The Get Ready Money Podcast

The Get Ready Money Podcast with Jaslyn Ng: Taking A Leap of Faith

• Tony Steuer

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On the latest episode of The Get Ready Money Podcast, I spoke with Jaslyn Ng, a Financial Services Director at Prudential Assurance Company about changing the way we think about money and taking a leap of faith. 

In this episode we discussed:

Success simply means we are better than who we were yesterday.

  • The importance of taking one step at a time.
  • The value of insurance as your safety net.
  • Why you need to be consistent and show up.
  • Women can (and should) manage their money. 
  • The power of paying it forward. 

Jaslyn Ng is a Financial Services Director based in Singapore leading a team of 7 financial consultants. In 2017, Jaslyn walked away from a $250K pa remuneration in corporate HR with her last role being a Global HR Director to start all over again as a Financial Consultant. She was burnt out with her asthma and relapsed during those long hours of working. Her eldest daughter was diagnosed with a congenital heart condition at the same time. Fast forward to today, Jaslyn is not just a 7th-time MDRT member with 2 TOTs and 4 COTs under her belt. Jaslyn has spoken on more than 60 occasions on international, regional, and local platforms sharing her experience with fellow leaders and practitioners. She was also selected to share with 7500 pax at the MDRT Speaks segment at the MDRT Global Conference 2023. In 2022, Jaslyn was named the Winner of Regional Digital Agent/Leader of the Year in the 7th Asia Trusted Life Agents & Adviser Award spanning across 12 Asia countries. In 2023, Jaslyn was the finalist for the Regional Insurance Agent of the Year in the 8th Asia Trusted Life Agents & Advisers Award. In the same year, Jaslyn was named the Winner of the Elite Women of the Year 2023 awarded by Insurance Business Asia. Being a single mum of two children, it is Jaslyn’s desire to help more women be financially independent. Since Covid days in 2020, Jaslyn has raised more than $50,000 through her own Charity Coffee Chats to help the underprivileged.  

Connect with Jaslyn Ng:

LinkedIn


Book Mentioned: 

Atomic Habits by James Clear


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Speaker 1:

Are you looking to get ready, be prepared and transform your financial future? Then you've come to the right place. This is the Get Ready Money Podcast with Tony Stewart, where Tony has insightful conversations with financial experts who are changing the way we think about money. Catch up on the latest financial trends and hear practical advice from Tony and his expert guests so you can build healthy habits that work, Be empowered with tips for implementing small changes that can have a big impact on your financial future. So sit back and get ready to hear from today's guest. So sit back and get ready to hear from today's guest.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Get Ready Money podcast changing the way we think about money. I'm pleased to be joined today by Jaslyn Ng. Jaslyn is a financial services director at Prudential Assurance Company in Singapore. In this episode, we'll be discussing how we change the way we think about money and taking a leap of faith. Jaslyn, welcome to the Get Ready Money podcast.

Speaker 3:

Thank you, Tony. It's a pleasure to be here with you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we're excited to have you on, looking forward to learning more about you. So, to get started, tell us a little bit about yourself. What is your origin story?

Speaker 3:

I started as an HR person and then I climbed my way up from an HR assistant all the way to a global HR director. And seven years ago I decided to take a corporate shift. I transited out from my corporate role as an HR director to come into the financial services industry and I started all over again and people were wondering, justin, why would you give up a quarter million package and then to start being from a financial consultant from start? You know, all over again and I have stories. Basically, over the 11 years when I was in HR, I did the career switch when I was 33. So in the last 11 years, after graduating from our university, I started to climb my way up from my HR assistant and then I realized that over the 11 years that I was working, you know, there was a lot of corporate burnout and things were manifesting within my own body. Sometimes it's mind over body. Your mind is stronger than your body. Then my body started to break down. My asthma relapsed after 20 years. The last episode was at 12 and then it came back at 32. And that was when I was working really, you know, around the clock, because I was flying in business trips and then I was also a mother to two young children. Back then they were only three and one, so it was hard. It was hard to manage just both career at the same time being a good mother to the two kids.

