actually to be honest since you're the one actually directing all the the whole day I was merely a bystander I found it actually pretty amusing that particular day when he couldn't find his luggage and it was really a very interesting experience even though you got got pretty annoyed


, (hmm) an ideal perfect day well I guess I generally enjoy a holiday so my ideal perfect day would definitely be on a trip overseas


and you know as when you go on trips with your parents and things like that normally they visit natural monuments historical land sites, and things like that so but I guess that's not really what I enjoy I enjoy going to amusement parks I enjoy doing activities such as such as canoeing things like that so I guess my ideal day would probably be


oh ya oh ya so as you know I I love sleeping so so unlike the days where I woke up at seven AM in japan I would really really like my day to start at twelve PM when I would have been woken up not by the sound of an alarm clock but rather the gentle


caressing sunrise through my window ya so well twelve o'clock I'll probably go for like have have a nice lunch with all my friends and we're just just talking and having fun and perhaps after that maybe you could actually


and I'm one thing I regret from japan trip was actually, not trying to save so much money and not and ending up not trying the famous Wagyu beef in japan yet spending almost four thousand dollars in expenditure over nine days despite not being not having tried Wagyu beef so I guess the next time I go to


on a holiday I I understand that personal finance is important but I believe that when you're on a holiday you shouldn't let things like finances stop you in of course considering the fact that you are able to afford it lah right


so what about you, yes definitely


yes I remember a time in in Krabi where me and my friend went on a run but you were what what were you doing again uh yes, uh ya I I wait what happened during the run


oh ya I saw a snake yes that's right I have no idea but I remember doodling a lot of stuff on the beach cause it was so fun


yes, ya ya so uh getting back to your to your your perfect day after your morning run


(uh huh)


who's who's great idea was that I wonder


yes I remember very fun although I do remember a certain someone not being there lah but


oh ya talking about on on on the on the topic of sickness I I remember everyone getting sick during during the whole trip and me being immune to it and due to my superior genes so


(uh huh) , ya I remember people going all the way to the MRT to the to the train station and then having had to flash back to our hotel because they had diarrhea ya well


ya that was a very fun experience definitely of course okay, !wow! that's that's a tough question and I have I have no idea how to answer that right away but the happiest day of my life !wow! would you would you like to ask yourself that question first because I don't really have a concrete answer right now


(mmhmm)


!wow!


oh okay !wow! that's that's really interesting, yes I still cannot think of the happiest day of my life because I guess there's not one specific day that really stands out to me of course definitely results and all these things are


important and all and when I do well I would definitely feel happy but I don't really think I quantify that as the being the happiest day of my life sure when when I when I scored decently for my exams I would feel good but I I I I would still feel the happiest day of my life would be


uh I think, oh I think the first time I went to the club yes okay that wasn't the happiest day of my life but but it was the most memorable day I would guess that that was the first time I drank three apple ciders and and became drunk which was very embarrassing


but I guess cause that whole day was something I couldn't really remember to begin with it was with all my friends having fun and you know when you are drunk you most of the things you do and say don't really make sense so you can't you stop lying but but you know when you are in the


the you are in that ephemeral state did I use that word right so anyways regardless I guess that was a very enjoyable experience as well but I think ever since that day I started to hate drinking because it really felt very awful so up to now


my most, end of phase one !wow! I really didn't at home the whole time I wonder how often I went out actually, (mmhmm) I would say that was a very enjoyable ya sure I'd say that would be the highlight ya it was it's just a little sad that we couldn't do anything else other than follow you to buy your your bag yes


congratulations yes ya but ya I believe that if once phase two I mean phase we're in phase two now right so once phase three uh comes into play and more entertainment outlets start opening definitely can make it an even more memorable experience ya


so so over the past, phase three maybe oh so actually since you know all the orientations are opening up and activities are opening up maybe I could instead of just going for a meal you can go and do fun things like karaoke


karaoke yes and maybe and not maybe just not that but just hanging and being with your friends would be something that I would be thankful for so here's a question so you know Brandon over the past your past many years of your life what would you be thankful for okay yes not that many but


plentiful enough yes so over the past few years of your life what do you think you would be thankful for for your whole life, yes you're welcome


well okay well I guess what I have to be thankful for is the fact that I am born without any problems or any recurring issues apart from my high blood pressure which I got from mummy yes


part one financial related topic


well , I mean obviously we cannot see such situations ahead of time and we cannot plan ahead like that right so but if I knew that this situation was going to take place obviously we'll try our best to capitalise on it lah so


I think recently you have gotten into investing right a little bit so maybe you want to share what what you did with that to to capitalise to capitalise the the situation cause I think uh you did quite well right


yes I think I agree with that so I've wanted to invest for quite some time now and actually the only thing that has been stopping me is mainly the fees, the fees on on your on your investment lah so let's say uh I think I tried researching on on the lowest fees possible with uh different brokers uh I think poems came out to be the the cheapest if I'm not wrong


but even so the fees are still pretty high and it's like it's not even a one time fee it's it's the fees are charged based on the number of transactions you do so when you buy or sell each of these transactions will constitute will have a fee associated with it as well


so I think this is one of the barriers to entry for for young people like us who want to start investing and just now when you when you mentioned robo investing uh I think now there are currently quite a number of platforms that allows you to trade


with very very little fees little to no fees at all I think it's quite a good option for for some of us here but obviously we also have to take note of some of the precautions and and the downsides to robo investing as well


so I think one of the main drawbacks would be that it's very hard to time the market so when let's say uh because robo investing usually it it it purchases a basket of goods for you and


how how I think you mentioned how you judge whether when is the right time to buy in is based on let's say an index let's say the S&P index right so for example one day when I see if I see the S&P index uh dropping


I would obviously want to buy in more more our obviously want to invest more at that period of time but with uh robo investing right I think some of the apps do not allow you to invest


at that exact moment in time so, you will have to wait for quite some time before your funds actually enter enter the market and start generating income and by then is it probably is it's probably too late already because like the market may have the market conditions may have changed by then already


so that's it right do you have any other forms of investing or how or do you want to share like how you manage your cashflow before you started uh robo investing


yes


I think, I think health insurance I think for most of us guys our first probably first exposure to it would be in army whereby they will hold a talk I think AVIVA will hold a talk and they will get us to purchase some personal protection plans


uh in case anything happens in army or even after army uh for me personally I signed up for a plan I think it was the premium was ten dollars per per month if I'm not wrong but it could be less lah I I'm not very clear on that as well but I think it's good to have a


personal protection plan especially you know you will never know what will happen to you and ya I mean if you can afford it the price the price would actually just you know it will it will even out to be probably like less than a cup of coffee per day so


I feel that it's quite worth while I mean buying a personal protection plan is the same as buying a cup of coffee everyday and I'm sure that is quite affordable for for us now,


it's like more of a protect personal protection insurance so what it does is let's say you have you get a injury or ya if you get an injury then they will they will reimburse you a certain amount of money lah that's how


a personal protection plan works, I mean of, ya sorry, for some companies they give you cash back on the on the premium if I'm not wrong but uh for mine I do not get anything back so I just pay a monthly fee and ya but I think it's it's still it's still good to have I mean like I said you never know what will happen especially


at that point of time in army you will never know what what will happen to you and I in fact could sustain an injury so uh ya it's it's it's quite unpredictable in army especially ya uh okay besides that right


I think in terms of personal finance it's very important to to to start a good habit of saving not just you know through investment plans or anything but more of your daily lives managing your cash your cash flow and


managing your expenses every month so aloysius can you share how you do that in school now without without having any cashflow coming in


, I think personally I I would I mean I do spend money as well my but I think most of my expenses would generally be actually from food because uh I think that's what I enjoy lah


so, uh for example before uni started I think , you uh I think you have done it as well we both I think we worked we worked uh full time jobs before our university actually started right so, uh back then we were actually aloysius recommended me this application you recommended me this application called money right where we can actually track our uh expenditure so I think that was pretty good that was pretty good to track our expenses actually and


at that time I was earning about, uh a one thousand and eight hundred dollars cash and through the app I was able to save about one thousand of it so my money expenses was just eight hundred a bit less than eight hundred lesser than eight hundred dollars I think


and I mean the app doesn't you know it doesn't necessarily help you save directly but I guess it gives you sort of a incentive to save because every time you make a purchase and you log it into the app you can kind of see how much it compounds and


where your expenses go to and I think ya so the major major expense for me I found out was actually for with food lah and but I think you just have to be cautious not to spend too much on food


uh because at that time I was spending I would say like close to, almost a hundred dollars a week on food, especially working in uh the central business district as well so ya it it really takes up a bit of your income


as well lah so uh aloysius have you have you saved money during the period you worked before university


okay,


I think I think one method I use uh before you know decide deciding to go on with a expenditure is uh actually I would I would see the value I would I would try to find the


intrinsic and extrinsic value of it so for example even though I spend a lot on food right I actually value the the time with my friends together over the food so that cost of the meal to me it's I will I will tell myself it's not the cost of the food per se but it's more of the cost of


uh the experience so uh that's how I decide on my expenditure and I think that's sometimes it's good sometimes it's bad because uh it may cause you to over spend or under spend but as long as you don't do it that often I think it's fine uh ya and and since we're on the topic on savings right


uh can I ask you like, , because we are we are now currently uh in our twenties right and I think not too long down the road we will have to start making big ticket uh purchases like for example a house or a car so do you have any


plans right now on how you are going to go about to achieve such big ticket expenses in the future


so for for example let's say if you were to have children in the future right do you think you would start a investment plan for them since you said that let's say since you said since you mentioned the power of compounding right, ya do you think you will start an investment plan for your children next time


