Bridging Exams... Again.

I have been on leave from work since last Tuesday to study for my bridging course in maths and econs exams that is on wed and fri respectively. Progress has been very very slow but at least I managed to cover everything. Now is just to revise all over again and hopefully, I will be able to do well enough to attain a B and redeem my Xbox :p. The first time round, I really did not prepare until the day before the exam, and thus me failing was not so much a big surprise.

This time, I will get Timothy to check my results for me once again haha. He was so straightforward about it that time, just sending me and sms tt said,"Yo dude, you failed both man." No words of comfort, nothing. So this time, I really hope he will be a bearer of good news, but I also know it all depends on me.

I attended classes proper last friday. Let's just say being a student once again is nice, and I can't wait for bridging course exams to be over so I can study my main subjects. Also, I spoke to my mum about me going London next year to study on campus at LSE for a short period of time and so far she has hinted that she may well just allow it. I did the calculations and it will cost me something like 6000 plus sing dollars? Goodness, it's all about money these days.

Talking about money, I bought my first unit trust near the end of last month with JJ. Of course with the small amount that we put in, we cannot be expecting high yields, but it's more for long-term capital appreciation and hopefully we made a correct purchase and if the fund continues to perform well, maybe we can inject more capital.

I have also opened a stock brokerage account with Citibank to trade in the Singapore & US markets. I did some homework last week and was mildly surprised that CTB offers the lowest commission fees amongst the banks in Singapore. From time to time, I do speak to my peers about investing their money, but so far, most of them except my commando friends has been less receptive to the idea.

Putting your money in the bank and not doing anything about it is just about the worst thing someone can do. With inflation at a high, everyone is becoming poorer from their inaction. We work hard and spend most of the week in the office slogging just to earn that little paycheck and after lessing off CPF, there really isn't much to play around with.

People always have the misconception that investing involves high risk. Well, driving without a licence is high risk - the risk comes from not knowing what you are doing. If you bother to educate yourself or learn more, and taking small baby steps to test water, after a while you will become better at what you are doing.

Do not be fooled by the interest rate the bank pays for savings account. It is currently around 0.25% across the board. Say you have $10,000 in your account, that will give you a return of $25 at the end of the year. Inflation currently is around 8%, so your $10,000 is probably only worth $9200 now. Lessing off the interest you earned, you would have become $775 poorer by doing nothing.

Inflation is a very real problem, and as you get older, there will be more bills to pay, more things to worry about. Maybe I think too far ahead, according to Matthew when I met him for breakfast last Tuesday, but if you do not make plans, then you would be struggling to survive. And if you are struggling to survive, how then can you go to the next level and help others in need?

Those who have taken a plane ride before would know that in emergencies, when the oxygen masks come down, you are instructed to wear your own mask first before you help your child or other people. It's the same analogy that applies.

That said, I just want to do well for my bridging course exams again so Nicole won't have the chance to have another go at me saying,"Still can say passing mark is only 34" haha. Yeah, I too find it hard to believe till today, that I managed to fail two exams that has such low passing marks. And it cost me time, it cost me my full time position at Citibank, and it cost me another $720, before GST.

Okay, time to go back to differentiation, integration, matrices etc etc and all that nonsense with numbers. I know, there are secondary school kids who will say this is a piece of cake, but I really really hate math. HATE it, so please don't laugh at me and show some love instead.