for me also from young my parents actually helped me to set up an account but then I did not have any direct contact with it because I was young and have no knowledge on how to handle this type of account so what I did was just pass my money to my parents, but right now I'm using this savings account to track my spending and ensure that every month I do not spend that much on certain items and to keep my spending controlled


ya so what about you any other experience using these banking account uh products


I actually agree with you on the part where our debit card can double up as a ezlink card cause I actually have a personal experience where I forgot to bring my ezlink card and then I just have to activate my debit card on the spot to able to travel and it's very convenient, and also I feel like nowadays since we're going cashless we do not want to carry that much cash on us it's very inconvenient because sometimes if we are going out as a group and you want to pay people for their meals


it's very inconvenient to find change and and then pay them so it's easier to use like debit cards or mobile banking apps like paynow and paylah to, send money and receive money it's also because it's uh we when we started working was easier to


transact using debit cards as everyone that were that was surrounding me was kind of also using debit cards or like any banking apps rather than just the traditional way of cash so it was also easier to transact and buy items as well yeah


so what what ya what else do you think about these banking products


yeah I agree that it really increases convenience and actually, other than helping us to track our finances it also help our brands to track their finances as well especially when they're giving allowance and stuff cause they can see how much money they've been giving you as well as how much money have you spent during a certain period of time allowing them to properly track their finance as well


and also I feel that since many of us, now are more tech savvy so it's easier to use all these banking products and also personally not directly related to banking product but kind of like an extension of it I've also use the singpass app to access my CPF services to make sure that


make sure that I was able to track how much of my salary that I was drawing at the point of time was being dedicated to the different medisave accounts or current uh special accounts so this made me made sure that, I was also actually getting paid on time and at the right amount because my work was


paid by the hour and it was hard to gauge on how many hours I work in a month as we only recorded it uh physically in a book rather than electronically so using these uh these products allows me to better track how I'm being paid and what and whether I'm being paid correctly


so I feel like it's very relevant right now in this day and age yeah so what are your thoughts


yeah I agree and also to add on like on how this type of apps can help us manage our finances there's actually an option under the POSB digibank where you can track, how your spending has been going like which percentage of your spending has gone to transport which has gone to food as well as different services that allows you to maybe apply for a multiplier account to help you like manage your savings better and also


it kinds I like help you invest or buy any credits or funds that could help in your future investments so I think it's very useful to help you track all these minor investments that you can even make at this this age, and it's very relevant to us right now especially I feel like since almost every shopping mall or every MRT station there will be ATMs over there and it's very easy for you to withdraw money when you need the cash or to pay your bills from like axs machine and stuff like that so I feel like it can


help us it really brings a lot of convenience into our lives and makes it easier to manage ourselves uh what about you


it's something based on my, limited knowledge it's something that could help you multiply your savings by a certain percentage and you need to keep a certain amount inside so of course it you have to I think you have to have a minimum amount inside your account and dedicate some of that funds into the multiplier account for it to generate


generate money throughout the year, ya you, ya actually it's very convenient you can just do it through the app there's steps to help you so there's like E-services if I'm not wrong and there's


credit transfer funds so there's a lot of services under the homepage of the POSB digibank and I feel like it's a very good extension of, a banking product that is what is traditionally viewed as just a savings account ATM or just credit card debit card because it's something that's can be carried around in our smartphone because it's


downloaded in our smartphone and everyone nowadays have a smart phone so it's much easier to use it, ya, ya


ya, actually it's interesting because I'd also applied for my debit card through the app so a lot of things can be done through the app and I think it's a very good product they have actually push for


cause it brings a lot of convenience to people's life but I was thinking sit uh other than this there's also things like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay do you have any like experience using them


yeah, actually I have same thoughts as you because initially I would want to try Google Pay or Samsung Pay but I always have this fear of what if my phone gets hacked and my details will get will be stolen because now


since we're downloading all these apps into our phone other apps may actually like endanger the security of our phone so I was just wondering like, whether it's safe to use these apps so I would rather stick to the my debit card to pay for items and I think it's very relevant product that will still be


seen in the future and not totally obsolete because everyone carries around their wallets and even if you don't carry cash you can carry your small pouch that has your debit cards inside that can pay for almost everything nowadays so I feel like it's still okay to just stick to traditional use of debit cards as it will still be relevant in the future


yeah


I agree with the part on elderly not being that tech-savvy because I've seen them being resistant to using these services and prefer the traditional method as they can ask people to help them as well if they are not sure, also for cheques it's can it can be relevant but I feel like in the future it will kind of become obsolete because we can see like in the past people used to get paid


for their salaries using cheques where like you know the manager will give out cheques to every employee and they will have to bank it in but nowadays it's all just internet banking and they will just transfer you your salary and there's no, not such a high restriction on the amount that you can transfer and usually people get their pays through internet banking so I feel like this is actually


gonna be obsolete in the future and like not relevant anymore because cheques are still like physical pieces of paper and it's also dangerous to carry around cheques sometimes cause maybe if you lose it and then other people can bank it in so I feel that maybe cheques will not be seen as so relevant in the future anymore


ya cause actually a lot of people do not know about these kind of services that are actually present in the app so there was a time where I was just very interested when I first download the app so I tried to like figure out what can we do within the app and I realised that it's actually super convenient


also like in the for ATMs right I feel like, it's very inconvenient in a way that when there's a lot of people trying to withdraw money or like do any transfer from the ATM you will have to queue up and wait for others in front and usually the older generation they are quite


they are not that tech-savvy so it's quite inconvenient for them as well sometimes they don't know what how to internet transfer because I have a personal experience where, a older lady in front of me actually asking for help on how to to transfer her money to her son so I feel that


ATMs actually it's not it's convenient definitely but it's not the best method that can be to help us manage our finances and do any finance related method, however it definitely will still be relevant in the future because if anyone wants to go out to withdraw money where do they go to first it's actually the ATM if not there's no other way


cause I don't think people want to waste time to go to a bank to just withdraw money and like ask someone personally to help them withdraw money yeah


yeah I agree also and it's also a better way to bookkeep let's say for people who are who are actually doing businesses it's better to keep track of their finances because personally I've seen research on how actually better financial accounts and having structured accounts can help you to


ensure that your business is actually moving in the right direction or you are no you're in the know of where your funds are actually going so it provides like a very clear-cut way of, showing like oh this is where your money is going and for us cause we're still students right now our income is definitely not that high and we are just very wary of our spending especially now we are in university and


university tuition fees are not cheap so we want to be sure that we're not spending that much and these banking products will definitely help us to, just keep track of our finances and make sure that we all are able to, uh ya able to keep


how about you


I'm sorry my internet died , ya so basically I was just saying that it brings a lot of convenience to us and it's very relatable from people of all ages right now so definitely banking products will stay relevant in the future but certain products with a may go obsolete since there are physical versions and digital versions of it


ya actually I agree with the point about bank books because my mum actually likes to keep track of her of her finances that way I think it's a very traditional method but when she went to the banking service they actually told her that we don't print out bank books anymore or like


most of them prefer not to and do not have that option anymore so definitely we can see the banking products evolving uh as time passes so some of them will stay relevant but things that are like print form like bank books and cheques eventually I feel like they will evolve into something more digital and more convenient for everyone to use


yeah definitely had a few cause A levels was really a very stressful period and not just the exam itself the whole two years where content was just packed into us every day and it's just a whole new chunk of, new things that we have to learn every single day and when you start to lag behind it's really hard to catch up so there was a period of time where I was very overwhelmed with work because it was


during april march and april period where I had uh continual assessments coming up and during the period of time I also had my taekwondo competitions coming up as well as, having to plan for the next uh executive committee of taekwondo as I was in charge I was secretary of taekwondo and at that point of time it was very stressful to have to


fish out all the details from all my members and collate them and send it back to my teachers and even, to deal with the stress of exams because at that point of time I wasn't doing very well as I expected to be and I remember distinctively a period of time where it was very stressful for us was because me and my executive committee we were not able to submit names for the competition


for our school on time because of some admin issue and, it was a very large issue because my friend who was wrongly graded as a colour belt than he was supposed to be and it was very major issue because if this was brought up to the


competition board they could actually suspend the whole school for not uh suspend the whole school and not allow us to continue in the competition, and there was a lot of very intense exchange with our teachers and a lot of rushing trying to get the information right and, committing communicating with our coach was very


laidback on admin issues because usually we handle it and it was very stressful because it was supposed to be a period of time when we were having our exams and on top of this we had deadlines that were like two hours away to reach and at that point of time I was very stresssed out had a bit of a panic attack but my friends were there to calm me down because we were all in this together


but I agree that really exam stress adds on to a lot of things that you're facing in life, and it really can make you feel very down and just very, very stress and very anxious about things happening around you


ya how about you eh


yeah definitely there was a lot of procrastination but the thing is it was very stressful at that point of time where there were many assignments coming out one after another and our school always held regular exams to ensure that we were on task and like, ready to take the final exams uh which is A levels and I remember one point of time there was super stressful for me was during prelims period