Speaker 3:

And the key I think the key point, the transition point for me to really think about living the corporate job was because my daughter Claire, back then she was diagnosed with a hole in her heart and that really caught us all by surprise, because when I had her, I was 28 and I went to the gym almost every day. We do healthy things, I don't smoke, I don't drink but when that happened had her, I was 28 and I went to the gym almost every day. You know we do healthy things, I don't smoke, I don't drink. But when that happened to her, when she was diagnosed when she was three, it got us all shocked. And that's when I realized that we should never take health for granted. And the doctor advised that you know, I have to be ready to prepare her for a surgery, a major surgery where we open from the top to the stomach to stitch her back to heart when she turned seven. And that was when I really thought about how am I able to cope if I keep flying and be there for her when the time requires, and in between she had episodes of pneumonia and that left her hospitalized. My company wanted me to continue flying to US by offering me green card, but my own daughter is in the hospital. So all these things started to come back.

Speaker 3:

And finally, from the beginning of my HR career all the way to my last job believe it or not I was always involved in retrenchment. I was the one calculating packages for employees, and that also got me thinking what if one day I am on the list myself? And in fact during my course of career I was retrenched twice. But every time we bounce back. It's just that how many times can that happen before you know when it gets too late, when? What if I'm retrenched? I was, I turned 40 plus. You can never get a second chance back.

Speaker 3:

So that was when I decided to do a career switch, and that happened because I met my mentor in a course that we call it a neurolinguistics program, nlp and I think it got me thinking right, jesslyn. Maybe it's time for us to do something different. Of course, it's very daunting when you are doing hr all your life. What you knew was what I knew was hr. What I was focusing on was compensation benefits. You know calculating, managing salary structures or income salaries packages for people, and then you shift to a pure sales job, which most people see insurance agents and financial consultants as pure sales.

Speaker 3:

So I couldn't quite reconcile, but there were too many push factors for me to be scared. It comes everything at one go. You just can't decide until I think something in my heart told me that I think it's a good time to. It comes everything at one go. You just can't decide until you know I think something in my heart told me that I think it's a good time to let go and let's start everything afresh. We'll bring back the work ethics when I used to work like 15 to 18 hours a day in my corporate job. How can I shift that work ethics from HR back to financial consultant? And that was how it got me started. I joined my current company on 1st July 2017, which I'm counting is close to six and a half seven years now.

Speaker 2:

That's an amazing story. I mean, there's so much there and I think so many people struggle with that. Is it time to make a change? But I think you know, knowing the story of thing you learned, you know that you might pass on to somebody else about that experience.

Speaker 3:

I think the biggest lesson I've learned. You know we call it adversity, we call it challenges that take one step at a time. I think that was the biggest lesson I ever learned in my life, because there were many, many low points in my course of journey and every time I think it's a common psyche or emotional state. You know, things happen. You go into a downward spiral and then you start thinking why me? Why? You feel victimized. But at some point you've got to know bring that down, curve from a U shape into a V shape, meaning you don't get too yes, and then you start wallowing in pity, thinking you are the worst person in the world. Actually, I think it's about getting back. It's about taking one step at a time to tell yourself that, even if it didn't seem like it makes a difference. But getting yourself back at work, getting yourself back in momentum, taking care of your children as one day goes by, I think all of these are little, tiny steps. You know what we call to me it's atomic habits by James Clear.

Speaker 3:

Every single one step you take eventually amounts to something bigger, but you can't stop because most people would be stuck. And then they stop, and then you know it gets longer and longer and sometimes you can't get out of that state anymore because you are so used to being down most of the time. Yeah, to me it's about taking one more step. If you see that it's the darkest day of your life, the darkest hours and I've been through that. I've been through a divorce myself and I can tell you it's not easy, and that happened a couple of years back, when I was at the peak of my career as well, you know, leading a team, managing kids, so things like that. It's not easy. Nobody, nobody, has life easy. But if life was easy, I think it wouldn't be interesting. Right? We just need to spice things up a little bit.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yeah, that's. That's great. I love that advice because it really breaks down things, because you know, whenever you're looking at something, you know all these things are big, but you can only do one step at a time anyway. Even if you want to do the whole thing at once, you can't. So that's awesome and I just want to share with all of our listeners is that your daughter is doing well today, right and everything, and healthy.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, the good news is thanks, tony. The good news was when she turned about eight we went for a surgery and it was no longer an open heart surgery as what the doctor advised when she was first diagnosed, because the technology has advanced so much and she was one of the lucky case studies of patients that they could do a minimally invasive procedure. That means inserting just a tiny, small needle hole inside, inserting the catheter with a mesh device to seal up the hole. So the goal was she went in on Friday and she was discharged the next day, like Saturday, and everything was as per normal. Now she could do all the physical activities, she could run, she could play badminton. So things were looking well.

