I work with corporation


I’m too small to make a change and, that’s the part that really eating me like I actually gotten to the place where I work truly hard to get to and if I give it up to go to another career I have to start all over just because it is not a child industry and I just feel like I've not done anything wrong but yet I’m in a point where I have to make very tough decision and


the unfairness is eating me inside, it didn't make me think that there are some industries that are crisis with like what you said essential services normally most people don’t want to join them but


these are times where we have to start thinking do I just want a job that’s good or do I want have a job that stable in all, all time frames


and I get that as in I find that generally human when we are in the tough spot we tend to share that with others and we make other people miserable together with us it’s quite hard to for me personally I don’t look at the news that much nowadays because everyone sharing how measurable they are


social media sorry go ahead, sorry go ahead


I agreed and I I did take note just with news I did deal with social media as well like I used to go social media to unwind to get better but nowadays I go social media people are talking about how many cases here criticising this criticising that you seeing all of that didn’t make me unwind just make me more


angry and more depressed so I took it to myself to find more hobbies to go to but I hope things get better because I think at the start of this I did mentioned the whole world is getting we are having more strikes more riots more protests


because I think the world as a whole is just (ppb) getting more miserable together we need more joy and fun in the world


positive experiences, I think whatever I had so far I’m looking to sustain it like I think I reach a point where I’m doing well in my job I have a house to pay for so I don’t have time to even think of giving up I need to make sure I’m always maintaining and maybe even improving where I am for you


I think actually in education you can’t go wrong it’s always an investment and sometime even if we don’t get like a related job the diploma or the degree would likely open doors for you to explore new things for me I am actually doing a job that actually just came because I was doing well in a different


side so my diploma in a different field has actually open up to where am I now so you never know and it’s always a good investment and I think COVID or whatever flu that come off in the future having a cert will not that value will not go down


I do I do actually and I’m very happy about staying at home because I get to wake up late now this I wake up fifteen minutes before I've to start work just nice no need to worry so much and I’m I guess for my industry I’m in a treavel industry is a bit hard hit


I’m very thankful that I’m not affected as bad as some of my colleagues are so in this point of time I had thought about whether I should looking as a backup in case this industry doesn’t recover as well as it should but for now I’m actually very thankful because I’m doing what I like


I move on to a position I like I reached the level where I think I earned and I’m very appreciative for that just hope that things get better then I can start demanding for more pay again


previously I was more in the operation side of travel industry I was there for about twelve years but I’m now doing project management in project enrichment I’m like a baby ah I’m only six months there so it’s a completely new role even though exactly same company I’m doing a lot more and


while is challenging I’m finely feel like I’m not going to work and doing the same thing I’m actually doing completely different things and sometime I sit down after the day wonder I did the right choice but most of the time I’m very happy because I think you need the challenge to go to work if you do the same things everyday after awhile


it get very mandate and redundant


good for I think you should but you don’t feel like what I think every like you just said lah like everybody at home but you are the only one one of the few people that are going to work is there something you enjoyed maybe lesser crowd


I actually I actually like to going out like I sometimes when just I need to clear my mind I use to take the bus sit down and nobody sit next to me just go for a bus ride to clear my mind so I did like that part of circuit breaker, but I’m also very happy that when I’m at home I started discovering thing I can do my gym membership couldn’t come in I I started cycling I haven’t done that since I was a kid now this I’m started cycling I’m going very long distances


so in a way this bad time help me find something I used to love doing and now I’m currently love doing


oh I like your patience I think if I start the first field I just give up and walk away cannot I don’t have the patience


, and and and and it’s good also it helps you unlock puzzles in your mind so you also getting something out of your fun times


actually did something you used to do very frequently I started baking I started making more food at home I make a cheese cake out of the oven I still don’t how I did it and I still don’t know how it taste good but ya


she never give me , okay I need to go add I'll add stock more cookies from her then


