Two weeks back, I received a new debit card to replace my old card which will be expiring in late April. I went to the TransitLink Ticket Office to get a refund of the remaining value in my old card.

And it was all for just S$1.20.

S$1.20 may look like a small sum but it holds special significance to me, as this was the amount I was left with after I gave my dad all my savings 11 years ago at the height of the global financial crisis.

Then only 11 and in Primary 5, I had finished school one day and was surprised to see my dad at home. I assumed that he had taken leave from work that day.

He was sitting back against me on the balcony floor talking with my mum. That was when I inadvertently heard him tell my mum that he had been retrenched from his job as a manager at a popular chicken rice restaurant.

My dad was in his early 40s then, and had held the job for about 30 years since he left primary school.

I was shocked and the first question that popped up in my mind was: “What is going to happen to the family?”

My dad assured me that everything was going to be alright but deep down, I had this nagging feeling that things would get a lot more worse before it gets better.

Soon I was proven right. My parents started to fall behind in making payments for household bills. I remembered opening the letter box to see a pink notice from SP Services reminding my dad to pay for the utilities bills.

Before his retrenchment, my dad had hardly accumulated any savings as most of what he earned went towards supporting a family of five. He was the sole breadwinner so the impact of his retrenchment came quickly and hit us hard.

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My dad sold off his car within the first month of his retrenchment because he could not even service the car loan. Next to go was our family’s weekly trips to Johor Bahru for shopping and food.

My daily allowance was cut and I even had to forgo my daily dose of soya milk bought from a mama shop in my neighbourhood.

Fortunately, there was an auntie in my school who sold S$1.50 curry rice and I began buying from her every day as the other stalls were too expensive for me. My classmate even nicknamed me as the S$1.50 curry boy!

Weeks after my dad lost his job, I applied for a school financial assistance programme which would help cover my school fees.

I felt a sense of shame because I was the only one in my class to apply for the aid.

The shame was however minor compared to the cloud of uncertainty that hung over the family, given that we did not know how long my dad would be without a job.

For weeks, he would go out to look for work in the morning and came home disappointed.

Even though I was not even a teenager then, I understood the seriousness of the situation. The sense of desperation remained etched in my memory.

Fortunately, my dad managed to find a new job as a supervisor with a Chinese restaurant three months later.

He got a 50 per cent pay cut but we were just relieved that we were finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

It was a nightmare which I wish never to live through again and from this experience, I learnt the importance and value of savings.

I promised myself that when I grow up, I will earn a lot of money and save as much as I can so I will never be in such situation again.

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But I count my family and myself lucky as I have read accounts of people who had it worse compared to my family.

I remember reading a news report of a family who downgraded to a flat from a landed property. In my dad’s case, we were fortunate in that he had enough in his Central Provident Fund account to cover the mortgage payments for our flat when he was out of a job.

I am not sure what will happen if my dad had been without a job for a longer period of time and his CPF account became depleted and we could not afford to service the loan anymore.

Growing up with such an experience, I was determined to arm myself with personal finance knowledge. I googled to read financial literacy articles written by experts and attended workshops to boost my financial literacy knowledge.

I started investing at 20 to strive to achieve good returns. I now live a minimalist lifestyle and resist following the latest fashion trends. I also share tips on financial management with my parents.

Financial literacy is one of the most important skills any person can have, and for many years our young are not taught about this in school. This is why the Government’s announcement that the subject will be taught to Institute of Technical Education and Polytechnic students starting this year is a good move.

My parents had poor knowledge about managing finances and were totally unprepared for what our family went through in 2008.

One thing good that came out of that for me was learning the importance of financial planning.

I am determined not to ever relive that daunting experience again and will always remind myself the value of money, even S$1.20.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Maa Zhi Hong, an accountancy graduate of Ngee Ann Polytechnic, is currently serving his National Service.