uh I think it's the same thing lah with this kind of thing so every time you face uh, negative experience right is very important to, learn and so called take out, take a take out some something out of it right so things like for example in this experience you hurt someone's feelings right


uh it's important to to so called, no lah how to not, do the same thing right how to be more empathetic how to you know, speak in a very in a manner that won't like insult someone or you know won't won't just outright you know deny someone and and everything I think that's that's the the main learning point here right and I think in a social setting is also very important to


be very understanding of different people because it's very easy in a social setting right because of peer pressure and everything to act a certain way and to behave in a certain way and say certain things, uh I think must understand that everyone comes from different kind of walks of life right they have different kind of upbringings they have


different kind of social social status and everything and they have you know their back the family background right their financial situation everything right they might not be able to afford certain things that you know, maybe we can afford and I think that's something very important to understand


right and with having and having that uh in your mind all the time I think that will make it very, uh so called better lah in terms of you know when you are conversing with people and act and then if you are in a group setting right I think it really


helps you lah not hurt someone's feelings lah on this topic ya okay


I think that's a very good point alright ya maybe we move on to, one last question lah, uh, maybe do you have any phobias and how do you overcome these phobias


okay for myself uh actually got got quite a few lah but I think, one big phobia when I was young uh I think it's quite not to say stupid lah but it's is quite uh, uh so called, small phobia right is actually I I got phobia of butterflies lah ya so actually I was very very scared of butterflies when I was young


ya so how I overcame them right I think, with all kind of phobias right there's two ways lah alright so I actually I I I did both lah so one is to run away from your phobia, correct just don't deal with it, so back when I was young uh my dad bring me to like the butterfly park in the zoo right so


I remember there was this particular zoo right to get to the next zone nah in even to exit the zoo itself you have to go through the butterfly park, so what I did ah was I just closed my eyes and run lah alright my dad just bring me then we just run through the the butterfly park don't look at anything


uh when I was very young lah so I think one way you can overcome a certain phobia, right, okay maybe not overcome lah but to to so called deal with phobias lah it's just to avoid them, right so maybe some people's phobia is the the fear of falling right from great heights


which something I also sort of have but not so extreme right, you just don't don't deal with heights lah one that's one way to so called avoid a phobia right but I think really to overcome the phobia is to so called, uh immerse yourself


in it lah right and just learn to deal with it just learn to deal with that kind of, uh fear lah right and and to rationalise to yourself actually why is okay why is okay why is okay, alright so back then (ugh) how I so called more or less try to overcome this fear right my dad will bring me to


to to to to I mean back last time when I was living in Tampines right I used to there was there used to be this garden nearby and then got butterflies there lah so my dad will bring me to that garden alright so back then he rationalised, with me that actually butterflies nothing scary right is just you know this insect alright that that that cannot even harm you cannot even bite you in any way right


even if they touch you nothing will happen and all that right so he he every day he will tell me this tell me this and I'll tell to myself I'll tell myself like you know actually they're not scary they're not scary they're not scary then nothing can happen all these right, so my dad will be bring me to the the the park right then I will look at the butterflies right so we started off at a distance I just look at the butterflies then slowly slowly you know you'll get nearer and nearer until one day my dad like the butterfly land on my dad then he put it on me lah


and so back then !wah! it was super super scary but I think one way I learn to deal with it [lah], I mean one way I learnt to overcome this phobia is just deal with it [lah] you know there's no other way [lah] to overcome it, ya and I think that's all


prompt two out of four, okay uh, okay so maybe the first one uh describe your favourite activity to unwind and relax


okay uh personally for myself my favorite activity to unwind and relax is uh sleeping ah actually, ya so , I learned this last time uh from a mentor right so he he he asked me to to to tell him what is my what is a way right for me to cope with stress


so back then uh, you know I I didn't really have a way to cope with stress lah you know uh when when you when you feel stressed you just so called deal with it right, so uh, ya he asked me that then I I I I didn't really know lah so he told me that his favourite activity to do uh when not to say favourite activity do to lah but what what he'll do to so called combat stress uh for him is to sleep


right so back then you know I was quite young right so, I just try lor ya, cause I didn't exactly have a way to combat stress lah just you know deal with it and you know dealing with stress I mean it'll build to a point where it gets too much right so uh back then I just tried lor uh sleeping and to me that is the best way for me to so called uh relax and unwind right


cause once you you sleep and then you wake up you feel refreshed right you feel like a different person you feel like you are able to so called uh deal with your problems and everything ya so for me nowadays you know when when let's say, uh


there's there's I mean of course time has to permit for this lah but if if there's time right what I would do in order to relax and everything is just take a nap, like maybe quick thirty minutes nap one hour nap, right, ya then after that I'll I'll feel better lah afterwards


okay so maybe the next question is let me see uh, what is your oh ya okay sure, yes


that is a very good point that you brought up I think personally uh I also do that a lot lah ya especially recently, okay next question maybe what is your best surprise


I think for me uh my best surprise, is also birthday lah but it's not exactly with uh friends lah is more like family, so there was one period of my life where I was super super busy so back then, uh I also kind of forgot my my own birthday lah


ya, so I I actually you know didn't expect anything lah cos I forgot that was my birthday, ya so, uh there was one night, I think it was the night before my birthday I came back at like three AM


ya cos I was out with friends and everything so I came back at three AM then my parents all I mean I came back home right then it was dark and everything so I thought like everyone sleep already so !aiyo! I also wanted to like shower then quickly go and sleep then I when I came back home


then the next thing I know is my my family was like outside then they had a cake everything prepared waiting for me to come back home ah, ya so I think, uh that was very surprising because you know three AM people have work the next day you know my brother at school and everything but they still waited for me to come home


uh and also to celebrate my birthday lah they wanted to celebrate at twelve AM but you know I I reached back like super late ya so I think that was very surprising lah because, who in the world will do that lah you know it's not something common uh that you will see uh very often ya so to me


that was, I think lah my best surprise lah there was there were many kind of there were many surprises but ya I think that was one that I will probably never forget, ya so the next question maybe uh, despite the ongoing global uncertainty what makes you optimistic about the future


okay uh for me what makes me optimistic about the future I mean even if it's a global uncertainty, right things will always recover one day lah alright so what makes me optimistic is is just generally you know


being able to meet with friends you know now right, being able to still do the things that I like still do the things that you know I want and everything now I think that makes me very optimistic lah because you know, it I mean just looking at everything now


I mean especially singapore I, I don't think this global uncertainty has really hit us like fantastically bad until you know, we have to say that we are not optimistic right because everything is still in place right uh we can still meet our friends through zoom


we can still talk to our we I mean now what makes me optimistic I can speak to my family more I can you know spend a lot a lot more time with my family which you know, uh in normal times let's say studying schooling uh working right it's very very difficult to spend time with them and you know when you wake up at like nine ten you walk out like you see your family there I think it's a very very rare thing


alright so I think it's all about perspective, I think you know, what makes you optimistic can change lah with time but what makes me optimistic is you know being still being able to do the things I want right looking at singapore singapore is still surviving


I mean although we are still in in circuit breaker phase but you know is clearing up right you can start to go out and meet friends and everything and I think that is something very optimistic to I mean something to be very optimistic about lah right but if you talk about long term like


I think uh what really makes me optimistic is that, is my work now cos you know I'm working and everything and I feel that you know I I'm learning different skills I'm learning different kind of uh, knowledge right that I can put into use lah next time uh in terms of you know either work right personal life or whatever


so that makes me optimistic lah now I have I can spend a lot of time to so called, , improve myself right uh and then you know do different kind of courses online even like do part time or whatever right it makes me optimistic that you know uh


I can gain knowledge for myself, that will be useful lah in the future, okay so maybe the next question describe a travel experience that left you in awe


okay I think my uh, best experience was when I went korea right so, when I went korea that time ah I I, climbed the mountain with my friends lah so we climbed we climbed some mountain, ya it was a very long uh so called climb lah alright it was about


five hours right we we climbed five hours because we took the long route to get to the top, ya so for me the so called, uh best moment right was that, you know left me in awe was when we we reached the top right then we look down


ya and we look at uh how far we we climbed up five hours is a very long time ya I think that left me in awe because know the view at the top was was amazing and you know you see you see like I mean it's like mist everywhere sort of right and you know


ya you look you let's look around and you see different mountains everywhere and I think it was a very uh so called , it was a experience that left me very surprised lah, and all lah ya then you know, we also spotted like climbers ah climbing the mountain you know not not like not like trekking up the mountain but you know uh so called hike hiking up the you know hiking is the


they they they attached the rope right then they climb on the side so if they drop down they will just die you know that kind of thing ya so I think that was that left me in awe because, I will never ever imagine doing this kind of things and you look if you can if you if you take a look at the mountain ah it's super super high up lah like you


it took us five hours to climb up how long will it take them to to climb up I mean like I don't know what's what's the term you used for that but so called climbed up the mountain right uh I think that left me in awe lah, ya it was one of the the moments ya among many lah


ah that left me in awe, uh okay sure so okay is is uh , ya so, not exactly proudest moment but I mean it is a moment that left me in awe lah ya


ya okay so maybe one last question okay, uh what leads you to experience an adrenaline rush


