Friday, June 27, 2008

It's not a bed of roses

The bars on shoulders are heavy...

I need to work hard work smart!!

Friday, February 22, 2008

Voluntary Medisave Top Up for Workfare Income Supplement Scheme Results in Huge Liability

In order to qualify for the Workfare Income Supplement Scheme (WIS) for $320, my babysitter mother making $400 per month made a voluntary Medisave account contribution of $67 last year. To her horror, CPF board enrolled her into the Medisave For Self-Employed Scheme backdating from 2003 to present, meaning she has to make a further cash top-up of $2813 for the premiums due.

It gives little incentive for the most needy group to top-up their Medisave because the cash liability clearly outweighs the supplement received mostly in CPF accounts. In fact they are penalized financially in terms of their cash flow and I shudder to think of compounded late payment fees that will eventually reduce the WIS amount received to nought.

I hope the CPF board and the relevant authorities will comment on this substantial consequent Medisave cash liability, the benefits to the needy, and how the backdating was determined to start from 2003.

Jerald Lim

Monday, February 04, 2008

2008 New Year Resolutions

A little late but better than never to make resolutions for 2008. For this year I wish for:
  1. Pink of health for all my loved ones;
  2. My dear and I be ever more loving;
  3. Be disciplined in my finance and achieve 5% returns;
  4. To be the no. 1 LTA in SBAB, giving the best for my men and bosses;
  5. Regain good physical fitness - IPPT silver and complete marathon 2008 under 6H;
  6. Strike TOTO!
Happy Chinese New Year to all!!

2007 Resolutions Post Mortem

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Another New Year Resolutions

I wish for

  1. First class honours in EEE DONE
  2. Someone special DONE happily!
  3. A great grad trip to Taiwan or Korea Went to Thailand instead, but DONE
  4. Perform well for ALOC Reasonably DONE
  5. Healthy bank balance come 2008 Reasonably DONE
  6. Pink of health for my family and loved ones Yeah all's well!
  7. STRIKE TOTO NOT YET!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

12th ALOC

From the initial apprehension of staying in, the 12th Air Logistics Officer Course (ALOC) came a long way to mark the last day of lectures in AFS today before we all embark on our on job training (OJT) tomorrow at different bases, which should most likely be our permanent postings for the next 2 - 3 years. All the best bros!

Monday, December 03, 2007

Marathon Finisher

6 hours 41 mins 40s. 6.3 km/h. 8066th place. FINISHER of 42.195km.

On Sunday morning, I pushed myself to the limits again to pull through the long and tough journey with the help of Derrick. Thanks bro!

This year's run is by far the most satisfying. The first time we were too foolhardy not to drink regularly at the beginning and I died out near 20+ km, the remaining run was a torture. Last year was a walk in the park as derrick wasn't well prepared. This year I'm not in the best shape but kept pushing on with derrick's encouragement.

The cramps started setting in at 14km, a show of our insufficient training. I applied lots of deep heat cream and spray along the way, ran with the near-cramp sensation for most of the journey, coped with the hot and merciless sun and tried my best to keep on going. Although I'm not a fast nor natural runner, the innate satisfaction of finishing by pushing my limits was great.

"You've beaten 99.9% of the population just by running." - That was the organiser's msg at a board near the start. =)

Somebody said this before: "If you want to win a race, join the 100 metre dash. If you want to push yourself to the limit, run the marathon."

I can't remember the exact wording, but in essence the marathon is not for the faint-hearted, the showy tricksters and is a test of your determination. When the body says NO, the mind gotta say YES.

Yep still having the feel good factor after suffering for the 7hrs. It's a torture every year but worth it to keep reminding myself to overcome this pain. Told derrick that we should stop creating misery for ourselves next year, but I guess I'll be back. Haha.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Reflections on LIFE

It's been a long time since I picked up my "pen" to write, but a lot of things happened so suddenly so quickly so abruptly that made me rethink about LIFE.

The parting of Eujin was a big shock. Although we weren't not close personally, he was someone I always looked up to. He was the one who aced the exams, trumped me in weights and pull-ups, ran and row much faster. He was the all-rounder that I admired and wanted to become.

