Hello and welcome to this episode. Life for modern-day women can be very tiring, and even more so as a career woman. We can be so caught up with what is happening around us, making sure everyone else is well looked after and cared for and then we lose ourselves in the process. When I was given this topic to talk about my dreams, I froze. I have been working for the past fifteen years in two very different industries and a mother for the past eleven years. I hardly have much breaks even in-between jobs because I would find my next career opportunity before I say goodbye to the previous job. Life has a way of getting to a woman, the work, the family, the children and then suddenly, like alot of women, I realised I forgot what my dreams were. Or did I have any dreams to begin with? It took a few days to recall what my dreams were. It hit me that I have probably kept my dreams in frozen storage all these while as life whizzes by.My first dream is to travel around the world. I remember I did not have my own passport until I was in university. My parents were making very low income that was hardly enough to cope with daily necessities and keeping three children in school. Although school fees were heavily subsidised by our Singapore Government, other school necessities such as stationary, school textbooks and assessment books were not. So traveling for leisure was never an option to us. I remember when I first told my mum I need to make a passport. It was for a school trip to look at a fishing village with my tutors and classmates to Kukup in Malaysia, fundamentally different from the city life I grew up in. My mum was shocked when she heard I need to make my passport and she jumped with her immediate response: are you going to elope with your boyfriend? In my heart I rolled my eyes from the front to back. It was really absurd. Now I was a rebellious kid back then, the more you don’t want me to do, the more I want to do it. I was determined to travel. So I made my own applications and got my passport. I dreamed of filling my passport pages with stamps from different customs around the world. And the traveling will not be only by flight. I dream of travelling by first class train on the Qinghai Tibel railway to a far-flung corner of the world or take all the scenic railway rides around Switzerland. I dream of traveling during the festive season, like going to the Christmas night market in Germany, experiencing the jostle, having food and drinks in the middle of winter. I dream of seeing sunrise over Ang Ko Wat on Easter morning to remind myself of rebirth and life is full of hope.You might ask me: but air travel is very common pre-Covid, flights are plentiful and why haven’t I done so? Because there was always something else that was prioritised over my traveling dreams that was always seen as frivolous. I remember during my internship year, most of my classmates traveled to Europe on a shoestring budget with whatever they made during internship. My three closest friends went to not one, not two but five European countries at one go to look at buildings, cities and worship architecture. I did not join them because five thousand dollars budget for five countries was out of my reach. It was easily five solid months of my income for my year out on internship. I wanted to save the money to fund my post-graduate study needs, like penknife, cardboard, glue, books, even my own food and drink. They say you only live once. But I was so afraid of having no money while back in school, I chose to live properly with food and drink and an occasional McDonald’s treat fo myself when back in school.But I do find comfort in visiting nearby destinations. I finally saw snow in YongPyong ski slope with my friends before I met my husband, my friends and I even went on a short trip to the de-militarised zone between North and South Korea. It was an eye-opening trip and I believe I still have much much more to see around the world.If you ask me now, do I ever regret not going to Europe during my internship year? Part of me says yes since that time other than that one study loan that was put on pause while I continue with my post graduate studies, I did not have other commitments like children, car and house mortgages. Till today I still haven’t made it to Europe to travel yet. The three years as the world battered with COVID-19, I looked back and I asked myself why haven’t I traveled more and further away. While the other part of me pulls me back to reality and reminds me of the need to afford daily expenses, savings for retirement, paying my loans, where to find the extra money to afford air tickets for three persons, accommodation for three persons, and many many other practical questions.Which is why today I am starting on my business journey with baby steps, to have a shot at making a passive income that can go towards helping to fuel the wanderlust dream in me since young. Which then brings me to another dream I had when I was young and that is to be my own boss.Back in architecture school, we were mostly doing individual school projects. On submission day it was really interesting to look at different project models and gigantic glossy printouts of presentations that were the brainchild of each and every one of us. It was evident how each of us had a different way of imagining how we would want to shape the world around us. And all of us have our own egos, I would hear classmates judging in low murmurs on the quality and the thoughts that were presented in each project. It was a highly stressful environment and there was no right or wrong how each of us interpreted the project assigned to us. Everyone had something to say and everyone thought they are right. Many of us, including myself, dreamed of having our own practice setup, of where we could have the biggest say in how we want things done and in our way. We all held on to our own beliefs and being young and fearless, we always thought we were right.Starting to work changed my mind about this dream of being my own boss. Architecture offices were commonly located in Central Business District of Singapore, commanding higher office rentals. There were the overheads to pay on top of the utilities and ever growing taxi claims for employees to go on site on a regular basis to check for construction progress and quality of work. On top of that all, the liability of being a licensed architect, which demands a duty of professional care to the clients but who always bargain for lower professional fees that include ALL services. Ironically, architects are expected to maintain a professional neutral stand to administer a contract. This fine balancing act just doesn’t make sense ultimately. And then I let that dream go.Until recently after a series of turmoil that happened in the workplace sobered me up. When you are working as an employee and being a sole breadwinner of the family, in reality you are one income away from poverty. As COVID-19 has shown, today you are in, tomorrow you may be out. Companies were forced to pivot rapidly, and many roles were designed out due to restructuring, merging, whatever fanciful terms they name the change. The workplace where we thought we know very well previously have evolved throughout the world and there is no certainty your job will remain. I think it is now timely for everyone to learn how to manage their money. It is also a time coming out from the pandemic and with a possibility of recession looming ahead as warned by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, I need to put into action what baby steps do I want to do to achieve my dream of FIRE, spelt as F.I.R.E. And FIRE which means Financial Independence and Retire Early. My dream has also evolved. It is no longer ...