I can tell you one that involved your partner and how he likes to say, how’s he likes to look at certain people and enjoy the view, ya but that’s why since like I we can have ten people in musical when no one else know we’re talking about


could


you had to bring me do it right, okay ya and it’s good lah I meant this joke I think has been with us for quite a number of years and till now no prompt can still make us laugh so


but, I actually can do one thing now already but I’ve two things I want to do I want actually go to the beach swim feel the water the second thing is I enjoy watching movie so they haven't open cinema yet and I enjoy watching movie alone so once that open the first thing the first day they open the cinema I think I’ll been in the cinema already


how about you, yes you better live there sometime


uh ya I think it should be that the places you’re mentioning seems to be opening up and thank god I was standing as singaporean and I've a passport being what it is it should be opening up faster for us than everyone else


ya apparently they do here as well, is there anything like you are thankful that because of the pandemic came you realised about yourself personally


same I also for me I felt like learned how to compartmentalised like for me I used to always make sure that when I leave work I leave work at my office doorstep I come home I don’t think about work but now when I working from home the first few weeks I started working until midnight one AM


and then I’ll wake up just before work so my timing went haywired I became more stress and started to take a tow on me so after awhile I realised that I actually had it in me to be able to break it down I didn’t need to like leave it like exactly I don’t have to leave it at my office


I can choose to say that this is where I work ends this is where life ends that’s when I started like baking I started going cycling it like I think previously I did mention to you I don’t have discipline this showed me that I have the discipline in me by choose to work on it so in the way I have to thank


COVID uh make me more, of an adult , ya ya ya I really did feel like a child I think some part of me growth up more to COVID so, silver lining in a


whole thing, in terms of being at home like did dating change for you and your partner how did your partner choose to make you happy or what make you really appreciate your marriage more maybe


so in other word you bullied your husband because it was your birthday, I thought waiting was like everyday, okay okay if say the same thing happened opposite that means is your partner‘s birthday how do you think you’ll have surprise him or done something for him


okay that make sense, uh thankfully I didn’t have anything important happened so I wasn’t tested but I’ll just thinking what I would do if extended I think for now, I think effort if you’re doing something homemade if you’re doing something like or even delivering without them knowing what they want that effort now will be more like previously we gone out to work and a lot of people wish you it'll be hidden but now it becomes


something more clear that how much those people means to you


ya la


okay lah but I think this this way it make more it make her laugh way more I think don't you think she never forget this cake ever, I know you you like to attend concert you like to go for live event is there any that you already had to cancel recently


catch a few but not a lot to be honest as same I like the live event I mean we don’t have a choice but another way


and go for a live event feel it for me I missed out on football like every year usually around this period they have international teams coming over and we get to go watch, this year it was cancelled also wait another year to see big teams coming down to singapore


uh thankfully I've not bought yet it’s still when this thing happened is when usually they sell tickets so we a bit lucky in that sense


!wah! it is because this thing had been happening yearly for at least last ten to fifteen years and I been going at least for last ten years so it feels like something like almost like a birthday thing because this is something I used to treat my friend whose birthday falls around that time


so used to always be like something I always do in my uh best friend during his birthday so this year feel like I’m going to miss out his birthday even though it’s haven’t even happen yet, ya have to think this year really make you think about alternative


err almost everyday I think my wife is a crown so she does a lot of stupid things like she wants the bank called her and she was literally the bank she screamed at them and put down and then they called her back she still scream at them and put down bank then I tell her why don’t you called the bank back to verify is them


she refused she said by she calling them it will still be a scam so when she said that I looked at her and then I just laugh and laugh at her and then eventually she got it, how about you


lucky you lucky you


part one financial related topics, err I used the HDB loan what about you


err ya I think so because uh the bank loan I think they have this floating rate then uh we are not very sure like how the interest rate will be so we decided to get the HDB loan


since it at a rate of two point six what about you


err I think because my husband also said to go through with the HDB loan so we just do that


ya actually it happened to my own mother also like she missed a huge payment because she need to be uh uh retrench so ya so I think they are still quite okay with that


ya same, uh I’m not too sure I probably leave it to my husband


uh I’m not too sure but uh we are quite interested in those executive condo so ya what about you do you intend to leave like after five years


oh okay okay, yeah


so when you uh get your house do you use CPF to pay for your down payment, ya


oh okay okay nice ya me too ah same we clear our CPF everything and then I think in during that time they also asked like uh if you want to pay by the CPF whether


uh like what is the percentage they want to err they want us to contribute so like we can choose like I pay fifty percent my husband pay fifty percent or something like that, yeah, uh we paid fifty percent each ah to be fair what about you


you, ah so one dollar more ah


okay fine so ya because I think when we first err like, decide to ballot for the house we are not married yet so we actually err sign up under the fiance scheme


