Saturday, September 14, 2013

Recession Heroes Ep 5 - Resilience during tough times

This episode made me very inspired. I really admire the person who was featured in this story. At an old age of 59, he still doesn't give up. He worked for a bank for 16 years and was retrenched because the bank was not doing well. Wanted to find a similar job but other banks did not want to hire him because of his age and his expected salary was too high. The companies would rather hire someone younger who can except lower pay. This made me think that one day i would become old also and i may face this problem too. It is important to plan for financial freedom so that we'll not be burdened at an older age.


He had a lot of loans to pay. Car loans, housing loans became a burden to him. Before that, his salary was high and he could afford all these. I think this is a lesson we can learn. We may be able to have high standards of living now and can spend more but if you're retrenched, the expenses will soon chock up your life. You will need to adjust accordingly when crisis strikes. 

The thing i admire about this person is he continued to go out and find a job. Went to a career fair and he signed up for courses that enable him to switch industry so that his choices will be more. He took up a job as an operations manager to manage ATM machines at only 30% of his previous salary. When the company needed people for Auxiliary Police Officers (APO), his company sent him for Auxiliary Police Officer training for 2 months. The training was similar to a police officer training and most of them are young people. He was already 59 years old at that time. 

Now, he has got a better job with higher salary but he still goes back to his former company to work part time as an APO just because he wants to help. This is really an admirable spirit. Always learning and still hard working at his old age.


Watch this episode on xinmsn here.  

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8 comments:

  1. One Good Reason why it is still better to finish paying our housing loan before 60 or earlier. One less to worry.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Uncle CW,

      That is true. However, I don't know how many young people can afford to pay off the loans early as most are taking 30 year loans due to the high housing prices.

      Delete
    2. Hi Uncle CW,

      The buyers play a part too. People keep buying now fearing that it will get more expensive. Even my relatives think that way. Don't buy now = no chance later. This is the mentality of young people now.

      Delete
  2. Hi,

    This is indeed an inspiration for us. Thanks for sharing.

    A timely reminder to manage our finance prudently when we are still employed. We need to be adaptable during time for crisis.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Solace,

      I was watching the episode and I'm really touched by the story. Halfway through his sharing, he actually broke down in tears. Must have been tough going through the periods of financial burdens.

      Times are different now. We need to manage our finances and make sure we're prepared for any crisis. Retrenchment is very common in Singapore now. I already have a number of friends who went through that. Of course it doesn't affect young people as much as we can find another job easily. But for older people with family and bills to pay, its an entirely different case.

      Delete
    2. Hi Uncle CW,

      Really good article. Thanks for sharing :)

      We should be reminded that even if we're earning a lot, we should not be over leveraged on debt. It can just collapse on us any time.

      A report was released by MAS showing that 10% of Singaporeans may have over leveraged on debts. This seems like a worrying trend now. MAS did step in to minimize the damages but it may have been too late for the 10%.

      Delete