Hello and welcome to this episode. Some of you in Singapore will recall the recent incident of a local busker that had gained much fame performing in open public space. He seemed to be on his way to stardom, gathering a big fan crowd and lots of hype on social media before his ex-girlfriend alleged his past wrong doings. This ignited sudden cancellations of his busking performances, fierce online debates and defences from his family and eventually his image took a hit.Past romances, whether long dating period or short whirlwind courting, do impact all of us in one way or another. Some of the luckier ones end up married and remain married, while some of us may have bad experiences, scarring us for life.I had my first date at seventeen. He was one year my senior and at that time I had not cared much about how I looked. I didn’t know how to dress up, I felt I was a plain jane and hardly stood out in appearances. My mother bought my clothes and it was usually what she thought looked nice, cheap and good for her budget as we were from low income family that time. My hairstyle was the same as Aaron Kwok’s, one of the four heavenly kings from Hong Kong pop music scene, centre parting, short to the ears level and shaved with a slope on the back of my neck. I wore big plastic rimmed glasses, hardly the concept of beauty by today’s standards.I was weak in my Physics during my upper secondary school days and wanted to look for help with my Physics homework. As finances were very tight in my family, getting private tuition was not an option. Somehow I ended up befriending one senior who was good in Physics and was willing to help me. And it was through this senior, I met my first ex-boyfriend, who was also good in Physics. Those were the days before technology of handphones and I remember we had long telephone chats late into the night using our house phone. Phone calls on Physics homework soon became dominated with other conversation topics and playful teasings.It wasn’t long before the seniors graduated and being in different schools limited our interactions to only long telephone conversations in the night to share about what happened in the day. Thankfully I finished my Secondary school education with grades that allowed me to enter the same junior college. With that we were reunited in the same school and he asked me to be his girlfriend. I was taken aback by the love interest from a guy, or even any guy, given my own self-image that time. So it was unsurprising that I agreed.With newfound freedom because I was now in junior college, hanging out together more often made me realised alot of differences we had. Fundamentally, my first ex-boyfriend had a different concept about money. His parents were not well-off, held low wage jobs and his dad was very old when they had children. But my boyfriend was blessed with a godfather that was quite well-off. His godfather owned a small store and the small business brought him a comfortable income. His godfather did not marry but had a sister with a condition that he had to take care of. Which was why his godfather had money to spare and dote on my first ex-boyfriend.My first ex-boyfriend would want the latest things in trend, be it Sega gaming machine or Nike Air basketball shoes that his favourite basketball player wore during the recent NBA games. All he had to do was ask for money from his godfather for his Nike shoes, his bag, his Sega gameset, whatever he wanted his godfather to sponsor and he was never disappointed him. To him money came so easily, he never bothered saving. He would just spend on things that made him happy. I remember I was envious but I never felt comfortable asking for money. Especially when I know my parents made very little and were often cash-strapped.In the first year I was dating my first ex-boyfriend, I often felt inadequate. He was a flirt, always comparing and measuring me against the other girls he knew around him. He would make remarks about how he cannot see my eyes because they are obstructed by my very thick glasses. He would comment about how his female ex-classmate’s breasts looked because she wore good maximiser bras, or I could look better if I applied makeup. I felt I was never pretty enough, never good enough in his eyes. He would cajole me into changing how I looked, because everything about me needed “improvement”. He would bring me to the optician so I could be prescribed contact lenses. He would say girls look better with long hair and psycho me to keep hair long. I remember a comment made by his best friend with whom sometimes we hang out together as a group of three. His best friend had told my ex-boyfriend if he doesn’t find me pretty, just breakup and find another new girlfriend that is prettier. The comment was very shocking to me because it made me feel like I was a commodity. Not happy, just change lah. There is no consideration for the bond in a relationship between two people, the feelings of the person who is the subject of the comment. If the old saying of one should be judged by the company he keeps, I should have seen that as another of the serious red flag earlier on in the relationship.The change in my appearance was so drastic, one of my classmates commented after comparing class photos we took in Junior College year 1 and year 2 that I had the biggest change in looks among the whole class. What was unknown to them was that instead of feeling great about the change or feeling comfortable with how I looked after compared to before, I had on the inside, felt so small and miserable in contrast. And all these changes needed money. For example a good bra from an international renowned brand would set me back for about $50. And more often than now, I would need to buy a number of bras because I will need to change and wash and wait it to dry. I would have to save and pinch from my pocket money to pay for some of these, while he would use the money given to him by his godfather to spend on me. Instead of feeling deserving, I felt dirty because I don’t like to use other people’s money. To me this was all so wrong because money was a very limited resource in my eyes and shouldn’t be wasted on frivolous things. When the time came after I completed my GCE A levels, I went to find work. With the money I made, I paid for food when we go out sometimes, so that I could even out what he’d spent on him.This is not to say change is bad. I have learnt change has to come from within. A person must be willing to seek change and embrace so that he or she can accept the change happily. A person must find the big why to move forward with change, so that the change is sustainable. Otherwise it could feel like a very hollow change, a change for the sake of changing but deep down it could make a person feel miserable and small. You could present change options to a person, but the person has to be willing to take ownership of the change before undergoing it.Many couples breakup when the male gets enlisted into the army under Singapore’s compulsory two-years long national service. I had kept myself busy with studies in the final year of Junior College and busied myself with work while waiting for university admission. As my first ex-boyfriend had made it to the Officer Cadet School, he was allowed to disrupt after one year of national service to continue with his undergraduate study, on the condition he would serve the remaining one year upon graduation. Essentially, we went to University together despite being one year apart in age. However, life on the University campus was drastically different from what previous school experience was like. I broke up with my first boyfriend less than six months into University. P...