I think ya as you like you said I was considering investing in the singapore market previously but to be honest I didn't know much about it as well so how I saw it was you know during the COVID situation the stocks kind of


plummeted and, how I saw it was it was like buying stocks on a discount lah especially since it's it's not as expensive as it used to be uh that's one way you can look at it I mean if you compare it to like everyday life right if you see like clothes on discount you would definitely purchase it right so why not


purchase bonds that eh purchase stocks that are you know on discount as well and could generate future returns, as well lah so but what uh deterred me was you know again the fees and the fact that I had to constantly check check up on how my stocks are going to do and as well as the fact that


uh right now I do not I don't think I have enough capital to earn as much as I want to based on the singapore market so that that was the reason why I decided not to proceed with it but


since we're on the topic on investment right I actually have a few friends who are currently investing not in singapore stocks I think one of them is investing in the Forex market and he's actually doing quite well uh and I have another friend


who who does short term investing so it's based on technical analysis so it's uh it's it's very quick investing but the risk is the risk is very high and you could definitely lose a lot from there so being


I think I will say being not so well versed in the investment market I I wanted to do that at first but I think at the end of the day I tried I just steered away from it because the risk is just too high for me and I think there was one quote that I


that I I I I recall now I think it was said by mark Cuban he said that whenever you whenever you invest right you have to treat is as that money is is gone already because you are you have to


you have to be you have to have that mindset, you have to have that mindset and think that you know this this investment may not work out as well as you would like it to be and you have to be prepared to lose the full investment so I think that that quote actually I actually made use of that quote before making any decisions


and even though I started robo investing as well now I think whatever money that I'm putting it in is the amount of money that I'm ready to part with already so ya that's just basically my my thoughts on it lah so I think it's up to your personal personal preference as well uh with regards to your own personal finance


and there's many ways to go about it you just have to make sure that you're well informed ya


part three negative experiences, okay so aloysius what is one negative experience that you have had


same,


uh I don't know like


ya probably


, okay, so, okay I think I'll share with you one negative experience I have which is the first time I failed my driving test so uh I was I went for a lot of lessons prior to that and I was like very excited to pass my driving test already


but then on the day of the practical exam right I was very nervous and I actually, hit the curb, what twice in the in the exam so I wasn't even able to go out on the road to drive I was still stuck in the circuit and I think it was very demoralising to feel that you know I already spent a lot of my own money for all the lessons and it just went to waste lah


ya so that day was pretty pretty bad for me especially since the test only lasted for like probably ten minutes because it was because I failed I failed so quickly and uh ya especially like


with driving I kind of expected myself to do better because I I was very comfortable at the time with the car already but you know you just stuff like that happens lah and and ya it was just a pretty demoralising day because it felt like I lost a lot of money at that point of time


and also lost a lot of time because we were still uh doing our national service around that period of time and ya it just it just took up a lot of weekends learning how to drive and just went to waste, so


uh ya that's that's that's pretty much it lah, can I, ya, can I ask you since you just started university right have you ever felt like exceptionally stressed or have you ever felt like a exceptionally negative experience since you started


, I think, I think, I think naturally, with any transition phase be it like you know maybe going to NS or starting university right there's definitely this adjustment period that you feel


stressed lah and you have to start adapting to the situation I think for me was during the, first two weeks of university, whereby you start to see, uh, the capabilities of your classmates and you start to naturally compare yourself and benchmark yourself against them and see where you stand and I think at that point of time that's quite stressful because uh I didn't come from a big name JC but I think most of most of my classmates did


and like it was it's very I I would say eye opening to see the way they work and how driven they are and I had two weeks to match that match that intensity because everything we do is, okay I don't have a bell curve but I think naturally you would still want to do as well as your classmates right


so I think that transition period was quite stressful lah, ya, how about how about how about you do you have any, stressful incidents like for example in NS


I think one week ah seven days


(hmm), I think


I think most guys would have like a point in time in army life where they feel like exceptionally stressed right, for for me was when uh we're doing our obstacle course, and on the last station I jumped and then I felt my knee give way and then it popped


and then when I went to the hospital right the the doctor actually misdiagnosed me and just said it was bruising so at that time I was like, like seriously she cause she just she she took she took the matter very lightly and then she just said that oh it was just light bruising and you can just like have a few days MC and move on but I clearly knew uh what ACL tear feels like because I already tore it before prior to army


so I think at that point of time it was just very frustrating lah because the doctor couldn't even diagnose me properly and then, uh, ya then it just decided my army life there lah


no I would not say so I would say that I would say that uh, naturally


I don't know I think but, I think I think my experiences come from more like, more of like constant hard work, rather than being like naturally smart which is I think quite bad also because like some days I think I would study until like very late because I will feel that I have to catch up lah


because of the lack of natural genius I suppose


(hmm), ya of course I think there was a period of time in JC whereby, uh I started becoming, I would say like a perfectionist whereby I did not even want to lose a single mark in a in a exam and then if I did right I'll be I'll feel very very bad about losing that single mark let's say cause I think


in JC my my strong suit was in chemistry and I think to me right chemistry is something that you can just memorise and score very well after that because that's what I did lah I just memorised everything but then let's say I mean


there's there's definitely a few papers whereby like like for example I memorise the wrong thing or I cannot recall at that moment of time then that would stress me out after after finishing the paper and I think, uh I struggle a lot with with our general paper essay as well


and it seems like it felt like wherever whatever we did right we could never do well for that paper because we do it we we didn't even know what was being tested like what was expected of us like I recall doing very well on a certain essay


once during the exam like I got uh thirty six out of fifty for that exam I think for that paper I think and then which was which was quite well for uh a GP essay already ah then the next exam following that right I got twenty one out of fifty


even though like I felt the standard was the standard I gave was a lot better so it just fell short of expectations lah and even the marker was the marker was the same person, so ya at that time I just felt very like like I didn't know what to do to get my GP rate up because ya


I think, I think right now in our in our age gap in our age group right there's a lot of people doing a lot of different things and there's a lot of people in different stages in their lives lah like like I said a lot of my friends are currently investing and they're bringing in like


tens of thousands already but right now like, ya I'm not bringing in any any money lah not as much as as at that level lah so I think naturally I think you feel very behind on where you want to be, right on way or what you want to get after uni and especially so like with the current job market now right you would you would also worry about like whether you can whether how like how fast the economy can pick up before you can secure your next internship or your next job


uh after after uni right will you say so as well,


I think for me personally I have no I have very little passion in like computer science and coding but it is it has become like increasingly more in demand lah and it it is somewhat required of you to have basic coding knowledge now


especially for us where we are in like the engineering sector right it's becoming more and more uh required of us to have some basic coding skills at least but like personally I feel that I have no passion in it lah I mean not that


I mean I can still code basic basic programs but it's not as good as uh like let let's say people around the same age as me or even younger than me right so I think that's one of the avenues of pressure that maybe some of us will be facing


in years to come especially since like the younger generation uh like the primary schools and all of that are start are starting to code at such a young age already and it will eventually catch up to us and we may be phased out in the future as well because of that, right what your thoughts on it