The loss of the 5 dragonboaters in Cambodia was another shock. Among them, Boon San was my lecture mate in NTU EEE. I dunno him personally, but he was a friend of Wilfred. As a canoeist I feel the pain in their loss. Dragonboaters, canoeists, we are people with passion and determination in the things we do and I always respect all rowers. The fact that one of them were so close to my circle of friends made me worse.

My heart cringed when I read about each and every one of them in the newspapers. All outstanding young men, all great people with character and drive. And the people they leave behind...

It reinforces the fragility of life. People dropped their jaws when I said I was attending the wake of my friends. Aaron went in a hurry, and then Eujin. It hurt when people so young and so capable and so jovial laid quietly as we pay our last respects.

I shudder to think that everyone around me and I can be victims someday to some accident. Please take care my friends and treasure all around. Don't spend the time regretting.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Car!

I've collected my Latio on friday last week!

Topped up $1k for open cat COE to expedite my car delivery and managed to get it just in time for my TAB attachment where we don't have to stay in.

Feel different driving around, have an added sense of freedom and control, but also feeling the financial pinch. Still worth the money in the end because of my work nature and considering that I have a bargain price!

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Another 2 weeks wait

From Nissan

As expected, the price of COE rebounded and I did not get my COE during the last bid. Gotta wait another 2 more weeks.

Anyway, I booked my black Latio Sport Base at $57.5k but did not get the best freebies after surfing thru the Latio Club forum online. But I only found the forum after booking my car, a little too eager to get maybe that's why my SE didn't put in more efforts.

If possible, I hope not to top up to get my car. In fact, the price of the Latio has gone up to $63.5k since the time I put in my order, so my deal is actually not bad, except that TCM may not bid high enough for me to secure my COE faster. Shrugz.

Not in a hurry too since my stay in period should last another continuous 5 weeks. By then my wheels will come in very useful when gg to Tengah et al.

***

On course at AFS hasn't been too bad. Except the compulsory stay-in sucks. But picking up old games like international chess which I haven't touched in years. Quite a few good players in my course too. Erm actually, this course is quite fun! =D

Thursday, August 23, 2007

COE's down, it's the time!

Been test-driving for the past two weeks, tried avante, city, vios and latio sport and I've finally made my choice - LATIO SPORT!

Avante - handling is too light
Vios - has a cheapo feel
City - good mix of sportiness and family, but the pricing is not competitive.
Latio Sport - best value for money! Go test it!

It must be a god-given present that the cat A COE prices halved today to $8118. It is a signal that I shld go in now to get whatever I want!

A round of bargaining tmrw and I hope to emerge with more goodies! Haha!

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Wakeboarding

Went to Marina Country Club at Punggol to try out wakeboarding with mostly my AEO colleagues and soon-to-be coursemates.

Actually I've wanted to try out wakeboarding for awhile, since the time when I was canoeing at Kallang. Water sports always appeal to me and wakeboarding is one of those look cool and great bods activity. Finally had my taste of it thanks to Jimmy who intro this lobang almost one month ago.

There were 9 of us and we booked 2 boats at $330 per boat for 4 hours, which worked out to about $73 per head. Not cheap considering that I row for free Haha but it was definitely enjoyable. And also a few guys flew us aeroplanes last minute and added to the per head cost.

Anyway about the wakeboarding proper, a few of the guys can already do it effortlessly after their first try last month. Weiquan and Tommy were pretty steady and had good postures. As it was my first time, I took quite a few attempts to even get on my feet, but I would give myself a passable grade lah.

The trick is really to be patient and not attempt to overpower the force of the water. I thought I have an advantage because of my canoeing experience and know the waves and have better balance, but still drank quite a lot of water. But it was real good fun, to hire a boat, sun tan while not wakeboarding, and guess what? We all took leave and played on a Friday morning.

Will definitely be back for the next time!

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Renumeration Woes

Renumeration is the fair value that an employer pays to the employee for the perceived capacity to contribute positively to the growth of the company (Beng, 2007).

It is a common practice for companies to adopt a renumeration scheme that compensates employees on a senority basis, rewarding them for the loyalty and the years of service rendered.

