Had a friend who became a insurance agent and contacted me. They’ve had trouble in the past finding jobs, so I’m quite happy for them for managing to find one now. That being said, I’m not exactly sure how many plans am I supposed to be signing with them without falling into some money-leaking pit.

I have a full-time job plus a savings plan and an investment plan with an existing insurance agent. What else is normal to get? Is it normal to have plans with different insurance agents from different companies? I usually get very skeptic of things that are hard sold to me but I also kinda want to support my friend. Not sure what to do here.

Netizens’ comments

• Investment plans aren’t worth it. Also, I’d say to lookout for yourself first and not buy more plans just because you want to help your friend.
• If you want to support your insurance agent friend its better to pay him/her a fixed rate for example $100 per hour for his/her advice. If you want to grow your wealth its better to invest in stocks/properties/ETFs.
• You help one of your so called insurance agent friend only when the others know they all will flock to you because you love to help.
• Can give me your number? I also insurance agent need people to help me also.
• Actually don’t know you happy for your friend for what. Insurance and Property agents any Tom Dick Harry Mary Lisa Jane also can be one. Those insurance agencies always say need to interview but end of the day is all bs, they just want the numbers and headcount because more those insurance bosses, the more the merrier. One more person means one more potential deal can be close then they can underwrite ma.

Image source: Google Maps

A girl shared a story online asking if it is wrong for her to give her parents little to no allowance when they her parents are earning a total combined income of $14,000.

She added that she paid for her University fees herself without any help from her parents and as soon as she graduated, her parents passed her bills and insurance for her to pay which amounts up to $2,000 a month.

She is currently earning $5,000 and still has to set aside money to save up or her upcoming BTO and also for future retirement needs.

Here is her story

“Is it wrong if I do not give my parents any allowance/ if I give very little (~200)?

I am from a slightly upper mid-income family, (my parents have a combined monthly income of around 14k++). I have recently graduated from Uni and landed myself in a job that pays 5k monthly.

As soon as I graduated, my parents passed bills and insurance for me to pay which sums up to about 2k monthly).

On top of that, I will have to save up for the down payment of my upcoming BTO (~40k) and uni tuition fee loan which cost around 24k++ in total, since I did not get a scholarship and they did not set aside a sum for my university.

Additionally, I am planning to save some money for their retirement/ put the money into their CPF as they do not have any savings besides CPF from work.

My dad will be retiring soon and he contributes a huge part of the income. Hence, they will have to rely on me to provide for them.

Currently, their income is mostly spent on luxury items for my mom and eating expensive food.

I understand I have no say in how they spend their money but my mom demands 20% of my income.”

Image source: Unsplash

I met a girl who ask me to start a biz with her.

She sounded like a hardworking girl who wanted to learn how to do business. Then one day, she said she wanted to have a $3000 salary but I was not prepared to give $3000 for her to think of ideas for 6 – 12 months.

Maybe $500 is ok just to help out with her expenses and the rest she needs to focus on building up her business as money don’t fall from the sky.

Then to motivate her, I told her if she manage to score an investment I’ll get her a Rolex for her birthday as incentive but she heard it as I will give her “a Rolex For Her Birthday.”

And even though she didn’t get the investment, she has been asking me for the Rolex 4 – 5x a day, sometimes in the middle of the night at 3am.

When I confronted her about it, she said that it was something that “I promised her”, and I have no integrity.

And about the texting at 3am, thats because she is very alert during that time, and that’s the time she usually sends whatsapp messages. Its my fault that I am bothered by the 3am whatsapp messages about when is she getting her Rolex.

Then when we go for meetings during the day, she makes it a point to let me know before the meeting that she is upset that she is not getting the Rolex and after the meeting she ask why she cannot just walk into the shop and buy it there and then.

I am also very afraid to bring her to meetings because she will act like a big boss, and talk about ideas without thinking about cost or who is going to do it. So its like I am cutting down the cost of events from $300,000 to $15,000, and she is talking to the vendors with big ideas to bring it back up to 300k – 500k

She likes to send me articles about this person’s son that person’s daughter can spend what they want in the business they doing and also from their instagram they seem to be enjoying life even when they are doing business, not like her taking a $500 allowance and have no Rolex

But her dad is just a normal guy thats not working, staying in a 4rm hdb.

How should I encourage her to be realistic? Or should I get for her the Rolex?

Editor’s note: For the value that she is bringing to the company, even a $3 cup of bubble tea as a reward for her is too much.

A post was seen online posted by a netizen who asked the community if PSLE scores impacted any of their lives in terms of what they were doing in their careers now.

Here is what she shared

Dear all, what were your PSLE scores and what are you doing in life now? I’m really curious if the scores really does impact our life in Singapore’s education system. I’ll go first. I got 234 for my PSLE and my parents were disappointed with me because I can’t get into RVHS. Math and science was A*, chinese was A, and english was a B+. Im currently working as a researcher with 5k monthly pay.