I think for me in my specialisation there's not much


of the stress that you get from let's say computer related specialisation because for me everything is set in stone lah it's just theory based and I think you can pretty much learn things on the job as well but I think in in the case of


of uh computer science right I'm trying to get basic knowledge on it as well because I still think that it's important regardless of what specialisation you are in but that's a a part that I'm having trouble with lah because uh I only have limited experience with it and to to


catch up to be on the level of my peers is going to take a lot of time and a lot of effort on top of my uh school work already, but for you you being in this specialisation you said that you have certain worries moving forward in your career given that there's already people coding at a way younger age than you


part two positive experiences, okay so uh aloysius we went on a trip we went on two trips together overseas trips together actually do you want to maybe uh share about


share about those trips, okay


I think ya sorry go on go on, , actually for me right


the more memorable trip was the one before japan we went to Krabi for like I think uh four four or five days and within that four or five days I think more , more things happened within the four five days than in the Japan trip right I mean because we we were constantly doing a lot of activities and I fondly remember the memory of uh you flipping on the ATV uh ya so we were like ya I fondly remember the memory of you flipping on ATV because so we were like


ya we we hired we hired we hired this ATV we we went on this ATV trip lah and and for some reason , you you wore a a jacket and it uh it seemed to like you just made us laugh a lot lah I think cause all of us were in singlet all of us were in singlets and in like thirty thirty degree weather and then aloysius was wearing a windbreaker


and I think he he he was the life he was the life of the party on that day especially even after he flipped flipped the flipped the ATV I think no I think that trip we had a lot of fun we had a lot fun as well right we just finished our A levels at that point of time and


uh we just planned an impromptu trip it was quite impromptu I think we planned we wanted to we said that we wanted to go on a trip for quite sometime already but then we actually only started booking one week before the actual the actual trip itself and ya I think


uh it was one of it was one of the few time the first times I went overseas with uh such a big group of friends and think we generally had had a lot of fun on that trip lah, so ya so do you have any any good memories from japan that you want to bring out let's like like most memorable memories


okay, ,


it's probably me lah ya so aloysius you you we were at this cross junction and you were trying to take some pictures right and and I think you dropped your phone when the traffic light turned green


or something like that and then you accidentally stepped on the accelerator and I think you went went into my car or someone else's car so that was a very memorable experience as well and I think that was the highlight of the trip when aloysius crashed into me


I think okay I think during the Japan trip the the food was very the food was very good as well and it was quite reasonably priced as compared to Singapore right, and, yes


, ya I mean compared to Krabi definitely but then, but in japan how I see it is that we are paying


the same amount of money as we do in Singapore but we are getting ingredients from the source itself, so in that sense it's relatively I would say more value for money not not maybe not cheaper per se but value the value is is there I guess


right, okay so ya so , on the topic of of this right would you say that you had your, uh perfect day when you were travelling, or like do you have a ideal perfect day


yes I do remember our friend that lost his luggage in japan so what happened in case you forgot was that we landed in Tokyo and we were


we were supposed to take the bullet train to Osaka and throughout the whole I think three hour train ride and the three hour train throughout the three hour train ride and any, time before that right our friend didn't realise that he got the wrong luggage until we arrived in Osaka


which was already like half like like maybe half the day, I think I think he took half a day to realise that it wasn't his luggage right then ya and we were and we were already so far away from the airport and there was no way of recovering his luggage


in that day and I think all of us just felt like very lost that moment of time but at the same time uh I think some of us couldn't help but laugh at him as well because it's really


I would say that it it it really made the trip it it it really set it it made the trip much more memorable because I don't think you will get this kind of experiences if you travel let's say with your family or anything like that right ya, so


ya I think, ya to some extent that is true but,


I think this this kind of situation usually happens when you look back on something, but when you are actually in that moment right you wouldn't feel that it's perfect you feel that it's a very bad bad situation to be in


, I mean ya ya looking back obviously in that kind of situation you would get annoyed because there are certain times to meet especially since we stay in a airbnb and we have to check in by a certain time so and such things like that will definitely


delay time and it will eat into your itinerary as well but I mean looking back uh it's such experiences that make a trip very very memorable and very very fun [lah}, so so besides that do you have let's say an ideal perfect day that everything will go your way


I think that ties in that ties in what I said just now about judging your expenses based on the experience value instead of the face value right


so if we if we use that uh kind of philosophy to judge our trips and travelling then we would definitely end up spending uh way more way more money than we want to lah but you know it may it's it's each to it's own so like it maybe worth it to some people as well


ya so for me right uh my perfect day would be, actually I'm not a early riser but I would like to uh wake up early enough let's say before the sun even comes up but I would like my perfect day would would be me waking up before the sun comes up but waking up naturally without an alarm clock as well


and maybe like go for a morning run I've always wanted to do a morning run but I've never woken up early enough to do a morning run and then, ya, ya I was sleeping I was sleeping when aloysius was on the run and the run I heard the run turned out to be quite eventful as well right maybe you can share what what happened during the run


you saw the snake, yes so he was running like were you running like barefoot on the beach, ya


ya and then they end up seeing a snake but it was only two of them who went on the run so all of us missed missed out on that opportunity lah right opportunity to see a snake


ya so after the morning after the morning run I would like to have a nice cup of coffee, ya then maybe in the afternoon go out with my friends as well and then at night maybe go to a bar have some drinks and ya think that would be quite good but


but I think that kind of day can happen anywhere it doesn't have to be overseas right but I think it's obviously better if it's overseas lah because Singapore is very hot and like if I were to go it would not be as enjoyable I feel


cause I feel that I feel that I prefer more outdoor settings even with meals and everything but obviously we can't do that in singapore because ya it's too hot, but at as opposed to that time that we went to shake shack in uh in Japan as well right we went to shake shack in Japan and it was like it was freaking cold at that time cause it was at night already but we still decided to eat outside because we cannot have that experience in Singapore


ya I wonder as well but it was it turned out to be quite quite fun lah I mean you really cannot get that kind of experience in singapore like drinking a milk shake outdoors when it's already like super cold outside then all of us were just shivering outside and eating our burgers


which was quite fun as well lah , ya cause our friend was sick so he wasn't there


yes, no I was immune to it as well so we have this running running joke that throughout the trip that because I think we went for a we went to a Yakitori bar the the day before right then I think everyone had food poisoning except me and you then then we were just walking around saying that we had superior genes


immune to the food poisoning, ya, ya but I'm I'm quite thankful that it didn't happen to us lah


it was very fun ya it was a very fun experience, okay, so, what would you describe to be like the happiest moment in your life,


okay sure I think, growing up in singapore right there's always like this pressure for students to do well right, and I think growing up I've always inflicted a pressure on myself so you know how at the end of every major exam you they will call up those people who did well to on the stage right


and in primary school I didn't get called up on to the stage but I knew that I wanted to get called up on to the stage some day, so I think I worked pretty hard in towards the end of my secondary school and during O levels I did get called up to the stage and I think like that that was the first moment that I felt that uh like my efforts paid off lah


and like like you know finally you get you get to be the one who sees your name on the on the screen and I think it's quite quite rewarding lah and ya I think I took that I took that experience and I translated it and I I held on to it


all the way up to now so that that's what that's what drives me I think so I would say that that is , maybe not the happiest but more more of like a impactful moment in my life


yes how about how about you


I don't know I've never had that experience before


, , how about the most recent happiest day like the end of phase one


, no the but end after the end of phase one we actually went out once right to eat to eat K barbecue, that was pretty memorable


ya, my bag ya it's the day I spent the most money , okay


, , definitely so what what are you looking forward to in phase three


not that many,


(uh huh), I think I'm thankful for like the the friends around me and the experience I get experiences I get to have lah like the ability to the ability to like you know ask people out on meals and like have fun together I think that's that's that's


that's truly like what I'm thankful for lah and, ya I think I'm looking forward to having such experiences in the future as well and, ya I will say that's that's what I'm thankful for


okay okay cool


financial related topic


err I also have the life insurance from NTUC income also, then I also have like this critical illness insurance so like if you happen to have like a terminal illness then they will give you like a lump sum and there's also uh incomeshield health insurance so is to cover like hospital bills if I ever get hospitalised


I don't have endowment plan because my parent didn't buy one ya but in the future like I might choose to, buy one since it's like kind of like a saving plan and it's a mini life insurances plan also


i've never bought insurance by myself before because ya i'm not of the age yet but I would buy next time when I have like car or like property and kids then for travelling overseas