I think for me what I mean uh other than this kind of one-off uh experiences I think what really makes me experience an adrenaline rush uh is when I it's it's just gaming lah, right in general ya I think, I think when you know you you you play games and especially those games that is very competitive right like for example league of legends right I think there's a lot of adrenaline rush there especially when you know uh it comes to the very critical moments of the game


ya I think in it's a very it's a very small thing right but it makes me feel that kind of adrenaline rush because you know, that it just so critical and just one mistake I might lose it to game that kind of thing right it it makes me feel know that kind of adrenaline rush lah


uh prompt one out of four, okay


uh okay lah I'll start with, I actually start by just saying that I actually have like very little, little to almost no uh knowledge or anything on like financial related stuff I only just started like a small investment venture so as to speak uh


any like uh experience experience so as to speak in, all these investment products were mainly be like all the, will mainly come from all the like investment talks I had attended and all the is all the same things that they all speak ah most of the time


about how like investment is important how we should start as early as possible how how is the next how is like the next big thing ah to achieve, like, financial freedom the the the keyword that they keep using uh ya so


, I think as of now I don't really have a lot of uh like experience in doing financial stuff, but uh I can say that it is, personally I would say that it it is fairly beneficial is is uh there's is something like a no harm in doing kind of thing to like take to take part in ah to secure like a better future for yourself and perhaps for like your family ah


I mean that's that's for me ah, (ppc)


brokerage ah trading ah, actually not really because like, I only the, so more information on like, uh the investment, uh venture that I'm taking part in is something akin to like a unit trust and that's all that I'm doing as of now so any


brokerage trading accounts or any of these things ya I I don't really have it lah that's all I can say


oh okay, okay so funny story funny story is that a friend introduced me to robo-advisory but then uh actually I I didn't really I didn't really set up the account or


or uh take part in a robo-advisory yet because I didn't really have faith so ya I only heard of it uh my, like the robo-advisory in topic would be the stashaway ah ya so, actually haven't I only just created the account and I didn't really put any money inside


but I don't really think I'm planning to put any ah actually so ya that's all for me for robo-advisories


okay so I read up a bit on the singapore savings bond but like, uh actually I I don't really have, I didn't really I didn't really think, much about it it's just like a, singapore version of some investment


I think its, maybe it's good for some people who like want to try out investment who want to start out, but have no where to start, but I mean like at this day and age with like the proliferation of like media with all the different zoom zoom meetings all the different financial advisers from different uh institutions I think like getting into getting into investment is like


is not really like, as tough a hurdle as it is before, like as compared to maybe years ago when like when people didn't really when people didn't really know much about investment ya that's why I think


like in singapore that's that's how I feel at least ah


ya uh so but to like reiterate like your point ah so, I'll say that maybe since you say is safer for like, safe uh safer option maybe is like I'll say perhaps is like something to appeal to more of the older generations perhaps


those who, those who are not as uh savvy as the millennials nowadays as, as you might call it who who are who are more risks uh risk averse lah in terms of investing like I mean


I know some some of the older people they were they are uh they are just they are more they are very uh hesitant about go into investing so maybe this one is something to like, uh to invite them in to this to this field lah I I think


investment, uh to be honest my investment strategy actually it it it's just follows like more or less, whatever they they've been telling us to do it's just to put the money in and just leave it leave it for as long as possible


and uh on on technically on paper it might seem like it might seem like the easiest thing to do you just like pump in money and, and uh I just, pumped it and dumped it just just forget about it for like ten ten over years or whatever


but I mean, I would say that there would be difficulties lah I I've I've not started the investing I I've I've only recently started this investment thing so uh maybe I will not know like the different feelings of greed or whatever that people feel when they see the stock market fall


so uh, ya but the strategy would, more or less be just leave it inside and just wait it out, strategy wise ah, ya that's for me


how do I plan ah, so I mean with uh with my limited knowledge in like all these financials I just uh, I have to hit up a friend lah to help me with my investment portfolio and that's more or less it lah


so my investment horizon would, I'm looking at like, fairly long term maybe ten twenty years I mean, relative to maybe, other investments or other people's investments like I think, it might be quite short lah but like since I've just started


all these so I I will feel there's a like a very safe, like starting point to to uh to, carry on this investment venture but uh, since the time is running short already I I'll feel that like the next few questions like we don't really


have any experience in it I mean it's like trading, and since trading trading ties in with like the wall street timing and typically at that timing we are all asleep so like we don't really do much of the trading so I'll just answer maybe like the last part like of automating investment


I'll say it's, is a is a is a is like a quality of life kind of thing to automate if you want to automate investment, to so that so that uh like it'll be easier to just, do the investment venture


and invest passively is like, I mean that's what we can afford right now as students that's that's what I that's what I feel [lah]


uh prompt three out of four


greatest fear actually, greatest fear okay so this one might be, I don't know for like any other people but like for me, my greatest fear, one of my greatest fear was


my greatest fear was something that actually I didn't really consciously know about, until like I started having nightmares about it ah, so like it is actually like, uh, it's like not being able not knowing


uh what to, what to study for for exam so to speak I mean like okay I I'll just describe like the, I just describe the nightmares first lah so it's like, uh it is just starts like, uh me entering the exam hall getting the exam paper but like just blanking out over there really not knowing what I have to do I think


unknowingly that that became my greatest fear after all the, stresses from like A levels from all the different exams, it came to me during that point in time ah I mean like sometimes I still have it like especially for my economics paper because like that's really my my worst subject


so like, a few months ago I I still remember like having like this dream like where I went to the exam hall to take an econs paper, but then like I just blanked out I didn't know what to write I didn't know how to expand the question I didn't know how to do the question I didn't know how to start


ya and like, I think apparently that was my greatest fear but like, the, the the crazy part is that I I didn't know about it until like, until like maybe, the post army life where I had like a lot of time to like


do nothing to think about my life to reflect upon myself all this kind of stuff, did I truly realise that actually that was what I was most afraid of last time uh especially during the A level periods because like, it was the transition between


between being a child so as to speak that's still schooling in a very controlled environment that uh and then going before you transitioning into like a more adult adult setting ah ya so that was I think that was one of my greatest fear


when you hurt someone's feelings, (hmm) uh, !wah! this one actually


I think it was like okay maybe it was like, recently I guess, like eh, !wah! I really can't remember when when it was but I think it was like I just, I just uh I don't really know if I really I didn't really know I don't really know if I really


hurt them, I I didn't know the extent of how much I hurt them but then like, I think like, I think I actually hurt them ah because like kinda made a kinda made uh, uh


what's that call ah like a very, irresponsible remark like irresponsible comment, on something that the person said ah then I think like, I didn't consider like, her uh


her stance her stance on this matter or like how, how she uh how she would, take to like different comments so like ya so by, by just shooting out this comment without thinking uh without thinking first ah ya I think that's that's


I think I invariably just hurt hurt her feelings and like, strained strained the strained the strained the relationship between us ah, that's for me


(ppc)


ya but I think like the, ya I think like the the the main problem, I think the main problem between us is like the is is, is is just that like it too fairly it just it just too straightforward lah I think I mean some people can take it


some people some people it is harder for them to take it lah for for some others is is harder for them to take it and then uh, I feel that like it is it is very fine line to juggle, between like how to socialise and like up your up your rapport so as to speak there's there's a fine line between


uh upping your first impression, uh by somebody, and like like upright just just destroying destroying your reputation ah from the get-go, so ya I think, I mean it's uh it's not a like a


it's not like a one-off, thing where if somebody learns how to do that then they can like socialise with anybody is really is really like a, is really like a uh, like a lifelong thing to learn ah learn how to read people learn how to assess


like how how they will react to certain, uh stimulus how they would what is their political stances what is their like social stance what is their views on different topics, I mean it it takes a lot of time it takes a lot of reading up to


to to to be able to like, uh fluently, socialise with people lah without any hiccups, and ya I think it just it comes with time, and it comes and it takes a lot of empathy I feel


so that so like, by actually understanding that we hurt somebody's feeling I I feel that like is is one step forward lah is is one step towards being able to, to interact better with people, and then


ya and being a better person ourselves also ah, so I think is still good, even though like, you might hurt them you may hurt one person but then like the next ten people we we we just don't hurt them ah so as to speak something like that


ya I mean like, if you if you like take this kind of mindset lah so like from, because now we're talking about hurting one person, but then if we were to like extrapolate this kind of this kind of like mentality this kind of mindset to like a more


like a larger scale or perhaps like looking at the world or or maybe we you start a bit small look at the community looking at the, a country so like to tie in to like one of these question in a post COVID world what are like some of the worries and anxieties I mean like there'll be a lot of worries


the and anxieties like in this in this like in this, world right now ah due to like this COVID situation going on like maybe some people didn't who the who don't like to wear masks they're they are worry that we have to wear masks forever when we go out and it'll be very inconvenient or whatever


or like you some people who love to take walks in the park then now due to the uh worsening COVID situation they would not be able to take walks in the park lah to, enjoy the nature or whatever so at that that's like a lot of worries in like


in this world there are a lot of negative experiences that will happen that can happen and that will happen in this world but the most important thing I feel is to, like to just get, at least one positive experience out of it to make it all worthwhile it can no matter how big or small I mean at least we recognise that it is something there is something there


then it'll it'll it'll make us feel that, like, not all our efforts are wasted ah, like, maybe even if we can't go out to walk in the park even if you have to wear mask all these but then everybody is still safe the country is still safe the economy is still


is still working so ya I mean, I'll say perhaps is worth, maybe ya


phobias ah uh, okay maybe I can start by saying like perhaps I have uh, what I know is that I have like a phobia of like heights or or more like a phobia of like falling ah


but slowly like, like slowly slowly after after over time ah I'll I just kind of got over it so as to speak like I start to climb up high places I might still get sweaty palms and all this still but like