Netizens also commented on their scores and current career

• PSLE 260, went to an IP school, now earning $3k at a startup. Guess I really peaked at 12.
• In all honesty, quite a lot in my case. 260+ and though I underperformed at A levels, employers still hired me for the brand name of the schools I went to. Never had to apply for jobs, got picked based on connections and credentials. A good PSLE score can open the right doors that lead to the right people. I’ll admit it’s not the fairest system.
• Got 160, pretty much got lost in life during sec sch for 2yrs and woke up. Currently 29, earning 4.3k, 3YOE, no degree. Frankly speaking, grades matters as much as you want it to matter. What matters the most is you know what to do in life or in your career. Everything will just fall into places naturally.
• Got 185 for PSLE went to NA. Topped cohort in Sec 1 and got promoted to Express stream in Sec 2 despite some of my classmates got higher PSLE score than me cos some got 190+. After secondary school went to MI (3 yr A lvls) and now am gonna start uni in NUS next week
• I got 166 for PSLE. Got into the worst NA class in my secondary school. Got 17 points for N-levels. No choice but to go for private degree. Fast forward many years later, currently waiting to enter a pretty alright law school overseas to do my masters. I was a verryyy late bloomer.

Editor’s Comments: Doesn’t really matter la to be honest, at the end of the day is how much money you can earn. Through legal means of course.

Image source: Google Maps, PSLE Parents/Facebook

Seeking advise to help for my husband

I am a 33 years old working mum of 2 son, 4 and 2 years old. My husband is 30 this year but he is very lazy.

I met my husband through a common friend 5 years back when he just returned from studies in the UK. We hit off pretty well as he’s witty and humorous plus he secured a very good career in an MNC company and decent family.

I’m comfortable with him taking the lead and planning for everything so I usually don’t have any inputs for his decision despite him always asking me for it.

I got my legs swept off by him and agreed to marry him after 1.5 years of relationship. But things start to change much after marriage.

He became very lazy whenever I asked him to do stuffs. Like when I asked him many times to get a driving license, he said that he never actually needed one as he has someone to chauffeur him around and taking PHV or cab is cheaper than owning a car in Singapore unlike UK.

I was pretty upset when he said that as a car would be convenient for checkups for my gynae visits and meeting up with my friends.

He does not help out much in housework except for washing of clothes, windows cleaning and fans as there are much more things to do apart from these. He will usually lounge around or sneak off to go for exercise once he is completed with those chores while I need to look after the kids. I told him there are many other chores to do but he always said that he will do later but never did.

His working hours are pretty hectic as he will usually reached office by 8.30am and will only reached home by 8pm. As I finished work earlier, I will usually picked up my kids from childcare and buy dinner, which is quite tiring when my cab doesn’t arrived on time or when the food delivery doesn’t come early and need to tend to hungry kids.

Travelling can be pretty tiring even via taxis. I always tell him to cab home but he likes to travel by MRT as it helps to save cost. Cabbing home can reduce an hr of travelling time which he can help me to tend to kids when i’m tired and he’s earning a high 6 digit figure per annual, I can’t figure out why he is so petty on money when I’m only earning  1/3 of his salary. Although he pays for all the cab rides and food but I just want him to share the load of actual parenting.

I felt so overwhelm by the fatigue that I actually quit my job to take care of the kids when my 2nd kid was born. I told my husband that he should spent more time to take care of the household but he often use work or a need to exercise as an excuse. I don’t understand why he needs to choose timing to go for exercise.

For weekdays, he has free time from 11pm onwards, but he can choose to go straight after work. For weekends, it’s even worse, he can opt for timing like 1 to 3pm where the kids are usually sleeping or 10pm onwards but he choose timing like 6am in the morning or 5pm in the evening when the kids are awake or going to be awake.

Things start to have a strange turn of events when he mentioned that he wants to quit his job and spend time. I felt very happy and relieve when he said that. But the downside is that, he told me that I may have to look for a job as he could have difficulty finding a job that has work life balance and decent salary. I was happy and disappointed at the same time, but I guess that’s life.

So I agreed and he quit his job and he’s taking care of the kids at home while I went back to the workforce after 2 years of being a housewife. Things are doing great for me as the workplace is good and the pay is much higher than my previous job, but not for my husband.

He has difficulty finding a manager entry level job as he is over qualified, having armed with an Imperial College degree and INSEAD MBA, he has difficulty finding a job that support work life balance and decent salary when he is willing to take up to a 75% pay cut.

Despite being at home, I find that the status of the house cleanlines is not up to my standard when I can find small peck of dust on the window grill when I do my spot check and he still has the tired feel when he doesn’t even need to work.

I don’t understand why can’t he take care of the house when I’m earning the dough. When confronted, he said that he is making pretty good money while being a day trader and suggested that we should get a maid to do the menial work while both of us earn the money but I don’t like strangers to stay with us.

I also urged him to be more active on job hunting as we have expenses to pay for. I need his contributions for my parent housing loan and our utility and my cab expenses. Luckily our 5 room is fully paid thanks to his investment.

He’s pretty lazy as his day trading can fetch about 5k for good months and 3k for bad month and has a emergency savings for 10 years without working, but it can be embarrasing for a guy to be unemployed for long time.

I asked my friends for advise but their responds are pretty mixed and I’m also dried up for solutions, which is why I would like to sought for more options to get my husband to help out more.

Editor’s note: You clearly don’t see the sacrifices that he is making and all you can think about is yourself, you don’t deserve your husband.