where it was just only a month and a half away from A levels and when we all got back our prelim results I did very badly for two of my subjects and it wasn't even it was just a bare barely pass kind of thing like sub-pass, what we call it in JC so I've I was very stress and very anxious because I wasn't sure of how I was gonna improve myself within that short period of time because


from my experience in secondary school that was not the case cause being consistent helped me to achieve better results but right now I wasn't able to keep up to that and that really affected me and my mood I was very stressed that I kept, I kind of binge eat a lot and also when people tend to question me I get very easily frustrated and flustered and I I do not like having people annoy me especially when I was studying ya


so really adds up to a lot of my stress around here, yeah how about you


yeah I I agree it's just like when there's a lot of things piling onto you and when one thing starts to go wrong like we're not able to prepare for our exam well or we can't seem to be able to study it just breaks down this whole chain of stuff that is going wrong in your life and then it puts a lot of uh mounting pressure on you


ya so other than that other than exams I actually felt, like very intense stress during one of my part-time jobs after A levels so basically it was a customer service job where I had to call customers to ask them to make payments for their rentals on time and ensure that there were not no discrepancy in payments and


make sure that all the logistics are in place so basically when I had to call customers it was very stressful for me as as I had prior experience like the first few times when I called there were people who were very angry on the phone and very short-fused where they just


shouted or they just, they were just very rude to you because money is a very sensitive issue as we all know and when you tell them that you they haven't paid something on time they actually get very angry and frustrated, and then they project this anger onto me but I was I was just thinking I'm just a part-time worker who really did not know much that was happening and just doing what


my supervisor asked me to do and it was very frustrating because I also could not talk back to the customer but all I did was just sit there and take it all in, and I realised this also because my supervisor was, was very hesitant to take any calls that were coming from customers as she also did not want to face this type of situation and I was thinking why did they if they themself did not want to face this type of situation why did they ask me to do it and it was very


very stressful time because I did not like to be accused of things that I didn't do and I'm I'm someone who's very the defensive but when it comes to times like this I just have to suck it in and just take it all in and just be nice to the customer cause there's no choice but it was very stressful and


very nerve-wracking period of time yeah how about you any experiences with work or


ya cause I also took the coding module and it was very stressful as there was a portion under the coding, module where they had a leader board and they show show people who were on top of the leader board that means they were doing their assignments way ahead before time and completing them


and this kind of rankings actually stress me a lot because it shows how far you someone can actually lag behind which was what I felt, and there were so many deadlines every single week where there will be at least two assignments to submit weekly and to see people moving up the leader board meaning that they have completed their assignments made me think that they had it so easy like they were able to do it and why can why can't I do it that fast as well


it made me very stressed looking at the assignments and trying to complete them and also with someone with no coding background it was, very very hard to catch up and to deal with all the technical terms and aspects of this module especially when there are people who are who are very knowledgeable in this field and I feel that it's very competitive as well because we are in a very competitive faculty which is computing and


people are just pit against each other all the time so you would you really had to like step up and get your A game on if not you'll really lag behind ya


yeah, yeah, I I also felt the same way like I had those very like very often I had to stay up until three AM plus to just try and finish my work and even staying up that late didn't help me to to finish like it could be a very simple assignment


yet I would take so long to do it and it made me very stressed and anxious and I'll become very fidgety and I, every time I try and stare at the computer screen I just zone out because nothing can go in my head and I realise it's actually a bad thing to code that late at night or like just do any work


for long periods of time into the night because it really makes you very stress and your head, it's just in the wrong place so you can't actually concentrate that well I feel yeah so it's really just a very stressful experience, that I felt and also


having this experience makes me more aware of where I where my weaknesses lie and where I must work, how my I must work on it so it makes me very stressed in a way that I have to better myself and like upskill myself in order to be able to compete better with all these other people in the faculty yeah


ya I feel like definitely there's pros and cons because, my personal experience with studying online was just was average because other than it been very comforting to the study at home but also I had an experience with a online module where


they were teaching they were coding it was a coding module and it was a tutorial and it was online and I felt that it did not help me at all and this was even before the whole COVID situation started and because, online some certain modules just can't be taught online I feel because you just need that human interaction over there to help you and online lessons were just boring as


they all they did was ask us to complete assignments and ask us to read out the answers which was very useless to me I feel because I did not manage to learn a lot of things from it and as a result I feel like my grades suffer, and that's another worry that I feel, that might happen in a post COVID world because in our field of studies we are bound to take on more of these modules and if they plan to shift everything online


it may not be that beneficial to our learning and this will like affect us in getting our G degree and stuff like that yeah what about you


yeah


ya I also agree because just the other day when prime minister #lee hsien loong# was talking in his speech and he actually mentioned the part of where our economy will take a few years to recover and then we have to take a few years to recover as well then it really hit me that this pandemic really affected


like so much on a global scale not just where lives are being lost but even lives that are still, able to be safe right we still face other issues happening like how our economy is being restructured whether we'll have secure jobs and even all our learning abilities how are we it affects the new way of learning I feel and like pandemics like this really


like makes you think about how easily like everyone how fragile life is and like how easily a life can be lost cause now when I just see reports on COVID nineteen deaths or COVID nineteen cases it's just numbers but these numbers actually have


so much impact on people who actually know them like people who are actually suffering from COVID nineteen or people who actually passed away and, it's very sad because the deaths are very amounting and, such pandemics really just bring across very solemn feelings around the world I feel and having the whole world in lockdown really just seems so self-isolating like never would I have thought that the whole world could actually go into lockdown where travel is being restricted things that we did maybe just six months ago were now totally not


not uh totally avoidable like we can make unable to do it so it's very scary to see how fast the world can actually just change and just how much that is effort that is taken to get through this and we're not even halfway there but


it's very scary to predict and like kind of foresee what will happen in the future yeah


!huh! I'm online [ah] ya I can okay


ya similarly like in general also I'm very thankful for having people around me like relating back to your technology part I do agree with you a lot because during this period of time it can be quite self-isolating in a sense


of your emotions rather than your person itself also because you cannot see your friends and you're stuck at home all day and sometime you are just facing the same people all day but then these are the people who are the support system for you so for me it's like my family when I have my parents and two of my siblings and I'm very grateful that at least at I have them to like


get me through this period of time and it's very heartening to see like how many how much more conversations we actually have right now, this situation like brings to us because now we're just stuck at home and we can engage with each other more and like spend more time together and also with the use of technology like zoom applications or skype I'm I'm able to


I'm able to communicate with my friends even though we're not able to see each other and we are like socially distant, and allows me to keep my like strengthen my bonds with my friends and not lose contact with them it's very useful way to keep in touch with someone as I'm someone who likes to have interactions with people and I do not


like enjoy having to be socially distanced for that long so having this experiences and having online gatherings allows me to be happier and more, more heartened that I am able to still get to get like get together with my friends online and just keep track of what they're doing and just like be in each other's lives yeah what about you


yeah I agree and it's something like apart from that also it's very heartening and very kind of privilege for us to, able to have this opportunity to spend this time and seek out what we actually like our interests and participate in


where our passion lies or what we want to learn more about and definitely this makes me thankful for being in Singapore especially because, the way that they are having handling this COVID nineteen situation is definitely one of the best and it's it at the end of the day it's still a pandemic we cannot expect it to just go away simply but I feel like our government has definitely handled it very well and took care of all the citizens and their needs although there are some areas that could be improved


and with that I'm very thankful for that and also the security that, this country provides because we can see a lot of chaos and violence happened in other countries like, the black lives matter movement in America it's a very good movement however there's so much violence arising for it and I feel that


maybe countries should provide security for all their citizens and not show any discrimination and I feel that Singapore has actually managed to sort of achieve that because nothing is foolproof we can't say that they totally achieve it I'm very thankful that they are able to provide us with this security blanket for us yeah


yeah it was very interesting because I do not have an electric mixer so I had to whisk it with my hands and at first I I took about ten minutes before I saw like the slightest bit of result it was very fulfilling when you finally get the result that you see on tiktok and instagram because


so many people are doing it and it's a really a just a fun way to keep us occupied, during this period of time and I feel like it's very I'm very thankful for all all the opportunities that I'm able to get despite this pandemic and like all the memories that I can create with my family with my friends online


ya so I think it's a very fulfilling experience throughout the pandemic cause you learn more about yourself and you discover more things about yourself and going back to that I also picked up like a new skill baking as you said and in the past I will not have


done so during when I was schooling because school was very stressful however picking up this new skill allowed allowed me to be more uplifted and like happier because I was able to do something that I like and also do it for my family yeah


yeah, yeah I agree also that's why it's very, I think it's very lucky of us to be able to able to carry out all these activities like I said I'm able to just stay at home and enjoy my netflix shows and I've been watching a lot of shows recently to keep myself occupied because we're I'm also in my school


holidays and there's nothing much to do unless you you have to push yourself to pick up a skill and then I feel like that makes you very motivated and have something to look forward to in life in general because if you wake up every day and have nothing to do you feel very lost and sad but with something you you can


raise it raises your spirit and then you can have like something else to do as well, and I think it's good that we can watch movies anywhere anytime and we can actually also watch it with our friends cause now netflix has netflix party so you can actually it's kind of like going to the movie with your friends but at the comfort of your own homes and definitely you cannot have your friends around with you


but it's still another fun and like engaging way to be with your friends and also just to like keep keep each other accompany because in this period of time some people may, feel very down and it's just good to lift up their spirit and just make them happy ya


yeah


yeah I I really I also had the same experience as you about working from home because we do not have to travel really saves us a lot of time and inconvenience and you do not even have to dress up you can just stay in the comfort of your own clothes and even if you are doing work online you can actually have your meals alongside it so it's quite


quite comforting as well and like very relaxing for us and I feel that I'm very thankful uh to be able to have such a stable home environment for me to carry out all my work as well because I feel like I know some people who do not, have the luxury of just are not entitled to a very conducive home environment and they're always seeking for options to work outside because there's no way they can stay at home but for me I am very grateful that I'm able to have such a


conducive working environment at home having like places to study, and able to have my meals while studying I think it's also very comforting to me and like to be able to just relax at home while working makes the working less stressful as well yeah


