Getting my first pay - How am I splitting it up?

I received my first full pay recently and although not a huge sum, I have allocated portions of it to different areas.

I have my pay credited into a POSB account which is linked to my DBS multiplier to allow me to earn a higher interest.




For my pay, I have presented it in a percentage form where I used 100% as the take home pay after CPF deduction.

Here it is:

I am happy to finally be able to give some allowances to my mum, although not much but at least it is something that I always wanted to give.

I recently also purchased a personal accident plan. My life insurance is still being paid by my mum but I hope to take it over from her soon.




For food, I meal prep my meals to work for at least 2-3 days per week so my expenditure on food is not that high as dinner is usually at my grandma's place. So my expenses for food is not so high.

Transport is also relatively okay as I do not take Grab or taxis and my workplace is rather near my home with a shuttle bus service provided.




Other expenses include christmas gifts for my colleagues and friends and also other miscellaneous stuff.

Other than this, I hope to be more precise with my recording of expenses even though I am rather lazy to do so. I hope to be more clear so that I can see where my money is going.

With this, here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

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Money lessons learned not through cash but through apps

This article was recently posted on TODAYonline (article) writing about how parents have embraced giving cash and allowances to their children through online and apps. They also use these apps to teach their children about about the value of money.




Singapore has a similar system which is the POSB buddy smart system (source 1, source 2). Kids these days really learn everything so differently and adults have to adjust their teaching styles.

Though I find it a great initiative, one sad thing is that parents will be able to track all of their expenses. I remember when I was in primary school, my mum was really strict about having snacks and sweets.




We didn't have snacks and sweets at home however, I absolutely loveeeee potato chips at that time. So when I got off school at about 2pm, I would buy a packet of chips and munch on it on the way home. I mean, it was the little things like these that got me through the day. HAHA.

Of course, one main point of this is that topping up of money can be easily done as no cash needs to be taken out. The thing is that I have never really experienced life without cash until I was in my final year of polytechnic.




The POSB buddy watch acts as a fitness tracker as well and has so many uses in one. With all these new gadgets being introduced, I would need to keep myself updated with all these releases.And children right now and in the future have so many gadgets that they need to use.

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Income Inequality and Education Causing a Divide in Singapore?

There has been a video going around and it has been gaining a lot of attention among Singaporeans especially during this period of exams where PSLE and O levels are around the corner.



If you haven't seen the video yet, here it is.



In the video, it starts with interviews of young kids of around 9-11 years of age. One girl mentioned that if you owned 'branded items' like smiggle bags and smiggle pencil cases, you would be the most popular kid.

When I was young in primary school, I kinda felt it as well, from OP bags to converse school shoes, we did have a kid who would own all these items but she wouldn't be the popular kid unless she was fun to be around.




I can really feel the pressure for kids nowadays who want to match up to their popular friends, my tutee who is 12 years old, have also told me that she hated that she has a Lenovo phone and not an iPhone. All her friends has iPhone and that it is cool to own one.

She also mentioned to me that they went to Starbucks after school and it was really cool of her friend to have a gift card which she really wanted. Wow, when I was in primary school, I still didn't know what Starbucks was.

But the real highlight in the video is when the interviewees were aged 15-17 as this is the age where they have been 'categorized' by their PSLE score and would soon be 'categorized' by their A, O and N level scores as well.




There was a obvious difference between the interviewees when the second question of 'what expectations do you have for yourself?' was being asked. From then on, there was a clear divide among the students in the Integrated programme (IP) than the rest.

For me, I went to a government secondary school, Saint Anthony's Canossian Secondary and I wasn't performing that well. To be honest, my mum actually just wanted me to pass all my subjects and if possible, get into a course in Polytechnic which I managed to.

To be honest, I have always been poor performing in my family, with cousins who all went to JCs, like VJC and ACJC, I was intimidated at every family gathering when aunts and cousins would ask me about my choices.



It definitely did cause a divide between me and my cousins as the common subjects we could talk about was limited.

Even my brother did pretty well for O levels as well. However, when he got into the elite JC that he always wanted, in the first year, he went to the principal to request for a change of class to another where some of his friends were in as he felt that the class he was in was too competitive and everyone was so 'on' about studying.

When he was talking to his dean about it, his dean told him that changing his class would prove to be a wrong choice as he was dropping out of the good class.

Well, he didn't end up too bad and also obtained a scholarship in the end to study overseas. He told me that many of his friends who went to other JCs like Temasek, Tampines and Meridian actually did very well and some even better than him but because of the way the school operates, many of his friends were not aware of scholarships and overseas opportunities that they could have gotten.



Between me and my brother, I am not very good at even general knowledge and sometimes he do get baffled that I am not aware of certain information which according to him is general knowledge but I believe that because my brother and I come from a low-middle income family, friendship is not really based on money and results and we can empathize more. I do feel that the divide between high income Singaporeans and low income Singaporeans is getting wider and it is not an easy problem to deal with.

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Can PSLE change your life?

Taken from schoolbag.sg

I currently give tuition to two primary 6 students and I have got to say that the amount of stress on a kid who takes PSLE is pretty overwhelming especially if the parents expects good results from them. One of my tutee performs pretty well for her mathematics, averaging an A most of the time and to me, she faces quite a lot of pressure from her parents to perform well. She also expects much from herself and hence places a lot of emphasis on scoring well for PSLE. She has also broken down a few times during lessons due to not performing well enough.




My other tutee although not performing as well as the others but he definitely doesnt face as much stress as his parents doesn't really emphasize so much on results but only that he needs to get into express in secondary school. He is definitely a happy go lucky guy every time I see him for lessons but he does panic at times and ask me if I think he is able to get into express. I have heard of many stories nowadays of how parents prepare their kids for PSLE.

From taking leave of up to a year for the children or even quitting to be a stay home parent, we can see the impacts of PSLE and all other major examinations in families with children taking the examinations. I do admit that PSLE to a certain extent can determine how your future pans out but it really also depends on the individual. For me, I am someone who is easily influenced especially when I was at age 13 so when it came to my school choices, my mum helped me out and made the choices that she felt fit me best.




I remembered that we both had conflicting choices for my first choice, I wanted to go to a school that was near our place which was a mixed school but she wanted me to go to a girl school that was affiliated with my primary school which was also a girl school. In the end, I lost out to my mum and went to the affiliated school. After a few years, I am grateful and glad to my mum for helping me in my choices. Not because I would have turned out worse if I went to the the other school but because I went to an affiliated school, most my classmates remained the same and I was a really shy girl so being in a environment I was comfortable in helped especially at such a young age.

Primary to secondary school can be a huge hurdle for some esecially if you require a lot of time adjusting to new environment. Secondary school is also when puberty happens and emotions can fluctuate. Overall, it's important to evaluate what the individuals really wants and can he/she handle the stress if they were to go to the 'elite' schools where tuition and good grades are a must. I believe a happy childhood is also essential in the process of growing up. 




Here's a short video that I found online that is pretty interesting for me.



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