Business wise, March was a dry month. Quarter 1 was not really good for me aside from a relatively healthy infusion of lump sum savings, mostly from my existing clientele. <3 my auntie clients and their willingness to put a HDB’s worth of monies with me. Still waiting for my mega-deal to land, and if this nice lawyer meant what she said that sincerity is most important, then I think there’d be little problem for her becoming my client.

What really got me down though was a recent termination of a plan which affected my persistency negatively. Persistency is quite important – it must be maintained at a high level for bonuses and promotions, and symbolically I feel it represents the overall quality of business a consultant has. Negative impact on my job aside, I find it a professional failing on my part that I was unable to convince this client to not to lapse his policy, because I know that he needs it.

If only I could have conveyed this knowledge better, although of late I have really become quite lazy to do so because I feel that my effort is better spent on more appreciative and understanding people… Something I should correct since part of my job is to educate and persuade.

Okay, enough about work… Because I have work later.

Anyway, here’s what I have so far!

$189!

That works out to $50 per month since I still have about more than a week to a full 4-month period. Fifty bucks just on coins alone – not too shabby.

I’m going to embark on something different soon.

I guess it is quite pleasant to be able to annotate this milestone by closing the biggest deal I’ve had since joining this industry. Very satisfying indeed, and I do hope I can maintain this to end the year beautifully and start the next one with momentum.

Through the ups and downs of working life, I guess it is really important to have colleagues who push each other on, and I’m lucky to have such great colleagues as friends.

Here’s to another great six months and beyond!

Kids who waited generally did better in life.

We’re faced with the marshmallow test everyday, except the marshmallow for us is money – another M-word that brings about its own set of conundrums and temptations. Having trouble delaying gratification is a problem not exclusive to children, but some kids can do it, while some adults can’t.

Simple and straight to the point.

A king and one of his trusted generals often go on hunting trips, and on one occasion the king lost his little finger to a particularly ferocious beast he was chasing after. Back in the palace as imperial doctors panicked to dress the wound, the king moaned in agony and complained to his general about the pain. The general, however, said uninterestedly in Chinese (I assume they were from China because the story was in Chinese): “凡事发生必有其目的，并有助於我。”

The king was irritated and chided the general for trivializing his injury, and the general just repeated his sentence again, “Anything that happens must have its purpose, and will be of aid to me.” Livid with anger, the king had his men throw this general into the prisons.

Weeks later, disgruntled with the beast that severed a digit from his hand, he stormed off to track the animal alone without his usual hunting partner. Unfortunately for him, he came across a tribe of cannibals and was captured to be their sacrificial offering for their god. Scared out of his wits, the king was filled with relief and surprise when he was suddenly released. Apparently the cannibals have decided that he was not a suitable offering as he had a body part missing, and it was only blasphemous for them to offer such an imperfect human to their meat-eating god.

Finally understanding what his general meant, he quickly released him from prison, only to be surprised at the general’s lack of anger. When asked why he didn’t resent him, the general, like a broken record, repeated the sentence again and explained, “If I hadn’t be thrown into prison, I would have gone hunting with you and became their offering instead.”

An interesting story, I thought, which my mum used to talk about my A Levels results.

She told me that the most important thing that I should have, above knowledge or salesmanship, is the care I have for others. It is the concern you have for others that will tide you through your work, she told me, and it is only when you have no more care for others would you stop. This is the very same reason why she left the industry.

My dad was diagnosed with cancer in 1994, when I was merely six and I wasn’t told about it. I wouldn’t have understood why daddy needed to go to some hospital place to fight this thing called cancer, so it was more convenient for them to just say that he went away for work. Anyway, it was a trying period for the both of them, and my mum just came to the realization that she couldn’t care for others, not when she had to care for her husband, her in-laws and her two clueless kids. She lost her ability to care for others, especially when these people eye you with suspicion and cynicism. No, she had to reserve her concern for her family who needed her, and she quit.

Just when I thought I was getting sick of meaning well for others, my mum’s story made me realize what I face is only so trivial. What of the girl I met a few days ago whom I tried to sell a hospital plan which earns me a pittance, but will be very beneficial for her in light of the rising healthcare costs? She is not privileged enough, my mum replied. Some people just do not get it, and we just have to move on to someone else who does.