I feel that the most memorable ones also actually on twenty nineteen where a few of my friends came and celebrate my birthday together but what was actually memorable the most is the company because I always enjoy having my friends around me


and it's just the company that really matters having like genuine conversations and just engaging with each other which is very heartening because, is it shows that we will want to know more about each other's lives and know what's going on and I think it's very important for the friendship as well and


this the one of the best birthday present that I was ever given was the company of my friends I believe and as well as the company of my family just to have them around with me makes me feel very I feel very happy that they are with me and able to for them to be able to celebrate my birthday and just remember it is just very heartening already ya


ya I actually agree cause as we grow older right, I feel like we we would definitely matured more and then the way we do things and like, how we celebrate each other birthday has definitely evolved and this goes beyond the material part of it because you really want to show genuine care and concern to people


and that's why I think it ties in to why do I like to be alive because I like to be alive for the people around me I'm happy to be able to engage in conversations with them to create memories with them and it's very, heartening to have them by my side through times of need or


during times of celebration as well like when I receive my A level results and it was decently good my family were there to support me and celebrate this occasion and as well as other times where, maybe when I was down like stressed from school my family and my friends were there to get me through it and talking to people really helps you to get through things and this is I'm very happy to be alive to be able to just surround myself with people who make my life more fulfilling and also to be alive is


to have some like to have a purpose in life is something that is very important to me as well so being alive allows me to fulfil some of my goals like having a good job in the future so that I can take better care of my family and also just contributing back to society I feel like it's very important


so I like the feeling of having a purpose cause it makes me very motivated and very happy to serve the people around me yeah what about you


yeah I agree it's the small things that actually can help you like uplift your spirits and things like that because just small gestures or actions that you give to your friends or your friends show towards you can actually really change your day


because I will also remember a period of time where I was very down and then my friends were just there supporting me and they will always bring food to school and like share it with share it with me and like all of us and it's very, a very heartening memory that I remember because in JC we were allowed to eat in classes and we have a food locker where we just store our items and then on in periods of time when people are actually sad


we will just take some items from home and then like surprise them or we can just eat the items basically or like drink every lecture and then it's very fun thing to do I feel and it's like very cute memory that I have of my friends so I really


appreciate all the small gestures that have been made to me by my friends and I like to do this for them as well because it's very heartening to have a strong bond with the people around you ya


yeah there's always few people who always, take the extra mile to give you gifts before your exams or before major celebrations like during teachers' day even though it's teachers' day there's this classmate who actually went around giving everyone likes food packets as encouragement and then before exams there'll always be food packs going around


to encourage you to stay healthy and stay mentally well during this stressful period of time as well, so I feel like it's just all these small gestures that sometime fall through the crack and you don't appreciate it that much but in the moment you realise it and then it's very heartening for you and it really uplifts your spirit I feel ya


part one financial related topic, okay


ya, ya I have a personal accident insurance uh with aviva so the main features of this policy is that they they provide coverage for the accidental death or the


disablement medical expenses for accidental injuries TCM or chiropractical uh therapy and treatment as well as as well as the hospital allowance, as a result of the accident also uh I have a personal uh health insurance with manulife


which is the the the name is critical select care, uh discovering selected critical illness with additional coverage for special conditions, and at the end of the this policy as long as I I do not make any claim I can claim uh I receive a payout of twenty five percent of the the premiums I that I paid ya what about you stanley


so far you have any experience (ppc), with the policy


ya, (ppc) ya same goes for me , critical illness plan


yeah yeah that's the one that I mentioned the personal health the insurance which covers the critical illness before ya also I also hope that I didn't get to claim it lah, yeah


uh the other the lump sum I have one with lump uh which payout lump sum which is uh endowment plan, so this is another plan with uh aviva and this is called my savings plan it's more on uh savings (ppc) but it but it also covers death and terminal illness and accidental death as well


uh that one with the savings plans is with uh I think it tie it to DBS bank


ya they have uh they have some promotion or what and I and then just ya sign up this trend, the other two the other one is with my friend who is uh he's she's an financial advisor in finexis ya so she's helping me to keep track


I uh


not didn't really look out for criteria just that you know I trust trust her lah trust her doing helping me doing the financial planning


yeah, yeah sort of lah and and also she's she's also one of the first ones who approached me lah so ya


yeah no no no uh the most I will just entertain them and but then I may not I will not uh I may not go with them with their, uh policy signing up any policy (ppc)


yup, ya ya yes yes yes it's independent


ya ya she try to she try to have a daily conversation with me to check on the status


I see I see I think you should meet uh someone should get in touch with you with you lah


regarding your policies, yeah


yeah those are from the the CPF insurance right


yes I think think starting this year right twenty twenty they they change to care care careshield


ya so we we still not not ya not yet not yet


oh yes they usually will (ppc) will send to us uh periodically lah and then I just I just read through, I think the CPF insurance is uh is only good for the covering, of the basic basic insurance so if we have we have we have enough budget can can opt for


uh uh insurance outside CPF


ya correct correct


yes yeah it's not sufficient don't want to meet , definitely


ya I think some of the the insurance company uh external insurance company has uh has a supplement to eldershield that means you can you can claim more (ppc) or, uh you can claim more ya at or at or and with a longer term as well


to supplement ya I think some of them has it, cash premium cash premium because it's external ya


how about the the medishield life, yes yes have a medical sickness


[orh] [orh] mine mine I didn't I didn't get any riders so I just use the basic one, yes yes if there's if anything happen lah and I wanted to upgrade or go to a private hospital


oh !wow! okay, oh ya ya ya as we grow older right


ya that's true


uh for I don't really tie my investment to insurance so investment will be, will be uh separate yeah I find that I find that


to have insurance to have the investment tie with the insurance I need to pay a a huge premium, and then it's not guaranteed


ya so I I don't really have the don't really tie to yeah I don't have don't have investment-linked policies lah


so do you get to get back some of your, oh I see I see, it's not worth it right


I see I see


but I think you at least pay for the first few years right before you can stop, cancer


oh really, so what else of , what else of the what else what other insurance do you have besides your just for yourself


do you buy or


(mmhmm) ya I think


ya endowment endowment for me is like ya savings for you know for retirement or or uh some some other buying of assets or investment


because we are we get to get back a lump sum of money at the end of it end of the term, sort of lah sort of, yes yes that's correct


so when you go you you go oversea do you do you buy any insurance for yourself you travel overseas, from which


oh for me I buy the the yearly one with uh NTUC, uh yes ya correct


correct correct


ya so I because I travel with my family, my wife buy bought for us the whole family ya together


we claim I uh there's once I lost my luggage, can't remember in which airport lah I think some think in France somewhere in France and then uh, they took a quite quite a long time to to reach our quite a few one or one or two days to reach our hotel so yeah I I just use the use the insurance to to claim for the loss


uh it was lost in the airport ya and they they ya they managed to ya ya they managed to recover it for us


yes yes that's correct then need to get some documents from them, before I can make the claim, yeah


ya I can't remember I I don't think it's few days don't think it's few days quite quite quite sometime as well ya cause need to do the check-in and stuff, ya NTUC using NT uh NTUC travel insurance


then there was once I there is also once I my, child's the, the stroller child's stroller was uh damaged as well so I think they mishandled it yeah and I I ask to claim it's nothing nothing major lah nothing major no no uh injury


accident so (ppl) just property damage the most


part three negative experiences


help uh helpless yes there was time there was this because we have a we have , I have two two daughters what so there was, uh from there was once I I went to Malaysia on a road trip with my wife and with some with some friends lah uh and then but I put my daughter with my


parents in Singapore for them to take care, and you know we were quite far away from Singapore already and then uh she fell and hit her forehead, and it was a very big cut lah and according to my parents she she cried a lot lah and there's a lot of blood so you know knowing that we were we are very far from her and then know we can't be there with her uh at that moment


and uh we need need to take, a few hours to get back to Singapore, then uh uh in the car we we we we quite we were felt quite helpless lah and my wife uh cried as well so when we when we were able to get back to Singapore


