BIG BIG dream!

soon, in another few weeks, my student life will come to an end. I will be moving on to the next phase of my life - working life, where i slog it out in the corporate world. i don't know if im really looking forward to it. but guess since i always like changes n improvement in my life, the working life can be really exciting if i seize all opportunities that come my way.

i was talking to my junior a few night ago. we talked abt work n potential companies that we would like to work in. suddenly i had a better/clearer idea of what i want to achieve in the next 24 years. (yes, if you go n calculate, i wan to retire when i am 48-50 years old). it was only then that i realised i really have an obsession with word 'largest'. Below was what i told my fren:

" I will start my career in Keppel Offshore & Marine, the world's largest rig builder. subsequently, i wan to work in GE Capital, which is the world's largest non-bank financial company (at least that's what i read on a bloomberg article). Next up, not in any order, i wan to work for

- Exxon Mobile: the world's largest oil n gas company
- Toyota: should be the world largest car company now, given the BIG 3 of USA are dying (though personally, i prefer BMW cars. haha)
- Coca-cola: owner of 4 of the world's top 5 nonalcoholic sparkling beverage brands
- Blackstone: the world leader in private equity investing
- Proctor & Gamble: should be among the world's largest consumer goods company"

so that's 7 industries in abt 24 years. Given the varied experience i have, I would love to end my career in GIC, to help grow our nation's wealth/reserves because i think it's a bit wrong if i help other sovereign wealth fund to grow their reserves n not my own country's reserve.

on top of this, i would like to spend some time in Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Li Ka Shing Foundation. this will allow me to witness how 2 of the largest foundations in the world operate in two different regions: Asia and America. Ultimately, i wan to set up my own non-profit organisation (i have not decided on the focus of my NPO, cos i have not seen enough of this world yet). if i happened to be rich enough, I would definitely love to have my own foundation to carry on my dream even when i m not around anymore.

okie, i know this blog is v crazy, sounds impossible and that I am day dreaming. haha. it's because im too lazy to study for my quizzes, so i decide to dream abit to motivate myself. haha. maybe a few years down the road, when i read this blog again, i will be reminded of this BIG BIG BIG dream that i have.

okie, back to reality

recession makes me grow up even faster

everyone knew that recession is here. you heard people saying that they are feeling the impact of the recession. do they really feel the impact? some people may say that they lost some paper money on their investment. but those loses are unrealised and as long as you are able to hold on til the crisis is over, you sld b fine.

i have being through a few financial crisis: 1997 asia financial crisis and this current crisis. but i never really felt the impact until now because i finally understood that the impact will only be felt when your family lost the main source of income.

i just realised that my family has lost the main source of income. suddenly, i felt the impact of recession. suddenly, i truly understand that Cash is KING. suddenly, there's a high possibility that i will be providing for the whole family as soon as i graduate.

it's amazing how things have changed over the 3 years. in my first year of undergraduate, i didn't think about going for better job cos im contented with what i have and i just want to finish my course smoothly. i dun need to worry financially cos my family was still doing fine and i have my scholarship allowance

in my second year, i was tempted by the more glamorous and high paying jobs, so much so that i regretted taking up the scholarship.

in my 3rd year, first, there was the economy downturn and some of my friends can't even find jobs. suddenly it seemed like having a scholarship and a rather decent job was a fortunate and lucky thing. as of 30 jan 2009, i felt that a scholarship was really a blessing in disguise because i managed to have some savings from the scholarship and these amount should be able to see me through until i start work in june. though in the process, i may have to give up certain luxuries: my bangkok trip in march, cfa level 2 examination in jun, grad trip, unnecessary items like new clothes and a new bag etc.

it's amazing how my views on my scholarship award can fluctuate so drastically in a time span of 3 years.

some side notes:
1) i managed to pass my cfa level 1 examination. worldwide passing rate is 35%
2) i donated blood for the first time today. surprisingly, i quite like the experience. it's pleasant and meaningful
3) perhaps i sld buy some toto for next wk's toto ang bao 2009
4) i will be looking for some part time job from now onwards.

Year 2009 started on a rather bad note. hope it will be better in the coming months

Rich or Poor

i always wonder if it's better for a kid to grow up in a not-so-well-to-do family.

using myself as an example, i grew up in a not-so-well-to-d0 family. not everyone knows that the first time i traveled abroad was with the SAF. in fact, my first 3 overseas trips were with the army. there were many things i wanted when i was young. i didn't dare to request cos i knew my parents were not v rich. they scrimped and saved for the family. when i started to get really sensible about life in secondary, i knew if i wanted the things, i will earn them myself. that's why some of my friends may feel that i was super driven to do well and be successful in life.

though my auntie is rather strict, and not so willing to spend on my little cousin, all my other relatives some how doted on her. hence i felt she was rather spoilt and super passive abt studies. my aunt has being supervising her studies since young (my cousin is studying primary 6 now). i always felt that my aunt would never be able to supervise her once she gets to secondary school cos it's just going to get more n more difficult. and i seriously hope my little cousin will be more sensible by then.

i have some rich friends. some are so self-centered that they simply lack EQ and initiative. and it can be very frustrating to have such friends at times. yet, i have friends who are very down-to-earth, despite them being so rich. they still have the drive to do well, and i was pleasantly surprised by that.

