The Class Divide In Singapore - Does Having More Money Makes Us More High Class?

Many of us would have seen a video by Channel news Asia about a few students from different backgrounds voicing out their views on class divide issues in Singapore. This video went viral and was debated widely even by Ministers.

The class divide - Education tracks & Money

Besides the different education tracks which cause class divides (eg express, normal academic, normal technical stream), another apparent issue which emerged out is the class divide regarding money. I was surprised that kids as young as 10 years old are comparing who has the more expensive school bags and pencil boxes with their classmates.

You can watch a snippet of the video below:

"If you've the most expensive things, you're the most popular also". This was commented by a young primary school girl. The class difference only gets worse and worse as students are divided into different streams in secondary school and it even continues in adult working life. 

Our society has gotten use to this kind of segregating people in life. In schools, the better students are put into special or express streams while the weaker ones are put into normal academic and normal technical streams. This makes the students who are in the normal streams feel less inferior to their peers in the express and special stream while the express stream people tend to look down on the normal stream people too. 

Then, as we proceed to the higher education level, there are some people who get into Junior college,  some into Polytechnic and some to the Institute of Technical Education (ITE). Thereafter, some proceed to local university such as NUS, NTU and some choose to go private universities. The difference is again apparent as even employers sees the degrees differently. 

It doesn't stop here. In the workplace, we continue to segregate people into different class through the management associate program where it is a fast track program for employees to advance their career faster. People in this program tend to be treated differently at workplace and also get promotion up to twice as fast as another employee who is not in this program. The starting salary and future salary adjustments may be different too. 

The above are just some of the examples of how we as a society contribute to class divide unknowingly. While in this society nothing is fair, those who make misinformed choices in life at an early stage will inevitably lag behind in life.

How would you describe the expectations your parents have of you?

In the video, it is apparent that those who end up in the normal stream have thoughts which are different from the students in the express or even integrated program. Parents of these students have different expectations of them too which is quite distinctive. 

For students of integrated program, their parents expect them to pursue education such as law. They also expect them to get at least an A for their exams. 

For students in the normal stream, when asked what's their parents expectation of them, they say they just expect them to just pass. They don't expect very high grades

Does Having More Money Makes Us More High Class? 

In the same full 48 mins video about class divide, it goes on to discuss on how higher class people look down on people such as security guards, cleaners and so on. A condominium security guard who was interviewed said he has been shouted at by residents and called names such as stupid security guard. This shows the great disrespect these people have and think they are high class living in a luxurious condominium. 

You can watch the full video here. 

Ultimately, I always believe that having more money does not make us a bad person but it amplifies whatever character we have no matter if we are poor or rich. Having more money does make us feel better about ourselves especially when our income power increases. But, we should always remember not to look down or show disrespect for those who are worse off in life. At the end of life, we are actually only just a normal human being no matter which social class we belong to. 

Some of us may have made misinformed choices when we were younger and regretted the choices we made back then such as not studying harder and in the end didn't manage to get a good job to earn higher income. In any case, there are people who still manage to become successful even though they came from a lower class background. With some knowledge of financial planning, it helps along the way to become more financially secure for our lives. 

Feel free to join in an AMA session which I have on DBS NAV website. Just ask any questions you have at this link on any issues or topics, no restriction. You can help answer some questions too in the community. 

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A Good Break Before My New Work Starts And A Random AMA session

Time flies... just like that, its my last day of work in my second job of my career. I stayed in my first company for 6 years and move on to my current role for close to 2 years before moving to another new role again. This is a job I am quite looking forward to as it will be meaningful from what I heard during my interview.

However, I also expect it to be stressful as this is a newly set up department and I'm the first one to be hired for this new role. I will have to squeeze my brain to come up with new ideas for improvements as well as handle mega projects in a booming healthcare industry. This is a totally new industry to me also.

Nevertheless, I took the courage to take up the offer to challenge myself as well as build up my personal portfolio for better career advancement. A nice salary jump was also part of the reason why I took up the offer. I hope this will be a good place to work in when I officially start my new job next week.

I took the opportunity to take a good 1 week break before I start my new job. I went on a 3 day 2 night cruise just last weekend on Dream cruise and it was really great. Together with my family, we stayed in the Palace Deluxe Suite to fully experience what the cruise has to offer. We were treated like VIPs throughout the weekend.

I will be writing a more detailed post on this cruise expeirence. Here's a little teaser on the room we stayed in and the private swimming pool area:

Living room of the Palace Deluxe Suite with Balcony

Bedroom with window overlooking the sea

Private swimming pool for Suites guests only

Do check out my next post for a more detailed write up on this travelogue. 

I'll also be doing a live ask me anything (AMA) session on Tue, 11 September 2018 from 7pm to 9pm on the Seedly page. I am not paid anything for this so its out of my own accord that I'll be answering questions from anyone out there in the community. Feel free to join in and ask questions here. There are already more than 15 questions being asked. You can join in to answer some of the questions too to help one another out in better financial planning. 

See you at the AMA page soon!

