NUS Financial Seminar 2011

Was talking to a few friends about personal finance management and became a little discomforted.

It struck me that everyone was living in the present, with nary a thought about the future.

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Review of seminar:

From his enthusiasm during the presentation and willingness to remain after the talk to entertain queries from the audience, one can intuit the depth of passion Dr Cherian has for being a finance educator. His dedication and inner fire for his work serves as a reminder to remain passionate in one’s chosen path in life. He continually reminded the audience to excel in all that they do – be they accountants, scientists, engineers or doctors; rewards will naturally follow excellence. One, he firmly believes, should not seek rewards.

Dr Cherian also marries academic understanding with market experiences. Despite obtaining a degree from MIT, a doctorate and tenure from Cornell University, he chose to leave the comfort of academia to acquire knowledge from hands-on learning in Wall Street. Textbook knowledge can only carry one so far. From his actions, he prompts his audience to merge technical scholarship with experiential know-how to gain a wider, more holistic appreciation of the studied issue.

After the talk, Dr Cherian revealed privately that he had founded several trusts in MIT, Cornell and NUS to provide education subsidies for poor students. He shared his charitable acts, not to impress, but to inspire successful people to contribute to the society which had nurtured them. One must be thankful for what one has and share those blessings with the people around him.

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I sounded like a freaking robot, didn't I?

Vomited the review out to fulfill the minimum word count for a module. Rather wistful. Writing should be an enchanting experience; one should only write about what one has an interest in.

Anyway, I was rather indignant that people aren't planning for their futures. Who else could be responsible for them? Their mum and dad? Siblings? Mother Nature? PAP?

Would advocate personal responsibility and financial literacy as a potential panacea to the problems of modern living. Take time to learn about the world history, politics and economics. Plan for your future. Grow slowly but with awareness. I am a newbie but it doesn't worry me much as long as I'm progressing.

Look, the price of housing in Singapore is increasing and will continue to increase. Inflation, medical and transport fees are on likewise trends. Who will bear the burden of such high costs of living?

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Do take a look at Dr Cherian's slides here.