I just slowly just, face the my phobia head on, then it slowly became more of like a, subconscious like, fear subconscious message by my brain to like, eh just don't do this or when you do this just please be careful because you can fall or whatever


but like a more, if we were to talk about more uh, uh more uh, scary thing more, uh !wah! I don't really know how to put this but something that really freezes me


freezes me to, or like really forces me to stop moving or like stop acting and making me unable to think that kind of phobia, I'll say like, perhaps it's like handling, handling like like living things or something like that so so as to speak


but I I don't know how to I don't know how to explain this like sometimes like, like handle like those, insects or those lizards ah on the wall, then like I I really want to kill them because like they're in the they are really in the way all these pests they're really in the way


but like I like I want to kill them but like, I'm just afraid of killing them because like when I hold them in my hands or whatever they actually a living thing, and it's like, it's a subconscious thing for me to like just, pause over there and like consider taking its life so like


I think this one of the most, uh one of my greatest phobia that I only just recently found out about, and technically I haven't even I don't think I have overcome them yet ah, ya


uh prompt two out of four


describe your favourite okay uh technically my favourite activity to like unwind and relax it's like coming home from school actually because like I live fairly far away from school, so usually after after one hectic day of school


the the best part of it is actually like going to the bus going to the bus stop taking the, because since there's a bus terminal at our school NUS uh ah the the bus would fairly be empty so I'm technically taking the first bus


and I'm taking it all the way from one end of singapore to the other end, so like I I feel that that's like even though is like fairly mindless, it's just like sitting in a bus listening to music but, I think that's the


uh that's like, my best chill activity that I have that I actually found out, about uh since, the start of school and ya I think is one of the most fun one of the more fun activities for me to do to just unwind after a hectic work day ah I just sit in the bus plug in plug in to the music and just like


like just, stone in a bus, for like a straight two hours all the way back home and ya then every time when I reach home is like I just feel a bit more refreshed that's all I can say


, (ppc)


actually I want to add on add on to the point about the the the sleeping right actually right, the sleeping actually actually sleeping is also also actually I I also really like sleeping , because , because uh the especially during this circuit breaker period there's really nothing much to do so I just like


sometimes I just sleep for like twelve hours straight from the previous day all the way to the next next day afternoon or whatever so , I feel that uh this this is a crazy thing to say but I think the the dream world is better is better than the real world


because anything really anything can happen over there ah that I can just think of anything, ya I really just let my imagination flow I think that's like my favourite part about like, sleeping I mean not really like sleeping sleeping like uh deep sleep mode


like into the REM REM brain activity or whatever but like more of like uh the pre-sleeping like where you just lie down at your bed and just think about nothing, ya I think that's the that's the that's the best part about like sleeping then before you know it before you know it like you open your eyes then it's like the next day already


and then like, in in the morning is like a bit Nua so you can like you can like take your time then since it's like circuit breaker you really can't do anything you just take your time maybe just, just just just think about imagine imagine stuff a bit more start to daydream a bit more before you start your day


and then like until the point where you actually get up and live live your life that you are actually it was is all an enjoyable experience ah the the whole sleeping portion I feel


what is my best surprise ah, uh, , don't really have a lot of surprise okay maybe the best one so far, or maybe the most heartwarming one that I have so that I had so far was maybe like I think it was my twenty first birthday I think


uh we were just out of army, every all of my friends we all fresh out of the army and uh, so some of us we started working, some of us did our own things whatever, uh but I I clearly remember at that point in time I was like I was still working ah and uh it was like a very mindless very droning


very like a robotic kind of job, and it was quite boring ah but like apparently on the day, of my birthday eh no the day before my birthday I think, and some of my friends they they just ask me to go to


like cathay there if I'm not wrong the cathay #hai di lao#, then ya they they just, we just had a dinner lah it was a it was a simple dinner but it was like a, it was a birthday it was a simple birthday dinner but like, I mean it was it was quite heartwarming ah I I was quite surprised to be honest because like actually I don't really


celebrate my birthday and all, but ya I think that was, the best surprise so far I guess that's all I could say


what makes me optimistic about the future, , perhaps the notion that I could maybe like go overseas travel with my friends explore again I mean that's the only thing that is keeping me going right at the moment but like with all the


all the various uh like complications that, that are starting to arise especially due to due uh due to this phase two reopening , might not seem to the future might not seem too optimistic but like I'm I'm I'm still holding out on the hope lah that like


everything will, like everything would be okay again like I I'm guessing that uh I'm just hoping that like this COVID ah maybe it can't be cured perhaps it can't be cured but it could become something like a a how could I how should I put this uh like an endemic ah


because now it's like a pandemic right now it's a pandemic uh, a situation going on right now but uh it might get to a point where this uh virus uh this virus would be some sort like a background just like any other flu virus or anything


and that nobody would, and that like everybody will not be uh, too too caught up with, contracting it lah then it'll so it can be said that it it becomes like an endemic more of like a background uh uh kind of illness kind of thing that you'll catch like a flu bug and then like once that


once that is confirmed then maybe the world will get back to normal again, so ya that's that's what I that's what I'm hoping in the future


ya, travel experience ah, so uh, actually there's, I have travelled a fair bit


I I won't say I've travelled a lot but like I've travelled uh enough, to maybe experience different parts of world, but pertaining to this question, that left you in awe uh I would say like, uh it will be too


uh that travel would be like when I was damn young uh, uh where I travel to when my parents brought me to Geneva, ya uh it was like my first time, going to europe, and like and there's I was really very young at that point in time


even though I might have like forgotten most of, most of like what I saw or what I did over there I I still remember like the, the sheer like like, all the sheer amazement, that that uh I felt when I saw like the snow the snow capped mountains when I experienced the like the very chilly weather


and ya it was it was like even though I cannot remember like what I saw or what I did over there it's like, there's like there's a there's a very inkling feeling there's a subconscious feeling of like, amazement that's tied to


tied to the country ah in question which is Geneva right so ya I think, that was one of my one of the most, crazy travel experience, but on the more like, recent side I would say perhaps uh new zealand when I went overseas with some of my extended family and uh then my father decided to do like a road trip or whatever so we just drove around new zealand


and ya I'll I'll just like, I was just like, flabbergasted no is not flabbergasted I was like surprised by like all the different mountain ranges, all the all the crazy the crazy lakes that they had


all the all the the the, actually I didn't get to see the stars or whatever, but ya the the views were were simply amazing lah, the best the best nature views ya that's that's one of the, I'll say like


not not the most, awe inspiring travel experience but certainly one of one of the top few ah, ya that's for me ah


ya


okay maybe you can tie to that like the proudest moment of your life , like you could have just died lah like technically you could have just died right when you climbed up the mountain


what leads you to experience an adrenaline rush ah, , actually , uh, uh actually I have like uh sort of like a fear of heights like actually not really fear of heights like maybe more of like a fear of falling or whatever


so I always like adrenaline rush is is simply you just bring put me in a in the in the biggest rollercoaster ride then ya is is the easiest is the easiest way to get me to experience this adrenaline rush ah ya just like in korea where we took


uh where we went to the theme park, then we just we just went for this went for this crazy, this crazy rollercoaster ride, that that like it was like it was like a, like a seventy degree drop ah


!wah! then then I was really that's really like adrenaline booster right there like like somebody who is who is dead ah who's who's heart stopped ah you can just put him on the ride then his heart his heart can restart again but really that's the that's the craziest that's the craziest drop


and then like all the, all the the subsequent rides or whatever after that like you know like really nothing because all the adrenaline in my body has been used up already ah I think that's the, that's the best adrenaline rush, uh thus far in my life


okay then one two three, alright so maybe uh leen let me post this question to you what is this one financial advice that you would give to you five years ago


right I I think for myself right I would prefer that I'll be more aggressive , uh when it comes to of you know investing , I would like to be able to learn more about the technical trading you know


earlier on I mention aggressive I would think that uh aggressive as in I would want to put more money into equities rather than in fixed D or or bonds because my time horizon is much further


so I have a different view from from yours, , right


right right okay


well I would really prefer to plan my own finances rather to have someone else to manage it


everytime when do we think about a financial adviser we will think of we will, immediately the thought that comes into our mind is probably an insurance agent right or if you go to a bank right it will be ah some wealth managers trying to uh persuade you to buy the bank


products you know it it can be different types right it can be investment links uh it can be different types of insurance ya I, ya I I think the bottom line is I I know as long as I do my homework I'm