3 Tax Reliefs You May Not Know Of To Reduce Your Tax In 2018

The tax filing season is here again. All of us would have received an SMS from IRAS that we need to fill our tax by 15 April for paper filing and 18 April for e-filing. As our income goes up, tax can be quite a significant amount in the thousands. Just to give an example, a person whose take home pay is $3500 plus 3 months of bonus will end up paying $1425 in tax. We can actually reduce our tax by knowing the different reliefs which we may be eligible for. Let's explore the different reliefs in this article. You may not even know some of these reliefs existed.

Course Fees Relief

Those who have studied courses or part time diploma/university courses while working, you are actually able to claim course fee relief on the course fees you paid. The course fees claimable is the actual course fees incurred by yourself up to a maximum of $5500 each year regardless of the number of courses, seminars or conferences you have attended. You can claim only the portion of course fees which you paid. Any amount paid or reimbursed by your employer or any other organisation cannot be claimed.

There are a few criteria to meet for the course fees relief according to the IRAS website:

1. Any course, seminar or conference you attended in 2017 leading to an approved academic, professional or vocation qualification
2. Any course, seminar or conference you attended in 2017 that is relevant to your current employment, trade, business, profession or vocation; or
3. Any course, seminar or conference that you completed between 1 Jan 2015 to 31 Dec 2016 which is relevant to your new employment, trade, business, profession or vocation in 2017

I have personally claimed this relief for my part time university studies before so I can ascertain that this is claimable. University course fees are definitely more than $5500 so just input this maximum amount for your claim. 

There are some courses which are not eligible for the relief. They are: 

1. Courses, seminars or conferences for recreational or leisure purposes;
2. Courses, seminars and conferences for general skills or knowledge (e.g. Internet surfing course, social media skills, basic website building skills and Microsoft Office skills); and
3. Courses, seminars and conferences to acquire skills or knowledge for a hobby instead of your profession (e.g. photography, language and sports courses).
4. Polytechnic/University courses if graduates have never exercised any employment or carried on any trade, profession or vocation previously.

For more info on this course fee relief, you can refer to IRAS guide here

CPF Cash Top-up Relief

A popular tax relief is the CPF Cash top up relief. If you top up your own CPF Special Account or CPF retirement account in CASH, you are eligible for up to $7000 tax relief per year. An additional $7000 tax relief is applicable if you also top up your family member's CPF special/retirement account.

Examples of family members are:

• Parents or Parents-in-law;
• Grandparents or Grandparents-in-law;
• Spouse; and/or
• Siblings.

For example, if John tops up $7000 cash to his CPF special/retirement account and also tops up another $7000 cash to his spouse or parents CPF special/retirement account, he will get a total of $14000 tax rebate for the year.

A point to take note is there are income threshold for top up of CPF for spouse/siblings. To claim tax relief for cash top-ups for your spouse or siblings, the spouse or siblings must not have an annual income exceeding $4,000 in the year preceding the year of top-up. Annual income includes taxable income (e.g. trade, employment and rental), tax exempt income (e.g. bank interest, dividends and pension) and foreign-sourced income regardless of whether it has been remitted to Singapore. This income threshold does not apply to parents, grandparents, handicapped* spouse or handicapped* siblings.

There are other limits which can be quite confusing to explain in this blog post. You can refer to IRAS page here for the detailed information. Anyway, you do not need to manually claim for this tax relief. The relief is granted automatically to those who are eligible based on records sent to IRAS by the CPF Board.


Parent Relief / Handicapped Parent Relief

If any of your parent is not working and is 55 years old and above in 2017 or is handicapped, you can claim tax relief also. If your parent is totally not working and does not have any form of income, you can claim $9000 per parent if they stay with you. If they do not stay with you, you can still claim this relief but it will be $5500. Do note that if they do not stay with you, you must have incurred $2,000 or more in supporting him/her in that year to be eligible for the relief.

The family members whom you can claim for this relief includes:

• Parents
• Grandparents
• Parents-in-law
• Grandparents-in-law

For handicapped parent, you can claim $14000 per dependant if he/she stays with you and $10000 if does not stay with you. You can also share this tax relief with your siblings or other family members for all the above relief. 

You can click here for more information on the Parent Relief / Handicapped Parent Relief. 

There you go, 3 tax reliefs which you may be able to claim if you meet any of the above criteria. There are also other tax relief such as NSmen relief and reliefs for donations made in 2017 but all these will be automatically calculated for us. You should see the relief under your tax assessment form. Its good to file our tax early and get it over and done with.

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9 Highlights of the Singapore Budget 2018 Which Is Applicable to Most of Us

The budget was just announced on Monday at 3:30pm. This year, it is more focused on the future where the finance minister makes sure that Singapore will have enough revenue going forward. This means its not so good news for majority of the people but some things have to be done in order to be sustainable.

However, Singapore also registered the best surplus year in 2017 of almost $10 Billion. As such, there will be a sweet surprise for all Singaporeans. Read on to find out more

Here are 9 highlights of the 2018 budget which may be applicable to individuals like you and me:

1. More support for education

The annual Edusave contributions provided by the Government will be increased, from S$200 to S$230 for each primary school student, and from S$240 to S$290 for each secondary school student. This will take effect from January 2019. The Government will also update the income eligibility criteria for the Edusave Merit Bursary and the Independent School Bursary.

Currently, the income eligibility criteria for the Edusave Merit Bursary is S$6,000 in gross monthly household income, or S$1,500 in gross monthly household per capita income. From this year, this will be increased to S$6,900 and S$1,725 respectively.