I got buy but it's like through my parents or through school trips so is not personally buy, yeah so I don't know like much details about it


for me what I look out for same as you like mostly of what the insurance can cover and then also I think something important is whether I can afford the monthly payment and like the like what is the premium term


and also like what is the end payout of, like at the end of the term right then like how much the insurance will pay out for me then whether is essential I think it is essential because, like what you said life is very unexpected like especially if like COVID and these all kind of things I think health and life insurance is very very important because if anything just like


uh it like if I just fall sick then at least my family won't have to like struggle with the hospital bills and the medical fees, ya so I think is essential


for people of our age, I agree that like life and health insurance is very important cause is important for people of any age cause like anybody can fall sick and even like although we are considered young


like is not, uncommon for people to like get terminal illness at this age also so for like security and like to help the family get through the period of time I think life and health insurance is very important then also something else that I think people of our age can buy


would be travel insurance cause people of our age like to like go grad trip and like travel all these kind of things then like I feel like we might be quite, careless when we go overseas because like we are with our friends then we might lose our stuff so I think is very important to have travel insurance since we don't have our parents there to like help us settle things also so at least this will give us like a safety net when we're travelling


then for the endowment plan ya I agree that is important cause is like a savings plan and we need to start saving from young, yeah


for me also not very applicable now cause i'm not the one like spending money on the insurance but definitely like when i'm older and i'm working I would set aside a certain amount of my income to like spend on insurance


and also for like my property my my car my family also and for coverage, I would want a insurance that can, that pay off a certain amount of coverage that make me feel safe if something was going to happen


yeah


from what I know my parents since they are the ones that like settle my insurance I know that they only buy from a single insurance provider and I think that is because of convenience also because from what I know they only they buy insurance through their friend who is their insurance agent and he works


for that company so out of confidence and trust in the friend then they will just buy whatever he recommends that is good for us and even in the future I think that I will also go for a single provider because


if I find a provider that I can trust and most of their plans fit my, like fit what I need and I want then it will be more convenient also and is better to have one agent that I can trust and I can ask a lot of questions to rather than hopping around and like


having many many err clashing opinions and stuff, ya so I think is easier to buy, from a single provider


I also have a savings plan but is like a joint plan with my mum inside the account also and it's if i'm not wrong is from DBS I think but ya I also agree that savings plan is very important especially like now that uh we're going to uni and


next time there's a lot more to go in life with marriage and personal property and stuff so it's good to start saving early also and be more aware of like how we handle like our finance


ya I also use like the paylah paynow quite often cause is it's very convenient like cashless and I also don't have credit card but I heard that is quite dangerous if you if you don't know how to like control and plan out your spendings


ya so I think is important to always be in control of your financial status and your like spending


negative experiences, err what frustrates me


recently cause of like the whole phase two situation it will be like people that actually lack awareness of their surrounding cause you know now like phase two although you're although you are allowed to go out and walk around


but you're still still supposed to like wear mask and try to keep social distancing when you can but as i've went out the past few days then I realized that there's a lot of people that actually don't adhere to this kind of rules


like I know like the mask is difficult to breath in and all but some people they really just like put it down and just walked around like that or sit on public transport like that then I feel like that frustrated me a lot because, I don't really dare to approach them to tell them to go and wear their mask properly but at the same time I i'll feel a bit scared like as they like make some like noise to clear their throat or they cough a bit with their mask down then ya I think that's when I feel very very frustrated cause i'm scared yet I can't do anything


what what about you


then since you are talkin about like frustration then do you have like a particular event that make you very angry


for me what I can think of now is that like that thoughout the whole circuit breaker period there were a lot of like news articles online about err who and who made a certain offence ya then from what I can remember every time I read this kind of articles I will get rare angry inside


because, like the government already tell everybody to play our part and like stay home unless is for essential services yet like online I see the news articles like there are groups of old people I remember there was this article that there was this entire group of old people that they just gathered at the bus stop


to gamble, then ya when I saw that I was just like !huh! like we are supposed to stay home to protect the old people but the old people themself are going out to gamble, ya and there were a lot of these kind of events ah like also got that robertson quay people go there and like hang out and drink although it was circuit breaker ya I think all these events really make me very angry it made me angrier because i'm stuck at home


ya, but like talking about yes, err phobias I used to have a phobia of the dark


then how I overcame it was because err I started staying in my school dormitory ya then although i'm in a like a double room but sometimes my roomie doesn't come back to sleep also then


for my room right the position is that once you off the light and once is and once is at night it the whole room is just super super dark ya and I didn't have like nightlight or anything so I think it forced me to overcome it cause I had to stay in the dark room alone


ya but now i'm now i'm okay with staying in the dark already ya what about you


that is good then like since you are talking about phobias what would you describe as like your greatest fear


failure is the mother of success


err for me, I would say being lost, in like lost both like literally and like, like is a metaphor also because i'm very bad at like very bad with directions so if like you ask me to go to a new place by myself I will be like quite scared to go cause


like I really cannot read google maps that bad ya so I think that would be my fear to get lost and if my phone were to like have no battery also then I have to go and ask people for directions but i'm also very shy so I wouldn't do that so ya I think that is


one of my fear and the other kind of lost would be I would say like lost at what to do with my life like what direction to take or like what to do next, in my life I think is quite scary if I have


like no idea of what to do at all cause it'll feel like, like what's the point of even like living you know if I got no no motivation or no direction in my life, ya so I think that's, one of a big fear


ya agree then like, like talking about this like no motivation and because now COVID we got a lot of time to reflect at home so like if imagine in like a post-COVID world what are some of like the worries and anxieties you yhink that you will you might face


ya I agree with you because like nobody knows when the post-COVID world can come it might be like one year later but it also might be like five years later and if it would to be five years later and that's where like most of people our age will start to go into like the working world


ya and I think is quite scary cause, like for now I hear a lot of people like my parents friends and all they are getting retrenched or being put off temporarily by the companies because the companies themself are losing profit then they can't like afford all this can't cannot afford to pay these employees anymore


so it made me think like oh when I graduate from uni would I even be wanted by companies would I be useful and even if, like touchwood but even if like a pandemic happens again like what will


my like how will my career be affected ya I think is , some worries and anxieties that I think most people our age will face, then other than career wise I think also another worry would be whether we will be able to go back to a like normal normal or will we always have to like be stuck in this phase two kind of normal like wear face mask and like cannot gather


like more than five people I think it be quite sad if it continues for a very long time cause a lot of like, uh groups of friends are obviously more than five people ya so and mask is also not very comfortable yeah then it makes me quite worried and sad to think that err the normal that I enjoyed might never come back again


err for me recently i've watched this movie is like a war movie is called like first they killed my father so it was about a war in cambodia and like is is a movie based off a real life


incident so the the movie showed very raw emotions and very more big scenes ya so like while watching that I got very angry because the main character of the movie who actually very little children


and it showed how their family got destroyed by the war and how they were like ill-treated and all so ya I got very angry to watch that because they were just little kids, yeah what what about you


positive experiences


I will still be optimistic because like I still quite young, so there's a lot ahead of me like there's still schooling and there's still career and like making a family so


and like for now the global uncertainty i'm thinking would be the COVID situation, like it seems very bleak but, I believe that uh maybe a few years down the road a vaccine will be found because like with the past few pandemics and epidemics it has all been like so-called under control so I i'm positive that


uh this COVID will also soon be under control and like I can be optimistic about the future ah, how about you


then since you are on this topic right then can you describe an experience where like your faith in mankind was renewed


for me like, like in this situation of like the COVID right then there's a lot of err cause for people to step up and come like volunteer or like even work in the frontline sectors ya then like


i've seen a lot of people step up and like actually go and volunteer or start working as, not even just doctors and nurses but also like uh service sector being like a deliveryman or like like you know there's this so-called uh taxi services just for the people that need to go to quarantine so there are like I personally know of my


uh one of my parent's friend their son actually stepped up to be the driver and I I thought that was very like commendable because it's quite scary being in the car with somebody that is going to quarantine and yet like they stepped up to do such a thing


so I think that is when like I felt I like !wah! actually mankind we are still quite kind and like loving and not as bad as, as I thought , ya


during this period nope because like there was this online tutoring thing but when I applied after my examination then they told me that there were there were too many tutors which is a good thing because it shows that a lot of volunteers signed up


ya but I recently went ya I recently signed up for another organization to be like sort of a tutor also just that they haven't confirm anything but I think ya I haven't done much what about you


then since we talking about volunteering right then like what what is the biggest reward that you have received after doing a good deed or what do you want to receive