Speaker 3:

And what I must truly, truly be appreciative of was the insurance coverage that we had in Singapore. She was under the scheme of 100% coverage, no matter how much procedure it was all paid for. You know, as a parent you can't tell the amount of relief when we knew about. Well, thank god, I covered her. Know, we bought insurance for her immediately as soon as she was born. You know the earliest was in Singapore is in days after birth, right, so we got her covered and until today I can't tell you how appreciative we are towards insurance and that's why that propelled me.

Speaker 3:

You know that was another big factor for me to join the industry. I was thinking what if I could share this with more parents? What if I can share this to more people to cover their family members, so that nobody will ever end up worrying about money when it comes to medical bills? That is the first safety net that all of us need to have, at least for me. After going through the entire ordeal you know, knowing that she she's sick and she might have to do a open heart operation, and you worry about her emotional state, you worry about whether she can recover and then whether there's a scar, things like that we were no longer afraid that to give her the best treatment or find the best doctor or surgeon in Singapore, because 100% was covered.

Speaker 2:

Well, that is awesome and I think you know whether one is. I think it's inspiring for people to know that you know that you can have hope and that you know that there is hope for people when they get sick. And you know that if something happens to your child and you know my son has type one diabetes, which is a critical, you know a serious illness. But the same thing is we have health insurance and so we know that at least that part is covered. All of his medical devices are covered, all of his medication is covered, all of his doctor's visits and everything. And it is just you know, part is covered. All this medical devices are covered, all this medication is covered, all this doctors visits and everything. And it is just you know.

Speaker 3:

So people tuning in this is not an episode just to sell insurance, but just to know that there is value to insurance and and we are all beneficiaries of that, and that's why I think we have a greater purpose out there to reach out to more people, to educate people.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, definitely. So you know when you're thinking about your insurance and benefits is you know they're there as a backup to help you, but when you need them they can really make a difference. Hopefully you'll never need it. Hopefully you're going to pay insurance premiums and never need it. Don't be sad that you've paid insurance premiums and not need it. That's a good thing.

Speaker 3:

That's still a good problem People who have problems and they can't buy anymore and they are forced to wipe out their savings and not just their own savings but their family members' savings to help them and it gets everybody really financially stressed yeah, without a doubt.

Speaker 2:

So, jasmine, let's uh change subjects for a second. I want to get to your mantra. Um, you know why is your mantra? Success simply means we are better than who we were yesterday. Why is that so important to?

Speaker 3:

you, thank you. Yeah, that was a mantra I came up with when I joined the industry, like somehow, I think it was even. It was not for anybody, it was just for myself. And I kept telling myself you know, making a big career switch, you, you, you are very daunted. At that point. You are not sure whether you even make it. You are not sure whether what if I fail? You know, that question is what if I fail? Keeps coming back to me. But but to get myself going, you know, we talk about the one step at a time I told myself it's okay.

Speaker 3:

I think to me, success purely means that I am better than who I was yesterday, and that itself is an improvement. Because I think in today's society, all of us seems to be too hard on ourselves, we are too unforgiving. Oh, I made a mistake. And why are people so scared to make decisions? Because they are often afraid to make mistakes and they think about them more than the lessons learned. If I can reframe and change that thinking, even if I make mistakes, it's okay. That means I'm trying. If you are not making mistakes, it means you're not even trying something new every day, isn't it? So that itself actually brought me back to a very positive state of okay, it's okay, justin, I know you were HR director and you are now trying to do something different. So take one step at a time, because you can't evolve to be a good financial professional overnight.

Speaker 3:

But behind the scene, what are the other steps that have taken? You know, to come to this. You know what they describe. As you know, justin, you're so successful today, but what they didn't see was I was waking up at 4am every day, you know, reading product packs, reading about financial literacy in the books, because I was coming into the industry at 33 years old. I had to make it work. But you can't keep thinking about. You know about the stress, but you don't have a concrete actions to put together. I feel that when you have concrete steps, you have the actions that you need to take. That gives you the confidence to say, okay, today I've achieved this and I've closed a case or I've helped someone to break through, to retire better. So those are little things for me, because I think I just want to break the belief of many people that you know, justin.

