Throughout my past 2 years of blogging, I've received emails from several young people who want to take the first step to learn and change how their future would be. Some come from poor family backgrounds where they are worried even for their parent's retirement. It is heartening to see people taking charge of their finances because they care for the people around them. Money is never just for ourselves but its to provide better lives for our loved ones.
Having dreams is important as it gives as a sense of purpose in life. However, dreams will only stay as dreams if we do not take action. Most of us would have been motivated before to take action in one way or another through conferences, books, people etc. Here's a video that I saw which I hope will motivate those of you who want to find a purpose for your life.
"Someone's opinion of you doesn't have to become a reality. That you don't have to go through life, being a victim. And even though you face disappointments, you have to know within yourself that I can do this, even if no one else sees it for me, I must see it for myself."
All of us will have aspirations and dreams no matter how big or small. If someone asked you what are your aspirations for your future, what would you say? How about your aspirations when you were younger? Now, is there a difference between your aspirations currently and those aspirations you had when you were younger?
I came across this video by Youthcorps.sg where they did a social experiment on the streets of Singapore asking random adults and kids what they want in life? Watch how different the kids answer this question as compared to the adults:
As we grow up, somehow the innocent dreams we had as a child fades off. We become more practical and are faced with the reality of life. Working for money and making money for survivability becomes a priority. Having a better lifestyle clouds our mind. Some will say passion cannot put food on our table. Is this true? Is there a way to make a difference in this world and still have the money to survive?
The keys to success have finally been revealed by just one experiment done by psychologist Walter Mischel in the late 1960s to early 1970s. Walter Mischel was a professor at Stanford University. In the experiment, a child was offered a choice between one small reward provided immediately or two small rewards if they waited for a short period, approximately 15 minutes, during which the tester left the room and then returned. (The reward was sometimes a marshmallow, but often a cookie or a pretzel)
If you're still confused on how the experiment was done, watch this video and notice the reactions of the kids in the experiment:
See how the kids really struggle very hard to resist the temptation of eating that one marshmallow just to get another one if they wait patiently.
Some parts of the video were really funny looking at the kids faces of how they wait patiently.
The Results of the Experiment
In follow-up studies, the researchers found that children who were able to wait longer for the preferred rewards tended to have better life outcomes, as measured by SAT scores, educational attainment, body mass index (BMI) and other life measures. Those kids who were able to wait patiently were more likely to succeed in life. There is certainly a positive correlation between delayed gratification and success.
Delayed Gratification for Financial Success? Now comes the point which I want to bring across. Having delayed gratification will result in financial success as well. Think about it, if we really can delay gratification and resist the temptation to spend money, we would have more savings. We would not unnecessary get into debt problems as well.
Also, having delayed gratification may mean we have the patience for investing and not the greed of wanting to get rich quick. We're less likely to burn our fingers in the stock market and less likely to fall into investment scams. It seems like there are so many benefits of delayed gratification.
Does it mean that people who are not able to delay gratification are set for failure?
Looking at all the benefits of delayed gratification, we may wonder what if we are not able to delay it? Are we set for failure? While there are positive correlations between better life outcomes and delayed gratification, this does not mean those who cannot wait will be forever labelled as a failure. Delayed gratification can be taught and the process can be changed completely. How do we do it?
In a further experiment, the kids who were not able to wait for the second marshmallow were told to imagine that the marshmallow on the plate has a frame surrounding it. They were told that this is just a picture frame and it is not real. After this imagination process, researchers found that those kids were then able to wait patiently for the second marshmallow which they were not able to do so at first.
But you may ask, how do we apply it into our financial life? From the above example of imagining that the marshmallow is fake, we could similarly imagine that our money is fake or is not there. We must also remember that if we do not spend our money now, we will get more money later when we invest. One practical way I can think of is to transfer our money to a separate bank account and invest it prudently. We are doing a real life marshmallow test for ourselves now.
Try the real life marshmallow test on yourself and see what happens.
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.