I know it better than someone else ya


, yes the reads right ya ya ya it it sounds like ya I should really learn from you, but I'm I but I'm in agreement right that uh usually


when we talk about a financial advisor uh they tend to be very biased right it it really biased in the sense that , whatever they are trying to promote or sell right they will they will actually sway the consumers towards uh you know what they're selling if they're selling product A they will definitely not


look at put you know look at our interest but they will try to sway us to saying that oh you know you should buy product A instead of product B


right right


oh you know what I I actually didn't know about that that uh the dividends right when it comes to dividends instead of you getting the


the cashback you you can have this option to convert back to the the shares I I !wow! I didn't know that okay oh something something new


okay


oh I I really didn't know about that I'll I would want to find out more I think it make sense ya because if you know when I get back the


the cash right is still cash so might as well I reinvest okay thank you ,


okay alright so so let's move on to the next question I are you able to share or share with me right so how how do you manage your


cash flow I I well and you know how much of your income do you allocate to savings investments et cetera I'll I'll be very interested to know


right right okay I would say that, you know I usually spend about thirty to forty percent of my salary usually on overheads lah like you know groceries uh kids' tuition


uh food and then uh the the rest right I release about ten percent I spend it on insurance stuff and then the rest I usually I will save up one lump sum, and then my investment strategy is very simple you know I prior to the I mean in the past right I will invest in the US stock markets so when the price is right


you know I will just get some ya shares from the, NASDAQ you know just to buy ya, is is more on equities ya the investment


uh yes so uh of course you know when before I sell my US shares I need to make sure that uh it's to my advantage right the I I I need to consider the exchange rate


and uh since you are uh investment in US markets is a is uh a long term thing so I don't I don't usually, uh convert back to sing dollars everytime when I sell uh my US shares so I'll just keep it in US dollars in my uh in in in my stockbroking account ya


and then use the money to buy other US shares


but I'm I'm really not a trader I'm like you know I will just buy and then I'll I'll keep for a long time, so I don't I I will not lose sleep over you know (oo) you know I I don't need to monitor every night and now I won't lose sleep lah


ya uh, I we we can buy it online ourselves through brokerage firm yup it's the same way as you know you buy uh singapore shares


uh to to to be honest right after I got married I save more uh and I also think is because right, uh well right now I'm in my forties previously I was in my twenties so over time my pay has increased right but then again over time uh my expenditure increase but


I but then you know the percentage of expenditure versus my increase in income it's I don't spend as much compared to you know I earn more over time so I get to save a bit more in in terms of absolute dollars


ya I I I think you are the smart one


, and and but uh but but I also think right you were at the right time and then right place, because right it's it's really more difficult for ah folks who are in their thirties or forties to to get a second property at this point right


compared compared to you know like maybe ten years back because of all the different types of taxes the you know ya


ya, right I I ya ya is a really very smart of you yup agree


okay so let me see what else uh


, I I think it depends on the situation because right now we're assuming that uh that person owns a property so again right


I I think, to to give advice to the person we really need to take a step back and, and put it on the drawing board right what are his assets and what are his expenditure really to come out with a good solid plan right and then from there you'll know it you can tell oh where he should cut down on


right because if if he owns a property it will be part of his asset and then if he every month right if he spends uh maybe one two K on a car you know if his debt is just very low debt, you know instead of selling his property he may we can advise him to do away with the car and take public transports so it again it depends on


the amount of debt but at the end of the day right is he really needs to uh tabulate everything properly, ya uh what are his assets his expenditure the areas that he can focus on to to reduce his expenditure et cetera yup


(mmhmm) right right


uh I , I I think as long as we are spending within our means credit card is fine ,


you know you


can always ask your daughter or your son to send you a sub card, ,


the source of income ya okay, right I I think we are good on the time right we can stop right now okay so uh I will click on stop


maybe is really subjective maybe at that point of time right I would think that your that customer of yours he or she may not be in a very positive uh mood right so


ya so as as a result right you know she she would think that oh you are you were treating another customer better, than how you treated her ya


I I I I think at


the end of the day you tried your best right you try your best and your intent was really to to help your customer to invest but uh your customer thought otherwise so


ya it's is really very tricky lah I I I mean at the end of the day you try your best and then like what your your your colleague said lah is is is her money right ya


right okay


I think for my negative experience it's uh due to work sometimes I I may get to travel to the US so as asians right I witness for myself you know uh


the I wouldn't say injustice but is really uh racism in in the US that they frown upon asians or and and then they the especially the whites they will look at us with a different viewpoint uh anger ya


and then when they talk to us is really very different, ya so but coming back right because nowadays uh there's a lot of movement under the web uh that talks about black lives matter but I would think that in singapore right so you and I we are chinese but I I do


and and all this time right, we have been told that eh we are a multiracial society in singapore et cetera but uh unfortunately or fortunately for us we are we we are chinese we are the majority of the race in singapore but I really noticed that


sometimes it's really not fair to the minority races because uh I noticed that in large groups whereby you have more chinese and then maybe a a few uh, malays or or non chinese right people tend to speak in chinese or dialects I'd I really think is very insensitive in in those situations I think we need to do better uh in terms of being more considerate to the minorities people who do not


ah have the same language as you know tut people who do not speak the same language as we do, we we need to do that I mean in in singapore


I I think in in in this situation right your intentions were misinterpreted by you know your younger coworkers who thought that, you know you wanted to outshine them right but it was never in your intention


ya it's I think what you were trying to do is to make you know the the experience of your customer a more pleasant one especially when your customer is doesn't know english at all


uh


right right


uh uh, well I I think over the years right uh because I've been working in USMNC so over the years I do notice that there is a change in culture if you are talking about UM USMNCs right they we try it


generally they try to be more inclusive, and uh even when they, conduct hiring they try to uh hire they try to make an effort to hire people from a different background so that you know in the in the company right you have diversity in the company but uh


I I think that's the hiring part but when it comes to the day to day right there's always uh of course you know there's always a uh internal conflicts or politics and usually because the way I see is that asians we


tend to be more reserved uh compared to our european and american counterparts so a lot of times right if you do not speak up in uh during meetings then your opinions, are tend to be you know


ya ya,


right right, uh so maybe I can share with you an example that just came to mind uh well my my boy is uh in in a school whereby you know for his CCA he actually sign up you know his he actually takes


part in , oh should I should uh what do you call that cricket cricket and and , if I'm not sure if you are aware but I think in singapore there are not a lot of schools offering crickets and


and more schools right I will say that ninety nine point nine nine nine percent of the time uh the boys or that sign up for crickets are usually indians so my boy is a chinese so


we we he he did encounter you know uh times whereby, although his performance was quite good but it was I you know they actually passed him and chose another player and to fill another player on the ground ya so I'm I'm surprised that it actually happen in singapore but that's a fact


right


uh ya so after we spoke to the teacher right he's he's given more chances right now, ya but correct


correct ya


oh that's that's pretty normal because on on weekdays uh you know the parents are working so weekends are usually the tuition center days


right right that's right


uh well I speak english to to my kids but uh I do agree with you I even when you know I try to make an effort to speak to them in mandarin after a while right I will switch to english as well ya


okay


alright hi leen ya so let's we are right now on topic two whereby we are supposed to talk about our positive experiences


maybe to kick start it right since earlier on you mentioned that every now and then you'll meet up with your siblings right so if you are okay can I ask right


what was the best meal that you have ever had


I I mean thank thanks for your sharing you know your experiences and then sharing with me how your family help each other during the COVID-nineteen times it's uh very heartwarming because I I do agree with you right and especially for


the elderly , it's it's really, ya it to to to buy a you know a pack of five kilo rice and then to bring it back home uh is not that easy for them to tug that rice back home ya so


ya I think for myself right , oh if you if you want to if we were to go back to the the question right what was the best meal that I've had I I I wouldn't say is a the best meal but


it was it was a very unique experience because a couple of years back I was in china for a work trip right , it was uh I was in Beijing so we were in this restaurants whereby


the decor itself right it's , not the usual type because in order to get into the restaurant right we uh well my my boss and I we had to uh go down the flight of stairs you know to to like is like a tunnel and then once you're in the restaurant is it's pretty dark


so they we were served like we ordered this , eight course meal right is is is uh I think it's a is fusion in the sense that you know is not really chinese cuisine but it has a mix for of everything so what was interesting right is I remember that there was this dish right


whereby in it , they they serve us instead on it is instead of serving the food on a plate they serve us in you know some, a a a vessel that looks like a a fishbowl


and then ya so is is like very well decorated and then it it looks like a fishbowl and then we we had to, uh it with with holes by the side so we we really had had to be very careful when you know we grab our food using you know the pair of chopsticks to try to get our food from the


fishbowl and then the, the waiter and the waitresses right they are dressed in very weird costume and then the music was was so weird and then halfway through the meal right we were asked to stand up, and and to to dance with the rest the of the restaurant guests it's it's pretty unique the experience ya


uh ya it's you are right


right


right right ya well, talking about Ipoh right I was there last year and uh of course you know Ipoh is eh eh well as singaporeans we everywhere we go we want to go for the food right so uh instead of that ah


the beansprout right the famous beansprout chicken which I I didn't really fancy but when I was at the Ipoh town area whereby they had the beansprout chicken we actually walked pass a restaurant whereby they serve really very good roast duck


it was it was really very good to the point that , uh we were only there for like three days and out of the three days right my kids actually wanted to go back to the same restaurant uh twice right uh after our first meal it was really good and then the next day they insisted !oi! mummy we had to go back the roast duck was very good very very good it's is like


it uh the roast duck and then the roast pork the #char siew# !wah! is fantastic, ya , , (uh huh)