Speaker 3:

A lot of people will ask me Justin, so successful? You know what's the magic formula? I say there's no magic formula. It's really about taking tiny steps in atomic habits. And I love James Clear about the one percent. You know he talks about the one percent improvement every single day and that itself translates. You know the power of tiny gains. It translates one% every day that you're better off. It translates to 37.78 times better than last year. So this itself is a huge I can say a huge motivation for me to say it's okay, never mind, as long as you are doing one thing better or one thing more efficiently than yesterday, I think it's a success. And you don't need to win awards, you don't need to be standing on the stage to feel that you're successful. All these things will take time, but what truly matters is whether you have the attitude and the positivity to say and the resilience I would say resilience the bounce, the ability to bounce back allows you to come to that eventual stage of of state of life.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, that's, that's powerful advice and I agree with you. You know that. That. You know incremental improvement does move you forward, even if it doesn't always seem like it does. So that's awesome. So you know one of the things, and for some of the members of our audience, they may not realize that you've qualified for something called Top of the Table with Million Dollar Roundtable, which, in the life insurance industry, is a huge achievement, you know. So if you could share with us a little bit about how have you achieved that incredible success as a woman in such a male-dominated industry? You know, reaching top of the table, being one of the best life insurance producers in the world, I mean, what's that been like for you?

Speaker 3:

Thank you, tony. I think you know for the audience out there, top of the table means it's six times of million dollar round table qualification targets, which is two X of cot of the table. So in short, right, I think, being at the top of the table in the mill I think the question was in a mill dominateddominated industry.

Speaker 2:

I guess there were two questions in there, Sorry.

Speaker 3:

I mixed them up, sure. So let me start off with the male-dominated industry. Firstly, I never saw myself as a gender. I think that was something very key. I never.

Speaker 3:

In my HR days I was the only. Interestingly, that was the time where I saw myself as a female Because in the CEO round table I was only often the only female sitting in the boardroom, together with all the C-suite, you know, c-suite executives, cfo CEOs and all that. I was the HR person. So that was when I really felt there was a difference. A HR person. So that was when I really felt there was a difference. But I keep asking myself now, if I were to move myself, plant myself out from HR and then going into a new industry, do I still continue to see myself as a female gender? I was thinking no, I think I should see myself as an equal to anybody, regardless of gender, first and foremost. And having said that, of course there's also some stereotypical biases in this industry. Very interesting, I'm not sure whether it's the same for the US, but in Asia, in Singapore especially, most of the producers are, interestingly, females.

Speaker 2:

In the US it's mostly men, and that's what I was thinking back to when I was top of the table is that it was pretty much all men.

Speaker 3:

Yes.

Speaker 3:

So then the leaders or the people who are in the management careers are usually the men.

Speaker 3:

So I think, when it comes back to my point of I never saw myself as a gender to me, I can do both, and which explains why today I am not just top of the table member where I do, I'm like doing a pure sales job but I am also a financial services director to six other team members, who are all females also, I think, because we are all working mothers, we have the same DNA and values.

Speaker 3:

So I'm now doing both at the same time, because I feel that this is what I truly want to challenge the optics Females are better advisors or men are better leaders. I feel that we can all do both at the same time. It's a whether you yourself or I myself have the ability to break that limiting belief, and that limiting belief often resides not just what people say, but inside sorry, within our own minds, and that was something I was trying to challenge and I'm glad that you know. Today I managed to prove that women can be good leaders, not just producers yeah well now, and women make great leaders, so I think that's awesome.

Speaker 2:

I think you said something super important that I want to highlight is that we all have the ability to break limiting beliefs, and I think that is so powerful for people you know is that you know you have to believe you can do something, and I'd love you know, because you made a major career change at a time, you know, at a tough time in your life, and you know, and you've been super successful at it, and I think that's something for people to understand but that your formula or I mean part of your formula is that you took it one step at a time. You didn't eat the elephant at once.

Speaker 3:

I don't know if you've heard that phrase before.