I can't really remember like exactly a biggest reward but I think, a reward that I like is just for that person to like maybe just say thank you cause like, it showed that I have helped them and if they are like happy if they looked happy and if their their burden is taken off them then like I would be more than happy already lah like to me is a big reward already that i've been of help


ya ya I agree, err adrenaline rush


I don't really like, those roller coaster rides, but for me my form of adrenaline rush, would be like you know during exam then you're left with like very little time but you still got like question to complete so ya l feel like that's the most most relatable adrenaline rush for me


ya, I had to Qiong you know ya, ya for you eh


then like during your track and field times do you have like any proudest moment of your track and field time


when I hearing you talk then I also got reminded of my, sports day cause I was in like taekwondo in my school ya then I think one of the proudest moment is when you see your school flag being like displayed or like being held by your teammates when they are on the podium because like your school won something


ya although, like although I also stood there with the school flag but I think regardless of whether is my team or another team from my school that won that particular event I I still feel like that's a very proud moment of my life ya and like at the end of the competition


uh like the, there's a tradition for every school to like compete err for their cheers so like the school with the loudest cheers were so-called win ah ya I think like it's quite nice hearing them shout like the school cheer and like in that moment of time everyone is very hyped and


like in the heat so ya is quite, is it was a proud moment of my life


ya I relate


eh for now all I have is like my shows, and okay generally I will just like sketch on my iPad cause like there's the app then like it's quite easy to make a simple and like fast sketch


ya besides that I don't really do much these days how about you


err travel experience, I will say like the first time I went to japan, ya I think I still it was like twenty fifteen I guess then I forgot the exact location but my aunt brought us to like this viewing gallery place then we could see like a very full close-up view of #mount fuji#


then because it was winter also so you know like the the snowcaps on the mountain and everything ya that was like really really nice cause it looked like, it looked like I was looking at like google images but I was there physically to see it so like !wow! ya how about you


financial related topic


okay uh for the first question it says do you have personal insurance for myself I do have personal insurance and uh it's from income the company and it's a life insurance that


covers death I think then is like when I if if err if an accident happens to me where it costs my life then I think like my parents or my family will get the money


yourself


okay then for the second question is is do you have an endowment plan uh, I have an endowment plan uh actually for this endowment plan and the previous personal insurance both of them are set up by my parents and is not something I purchased them by myself so this endowment plan


is actually by AIA i'm not sure of what the details are but my parents are actually paying an amount every month, and I believe that is a monthly payment that pays out after ten years ya


oh okay, for the next question do you get insurance when uh they give many instances but for myself i've purchased insurance by myself once before uh it's a travelling overseas insurance it covers


i'm not sure of the detail because for me it was, I made the purchase through a friend that uh I was travelling with ya so we were travelling to we're travelling overseas then I asked him uh he asked me if if uh I want to get insurance with him so I


I took I was like sure why not uh in case anything happen overseas if like I we got an accident or any flight delay I think that covers that as well ah ya those are the things that I think it covers, ya that's that's the only thing I have purchased ah sorry the only insurance that I purchased by myself


okay, uh for the next question it says what do you look out for when buying an insurance policy do you see insurance as an essential expenditure


for me I believe uh myself when I look out for insurance policy uh most of the time you just look at uh, interest rate to get to see whether we get the best deal out of the money we are paying but additionally additional things that i'll look up for is like what it cover so like maybe if i'm working in a dangerous


environment maybe i'll look up for like like a death insurance or terminal illness insurance but if my work does not really uh involve me risking my life a lot i'll i'll still buy it but I won't pay so much for those kind cause


I know that I will not be endangering my life uh often maybe i'll purchase like maybe car accident car accident insurance or or like medical bills insurance to to just cover like basic health needs and all


ya for for me do you see insurance as an essential expenditure uh yes I believe is a essential expenditure because life is very unexpected you might not know when


you'll get you'll come across any , any accident or or any unexpected circumstance that causes you to lose much of your money maybe you know recession comes so


it is an essential expenditure but I feel like you should not spend too much of your money on them


okay on this question what kind of insurance are essential for people of your age uh personally I feel that while is important for us to buy like total illness


uh insurance life insurance uh all these are important uh because like all these are like you might have it uh you might come across any unfortunate circumstance and those were


those are helpful for your family uh in case like any unexpected circumstances happen but personally for specific for people of our age uh is is to purchase like some


endowment plan so that because we are of young age and interest in accumulates over the year so uh the earlier you start the more money you're getting payout uh later of your age so maybe like if you put in like twenty years


by the time like we are forty fifty like you will you will get like a large amount of money so I feel that uh endowment plans or saving insurance something related along the lines uh is essential for people of our age since we have


like time


okay , for the next question it says it states uh what percentage of your income do you spend your insurance how much coverage are you getting from your insurance personally I since I do not pay uh pay my own insurance so uh I was thinking for myself in the future I think I will spend like


maybe like I feel like twenty percent is a good percentage because there are they will be many things that i'll be saving money for and things that I might be paying for so maybe in the future I have to


maybe pay off like debts and like maybe if I purchase a vehicle maybe I have to pay like the COE or mortgage for the house I think I think there's a mortgage for apartments in singapore i'm not sure about that but


ya and furthermore like we still need to, uh save up for keep money for emergency and i'm not sure if there's a insurance regarding that but uh twenty percent I feel it might be a good gauge


ya for coverage I didn't uh talk about that just now but ya I I think myself I would like to purchase something that covers enough uh before I'm paying and uh it's also it it also depends on the risks


so err like if if like uh like regarding death the risk is not there like I mean what i'm trying to say is that it might is is not it won't be very common that i'll i'll get it so I feel like


maybe I wouldn't pay so much for it like me like it just enough to cover a bit but things like hospital bills or like uh terminal illness all these like might come at early age that we do not we would not expect


so those are the things that I would like to cover more importantly uh besides death, ya the next question it says do you get insurance from a single insurance provider or do you pick and choose insurance product from multiple company and why


for myself personally since i have never bought insurance so I do not really know which companies are better at what but uh for me personally I would I would purchase like from a single insurance provider


cause , if usually I would I would like to buy like insurance from something that I would trust then i'll put some uh that I have like maybe since young i've i've come to like like this insurance company maybe like


like maybe some some of their plans have helped me uh more than uh more than the others or like from recommendation of friends that oh this is better friends or family or maybe like people like I have relatives or friends that have worked in in either of them


so maybe like we give we'll get like inside uh not inside information but more like or how like this brand this brand would benefit me more than other company so for me is more about loyalty


to to one so maybe i'll just uh pick from a single insurance provider


ya, ya I also would agree with that because uh sometimes like if we buy from several different insurance company we will do not really know like what they are really trying to sell cause some of them are some of them would try to oversell their products


and may not may not necessary give like like the full coverage or like or not not say full coverage like the full details of what the insurance have and most of the time we as like people who don't really buy insurance is is something very hard to get into because


uh insurance can be quite costly and if you don't really have much money uh insurance will cost a lot and if you purchase like err something an insurance plan that doesn't doesn't really suit you then it could uh set you back by a lot uh set you back like a few hundred and thousands of dollars


which is not really ideal so just to reliterate my point most of the time I will just buy from uh from trust from someone I trust, ya


for the next question , for example what are your savings plan err I don't really have savings plan but I intend to purchase one uh soon cause I hear savings plan err savings plan is err a good way for you to


make your money earn money for you essentially so with like interest rate and time uh for every like like whenever you put money in uh given the interest then maybe like


five or ten or twenty years then eh you will get a large payout and that's pretty useful if you are looking for uh if you need money for a big uh big mileage for your life for example your marriage your first house


or having children ya all these all all these things need a lot of money so I feel like savings plan is quite important and ya


ya I feel like the savings plan is also a good way for young people like us to start building on my habit of saving cause most of the time we don't really save and is quite useful if you have like uh like all these things to sort of like tie us down


to make us ensure that we always save save up every month ya then , then for banking products uh my what is your experience using it my experience using okay personally for me I don't have a credit card i'm not sure what's the age in which you get a credit card


but I feel like one uh I read online that uh credit card you must try to use it quite not very often but you have to use your credit card to build up your credit score which in uh allows you to


uh purchase like uh like improving your credit score allows you to like have a better chance of getting HDB i'm not sure about that but is more like building up your credit score then debit card is something I use often


ya especially now with the contactless payment and all


for me paynow has been quite useful cause is also linked to my debit card


okay, negative experiences, uh hi clara may I ask what frustrates you


ya personally I I i've experienced the same thing cause uh I been going through uh i've been working throughout uh ever like during this whole period since uh the circuit the circuit breaker has started


so to see that many people are now like in the in the train in the buses now it's really quite scary to see that so many people uh uh crowding right now and some of them don't uh don't even cough into their mask some of them just


uh take off their mask and cough which really uh which really frustrates me because it really like defeats the purpose of wearing the mask in the first place because is to contain the the saliva in to prevent uh contamination so


ya I also agree that people who lack this kind of awareness frustrates me another thing that frustrates me is also because uh is that some some people who are in leadership position uh just some of them don't really


know what what their work is then then they just push their work to other people so it's really frustrating it's been frustrating because you are seeing other people who are not who are not rewarded for the work they're they are doing


so like, ya people who are sometimes in leadership position just allocate work you do this you do that then meanwhile they are on the back backscene like not really doing anything uh that frustrates me quite a lot cause


because you are seeing people who who are working tirelessly uh timing but then like their superior is just like not doing really much, ya this that frustrates me quite a bit


a particular event that make me angry uh is not really uh in the same topic as the the the incompetent leader but another thing that frustrated me is that people who don't really


uh believe in science uh people who challenges the the ideas err ideas of science so like eh they will think like back to the COVID situation sometimes they will say that


uh infected and some also say that if you do less testing there's less cases but the point is to get more or to see where people are who are who are getting infected and get them treated but yet some of these people don't really believe