(oo) right


uh, ya the Kampung style right ya


right right okay so what


what is the best surprise or gift that you have ever given to someone, I I I I think would would would it be you know what you have just shared that you know you brought your uh relative back to Ipoh there that's that's really very nice of you


oh that's the unique dish uh but when it comes to the best gift right that I've ever given to someone I would say that, when was that ah some , let me see oh it's it's actually in march this year ah because through a friend I heard stories of a woman right is a friend friend so this lady she is actually struggling with life


uh she has a mother-in-law who is suffering from dementia, and in addition to that right she has two boys who are autistis okay so she's actually a caregiver to three person the mother-in-law and her two boys


uh and I don't know her right but I could tell that uh but you know just by hearing this you will know that to take care of three person with special needs right is very physically and mentally draining


right so she's she's always very depressed about her situation and she shares her daily struggles with my friend okay uh, and that's how I got to uh well know of this person I mean I do not know her in person but I like you know I I get to be updated of this lady so what I did right is in in march this year I actually


ordered online a bouquet of flowers ah and I I just ask my friend for a her address and then send it to her


right uh ya so


right right to be a messenger for the two of them when they were in hospital right ya ya and


I uh I I think you are you are very very kind and as well as you know you're you are there at the right time for them as well ya


I ya but I I think you should also slow down a bit ya, right because I think now that we've COVID right we also learn to slow down a bit spend time with the people whom we love


because you know prior to COVID you know I I mean personally I was I was really very busy with work so is just work uh and work and sleep work work sleep you know I I didn't have much time for my kids as well so


ya I think because currently I'm I'm not working I'm taking a break off work but, even post uh COVID-nineteen period right I'd probably want to look for a job that's able to give me more work life balance because the the kids right they really grow up very fast ya


oh uh my my older ones are already they have their own friends uh so I have the so so


I you know the my oldest boy he will say he doesn't believe in birthday uh you know celebrating birthday I used to not believe in celebrating birthdays as well but, now in the recent years my my thought process has changed because my oldest boy it's uh sixteen this year so I'm actually telling him right that eh I have changed because nowadays I will prefer to spend your birthday with you because


from sixteen to let's assuming that he gets married like uh twenty six okay at most I'll probably spend ten years more ten, ten more birthdays with him before he know he finds he wants to spend his birthday with his own family so you know ya so the those those memories are actually memories for me rather than for him


ya okay alright I think we are good on time


oh I would say if, for me is that, the financial five years ago I will take as a bonds, because is more of uh stay I mean guaranteed uh principal amount to get back and of course that I had I need to know that during these few years for bonds uh you cannot break


but it's more of uh so called reliable, uh uh amount that it are being invested lah, I get higher interest than the normal fixed deposit


ya because because at my uh so-called the horizon for me is already uh past middle age so I think I'll be more of the uh, positive sight to to have my capital being uh retained at that rather than taking a risk


, so about how about serene how about would you like, would you like to had do it it yourself during for your investment or you need a financial advisor which means that you want to go to the bank to seek the


fund manager to advise you what portfolio that you want to put in


as as for me I will think that the financial adviser ah uh they are being paid you know so where the did, the pay come from is normally through the customer, that they they advise them to put in to the to the products which their company


eh no ah seeking the customer, that's why to me is that part of my earning already go to there so I'm as well do it myself and for myself I do I will take on like say if I put in like shares market I'll rather put in in blue chips


because uh to apparently stock, you need to monitor closely, so as I'm working I got no time really to look into the to the counters way being traded so I would prefer to buy blue chips ah


like eh no previous before the COVID it have the SIA is also one the blue chip counter the three local banks I also looking into, and so called CapitaLand the city, ya the uh real estate uh property ya


I got the same sharing with you is that the company will ask them to sell what the company wants them to sell, so to get to get so, ah the uh, uh profit lah


to gain for the company so so for me like do it myself, I can put at blue chip I don't take uh the profit sharing in cash I will ask them to put into the shares which they accumulated


I gain better when the market up uh I mean above the what I have bought I can sell it, anytime I want, so rather than giving me the it the the cash uh I, uh I need I will spend it buck in in reverse is that target the the the profit they convert into their shares ah


it will be accumulated then it will become, better profit at the end of the day


ya I got it I got it is from the bank because uh like UOB uh DBS OCBC no uh I, don't know is it that uh the number of share you buy from them then they I will they send me say that they would to me is that I will rather to get the cash or to convert into their units so see so my blue chips I always ask them to put


to convert into units for me, and ah


they because especially now we can buy unit in hundred you know in hundred units rather than last time we had to buy in thousand eh no you buy one lot now no need ah, so you can buy hundreds and two hundred when I sell I'm selling online I sell like one hundred two hundred if really I need the cash you see


okay as for myself I was I will put err from uh twenty percent of my pay to the so-called the bank like DBS they call it save as you earn, so they will do the deduction


uh to the date on the first to the fifth, so I put them let's say ah one month five hundred on the first of every every month they will withdraw straight away from my salary account to put it there but there's they will put monthly and if I really need the money I can just withdraw


from, from the save as you earn they call it save as you earn lah SAYE so I can do the transfer back through the internet and transfer back to my account to buy shares then it put me as a habit you know like blue chip is not is a big sum


to really to save up in my account ah the tendency of means to go shopping ah, will be deplete lah so I rather let the bank to keep for me and I don't need to have any penalty that after six month I just withdraw


so from that uh if let's say if for five hundred I the end of the day I got a few K then from there I can go to buy the the shares ah from the market and to accumulate out, that is my saving of course that


uh I do spend I would uh weekly uh every fortnightly I would join with my sibling for for a treat you know we go for coffee even at coffee uh to share


our daily life , how we get on


if you say about US market the exchange rate is volatile, right you had to convert let's say your sing dollar to US to buy the stock there over there, ya the exchange (oo) oh okay


good lah for me I only buy local share than US because I got no time to monitor cause their trading is


so you buy through broker or you do it online yourself, buying the US shares


the amount okay, so how would you I mean the before your marriage and after your marriage ah your savings is there a big difference


I see for me is after marriage where, I come to this the, uh about the middle age I start, to save for my second property which, I think it's worthwhile while we are working we we need to save for old age you see because


uh our saving is always not enough to beat the inflation as year goes by , you but, uh had to work hard when the


uh I get these, I only get my second property is mid forties


ah I start to count you know where the working colleague was sharing with me if you have one property your old age, who going to feed you, give you give you the allowance, when you are old where the


of the extra allowance basic on CPF, is is still cannot beat because CPF every year have been increasing, uh right, so I think ah well I now enjoying the income of the other property lah


, hard works it's all the commitment of when we are young we need to work and save up


okay uh the question is that, is I find it uh interesting is that how would you advice to someone that, to to share with him how to get get out of her debt


for me is that I will advice the other party who really in debt ah is to downgrade their property, because rather to be in debt, for years to come you are holding credit card you're paying the interest very high you will never clear the amount that you really signed for


in fact, monthly you are paying them interest only why not let's say if a very big amount I'll rather, advise them to downgrade if they're staying in four room they can downgrade to three room lah, I mean for my personal view


how what will you, what's your view on that


ya that's why the car the the car is the first thing that they have to get rid of lah to reduce the, debt ya agreed , what will you think that should one own a credit card


ya I agree especially especially when you know uh ya for me lah I will consider if one day I will want to retire I cannot no longer can qualify to apply a credit card


so I've to keep my credit card on hand , no but I know because the sub card the I will still prefer I have my own master card the the main owner so I know whether know the spending are are within my my limit or not because sometime the credit company and the banks ah they're very stringent on where's your income come from