Speaker 3:

Because if you have the elephant in front of you, you think about it it's too big. If you have the elephant in front of you, you think about it, it's too big. You know, there's no way that we can achieve that kind of success. But if you cut it down bit by bit and you follow through with routine, with discipline, with consistency, and then people will also appreciate. I think, tony, one thing that I always find it fascinating, but it's true, is the law of attraction. When you are so passionate about learning, when you're so passionate about trying to make the best of yourself to unleash the potential inside, people around you can appreciate and people around you will notice that and they will try to extend and render their help towards us. And that was truly, tony.

Speaker 3:

I must mention that I have very good mentors. They may not be my direct agency leaders, but they are veterans in the industry who saw that. You know Jessen seems to be working so hard. You know I can impart my skills to her and they are so willing to coach me when I was moving up, you know I mean in this career, and that's why I believe that the power of giving back, I believe the power of paying it forward and even my own mentor who brought me into the industry until today. I will say that I'm very grateful to Jaden Jaden Wang, my leader in Singapore, because without him I wouldn't even imagine changing a career like that. It's very scary when all you knew was all about HR and then you suddenly did a career switch to something else and I would say most people wouldn't think that I would have succeeded. Not because she did it, because in this career or this financial industry itself, the attrition rates are originally already high. It's not about me, but this industry tends to have higher attrition rates than other careers out there because it's tough.

Speaker 3:

So, with mentors, with support, I think that helps us to believe that even when we haven't, I don't believe that I could do it. Yet I think people saw the potential. My leader saw my potential and brought me in and, step by step, all I could do to repay, to pay back, was to be diligent. I think that's something nobody can take away from me. I just have to be consistent in showing up every day to learn new things and to practice. That's it. It's as simple as that. That is the success formula that all of us would. You know people have been asking me for. I don't have special formula to say snap, I change a career and then you suddenly become successful. It's not possible.

Speaker 2:

Well, I think your secret is and you nailed this and you talked about it earlier power to that is that people. You know, I think for people watching and listening, when you know a lot of my guests have had an amazing success, like Jaslyn, is that when you hear their stories, is they worked at it? You know that nobody's come on the show and said yeah, I just woke up one day and I was rich and it was cool. I'm waiting for one day and I was rich and it was cool.

Speaker 3:

I'm waiting for that day. But this is not a fairy tale. Yeah, it's not a fairy tale. That's a lot of hard work behind every successful person who came for your podcast or people who are out there. I'm sure they put in the hard work. It's just that a lot of people chose to see the glamorous side of it rather than ask about what were you doing behind the scenes.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no 100%.

Speaker 1:

And.

Speaker 2:

I've had some guests who've grown up in very poor socioeconomic status and literally have started from zero, but because they worked hard. But, like you talk about taking one thing at a time, working hard, learning, being consistent, showing up and finding mentors. I think that's also something that's overlooked is, you know, people find somebody to help you, people do want to help somebody to help you, people do want to help. So, jaslyn, let's switch to the get ready questions.

Speaker 3:

The first one is what is one simple thing you can do each year to set yourself up for financial success. So, tony, that was a good question. And since a couple of years ago, after I attended the NLP program, I started to list down at the start of the year, I'll list down my goals for the coming year. So that was split into different pillars. For example, we talk about for my health. What are the things that I want to do to achieve with it for my health, for example, go to yoga every day. For run, 10 km, 10 kilometer run for my career. I want to achieve, you know, at the start was mdrt million dollar round table, then it became part of the table, then it became top of the table, for example. And then with my family, how do I want to find time with my kids? Bring them to travel for my financials. How much do I want to save every with my kids? Bring them to travel for my financials. How much do I want to save every month? What is the percentage that I should be saving, say 25%, and what are the expenses that I would probably be looking at?

Speaker 3:

I make it a point to do a check, just like we go to health screening. I do the annual checks or buy annual checks. I track all my expenses, most of it. The bigger ones I can't say you know the small takeaway latte, no. But the bigger ones, like insurance premiums, like taxes, like the car, the house. At least I have an idea how much am I spending every single year. And then I think about how can I improve myself through the courses that I attend every single year. For example, two years ago I was working on the CHFC. Last year I did the CLU Chartered Life Underwriter and I just passed it.

Speaker 3:

So this year thank you, emba, so things like that. And then, finally, how do I contribute back to the society with what I know, with my knowledge? That's why a couple of years ago, since pandemic days, I started Justin's Charity Coffee Chats. In short, what is it about? Because a lot of people want to ask me questions, but our time and energy is very limited. Because I'm also a single mom to two children, I'm a leader, I'm a top of the table member, so there are many competing demands. So what I've done is congregating everybody who wants to ask questions.