and then I think because of that feel I was wondering also because during that time I wasn’t like so I was worried that every month we still need to fork out some cash lah for the uh loan but then thankfully after like three and the half


three and a half years we err both of us we our pay increase so we don‘t need to like err fork out additional cash lah, what about you


oh okay ya I think me and uh my husband we also get like about five K only because we stay near his parents that's about it so apparently like six like more than I think with I I remembered I think the cut off was six thousand


so apparently if you earn more than six thousand you are very wealthy you don’t need additional grant


oh okay but like the sales of balance flat and the normal BTO is there any like difference to the sales price, like comparing previously if you balloted and now err like the time compared to the time where you get the sales of balance flat


!wow!, okay, okay


uh okay okay but then err like do you get the same option like because I remembered during my BTO they can uh they allowed us to choose like the floors and the tiles and the doors and something like that do you also get the option to do that


okay


oh okay so you are sad quite satisfied with your current place, then is not very satisfied lah ya


okay so how long have you been into the list already, can you sell your house soon, okay that’s quite fast, maybe you can look about look uh look for options


can I check with you if you get any uh loan when you renovate your house


uh okay okay, we didn’t take any loan we actually borrowed from my parents in law they were very kind to give us a loan without any interests ya and then I think we paid them err in like two years like monthly installment lah


yeah, err ya I think before we got married we actually uh my husband actually discussed with his parents so before we even get a house they have already agreed that they’re going to lend us money lah and of course if you get a loan from your relatives


is much better than if you get a loan from the bank like if let’s say there is anything err err like there is err let’s say suddenly you get retrench or what, then it at least your parents in law like you can negotiate with them like say maybe this month you pay lesser and stuff like that


but then we were thinking also if we get a reno loan from like banks then err we were need to pay additional also because of the interest rate


ya but I think personal loan is err or you mean personal loan as in like get loan from your relative ah


oh okay I I I I didn’t I didn’t know that, K that's something to remember


err I think we discussed like maybe we want to move away from where we are now because where we are now is actually quite Ulu ah then err ya I would we have been thinking of the condos nearby


ya sort ya, no not really because I think err my husband is more keen on moving than me ya so still discussing I think we have about one year


four more year before we can sell our house


ya I I I read a bit about the stamp duty and then uh they say like I think you need to fork out cash like for the first uh hundred and eighty K you're supposed to pay one percent, and then following two percent three percent and four percent depending on what is the sales price lah so and then I think for second property like for us if we want to get uh an additional apartment then is twelve percent leh


so err and twelve percent is the uh purchase price lah or market value or whichever is higher so I think like twelve percent for me now is a bit high ah so probably I won’t go for a second property


but for you is twelve percent high or are you okay with that


okay okay


ya, for me no but I know that my husband is doing some shares things ya so I’m I’m not a very into the shares investment and stuff like that so I wouldn’t know a lot lah and I think he went to some workshop and


and some like like tuition classes so for that ya, what about you do you have any other investment like you are considering other than the house the condo


okay ya I think uh for uh me and my husband I think we discussed about being like small business owners then uh like some of the things that we had considered like selling uh ah because there is a period of time where I was very into like nail polish


so we thought of that to bring in nail polish and selling them and all the stuffs like that or and then another one I think we thought of was uh bubble tea since is the trend now and I don’t think the trend has liked gone down gone down for awhile


but like it’s coming back again so ya, have you ever thought of being uh like small business owner like you and your wife


so those people that approached you are usually friends ah, oh okay, I see


I think for us we just want to like move out because I think we we have been in this area like all our lives almost so I think we want to move out and then I think the concept of the condo with the amenities and all that really uh


really attract us ah


ya I I I think so I don’t know


ya maybe we can think about it, so do you have like uh like how do you uh save money monthly


for me I take out err like err what you called it, the endowment plan ya so that endowment plan I actually just err just got it like a few years ago the other one was my life insurances


ya so I think the life insurance also like double as the saving plan so I think when I reach forty five I can either choose to take it out or like uh put it inside there until I die


there are what some of the injustices of the world that makes you angry


ya I think there is a lot of like anger anxiety around, but for me because uh I think you know that I really like to read like crime true crime stories so I actually err chance upon this podcast err about this guy where err he was indicted for a murder of his ex girlfriend


but he said that he is innocent lah so I think since young like this kind of err justice err cases ah always err affected me like for me I feel like err


why are there injustice to this kind of people so ya for me I don’t like it when I know that you are innocent but you are still punished for things like that


did did you watched the uh the show you’re talking about is it the jack free ex time


ya, ya !wah! I was so angry you can ask you you can ask my husband I keep just uh I cannot take it ah it’s just so unfair


that's quite sad, I guess so like like I remembered there was once uh at work uh it was a very depressing period for me uh during that one year at uh care industry that I work in