I had I had tried like I just go do the shoppings around ah to go to the bank they will ask me want to apply for a credit card I said I'm not I'm no I'm not working but I got uh so-called rental they don't take it you know they want uh a salary ya that's that's the part so I think I will rather keep my credit card rather than to surrender I mean in times of need


okay for me is that during working experience nah we do have complained that


you know how how uh they the customer will feel that how come uh I was, cheated is it so the so in it differently is that because that just because that


customer buying the products more than me or, what, what she feel lah I can find that sometime I been that you know I find that I treat each one, equally but


in the other way you say how come I treat the other the others was


correct especially sometime we're facing we are front line you know approaching customer to have, the chit-chat and I did got once I feel very awkward is that you know, uh out of no uh out of the blue moon someone


just came in and talk to my customer he said why should you buy uh any products, uh that is recommended why not you invest in something I'm selling you know selling, uh products you know you can just put uh small capital with me then you you we can we can just sell the product on to gain some profit so I I I try I tried to tell my customer say that's is not the way that


you just give up money and my customer just shun me away he say that that is my money and it's up to me whether, to to, ah to invest with who, then you know


I feel quite sad lah and another customer was, comfort me is to say that she got the right , ah, something like we call it a scam lah but, how to how to put it


because after that, the lady drag my, customer away from the office, so I was quite worried for my customer lah but it's very difficult because sometime when upfront you tell her she just shun me like that I feel how to approach her the second time


, so my negative side of this uh experience ah but, I should say don't know at that point should I call up you know the police to come in coming in or how is it know


we try to put an effort but I mean shun it you know just tell it there are so many publics, know other, customer just tell me what to what got the right of you to tell me, to to how I going to make use of my money


uh really a sign right


because especially uh in like uh to say lah the majority like I can see the old folks especially the the malays and indians sometime when they want to do a conversation ah


to someone especially when interbank ah, they only speak, so-called their native malay I do come across and the nowaday younger ones I mean not to discriminate


because, they are not like our my time that we do speak some malay so you I will pick up the piece here and there uh no doubt I don't speak so fluent malay I try to help them up


lah but, sometime they give me you know uh the young the younger, uh work uh work staff that, have a uh different look on me you know as if that you know I trying to overtake


their job or from or what they call it that you know, ah I'm supposed the one to serve this customer, this customer, and yet you just come in and then uh you just because you know how to speak some malay and then you


you just just, uh come and like pull her away so some time this had been escalated to the boss ah or some senior I feel that sometime I feel that I being betrayed


, you see, I should put I I don't know how to put it lah sometime colleagues and colleagues we have


correct ya


I do find that you know sometime by approach to them they always want to find me but to the younger colleague it thought that you know just uh, just because that I know little bit of their their language only ah


I try to outshine them so sometime it think that, you know at times is that I will thinking, should I just, resign and then have a piece of mind rather than I being cornered here and there, you know I can find that lah


sometime I do have the sad moment, where I do wake up at night I was thinking why should I go, for I mean go and challenge other people as other people thought, thought that I really want to challenge them


so, this also keep me away and away is that sometime, the the boss ah will give you uh uh, quotas that you will need to set you know ya eh I haven't reached the target yet you know


, so a lot uh a lot of, discrimination also sometime, am I am I just earn, for a living or I have to challenge for my portfolio


, but for you uh serene you are office working in office, how how I mean is is different from the work space that I'm working front


line, I mean just this sharing ah, will you find the difference


they are not hurt I understand that because a big company like us also we have our boss, also from, uh US and euro they also have the different view they always thought that you know ah look the asian


asian one ah are the quieter one whereas they can voice out they can really put a challenge they are ready at any time to to be bold enough ah to, to make to take a step forward


oh okay


ya sometime they the group are always they like to have their own clique you see, that's also sometime I find is that you know, not not, all schools lah or the teachers really aware that


the activity uh they can become no the group the group of this group A will not like others to join in they still have their circles of the, uh uh friends within their their uh comfort zone


right, so that's why I think the MOE also are quite worried looking at this type of situation which, they are very uh scary is that if the student will be like a big bullies you know


coming out especially like you can read is like in japan, they have also this type of group I mean cases happen in school


so must aware lah we as a as a is now, I also had to look out for my granddaughter who is P one this year and every every evening we try to talk to her how is her day


and how she get along with the friend, is very crucial you know is from primary one onward if she dare not to speak up ah then she will feel that she been belated and she dare not to voice out


unlike last, time you know where the parent you come in you don't you got what punishment is serve you right you never do this and that but now different culture, the parents had to really talk to the children, ask the children to speak up right as like you you have to ask your children how's your day in school


, so so far how's your children


good at least you make him to speak up, because from young age they learn how to speak up, so when they are, out to society to work, they can give a presentation now that MOE is looking into these criteria right


ah correct or not, and what I'm just sharing lah cause is no more like like that uh like just only manual writing you have to be outspoken, to present now a lot of presentation to happening in school


uh, so my granddaughter would been busy lah going from the tuition centre after school go to tuition centre, ah she went of the


ah she also had to go tuition centre even on saturday


because my granddaughter the school still got afternoon school (oo) session, so is sometime, I can find her very tiring is that the moment you pick pick her up from school you're just to she have to take her meal outside and then then she goes for her lesson and after nine O'clock then she go back home by the time nine thirty very tiring so I think school


is good that they only go for one session, afternoon session really the children got no time, for themselves , and nowaday ours our younger children tend to speak english they don't speak chinese mandarin more right


uh, so bilingual now they are cultivating bilingual so always, ask always I try to speak, mandarin or so called chinese lah with my grandchildren but, I don't know that after after


uh a few sentences naturally you go to english again , happen how about you serene do you speak chinese to your children


ya lah same as me so naturally that's why I was telling myself why I can't speak to them in mandarin fluent , , ya sometime their english the I mean their chinese nowaday is not easy especially growing up in the you know uh english uh speaking family


finding hard time for them also but, sometime they will tell me #ye ye# eh no #nai nai# why why your you know grandma why your you cannot speak, uh the #han yu ping yin# chinese properly to me because #han yu ping yin# they got different level of putting in words right the pronunciation so that is my a bit of setback on this on this too


okay the best meal is that when we meet up we will discuss about our aunty and uncle, which they are in the eighties so, we we will discuss are they are they


comfortable with their children with the family and, for threes for three of us as uh niece ah we like to visit them lah, when once a month ah we do some marketing


for my aunty especially she feel very uh, appreciated especially during this COVID time, ya I have, a very good experience where you know before the lockdown everyone rushing to NTUC Sheng Siong to head their grocery


then my sister would will will will drive her eh you want to to buy know from NTUC to go Sheng Siong what she need, really is a lot of them say you know by then ah no more not enough rice that you can find uh not enough you know the grocery know especially canned food you need to standby


uh then my auntie really feel appreciated because as an old lady ah it's very hectic for her to carry even a five KG of rice, the walk from NTUC back to her house, so how about you ah uh serene


ya very it will it will linger in your mind the memory that what you have in there so special I think singapore you hardly got this style environment, ya


for me the experience is that, at a back two years back I brought my aunty and my uncle, you know they are so about one is seventy eight one is eighty years old I brought them back to Ipoh to


attend, uh the cousin brother, uh, son wedding they are so touched, you see because apart, from them uh so-called between the cousin had been twenty year thirty years they had not meet each other and to bring them back to the home town with these two elderly is not easy but


I'm so happy that I really make it to bring bring the two of them to show them the, cousin they enjoy the environment and they really recall lah, the my aunty uncle really recall the


the days they are in the Kampung, in their hometown so I'm very glad ya, ya ya


okay


you you you get to it for me is that I enjoy every meal with the close one they bring us, uh to those Kampung coffeeshop you know their their their coffee shop at night they can turn turn to karaoke


you know they are, seated outside the coffeeshop you want to sing your song you pays, one ringgit to have to you know perform, your karaoke you see and that's the joyful one with singapore we have to go to pub


whereas down there is the open space , ah a bit different, correct , so I would say lah err, between the uh enjoyable with my family members and sibling we are very close I'm glad of it


surprise and gift is


ya ah I find that the best gift that I'd given to them


at the at the age and you know is is not said the elderly especially if how long I mean the they should say how long able that they really can travel so far, so


for you is like in china you have your best dish with your boss and to enjoy the environment in the restaurant which you cannot get here


okay for this one is that uh I, I knows uh actually I came across that I met my ex-colleague, I was not aware that she was on wheelchair and her mother she was uh I think in fifty her mother eighty plus had to push her know I was so surprised when I ask her I say how come you make your mother to push you not the other way round


and she tell me you know you don't know I got this uh spine problem because that younger day I help my mother so much I carry heavy thing for her now my my my back, sprained got sprained so she had to push me !wah!