Speaker 3:

If you have been thinking of buying me coffee, you know that's why I call it coffee Donate that amount that you intend to treat me, be it $5, $10, to a charity organization that I've appointed to as a beneficiary, and then I'll answer questions online. Whatever questions that they ask, I will answer so that it helps the community, it helps the charity organization, the beneficiary. It also makes very efficient, it increases the efficiency of my time usage, so that it achieves the ultimate goal. So to me I'm sorry, it's a bigger answer than what you're expecting on financial success, but to me, success means it's not just financially. And in order for me, to be honest, tony, to do so many things at one go, it means that I must be financially independent enough for me to be spending my time not just really on closing sales every day, but to do something else meaningful. So that is what I think for me as a very personal thing that this is success, financial success to me, because I'm now able to allocate more time to do the things that I like to do, to spend holidays or vacation, take vacation breaks with my children, to spend time mentoring people, to give back to the society by doing donations, to help my fellow practitioners, justin. If they have questions, I can help to answer them, and every year I will do this.

Speaker 3:

This goal set, that is, in different pillars, and I will identify different KPIs that I attach to every single pillar. And by checking off, it also helps me, to be honest, tony, that I don't become a working mother with guilt. A lot of mothers will say oh, I feel that I'm spending enough time with my kids. I don't feel that when I'm working, I think about kids. When I'm with my kids, I feel that I'm spending enough time with my kids. I don't feel that, you know, when I'm working, I think about kids. When I'm with my kids, I feel that I'm not working hard enough.

Speaker 3:

So when I have all these pillars set, with the KPIs done, when I check off everything, I'll tell myself look, I can't feel guilty. All the time I've done my best for the kids. In order for me to it's on holiday, I need to achieve certain level of financial freedom and or whatever income that I need to be making. So when I'm with my kids, I won't feel that I am neglecting my work because I've achieved the targets. Same thing when I am at work, I don't feel guilty towards the kids that I haven't been spending time with them. Because I allocate my time, I won't bring them for tunisian, fetching them back and forth. So when all this comes together, it makes me feel very settled. I feel that I think the key is being settled and at peace with all the things that I'm doing. I think I've done my best.

Speaker 2:

Yes, You're doing a lot, but I think there's a lot of valuable things in there. I think one of the things you said that really hits home for me is you know that you go back and review it, because I think people so often set a goal and then they go on and they don't go back and revisit their goals and their progress. You know they'll just set a new goal and then they wonder why yes, it's not happening and I think it's yeah, so I think that's powerful.

Speaker 2:

So, um, what's one habit that people can change when it comes to their money?

Speaker 3:

I feel that it's about, um, when it comes to habit, money, habits, right A lot of people think about when. The first thing, when their salaries come in because, let's face it, 80% are employees Salaries come into the paychecks, come into their bank account. They spend it. They spend it without thinking through. Many of us are like that and the interesting ironically, when we were children I'm not sure how is it different, but when we were children, in Asia context our parents would give us pocket money.

Speaker 3:

We would save first, for example, if I had $10, I would save perhaps $5, I would spend the $5, I would save $8, I would spend $ five. I would save eight, I would spend two. But interestingly, when we grow up we start to work, salaries come in, we spend first. We never think about allocating the budget anymore, we never think about what we used to do as children. When we start to save first, and then I think it becomes a habit, perpetual habit, and that's how people get into debt, because you have been overspending your money. And this is a very, very sad situation. Where we were brought up in, especially in asia, we were brought up with the right values already, our parents instilled the right values, but somehow when we grow up these values didn't exist anymore. People forget about it. So if I can talk about you know what's one thing about money habit. I hope that people can still remember what we were taught when we were young Put aside the money first.

Speaker 3:

Money out of sight is out of mind. Put it aside and then you are free to spend the rest of it, but make sure you always cater. And this money that is set aside can do a lot of things. Number one they become your emergency funds, like prices happen. Number two they become your safety net. You know, use a bit of this money to get yourself a financial safety net, for example insurance, health insurance. Number three you think about saving and investing them, because in singapore we are facing um, you know, one of the highest inflation rates in the last few years is hyperinflation. So about five, six, seven, eight. At some point it reached about seven percent. But the bank's interest are not giving us that money. That means our money has grown smaller. But if you are not proactively managing the money and yet we are still spending previously, then we get a trouble. So if I can really share you very passionately is about this save, then you spend yeah, now that that's great advice.