Another interesting news that concern financial education is that a new financial education curriculum will be piloted at polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education to give youth a good foundation in financial literacy.



2. Enhanced Proximity Housing Grant

The proximity housing grant will be increased from $20,000 to $30,000 for families buying resale HDB flats to live together with their parents. The keyword is live together. This will also extend to singles who will get $15,000.

For those buying resale flats to live near their parents or children, the PHG will still be $20,000. However, the live near criteria will be extended from within 2km currently to within 4km. Singles who buy a resale flat near their parents will also now receive a PHG of S$10,000.

The revised proximity condition of 4km will also apply to the Married Child Priority Scheme and Senior Priority Scheme for new flats, with effect from HDB’s May 2018 Build-To-Order (BTO) and Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) exercise.


3. Extension of S&CC rebate

For those who own a house, this is good news for you. The S&CC rebates will be as follow:

• 1 & 2 Room HDB flats : 3.5 Months rebate with $380 GST U-SAVE voucher
• 3 Room HDB flat : 2.5 Months with $340 GST U-SAVE voucher 
• 4 Room HDB flat : 2.5 Months with $300 GST U-SAVE voucher 
• 5 Room HDB flat : 2 Months with $260 GST U-SAVE voucher 
• Executive/Multi Generational HDB flat : 1.5 Months with $220 GST U-SAVE voucher 

The money is typically used to pay town council expenses like cleaners’ wages, pest control, as well as the maintenance and replacement of lifts.

4. Foreign domestic worker levy to rise

Now for the not so good news. For those who own a maid, be prepared to pay more levy going forward. The levy will be raised from S$265 to S$300 for the first worker and to S$450 for the second worker. This will take effect from Apr 1, 2019.

For those who are paying the concessionary FDW levy of $60, they will continue to pay the same amount. However,  the qualifying age for levy concession under the aged person scheme will be increased from 65 to 67. All households with persons aged 65 and 66, which are enjoying or have enjoyed the levy concession under the aged person scheme before Apr 1, 2019 will continue to pay the monthly levy rate of S$60.

5. Tax deductions for donations

Another good news for those who have been making regular donations or want to make more donations. A 250-per-cent tax deduction for donations to charities that are Institutions of a Public Character will be extended for three more years, until 2021. 

6. GST hikes (in the future)

The most awaited news on whether the GST will increase is confirmed. The Government will raise GST by 2 percentage points to 9 per cent sometime from 2021 to 2025. Good news is this is not going to happen now so we still have time to prepare for it. 

This is to support recurrent healthcare, security and social spending so that every generation pays its share. I guess this is necessary for a sustainable future even though most of us would not want this to happen. Better get all the big expenditure items cleared off before the hikes begin. 

7. Buyer's Stamp Duty for residential properties raised

Another shocking news for those who want to buy property. The buyers stamp duty will be raised from 3% to 4% but only for properties with a value of more than $1 Million. If you have already bought a property valued at 1 Million and above and got your OTP on or before 19 February 2018, be sure to exercise your OTP on or before 12 March 2018 to continue enjoying the 3% stamp duty. 

8. Excise duty to be raise for tobacco products 

Singapore will increase excise duty on all tobacco products by 10% with effect from today. Not too good news for smokers out there.

9. Hongbao for Singaporeans: SG Bonus

Finally, the best news for this Chinese New Year. All Singaporeans aged 21 and above will get a HongBao of $100-$300 depending on our income. Here are the details:

• $300 for those with an annual income of S$28,000 or below
• $200 for those with an annual income of S$28,001-S$100,000
• $100 for those with an annual income in excess of $100,000

Conclusion

Overall, this budget is more like planning for the future to me. I expected more support for healthcare needs in Singapore but it wasn't really mentioned in this year's budget. Long term healthcare cost such as nursing home, home nursing and those support for persons with family members who have disabilities at home are not mentioned. The only announced measure is where key services for seniors will be consolidated under one ministry for better quality delivery. I'm not sure how this will have a positive impact for the seniors or their family members who need help out there. 

Nevertheless, I believe it is important to plan ahead for the future which the government is doing so clearly for this year's budget. I would think Singapore really need to find more sources of income instead of just relying on raising taxes. There's a lot of work to do to transform industries, keep up with technological trends and the digital age disruptions and try to generate new sources of income for the country. We certainly hope that the future will be as bright as it has been for Singapore. 

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Why Its Difficult To Have Happiness In A World Of Consumerism?

I have to admit, the title of this blog post sounds a little too depressing isn't it? Consumerism again, isn't it telling me not to spend too much money to have happiness? Why is life so hard? The fact is, life isn't hard if we know the cycle that makes us unhappy. As humans, ultimately what we do in life is to achieve happiness but somehow, we may unknowingly create unhappiness in our lives instead. Have you wondered why some people are happier than others? Let me show you how does this happen.

Happiness can be explained in psychology. The Mazlow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a popular pyramid diagram which explains the different levels of needs of a human being. The higher we go up the pyramid, the more our needs are met which makes us happy. Here's what the pyramid looks like:

There are five levels:

1. Physiological
2. Safety
3. Love/Belonging
4. Esteem
5. Self-Actualization

Cut the long story short, my point in showing you this pyramid is because unknowingly, humans are stuck at only level 2 of the pyramid which is safety. It is especially true in a world of consumerism where money doesn't seem to be enough always. In fact, people in poorer countries who have the basic food and shelter are happier than people in rich countries. 

