Paving the Wei

Question: an insurance agent told me about taking an education policy for my children. The capital is guaranteed and if something happens to me during the policy period, my children will get the full sum. I understand that you have something similar. Should I proceed to take the policy? Answer: the philosophy of an insurance policy is sound - there is nothing really wrong with an insurance policy with guaranteed capital and insurance $ should something bad happens. In theory, everything is correct but there is a very good reason this is no longer a popular option (compared to 20+ years ago). The reason - and with the ease of online investment and insurance  - you can get more returns...way more via other means than by buying the so-called education policy from the agent. Why Education Insurance is NOT a Good idea Firstly, this insurance is very likely going to be an investment-linked policy (ILP) since it combines a future earnings plus insurance. While this makes perfects sense,...

Recently, I answered a question on my Quora page asking if it makes sense to work until 70 in Singapore (where I live). This is a reaction to the policy change in Singapore that increased the retirement age to 65 and the re-employment age to 70. I thought it will be good to examine this in a more comprehensive manner...in my opinion, the greater question is not really about working until 70 but if it makes sense to continue working until then. FIRE - Final Independence, Retire Early In my earlier posts on finance, I touched on the topic of FIRE, i.e. Financial Independence, Retire Early. Obviously, the majority of the posts are focused mainly on the Financial Independence (FI) part, and less on the retirement question. For this post, we shall put some effort on the Retire Early (RE) part. After all, after we have worked for so many years, it is time to take a breather and enjoy our latter years...if we want to.  To do this, I will take the assumption that we have accummulated suffi...

Sermon by Ps Charmaine Chong at the Faith Community Baptist Church 31 Oct 2026. Moral of the story: it is smarter to travel in groups.  If we are in community, just like God is in the community of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we will do well to not be alone - to prevent being attacked by the enemy. Man is not meant to be isolated and be socially withdrawn. Proverbs 18:1 says that "a man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all judgement". We can only thrive in life if we are rooted in God's community as the early Christians who meet together, broke bread, devoted themselve in fellowship.  Why do we need to be rooted in God's community? 1. It builds our faith in God The church helps to build our faith:  Devoted to the teachings. Devoted to the breaking of bread Devoted to prayer We gather in church to listen to the pastor who has spent time seeking God for a message for his people, partaking in the Holy  Communion, praising God toget...

Parenting is something many took for granted. To many, it is a nonchalant affair, where one just decide to have kids - it is just something that happened with not much planning. In some (rare) cases, it is accidental and not planned.  Take being pawrents ("parents" of dogs and cats) as a example. T here are more people who talked about abandoned pets (dogs, cats, rabbits) that we see ads everywhere to seriously consider before going to a pet shop and get a puppy or hamster. If we are doing this for animals, why are there no ads telling people to think twice before having kids? Or maybe this is intentional since the birthrate is already so low. What we should consider is after the kids are born: is there a manual on what comes after that? If there is, will people even want to read it? In truth (and sadly for the many who have a different opinion) parenting i nvolves influencing pretty much entire trajectory of another human being, the ones who will rely on you 100%...

Sermon by Ps Daniel Khong at the Faith Community Baptist Church 3 Oct 2026.  Scripture: James 1:19-27 talks about being a disciple of Christ, in a practical manner. James Willard says that, "A disciple is one who follows with the intent of becoming." The aligns with what Luke wrote that everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. How do we become true disciples of Jesus? 1. Listen to Understand (God's word) James addresses the people who are slow to listen, quick to react and quick to arguei reject what we hear, we must receive with meekness the word that can save our lives. 2. Understand to Do (God's work) We can learn stuff but usually we do not do. James told us to be doers and nor hearers only, deceiving ourselves. We cannot separate being and doing. We should look into the word, and continue on a regular basis, and doing it.  3. Do to become (more like Christ) James uses the word "religious" on v26-27. Religion is not wrong -...

Sermons by Ps Daniel Khong at the Faith Community Baptist Church 26 Sep 2026. The book of James tells us of faith in a practical way and establishes that faith must be practised. This is why it is a good book for new believers. Scripture: James 1:12-18 talks about temptation and gifts from God.  What is temptation? Anything that will seduce the mind and heart away from obedience into sin - John Owen. In most cases, most things are not inherently evil - job, money - but they have potential to pull us away from God. Few points to note Sin is a process and temptation is a key part Struggling with temptation is not sin Temptation can be escaped How to flee (escape) temptation? 1. Don't engage distractions V14 tells that each one will be drawn away, or lured forth. We are lured by our own desires, got enticed which gave birth to sin and then leads us to death. We will be doing our normal things when something distracts us out of nowhere. The Bible says to flee from such... 2...