Author(s): Lim Yue Ling Annabel, Zhang Yiqian (22nd Corporate Communications subcommittee members)
Zoom Event
The National Cashflow Competition (NCF) is an annual event organised by NTU-IIC that aims to promote financial literacy among the younger generation. This year, due to the unfortunate circumstances and unprecedented disruption posed by COVID-19, we have adapted the event into an online Zoom seminar — “Planning For The Future – A Look Inside CPF”.
We have invited Ms Cindi Ang from the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board to share with the participants the workings of a pillar of Singapore’s social security system. To make it a more interactive experience for the participants, the seminar was structured to have plenty opportunities for participants to share their ideas on the screen, by using the Zoom’s text annotation function. Participants were also able to actively engage with the speaker through the Zoom chat function and Q&A session. Ending the seminar with a competitive and fun Crossword Puzzle challenge, participants were incentivized to listen attentively throughout to showcase their newly acquired knowledge.
Through this event, we hope that participants will be armed with the right mindsets for long-term planning, as well as sufficient awareness and knowledge of CPF, which, put together, form a solid foundation for their financial journey in the years ahead.
D-day: Actual Event
After 10 months of planning by our NCF events committee members, the event was held on 20th March 2021. As participants streamed into the virtual waiting room, the committee members ensured that the guest speaker, slides and participants’ registration were in order.
Once the participants were settled in, the event started off with a warm welcome speech by our emcee and we were glad to see participants looking excited in their Zoom video squares. The transition into Ms. Ang’s sharing was smooth as she took the stage very naturally. She shared the importance of money management, and how CPF could help Singaporeans afford their key needs in life. Using very ‘layman’ terms, her sharing was readily understood by the student participants and they eagerly participated either via the chat function or simply unmuting themselves to ask questions. The examples that Ms. Ang raised on how she plans her personal finances around her knowledge of CPF made her sharing very candid and relatable for the young audience. We were heartened to see many of the students being curious about longer-term financial planning and thinking further ahead into their future needs.
After the insightful sharing by Ms. Ang, students were given time to ask questions. Something that a handful of students were curious about was whether the government had little faith in them managing their own money and making sound financial decisions such that it had to implement this “forced-saving” CPF scheme for all Singaporeans/PR. However, it was reiterated that CPF is in place really to provide a long-term safety net for everyone and to ensure that our basic retirement needs are well-established.
Moving on to the last segment of the long-awaited crossword puzzle challenge, students were all geared up with their newly learnt CPF and finance knowledge to complete the puzzle and walk away with attractive prizes. As they were scored by their speed and accuracy in answers, the atmosphere was tense yet exciting as many of them eagerly joined the challenge via the link once it was released.
Finally, when we announced the 12 lucky winners, it signified the end of our very first virtual NCF!
NCF 2021 Subcommittee Reflection:
As young adults ourselves who are similarly unfamiliar with all of CPF’s benefits, the virtual event and talk has indeed shed new light on us. Back when we were secondary school students, we were even more clueless regarding this whole topic of money management, more so about CPF. It was only when we started working part-time after our A-Level examinations when we first got exposed to CPF. Back then, we did not even know that our employers would contribute to our CPF savings, and that the interest rates earned in our CPF accounts are this attractive (compared to savings parked in our bank savings accounts)!
With the cost of living in Singapore increasing over the years, it is imperative that the younger generation learn about the importance of money and its management from a young age. This is particularly so in today’s consumer shopping landscape which teenagers could be easily splurging via online shopping. Thus, we believe that this talk was extremely enriching for our younger participants who bagged home new insights such as how it is crucial for them – who have relatively less spending power – to spend within their means, as well as how CPF helps them afford key needs in their lives. After their national examinations when some of them might start taking on part-time jobs, they will then be more aware of their CPF rights and where the benefits are parked under in their CPF accounts.
“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” – a quote by Pablo Picasso which resonated deeply in us as we reflect on the importance of financial literacy and planning from a young age, especially in a fast-paced city like Singapore. While possessing a huge well of wealth is certainly not the only key to happiness, possessing financial independence and sufficient cash for rainy days will provide huge sources of comfort and security in anyone’s life.
Being a part of a team of enthusiastic and passionate members who have been very active from the planning to facilitation of the event, particularly amidst the pandemic and the need to host online, we genuinely believe that NCF has been an enriching programme not just for members ourselves, but particularly the youths who are likely to have just started their personal finance journey. We sincerely hope that everyone has enjoyed NCF 2021 and we are looking forward to NCF 2022!
If you are interested to join NCF 2022, do follow NCF on Instagram and Facebook for more information:
Follow us @ntu_iic_ncf (www.instagram.com/ntu_iic_ncf)
Like our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/joinNCF)
You can also email ntu-iic.ncf@e.ntu.edu.sg if you have any questions.