Increasingly, however, companies are moving away from rewarding seniority to rewarding work performance.

In perhaps the biggest industry in Singapore, a hybrid is created that seeks to rewards both seniority and performance. The consequent problem is that many a times the yardstick used is not consistent and lacks logical sense.

Allow me to illustrate a myopic view of the flaws in the system.

The cycle of economic boom and boon repeats itself, and the ability of an organization to retain its talents becomes crucial in good times when other competitors and industries present mouth-watering opportunities. While many insist that cultivating intrinsic motivation is key to retaining existing talents, few would disagree that an equivalent extrinsic reward forwards this cause and attracts more to join the organization.

To maintain and boost employee morale in the midst of rising workplace volatility, the carrots dangled to new recruits should rightfully be extended to existing members as well. This is important to maintain organizational equity for all, without which an unimaginable crisis await the management.

Firstly, unequal renumeration for performing the exact duties in itself is unjustified. Barring any performance-related indicators (or the lack of such measures), the employer seemingly implied that the work done by the new recruit is of greater value than existing employees. Is this performance-rated pay? I would think not. This inequity leads to employee discontent and resentment. Any normally motivated employee will find this difficult to swallow.

In a more severe case, the lack of levelling in payscale poses a potentially more serious problem for more senior employees who are performing work of clearly more importance and bearing more responsibility. This group of people witnesses a blatant disregard for their contributions to the organization and suffer the indignity of being similarly rewarded as fresh recruits. A logical deduction about their inferior payscale may be due to the wrong timing when they entered the organization. While year-on-year this group of people enjoys a slow but steady increase in renumeration, they are in fact far off the present market rate.

Our case study reveals that the management is fully cognizant of the situation, and they have implemented a market adjustment component, which is a one-time lump sum payment. Contrast this to a permanent adjustment to the top brass and the mistreatment is even more obvious. This is the middle-class crisis facing the sandwiched classes. This is, and will be a problem for the organization to cope with unless they take heed of the warning signs and arrest the slide at this early stage. Every delay at this juncture poses an exponential increase in rectification cost at a later stage.

A further peek into the problem shows that even among the new recruits, renumeration varies depending on the time of entry - The earlier you put pen to paper, the worse off you are. This is pretty silly and ironic that employees who committed earlier aren't rewarded for their loyalty, but instead have to make do with a lower renumeration with all else equal.

In the long course of tea break discussions, numerous counter arguements have been made in attempts to downplay the issue, and I would like to tackle these Greek myths one by one.

They are 2 years older, we will get it 2 years later. Age seems to be the overarching agreement on why we deserve less. As discussed earlier, a seniority-based renumeration scheme may be justifiable, but it is an individual's corporate seniority for his time served at the organization in a similar capacity. People argue that they did served 2.5 years for NS. But lest we forget, NS is a nation-wide obligation for all Singaporean males and they have only fulfilled their duty to the nation, and whatever experience they accumulated is most probably non-transferable as we embark in a new vocation.

They have study loans to repay. At first glance, it is a perfectly valid reason because our tertiary educations were funded differently. But the study awards are not given to us unconditionally. It was a mutual agreement by the organization to sponsor and the recipient to fulfill his degree and return for a bond period. No party owe each other anything at all to start with, since every awardee carries a quantified $X of liquidated damages in an unlikely case of bond breaking.

Kaputt!

Even more exasperating is the inflexibility of organizational policies and inefficiency of the administration to uphold equity for graduates of different university. It is not funny when you are financially penalized for an external system's doings. Little things add up to become really irking.

Why WHy WHY? What kind of deal is this?

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Friday, July 13, 2007

Millionaire to be!!

In fact everyone should be a millionaire if you start investing young!

Target:

30 yrs old $180k
40 yrs old $700k
50 yrs old $1.8m

Conservative estimates! I will report back in 7 years time to tell you if I've hit the first milestone. =)

The flip side is - doesn't quite look like I can become a MULTI-millionaire. How??

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Blogging once in a blue moon

Updates:

- I've gotten the Rosie Heng-Koh Poh Choo Gold Medal for Human Resource Management! A really big surprise and a great honour to get any book prize / gold medal, especially coming from Michael Heng and co!