For the past few weeks, Singaporeans have been coming together to show support for our first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew who is still warded in the intensive care unit of Singapore General Hospital. As a Singaporean myself who was born and raised up in Singapore, I do respect him as a founding father who brought Singapore to where it is today.
As a student growing up in Singapore, I heard of this great man who fought for the independence of Singapore. Despite all obstacles, he still believed that Singapore will survive even after the separation from Malaysia in 1965. That was the familiar scene where we see Lee Kuan Yew shedding tears on TV.
He was the person who transformed Singapore. During the youth Olympic games in Singapore a few years ago, there were many foreign visitors who came to Singapore for the first time and they were greatly impressed by the peace and prosperity here. I remembered a guy from Europe approached me on the MRT and told me how impressed he was with Singapore. There was a young school girl probably at the age of 13 or 14 travelling alone on the MRT and he was very surprised that kids are safe to do that here. He said in his country, it is too dangerous for children to travel alone.
Singapore is a multi racial country. Throughout the past weeks, I've seen people of all races come together to show support for him. There is a sense of unity that we as Singaporeans want to express our gratitude to this founding father. We want to wish him well. Somehow, we know that Singapore would not be where it is today without him. People of different religions also came together to pray for him. It is a scene which our pledge recites:
"We the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people. Regardless of Race, language or religion...."
A Facebook page called Thank you Mr Lee Kuan Yew has been set up and currently has more than 74k likes. These were the images which were shown on the page
"Overflowing with well-wishes from Singaporeans, young and old. A truly heart-warming scene at the steps of the Quad, outside Kopitiam"
As a blog based in Singapore, I want to show my support for Mr Lee Kuan Yew too. I've complied a video which shows how Singapore survived from independence to today. It is the brave words that said "Singapore will survive" and the vision of Mr Lee Kuan Yew to see it as a metropolis which made it into a reality.
Singapore will always be my home. Let's all stand united to give Mr Lee Kuan Yew our well wishes. #ThankyouLKY
*Mr Lee Kuan Yew has passed away peacefully early morning on Monday (23 March).
Does having more material possessions make us happier and richer in life?
In today's world, we have so many things to choose from and it feels awesome. But, sometimes we just give up choosing and use the same few stuffs. In recent years, the number of fast food chains have increased 2-3 times and the number of clothing stores have increased by many times too. We even have hundreds of TV programmes to choose from and hundreds of food items at the supermarket.
We buy things and fill our ever growing smaller homes day by day and year by year. Most of these stuffs end up abandoned somewhere in the corner such as electronic items, clothing, accessories etc. It clutters up our life and in the end we still use the same few items that we like. A few days ago, I chanced upon this interesting TED talk on how to have a Rich Life with Less Stuff. The speakers are known as the Minimalists and this concept has been adopted by people all around the world where they experienced happier lives. Watch the video below to know how you can have a rich life with less stuff:
Recently I wrote an article on self discovery vs spoon feeding: The Secret to Success: Self Discovery vs Spoon Feeding. Coincidentally, today I came across a video which shows exactly what self discovery is all about.
Here's the short video:
If you have kids, guide them on the path of self discovery. Let them learn by doing and not teaching. Have a great weekend.
It's the weekend again. I'm here to share with you a series of episodes which I've been watching the past few weeks. It's called shark tank. I know the name sounds funny and why am i recommending some sharks video to you? However, the video has nothing to do with real sharks. The series is actually all about 5 investors who're looking for opportunities to invest in some companies. These companies will come one by one and pitch their business to the investors. The investors will then evaluate the business, value it to see whether its worth the risk and see whether there's any potential in the business. Its interesting to see how these rich investors, who already own successful businesses themselves, evaluate their investment decisions.
There are quite a lot of things we can learn from the videos as small investors ourselves. It was quite addictive that I finished watching the whole of season 1.
I saw this video which I thought would be good to share as its really touching. More often than not, we always take things for granted which makes us unhappy individuals on Earth. On the other side of life, there are people who live in harsh environments but they still learn to adapt and survive.
Think your life is tough, think again. Watch the video below: (Sorry there are no English subtitles. The video audio is in Chinese with Malay subtitles)