she was already discharged and with the four stitches on her forehead, already so you know we cannot do anything uh to be with her at at that moment when she needed us so luckily we have uh my my parents were were with her that time


uh the elder one yes I think she was uh two years old that time two to years old two years plus ya she was running around then


uh because it's a road trip what so very hard to manage manage her you know changing her diaper or feed her halfway


yeah yeah that's true we we try to bring her we try to bring them diving we we went as well, but uh I left her left her on the boat we we take turn to dive lor me me and my wife take just turn to dive


ya they'll be on the boat but at one person take care of them, think starting from nine years old


yes uh so need to depends ah whether she wanted or not want it ya, she like to be on the boat lah playing playing playing with the sisters but I don't I'm not so sure about diving how about you do you do you have any time that you feel helpless


so the


so do you get to do you do you learn from the learn the lesson, and uh try to save save the save for your bus trip home, oh oh ya ya like last time last time last time don't have right


at least you know your way home mah ya not so bad


that's true, ya ya ya, any any traumatic incident you experience


yeah, for me I I, there was this friend who whom who gotten his uh bike licence ya he went for to learn bike and then gotten his licence and he offered me this


offer me a ride around Singapore and I remember it was at night and uh he was riding very fast you know going out with his you know gotten his new bike bike licence, and he was you know trying to riding very fast and he was maybe it was at night and it was downslope and then there was this hump that uh that uh it's not very visible


even in the the because the lighting was also quite poor lah there was then the the hump was not very and he was traveling quite fast and then we literally, like flew out of the bike and you know it was, quite quite scary for me lah because you know I don't know what what what's going to happen you know in mid-air what and or if we are going to any cars going to


bump into us when we fell, and and luckily uh there was no car lah no cars, and we uh I I just injured, for me I injured my arms but he broke his leg ah I think I believe he he's he he he is also quite traumatised lah from this experience and then the end he


he decided you know not to ride bike anymore and know learn uh to he had decided to you know get a car instead


bless not not really blessing lah because I still I still injured myself and I and it it it it's an experience that I, I I got traumatised and know riding bike again right I I I'm not so sure if it's yeah if I


yeah, yeah so also so so lah no no no serious injury, I don't think so I've I've I've not been on a bike for since then ya so I'm not so sure if I if I will I will do it again


anyway ya ya cause ya, [orh] good for you lor


how about, anything that you worry about often yeah I mean recently or, something yeah often


ya so very hard to juggle


ya also also take care of them right, ya last time when we were single when I was single I think it's quite easier lah I mean more carefree you know don't have to worry so much now that have a family


the wife and two children, ya I think more for them you know uh like when we sometimes when we, when I take the airplane or when we go for any dives trip you know I try to do try not to do anything dangerous lah right


like more like now no like no more guts already you know try try try to think for for them like if if I die or what you know what will happen to them so you know try to be more careful and not do any dangerous stunts lah


not so lah because like my my kids are still young so, uh I get more stressed at work than at home


yeah at work, uh I if I can don't work and able to support them you know and able to support my mortgages you know pay out my


whatever liabilities ya why not that I think that's when I retire lah but not not not so soon lah not so soon


yeah


the, not really how many kids I want like like what like you lor like what what you said lor like how am I going to support, a family but then uh we need to


I try to tell myself lah that you know we have we have to do it uh one step at a time lah, yeah


try not to worry so much ah because we don't know what will happen, yeah so what


so, yeah so what's holding you back from finding a girlfriend


must, it's hard to juggle lah between life and work


still can lah still can, no lah I don't think so lah now now in society nowadays anything can happen


no so, have you gain any, for me not really lah, if anything holding me back is myself lah goal ah


goal is to retire retire young lor retire early lor I think fifty, fifty fifty plus lah ya is my goal lah , fifty plus lah I think fifty not not more than fifty five lah


not really so, uh not holding me back ah not enough money lah yeah


ya I need to think of ways, not easy yes not easy, yeah


that's true fear ah fear mostly mostly is fear uh fear of making mistake you know fear of disappointment yeah


that's true, just need to do some risk management ah


we see how lah we see how that ya that's why it's hard to think about such such things lah


for me


no no point right ya no point, ya


ya correct, ya


loss in a way my probably my my grandmother lah who who pass away, a few years back yeah


ya quite close with my grandmother lah and you know like you felt quite, sad lah that that she she left us


I just you know stay close to my family, and you know uh talk to my parents more, at at for me I don't I can control my emotion


quite quite well so you know yeah it's more like you know uh those those contacts ah contact with my my family and, my friends yeah


ya ya ya I have a bad quite bad memory [lah] so ya I forget (uh) bad those (uh) those those negative things (uh) quite well


part two positive experiences


ya, uh for me the happiest moment in my life will be when I ask uh my wife, uh on the marriage proposal and she said yes to me yeah I guess for me lah that's the that's the the the


turning point of my of my life and ya I am glad that she she's willing to spend the rest of her life with with me as well, how about you stanley


oh so it was a relief lah a relief for you your family ya, ya yes I, I'm glad that she she's doing well as well haven't met her in a long time


so think just tell her to to keep keep positive


mindset ya exercise really yeah, I see I see, I know


ya right I I remember eating her her #hokkien mee# yes was very nice and I I wanted to learn from her I wonder how how she how she cooks such a nice


#hokkien mee# I remember that very very well


yeah she's a she's a very nice uh good cook, uh there's one there's one uh teacher of mine back in secondary school ya she she's


always you know look up uh look out for me for my studies and also, uh she's very positive person and also sees the sees the good in everyone lah so no matter uh what kind of student


know whether naughty students she face she she just ya keep being positive and you know, yeah yeah as well as other students ah


not really it's very sad I haven't been seeing her in a in a long time, ya so I should I think I should I should and visit up with some of my friends


yeah yeah we


there was, once in when I we me and my wife visited uh her friends in New Zealand, and uh we decided to rent a camper van to go around the the various sights in New Zealand to


ya visit lah to visit them sights and it was for me it was uh it was quite an experience sleeping overnight in the holiday park and then know self drive, self driving for long distance yeah you don't get to do that in Singapore in yeah about I think about one week or so


yes and with with also my my friends lah our friends, uh so we we just the thing with uh self driving is that we can we can


manage our own time uh properly lah we don't need to follow the schedule of the travel agent, agency ya so still still quite okay yeah, so it was it was for me it's it's an experience lah experience which we can we cannot yeah find in Singapore or the other asian countries


uh maybe in other countries maybe ya and, yeah it's true that's true maybe not during winter time lah maybe during spring or autumn time


yeah yes that's correct how about you


yeah yeah, so did you get to finish the walkway in the end, !whoa! that's great


I see I see that's good


that's true that's true, me thankful for for me I'm thankful for my health lah and you know being able


to do what I want I want to do go diving went travel without any restrictions, ya do not have any disabilities, yeah and so for my family as well so


ya I for before the COVID we we have company uh activities, uh we go dragon boating every week


ya and then there's there's also there's also gym in my company so I try to go there to do some workout keep myself healthy


not particularly particularly when it's very hot but I like outdoor activities yes, yeah


oh yeah we are the dark skin type mah


eh now still now still can ah now still can right, [orh] I still go out for jogging


drink more motivated is it, ya


yeah I think I lost some weight during this period so not so bad lah I think it's a sort of blessing in disguise lah, get to lose some weight


uh yeah yeah in I think yours yours first yours first then mine, uh actually not really eh because we have so many celebrations every year like christmas birthday valentines day


you know so I I don't find don't don't find receiving birthday present any, anything ya any meaning meaningful but I I when I was young I I, I received this present at when I was young I've received this birthday present from my father during in primary primary six I was really happy it was it was a mountain bike and I I I remembered that it was quite expensive at that time


so and and my and and that and that my father was willing to buy it for me knowing that he's a thrifty person ah so uh I I, I remembered ya I still has it it's still functioning well and I still it's still I still have it so it's quite good good birthday present last lasted for for a very long time


yeah that's true


desktop lah


the happiest moment


I see I see, yeah


oh oh yeah yeah yeah that's true that's true, yeah


[orh] and then modem on it


actually they receive a lot of presents every now and then as well from the aunties and uncles, yeah yeah so I think this is a difference ah between the our generation


ya ya ya I think once they receive the present, play for a while after few after one day two days they get bored already


uh when, when we go travelling uh diving ah diving in Bali actually when we go diving we for me I don't expect much from the dive lah cause when we go diving we just I just enjoy the


the moment in the in the water you know the calmness of the, the water and there was time there was this this once when we go, diving in Bali because diving Bali is famous for their mola mola sunfish the sunfish lah a big fish uh and it was during the off off-peak season and I don't really expect much


from the the trip but at the end then at the end of the the dive trip right we saw this just one sunfish came up from the bottom and it was very spectacular and I thought that it was uh lucky lucky for us lah


to to see this this uh magnificent fish ya, yes yes, ya but the but yes but usually the airfare and the


diving is quite expensive so we you we go during the the off-peak season to dive, ya ya so that's why I I felt lucky


