2021 was a great year for me. Born in the year of the monkey (based on the chinese zodiac), fortune tellers have said that 2021 would be a great year for monkeys in terms of career and relationships, not so much health. Though I’m someone who believes largely in myself, the aforementioned “predictions” have been somewhat accurate I must say.

For those who don’t know who I am (which would be most of you), please read a short description of myself here :)

Here’s a few milestones that I’m grateful for in 2021:

I found a new job

For anyone in the software engineering field, you’d know that finding a job in this field is extremely draining. The number of interviews to land a job is typically between 3 to 5 rounds on average, consisting a mix of technical and non-technical interviews. Preparing for these interviews typically have a preparation period of at least a few weeks and may go up to a few months, depending on how rusty one’s coding skills (data structures & algorithms) are. After which, the interviews themselves may take up to a few months, depending on one’s luck.

Fortunately enough, I spent about ~3-4 months before I landed what I’d call my ideal job. It was a large pre-IPO start-up with good culture, pay and benefits. Of course in hindsight, there are still cons to the job, but it is largely something I’m excited about and do foresee myself staying here for at least a few years.

I got married

Yes, I got married! A huge milestone for me and my wife and many more to come.

My fiancée and I ambitiously planned a wedding in a span of three months (while I was still job hunting) and finally tied the knot on 12.11.21 (yes, it was chosen because it was a palindromic date). Those three months were arguably the most hectic three months of my life and I’m thankful (and relieved) that it’s finally over! No more frivolous spending on flowers and decor that few will probably even remember.

With that said, here’s my plan for 2022 and what I plan to use this blog for.

2022 Resolution

Learn and share about finance related topics on this blog

I have been writing on Medium for over 2 years now, mainly writing about machine learning and engineering related topics. Coming from a Finance background, I’ve always wanted to write about investment related topics but was afraid of diluting the content on Medium.

I’ll hence be using this platform to write about finance related topics (e.g., investments, crypto, CPF, etc) to share with fellow Singaporeans and international readers what I know and learn. My goal is ultimately to provide everyone a more transparent view of the world, specifically in the area of personal finance, as I believe it is an area that is still under-shared where majority of people still feel a sense of fear when dealing with anything finance related.

My inspiration comes from local finance blogs out there such as thewokesalaryman, MoneySmart, SingSaver, Seedly and more, and I hope what I share will make investments and personal finance more accessible than it already is.

Final words

With that said, look out for my very first finance-related post coming up soon! Invest safe :)