Hello and welcome to this episode. As some of you listening in may be aware, Singapore is a small country and we have rapidly developed the country from a third-world country back in the 1960. Today we can count ourselves as a first-world country, with efficient public transport system, housing for both public and private sector. We have comparative medical infrastructure and healthcare system. Efforts are put in by our government to ensure core part of medical care is still accessible to the poor. Education is structured and nurture our young. I am often reminded how fortunate we are in Singapore to be taken care of, as I travel to some of the surrounding south-east asia region that are less developed.As I joined my first company after my post-graduate degree, I came to realise architecture is a sunset industry in Singapore. I was definitely late in the game, we already have pioneers in the architecture realm that have put forth master planning that shaped our country, put in-charge of key infrastructure works. These pioneers have worked hard and left the younger generations with works of monumental works. It was no surprise this is a cut-throat industry which is highly competitive among firms for the limited number of built projects in land-scarce Singapore. The hours were long, the clients were demanding and the authorities required projects to satisfy an ever-growing list of regulations. And I haven’t mentioned the legal liabilities this profession carries.As I work through the years in architecture as a consultant, there was always episodes where I experienced burn-out. The effect from working long hours snowballed as I took on bigger and more complex projects. Although I have alot to learn while I was working which kept me engaged, I was physically exhausted. It wasn’t something that could be erased if I took a couple of days off for mental wellness. But that short relief will soon be taken over by the punishing hours it wasn’t long before the exhaustion will set in again. Coupled with life experiences change, I got married, I had a new baby coming along, priorities shifted dramatically. It was no longer just about myself. It slowly dawned onto me I cannot throw my new family aside and bury myself face down into work, work and work only. What is work if it kept me away most of the time and when I come back everyone is already asleep and you don’t know what is happening to everyone in the family? Home is not a hotel like in my younger days when my mother used to complain that I only come home late into the night to bathe and sleep. Then in the day I disappear out of the door and not to be seen again until late. That repeat mode cannot be the way I choose to live my life with my family. I thought deep and hard, eventually convinced that there is the need to spend time to care for my family, to connect with them, to be there with my family.Besides, work is never smooth-sailing. We have our ups and downs in our work. There will be days we are seen doing our best delivering projects, handling everyone on the construction team with stellar outputs. On the other hand, there will be days of stress to deliver a project that is already way overdue, or we met with lots of challenges at work. These are days tensions rang high, when your client breathes down my neck constantly to meet certain deadlines. These deadlines were committed by them to their own bosses and they just stress me to deliver so that they could deliver. Coupled with limited time with stretched manpower resources that can help with the drawings, the submissions, the backend work and so on, sometimes I ask myself if my clients think I am seven-eleven. For those of you that may be unfamiliar, Seven-eleven is a chain convenience store that is open twenty-four hours a day, 7 days a week. So I feel like being treated as if my client thinks design options and proposals of materials or response to any Buyer’s request is like them walking into a convenience store where the things are off the shelf to grab and go. But it doesn’t work like that in the backend. I need to speak to my other consultants to ensure the change can be carried out, I need to get my Contractor to assess it to objectively say it can be done with no implications on their end. At times we need to challenge each other a little to stretch possibilities based on the conditions at that moment, based on work progress at that point in time. Little steps of fact-finding that take time. Because it goes against my work principles to agree to do everything at no additional cost to anyone. I learn that this would be unfair. If changes take rework, changes take compromise, I think it is only fair to talk about it openly to discuss and validate and convince and then a decision can be made whether to go ahead or not.This was one of the key reasons I eventually left my first job. Because I did not feel that my boss at that time was administering the contract fairly to our Contractors. If there is a change in design, they should be paid fairly for the re-work. Even when there was already another consultant who verified separately and confirmed it was a fair amount with substantiation, my ex-boss refused to endorse the necessary paperwork. I was sandwiched in-between and felt embarrassed by the lack of professionalism from my ex-boss. But other than preparing the necessary paperwork with drawings and speaking to clients who were also convinced to pay for the additional amount, I couldn’t do anything else to make my ex-boss budge and sign on the certification paperwork. Some clients simply gave the additional payment directly to the Contractors.  I learnt through this experience that if certain practices do not align with my professional values then it is time to move on. For a period of time I personally felt bad about not being able to process the paperwork needed to administer the additional payment due to the Contractors. But over time and reflecting on these incidences, I concluded it only makes my ex-boss look bad because this is ultimately his decision not to endorse on the paperworks and not because I did not diligently follow up on the paperwork. For you who is listening in this episode right now and you happen to face a similar episode, I hope my sharing will help you to reflect and choose the right way forward.Coincidentally, my company where I did my internship was expanding their teams and had reached out to me to join them again. I was happy to accept their offer and I was very grateful. It showed my hard work and efforts paid off while I was an intern that they remembered to ask me when there were job openings.Two years went by before I decided it was time to move on to another bigger architectural consultancy firm and work on even bigger projects. I had wanted to see more and I bade farewell and made another job switch.All in all, I spent ten years as an architectural consultant, moving from small, medium and large firms. Finally I decided I need to expand my horizon to see more things related to the construction industry and not get stuck as a consultant. I had to find a way to evolve and it was part of natural progression that as a lead consultant overseeing construction projects, I managed to land myself a job as a project manager for a developer. Unfortunately in the short two years I was working for the developer, their business focus changed and with the increasing prices of land and en-bloc sales prices coupled with the growing authorities requirements, my developer employer had to re-focus back to other parts of their businesses that are more lucrative.But I had learnt a thing or two during my two years as a project manager in a developer firm, during which I broadened my perspective and I was able to a...

Hello and welcome to this episode. In the episode where I shared about how I picked up different jobs to help me make some allowance to fund my education. Right after I graduated from my degree, there was no escaping work in an architecture firm. In order to be qualified to sit for the professional exam in the future, if I choose to be one, I would need to complete an internship of a minimum duration of ten months. Of course to prevent people from job-hopping, the criteria set out for us then was that we had to spend a minimum tenure of five months in a firm as an intern in order to count towards our internship experience. And only upon satisfying the ten-month long internship then we meet the requisition to take up postgraduate architecture course.There are so many architecture firms big and small in Singapore. Where do I start from? I was feeling a little lost. But I had a good friend who was always very in touch with the local architecture scene. So he shared that he would go for a medium size firm that was up and coming, showed me some photos featuring their work in a magazine. The rationale was simple: if the firm is too small, the projects may likely be limited in scale and variety. Resources will be tighter and we may not see very much beyond the handful of small projects. We may also be expected to do a lot of hands-on work ourselves than we can bargain for as interns. If the firm is too large, we may only get to see or work on a very small part of a huge project and end up missing the big picture. The medium size firm will have some sort of structure and organisation of a firm while still seeing some reasonable scale and variety of project types.For lack of a better idea, I joined my friend in writing to apply for work as an intern for the medium size firm he introduced. We brought our school projects portfolio to the interview. It was very different from my previous little meet-ups with recruiters for my holiday temporary jobs, where I never knew who I would be working for or what company I was hired to work in until I turned up for work that day. This was really my first time at a formal interview speaking directly to my potential new boss and going through what I could do by showing my school project works, sharing whether I preferred to do design work or perhaps oversee site construction progress and for them to consider if I could be a good fit for the company.To my surprise, the architecture firm accepted both my friend and myself. So we started work.Through this experience, I learned it is important to identify the type of company