Therefore, i really wondered if all these are a result of the kind of characters that GOD gives them or as a result of lifes being too comfortable.

sometimes, i joked with my gf that if i happen to be rich in the future, i would still appear to be poor (like stay in HDB flat, don't drive car,no expensive holiday trips etc). i still believes it's better to grow up in a poor family. am i wrong to think it that way???

side track a bit. i am rather lost for this sem. i don't know what should be my foucs. that's why i have not stated down my 2009 resolutions cos i still don't know what i want to achieve for this yr.

year 2008 review

this could be a very long blog.

it has being so long since i blog. 2 reasons: i am really quite busy for since the start of my internship in jun. i also lost a bit of desire to blog. haha

BUT I decided to make a comeback! cos i wan to put down my thoughts for year 2008 and i prefer to type it out rather than write it down using pen.

learnt a few important lessons this yr which made me think a lot about what i really want in life, what am i really going after in life?

yr 2008 marks my first encounter with business cases and i fall in love with business cases cos it was really the most challenging thing in my uni life. business cases opened up a lot of opportunities: like presenting to a director from pwc advisory, joining Business Solutions club (thus meeting more like-minded people, esp malcolm wong), representing nbs in business case competitions, getting to know frens from other countries. most importantly, business cases allowed me to have a better idea of the kind of career that will interest me.

went back to kom for internship cos i couldn't get approval to go hsbc. so i tried to make do with what i had and i requested to do a few wks of internship at both corporate development deapartment and finance. finance really bored me. i am dying to get out of that department cos i dun plan to do accounting for the rest of my life. i repeated this a lot of time: accounting is just a good knowledge to have in the business world. i wan to do strategy, or work that are more analytical based. my request to make a permanent switch to corporate development department was turned down.

perhaps all these are not really that important. the most painful lesson for 2008: spend more time with ur loved ones (be it family or frens). don't use work etc as an excuse. it's v painful when u decided to spend time with someone but that person is no longer living in this world.

during the wk of my business case competition, my taekwondo coach of 7 yrs passed away on the 3rd day of my competition. i had plans to visit my grandma immediately after my competition ended on a fri. but it was too late, my grandma passed away on the very last day of my competition. the kind of sadness can't be described. i hate myself for using trainings and work as an excuse not to visit my grandma every wk. i thought i can make it up to her after my competition. i lost that chance forever.

it made me wondered what do i really want? achievements, money, proving myself or simply to lead a normal life if that allows me to spend time with my loved ones.

do u know what u really want? i used to think i know what i want. yr 2008 made me think otherwise. yr 2008 made me think harder, in a painful way

so what if u r gd

finally, on 5 Jun, the released of the results marked the end of this whole semester. this is the first semester that i really overload.i wasn't really prepared for the exams and hence was already prepared for the worst case scenario.

To my surprise, it turned out to be my best semester ever, and it reaffirmed my belief that I am one who tend to do better as the semesters get harder and tougher. in fact, my total number of A+ this semester is equal to the combined number of A+ for my first 3 semesters. so glad that I am going for exchange next sem. my first class is 95% guarantee already.

so those at NUS, welcome me!!! haha and must jio me for lunch k. im a happy and relax man for my next 2 semester.

as for the internship, i concluded 1 thing. no matter what, i do learn as those are things i don't know. it's just whether those things i learn are useful anot. personally, im very disappointed with the internship.

some times i wondered if i am setting too high an expectation for the company? i don't know. if they have high expectations of me as a scholar, i do have high expectation for a company that it's one of the biggest company listed in SGX , in terms of market value.

too many things

2 disasters happened recently. every victim in these 2 disaster (in china and myanmar) deserves our help.

There has being a lot of calls for donations. however, i was quite sad that most of the donations will be going to china. this is also 1 incident that further strengthen my belief that a strong, uncorrupted government is very important.

I can't blame people for not donating to myanmar because they may be worried that the corrupted military government may abuse the donations. however, i choose to donate my money to myanmar. simply because, I am willing to take the risk, cos the people there really need our help and money. i believe that the international community will enforce proper accountability and use of these donations. i believe and i hope so. secondly, everyone is donating to china, so i believe there should be sufficient money available to help the china people.

More importantly, i do believe that the victims in china need more than just money. i think they need more pairs of hands to help retrieve the bodies from the rubbles. if the china people just need money, i don't think we need to donate much because the chinese government has trillions dollars of reserve that they can use for such emergency causes. i mean, if they can spend billions of dollars revamping beijing to prepare for the upcoming olympic 2008 and invest billions in US banks during the sub-prime crisis, it's clear that china has the necessary financial resources to help the chinese people.

but i doubt i can say so for the myanmar people and i pity them for having such a government that's like SHIT.

i don't like my internship. in fact, i rather spend 4 hours in school training for my case competitions than to spend 4 hrs interning. i really benefited much more. many companies claimed that the internship pay is low because it's the learning that counts. and hence i felt very frustrated when i don't learn much, because im wasting my time away. i wished my internship ends asap.

some people told me that i shouldn't expect to get alot of internship allowance because the company alr gave me a sum of allowance yearly for my studies. maybe i should clarify that i don't expect to get what goldman sachs pay for their interns, but i think 700 bucks is still abit unacceptable, because i m not learning much. also, the yearly allowance is in exchange for me working for a number of years with the company after i graduate. it doesn't mean they can short-change me for my internship.

2 years ago, i thought i knew what i want, what industry i wan to be in. 2 years on, i have a better idea because i have seen more of this world to know what i should expect.

Half way through

I was busy from wed morning to fri afternoon as I had my audition for an international case competition. I was selected into a 'provisional' team of 6, from which they will choose 4 to represent NTU in this international business case competition, while the remaining 2 will be reserve. The next 2 weeks will be critical. Half the battle is won, but it's not the end, it's not good enough. I need to put in more effort and really give my best. Hopefully I can make it to the final team of four.

Internship is starting next monday. The next 10 weeks will be torture if I make it to the team for the case competition because in the 10 weeks, i have to juggle a lot of commitment like my internship, my intense training for the competition, organising events for KSAA/keppel, touche 2008 (though I have not really being contributing much). Is this a holiday?

i m still mentally quite tired, so im going off to bed now.

I will be back =)