— PARTICIPANT ACCOUNTS
What Those Who Have Attended the Programmes Have Said
A selection of honest accounts from past participants, shared with their permission. Views vary, as they should when people come from different starting points.
← Return to Home340+
Programme participants since 2020
94%
Rated content useful or very useful
4.7
Average participant rating out of 5
5
Years of delivery in Singapore
I. PARTICIPANT REVIEWS
In Their Own Words
Raj Chandran
Engineer, Queenstown · April 2025
"I came in expecting something along the lines of what I had read in personal finance books. What I found was more grounded — it used actual CPF numbers, actual scenarios. The retirement income gap session in Week Three was uncomfortable in a useful way. I left knowing exactly what I needed to look at more carefully."
Mid-Life Money Map
Loh Mei Ling
Civil servant, Bishan · March 2025
"The reading-in-advance model took some adjustment. I am used to sitting down and being taught. But it did make the sessions richer because people arrived with actual questions rather than waiting to be told things. The workbook was more useful than I expected — I still have it on my desk."
Mid-Life Money Map
Tan Jian Wei
Doctor, Bukit Timah · April 2025
"I joined the Income Years programme because I had questions about CPF Life that nobody had ever explained to me plainly. By the fourth session I had the vocabulary to ask the right questions of my own adviser. The no-product-sales aspect is real — nobody tried to move me toward anything."
Income Years Curriculum
Priya Rajan
Business owner, Tampines · May 2025
"My husband and I did the Legacy track together. We had avoided these conversations for years — wills, LPA, what would happen to the business. Having a structured set of sessions made it possible to work through them calmly. The written summary at the end was particularly helpful — we could actually see what we had decided and what was still open."
Legacy & Loved-Ones Curriculum
Chen Kwong
Accountant, Toa Payoh · February 2025
"Being an accountant, I thought I knew most of this already. I was wrong in specific places — the interaction between CPF SA and investment holdings, in particular, was something I had understood incorrectly for years. The programme does not assume financial knowledge, which means some sessions felt slower than I needed, but the content itself was solid."
Income Years Curriculum
Norashikin Putri
Teacher, Woodlands · April 2025
"I came on my own after my husband passed away two years ago. I had little idea how to look at our finances on my own. The Money Map programme was very calm and not rushed. The instructor never made anyone feel embarrassed for asking basic questions. I now have a much clearer picture of where I stand and what decisions I need to make in the next few years."
Mid-Life Money Map
II. PARTICIPANT JOURNEYS
Three Participant Accounts in Detail
These longer accounts, shared with permission and anonymised where requested, illustrate the kinds of questions participants brought to Tembusu and what changed after.
Case Study · Mid-Life Money Map · 2024
The Starting Point
A couple in their mid-forties — both professionals — who had never sat down together to look at their household balance sheet. They had CPF accounts, a flat, some unit trusts from ten years ago, and a vague awareness that they were probably not saving enough. But they had no clear picture of the numbers.
Through the Programme
The four-week Money Map gave them a common vocabulary and a shared framework. By Week Two, they had calculated their household net position for the first time. By Week Four, they had a rough estimate of their retirement income gap and a list of the decisions they needed to make.
What Changed
They used the one-to-one review to prioritise the three decisions they needed to act on first. Six months later they wrote to Tembusu to say they had acted on two of them and had booked a session with a licensed adviser to work through the third.
"The workbook gave us something to point at when we talked about money at home. Before, the conversations were vague. Afterwards they were specific, which made them easier."
— Programme participant, 2024
Case Study · Income Years Curriculum · 2024
The Starting Point
A 57-year-old HR director approaching early retirement, who had been receiving conflicting advice about whether to top up her CPF Special Account or redirect savings into equities. She found the advice she received from product advisers consistently tilted toward what they sold.
Through the Programme
The Income Years Curriculum gave her a systematic understanding of the CPF interest rate structure, the trade-offs between voluntary top-ups and other uses of the same funds, and a clear picture of what each CPF Life option would produce monthly.
What Changed
She was able to have a materially different conversation with her licensed adviser afterwards — one where she set the agenda, knew what to ask for, and could evaluate what she was told. She described the shift as "going from passenger to driver in my own planning."
"I wish I had understood CPF Life five years ago. Not so I could have done something dramatically different, but so I could have made the same decisions with confidence rather than unease."
— Programme participant, 2024
Case Study · Legacy & Loved-Ones Curriculum · 2025
The Starting Point
A 62-year-old semi-retired architect whose mother was in her late eighties and whose two adult children lived overseas. He had no will, no LPA, and no clarity on what would happen to his properties if he became incapacitated. He described the situation as "a drawer full of things I had been meaning to sort out."
Through the Programme
The six private sessions were spread over fourteen weeks, adjusted to his travel schedule. By the third session he had a clear list of what legal documents he needed and why. By the fifth session he had discussed the family money conversations he had been avoiding with both his children on separate calls.
What Changed
At the close of the programme he received a written summary of every decision reached and every open question. He used that document as the brief when engaging a solicitor and an independent financial planner. His comment was that it took him three months to organise what had been accumulating for fifteen years.
"The summary document at the end was worth the fee by itself. It contained everything I needed to brief the professionals I engaged afterwards. No confusion about what I wanted."
— Programme participant, February 2025
III. REACH US
Get in Touch Before You Decide
We are happy to answer questions and discuss which programme, if any, might be worth your time. No sales follow-up is attached.
Telephone
+65 6324 9871Address
47 Tanjong Pagar Rd,
#04-12, S 088466
Office Hours
Mon–Fri 9am–6pm
Sat 9am–1pm
IV. CREDENTIALS
Professional Standing
CPD Hours Recognition
Programmes are recognised for continuing professional development hours by selected Singapore professional bodies.
IAL Community Member
Tembusu participates in the Institute for Adult Learning's financial literacy practitioners community of practice.
PDPA Compliant
Participant data is held in accordance with Singapore's Personal Data Protection Act 2012 and not shared with any third party.
No Distribution Licence
Tembusu does not hold a capital markets services licence and does not distribute or recommend any financial product.
SAEN Member
Organisational member of the Singapore Adult Educators Network since 2021.
Six Content Revisions
Materials have been substantially revised six times since the first cohort to reflect changes in Singapore law and CPF policy.
— JOIN THE NEXT COHORT
Places in Each Cohort Are Limited
If you are considering a programme, writing to us now costs nothing and tells you which cohorts still have places. We will not follow up with unsolicited contact.
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