I uh went to work everyday having negative thoughts, err like I remembered I think about uh like oh if let’s say I get into a car accident it mean that I don’t have to go to work so I will have negative thought like that and I didn’t really shared with anybody not even uh my husband


because like for me uh I usually, previously before I joined the health care industry I was a a very confident person because I have a very nurturing boss at my previous work place but after I come to this uh organisation to work right everything just uh


just uh how to say like everything just didn’t go well for me, firstly uh my mentor she is a very uh very critical person so like when you do something wrong she will like reprimand me in front of my other colleagues even though the other colleagues is from other departments


but then uh, they will see and then they will be like !eeyer! why sam like that one so I during the time also I was very afraid of what people think of me, so uh I remembered uh one incident whereby uh during a meeting we had the meeting with uh


I think six HOD from different departments so uh my mentor uh stopped me in the middle of the meeting because the meeting, I‘m supposed to chair it and I’m I'm the secretary


so in the middle of the meeting she actually stopped me and then she told everybody that Sam didn’t come to me regarding this, so during the time I did not think about uh like what is she trying to do I just continue giving my presentation end of the presentation one of the other colleague come to me and said sam is there anything going on between you and the girl and the the colleague the mentor


so I said actually don’t have what happened ah what did you see because sometime when other people uh what other people see you won’t be able to see it because you are like at the at the in the situation so she told me that she actually observed this this happened and then after that I thought back


I was thinking why why why is she doing that so at few of time I feel very uh, very upset like uh why is she trying to do like in front of all the HOD I meant maybe because my previous work place we are all very uh very cooperative so uh when she did that it gives me a cultural shock


so and then uh there was the time where I had a lot of mental issues like uh I started having negative thoughts I started having panic attacks which I think you don’t know I didn’t say ya so


ya and then uh and then another thing is also because the benefits there are actually very good so I think I stick on because of the benefits I regretted it I should have like left earlier because it really screw me up


like it’s been two years since I left the place but still I have like anxiety I have panic attacks when different things trigger me, ya what about you mel do you like any like time when you feel like you have been treated unfairly


ya like previously I also the there was a case that make me leave my previous work place was because uh over there is very complicated I actually reported to two uh the two HOD


and one my direct reporting officer is actually a senior manager, so we are all from different departments so uh one day one of the HOD came to my senior manager and told my senior manager that uh sam has been here for like one year but


I don’t know what is she doing uh is it like she never do anything this past one year, I didn’t know that, until my senior manager came to me and told me that uh sam you know this happened so uh I going to change department for you


so during that time I was on edge lah like I don’t know whether I want to stay in the same department but stay at the same department but stay in the same department but leave, uh I want to leave entirely, so uh the next day uh the next day I received a call


from my current work place, uh they said that uh they need, they asked if I‘m opened to immediate need uh, opportunities so I told them that I’m open to opportunity but I’m currently not looking to change any jobs lah so uh the next day I took MC I told my senior manager that I feel very unwell lah she knows that I’m taking MC because of my mental health also


so she say okay take however time I need and then decide lah so uh I went for the interview spoke to the boss in a very uh in a very casual uh, we actually had the interview at coffee bean so it was very casual after the interview I told my husband and my friends that uh I definitely getting the job because uh I’m like the perfect person due to my previous experience but then still I’m wondering


like, should I leave should I stay it’s like two more months to a bonus that stuff like that then uh, , I called my mum and then my mum asked me uh how is how is your day uh how was your last working day and then I just broke down then I know already I cannot stay in this case any more lah because everything over there like


like it caused me anxiety until now right because previously my mentor right she likes to call my name and she will sam every time she called my name right something bad is happening, so uh it