you want to work in or switch to. I asked myself if I wanted to learn to do things hands-on and be intimately familiar with the trades of the industry. Or do I want to start with a broader perspective of how things are put together. It is important to be clear and begin with the end in mind as one considers prospective employers to work for.Because of our different zone of genius, my friend and I were placed in two different teams. My friend has a greater flair for design and creating aesthetically appealing graphics and was thus placed in a team that had more design work, pitching for projects for resorts in far-flung destinations like Maldives, dreaming up how holiday-makers would experience cuisine, immerse themselves in different experiences. Even the thought of being given a chance to work on an overseas resort as an intern sounded so sexy, in destinations at that point in time of our life we can only dream of. On the other hand, I was more of a person who could collaborate with people to get work done. I was able to try to connect to different personalities and people from different background, so I was tasked with overseeing construction of houses at site, in-charge of keeping an eye to create a place where people can call home. I liked going to sites, solving details to make them work when things on a two-dimensional drawing simply cannot inform the tradesmen on how to make it work in reality. We would detail out through discussions and move things along. I had to figure out between all the drawings that do not tally what was the real intention of the look that the design wanted to achieve. Sometimes I may have to go back ot office to consult the original designer what was it they want to achieve in terms of look and I do my best to preserve and stay faithful to the design. There was a sense of accomplishment to see things on paper leap into a space that a person can walk through.On occasions, I do get pulled in to pull some overnighters to chip in for job pitches. It was tiring because in the daytime I would be out and about under the sun and walking around the site to look at work progress, to brainstorm and solve issues. Coming back in the later afternoon I had to do the paperworks for the contract administrative part of my work. So when job pitches come in, all hands on deck are busy and paperwork has to still carry on. This is when I would really get myself lost in the weeds and have to learn how to prioritise my work. It is not an easy skill because you need to discern for yourself and even today, I am still learning how to prioritise and focus on tasks that truly matter.There were also other moments where I had to carry out odd requests as an intern. One incident stood out. I recalled there was an important client coming by to the office for a meeting that morning. The Head of Department called me over and passed me some cash with the request to go to the Spinelli’s coffee joint at the next block to buy a ice-blended coffee and a bagel or muffin for this important client. It certainly didn’t go down too well for me who was receiving this request. I was very mindful I am a graduate, working in a professional firm but yet I was told to go and buy coffee and bagel. Wasn’t this something more appropriate for the administrative assistants? I thought I could better utilise my limited time in the office to finish some drawings on hand. At that point in time, I felt what it was meant by the intern being the lowest lifeform in the office. I wasn’t too happy with the request but the Head of Department did ask nicely, so I still did what I was requested to without wasting too much time and then returned to do my work.Besides, it was common knowledge that architecture firms make students and interns work late especially during crunch times. Students were asked to stay late or pulled overnighters to rush out job pitches, presentations and competition entries but paid peanuts only for the fixed office hours. Tensions rise when printers refuse to cooperate. We see bosses getting ready to leave for the airport to make it to the last boarding call while staff would be running to them with the last printouts. It was commonplace that extra after-office hours went unpaid and sleep was sacrificed. Students and interns were forced to accept such arrangements. We were always told it is common practice everywhere. At best, we could claim cab fare home, but only because there was no other public mode of transport home. When I recently read the local news of brain drain in this professional industry, it came as no surprise to me. Decade after decade there are market forces at work where organisations at the top tier of the food chain made the most amount of money. Only a handful of us remained in the industry still working as designers or architects. Many of us have moved on to pursue other alternative careers.I have learned it is important to pick up the skillset that comes along with the job. Learn these skills, train your mind to be willing to learn and pick up knowledge. These are not knowledge taught in textbooks. For example, how do you handle a person in the team that does not seem coope...

Hello and welcome to this episode. In my previous episode, I shared about how I experienced work for the first time during the six months break in-between college and waiting for my placement in the local university. It was a liberating experience to make your own money, to be able to afford to buy presents for loved ones, have a good meal at a fancier place as a student and no longer needed to ask for more money from my parents who were already stretched to their breaking points to make ends meet with their very low incomes.The other reality that made me continue to work during school holidays was the fact that architecture school was not cheap. Aside from the school fees which I borrowed using my father’s retirement funds through the Central Provident Fund, known as CPF which are like compulsory savings deducted from the salary, the rest was mostly up to me.I also discovered to my horror, design presentations are very common in architecture school and every single drawing material medium, every tool came with a hefty price tag. It was a time where there was no carousell app nor second hand market place for pre-loved tools. For example drawing blueprints on vellum paper required at least six pens each producing different thickness of lines. Even the paper itself was a eye-watering price per sheet of A1 or even as big as A0 size because the price of that paper itself was the equivalent of a good lunch in the campus canteen for students. Every student was required to buy a standard set of drawing tools, set squares, T-square, ink pens, clutch pencil, right down to kneadable erasers. Even before I start school proper, I have to invest a fortune to get started. There wasn’t much alternative as there is only one supplier in Singapore selling all these specialised art material and tools. I saw my savings took a hit just to prepare for the start of the semester. Some of which I never even seen before nor did I even know how to use them. I made up my mind I have to help myself and my parents by being able to partly afford this journey of architecture education. It was already tough and made even tougher by the lack of money.And so through the university years, I worked during the school breaks or weekends or even holidays at local farms. I was thankful I had a close friend who remembered I stayed near the Lim Chu Kang farm area at that time and thought I might like a job nearby to earn some quick bucks. There was no contract, I was introduced to some workers that ran the farm area and we verbally agreed to an hourly rate and I started work. There was no formal training, I just followed the old hands on the job. Our job was bringing people out to see and spread awareness of Singapore’s local farms in Lim Chu Kang. They would come from Community Centre groups of elderly and middle-aged aunties and uncles, organisations for the disabled, private corporate companies, public sectors office workers and so on. I learnt through on the job training from the senior farm guides there. I would listen to how they shared about each farm and their specialities, what they breed on the farm, what was interesting about the animals and we often encourage visitors to patronise the farm by purchasing their fresh produce. They could be goat milk, vegetable that were freshly harvested from the fields that morning, quail eggs, fresh fish for soup or even bull frogs for cooking into the oh-so-yummy frog porridge. The perks of the job was a chance to meet celebrities once in a while, for example a local deejay from the mandarin radio station. I even learnt a tip or two from them. For instance he told me to stand a little more prominently in front so that people could see me. Sometimes in the whirlwind of people and bustling activities around you, it is normal to get carried away and you forget you are addressing a big group while standing near a building column that obstructed some people’s view of you.Once we were done with the day’s work, we get paid in cash straight away. There was no deductibles, no strings attached. These handy cash meant I get injections of new funds to pay for something in school, whether it was for cardboards and glue to make building models, or printing huge A1 or A0-size glossy posters and I am truly blessed the universe gave me this help along the way to help fund my educational needs.I learned that if I was willing to try and not afraid to learn on the job, I definitely can get work done and I could also improve yourself along the way. Whether it is knowledge, whether it is overcoming my initial perception of farms being smelly and dirty or overcoming my fear of public speaking and hearing my voice out loud sharing the tour agenda with visitors, I most certainly can take baby steps along the way to learn and move towards building up my self-confidence. Looking back with hindsight, I certainly placed a great deal of stress on myself. The truth is actually most people visiting the farm was looking for a day out to relax with their friends or colleagues, do a little of farm shopping and really just enjoying the outdoors. I could have relaxed a bit more, enjoyed myself a little more and place less stress