The first 2 levels of the pyramid are easy to understand. In the first level, food, shelter, water, sleep are our basic needs. Without these, we will be struggling to survive in life. As humans progress, we get into the second level which is safety. Here, we have a job and we have additional money to do the things we like. The key here is safety where we don't have to worry much about life's basic needs. We then move on to having a family and friendships, achieving more in life in our careers, getting respect from others which boosts our self esteem then to the highest level of self actualisation where we could focus on personal growth. 

Why are we always unhappy?

The world supports us in achieving happiness. In rich cities, everything is quite convenient. We don't just have basic food but exotic dining experiences with different theme restaurants and fine dining food. We have safety in the form of good working environments where we can get a job easily. We have the opportunity to excel and achieve something in our lives so we can be proud of and gain the respect of others. All seems well doesn't it?

However, people in rich cities are still unhappy. They rarely get pass the third level of the pyramid. The pyramid somehow seems stuck at the second level which cause us lots of unhappiness. How could this happen?

There are a few things in life that cause us to be always stuck at the second level of the pyramid. Until we realise how these things in life have been affecting us, we will not be able to proceed up the pyramid to get the happiness we want. So what are these things?

1. Going for too much convenience

Let's face the reality, all of us are in debt or will be in debt one day. Some of us get into more debt because of consumerism. Let me give you an example. Suppose we just started working and received our first paycheck. This adds happiness in our lives as we now have food and also safety in terms of a job and a paycheck. Life is good and one day, we decided its time to buy a house. We look at the houses available and want a house more than just for a shelter over our heads. Maybe we want a house where there are facilities and a security guard. This gives us more security and happiness right? Then, we feel that taking the public transport is too troublesome so we buy a car. A car boost our self esteem and even staying in a condominium gains more respect from others. Friends and family members see that we are successful and we get more happiness.

Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jbhthescots/5227664185

The story above all goes well until the pyramid gets chip off at the safety portion. Yes we have self esteem and love/belonging but there comes a problem when we worry about not being able to pay the bills and not being able to provide the basic food on the table because of the high amounts of debt we have to pay every month for the house and car. This instantly drops us back to the bottom of the pyramid and we stay unhappy until situation improves. 

2. Making our life more complicated

Basic food and safety is what makes us happy and progress up the pyramid but we stay stuck and do not progress. We make our life more complicated by going for the latest gadgets and get sucked into the world of consumerism where we feel insecure and guilty after making an impulse spending. This takes away the safety we have and makes us stay unhappy until we get out of it.

No matter how much we earn or how we think how stable our job is, we will always feel the insecurity with too much spending. Spending within our means is ok but overspending quickly becomes a habit which makes our life very complicated. 

Spending Money and Still Be Happy

Some people spend money and feel unhappy, but there are also people who spend money and still are happy. Money can buy happiness but don't allow money to take unhappiness away from you. The key is to spend the money which you have and not the money which you don't have. I have been spending more money and I feel absolutely happy as I know my finances are still in place. I don't have to feel insecure because I spend some money which I don't have. 

Happy or Not comes from our thoughts

On a parting note, our thoughts actually create happiness or unhappiness in our lives. It takes courage to think positive in difficult times. When we see people around us living a good life getting promotions and progressing well in life, we may feel sad at our own lives which has not progressed much. A happy person will take this as a motivation to say I will work harder to progress more and take it as a motivation to improve but at the same time grateful for what he has now. A depressed person will feel lousy about himself and think its impossible for him to have a better life. Same situation but different thoughts lead to different emotions. 

I continue to spend more and live my life to the fullest while progressing in life. Ultimately, our goal is to achieve happiness in our lives so every decision we make (financial or not) should lead to happiness not in the short term but in the long term. Are you making happy long term decisions today?

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Do You Like Your Life? - Appreciate What You Have

Just a few days ago, I saw a comic series on 9gag which to me was surprisingly quite meaningful. 9gag is known for its just for laughs material and some don't really make sense. But this particular comic they shared is certainly not just for laughs. It's titled: "Appreciate what you have".

In life, a lot of people are unhappy. We're unhappy we have to work, we're unhappy we have not enough money, we're unhappy that we can't be better than others. Let me bring you back to the days when you were still a student and let's see what made people unhappy and unappreciative of what they have.

When you're just a student, you probably don't have much material possessions and at that time you hope you'll be able to grow up faster and start earning your own money so you can buy the stuff you like. You may envy others who come from richer families and when your friend shows you the things their parents bought for them, you also wanted it and go back home to try and ask your parents to buy for you.

After you graduate from school and start working, you were initially excited about working and earning your first pay check. However, as time goes by, you start to dread work and the money doesn't really motivate you anymore. You wake up unhappy going to work every single day not knowing that there are other people out there who want to work but don't have a job.

You go to work taking the public transport and one day you missed the bus and will be late for work soon. You get frustrated and thought how good if you had a small car which you can drive around.

Soon, you earn enough money to afford a small second hand car but the air con breaks down a lot of times and its not as comfortable as it seems. You look at the car beside you and thought how good if you can afford a new car.