it create a habit for me so even now ah when my senior exec call me sam the first thing I’ll be thinking shit I’ve done something wrong, so so, I I regretted not leaving the place earlier lah so I think mental health is very important


so I think that was a a time where it was I was very very low during that period of time I think my mum had kind of scare also, so like everything is just coming together lor so I just feel very uh down very low ya


oh shit


ya understand I I cannot say I understand also because I‘m in the essential service industry so uh to me I did like I can feel because my uh mum also she got retrenched


because of the COVID nineteen, so ya I think like right now maybe they are like more unfairness than previously


ya, yes


actually I also didn’t think of that but because of the COVID nineteen and then I started thinking I actually is very good that I’m in essential services like I wasn’t affected by any pay cut and stuff like that and my company actually like give us wellness allowance additional


like uh grocery allowance and stuff like that so I’m actually very grateful but like around me I see a lot of unfairness lah


ya same I actually stop reading, uh I actually stopped reading the news like two weeks into the circuit breaker because like everything is so negative with the uh hong kong there's riot then india there's riots also and then like just a lot of negative news uh


and then I just stopped I don’t want to read any news anymore but then some people will think that, like I should be realistic I should know like, what happen in the world and stuff like that so, for me I think that I don’t want to let the negative emotions affect me seeing how like negative thoughts uh affect me previously so ya stop reading the news


yup mel so what makes you persevere


I think for me like I want to like improve myself I I actually thought of like taking my masters degree but then uh seeing like the pandemic and stuff like that and then uh I also thought of like err


getting like uh HR diploma or degree because like I’m in training and then uh thought it will be good lah but then with the pandemic and everything I thought maybe I should like keep my money first


ya actually is quite true uh so I’m actually quite thankful that I’m in essential services when everybody was working from home I still need to go to work so for me actually uh it it it doesn’t really impact me a lot lah where I see other people where work from home then they nag


they need to this one and that one but for me uh it’s quite normal because I still go to work I still have lunch at uh at work even though we cannot have lunch outside previously ya but then


ya and I think I kind I enjoy what I’m doing now, training so I just stop at and I would want another like certificate to like uh, to supplement what I’m doing currently


do you like your job


ya I think for me uh like when it’s come to my pay I think my industry we uh we are quite uh stable, like because I think because we are partly also because we are semi government so uh like every year the bonus and the increment is quite fixed so I’m also quite happy


that uh it’s that I’m in this industry now I have been in this industry for like seven years I think what about you how long have you been in the travel industry


ya tell me about it so I also hope like like in the future I get like a different role or something that is the reason why I wanted to take HR also


actually I I enjoy it a lot because like uh when I take the transport there’s nobody but now everybody is back, I still go to work the same way I still see my colleagues I still see people that I trains my trainees ya so at I I quite like the period of time actually now there is a little bit of uh anxiety because like everybody is out uh we are not sure if we get a second round


but for now I think I’m quite happy my calendars are filling up with activities I like like yoga and stuff like that , what about you


ya actually I had a new hobby during this circuit breaker period like because usually saturday and sunday I will go for yoga I will chill by myself in the park and stuff like that but then uh seeing the COVID nineteen I’m a little bit afraid to go out also


so I pickup a new hobby which is like buying the door house kits ah and I started doing it and then puzzles as well so it has been like many years since I’ve done puzzles so ya I bought like one thousand puzzles two thousand pieces puzzle


and then I just started doing, no because I think when I do that also the time passed very quickly


like I put my head down I started doing and then eh two hours gone okay time to sleep


ya I think it calms me down actually, oh ya


ya but for for me for me I totally didn’t touch baking during this circuit breaker period like everybody is posting like the burnt cheesecake the what daguna coffee stuff like that I never touch anything any baking stuff and