then that ya a shock so one day when she was warded, I didn't know because the neighbor eh no the neighbor ah since we I know that she is my neighbour I would sometime just give a knock to her just to knock a door to her just to see how her mother and she


is going on, and I heard her the neighbour was saying, that oh she was warded, and, I didn't know her full her full name because year pass already I've to call the hospital and one of the hospital the the the staff


is so nice that she gave me her ward to visit her and when I visit her she got kidney failure she said my mother is warded upstairs, you see I was so, surprised when I came back I the brother contacted me he said can you uh


tell my sister to release my mother from her bedside I said what happened, she say she cling onto the mother refuse her mother to, come back for proper sleep she say she had to be taken care of


so sad the story is that then when things there I went there she said, can you go upstairs and see my mother on my behalf to tell her say that I miss her, , so when I went to the


to the reception the nurse there I say how come she cannot go up eh no two floor upstairs to see the mother, she said no because that her case she know got some symptom which they don't want the disease to spread to the others in other ward


you see because when I went there I was so surprised that, she were isolated in her in her ward alone, and those nurses go in ah they wear the glove and wear the mask so I was outside about to go in then she tell me please


don't wear mask doesn't wear glove come and talk to me I want to hug you !wah! I, was saying that eh nurse need need all these mask you say no if you want to close to me I want to hug you I had to let her hug me so when I go up and tell the mother say your daughter


uh miss you she say yes I know I was I being pushed up because I fainted they brought them upstair and she say can you don't mind go go to her ward and tell her mummy miss her !wah! at that point ah


it really ya is so touching that the mother and the daughter, are in the same building, but, they just cannot get close to each other, and and at the next day the brother met me she told me she said she didn't know her sister got a friends like me


she say her sister very weird character, nobody can talk to her no one, but, sad to say is that because of the kidney failure, know few years already


very sad lah I don't know how to express myself but I think that I do give her the last few days when, she was in the hospital until a day that the brother call me say that you know I lost my sister already


so the mother also cried lah so I'd to comfort the mother to say that you know that you have to let go because you're already so old if you if you if the other way round if you, I mean passed on your daughter who going to take care


I mean it's very hard for me to say the sentence but, in the, so-called to comfort her lah, but uh the mother was I mean happy is that the last two years she stayed with her son


because without her daughter , , so I think is the best, that I get have, give someone in need of


ya and, very so-called you know uh to say my friend have very weird character, she got no friend even neighbor say he say that you can see the housefly flying


in and out of the unit !wah! I got a shock you know


so I was thinking that you know maybe is time, that, you know I I I enjoy like, mixing with people making friends with others ah, maybe looking forward lah


to to retire and then to to enjoy with all these uh, needlies ah because right now , I I find myself no time , occupied with work occupied with my grandchildren


they you have to spend time with them because before they are go to the teenage once they go teenage they have their own friend then, the


ya


I agree with you, the the days of what you are mentioning I have mine already passed okay


, part one, financial related topic, in a post COVID world what changes are you making in your in terms of your spending saving habits


yes, (mmhmm)


for me personally I think I'm trying to adopt some austerity measures in current uncertain times you know cutting down on meals maybe like having less starbucks or desserts


and you know it just trying to conserve more money and make the last dollar stretch, looking up for more sales items and like choosing things wisely because we don't know how long this COVID situation will last so it seems like you know more important for us to like stretch our dollar


and just not go into that , spending mode when times are so uncertain so I think I'm developing this austerity measures personally for myself trying to cut down on restaurant meals and eating more three dollar meals as for savings I think it's a habit I've inculcated since young


to spend my money wisely and definitely save wiser, so I would mostly put like currently like I'm working part time and most of my money I think seventy percent of it will be going into my savings


so you talked about investing what kind of investments have you been doing


(mmhmm)


ya right for me as well I believe in diversification like I think that's one of the cornerstones of investing, so I’ve, I believe in putting my eggs into different baskets and that's what I've done, so you mentioned the SIA bonds in uncertain times like this even though it's under SIA I still think bonds are quite a safe place to put the money because of


bonds are actually one of the best places to invest in terms of like economic crisis so I've got like some uh I've got some, of my investments there and at the same time there's that, singapore bonds that we talk about


so I think that's one of the best secure bonds out there, where there isn't like a lot of uncertainty because it's backed by the government, and you also mentioned about REITs and I think because of this COVID crisis we have a lot of uh hospitality REITs that have take like a heavy beating because of the lack of uh


you know uh people going out and like enjoying hospitality services but I think a potential for growth would be the health care REITs so like we have parkway life and we also have raffles medical, and we've seen like how I think a lot of people are looking into investing in there and seen the share price go up


so I think it's really uncertain times but it's always important to , always just diversify your sources and just make sure you in such concession times perhaps not best to go into very risky or like high risk investments


but some certain china funds are doing pretty well, especially since in the post COVID world we've seen the rise of e-commerce so you have like shopee lazada and like in china you have Alibaba and they all seem to be doing well because most people were quarantined and shopping was done online so


that seems like quite a good place to invest in, and your thoughts on that


I mean if we consider the population worldwide in the developed world I would say that we're all heading towards an ageing population and undeniably everyone requires healthcare one way or another, be it whether you are young person or an ageing person you're bound to need a


I don't know for like different people heart surgery and all sorts of medical services are bound to arise when you reach, a certain age so I believe healthcare REITs have the potential for growth especially since, in singapore our REITs are diversified across different uh APAC regions so I think raffles medical and


parkway life have the potential for growth especially since singapore is actually a hub for medical tourism where we have , tourists coming to singapore from like indonesia, just for medical treatment so I think that REITs in the health care industry is indeed like has the potential for growth especially in these uncertain times because no doubt we can see how people are really worried about their health


and so healthcare is something that as I would regard as essential and not so much like, compared to other reits like hospitality because in times of uncertainty that hospitality might be like one of the last things on people's minds


I think it's important like, you know you have a lot of people who rely just on their parents' wealth but I think when you're passing on wealth to the future generations it's not just and it's not just like important to spend money wisely but rather how you invest and save the money


and financial independence is very important given our current generation where it's, different from our parents generation where you know the middle class were able to like move up into society that I see it is harder in our society because currently with there is a huge inequality between


the upper class and the middle class so there's this like distancing, and so financial independence is like pretty important for for me as a person because I think it's important to be responsible for your own future and not just rely on your parents or like her inheritance it's something I want to I take pride in to like grow my wealth


and I believe I will work hard for that but first to invest you actually need to have, your own income so I will work hard to get a high paying job and from there that’s how I will decide how come I want to invest my savings to gain financial independence and as I mentioned before diversification is pretty important


so I would definitely focus on having savings which is like a cornerstone as well because you never know what's gonna happen during rainy days you need to have savings to help you through difficult times but the same time because we have inflation


we also need to invest and make our money grow, so that's where I think it's important to you know just, invest in many funds like REITs unit trust and at the same time maybe saving accounts with banks are also an easy way


and yourself


I would like to clarify my point what I, what I meant to say was it will be more prudent to start with a bigger capital so what I meant was, instead of like just finding a job that


as in like I was saying that I would want to work hard to find a job that can truly pay me like a lot like maybe eight thousand and not so much like settle for something that will pay me three thousand so in that sense to me it's important to start with


big capital I'm not saying that you only invest when you have that capital but what I'm saying is like stretch your dollar


right and so you mentioned about the importance of having savings, do you have any advice that you would give to someone who is currently in debt


, (mmhmm)


(mmhmm) it seems like a lot of people our age seems to uh be having the source of their debt is through credit card spend so do you think one should own a credit card


that's very true I agree on that like the gimmicks to try to lure people in into having like so many credit cards but for me I believe like you like credit cards are good in the sense that, you you can like enjoy a lot of promotions like sometimes there are like dining promotions and I think


one of the recent things in the past few years that have made credit card so attractive is the lure of a cashback, so I think it's important to have like various credit cards to suit your needs and that is like what I do for example I have a standard chartered bank uh unlimited card where I have one point five uh percent cashback on any expenditure


so it doesn't matter like whether it's online or like dining or like purchase of goods I'll just get a one point five percent cashback, so even though the cashback isn't the highest it's very attractive to me because I can use it for a lot of things so I use it for a payment of my school fees and I get one point five percent cashback which is pretty attractive to me


and there are also credit cards that are tailored to different needs so there's the frank by OCBC card and that one is targeted towards the youths of our age the the students who are still studying and like those who have started working, so for frank it's mostly targeted for the crowd who do most of the shopping online because they provide three point five percent cashback for that


but the problem with that credit card is that you will have to spend six hundred dollars , uh outside of online spending in order to enjoy this three point five percent cashback which honestly is pretty much a gimmick to just like lure people to getting this credit card thinking they have three point five percent cashback


but it's quite hard to hit the six hundred dollar spend outside of online spending, so I think like this whole issue of credit cards is like it really opens up a world of opportunities and savings if you really know how to use it and if you are able to find the credit card to truly meet your needs but at the same time it can open a can of worms by making this


you know spending out of control if you do not know how to like set your limits and know that, the problem with credit cards is that you're spending on credit and it's not actually money you I paying out of your bank account so I think a lot of people


spend uncontrollably because of that the credit cards definitely has its benefits because it's definitely safer to make purchases online when you uh use a credit card to because if there's any scams involve it's easier for you to get your money back


whereas for debit cards it's debited out of your bank account like immediately so is credit cards really have its benefits but I think that type of person who uses it definitely needs to be prudent with their money