on myself.For the longer school holidays, I applied for temp jobs. I remember taking the lift up and combing floor by floor in the entire International Building at Tanjong Pagar where most recruiting companies were located. I knock door to door, filling paper application after application. I had no preference for any industry. I was young, driven to look for a temp job with an hourly wage and I will take just any admin job. The recruiters sometimes spoke to me to verify if I fitted the info I filled out on paper. I had luck with a chemical plant in Tuas industrial area where I was working for the Logistics dept as a temp staff. It was a MNC company that serviced many big clients and buildings in Singapore. I worked hard, made friends, slaved together with the staff to find substantiating documents for them to claw back money from big petro-chemical companies and for shortfalls in USD conversions rate through the years.I learnt to take orders from the Sales people, prepare & print order forms, send packing list to the store, filing paperwork, and so on. The Logistics department staff liked me, I liked the overtime pay with the extra hours when necessary. So after the first school holidays, they called me back during the next school holidays for me to work and offered me as a temp directly with them so they could cut out the recruiter fees. I was more than happy because they paid me slightly more per hour. I needed the money to fund materials and printing during my university architecture course. My classmates found work in architecture firm, I refused to do the same because I remember telling myself: I have years and years ahead in my life to do architecture, let me do other things to take my mind off so I can stay sane. I didn’t want to have a narrow view of work revolving only around architecture, but I want to see how other kinds of work are like.Starting work early in my life compared to my better-off friends who don’t need to work for their allowance gave me the opportunity over the years of temp jobs to build up my savings for retirement through the compulsory contributions through the Central Provident Fund board. The interest compounded over the years. Unconsciously that structured forced savings for my retirement money worked in the background to help me start to grow my money for my future retirement or housing needs.So for you listening in today, ask yourself if you want to start taking actions? And what is the end goal you so desire that you will throw in what you have today to get started? How will your...

Hello and welcome to this episode. The younger generation these days have an abundance of options on how to make money while still studying. Enabling technology such as smartphones and apps that can do live streaming has opened up a whole new landscape of making money during their spare times such as school holidays or before they enroll into an institute of higher education. Some teenagers even went on to become budding entrepreneurs, setting up their own online shops selling slimes, crystals and interesting knick knacks catering to the interest of their own age-group. I even saw on the news of a handful of successful young people who has gone on to chalk up seven thousand dollars of sales in a month doing their online sales business. They are really amazing in that aspect, creating their own income of doing what they like.Back when I was a teenager, work during the school holidays mostly referred to temp jobs, doing mundane admin tasks or ad-hoc seasonal work such as gift wrapping services during the Christmas shopping season, distributing flyers at the Central Business District during week days lunch hours or even being a cashier at the local supermarket chain. It generally meant an hourly rate of about $6 or $7 per hour as an administrative assistant in a temporary job in an airconditioned office.I recalled spending a relatively short time in my job search and I consider myself very blessed to find my first formal six months job at Singapore Polytechnic while I was waiting for University admission. It was for a temporary Publicity officer role at one of the engineering departments. The formal staff in that position had left after she studied part time to earn her higher accreditation and there was a void while they were looking for someone permanent. The environment was something familiar with what I was exposed to in school, with lecturers, admin staff, a school directors somewhat like the Principal of the school. It was considered safe, not too complicated and people who worked there behaved in a civil manner and were there to share knowledge. I inherited the office desk and space in which the former staff had shared with a senior lecturer who was away at lectures most of the time. This meant that as an eighteen year old temporary staff, I actually had the whole private office to myself mostly. There was loads of privacy during the working hours and it was impressive I had a desktop computer for work. This was such a far cry from the desktop I had at home which I had paid a friend to put together by buying computer parts. My challenge came from having to use an email for the first time. In my earlier episode I had shared about how I was a believer of learning and picking up skills. I was thankful I had enrolled into a basic class to learn how to use microsoft office and other basic computer programmes. It was still challenging because a course is a short duration to get you started, but applying it in real life for work is an entirely different concept for an eighteen year old that was very unfamiliar with using a computer. For example, attempting to login with my account and sign-in password using the Control, Alternate and Delete keys on the keyboard. I remember when I prepared my left index and middle fingers as well as my right index finger I will time my hands to press down the three keys at the same time, instead of holding down both the Control and Alternate keys and then tapping the Delete key. I probably look like Mr Bean trying to bring up the login window rather than a sophisticated skilled staff at the computer. Luckily all these embarrassing tactics were behind a closed door with no witness.Having a proper internet connection soon opened doors for me to get acquainted with my machine at work. Instead of dialing up the internet using a slow telephone line at home and having to wait for the dial tone to get connected and praying it stays connected, the internet connection at work was instantaneous and stable. Quickly getting over my fear, I started to pick up internet games like Yahoo mahjong and it was through these fun activities that I started to build up my confidence in using the computer. My ex-boyfriend then was enlisted into National Service, I had plenty of free time and freedom after working hours. Occasionally I stayed back late just to play games and chit chat online. I learnt how to speak to strangers onlines over internet games and generally had fun making friends with people from overseas. Having never traveled out of the country except to my grandmother’s place in Malaysia, hearing people talk to me from Houston and Toronto, while reading their description of what it is kind of like over there was so interesting.I made friends with the other administrative staff in the office and it was fun to have other adults to talk to besides my own parents. Every year the department holds an exhibition to showcase some of the school’s projects to industry partners. It was an eye-opening experience to have a chance to peep into the exhibition and see robotics projects, giant colourful banners and posters explaining their innovative ideas and prototypes that demonstrated how ideas were applied that the industry could adopt. Its totally different from the wordy textbooks, lecture notes and tutorials I was used to in college. Here I was seeing almost real-life application of knowledge, competitions that the end product could demonstrate how they might be used to influence the world. I helped out here and there with the exhibition, like calling up sponsors to confirm their attendance, coordinated for door gifts to be given to participants and placing orders for momentos.During the exam periods, staff were also stressed doing marking. I often hear the frustrations of the senior lecturer who shared my same office space. He would sigh loudly marking a beig ZERO on scripts when some students only wrote their name and hand-in blank exam answer sheet. I think as an educator it pained him to see students who gave up without trying. They have come so far into their education after ten years to reach this institute of higher education but they gave up, either they did not study or they lost interest or focus on what they were doing. The students may have their own reasons but it was a pity they did not choose to press on. Perhaps as you are listening in to this, you may say: but hey, this is the student’s choice entirely. There is no need to get emotional. But I think I see the kindness in educators, their desire to share knowledge and nurture the next generation. But when they see students who do not reciprocate their good intentions by giving up on their studies, I guess it was a human thing for any educator to feel disappointed.When my six-months tenure was up, I was sad to leave but at the same time looking forward to my new start at the local university. I was very surprised and touched when the staff department came together and bought a little Seiko stainless steel watch that needs to be manually winded as a farewell gift for me. Even till today, I still kept this watch because it reminded me of my first workplace where I learnt learning can take place in a very different structure and way. I actually thought I was benefiting more from this work because the experience broadened my mind and gave me exposure to what applying your knowledge in the real world might mean other than regurgitating my textbook knowledge during the exams.So to you who are listening to my podcast, if you happen to be in the midst of doing something to upgrade your skills or pick up new knowledge that may totally not be down your alley all your working life but may feel like giving it up at this moment, I will like to urge you to take a pause. Take moments to ask yourself: wh...