yeah quite worth it and you any anything in particular


oh that's so then then that's the that's the thing lah


oh so do you like do you like anyhow pick a pick a destination


so anything that that's come out is a bonus lah, ya ya ya


that's that's another way yeah, I see I see


part one financial related topic


ah so Ang do do you have any uh insurance


I have a, FWD term cancer policy, so every month I pay a premium so this policy is for a year renewable but every year the premium will increase so what it covers is


a lump sum when I have I'm diagnosed with cancer uh at any stage of the cancer even for early stage on I'm I can claim up to hundred percent of the payout


and I have a, endowment plan which I have sign up fifteen years ago when I was serving NS so sold by my insurance uh sold by my my colleague so NS colleague so it's a prucash so from prudential


so this endowment is every month you you pay a certain premium and every year they give you a yearly cash benefit, once once a year and it's capital guarantee


so and after five years into the prucash I have the option to add a rider to it so actually I add a I think the rider cost like less than twenty dollars and it actually give me the benefit for accidental


uh claims like if if I injured myself I can claim three times of the sum sum assured, ya so, experience with


so far all things go well I haven't have any accidents so yeah and also I don't have cancer so I wish I don't have so, everything is good so all these all these insurance is when


you hopefully you don't need to use it lah so if you if you have it's good for you lah I mean the policy lah ya, but ya, but do you have like any critical illness plan or


for like let's say, like let's say if you have cancer, oh okay


ya so so yours is also payout at early stage or, or they payout a lump sum or they payout partially of the, of the claim


so you bought all this from the from from the insurance agent or from your friends or from the roadshow or or someone call you and you buy


how how about the other one, [orh] okay


I see I see so so, so what do you look out for in a insurance agent or a financial advisor is it like a, must be your friend or, or what are the criteria or what are the quality she must have you know


[orh] so so she it's the trust lah it's the trust that is important lah


so, so let's say if one any random guy on you meet on in the MRT near the MRT they ask you to buy you you also will give it a try lah


so you'll meet up, so yours, yours is a is a financial advisor from from finexis


so it's a independent one or I haven't heard of finexis so, is oh okay okay so, so he will meet up with she will meet up with you every yearly lah


mine ya mine has I haven't met him for, for the longest time really so actually mine was fifteen years ago I bought so I think she he is no longer with the company so it actually change hand to another financial advisor so I haven't had a chance to meet him also


but the FWD, was actually bought the cancer policy was actually I bought it online lah so I just do a research and since there's no need for for the medical check-up, and the approval is quite fast so I just purchase lah


yeah, ya ya ya I think will be good to have someone to monitor lah because sometime we have no time we don't know what's in the market you know so


it it can be quite tough lah so and recently I heard there's so much changes in policy you know like you see the government usually they you know sometimes they have elderly shield then now they have careshield sometimes you have to keep up with


with all the information it's quite quite tough lah, do you find, ya ya ya ya so know like I didn't know elderly shield is upgraded to careshield something new ah so I didn't know so something so yeah


yeah I think so yeah yeah, but elderly shield is for forty years old right, not entitle lah ya so


but all this you you keep uh you you're inform about all these lah government CPF policy


ya ya ya


ya to ya of if you are working I think I think you most likely you can use your CPF to pay for all the insurance for the CPF insurance lah but those are very minimum lah I I also feel so like you have to have some external you have to buy outside one to


to supplement your own, protection lah if not I don't think it's enough lah, like let's say I I just read up the elderly shield they they only if you have any disability (ppc) they pay up to four hundred dollars a month I don't think four hundred dollars is enough for you right


considering you're you're the, you have you have a family right if you can't work you have four hundred is not enough for your family ah, ya ya ya so, so usually you need to supplement with something else ah


oh is it, but you have to pay you have to pay a cash premium or by CPF, [orh] so you pay yearly lah, okay that's cool so


medishield life I I thought is compulsory I I I think everybody has it right, ya but mine is I actually got it, I think quite I think ten years ago when


I upgraded mine mine was with aviva so I I myself have added some rider in so to like to for plan A so I can claim for, uh private hospitals also


ya ya, ya basic one you need to top up any cash right, yeah yeah mine I I need to pay every every year


and it's quite a lot of thousand thousand dollars ya and and the premium keeps keep increasing if you are older you pay more lah, ya ya ya so now now is this amount lah if you get like fifty years old you is it it it gradually increase to a quite quite a substantial amount lah


ya but all this thing is a protection lah you if you need you you if anything happen unfortunately bad things happen you need it lah, yeah so like uh like the insurance agent always tell me where when you need it you cannot buy when you don't need when when you don't need it then you buy


correct hor ya so you do investment also Ang


oh okay okay, I I ya, ya I used to have investment-linked which is, very long ago but I find that the investment link the investment part wasn't making much much uh much money lah so it's like


I think, after I I I read up so it's like the investment-linked policy, the first few year is just loading you you are just paying and very little is used to invest they're actually trying to protect you lah the protection ya the insurance part of the policy so


so because the first three years very little was invest from my premium which I paid lah, then after like five years I I actually cancelled the, investment-linked policy ah, I I


ya ya I get I get back the surrender value lah so, I think I makes a a bit of a loss lah, yeah yeah so, but I I don't see a ya I don't see a point lah so if I I also feel like same like you if I want to do an investment I I will separate with the investment I mean with the insurance part lah


which is better lah, but I but you know investment-linked policy you anytime you want to stop you can stop lah, the premium holiday and stuff


yeah yeah I think uh, I believe so I paid for first two years ah before I can, I'm ya if not there's no value in my policy lah also, ya so so I think it's good to separate out lah


anyway I haven't hear I haven't, see my my insurance friends talking about ILP, to me ah recently also, ya


so ya, no no actually I have the I'm I'm just looking


looking for you see I need I for my, planning I think I need the illness part and the hospital part so I have the medishield, life with aviva with rider so anytime I'm hospitalise I can I think I only need to pay a co-payment of like five percent or something so I'm quite


protected in for hospital, and for critical illness because if I have a critical illness obviously I have to concentrate on resting and, improving my health I can't work so I need a sum of money so I bought this uh this critical illness cancer plan so that if I'm diagnosed with early stage I got a lump sum to uh I have a money to


to to live with it lah to pay off stuff lah so then, and then I would I would think of like endowment plan or investment more lah, so protection I will do first lah for myself


then I will think about investment lah, so actually the prucash yeah prucash is very little lah so, not, I just bought fifteen years ago it it it doesn't give me a lot of money so I need to work on my work on my investment part also lah and the and


savings lah


ya it's better than putting the money in the bank right, and it it force you to save lah, ya so I think


ya travel insurance uh definitely I buy travel insurance I buy uh, I buy the per trip one ah not not not the yearly one ah


also one year you can, you can go on unlimited trips and you you are still covered, no mine is per trip so I don't go a lot of trips ah one year maybe twice, so I find it while more more cost efficient to buy per trip one ah ya so


you have to buy lah you know you go because I usually travel alone ah so I I would buy, but yours is you buy a family coverage or, it


oh so you can claim for the whole family ah, oh so have you have you claim so far, have you have any


is it lost or you managed to find it back right, [orh] [orh] [orh] [orh] delay lah, so you came back Singapore then you make a claim is it


so you you you need some documents to prove that your luggage is lost lah then then they after that in Singapore the payout few days later they give you or


oh okay which which insurance yours is with DBS oh NTUC okay okay, NTUC oh you buy the yearly one ah, [orh] not bad not bad


oh I see


okay, okay, [ah] that's good that's good ya


part three negative experiences, eh so Ang do do you have some do you have a time when you feel helpless trapped


okay


your your youngest daughter or the elder one


why why didn't you bring her for the holiday, [orh], so now that that she's older you you you tend you bring her out for trips lah usually she will tag along


diving trip


[orh] so she she's on the boat lah, so so she's how old can she start to dive, nine years old can she can start to do diving


so she she she like it did she like the experience


yeah I see I see, okay, helpless ah ya I remember


uh I think I remember when I was when I was, very young maybe primary school I need to, go to school ah you know so, actually I my mum give me give me I mean I I have to return home so I my mum give me I think one dollar pocket money I actually spend fifty cent to buy a Bola


and another fifty cent I think I bought some comic or what I don't have money already so I have to take a bus back it's the journey is quite far so, so no money so and I was hungry feeling helpless you know all by myself I cannot go back so I have to walk I have to walk home ah myself


so actually it I asked for it lah so, so I feel helpless that time lah so I I don't have the money know so I this is something I remember lah remember ya


now now I got the ezlink card lah so they auto top-up so shouldn't have a problem lah last time last time and and you see I don't ask from people you know I don't ask from I I