After a few years, you bought your own new car and am happy with it. However, one day, you see another bigger car beside you and thought how good if you can own a bigger car which is more comfortable. Your car seems to be a little small and squeezy.

Indeed after another few years you manage to buy a bigger car. You feel comfortable and happy. However, one day, you see a very nice car just beside you. You thought cars are not just meant to be comfortable. Its meant to be nice too so it shows your status. Your car seems to be a little dull and boring.

And really, after a few years, you bought that nice, beautiful, comfortable car of your dreams. Then, when you think you won't want more than that again, you got stuck in the same traffic jam and thought how good it is if you can own a helicopter.

Helicopter? How is it possible that someone will be not satisfied to the extent he wants a helicopter for transport. Well, it has happened all over the world before. There are people who own their own helicopters and private jets to travel.

And now, here's the comic from 9GAG. Do you appreciate what you have in life? Being grateful can certainly make our lives happier. Remember while we are enjoying the small pleasures of life, there are other people who are less fortunate than us.

Photo Credit: 9GAG

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Never Be Complacent - Lee Kuan Yew in the 1970s

This whole week, Singapore seem to come to a stand still as the nation mourns on the passing of our first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew. The scenes were touching, the support unwavering and the unity is strong. Everyone came or is still coming to express their gratitude in one way or another.

How could one man's death have such a huge impact on a country and even impacted the international realm as well. Former U.S president, Bill Clinton, will be coming with a few other US officials to attend Mr Lee Kuan Yew's funeral service on Sunday. Why did so many people respect him so much?

Photo Credit: Remembering Lee Kuan Yew Facebook Page

This whole week, most of the usual TV programs on all Singapore's media channels were cancelled. Instead, they broadcast documentaries of Singapore's history and how Mr Lee Kuan Yew brought Singapore to this current stage. I've been watching some of these programmes and just a few hours ago, there were a broadcast on Mr Lee Kuan Yew's various speeches from the 1950s all the way to the 1980s. From those speeches, I could really sense his heart for Singapore and his concern for the people of Singapore.

So many people have came to queue up just to pay their last respects to him. People are queuing up for up to 10 hours just to personally pay their respects to him. This is really amazing.

Photo Credit: The Straits times

His Worry For Singapore and it's People

A few issues were brought up in his speeches. Low birth rates and low marriage rates were among the problems that had to be resolved. In 1975, 10 years after independence, there was also complacency seen in the people of Singapore. Life was better, spending habits have changed where people are spending more money. He was worried that parents would pamper their kids too much and spoil them in the process. In 1975, he urged the people not to be complacent and not pamper their kids too much just because they could afford it.

Every year from 1975 onwards, he keep rallying the people of Singapore together and reminded them how far they had come. He keep asking the people of Singapore not to take things for granted as they could lose all these in a very short time. In the late 1970s, he said the current generation have not experienced an economic crisis before but they will experience it soon in the 1980s. He warned and prepared the people for it. I guessed such reminders were taken to heart by Singaporeans back then as Singapore grew even stronger after the crisis.


The Most Touching Speech in 1980

The most touching speech I saw was a PAP rally in 1980. This was the scene which most of us would be familiar with where Mr Lee Kuan Yew said

"This is not a game of cards, this is your life and mine. I've spent a whole life building this and as long as I'm in charged, nobody's going to knock it down". 

What I did not know was what he spoke before this familiar scene. I was watching the whole 20 mins rally and realised he was speaking in the rain.

The rain got heavier and heavier and he was wiping the rain water off his face with his hands as he was speaking. His shirt was all wet. The people who were listening to him speaking still stayed on listening to him in the rain. The other PAP members sitting behind him were in the rain too without umbrellas. Their shirts were also wet and throughout the whole speech, I could see those PAP people behind him also wiping the rain water off their face and some took off their glasses to get rid of the rain water. This was the kind of government which Lee Kuan Yew led and the kind of people we had who could endure and stay united together.

Below is the video of the whole speech. The particular scene is towards the end of the video:

A Frugal Man with a Simple Life

Apart from the firmness and ruling with a iron fist which we know, Mr Lee Kuan Yew was actually just another simple man with a simple life.

I read on the New Paper yesterday that his frugality was well known in Tanjong Pagar where he served the residents for the last few decades.

I quote: "He maximised all resources available and there was never any wastage. Where there was no need for resources, he would never put any there." 

Mr Lee also lived in a modest home. His house is still filled with olden days items dated back to the 1970s and the house remains largely unchanged as compared to the multi-million dollar, multi-storey bungalows that sprang up around it.

You see, a man with great stature and still lives humbly shows that he doesn't need to prove anything. He has got no need or desire to show off what he has achieved. Yet, he has gained the respect of many by staying humble and passionate for a good cause.


The Love Of His Life

As we all know by now, Mr Lee Kuan Yew loved his wife a lot. The death of his wife a few years ago was devastating for him. When his wife was bed ridden but still conscious, he would read to the love of his life every single day. Defence Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen said when he was travelling overseas with Mr Lee Kuan Yew for official duties, he still never fail to call back to his home and read to his wife everyday.

Below shows a very touching video of the soft truth of Mr Lee Kuan Yew:

What Can We Learn?