When I first joined this industry, my mum was very encouraging. She knew that I will learn a lot, and I feel that I certainly have. My dismal A Levels grades definitely disappointed her, but she didn’t force her expectations upon me. She told me that everything’s a blessing in disguise and I wouldn’t be in this line if I had done well for my A Levels.

Talking to her made me feel much better. If there’s anything I’ve learnt these few months, it would be that human relationships are so precious, not to mention one’s own family. I love my parents, as do most of us do. Which is why I have made sure that if anything untoward happens to me, they would still be able to retire and need not sell the house for my medical bills, and would be duly taken care off should I pass away. If nothing happens to me, I would have money for my own retirement. It’s as simple as collecting my daily shillings in a little box, but some people don’t care. Are they not filial? Personally I think I am running out of care for them.

It is human nature to procrastinate, and procrastination is what we do. At times subconsciously, and sometimes very deliberately. I have met so many people. So many, so many who feel that now is not the time. If not now, when? National servicemen tell me when they are in university; Undergrads tell me when they graduate; Graduates tell me when they find a job; People with jobs tell me when their job is stable; People a few years into their job tell me when they are less busy; Retirees tell me when their retirement funds run out; Parents of kids almost in their teens tell me when their kids are a bit older. All kinds of people, all kinds of scenario – been there, heard that.

Immediately, when one says “I’ll start next year”, he has declared the next 365 days to be lost. After a year has come and gone, the most likely thing to do is to put it off some more. As young people, we have time on our side, for now. It is our single most advantageous strength which is overlooked just because we think that we will always have the luxury of time. Those who make use of it reap the rewards; Those who don’t just squander this advantage.

The difference a few months can make is astounding, not to mention a few years which some of my peers have so readily gave up. Sadly, not many recognize this very simple fact. I am coming to the realization that I really don’t have to care too much for people who are just too stubborn. Now that I have more or less settled most things amongst my family and loved ones, anything else is just a bonus. You want, it’s win-win. You don’t want, I lose a chance to gain some commission, you lose more.

Today I spoke to a fresh graduate trying to fish his contact details so that I can share with him more about financial planning, and he turned to his brother with an expectant look. No, said his brother, and then he turned to face me and shook his head. The only advice, financial or otherwise, I can dispense to him is – grow a pair.

Seems like 16 years of education and another two for National Service have not prepared a set of balls for him to make a simple decision on his own.

Why do some people celebrate adulthood when they are not prepared for it?

Granted, the social and economic conditions over here dictate that most of us stay with our parents. It is only practical since housing is so expensive and the family unit is more physically close-knitted compared to some other countries. However, I think the sad consequence is that people tend to become independent only at a much later age.

Yes, it is only filial to inform our elders out of respect, but it is another thing to rely on them completely for everything under the sun including financial planning. It is dangerous to assume that our parents will settle everything for us. They simply don’t have the time nor resources to do so. My mum was a successful financial planner back in the day, and even then I find my family not financially prepared enough. It’s not possible for her to shoulder all the responsibility, she told me, which is why I had an argument with my sister a few days back. Some people simply do not get it.

Until we start to emancipate ourselves from our parents, birthdays and graduation will just remain meaningless rites of passage. Nothing but celebrations of our tissue cells getting older while our immaturity perpetuate.

First, I must apologize for being rude. You must understand that it is very frustrating for me to be outside working 14 hours a day trying to convince people of the importance of insurance and savings. A lot of people do not get it, but we of all people must. I don’t care as much if other people don’t understand, because it is their own problem if they run into financial ruin.

We are very lucky to have wonderful parents like mummy and daddy. They have showered us with whatever they can provide, and we have always been better off than most people who are not so lucky. Our parents did not get all of these by luck. We managed to stay relatively well off because mummy and daddy have always been very careful in their finances.

Ah Gong and Ah Ma incurred huge amounts of hospital bills that were paid for by insurance. Daddy’s operation back then was also paid by insurance. Our education fees are funded by the money our parents saved for since decades ago. But mummy can’t pay for everything herself, and so now it is time to repay them in whatever small way we can. She is willing to pay for you now so that our family can be protected from huge medical bills that may bankrupt us.

In future, you will also reap the returns of the policies. Your very own children will depend on you for money much like how we depended on mummy and daddy. You will want them to be protected from huge medical expenses. Hopefully you and I will become as great as our parents are to our own children.

I am taking up the exact policies. We have been having it easy all these years, and I hope you understand where I am coming from.

弟弟