I'm the Paiseh type one lah I don't go and ask uncle auntie eh uncle auntie can give me twenty five cent to take a bus so I just I have this pride lah so I just walk home lah it was I think I walk, half an hour lah so


quite ya lah, ya ya ya ya I still know still still know my way home lah so primary six lah still still still still okay lah, ya, so you see sometimes life can be


you know unpredictable things like that lah so, but at least I find I I found my way lah, ya so how about your ya you were saying


traumatic ah !wah! how about yourself I I I I don't think I have any ah


yeah


!wah! so I must say this is like a blessing in disguise ah so now now now that he's


no I mean I mean I mean I feel ya, I mean I feel riding bike is quite dangerous lah but now that something you know I I of course a accident happened lah but you all are injured lah but not very very serious right he broke his leg lah but he recovered already so now he's driving already no longer riding bike ah


so so so, ya, so will you will you continue to be a pillion when someone offer you, ride


oh so you it was really a, so it was a really bad experience ah ya so, so far for me I cannot recall of any such experience lah ya ya


so ya so, so like like I say it's a, blessing in disguise lah I I I I still think so lah , now now driving car is much safer lah


ya so, you mean in in life or


worry about ah, usually yeah usually, two things lah money and uh health lah so you worry you don't have money so you worry your health lah so these are the the two two things that I worry lah so that's why I


I get myself insurance lah you know you see if if I'm sick I know I cannot work no money then how and I got uh I got my own pride, I don't ask money so so I have to I have to support myself so the insurance I I buy insurance lah


yeah yeah yeah and and and more to say I'm I'm not married so I have to take care of myself lah, I I don't have I mean my mum and dad they cannot they are old already also what I have to take care of myself lah


ya, like you you have a big responsibility ah you you got two kids you got you got your wife


yeah, you you you think more right


ya ya like like


so now you are a family man so the family stress you out more lah is it


so if give so if given a choice you no need to work, you'll you'll you'll you'll you'll ya you'll be very happy right


yeah, so this is also something I'm stress lah you know if if I, if I have a family I feel that I have to be responsible for my family so


usually I I want to give my family a good life so I tend to stress out myself too much lah so, you know, so I I have a goal like maybe ah to reach a certain


certain career path you know so, ya sometime it's the, the fear lah the fear that, I if I get marry I can't give a good life to my spouse or to my kids lah, know like raising up a kid is very expensive lah so so


I, sometime they say I worry too much lah so these are things that get me stress lah, ya this was also things that like you know by like pull me back lah, pull me back from the fear you know the fear that I cannot fulfill to the responsibility


you do you have all these thoughts like when you get married you know like oh how many kids you want


so you're saying no point to worry so much ah, ya lah I, I also think, my friends keep telling me I think the thing that you have to worry is is to find a girl first lah


so I have to worry about finding the right girl before I can think of having a kids or having all these lah I think too much lah I must say


you know like nowadays work, know my I'm doing IT so my workplace don't have much girl lah it's all guys lah so I got this problem so during school also when I I studied IT also you know my classmates most are guys lah so


very little interaction with with with with females lah so, and ya ya ya so , mondays to fridays usually I work I work till quite late lah so


I hard to find times to mingle around with friends lah so now that it I now that I'm getting old already all my friends are married you know so, even lesser chance to meet younger people lah so I I I should have I should have


find a girl when I was in poly or what lah then invest on that girl and then get married lah, now is is now is difficult lah, ya ya ya know now know now like I I'm thirty plus like


you know I cannot be finding, twenty year old girl right so, it's it's difficult lah, hopefully lah if nobody nobody will complain right if you got a younger wife


ya maybe I find someone older than me ah, ya, so anything hold you back or not, for yourself


so you have any goal, but what's your goal first in life, fifty years old retire


so uh uh, so are you close to the goal, so so what is hold what is holding you back


so so you are thinking of, ways to make more money ah, ya not easy ah, sometimes you, like I say there's fear of like fear of


fear of losing more than you earn ah yeah so it's difficult lah, like ya, ya, then you lose everything ya correct


but like people always say no risk no gain ah so, there's a certain risk you have to take ah, ya so, ya ya ya so for investment ah you need maybe you need


to don't put all the eggs in one basket lah, but I'm sure if you you're, you're you're taking step by step lah so maybe not fifty lah maybe you can retire at sixty ah


ya so sixty year old I I can I can still see you diving ah so maybe, just need to keep up your health lah, to don't like next time I see people have the money already but they don't have the health also but also


also difficult lah and also no point lah right, ya so all these are like the, are like you agree with me right like health and money is the thing that we are worried about lah


ya not enough money got money but no health also no use got health no money, still can go and make the money so still not so bad lah so I think still the health lah


so, have you been through like any loss in your life


[orh] you are quite close with your grandmother right, then then how do you deal with it how do you deal with the the sadness the emotion you have


okay, so so over time you think positive lah you try to or you try to forget it, that's nice ya ya


part two positive experience


eh so, so Ang what is your happiest moment in your life


I, I I I thought about it so long so I haven't I'm not married yet so I'm I haven't found my lucky girl so the happiest moment I think


I think there was one incident my my mum was was quite sick ah so uh she went for a check-up, so uh the the the first check-up was I think the doctor say there was some some tumour in the brain or something so


the second follow-up check-up they reveal it was uh it was not cancerous lah so it was actually the happiest moment lah I feel, for myself lah, ya ya relief and I was very happy ah ya ya because


my mum was a very important person to me ah so, I feel ya, ya ya ya ya now, ya ya now she is she is still he's she's she's doing quite well also ya so they're actually now monitoring the the the tumour lah so it's it's not cancerous so every two years she want to go for scans lah so


ya, ya ya ya my positive, yeah when I have time I try to to spend more time with her lah, ya


because you know this is she's someone I look up to in life lah because, my mum is not very well-educated lah so but she she when were when we were young she do a lot of jobs to


to make ends meet you know so and she never complain ah so, uh ya, it's the type of responsibility she she have for the family lah so even how tired she is when she come back from work she will still cook for us a nice nice dinner you know so and so this is something I look up to her lah so


I ya ya ya so, ya ya ya, yeah yeah, I I also yeah


I eat for thirty over years already so average I I I always she cook one bowl is not enough one lah I have to eat, two or three bowls lah then enough ya ya ya so so Ang in life do you have anyone you look up to


most and maybe why


but she never give up on you lah, so so do you still still meet up with her, you're busy with


nice so I heard you you also like to travel, a lot right now that the, now that COVID nineteen you can't travel so do you like sometimes think back of the


uh of the travel trip you have experience you have which one do you think you find most memorable


oh you so you are, how many days, oh so you you you drove for the full one week ah, is isn't it tiring


so , so you will do it again, oh think New Zealand, have to find somewhere the the weather is good one lah ya if not ah


ya lah, ya spring too cold also there's a problem ah too hot also there's a problem right or not, ya


so myself I, I do a lot of solo solo travel lah, so I been to Japan a lot part of asia solo but the most memorable one for me the experience is I I travel with a group of friends we went to Myanmar


to do some volunteer works lah at the orphanage home ah so it was a one week stay so, uh there was some plan to build a covered walkway from the from their bedroom to the to the hall the dinner hall lah so because if if the if it's raining they


there's no shelter lah for them to walk to the dinner hall so, we were there to build the pavement and the the the covered way lah, for one week ah so, and during the one week we, not only did we work but the kids also help to


the kids do their part lah so they they were holding umbrellas over because it was really hot in Myanmar so they carry the umbrellas over our heads you know to help us shade off the sun they help us to fan oh I I it was a lot of experience lah so we ate together with them


after work after the work so, we we spoke to them ah even though they some of them most of them can't understand english lah but know body language and, yeah they appreciate your help lah, so I feel I learn a lot from that trip ah


uh yes I finish, but we didn't manage we didn't we actually we have more plans to to beautify the walkway lah but, functionality is done lah you you can use the walkway but we we haven't paint it or something lah so I think they they have plan for other volunteers in their next projects to come and maybe finish up to paint the


walkway or something, ya, so you know like I'm I'm quite thankful that that I in Singapore we we have all the things we need you know, like, so we have aircon you know so hot we just go to any mall there's aircon at home you can just on the aircon while over there is terrible ah it's the heat is killing me ah so what what ya so are there any things you are really thankful for in life


oh so health lah, I believe you you you take care of take care of your health you do exercise a lot right so


oh dragon boat


so so you like the sun the sun a lot lah, oh okay, I think can tell lah from your from your from your skin colour ah my skin also


ya so I try not to go out to the sun too much ah, it did, ya you know people mistaken me for foreign worker already so, so


try not to go out so much lah during the hot weather so I I also do some exercise lah but now COVID nineteen I I last time I go to jog with my friend at night lah so


ya but know try, try to stay at home ah, I I try ya I try I try to stay at home ah so even if I need to do it I try to do it alone ah but I usually with friends you will you will


you will, it's easier for you to exercise lah ya the, you are more committed lah but alone ah sometimes I come back from work too tired I say ah never mind lah it's okay lah, so ya, at least you're still working out lah keeping fit lah


ya ya so it's good lah


so your birthday coming soon right Ang, yeah , so


have have so over the years do you still look forward for birthday present


ya lah, no no no meaning ah


look forward lah


ah I remember yeah, you still have it


ya good buy ah, ya so myself like like I say now that I we we get older already like birthday present don't have any meaning ah so it's like if we need something we have the money to buy ah


ya so when when I was young you know we we survive from pocket money so difficult to buy something we like, you know by at at that time maybe primary six I wanted a computer for myself I don't have the money to buy a computer


so like you say my dad my dad know I I like, I I like playing computer games lah you know so, he bought the PC lah personal computer lah back then from compaq ah, ya desktop PC so from from compaq I think now HP bought over compaq so it was the big big the massive big type one lah the desktop type my first birthday present lah for


the the one which I feel is the best one lah I receive, ya so now, ya, you know now now that I'm in IT line, I think, the computer also play a part lah to


you know to bring up the interest in me ah in computer lah, I was the one of the cool kids lah back then primary six nobody has got got desktop computer I have lah so know people come to my house then we try to explore ya and the the what what we have even playing the minesweeper we also quite happy lah you know


like games like solitaire yeah then when after that came the internet fifty six K modem it was also quite, quite, quite interesting lah so right remember when we play game when you come my house then someone call the line then the game will stop things like that


ya so it was a very good good birthday present lah, from from my ah so sometimes, I think it's very meaningful lah so I know you have kids lah so


do you do you like give them some meaningful present or, so ya so, so they don't appreciate you see last time I don't have a lot of present I appreciate


ya quite true ah, now now nowadays you your aunties and uncle whatever you want the they will buy you see