It is heartening to see so many people showing their gratitude to a man whom they may have never even met before. The once often negative landscape of the social media has transformed into a place where people show support and gratitude. I'm sure we are much happier when we think about how fortunate we are to live in a country of peace and prosperity instead of complaining and sinking down into negativity. 

After studying economics in university, I know a country's success or failure does not come by chance. It is the deliberate planning and policy implementations which made Singapore to where it is today. We should never be complacent and take all these for granted. The future of Singapore will depend on all Singaporeans, whether we are still united and stand together as one people and one nation. A divided nation can never survive long. 

The reason why we can live in harmony with each other is because an identity has been built painstakingly by our founding father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. We should never lose this Singapore identity and I'm glad that we are showing the whole world the strength of our unity at this current moment. May Singapore be an ever greater nation for many generations to come. 

Rest in peace, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. 

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Related Posts: 

1. Singapore Will Survive - ‪#‎ThankyouLKY‬

Financial Expedition (FINEX) 2015 - Learn Finance Through An Amazing Race

Finance is a boring subject to many people. Learning finance seems to be even tougher. But what if I told you today that finance can be learnt in a fun and simple way? I'm partnering Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Interactive investment club to promote a Financial Expedition event which is happening on 17 January 2015.

This is a good chance for all students to learn finance through games and also interact with other people from other Junior Colleges, Polytechnics and Universities. There are attractive prices to be won too. I heard the first price is an iPad Mini. You’ll also get an attractive goodie bag together with a nicely designed event T-shirt.

What is Financial Expedition (FINEX) 2015?

FINEX is a team-based financial expedition challenge for students from Junior Colleges, Polytechnics and Universities to gain financial literacy in an engaging and exciting way. 5 game stations will be set around the Central Business District (CBD) in Singapore and participants can access to simplified virtual marketplace designed by committees.

There are 5 games stations with 1 Finale station. They are really quite creative to come up with the games to inculcate financial literacy. 

1st Station: Shop Smart

2nd Station: Pandora Box

3rd Station: Minesweeper

4th Station: Triopoly

5th Station: Young Warren Buffet

Finale Station: Wolf of Wall Street

I'll not go into the details of the stations itself. You'll find out more about it when you join the event. The finale station is quite interesting where students will get to experience how the trading mechanism works in real life. Those of you who're thinking of trading in the markets, be sure not to miss this one out.  

What will you gain from FINEX 2015?

Not just Financial knowledge, FINEX emphasis on application of financial literacy in our life. Each game station will focus on one specific financial instrument, participants are able to learn the basic knowledge or mechanism of that particular financial instrument, and apply the knowledge gained in the exciting games.

You'll get to learn everything from personal finance to investment to trading. You don't have to have any prior financial knowledge. Just go there and learn while having fun.

Highlights of FINEX 2015

Interested in financial literacy, but have low financial knowledge? We have you covered. This is a great opportunity to kick-start your journey, as FINEX covers basic knowledge and application in real life.

This year, organizing committee initiated the virtual marketplace, where it simulates the trading platform. Not just bid ask price, a candlestick chart and economic news which is updated frequently will also be included. Participants can get a taste of a simplified trading platform.

This simulated marketplace will give you an experience on how the markets actually move.

Below are the details for the event:

Date: 17 January 2015 (Saturday)
Time: 9am – 3pm
Venue: Central Business District

For more info, visit their website: www.finex2015.com 

or Facebook page: www.facebook.com/finex2015

You can register for the event directly from their website. Form a team of 3 and play together with your friends. Meet like minded people from all the other schools along the way too. Register for the event today and enjoy yourselves!

Share it with your friends and get them to come along! 

*This is a sponsored post by NTU Interactive investment club FINEX 2015

The shift away from the university degree culture

If you've read the past few days news, you would have realised there are many articles on recommendations to give non graduates a better prospect to progress up their careers even without a degree. This was a cultural change in the way Singapore values its people. We know that in Singapore, if you have a diploma or lower, the career path is limited in a lot of industry. We also know that as non degree holders, the salary would be lesser for most people. This lead to a mindset in young Singaporeans to start a paper chase and study in University. In fact, look around you and you'll realise most of your friends have either got a degree or is studying for one either part time or full time.

The problem comes when many people just study for the sake of studying. There were some who found that they were not interested in the course that they were studying but graduated anyway. In the end, they had to work in a job which they do not like. Education is not about studying for the sake of getting the cert or to get good result. Education should be a place where people can learn and apply what they have learn to the real world. There are already a few recommendations put forward by the Applied Study in Polytechnics and ITE Review (ASPIRE) committee to balance work and study commitments. I guess more will be announced later.

In today's news, i see a lot of initiatives from the public service to take the lead in this cultural shift. It was reported that there will be better career prospects for non graduates in the public service. One of the changes is enable non graduates to be promoted to graduate posts faster and more graduates and non graduates schemes will be merged to allow both degree and non degree holders to progress in the same track. The Ministry of Education separately announced that outstanding non graduate teachers could get graduate pay. This would level the playing field and let people progress base on performance rather than a piece of paper. This creates an equal opportunity for everyone.