Speaker 2:

Um. So you know, jocelyn, what money myth are you trying to break?

Speaker 3:

I think for me. Uh, I've been through this, you know, I've been through divorce and I've been consulting many, many women clients and I realized that you kind of get into the perpetual cycle of thinking that husbands or spouses male, especially the male are better at managing money because, you know, they study math, they are good engineers, they are good in numbers, financial literacy, and people attach financial literacy to this gender. Do that Actually? Conversely, it should be managed by both parties, regardless of gender. Never, ever, think about leaving everything in the hands of the other person, because when we talk about investments, it's always about diversification.

Speaker 3:

And now, in today's world, most of the countries, I would believe, both females, the wife and the husband both have to work. We need dual income because of the high mortgages that we are paying and because we have children, a lot of things. Prices have gone up, so you can't really always say okay, look, I am not a guy, my husband is better and therefore I leave all the planning to the men. And well, if the man is good, good with numbers, good with money, that's great.

Speaker 3:

But sadly, most of the cases that I've seen when it comes to, you know, divorce cases, some of the women are perhaps housewives, homemakers. They realize that, chugs, my hands are tied because finances are never in my radar, I'm not managing money and I'm clueless what I have to do. So you know. They get into this very stark situation where they can't move forward because they have no financial resources to even pursue for a divorce, for example, even if they are so miserable. They are abused by the other party, and it can go both ways. Yeah, don't get me wrong, I'm not a feminist, but I'm just sharing, you know, my experience walking through this journey with them. I always feel that both, as long as you are working you have studied everybody should be responsible for their own financial management of their money, not leaving it to the other party, because it exposes and creates a huge risk if something happens.

Speaker 2:

Yes, Well, and yeah, and I think, aside from being just as good, if not better, with money in a lot of cases is, as you point out, at least in the US, there's a very high rate of divorce.

Speaker 2:

So you know, there's a good chance that you know if you're a woman, you're going to be managing your money at some point as well, as women live 78 years longer on average than men, so a majority of women, unfortunately, are going to end up as widows, which, again, they're going to be in charge of their money. So, just from aside from the equality of it is, the reality is that, as a woman, there is a high chance that you're going to be end up in charge of the money at some point anyway, whether you want to be or not. So you might as well take charge when you can, so that that's powerful. So, jazlyn, you know to start to get into the wrap up, is you know? One last get ready question is you know, let's get out the time machine for a second. You know what advice would you give your younger self if it could go back in time knowing what you know now?

Speaker 3:

about money, I would say I would not have spent and invested so much time on my work.

Speaker 3:

I would have dedicated, you know, 30 minutes a day, one hour a day, to start reading up on financial literacy books to understand what the world is, because the funniest thing was. After I left HR, I came into the financial industry. I realized that what I knew about finances was not like nothing, yet that financial management, wealth management, encompasses all aspects of our life. What I knew about HR was like a little tiny aspect of my work in the past.

Speaker 3:

So, if I could go back in time, I would really want to encourage. You know, if all of you who are listening on this podcast to start reading up about you don't need to start reading up like a guru thick books but you start having. You need to have at least some interest because, at the end of the day, why are we working so hard? It's a very interesting scene. You know we are working so hard. It's a very interesting scene. You know we are working so hard because we are working for money.

Speaker 3:

But money you earn the money, you put it aside or you spend it lavishly. Again, you go back to the same corporate circle. It's a rat race where you earn more money, you spend more and then you start you don't manage your money. Well, we'll forever be poor. But if I can, I would say perhaps I would still work very hard for what I was doing in HR, but I would have dedicated a bit of time at least every day, maybe 30 minutes, to read up on newspapers, to find out more about economics, wealth and all that, so that you know things would have been a different, very different situation.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, if I could go back to younger jaslyn, but I I think what you said in there, though, is that, I think, is super important. As you said, we earn more. Sometimes it's easy to spend more, and you know, um, I don't know if to call it lifestyle creep in singapore, but that's a term we use here, yeah, you know, is that instead, when you get that bonus, save it.