I think they got a lot of presents lah they can't even remember which one is bought from from whom, is gave by whom ya


yeah, so, things do you have a moment do things when things turn out better than you expected


oh during during the off-peak season so during the peak season you get to see it lah, the chances to see it


[orh] okay okay so so you save money and you managed to see the the fish lah, so so so it's better than expected lah, not bad lah


like like I say, it's so the my my my mum was sick what so, I I ya I expected, know I expect to be okay lah so it turn out okay lah so


I try to ya ya ya, so but anything else I, usually, if I go on a holiday I I I try to think


I try to not have a itinerary lah you know I don't expect anything ah I just go there and see what what, what does what the trip can give me lah so I don't have any expectation ah so when I go to holidays, so


ya ya ya ya so yes I don't have itinerary so if I go solo I go Japan I just on that day itself I feel like if I want to go to this place I just I just go to this place lah so I don't have I don't have any expectation ah so you have have no expectation you have no disappointment ah so so it's also good for me ah


it's a it's a bonus lah ya anything you see you experience is a bonus lah, I try I try not to have expectation ah, of course if ya ya, ya of course if I'm paying for something you know like I paying for this museum visit then I expect something lah if if not I don't expect lah I I just see what I get lah


part one financial related topic, so grace how do you invest your money to accumulate wealth or with leading to retire


so I think the first step I would invest my money is to count my capital how much do I have uh so that I can oversee like what type of plans do I have and what type of investment plan that I can put my money into if I have like excess money I could put into my life term which erm


the in which I put inside insurance company which they guarantee my uh and support my health beside that I think that uh there's also a lot of investment like singapore savings eh bonds and all this type uh they're they're compounded uh yearly and that this is how I let my money grow and


this is how I will go and plan for my retirement, so is what are your thoughts on like CPF contribution for retirement


yup I can personally share more on CPF they have basic they have for those aged below fifth six fifty that is three different account and special account uh one is medisave and the other is ordinary account


so twenty percent of your salary will be put in uh the CPF and this is to help you plan for retirement and help you buy large purchases such as property CPF I think it is a very good


useful and thoughtful of the government as twenty percent of your salary you can {eh} you know you not only need, do not save up yourself but the government save up for you, and when you put your twenty percent inside the government is also helping you to grow the money inside like you have four percent compounded yearly and this is how you let your money grow as your money will be in the exponential I also personally work at some part time and


we are also required to put in our CPF so I think that by starting from young it help us to contribute for our retirement so it no matter where you start uh you can always start contributing to your retirement, so if you you have a CPF account now how would you manage the CPF savings


or what advice would you give in order to maximize their CPF savings for retirement


ya I think definitely one should own a credit card even though a credit card they give you like extra credit before what you have earned and what do you have and this always led into financial debts and this is what they call into like their mid twenties and thirties crisis as, many of the youngsters they fall into credit card debts and that they are unable to pay like imagine you would go to like gucci boutique and you saw like a very nice pair of shoe but you do not have the money inside but credit card or credit card allows you to give you extra credit for what you are able to than what you have


and like maybe if your bank account is like maybe you are earning like one thousand dollar but they will give you a credit limit limit up to like three times to five times and that you can pay in , you can pay the future however I think this term is not very like, it's very trappy as most youngsters who think like oh they can pay it few months later and whatever they earn they would go back eh they would be able to pay but I think that a lot of people fall inside this trap as


most of them they would they wouldn't see what they will need for the next planning for the next two to three months and they would buy it on impulse but the but nevertheless I think that uh credit card is still important as is still managed to help people err like earn points for like miles mileage and everything


ya so what's your thoughts on be what if people should own a credit card


so do you have like a set do you have like a habit of saving and how do you ensure that you meet your saving goals


yup I have actually a larger like it's pot of, able to err save for money firstly I work I do work


during my weekends when I'm not in school so this allows me to uh be able to save more and how to and one of the habit of me saving is that I wouldn't like , wouldn't call it I'd call it impulsive buy I wouldn't impulsive buy any like


expensive thing as most of the people like they see something that they like then they will like instantly want to buy it but I would just go home and think about and if I really want to buy I'll go and buy it like after the few days and after that I will think is this really worth the value


cause I feel that one eh savings is in one savings is not how much you are able to earn but it's how much you are able to save, so I think that most people they do not know how to save and they just buy like the things and most of them , only have liabilities but not asset


so I think that what people should do is that they should spend it like whatever maybe they got like one thousand in their bank account they shouldn't think of spending the one thousand dollar on buying like a shoe or computer they should think of spending the one thousand how the one thousand could bring it into two thousand in maybe the next five years so I think it is a lot on


investing and this is how I would slowly slowly uh grow my money, so since you do not have a lot of financial , knowledge do you want to like DIY or get a financial adviser to plan your finances


firstly I think I know my knowledge was from my dad cause my dad is a person eh financial adviser himself, so I think I would not need to get a financial adviser cause uh he's able to help me to like finance my stuff and anything I will just able to advise him but


I wouldn't mind DIYing myself cause I would like to like try and explore what options are there cause not every financial adviser know what's their what is, what is possible in the market and there there's like sometime there's different opportunities such as like setting up a business which your financial financial adviser would set the amount for you but they wouldn't like


if you know it is a hundred percent you should put more money inside but the financial adviser would limit you to like spend a set of amount of money that you have, so I think that DIY is is not bad too because you can control your finance and everything can add like one more question err what uh what what's one financial advice you would give to you five years ago


now you're eighteen so you're third when you are thirteen


I think when I was thirteen I really have a very bad habit of spending on food and items I bought like ipods I have bad I bought like the samsung watch which costs like few hundred dollars and I got a speaker I feel that all this


money that I if I have, if I had I would spend it like on investment gold if I think I would spend on investment gold the money will grow and especially like the recent COVID nineteen it had led to, the gold price it uh growing expo eh exponentially I would just tell myself like to save up all those money and


I hope that I would not have be given that financial freedom to make my own purchases cause I really feel that the at the age of thirteen fourteen this is where everybody , spend the most and that they would not think and just like buy it


another advice I would give myself it's just to maybe have a savings plan since young so that you can save your money like even though your school allowance is like maybe two to three dollars a day but you can save like every maybe like twenty cents maybe like ten percent of your


a set amount and the ten percent eh the ten the maybe like the ten cent twenty cent would probably lead to maybe for fifty dollar at the end of the year and a fifty dollar at a year you can like spend it on uh more meaningful stuff


I feel that someone in debt is probably like cause of business failure impulsive buying, or gambling I feel the gambling addiction leads to a lot of people having a financial debt gambling is quite toxic I would say and that it always lead to people like borrowing more and they do and the gambling mindset is that even though you don't they lose like everything


they would still want to get like extra liquid assets to gamble to gamble off and try their luck to win it back for I think for those people who , for those gambling addicts I feel that they should just stop there at the end uh gambling addiction and just look for help


for those who bought like, impulsive buy like they buy a car they buy a house , which they don't have the incapability to do they not know what is the bank interest rate and it would just shoot up like exponentially so the bank interest rate might be one point eight percent this year


and it may shoot up to like four percent in the next coming years and this is very uncertain and this is very scary as a lot of people have assumed that , the one point eight percent is stagnant for like maybe they have, borrow the money for the bank for twenty years and they thought that the one point eight percent and they have done their financial


planning well but they're they didn't expect, any changes in the interest amount and this would led them into financial debt uh I feel that, this they should a lot of people should think before they buy and if possible they should not buy it on ya they should not have liabilities when they're buying a big property and that they should use whatever they have to buy it


for the last point for businesses some of the business they get uh financial debt cause of their poor business strategies and this led to the money businesses to


go bankrupt and they will need to pay up their own money to, yup pay up to their own money for the company uh I feel that all these of uh people who get into financial debt they should


they should they should like just plan like and not not make it into sole proprietorship cause this they would need to be in liability after even though the bank has bankrupt, ya so agree err how did you manage your cash flow and how much of your income is allocated to savings expense and or insurance I know that now you are currently still studying


what if maybe you think in the five years road five years down the road you are earning like three thousand at the starting pay how is how would your income be allocated


yup I have heard a lot of saving income saving tips and what should you do with your income I feel that twenty percent twenty five percent of your savings should be saved when you've got your income and fifty percent should be spend and twenty five percent will be spent on insurance and investment


do you think investment or trading is similar to gambling


yup


ya I feel that investing or trading is more of a calculated risk and gambling is like there's there's equal there's not equal probability to everyone and it's not fair


part three negative experiences, yeah so grace record do you recall a situation where you uh were forced to change your plans against your will