I hope the initiatives will indeed change the mindset of our society on education. Hopefully the private sector will follow suit after this. A degree doesn't mean you're better off and a diploma doesn't mean you're worse off. In the end, its how we apply the things we learn in school into the real world that's important. Even in investing its the same. You can be a finance graduate or know all the economics theory plus the financial calculations but still not able to invest on your own. You can be an accounting degree holder with honours but still not able to understand company annual reports to help you in your investment decisions. Education is useless without application. Let's see how it works out in the future.

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Is Singapore still the same SG as before?

I was feeling nostalgic listening to some old national day songs late into the night. This brings back memories of when i was still in school. Good old simple days in the 90s. Then i remembered its going to be Singapore's 49th birthday in about a month's time. As a Singapore based blog, i shall do my part in promoting the Singapore spirit. Haha

Here's the national day theme song in 1999:

Now 1999 where was I? Oh i remembered, i was in primary 5. Those days in school we had to sing along the national day songs on every national day celebration. There's also this thing called the Sing Singapore. I believe they still do that in school now. It has been 15 years since that time and the songs still bring back memories of times in school. There is also a strong national identity.

These days, I've been seeing a lot of unhappiness with the government and more and more protest at Hong Lim park. Maybe all these were there all along but just that i didn't notice until i grow up now? Or did it just happen recently? Have the Singapore spirit dwindled down over the years because we have developed so much? 

To me, no matter what, Singapore is still a home where my family and friends are. It is a place i'm born and grew up in. It is a place of good memories. Singapore has developed over the years and has changed a lot. It was not easy for us to be where we are and we should always remember how tough life was back then. Of course i didn't went through the tough period but at least heard from my parents and grandparents. 

The popular national day song: Home

A country is built on its people. It's all about relationships. I hope Singaporeans can stay as united as ever and this is our home. When we travel overseas, we will always have a sense of belonging to our home country and feel good when we come back. 

Remember the song Count on me Singapore? The lyrics are meaningful until now. 

"We have a vision for tomorrow, just believe, just believe

We have a goal for Singapore, we can achieve, we can achieve

You and me, we'll do our part, stand together, heart to heart

We're going to show the world what Singapore can be

We can achieve, we can achieve"

"There is something down the road that we can strive for

We are told no dream's too bold that we can't try for

There's a spirit in the air, it's a feeling we all share

We're going to build a better life, for you and me

We can achieve, we can achieve"

I was helping out at the Singapore youth Olympics games a few years ago while i was serving national service(NS). The Olympics games was a proud moment for Singapore to showcase itself to the world. I could feel the dedication of the organisers and the performers for the opening and closing ceremonies. It was a once in a lifetime experience. A lot of effort was put into the games itself. Let's be proud of our country and there will certainly be greater things ahead. We can all make a difference together.

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The revolutionary smart lighting system - Phillips Hue

I came across this smart lighting system from Phillips which i didn't know existed until now. The lighting system is so intelligent that you can control all the lights just from your smart phone itself. It can also be integrated with a speaker where the light will automatically adjust to suit the music that it's playing.

To me, this is something really amazing. I have to confess i do love technology stuffs. Everything that's related to smart, i'm always intrigued about it. Phillips Hue is actually just a normal light bulb that can fit into any of your house lights with a light bulb head. But, it has a chip that is integrated in it which can communicate wireless with your smart phone. You just have to download the app and you can control the light from your phone itself. The app can also be customised to turn off automatically when you leave the house and turn on automatically when you come back. It can also be customised to flash when an event happen such as when you receive a text message. The even more amazing thing is, i heard that the light bulb lifespan is actually 15 years! That's something really impressive.

I shall not say too much. Let the video below introduce you to this technology:



The next video is definitely going to blow your mind. The smart lighting system actually allows the light to change colour and move along with the music like disco. Watch how it works below:




I don't know if this is already available in Singapore? Have any of you seen it or heard of it before? One thing that came to my mind is if this revolutionise the lighting industry, those companies who sells expensive lighting equipment and systems will be in trouble one day. The new Phillips smart lighting system is so easy to use that i think even a small kid will know how to use it as compared to the complex lighting systems we have out there. Like how smart phones revolutionise the mobile phone industry which killed some big players including Nokia, Siemens and Blackberry, this may kill other players out there too.

Why humans tend to invest at the top of the market cycle? - The Asch experiment

Do you think that humans only like to buy things when its cheap? We know everyone likes discounts and many people rush to buy stuff when there's a sale. But did you know that humans like to buy things when its expensive also?

Look at the housing prices now. Many people say its so expensive but people are still buying. In fact, its when housing prices are most expensive that everyone rushes to buy. It's the same with the stock market. Only after stock prices have risen by a lot then many people rush in to buy.

Most people follow the crowd when buying. It is this conformity which results in us always buying stocks at a high and buying properties at a high. If you want to be successful in investing, then you have to buy at the low or at least a lower price than others. If you buy at the high, you are never going to do well in any investments.

I saw this funny video which shows how easily humans conform to their surrounding. This may well be the main reason why we follow the crowd and buy at the high. Watch it and have a good laugh. Just don't let it happen to you!

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When the rich meets the poor and the poor meets the rich: L'Escargot

Many times, most of us think that the poor and rich live in different dimensions of life. The rich seems to have their own group of peers and the poor have their own group of friends. The poor have their own impressions of the rich and think that becoming rich is too far a place for them.