believe the health advices so they just go out and not wear mask do not really care about the precaution because they have the not really say don't really believe in science, but don't they don't really they believe that they won't get infected so they put themself in risky situations


not only for themself but also for other people so risking other people lives uh lives as well but what frustrates me more is those people who don't believe the the coronavirus is actual thing they just think like they just come off with some bogus


idea that is like err something that's created by the the chinese government because it is started from uh Wuhan so they use all these tactics to protect ah asians especially


so using this thing as a tool to protect us and like not believe in science using that as an excuse frustrates me, yourself


okay do you have, do you have any phobias, and how do you overcome them


!aww! that's great, for me uh I have a sort of a mini trauma in primary school because uh I went to my friend's house and then he pranked me by releasing the dogs then uh for me uh natural instinct is for me to run cause I kind of panicked


so the dog come and chase after me and bit from uh my back on my leg so ever since then I had a mini phobia of not really mini ah it's quite a phobia of dogs so uh but then uh online I keep seeing photos of them and


they're quite adorable so like what make me decide to overcome them eventually is uh there was a voluntary program in my school that allow us to choose whatever we wanted to and it so happens to be in a animal shelter


so uh I told my class chairperson that uh maybe you should go for this to see like because it's animals is like pets so it's kinda like a fun event for the entire class so we end up ended up choosing that so


by by the nature of my phobia I was pretty scared at first but then after talking to my friends or like everything like I had I tried to calm down and then eventually instead of chasing me to guide me they came to me instead


so we were sitting down then the dogs came to us and then at first I I was very scared and I was trembling but then eventually like like seeing how how adorable they were close-up then it kind of calmed me down


so eventually like it did not it don't go away go away uh immediately but I was getting more and more confident of getting near like pets and all, ya


personally my greatest fear would be uh failure because fear then uh it cost it will gonna cost you a lot of of things


so but then many people say like uh the chinese there's a chinese proverb that says that's uh failure is uh wait something goes along the line of like ya that so like my my fear of failure


uh is is to is so that like I feel a failure comes from the fact that disappointment so if I feel I might disappoint several kind of uh many people err for one instance was uh


in uh back to the track and field example uh before there was one year that uh the four by one relay that uh I dropped the baton which caused us a lot of time that then eventually that uh


but like what what I said just now uh what you said just now also the chinese proverb that uh we use that failure to to motivate ourselves to train even harder to practice our passing of the baton the baton like


uh many many times too so so that we don't drop the baton in the actual actual competition and ya but there there is still that initial fear of failure because if you


fear then is is quite quite disappointing and who knows if the second time I try if during a competition if we fail again if I drop the baton again then that will be uh quite traumatizing for me


ya, yourself what what what would you say is your greatest fear


I feel that that is quite relatable to many people cause during this timing where the COVID situation where a lot people are forced to stay at home most most of the time like people will just sit down like at home reflect on


what they have been doing is it really worth it doing so uh although it's like a fear that that many people would be lost but I feel that eventually over time throughout through experiences or what they have been doing maybe they will find like a new form of motivation to do


uh things that they actually believe in so they won't be as lost as they were before ya that's my take on it


personally for me like looking at the like the business market right now my fear my biggest fear will be a recession and how I am not equipped to uh how


i'm not equipped for a recession so like because most of us uh like you and I are students or are entering or about to be students into going to uni we might be entering the work uh workplace during a recession and


my greatest fear will be not finding a job because many of the businesses are losing losing money declaring bankruptcy and then ya is that's my biggest fear right now and then


worries about finding a job feeding a family that's that's another big thing, yourself


okay, so clara do you recall a scene in a movie that make you too angry to watch or movie movie or film or TV series


for me my anger is not about uh is not of the same type my anger comes from the movie i'll uh I was i'm referring to is the live adaptation of avatar the last airbender


that one that show uh the my anger stems from the lack of uh effort put in by the director err firstly the most obvious one would be the casting the casting of the


it the original show by nickelodeon is is has a asian uh backdrop but then they use mainly white cast and then uh more use


the the villains' definition uh of people people of colour so like based on the casting itself it really frustrated me from the start cause like is is not an accurate representation and using people of colour as as the villains is


is is quite messed up ya so and then furthermore the the lack of effort in the CGI and to make like the effort


the creativity is not really in there so I felt like I wasted my money watching that movie


positive experiences, clara despite the growing uh sorry despite the ongoing global uncertainty what makes you optimistic about the future


uh eh uh for me it would be uh the scene in america regarding the protest for the the black life protest movement uh it makes me feel optimistic about the future is because we are able to


uh look back at our past history and see the injustice in them with our current moral ethics so it makes me feel optimistic is because many of the issues that are not really talked about today are being brought up


and we've like the history and all so it's about making changes to our lifestyle making sure like seeing what is wrong with our current system right now and hopefully change for the better looking at the injustice that's happening in


america and not only in america maybe uh in several other countries where like uh people of african descent are are seeing like less uh advantage uh in than their counterparts uh is very very optimistic


and i'm glad to see and to see that that's happening that we are look standing up for justice and hopefully this woulds this would bring a wave of uh not not really say a way of protest


but give give like to uh injustice especially racial injustice uh amongst uh people in within a country to see like what is, the underlying flaw in each society and and help people uh help the disadvantaged community to to be uh to be at least uh the same


at least the same to their counterparts so is really optimistic to look at all this so many people gotting uh this movement gotting support from so many people


uh is regarding like a similar topic like like uh there's one photo that i've seen that a protester has been helped out uh that has been helping out err counter-protester


uh he was seen he was seen like being being like anti-protester protesting but I think some accident happen not really accident but he he was left in a vulnerable position then uh one of the protester


uh was seen to help him out regardless of what he stand for so it goes to show that we are not really fighting about you and us but it's more like we are fighting for uh our lives not just your life so is is it goes beyond out uh their belief


and that photo really like shocked me like !wow! is like faith in mankind is renewed, how about yourself


ya uh have you any experiences in volunteering or during this situation


uh personally uh I believe you we we had applied the same thing uh apparently I was I got in and I happen to be tutoring like several different students uh for me because I believe that like


because of this situation i'm sure that uh people who are in disadvantage communities would be affected the most cause most of them do not have the money or do not have the capability to afford uh help especially in academics


uh during this situation because uh sometimes their their only form of education is during school and when uh when they are at home they might not be studying or maybe the environment they're in does is not favourable for them to


for them to to study so I felt like this uh this doing this is like something I can be very proud of uh because uh i'm doing something to help


help disadvantaged communities i'm not saying that uh most people that apply there are disadvantaged communities from disadvantaged communities but uh some of them uh do not have the uh capacity to afford many of these tuitions especially like


on a on a higher level like uh A levels or polytechnic where some topics are quite niche so me being able to help them is is something I can be happy about so this uh and seeing that


uh from what you said that many people has have volunteered I'm quite proud of uh being in this community uh as a singaporean that many people are able to step up and help one another despite the differences that we have


oh uh okay personally it was uh within the family so one of my uh cousin was actually uh having a a mini entrance examination to SIT


and needed a refresher in mathematics so uh I offered to help him teach him some uh refresh give him some uh exercises like to refresh his trigonometry uh knowledge because that that was one of the


uh theme that the SIT was testing him about so uh I went and tutor him like with with no intention of like getting money because like because he he has helped me uh in other ways like in in


like doing as a family member like he help me uh he drove me around because like I was I needed to get somewhere so it's more of like returning returning the act of kindness and I didn't really expect a reward and then


little did I know that uh the chinese new year the coming chinese new year like my aunt gave me like a bit more for the for the red packet so it wasn't something that I really expected but ya I got it was a one of the biggest reward that I received


because it was like not something I really expected but ya, yourself


I feel that like the the thanking part is really uh sometimes is unappreciated most of the time because it it is is something that we often say but once we like we put in the effort and to help someone the just a single thank you is


is uh often enough like like is often good enough, what uh clara what leads you to experience an adrenaline rush


when you have to complete your sentences and paragraphs with the limited time, I can understand that uh for me because uh I do sports when I was uh younger so one of the competition I was in was uh track and field


uh in the hundred meters sprints so sprints is usually uh high intensity fast paced so when when you get on the block the starting block and then like your is pure silence so the intensity is there then like the whole stadium is


silent then once you hear the starting gun oh the like once you come off the block like it's just all out it was like you don't really have to can't really think you just all what's on your mind is just going going straight reaching the finishing line


and like it's it's crazy to to hear this but like when when when you started running you can actually hear nothing is just footsteps you own breathing you can't even you didn't you don't even notice the the stadium is just screaming