I feel that the heartbroken thing was probably last year so when I was so called I got success but I was also very heartbroken cause


I wrote out of point for my english report and I got a D seven so I I was, first on the start of sec five I was thinking I wanted to go like eunoia JC but I was very heartbroken when I found out that I failed my english cause if you fail your english that means like you can't


you fail you fail to go into any JC as JC only allow you to have a C six and above so I was like very heartbroken when I received my O level result, yeah


would you mind err describing a time when you were looked down by your friends or relatives I think there's a lot of quite experience that, I have been to I would I will share my first err I think I was looked down by my friends cause uh I used to hang out with a lot of express kids and


I was looked down because I was with my with of cause I am in a normal academic and I was pretty looked downward by my friends like I prob they probably think that I couldn't study or something ya so now would you share your


incline


I think my loved ones I will just want them to be happy and the don't be sad that I'm going to die ah, ya what how about your though


there's a lot of embarrassing moment like if it I can describe one of err moment oh I think it was like last weekend I went to the, went out of the house without a mask and that was pretty embarrassing cause as I told all my friends then my friends was like oh my god if if your house the lift has a big mirror for you to look at yourself and how did you forget


to bring a mask out but when you look at yourself and how do you not notice that so I feel that it's very embarrassing like everybody was judging me when I told told the person, ya I was quite embarrassed and it's quite recent


ya uh grace what what dream of your die a little with each passing day


what's keep me at night I think is more on my academic cause I'm doing quite okay for now but in polytechnic but I think for the sake of the term two, which is upcoming and there is an upcoming exam and I think it stresses me out and that is what makes me keep me awake at night


and even I have sometimes I have the subconscious of like even though when I wake up I feel that oh my god why did I wasted yesterday and why did I start why did I start yesterday , so I think it is a very big problem and it always keep me awake at night like until I will think about it and I'll just pray life a bit for like maybe one hour and just think about it like why


I didn't study like today and I think this stresses me out cause I always wanted to perform well in, academic after like my secondary four N level exam I was always wanted to perform to my best of my abilities


but now I'm like slacking behind and I think that this always keeps me awake as I would always want to persevere and continue for my goal, yup, describe a time when you feel awful after helping someone like how would you like what makes you like can you explain more or like


fooled the person you you've helped and why does it make you feel this way


I mean like you can help like someone in their academic and but they sometimes like backstab you or something and this make you feel very like awful


ya I have so like basically , a lot of good projects that I did err and one of the most memorable was during a national day parade uh cause I was a volunteer there and that


cause I was a volunteer then I would need to like help out in the project management and everything but I felt awful cause, my credit was being stolen after helping the person do like the project finish almost completed and the person like just steal the credit from me so I feel that this type of thingand this sort of people should really err like


they should be ashamed of themselves cause this is not the work that they're doing and they but they got the credit lah even though it's just volunteering there's nothing much but I still like feel awful that the person still wanted it this way


ya so what are some injustice of the world that make you angry, uh like what is unfair in this world that make you angry


that's like women inequality there's a lot of


(ppc)


I feel when the game was against me during like my secondary four period


when I was having my N level and have a lot of dramas with a lot of other like a lot other classmates cause I helped a classmate and, he wept like and cause I was supposed to be a middleman but after I kind of side like my classmate rather than my schoolmate


then he was like a bit angry and a bit sobby that I didn't really help him, so during my N level I really felt that the world was against me lah cause during my N level I still need to juggle my studies and I still need to deal with this drama and even though that even these that it has lead lead to like other school people wanting give me like a death threats and everything so I feel like


the world was like crashing out on me and why would why why am I getting these like , like why during especially during my N level period like when I wanted to study properly uh I feel that I wasn't given like the chance to actually study for my N level properly and


uh even though I make it I made it through , did I got eh I was offered a spot in poly foundation programme but I feel that I didn't really do did my best as I wanted always wanted uh to take psychology when I want to was in, secondary four so I was a little upset when I got the news when when I got the news and I think that it is all the drama that cost me


to score badly for my N level ah not not not say score badly but scored average I guess to say ya so this is probably why I feel that the world was against on me


what was what was your though


treated fairly, oh unfairly I think there's a lot of time that I was being treated unfairly by my like teachers in my secondary school time there's like, people always see the teachers like teacher's pet and I was really treated unfairly because I wasn't given a lot of opportunities during secondary school


and this was this really make me upset lah like why would you make one event uh and that some and that I would be treated unfairly for the rest of my secondary school life , I felt that this was like very upsetting and


it was very , and I was very sad lah like why would this happen cause why why others is given uh more opportunity than I am isn't every student supposed to get equal opportunity when they're paying like the same school uh school fee uh I feel that a lot of people's emotions they would affect another person to be treated unfairly


yeah so what's your what what what would err what describe a moment when you felt that you were treated unfairly


I felt like giving up err, during my N level course I felt that I didn't really even though I studied a bit and I was distracted by a few program, but I feel like I wanted to give up and just like drop out or something cause I feel that poly I would I would I know that I would be able to cope with well of course I just got lucky for my


N level and that if I went to O level if without the enough perseverance and concentration and the focus to determine to do well in my O level I don't think I will do well , so that was the point that I really thought of giving up like I know that, I could I still still can go I still can do decently to get into a poly but I know that I want I couldn't get into a JC or score any distinction in the O level so after that oh I really face like


I was very traumatised by the N level and the result and I didn't really wanted to study anymore but then after that err I went to like , but I went to like counselling and asked my teacher for advice and after that I persevered and continued for O levels and ya I still did did decently for my O levels yup okay


part two positive experiences, yup so grace would you mind describing when you were helped by someone in need of it in in your time of need


I was I think that it was just happened recently when I went out of the house without a mask , uh yeah I was at the bus stop and I already board the bus like I was, three stops away eh like away from my house and there was


and I realized that I forget my mask, and no one in the bus told me that I had forgotten my mask or something and the bus driver like just look at me casually, and only there's one old auntie who does like stared at me and like she was probably thinking that why this guy don't have a mask so I quickly look at myself and then I just realized that I forgot a mask then I quickly


leave the bus and, walked and walked to a near near shop, like those type of shop houses to buy err to try find for masks but luckily I saw when I reach the store I saw the mask was sold like at five dollars I was like !hah! one one mask is sold at five dollars I was like oh my god this is a very big scam


so when I was at the store then got there's like another old around fifty year sixty years fifty plus sixty year old woman gave me a mask like offered me a mask and I told her , can I pay now or paylah you then she was like oh no need you just uh take it I always bring it out extra in case someone need it so ya I'm very touched by this type of


this type of act of singapore singaporeans I feel that there's a lot of people even strangers you do not need like family members or friends to give you like extra sup eh extra care even strangers you see on the street uh will be able to help you when you need them


so like what is the best suprise that you have ever got given by someone someone ever given you, or give


oh no you have you've ever given


I feel that it's not really a joke but it's for a pickup line uh this is like me and my friend uh for a pickup line they would say like are you a camera cause every time I looked at you I smile ya I feel that this this job is very cheesy and very funny


ya so would you share what is one of your too


got the joke, yup, yup okay


I feel I feel that it is more of a overseas trip with my parents uh ya so last year I've been to japan osaka I feel that it's a very uh fond memory that I had cause in singapore I would, often like BBC with part time jobs or like with friends and most of the time I would


I would not say neglect but I would like spend less time with my family and I think in overseas the only people that you can hang out with is your family cause your only your family like you you know your family O at japan so I feel that it is a very fond memory that I have


go with go with my loved one like we have went to like like uh universal studios then we have went to like nara park to see the deers and we have went to like eat all those like amazing stuff like uh sashimi is which a lot of things you can't ah that all these authentic food even though singapore has it


the environment and the ambiance there is different ya so grace uh want to share your too


I feel that what makes me persevere is what is the goal at the end ya a lot of people say that they don't look at the goal at the end and just enjoy the process but I feel that by enjoying the process , own in by enjoying the process only you can't really persevere and this does not what make like this does not uh push you to go on further


uh for me last year I was a sec five student that I am taking the O level what makes me persevere to study uh was that I wanted to see like what is the bright side and what is the fruit that I can get at the end of the day , a lot of people told me that sec five you should just like O level you should enjoy the process but I feel that eh if you want to see the goal and you enjoy the process I think that is what really make someone persevere