Speaker 2:

That's a good amount of money. Maybe spend a little bit on yourself, but don't spend it all. That's great extra money to put aside. If you don't have an emergency fund Boom, there you go. There's your emergency fund when you get your bonus. Emergency fund boom, there you go. There's your emergency fund when you get your bonus. So that's powerful is to not spend every dollar you make when you make more. So I hope that's helpful for people. Um so, jazlyn, just to wrap up, is what is your number one tip on changing the way we think about money?

Speaker 3:

my number one tip would be think big, don't think small yeah, when I say don't think small, it means small.

Speaker 3:

I would say, for example, small expenses. Oh, maybe I should save that cup of latte. That's like four dollars. And then I, with that, I can save how much? You know, $1,200 or $1,500 a year. But imagine today you think big, you stop spending that bonus, you put aside 10-20% of your income and start reinvesting them. How many more cups of latte can you buy with those big monies, with the returns that come back?

Speaker 3:

So my number one tip is always don't compromise your lifestyle to such a miserable state that you have to give up. You know, for example, your gym membership. You have to give up a cup of coffee a day that you think. To me it's a routine example. I can't give up that cup of latte.

Speaker 3:

But I would rather think about ways to make more money while if I'm still employed, but I have to proactively manage my money so that my money is working harder than me in the office, in the bank, as a debt asset, for example. Debt asset means it's doing nothing. How come me? I'm the financial owner, I'm the money maker, I make, I'm working harder than my money in the bank. My money is just sitting there. So I would rather think big, think about how we can proactively, uh, manage their money rather than think about scrimping and saving.

Speaker 3:

Okay, maybe I should cut this, and, and you make your life so miserable. And then you start thinking okay, life is actually, my life is so pathetic I can't even afford a small thing, I can't even afford to buy a new lipstick. No, don't do that. Life should be about, you know, being in a happy state. But you have to think harder how we can actually make your money work harder for you. So to think harder how we can actually make your money work harder for you so that it's in an all well balance. You can't stop something and compromise and make yourself so miserable and then you don't wish to work harder already because I am sorry, sorry, sorry for yeah, so it's all about thinking harder how you can actually and let compounding do the magic- oh, there we go.

Speaker 2:

Compound interest yes, I love it, that's like the magic word on for every guest to say let compounding work.

Speaker 2:

Yes, so that? No, that's awesome, and I agree with you because I think that's something people oftentimes get caught up in. That small thing is like you know, should I buy that small item, Should I get the latte? Well, you know, you know, maybe that's a question, but you know instead is you know, if you're out there buying a new car, maybe that's something you should be asking. It's like do I need that new car rather than do I need that latte?

Speaker 3:

totally yes, I think that extends to you know. That is a very good extension to you know. Think big and don't think small. Think about the big ticket expenses. Should you really be spending you know so much money? Or the air ticket buying a business class air ticket versus an economy where you can actually fund for the entire family trip, for example? These are big questions that we should really be looking at. Don't focus on the small details, and that's what I've been through in life as well well, and you also point out something I think is super important is to find joy.

Speaker 2:

Uh, you know, in your life, as you go through it. You know because it is your money and you should have some, you know fun with it. You know, so that that's wonderful. So, jaslyn, where can people learn more about you or can they get in touch with you and follow you and your work?

Speaker 3:

Thank you, tony. So you can find me on LinkedIn. You can find my name, jesslyn Ng, j-a-s-l-y-n space. My last name is N-G-N-G. That's how you can find me. You can also find me on my Instagram. My Instagram handle is called Jesslyn Ng. Work-life Balance. Work-life Integration sorry, well. Life integration sorry, okay.

Speaker 2:

And I'll make sure I have the link for everybody. So I'll make sure I get that from you so it'll be in the show notes for everybody watching and listening. Get in touch with Jaslyn and see what she's up to.

Speaker 3:

So, jaslyn, thanks very much for joining us today on the Get Ready Money podcast. It's my pleasure. It's been such a good conversation with you, Tony.

Speaker 2:

Hope to meet you in person, maybe someday. Singapore is supposed to be pretty cool for good things about it, so yeah, and thank you everyone, as always, for tuning into this episode of the Get Ready Money podcast. If you learned something today about changing the way you think about money, please share this podcast with someone else. Until next time, thank you.

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Tony Steuer

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