and all and until you finish the uh the once you cross the finishing line and look back and realize that oh my god like there's so many people over there everyone just screaming cheering and then like after that you just like it's just like


ten seconds ten eleven seconds then like within ten seconds ten eleven seconds is all over but the adrenaline rush you feel then is like is astronomical, ya


uh the most proudest moment of my track and field time was for me is getting into uh the finals for the four by hundred meter four by hundred meter relay is uh a team effort


so being being a neighborhood school I we don't really have the hopes of uh really we don't really have the hopes of winning for us is just reaching a milestone that none of uh nobody in our school has done and that was uh the four by hundred meter


finals relay so being able to reach there being in the top eight teams in singapore for the B division amongst many many many schools it was the proudest thing that I I did so and especially it was a team event


that was like because we did it as a team is very satisfying because if you really see the hard work of all four of us can come into fruition and although we might not win the entire thing uh we we counted it as a victory for us


and also and our another event for me that I took part was uh long jump uh long jump I also reached the finals so not really expecting to win because uh there are many students over there who are committed to


to the to track to the sport so it's really hard to uh compete against them but being able to reach the finals is is quite quite great for me, what about yourself


another thing for me is uh hearing other people's talking about your school so like for me at the time like because we don't really uh like when we see other track and field people like sprinters be it sprinters or long distance runners


like something is I feel like is quite i'm quite proud of or like, proud of is that like when other people say that oh are you from this school oh you're the uh that time are you from this batch and you all reached finals is it then like ya then oh because it's quite satisfying and like proud because like you see that people actually recognize you


ya, so clara what's sorry you were saying, describe your favourite activity to unwind and relax


uh for me uh because uh I still have uh work so sometimes when the work gets tough like i'll just unwind and like forget about everything then i'll will just


just like get myself some bubble tea now that the stores are open and then like sit down watch like some shows that uh i'm enjoying or some shows that i've I need to catch up on due to my work ya


can I describe uh, describe my travel experience that left you in awe


ya, for myself would be my first time in europe uh as uh specifically being in Venice cause in secondary school we took uh some studies in about the history of Venice so


so like after studying that it it really becomes like like a sort of mini dream to go to Venice before uh it sinks ya usually people there's a there's a saying that uh go to Venice before it sinks so


being able to go to Venice is is a dream if uh is a dream then once uh I reached there it really just makes the dream even better because of the spectacular architecture


and the churches is uh the detailing of the church is is pretty nice like you can see like how how is preserved and how like, the past uh the the architects of the past have uh meticulously designed this and you can really see the effort they put into it


cause like of all the details the statues is is amazing and we also went to switzerland where we and we saw the snow in the tallest mountain in europe


part one financial related topic


for me I actually have the same account I also have a POSB everyday savings account uh why I have that is because when we were younger my school had this uh bank fair kind of show where POSB came over and my parents helped me to open the account so uh why I


technically why I have is cause of that but how I find it useful is because of , it's just a normal savings account where you can just put money in there is no term limits there's no tenure you can freely remove the money so it's very uh you can there is no risk in it uh to say that ya so uh but


obviously the interest rate is not very high but it's just like a normal account for your daily expenses when money comes in and also you use it for various stuff for various purchases ah so that's why I have that account, uh so it's basically for everyday use it's not like something I use to invest or anything but it's more to say like ya convenience wise yes


ya, ya


okay so I actually got my debit card when I was if I'm not wrong sixteen like the youngest when you can get a debit card actually I got it so that, uh I can make online purchases and also it's much more convenient with things such as like visa paywave when you do not need to like


fork out the actual cash but you can just carry on carry around a card and it's a debit card so there is a very low chance of you going to like credit card debt or like some sort of negative amount of money that you all the bank or like anybody else because it comes out straight out of your account


and like cause the everyday savings account they give you like a monthly report so you kind of can track, like how much you are spending and also if you use like apple pay or something like that they actually show you your transaction history within the apple wallet itself so it kinds of kind of gives you like an idea of how much you're spending and


from my experience when I first got the card because it was very convenient I did spend like over by budget for the first few weeks but then after a while like when I saw, on my POSB like uh ibanking app like my bank account decreasing then I realise it's because of the debit card then I tried to pull back a bit ya so I in the end my debit card


I for that period of time I converted it to some like I used it like ATM card where I only withdraw money and then spend it for that week to like help me budget ya if not, ya


okay for me I think cashback is the best because it's something that you immediately have like it's a immediate rebate that you have and it's, like tangible immediately for points and miles right for points because it works like on uh you have to redeem your point sometimes when you look at their webpage it depends on which like the bank or which like service you are using like are you using


visa or mastercard or some other weird credit card company the thing is sometimes they do not have what you really want or like the points have an expiry date, especially for, especially for miles, like, a lot of times they can also change the terms and conditions


or they can like miles also expire after a certain, number of years or actually like one year or something like that and and like during this period of time when there was COVID ninteen I think a lot of these miles, uh


I think there will be quite a number of people who like wasted that, the amount of miles that are racked up lah ya although they might although they give you reminders and all that they they normally give you reminders like one month before your and like all your miles expire then


that's for a lot of people like not enough time to plan for like a holiday trip or something and for that's why cashback right if you think about it most people and most restaurants also display, like on their menu or something like that, or at least like a placard that they have on the table like which credit card has like cashback and they will actually use the credit card because of that


so I think it's more tangible ah cashback


, I do not purchase insurance from banks my parents, uh purchase it from an insurance company also I think they did purchase the recent insurance from, POSB which covers, certain hospital bills including us if we were able to get COVID nineteen


but, besides that I don't think so they ever purchased anything, like, purchase insurance from the banks, ya


I, don't remember purchasing any investment products from banks all all I know is that I did, buy like this bond for one thousand dollars only like I only threw one thousand dollars for this Temasek bond, which will I think will as a tenure of five years then I will get all the returns back like the principal amount and everything by the year twenty twenty three so I did that because like Temasek holdings has in in and of itself the bond has like a high credit rating and also


like the singapore government basically backs Temasek holdings so it will never be allowed to tank so the risk is quite low and the, I think the, annual interest rate was two point eight percent or two point seven percent which was at that time the highest like interest rate for any bond lah ya and I did not have I didn't throw everything I have into the bond and it was like how to say I do not need that one thousand dollars


that soon cause I'm still I will still studying and by that time, by the year twenty twenty three I would have just started uni which will be when I actually need that money so when I thought about it then I talk to my parents and we just invest into it since it was it's not say like a significant amount since it's only one thousand bucks but it is better than placing it into the


bank cause the interest rate from the bank is only zero point zero five or something like that and since I do not need the money and it will only be sitting in the bank so I just bought that bond lah like one only ya


uh same for me I've never took a bank loan before because I have not, had the need to do any like haven't haven't had the need to take a loan cause I'm still studying JC ah ya and I haven't even went to army so technically


if I wanted to take a student loan for uni it wouldn't it and if I needed to it wouldn't be now ah ya


okay uh, I also think that couples should should combine their finances and open a joint account but they can keep like their own separate bank accounts if they already have one but rather, what this joint account is for is for them to plan their finances around so like their incomes or like it basically their salary should go into that joint account or if it is possible to plan your salary which will be better around one person's


uh income then everything should like that entire household expenditure or like both of their expenditure if they're only a couple should be based on their joint account alone and like if you have addition additional money that you're gonna, like put into your bank account or like if you have some investments and their returns you can actually deposit into your separate individual account but the joint account just helps to keep track of


the household expenditure and to keep within your budget I think that would make more sense because you can plan everything around it and you can keep like cause the financial statement for every month at really does help with your accounting if not you have to, like check like two or three bank accounts and like combine everything together which would take quite a lot of time and ya I think that would be more easier cause it just gives you have brief overview of everything and you kinda can keep track of each other spending and


sort of like plan properly and budget properly but I don't know whether it will open up, like, it will cause disputes or fights within couples because each other is like you're spending, the other party's money I do not know about that because I don't have a partner and I don't have experience with that but my parents do use a joint account and they also plan their finances around that joint account so I don't think so that's much of an issue but definitely you can keep your own individual accounts lah


okay, what I feel like, it is highly dependent on the parent so I think the parent in this case even if the child has an individual account should like limit whether the child is able to be


given a ATM card, because although some people are, eighteen or above, with that then or at least eighteen, they're, their spending habits do not match like


their age like although they are at eighteen they do not, have the ability to discern or to be able to see for themselves how much they are spending uh especially if you are sixteen a lot of people at sixteen the parents do not give them a debit card is because it


it without the ibanking app or if you do not use apple pay and if you cause right now POSB if I'm not wrong they do not send you your bank statement in paper they only give you a E statement on email and most and most people just, uh ignore that email so if your child is using an ATM card at sixteen and


he's he or she is just constantly spending on like internet shopping, like like, lazada or shopee Taobao, and they constantly just spend without because it's just a swipe of the card and you do not really see your the amount that you have left in your bank uh