- Convocation is on the 26 July at 10am, ceremony 10 at Nanyang Auditorium. Welcome all friends and gifts and bears and flowers haha, okie just kidding! Can take pictures together!

- Started work back at RSAF since May actually. Lamenting on my stagnated pay and admin inefficiency that cost me.

- Went on a short one week holiday to Bangkok and Phuket in June with Philifer to unwind, sightsee and shop!

- Rowed for NJ Alumni last wkend for SDBF at Bedok Reservoir. The 10-men 'B' boat got into the inter corporate final, while the other teams fought hard. Plenty of problems in the alumni team to be sorted out. Don't like politics I just wanna row.

- Minor ankle sprain during a casual street soccer game, did not warrant any MC :p

- Passed my IPPT before the ROVW deadline.

Want to

- Apply for credit cards with lotsa dining discounts!

- Buy a non camera PDA handphone with Wifi, GPS, good multimedia abilities. Dopod P800 looks good, any comments anyone?

Friday, June 08, 2007

I got my FIRST class!

Hooray! Really a pleasant surprise and I'm glad I did not slack off for my final sem! The feeling is ecstatic, especially not knowing our own standing for the 4 long years at NTU!

It actually exceeded my own expectations. Gave me a sense of achievement for the 4 years spent working to this degree. =)

Friday, June 01, 2007

Passed my IPPT!

Yah I know itz no big deal! Haha but after my ROVW last year it is a relief to pass at the first attempt this year, and almost getting a silver! Hmm, I will try harder to improve my 2.4 timing to get that extra 100 bucks, they come in handy! ;)

Met Benjamin Chew and some other AEOs at the IPPT at SBAB this morning. Not bad had a chance to catch up and understand more about how people are doing at base level. He got his Nissan Latio, pearl purple, quite chio! Haha I wish I can get one too!

FYP is finally done. I've submitted my hardcopy report to Prof Lee and the abstract through the library electronically. But it was a chore really, had to download the VPN to submit successfully. I supposed that's the end for my NTU life, as I walked through the south spine one of the last times on my way out today... Au revoir NTU et mes amies! Merci pour tout!

And announcement of 0.5 months bonus with $220 for civil servants! Hooray, but I think I will get peanuts again after pro-rating. Sianz. Hope my results come out soon, then I can fax to AMD asap and emplace me.

And I signed up to row for SDBF for NJ alumni. The club looks like in trouble and I hope a half-fit me can help. Actually kinda scared for the upcoming trainings - 25 mins slow run then 2 hrs sprint trainings. The last time I did these were in year 2. But I will try my best, as usual. Hope we can return to winning ways, if not perform respectably! C'mon we are NJ alumni! Everyone is a champion with so many extra db gold medals at home. We just need to ignite that innate potential to terrorize our opponents again! *ROAR*

Sunday, May 27, 2007

VisualDNA

Moving back home

After 4 years on my own in NS and university, I am back home again.

It's supposed to be good that I have dinner prepared and laundry done, and no more chores like sweeping and cleaning my room, but seemed to lose something.

Lost an independence. My handphone actually starts ringing if I hang out later with my friends. *shrugz* Yup I know my mother is concerned about me, but I know how to take care of myself.

Lost a privacy. Need some personal space at times but there's no longer a place I can hole up alone anymore.

Lost some friends. Okie not exactly a loss, but used to be able to find people go for dinner and jogging by shouting out loud, but now everyone is apart.

Oh well, oh well. May be back to living out soon if I opt to stay-in for my ALOC. A money-saving option, given that all meals can be indented. We shall see.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Team Gathering at Pan Pac Hotel

What can a big group of guys and girls do in a 5-star hotel room?

Team gathering lah. Haha... Met up njcanoeists at the Pan Pacific thanks to organiser Shihui, though her info dissemination leaves much to be desired. An upscale chalet really, with "I have never..." and lotsa drinks to intoxicate our livers. Unhealthy, but we don't really care.

Really had fun, with old and new jokes infiltrating the room. Bunch of greats friends to have! Too bad it's mother's day today and I didn't want to stay.