TODAY

24/01/2025

Voices: For Ms Kelly Ang, the stories her five children share over daily dinners give her a sense of what to look out for in the coming weeks and months, helping her to be a better mum.

It has been proven that there are plenty of benefits in sharing meals regularly with your spouse and children, but what if you simply cannot do it? Here is how mum-of-five Kelly Ang guards this custom in her household.

24/01/2025

Mental Health Matters: Avoiding tasks is not just about being lazy, it sometimes comes from a place of anxiety of wanting to do the task perfectly or foreseeing that the outcome of the task will be "pointless" to you.

Mental health experts said that avoidance or inaction might be linked to a desire for perfection and doing things right. Other times, it is like a coping mechanism for someone to deal with discomfort.

23/01/2025

Up Close: Ms Jessica Tan could hardly have imagined growing up in a cramped two-room Ang Mo Kio flat that one day she would be the head honcho of a major financial services firm and living in a swanky apartment overlooking Toronto's skyline in Canada.

Ms Jessica Tan has led major insurance firms in China and Canada, with an interest in eldercare services and helping retirees live well. She has worked to improve career progression for working mothers as well.

23/01/2025

Big Read: Increasingly, medical tourists are coming to Singapore only for the most complex of medical procedures.

Private hospitals and clinics in Singapore are working to stay relevant by expanding across Asia and targeting tourists with deep pockets looking for specialised healthcare services.

23/01/2025

Let's talk about Singapore's sleep situation.

The city-state was found to be among the top sleep-deprived nations, where 51% of residents get less than 7 hours of sleep daily.

If you’re one of those who thinks “sleep is for the weak” and “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”, it might be time to wake up to the possibility that this lifestyle is unsustainable.

So, why do we struggle to get a good night's sleep? CNA TODAY's Big Read dives into why Singaporeans sleep so little and tips to improve one's 40 winks. https://cna.asia/4hfXwsk

(Photos: CNA/Ooi Boon Keong & iStock; Illustration: CNA/Nurjannah Suhaimi)

23/01/2025

Voices: In 2024, Ms Yvonne Kong-Ho grappled with two serious health scares and they rattled her out of thinking that she could keep putting off things that mattered to her till "later".

At first, Ms Yvonne Kong-Ho stewed over her uncharacteristically impulsive buy. Then, after a year in which she had grappled with two serious medical emergencies, she now appreciates her pricey new timepiece in a new light.

22/01/2025

Adulting: "Entrepreneurship isn’t just another career move, it’s a lifestyle shift. But if you’re ready – really ready – then the thrill of building something meaningful is well worth the risk," an expert said.

Launching a business venture is a life-changing decision that will require lots of time, money and sacrifice. Here is an expert checklist of what you should ask yourself before you start.

22/01/2025

Ground Up: “People think ‘children of divorced parents are very poor thing’, but it’s not always the case," Ms Celeste Toh whose parents were divorced said. "We shouldn’t pity someone just because their parents are divorced."

When parents split, does it necessarily penalise their children later in life? Children of divorced parents reflect on how coming from a broken home shaped their romantic relationships, finances and resilience into adulthood.

22/01/2025

Big Read: A weakened immune system, reduced concentration, increased health risks, and a grouchy mood – these are just some of the consequences of not getting enough sleep.

One reason given by experts for the lack of sleep among many Singaporeans is that the society's culture has long equated staying up late with higher productivity and achievement. In more recent times, heavy screen use has worsened the problem.

17/01/2025

Voices: "Instead of simply declaring we will 'save more' or 'spend less', we need to clearly define what that looks like in the context of our lives. We need to set up systems for ourselves that will enable us to succeed," finance blogger Dawn Cher said.

Instead of simply aiming to "save more" or "spend less", we need to clearly define what that looks like in our everyday lives, finance blogger Dawn Cher says.

17/01/2025

Mental Health Matters: Physical signs that a friend or colleague is facing tough times emotionally could include fatigue, exhaustion, changes in appetite or a neglect of personal hygiene, experts said.

Counselling experts outlined key signs that may indicate a person is facing emotionally tough times. There are also right ways and wrong ways to support the person in carrying on with work or life in general, they added.

16/01/2025

Up Close: “It felt like my world was crumbling. I had borrowed money from my dad, lost it and the business was in debt. I owed suppliers and suddenly found myself alone to shoulder everything,” CEO Lucas Saw of Talking Toes said.

Mr Lucas Saw believed that Talking Toes' socks had something to offer to people who need an emotional boost and he had to rebuild the company when the business partnership failed.

16/01/2025

Big Read: "It’s like I’m spending invisible money, so it's quite scary. You can easily overspend, especially those with a shopping addiction,” one young shopper said, adding that she hopes to quit the habit when she is more financially stable.

While some view "buy now, pay later" services as a way to finance large purchases such as renovations or weddings, others are increasingly using them for smaller, everyday items, which experts say could lead to excessive spending and spiralling debt if these expenses are not well-managed and closely...

16/01/2025

Voices: In 2022, Ms Maelyn Lagman's mother died from cancer. The grief hit her "like a tsunami", throwing open the doors for complicated, unresolved feelings towards her parents that she had suppressed since childhood to come flooding back.

After years of grappling with a deep fear of confrontation that led to depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, Ms Maelyn Lagman, 25, is learning to heal her inner wounds, as well as her relationship with her dad and late mum.

15/01/2025

Adulting: Saying “no” to someone who wants to borrow money can be awkward, but a counsellor reminded lenders that they are not responsible for resolving someone else’s financial difficulties and that lenders should prioritise their own needs.

Choosing to lend money to someone is a deeply personal decision, but there are times when doing so will not help the borrower settle the root problem. It may even feed an addiction.

15/01/2025

Ground Up: Mr Yan, 35, said that he and his wife are among the many couples with dual income, no kids (D***s) who aren't too worried about retirement plans. "I would say my mentality is more towards not compromising so much on my comfortable lifestyle, but nothing too extravagant like buying a Rolex (watch)."

Couples who have "dual income, no kids", or D***s, tend to put retirement planning on the back burner until they are in their 40s compared to couples with children who usually start thinking about retirement in their 20s or 30s, financial experts said.

15/01/2025

Big Read: Writing case notes, a time-consuming but necessary part of a social worker's job, now takes half the time they used to and can generate more insights with the help of AI tools.

Some of the technological tools that social service agencies have employed may seem quite basic, such as an AI transcription tool that halves the time it takes to transcribe a consultation with a client. But with each worker handling 20 to 50 clients at any given time, the time and labour saved adds...

14/01/2025

WATCH: "I’m born into a family of dancers, from my grandparents, all the way down to myself," dancer Jovan Tan, 22 said. Find out why ballroom dancing has been a passion for this family for nearly seven decades.

It is a legacy that has waltzed through four generations of Madam Chow Chew Fung's family. The 81-year-old retiree's passion for ballroom dancing began in 1958, when she picked up the art form as a teenager. Over the decades, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren have co