I think, because of that your child is at disadvantage because normally, what people do is they let their child save up enough money first when they're younger so that when they are older, it can be used for more like important stuff most of the time you will be like university or like it's just in times of


crisis where you really need that extra funds you can actually withdraw uh from that account and use it lah for yourself uh because you never know what will happen so I think, it really is on the, the onus is on the parents lah


whether to allow their child to have it but what do you think should the parents allow children to have an individual bank account or should it be a joint account under their name because individual account it technically cannot really track, what how their child is spending but for joint accounts they can actually track and see the individual like monthly bank statement


I would agree with evan's standpoint on that ya


part three negative experiences


for me, personally I do not think that I've experienced anything that would classify really as a loss in my life ya so I don't think so I can answer this question


I think for me is, more , giving a lot of weight to other people's opinions, but not just anybody but the people I care about so like whatever work I do if like maybe I'll ask for their opinion or like


I will ask for their advice on a certain subject that I'm tackling or like maybe an assignment or something like that I will only feel stressed or like disappointed with myself in a sense and it will drive me to do, better if their opinion is like negative ya I think is the fact that is more from a point of view because


that person is closer to me and I I actually care about that person uh that's why I would care about their opinion, and I wouldn't want especially if it's like my parents or like someone that my very close friend that I will not really want to like disappoint them


for example like group project or something like that ya but if it's some random person and like it's something that I've done and they have a random opinion about it which to me doesn't make sense and to other people that I care about doesn't make sense, I couldn't personally I couldn't care less about their opinion lah but if it is


like, somebody's like someone close that I know and, or it's trustworthy or in, if their opinion make sense then that would make me stressed lah in that sense ya


uh for me, uh one of the traumatic incident that I've experienced in my life would be uh when I was younger, like, very very young actually the and the fact that I can remember this was is quite


uh, speaks about it uh actually so what happen is that in short in short, I accidentally, chopped off a part, of my younger sister's finger, so what happened was that uh she was still very young at that time


alright so what happened is I carried her outside of the room because she was trying to come in and we'll I remember that me my other sister and my father were trying to fix and clean an air-con , but she kept trying to come into the room and she was very young at that time so I carried her out


like that would be like the second time then I closed the door but then she started crying when I closed the door then I was like why she crying then I opened the door and realised that so her, one of the finger I think


uh her I don't know if it was the left or the right but I know that is the uh her ring one like the fourth finger the ring finger on one of the hand like the top part, like here was dangling so ya that was quite traumatic cause I was quite young and that scene was not very nice to see


ya uh and the thoughts that were running through my head was like did I cause my sister to be handicapped at that point in time ya so that was one of the more traumatic incident but the good thing is everything was fine somehow they managed uh


thanks to our doctors and like medical marvels they managed to sew everything back everything was not, too bad , ya so yup but it was ya it was traumatic cause


uh ya, I mean that's not very it was quite a gruesome sight lah ya


uh for me the biggest thing that is holding, myself back is, kind of not really thinking about what, goals I want to have, for certain stuff like just not even having any goals basically or not giving much thought into the goals I would rather


for me it's like I have a vague, idea or plan that I will follow or I want to go along, but do not really spend the time somewhat like laziness and a bit of a bit apathetic basically but I do not really spend enough time to really research or


like if I'm not too interested or fixed on that goal I do not really spend that much time to research into how to reach there and actually put in the time and the effort sacrifice enough, like energy or, like resources into that into fulfilling that goal ah so in one sense or another it's also my own self which is holding me back from my goal


, I will say there's one time, that stood out lah in my memory that, I was serving basically on I was part of this particular committee and our goal was to


uh organise like, a kind of camp for certain group of people, uh, ya and there was a lot of, miscommunication on multiple levels within that committee uh and within our committee


so uh, a lot of things were not, brought into fruition lah like a lot of things that we planned out, a lot of things that, we had discussed or apparent or what we thought already had come to a conclusion on or what we already thought was a consensus on


suddenly like, got disrupted in a sense because of that miscommunication then it furthered the divide and increased even more miscommunication within the committee ya and because it was for a camp and we had to carry out like


whatever we had to do to be able to ensure that the programmes still went on so like it didn't really help because of that and uh the toll of not, being able to sleep much during that camp was also not very good for that situation uh in terms of helping to mediate everything ya and certain decisions that were made because of the miscommunication


actually made everything worse like it made the it not only just, what I felt was like one of the things that really didn't meet my expectation was because like we as a community we were supposed to like serve, uh as in like make the programme


successful in a sense, uh but because of the miscommunication some things that were carried out actually, caused some damage lah to the participants of that camp, or at least some of their property so it was not


very good ya as in ya I did not turn out to meet my expectations for that one lah it was not very pleasant but in the end the good thing is everybody, at least we're not enemies we're neutral after that yup


for me, I do not really think that, I particularly or, have a experience which would really consider, like I consider as I feel trapped or helpless I think something that came close to it was like uh one of the years I remember there was it was like a transition year between like in my school and there was


quite a huge jump in the amount of work that we had and coupled together with like some other outside commitments including actually the the what the me being on the committee for the camp during that year because it was like for the camp committee was


like six months starting from the month of jan to june that I had some commitments and also school and everything was starting to pick up the pace and, the amount of time that I had outside of school to revise, decrease while at the same time like the amount of school work that I had increased and from actually that year was the year where everything counted towards my graduation score so I


felt very helpless in a sense because, like, I knew that I was doing quite badly, or at least to my I was not really meeting like what I actually normally would meet and, no matter how hard technically I studied


I couldn't really pull it up for some reason that year it wasn't, very well like for me it it was not just it was just not going very well and emotionally I think during that time, it wasn't very good for me either lah ya because of everything that went on so you kind of overflowed from the camp that committee thing and also plus my studies and


at that point in time I felt a bit helpless but, technically it doesn't really, fit that category so this only something that comes close to it ya


for me right now, I cannot really remember anything that, I would like to forget or anything that comes to my mind, maybe it's because, it's not that I don't I'm definitely for sure that someone has said hurtful words but maybe I already forgotten it ya so I do not really have a clue about this ya


alright so, what do you often worry about what I worry about, most of the time would be


why am I going to do in the future because right now I'm in a period of time where I'm transitioning from like, JC then I have to go army lah but, into uni and tertiary education and I'm not very sure like


what I am going to do but it's gonna be the year end and I need to kind of make, like a decision and start to apply yes I do have the two years in army to apply for like uni course but, everybody knows at least in my school, like it is better to be able to apply for uni now during JC because there's like college counsellors and everything and like there is that support for you and you still do have to get recommendation letters now 'cause it will be weird to do so when you are in army


ya so, that's what I that I'm more worried about right now ya


part two positive experiences


alright uh, for me one of the best birthday present, would be, uh when I was younger, I think like, in sec two or sec three, uh my aunt gave me like this


this might seem a bit weird but it's a silver proof coin so what it is it's basically like it was this, australian ship silver, proof coin which was coloured, uh from the perth mint which was quite cool I found because uh it was


unusual and personally, I like to collect this kind of stuff, uh once in a while I do collect it like this kind of coins uh silver bullion or like silver proof coin and I thought it was quite cool ah because it was something that like it was quite unusual and quite rare uh and it was the first time I was receiving this kind of thing


ya so that was one of the like best birthday present I ever got ya


, my biggest blessing in disguise would be, I think, from the top of my head , going and following my entire family to china when I was like P three to P four their that age so like


for one and a half years I think why it was a blessing in disguise, it is because like, open my eyes to a lot of like to a whole different culture and I study in their local school and everything , and it was a whole different experience because I had to learn like a whole new language and also understand and be taught in chinese instead of english and although like I technically like missed one and a half years of formal education in singapore


uh, I my parents still caught me up lah with the syllabus because they are MOE trained teachers so in a sense I got the best of both worlds like I when I came back I still did well from P five and P six and managed to like go into a decent school uh


and like what, I experienced in like china was, actually it was quite relaxing lah like I only went to school for one sem then like the next half or one year I didn't really have any formal schooling in that country but like it really


showed me a different perspective of things like things you cannot see in singapore like uh how things operate over there where there is a technically where I was that part of china, it uh there was a lower like


lower than the average singaporean like socioeconomic status but it was also like a very, like, homely kind of feel in a sense like over there ya so, that was one of the blessing in disguise


actually I think I'm also the same as you whatever is in the fridge whatever that can be readily cooked like it's comfort food for me like in general food will cheer me up uh especially at night like there's nothing to do or like you just need something to munch on I think it just cheers you up