I just received a home a package of homemade cookies from one of our friends, she never give you


sure okay can you tell me an inside joke like we have been friends for some times, that when you think to


okay I think that one is not appropriate, okay I know what you’re talking about but I think for me uh for me the one uh funny joke that uh that is in our group of friends is the red one and the right and the red red one and the white one


no because I’m talking to you, sometimes


I know right , so mel when this whole pandemic ends what do you want to do


okay uh for me I want to travel you know I always uh likes travelling so I‘ve been missing uh bangkok a lot, ya so I hope to go like this year


like at least uh by december but I’m not too sure now uh we actually wanted to go to penang, but then uh it was cancelled because of COVID nineteen


ya but but another thing is also like if let’s say we were to go to malaysia or what then I think we need to pay like some money to stay in their quarantine facility also so I think maybe for the time being I just stay in singapore lah


realised about myself personally ah uh I didn’t know that I can stay at home for so long for long period of time because uh we had a training our training stopped for like two weeks


so for the two weeks I was like working from home but then as a training person you can’t work from home giving training especially for my industry so ya I was just doing nothing like for the fourteen days until I go back to work so I didn’t know like I can stay at home


for fourteen days doing my puzzles my doll house the online yoga and stuff like that and then I realised that maybe I become introverted throughout the circuit breaker , how about you


so you feel like a child previously, it’s nice good


uh during the circuit breaker was my birthday


so I couldn’t go out when uh I have this traditional tradition that since I started working uh I won’t go to work during uh, uh on my birthday so during the circuit breaker even though I’m working from home I choose to take leave so I don’t need to touch my computer don’t need to do anything okay and then I just sleep until afternoon and then started receiving deliveries


from my friend, so I had I think I got like three cakes uh some ice cream some waffle some brownies and then uh ya my husband also went to uh, went to takeaway some uh because I had craving for crabs so he also went all the way to takeaway some crabs for me ya so I think that was a a very special birthday


ya if not when, uh ya but on my birthday more lah


I think it will be the usual like what’s he want to eat I bought I bluff I’ll buy for him, and then ya during the circuit breaker period also uh my best friends had her birthday so ya we also send cakes over


so I think that’s the only way right during the circuit breaker how can you show love to your uh loved one, what have you done did you try to surprise anybody


yeah, ya, ya actually that’s true that’s true I uh one of my friends uh birthday she was my ex colleague but we became very good friend so is her her birthday was in may and then I tried to send a cake to her and then uh on the cake I mentioned that I mentioned for the company to write from your secret admirer


I couldn’t believe it so so when she when she received the cake she asked me sam did you uh send the cake to me then I’m like how you know oh your name is there right


ya ya probably ya I know right


yup, err no but uh in august I think uh mayday was coming a boy band from taiwan but then they postponed it to next year, ya and then uh some of my idols are actually coming but then they had to cancelled because of the COVID nineteen so uh other than that uh but they also did like online concert did you watch any online concert during the circuit breaker period


yeah


yes yes, did you did you did you like buy any ticket and then have to cancel or was it like uh, like after the COVID then they decided not to come so you don’t even need to buy any tickets


okay, okay so maybe you are not so disappointed back to if you have to buy the ticket and then after that they cancel it


you can do something else for him then, can you tell me is there a time when you laugh until you cry


uh for me actually because I still go to work and my uh my colleague is account I think like your wife so ya we were laughing today I think we were trying to plan what basketball today at work


ya so it was like quite fun and when especially everybody is working from now ah all HDB all the HOD right are not around so we don’t have any uh, any uh bosses around and then my boss actually uh shifted to another office because uh for the I think is because for the what you called it uh they called it what business continuity plan or something like that


so my boss is not with me at so ya we just have fun [lor] (ppl)


alright, part one financial related topic so the first question is do you have a saving account if so share your experience and details so okay I'll start first saving account I have just my POSB kids account that was created like when I was very young but then I've been told that there is a stanchart account with two percent per annum


so I was like ya I should move all my money into there to get like the two percent , but then again I also heard that because of COVID they like reduce the percent to one which is like quite negligible it's like I put in one K it's only like ten dollars per year, and also is like I'm quite lazy to move it there lah okay what about you I'm sure you have some sort of savings account


oh, oh okay ya another thing I don't like about my DBS I mean my POSB kids account is like I mean I'm like twenty one years old going twenty two then let's say like I buy something with my debit card then like my mum can see exactly what I'm buying, like from exactly like what kind of retailer like what's the name of the shop and like ya then she can even like try and inquire like what did I buy so I think maybe I'll try and start my own account lah like move my money there just so like I get privacy


oh, but I can't use paylah to buy things off like for example lazada or amazon


ya like sometimes you know you go online shopping like there was once I bought stuff online like on ASOS I think then I spent like a hundred dollars then my mum is like what did you buy at ASOS that's a hundred dollars then I'm like I'm like how do you know ya


ya, ya, ya I mean especially like at the part where you you are still in school like maybe secondary school or JC or what and then you spend money and then they're like eh you know I give you allowance it's not for these kind of things and then there's like that whole that whole tirade


ya, doesn't sound that appropriate you know , alright so okay I think we've exhausted that question so next question do you have a high yield bank account or a fixed deposit if so share experience and details


so for me high yield bank account I don't know what's considered high yield to be honest but definitely my POSB kids it's not high yield cause it's point five percent eh no it's point zero five percent per annum if I'm not wrong which is like a pittance it's lower than the inflation rate


so in a sense my money is like getting smaller every year technically my savings account ya,