, I think it's always important and it's not often it's said a lot but it's understated that you have to definitely spend within your means


don't spend just to keep up with a lifestyle you want people to think you're living especially in this age of instagram it's important to just really spend what you are able to afford and, you know just know how to manage your money it's it's not so much about being able to afford something but at the same time you need to be able to balance it out with your investments and savings and I think investments and savings definitely come before like


spending and all these uh spendthriftiness but, I think like a lot of banks have come up with great things like multiplier account under DBS where you have like credit card spend paired with insurance and investments and that will help you grow your money because the more


stuff you have with D_B_S the more percentage you get


part three negative experiences, myself in terms of going through loss in life


as someone who has kept a lot of pets throughout my my life, I would say losing a cat is always a painful experience especially when that cat is very close to me


so for me, I think like one of the, saddest loss in terms of like my animals would be the loss of my favourite cat uh called minosy the fat ginger cat like she was very close to me since young she would always wait at the gate for me when I come back home


and she is like had very very cute meow fat cat like just like garfield, so losing her was really painful and I I don't think it's so much just the death itself, but sickness when it claims like someone close to you is always a very painful experience to go through because it's like the process that you go through when you know you're losing someone


I mean sudden loss of things is always painful because something you love being taken away from you all of a sudden is a terrible shock in anyone's life, but also going through a process of slowly losing something you love


is heart-wrenching because you know the time will will come soon where you know you don't have like that person or thing you love so in my case it was like my cat minosy because she was going through like kidney problems


and the sad thing with like kidney problems with cats is that they go through like a really bad phase and then they have like sudden recovery and you think things are getting better for a second and you're happy about it but all of sudden things can just get


bad all of a sudden so it's like a very painful experience with my cat because that was what went through I saw the pain and suffering in her like how she lost weight, is just like very sad for me because we grew up together as she’s like two years older than me and just seeing her get so skinny and like lose the spark that she had in her life which is very sad


and I think what was even more painful for me in this experience of losing her, was the fact that she died before I came back to singapore so I didn't get to like hold her in the last moments and ya it's always sad to lose a pet especially like a cat that you are close to so how about you


so I guess that is like a sad scene that you’re witnessed and if you haven't experience like much loss in your life why don't you tell me things that make you feel stressed


ya I guess I feel more stressed than you, currently being in like law school, you know like school school is like a really uh stressful place to be in when you have the bell curve and this need to do well and rise up above the bell curve


like I I think in singapore we have this problem since, ya like PSLE all the way to like all the way to university where you're judged not how well you do academically like for that for your grades itself but how well you did as compared to other people you took the exam with


and I think we have this like really toxic system of the bell curve that just makes it so hard for you to feel like you're good enough, so I think that to me is like one of the reasons why I feel like stressed in school


because it's not so much about just doing well but also being concerned with how well I'm doing against like other people my cohort so there has always been something that is always at the back of my mind in school of like any exam


especially like like now in university where your grades don't no longer like bring you onto the next point in life but are like your ticket to your future job starting there’s an added pressure to that


so like for me in school at with this bell curve, it just makes me more pressured to work harder than other people or like just be better than everyone else so I think in the aspect it just keeps pushing you to work very hard


and that that makes me stressed in that aspect because, I sleep late and you know when you sleep late you don't feel good the next day and the whole cycle starts because you just keep studying and like wanting to do well so I would say like stressful periods of my life I was like


associated with having to study and especially since I have a habit of like fermenting my thoughts and waiting to like the last few days before I pen it all down into an essay, and that’s always like stressful for me because I'm rushing against like a timer like a deadline


so I always feel like I'm being kept on my toes and like having to, you know just make sure I finish my work is really stressful because, I don't I don't feel good and you know like when you're stressed it just like brings out a lot of bad feelings within yourself like you lose your appetite you feel like vomiting


so you are being stressed in terms of academics is not a good experience it's like something I want to avoid and I can’t wait to, stop having such bad feelings ya


not yet, ya pick something


I think for me like saddest scene would always be like when animals in pain or animals dying, I don't think I've witnessed like a traffic accident or someone jumping down that, I think animal abuse is always something that is very sad


so I have not witnessed that like, first hand but you know when you see videos of, the thing terrible things people do to animals I think no matter what a cold person you are it always like evokes some form of sadness within you because you know animals are like very


helpless harmless creatures they don't do like anything to people unless they’re provoked, so when you see like all this cat abusers abusing cats in like Yishun and like just mutilating their tails or like pouring hot water on like the animals I I just it's just really sad to know that


people like that exist in our society and wreak havoc you know with like all these cute creatures it’s just like evokes really a lot of feelings of pain within me because even though it's not happening to me


I just can't imagine what the animal went through because it was so helpless it couldn't like cry for help or anything, and I think, it's also really sad when you know that, we don't just have cat abusers in singapore we also have like children abusers


especially with that recent case where like the those two parents were jailed because ya they kept their kid in a cage and they poured hot water on the boy until he scalded and died so I think that that was like something that really made me sad when I read it in the news because


I didn't know how parents could be so cruel like, I was told but like you know parents love you and all that stuff but like why why would anyone do that to like a young five year old child and especially since like he's like young and he's helpless like they’re his own biological parents so I just couldn't fathom the thought of like


why anyone would do that to a helpless child which really made me sad and angry, and yourself,


, is that something you always worry about


hello (uh huh), right


ya, how about yourself what do you often worry about


I think like for me it's always about, just doing well in school just hoping like like my grades are good enough for me to go on to the next phase and like you know just worrying about the future because you know the future is very uncertain


it's not like the past when you can look back and reflect that like the future is always an uncertain darkness like you don't know what's going to come out of it, so I think, like I sometimes I worry about the future about like what would I be like would like my life be better or worse than it currently is so this uncertainty or just like you know make you feel a bit uneasy and restless when going into the future


uh like potentially, uh I don't think you can ever change like the kind of family you're born into like the kind of wealth we are born into


so I'll never be able to change like how much wealth I was born in so it was like quite sad


I don't think I have any like you can think of right now but maybe you could sound your thoughts


I think for me something that would be more relevant would be talking about how things did not turn out to meet my expectations, so for me would be my experience this year going on exchange in sweden so I thought that at the first thing when I arrived there I thought I would be more


I would be able to like interact and associate more with like other international students, but that wasn't the case where arrived into my accommodations and like the kind of people that always hang around are like were


always happened to be singaporean so that was something that I didn't really enjoy, and also with like how that exchange turned out in that how I did not have like the full six months to just travel around and discover new cultures and enjoy my experiences but how


everything was like cut short for me because of COVID so I think COVID has been a terrible wrecker and like it's just like ruined lives and you know it the thing with COVID is that it’s just ruined the economy make people lose jobs and I think that has a lot of like


terrible repercussions for the economy and like for every individual so like in terms of health like COVID has affected me and like, ya I think it it was the reason why my exchange did not meet up to my expectations because I thought I will have like six months to really travel to different countries


but it was like, terribly cut short and I I did not get to the things that I wanted to do like things that were like on my bucket list like driving around in norway I mean like that's one of the things I couldn't do and like


I guess it evokes feelings in me of like regret and like pain because of like, things that were supposed to, belong to you and be part of the experience but it's all like taken away from you before you can even get to experience it and like when I think about how I might not even get like my youth


back or like the time to take in all the sights and experiences it's it just makes me feel you know disappointed and sad, and like frustrated because I can't change the situation I'm in but I'm like stuck with like


being back here in singapore and like thinking of oh like the missed opportunities and experiences that I would have experienced, but, but didn't get to experience, have you had something like that


part two positive experiences


I think living in like a place like singapore it's very hard to pick just one comfort food when I'm such a foodie and we have a plethora of choices in singapore when it comes to food, when I was thinking about what or like the


some foods that truly made me happy I would suddenly think of like I will have like a few choices that come up immediately my heart so one of it would definitely be Kovan beef noodles because it's so hard to find good beef noodles in singapore


and it's not often I get to eat those Kovan beef noodles you know with that amazing peppery broth tender beef that is not butchered elsewhere with tenderiser in other parts of singapore, and just that Umami provided by the and assorted vegetables that make that broth and that


piping hot bowl of soup and noodles truly one of the most best comforting foods in singapore because of just how all, amazingly special it tastes and that ah you know I can't get elsewhere in singapore so that one is truly a gem and good food always makes me happy so I would say Kovan beef noodles is something that can cheer me up and yourself


oh ya you're hainanese


ya, and who's your favourite dining buddy, who's your favourite dining buddy because you talked about how food is something very important to you and you just like having food so how do you enjoy such memorable experiences


like definitely I think, I have introduced you to a lot of other good places to buy your beef, and you know food is something so central to, relationships I, you know I think one of the reasons is that