Hello and welcome to this episode. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we witnessed many people who lost their job during this period. They could be our friends, our family, people we know, sole breadwinners, loyal staff that were with their company for ten years, twenty years and counting. Through no fault of theirs, all these were driven by the sudden imbalance to the world’s demand during the pandemic. The world was suddenly divided into necessities and non-necessities. Suddenly the way we do things changed and the change occurred at an accelerated pace. People were let go from their former positions either because there was suddenly no demand, or the nature of the work changed to something that required more technology-related skills, or it was made redundant by technology.This showed a need to continue to keep up with the times, to learn and pick up skills that are relevant or needed moving forward. And it is not just techie skills, but soft-skills like leadership, collaborative skills and the ability to communicate cross-disciplines. I am a firm believer in learning and education. As a hobby, I picked up cooking and baking skills by surfing Pinterest, reading recipes and when the pandemic set in, for example, being able to cook different types of food did save us a pretty penny and we felt comforted we could still enjoy a variety of meals together as a family.Of course formal education is still necessary. It sets up a base to structured learning and in the times I grew up in, that was believed to translate into good jobs after we graduate. I remember one of my art lessons in Primary school was to draw “my ambition”: I recall I drew a nurse, holding a very big injection needle in one hand, dressed in a white clean uniform, complete with a cute white hat on top of the head.Coming from a poor background spurred me to study hard, exceeding my mum’s expectation to score well enough to apply for the Special Assistance Plan, otherwise known as SAP school after my primary school. I could tell she didn’t think too highly of me because of the Secondary school choices she made me fill in the application form before the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE)  results were released. I wanted to prove her wrong and I did made it to top five Secondary schools in Singapore at that time. I continued to work hard on my studies and made it to one of the top Junior Colleges in Singapore and triple science stream. With the newfound confidence in my ability to study, I gave myself permission to dream a bit bigger. I upgraded my dream job from a nurse to be a doctor. The impression of being a professional well-respected knowledgeable doctor and the first one to be a doctor in the family was a dream to me as a teenager.I lost focus on studying during my teenage years. Most of my Junior Collage classmates, even my best girl friend then, took on Special papers, which is called S papers in the school. I’d rather avoid more homework and additional classes after school hours and instead spend my time on other frivolous things in life, such as being with my boyfriend back then. I happened to watch Saving Private Ryan on television one day and after the first 10mins of the movie, there was a scene. I vaguely remember it was the scene of a fierce fight on the battlefield. A Medical Officer was running towards one of the fallen soldiers and in an anguished tone he was shouting towards the direction of the enemies, “God damned it. Give me a chance to save this one!” while his hands were working feverishly trying to stop the bleeding from the fallen soldier. It was in that moment, I asked if I was able to do that, to demonstrate that spirit of just wanting to save lives in critical moments. The rest of the movie went by with a blur, I couldn’t pay attention to what I was watching as my mind was creating my self-limited belief. I told myself:I don’t have the spirit of that M.O. in the war to save lives. It may sound incredulous now but that was a self-limiting story that was weaved from the inside of my mind that I gave myself to walk away from my dream of being a doctor. In hindsight, as I use my lens now and look back to my sixteen year old self, I can hear myself exclaiming so loud in my mind: why?! Why in the world did I come up with that belief that I cannot do it and walk away from my dream?!For the months that followed, I felt lost, I didn't know what I wanted to do in my life stuck in finishing my college years of triple Science. I lost focus studying, I didn’t pay enough attention in class. At worst I just passed my tests and exams. Eventually I passed with an average score in the GCE Cambridge A levels examinations and saw most of my JC classmates making it into medical school. I shunned most of my classmates who all did very well unsurprisingly because they are all smarter than me and put in alot more efforts. I just felt so inferior. Staring at my results, I’d thought “what next in my life”? I accepted I cannot do Engineering with my disastrous result in Physics; my English is not excellent and my General Paper (also known as GP) sucks big time. Dentistry was already oversubscribed by Triple Science stream students who did much better than me but didn’t make it into Medical School. I had this belief that students who REALLY wanted to become doctors but were unsuccessful due to their results or maybe luck, will settle for something in a related field like dentistry. Looking back, I am sure there are also students that really aspire to become dental surgeons and who really want to render their professional services to people’s pearly whites. But dentistry just wasn’t for me as I had no interest and so I passed up on that option. Finally I concluded maybe another profession like architecture might work. I sat for an aptitude test with little to no preparations beforehand to apply for architecture school. I can’t even recall what I answered in the aptitude test but they accepted me.Looking back with hindsight when Covid-19 happened, it may be a blessing in disguise for me that I didn’t make it to medical school. I see the personal sacrifices made by the medical professionals and workers, the long hours and the grueling personal protective equipment they need to don in order to work, while I could still work from my dining table at home on my laptop. I deeply admire their resilience to carry out their call of duty through the pandemic. Nobody knows if I could have done the same in their position. I am thankful I had a relatively easier working condition compared to those in the medical field.I learned that it is important to remain focused in life if you have a dream and keep working on them. Whether it is a big step or a small step you take, you will be nearer to your dream everytime you act on it. I wish I had a trusted adult I could talk to and guide me back when I was sixteen, when I was bold and when I was dreaming big. That someone who could have nudged me and dispel me from that self-limiting belief I have created for myself. Maybe I would have done something very differently from today.Today I have a child that is growing up faster than I’d have liked, whenever she shares about her dreams, or what she wants to do, or what she believes she cannot do. I hit a pause button to listen. I am learning to be encouraging, to try to dispel any self-limiting belief if I do spot any. I think It is important she has a chance to try. If she never tries, she never knows.So to you who is listening in to my podcast now and if you have children, stepchildren, nieces and nephews or even friends from a younger age group. I urge that if they share their fear and wants to give up on their dream, please help them to hit the pause button for a min...