I mean I think for high yield account it's mainly for people with really large chunks of cash like I'm talking like hundreds of K millions it's not going to make much difference if I have like one thousand dollars high yield account so what it's it's it's it's a negligible amount over a year so it's not really applicable to like young people like us


or or even most singaporeans most singaporeans wouldn't have that kind of money just sitting there you know they will like use it to buy things or like invest


I I'm not sure about the average singaporean to be honest but I would think most people have some form of investment with you know either in stocks or like or you know whatever mutual funds or or their bank stuff


I I suppose so so fixed deposit do you have money in fixed deposit in banks , fixed deposit if I'm not wrong fixed deposit is like, it's like you put the you plant money there for like moderately like a medium term length and then they give you like slightly higher than your your bank's interest rate


so it's like one percent plus one usually below two percent or around two percent for like one year two years , it's not that attractive but it's very safe cause the only way you can lose your money is like if like you know like DBS like like collapses or like goes bankrupt lah which is


not that likely ya, ya ya touch wood ya I have a lot of money there , ya it's very it's like it's like hundred percent guaranteed ya but then again it's two percent one plus percent and usually there's like


there's a there's a barrier to entry so people with like a few hundred dollars can't can't put it in a fixed deposit , ya, so I think that's the drawback for that which is also why I don't bother with that lah I don't have even if I do have money I wouldn't bother with two percent


ya true but at the same time there is also like penalties if you were to like remove it before the maturity okay, ya then you just give you back your principal sum and then you're like okay too bad you you decided to pull out early


okay next question do you have a credit or debit card if so share your experiences and details so share the names and features of your cards, ya okay


that's dangerous , okay


okay that's pretty smart, so it's literally just for her to give you pocket money in like a indirect way


oh okay that's true so what about right now,


ah that's pretty smart ya, ya you don't have to keep you don't have to keep like like, exchanging to a certain thing then you lose out on the exchange


ya, , so you don't have like a a local bank like like a english bank debit card or credit card


oh


is it like a digital card it's like on your phone right, oh okay okay it's like a pink colour card right I saw it before ya


ok


oh okay so it's like a it's like a cash card, oh okay so for me I only have two cards chiefly my no not DBS my POSB gold card so actually it's a pretty old card they don't even have it in they don't even have it available for application anymore if I'm not wrong but I think it's quite useful there's like all the things I would want it's a debit card


got it like when I was at the moment I could get a debit card I got a debit card because I knew that like I wanted the debit card it's like all the cool kids had so I got a I got a POSB gold card and then like I mean it's useful ah to you know do NETS transactions and stuff in singapore


then besides that I also have a, if I'm not wrong I have a stanchart card like a stanchart infinite or infinity something like that, ya it's a it's a supplementary card of my mum's cause obviously I can't have a credit card cause I have no income so ya I mean the good thing about that one is I think there's unlimited cashback I think it's point five percent or around there one percent so


I mean I can I I feel better knowing that I have like a one percent discount on everything I buy then at the end of the month you get back or like at the end of three months or four months I'll get back like a lump sum of rebates , it's better than nothing, ya essentially ya so it made me feel like that much better and I think it it it it works out well if I ya if I buy like expensive things or like I use my card to buy like thousands of dollars worth of things then it'll really start to add up


but you know you can still use the card for like all the rebates and discounts like if you go to a restaurant and then they're like oh do you have a OCBC card example then they'll like oh ya then you can get like the discount or like the free food or gift


ya so I think these things are like targeted towards like working class you know working adults then they can afford to spend like money but I think at our age credit cards debit cards it's just for us to it's convenience and like you you shop online ya you shop online then you can use the card


ya, ya exactly alright , (uh huh) so for me I feel