Financial Advice for Women: An Interview with Anna Haotanto

Growing up, I realised that it was difficult to find financial advice tailored to females during different stages of our lives. Besides having a good female financial advisor or female friends who are savvy in investing and are kind enough to give you tips, the type of financial advice given online is generally male-dominated and…

How Many Times Will Singapore Become a Syonan-To?

On 15 February 1942, the Japanese renamed Singapore Syonan-to after the British did their first Brexit from Singapore. Syonan-to means “Light of the South”. Three years and more than an estimated 50,000 deaths later, Singapore finally shook off its slave name when the Japanese finally surrendered. Source The Singapore Government, always as pragmatic and straightforward,…

What No One Tells You About Losing Your Religion

In Singapore, we have a multi-religious society that embraces different religions and co-exists harmoniously. It is easy to find free pamphlets or books about Buddhism, Bibles for Catholics and Christians, Qurans for Muslims, and a plethora of material to study for other religions. It is accepted to talk about your religion with other friends from…

Legend of The Blue Sea: 10 Favourite Moments

I can’t believe I’ve just finished watching Legend of the Blue Sea. At first I thought Legend of the Blue Sea would be another so-so Korean drama, but there were so many memorable scenes that made me laugh, cry and just pause for a bit too soak in the moment. Here are 10 of my…

What If Singapore Ran Out of Food?

It’s been a long time since Singapore had major food security issues. I remember growing up watching Channel 8 dramas about World War II. Besides the fear of being tortured and killed, I vividly remember how people struggled terribly with the lack of food. There was one scene of a man complaining to his mother…

How to Survive The Shock of Retirement in Singapore

You must be wondering, isn’t retirement in Singapore or elsewhere after a lifetime of work the holy grail of working? The enlightenment stage in the end of our career where we have earned and invested enough to attain reach financial independence, and can finally relax and travel the world? Photo: Jules of Singapore Retirement in…

Struggles of 2016, Begone!

I set myself a resolution to have a major change in my life every year, and 2016 didn’t disappoint. Change doesn’t happen without some pain, akin to a pupa breaking out of its chrysalis and struggling to squeeze out of its old shell. It was a pretty painful year, characterised by quite a bit of…

Should I Be A Working Mum or Stay-At-Home Mum?

How should mothers decide if they should continue working, or quit their jobs to stay at home and look after their children? Source: salary.com The bottom line is: whatever arrangement gives you the best chance of fulfilling your priorities after taking into account the drawbacks. This is one question many fathers don’t have to struggle…

Yes to Unemployment or Redundancy Insurance

What is unemployment or redundancy insurance? Unemployment insurance (sometimes packaged as redundancy insurance) is a type of unemployment benefit which you can receive if you lose your job involuntarily. If you’re retrenched or made redundant, payouts from redundancy insurance can help tide you over temporarily till you find a new job. Payouts from your unemployment…

PSLE: Mother Gets Flamed By Internet For Keeping Her Word

In yet another judgey internet moment, mother Soon Lee Yong (who helped set up popular parenting forum KiasuParents.com, to hunt for a primary school for her firstborn son) faced a peculiar situation whereby she trended on social media because of one thing: She didn’t buy a Nintendo DS for her son. This is the story below…