Hello and welcome to this episode. Today I want to share how my concept of being rich has evolved throughout my life, with its roots in my low-income family background right until today, where I am a post-graduate with a career as a professional in one of the largest industry in Singapore.My earliest memory from young was my mum drilling into all her three children that our mission in life is to study very hard, do well in exams, get into university, graduate and find a good paying job. In our minds, that was the formula to reach my mum’s target for us and that is supposed to lead us to some “happily ever after’. It was a common notion in society to measure success with the 5Cs when I was young: having cash, owning a private condominium, having a high-flying career that earns me a good five-figure income every month, owning a flashy credit card and having a coveted membership in one of the most expensive country clubs in Singapore. I thought having made it in life was deeply intertwined with material things that I own.After I received my basic architecture degree, I wasted no time in getting an internship in one of the up and coming architecture practice. During the briefing just after our submission of our final year project, my heart sank in dismay when it was shared that the expected normal market rate of our allowance in the next ten months we would receive as an intern was eight hundred to one thousand Singapore dollars. Bearing in mind twenty percent of it will be automatically deducted from this pay towards my Central Provident Fund, also known as CPF which would be stowed away for my retirement. Coupled with the fact that most architectural practices are in town area, it implied pricier food options during lunch and long commute via public transport.I had to think of creative ways to stretch my dollars to last the month, cab fares to and fro my project sites that were undergoing construction and working late into the nights. Unfortunately for the construction industry and people working in the creative line, late nights rushing paperwork, competition submissions and project pitches to potential clients are common but we are not paid overtime. Sometimes we get time off, simply because we were too exhausted to function the next day. I had thought naively in my younger days that passion will sustain me throughout my career, but starting my internship, reality hit me. We were expected to dress professionally well as the lead of consultants, and we are constantly judged by our appearance, whether by the clients, Contractors or even sales person selling us kitchen appliance for use in our projects. I was a candle burning at both ends without enough money for my own use and savings and I was tired of all the overtime work where I wasn’t entitled to any extra compensation. There was no way I could even start paying off my student loan with my measly allowance. To satisfy the criteria of working as an intern in no more than 2 firms, each with a minimum tenure of five months, I knew I must act once the minimum tenure of five months was up in the firm. I knew I was a cheap labour compared to a full time staff but I was certain I was a good pair of hands. I demonstrated my willingness to learn the ropes and proved myself to be able to run projects with minimum supervision. I went up to my boss and asked for a pay raise. Or I would leave for another firm. I was quite confident I delivered value to the firm and that they would try to retain me. My bosses probably also thought it was a better bargain to give me a pay raise than go through the whole hiring process and pay more for a full time postgraduate that they have to train all over again anyway. So yes, I was given a fifty percent increment. Yes, that’s right, it’s probably the largest percentage of pay raise I ever received in my working professional life. While a fifty percent pay raise to one thousand and five hundred Singapore dollars might not be alot to many who are listening to me right now but it was an achievement to me as an intern.I owe it to me to stand up for myself and ask for what I wanted. From this I learned the idea of “Ask and thou shalt be given”. Because if you never ask for what you want, who will ever give it to you? This notion of asking for the amount of what you deserve continues to influence me throughout my career. I was never shy of asking for a pay that commensurates with what I am able to deliver.Fast forward to being freshly graduated after my Masters degree following the internship, I was thrust into the 2007 financial crisis with two student loans to pay off concurrently. It was an understatement to say my dreams of reaching the 5Cs quickly evaporated by the harsh realities of the job market within weeks. My industry was hit hard, projects dried up and hiring was tightened. I found work eventually in a small architecture practice. With an eye-watering starting pay, I worked out my numbers in an attempt to pay off my debts as soon as possible to incur the lowest amount of interest and I was left with $200 for spending every month. This was after setting aside my obligation to provide my mum with a humble allowance and necessity expenses like transport fees. I was under a lot of money stress that I imposed onto myself at that time, of how I need this or I have to own that item just to prove I have made it in life as a grown up.I was thankful in the Asian culture, the concept of grown-up children staying with their parents until we are married is prevalent and that really saved me alot of money instead of renting a place of my own. The concept of owning material things to reach a grown-up status befitting a professional was deep-rooted in me. It was a period where I struggled with having to overhaul a wardrobe of jeans and t-shirts from my varsity days to appropriate work attire for the office out of necessity with balancing my dreams of chasing the 5Cs. I have since grown to realise everything in life has choices. You can choose to buy a high end brand piece of clothing or you can use the same amount to buy 10 pieces of factory-produced work wear that you can mix and match to wear over a week from a local retail mall. Just like you could spend a few thousand dollars on a country club membership when you don’t play golf or you could spend a fraction of that amount hanging out with your friends at the local mall over a simple meal.It was only much later on in my life that through my self-reflection that I realised my quest for material things was in fact to make up for a lack of security since childhood. To me having physical things to show that I have made it in life meant alot to me, even though I had no idea or clue how to be rich quickly.With little to almost no financial literacy, I was very glad I have a friend who taught me about financial management and the concept of how I work hard but I must make my money work harder for me. I was introduced to the concept of how being poor is at the bottom of the pyramid and to work to the apex of being rich at the top of the pyramid, one needs to first work towards being comfortable, which is the middle layer of the pyramid. Of course, the definition of being comfortable can mean very differently from person to person and there are many avenues to grow your wealth which I will leave to the financial experts to advice you. However, what I did learn is that you cannot grow rich overnight. It takes years of hard work and consistency to invest your money and in yourself in order to see your wealth grow. I have also learnt spending money to buy material things to blindly follow societal standards to appear rich is not the way. For instance, buying a private condominium when you cannot afford the monthly mortgages and ...