What happens if the rich and the poor's path happen to cross? When they meet each other will they be able to interact well? There's this new Hong Kong drama on channel 8 which interestingly shows the life of 2 different people. One is poor while one is rich. When i watch it, it seems exactly like how two different dimensions of people behave. The drama is titled L'Escargot or in chinese: 缺宅男女. It is shown on Mediacorp channel 8 every Monday to Friday at 7pm.

The show starts off with a family of 9 living in a small apartment. As they are quite poor, they have to share rooms and even think of ways to save money. When they didn't have money to buy a shoe cabinet, they use plastic holders to hang it on the wall and paste each family member's name on each plastic holder. They were still joking that each person can only buy one pair of shoes and if you want to buy another pair, then you have to throw away the first one if not there will be not enough space to put. On the other hand when the rich wanted to buy a shoe cabinet, they didn't even have to think of the cost and just bought a huge shoe cabinet which can put hundreds of shoes.

There were many other cases of how the rich and poor live their lives differently. But when their paths crossed, interestingly they had the same principle of life. Both were responsible in what they do and never go for petty gains. The poor even though they are poor, still had backbone when it comes to money. They will never accept money which oppose to their principle of life. The poor thought that the rich go for petty gains that's why they became rich but in the end, they realised that the rich also did not cut cost just to earn more money. This was what the whole drama is driving at till now.

What happens later will be for us to see. How the drama acts out life in such a realistic way is really commendable. Watch it if you're interested.

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Top 10 concerns of young Singaporeans

1) Don't touch my Whatsapp

Facebook bought over WhatsApp? Don't really know what will happen. Maybe its a good thing. Want to charge me over the use of WhatsApp? Everyone stands up and object! In the end its a misunderstanding and may not happen at all. But you can see how powerful is social media. It spreads like wildfire in a few hours.

2) Wedding cost how much?

Many young Singaporeans know wedding costs a bomb. The wedding gowns, the wedding photos, the wedding rings and finally the most expensive wedding banquet. Then there's this article on a $120k wedding and also this news on a $900 wedding. Which would you choose? You'll think maybe I'll choose somewhere in the middle. Occasionally some blogger post on how much is an actual wedding and everyone flocks to see it. The post goes viral again.

3) Housing cost how much?

Buying a house is the next major decision after planning for a wedding. Many young Singaporeans complain how are they going to buy a HDB flat which is so expensive but in the end they still have to buy it when they meet the Mr or Mrs right. No matter how expensive also must buy is what you would say. Buy now and think later. Then there's a post on how much money you need to buy a HDB flat and many people are curious on it. Shocking to pay $1000+ every month for the next 25 years? Can you afford one? Maybe its time to start planning.

4) Travelling

Travelling is not so much of a concern but its something young people like a lot. Travelling out of this small country of Singapore is a must for most of us since in Singapore there's not much left to see or do when you've been living here for the past 20 years. Many of us share on our social media pages the top 10 exotic destinations, the top 20 undiscovered places you must go, the top 5 romantic places for couples etc etc. Then there's this Scoot promotion with super cheap tickets and many young people flock to buy it. Are you one of them?

5) Public transport breakdown

This is the one that affects us the most especially you take the train everyday and it breaks down 3 times in a week. Late for work nevermind coz bosses can understand. Late for exams that's it. There's nothing you can do.

Not to mention the slow moving and packed buses, the jam on PIE when you take a taxi and queuing for MRT trains. What we can do is to wait for the government to penalise and fine them more and hopefully things will change soon.

6) Slow mobile internet

These days hand phones are not used for calling only. They are used for facebooking, whatsapping, YouTube, surfing the net and many more functions. Can't send out your whatsapp message? Can't load a webpage? Streaming video very slow? Can't load news feeds on Facebook? It gets frustrating I know. But maybe we can or we should just slow down a bit,  put down our phones and talk to that friend beside you!

7) Is Singapore still Singapore?

Another most talked about topic. Your school, your workplace, the public transport, the road congestion, the high housing prices. Everything is changing. How we wish Singapore was like when we were younger right? What is the cause of all these? Overcrowding? Too many reasons indeed. But still, we know we are fortunate to live in a peaceful small island city of Singapore.

8) Once in a blue moon politics

Have you noticed during the 2011 election that most of your friends start to talk about politics? Why it seems that most people are supporting the opposition? 5 years ago your friends or you didn't even notice the elections but now you're talking about it. Its a sign that you're part of adulthood already where every vote counts. Vote wisely is what they would say.

9) Money Money Money

Where to earn more money? Should I start a business? How do I invest? Many young people think of all these but in the end most of them end up in their 9am-6pm job. We are so busy at working trying to excel and climb the corporate ladder that we forgot what we work for. Is it just for survival? Or is there a way to get out of this rat race? Many thought about it but many gave up along the way and live a mundane life. Most only live to regret when they are older.

10) Having fun

When we're young, its all about fun. Where to shop? Where is a nice place for dinner? Where to travel? What movie to watch? Then its back to work, work and work. Don't you find this life mundane and repetitive? Maybe its time to stop for awhile and think: "What am I living for?"

May you find your passion and pursue your dreams. Make a difference in someone's life today. It makes life more worth living for.

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