Hello and welcome to this episode. Before we begin, I’ll like to share a little about myself so you can get to know me a little better. Let’s start from my humble beginnings: I was the eldest born in a low income family where both my parents are not highly educated. My mum was born in China but was brought to Singapore when she was a toddler. She came from a Chinese-educated family who spoke predominately Teochew and Mandarin. My mum is intelligent but received the short end of the stick in the 70s. That was when education system in Singapore switched frequently between Chinese as mainstream language in classes one year to English as the mainstream language in another year. In the years when Chinese was the mainstream, she would score acceptably well but would barely pass or even fail in the years when English became the key language for class delivery. Losing my grandpa during her Secondary school days impacted her chances of furthering education after Secondary school and she had to do what most young people did in those early days, which was to find work and income to help support the family. My dad did not have any interest towards studying, preferring to roam around in his kampung in Malaysia for games and fun with his siblings and neighbours. As he kept failing his exams in Secondary school and was retained for so many years that he was nicknamed “Ah-Lao”, which means an old guy, because he was so many years more senior than his classmates until eventually he dropped out from school. One day he decided to leave home with his uncle and came to Singapore where he found work as a driver and it was in Singapore that he met my mum.Childhood was hard as far as I could remember because we never have enough money at home. Before I started school, we lived in a rented flat that was a little one and a half-room unit in what is now a bustling night entertainment and F&B district in Clarke Quay. As far as my hazy memory can recall from my childhood days, the tiny rental flats in those days for the poor and low income families was a narrow and dimly lit corridor with units on both sides of the corridor and an opening at the end of the corridor where you see some light at the end of the tunnel.My mum worked as a seamstress from home. Garments would be sent to our home while she hunched over her sewing machine, right foot on the peddle tapping non-stop to make ends meet. She would always grumble how the pants had 2 pockets with details like concealed zipper, etc and needed more workmanship but she was only paid $1.50 or $2 per piece to sew. She will use a notebook to record the design and how many pieces she sewn to check back how much she was paid. Sometimes her boss takes advantage and underpays her. She had to point it out and her boss will pay her the short changed amount the next round she gets paid, but it’s a vicious cycle. On occasions her heated conversation with her boss would end with her slamming down the telephone because of her fierce belief that she should be paid fairly for her amount of work done.Her eyesight was very poor which was reduced to almost blind after suffering from cataract at young age during primary school. Surgery technology was very limited in the 70s, and I suspect it didn’t do a very good job of cleaning up her cataract problem. It was only recently when I took time off to accompany my mum for her eye check then I realised her eyesight is so bad because when they removed the cataract when she was young, the surgeon had to remove the original lenses in her eyes. What baffled me was there was no replacement of her lenses by inserting artificially made ones into her eyes and the reason suggested by her recent eye specialist now was that back in those early 70s days, artificially made lenses were not made to compensate for such a high degree. The implication meant she had to wear spectacles with lenses that were super thick like those at the bottom of drinking glasses. The distortion created is so much that when you look into her face, her eyes appear very distorted. She felt inferior and always said she was called a freak while growing up.Myopia is so common nowadays nobody gives it a second thought, and we think of spectacles now like any other accessories, such as earrings, scarves but back in the early 70s people rarely wear glasses. She thought of herself as an alien. With such poor eyesight, she hated black or dark coloured clothes sent to her for sewing because she had a harder time focusing, especially during gloomy rainy days when natural daylight was reduced.Growing up, we as children were roped in to help out with her work, doing small tasks like flipping corners of sewn clothes and we had to ensure the corner must be pointed and square. I also helped with folding and packing the clothes into big red plastic bags when she was done with the sewing and ready to be sent back to the factory for final packaging before being sold at retail stores. Because my parents barely made enough money to feed all of us, and with my mum’s skills in sewing, it was natural that our clothes were hand sewn clothes from my mum’s design. She would pick up her pen and just drew in her notebook and then made them for us. But I hated her design because to my younger self, it was boring, or plain ugly or simply not dressy and fabulous enough. I always prefered those that were sold outside, complete with frills, ribbons and beautiful fabrics which were so much nicer but my mum simply cannot afford those. I remember shopping at non-airconditioned People’s Park in the 80s, wandering from shop to shop. My mum would pick the cheaper cloths in reams and asked for a few yard of this fabric and that, while bargaining with the shop owner for bit of discount. I didn’t like the cheaper cloths because they are quite coarse, looked cheap and felt rough on my skin. But actually they are quite durable. I saw how she toiled over the sewing machine and when she worked, she had money. When she fell sick she also had to work. She just cannot afford to stop working because there were too many mouths at home to feed. I learned from my mum that one needs to work hard to make money and one should rightfully fight for the fair amount of money to be paid to you if work is completed properly. I saw from my mum’s example that if you don’t stand up for yourself and fight for what is rightfully due to you, bosses will almost certainly take advantage.Life was so hard during my childhood that it spurred me to study hard when I was young. My mum always drilled into our minds the concept of success is doing well in our studies, getting into the university and then finding a stable nine-to-five job that could give us a comfortable income. My mum has always hoped my younger sister and I could find a good man with a stable income to marry so we will have better lives in future as compared to herself. This mindset of education is the key out of poverty was so deeply ingrained in me that even after I graduated, I continued to go for post-graduate studies and while working, I continued my learning journey, seeking out recognised courses from respectable institutes that could help improve my knowledge in my work. I didn’t stop learning and even today as COVID-19 pandemic happened, it is even more important that I continued to learn and adapt to the new way of working. I picked up soft skills like leadership and becoming a trainer while also acquiring know-hows to handle new softwares like Teams and Zoom to facilitate working from home. I learned that if one does not pick up the knowledge and skills to advance with the times, we will inevitably be left behind and helpless, which I have seen in many elderly people including my own parents who struggled with using a smartphone and getting banking done onli...