About Jelita
A place for careful thinking, not hurried answers
Jelita was founded in Singapore to give adults in their forties and fifties access to considered financial education in a setting that respects their time and intelligence.
Back to HomeA quiet verandah in Singapore
Where Jelita began
Jelita came out of a simple observation: that many thoughtful, capable adults in Singapore reach their late forties without having had a single quiet conversation about their own financial life. They have been busy. They have built careers and raised families and managed households. But the financial picture — retirement, CPF, savings, the cost of ageing parents and adult children at the same moment — has never been laid out in front of them in an unhurried way.
We began with a small group of six people sitting on the verandah of a rented villa in the Tanjong Pagar area, with a printed set of notes and a pot of tea. The conversation that evening was calm and specific. People said afterwards that it was the first time they had talked about money without feeling rushed or sold to.
That format — small groups, evenings, printed materials, no product sales — became what Jelita is. We have kept the groups small at fifteen, the rooms quiet, and the content as close as possible to the decisions that Singapore adults in their forties and fifties actually face.
Our programmes are educational. We are not a financial advisory firm. We do not manage investments, and we do not receive any commission from any bank, fund house, or insurer. We are here to help you understand your choices, so that your conversations with the people who do manage those things are more equal.
Our Mission
To offer adults in Singapore a calm, product-free space to think through their household financial picture at the moment in life when it matters most.
Our Approach
Plain language, small groups, printed materials to keep. No pressure, no urgency, no product to sell. Content shaped around Singapore life and Singapore rules.
Our Commitment
What is discussed in the room stays in the room. We operate with full discretion, and the bespoke track carries the same confidence one would expect from a professional relationship.
The people at the table
Each of us has spent time either in financial education, financial planning, or the classroom. We came together because we saw the same gap.
Lim Teck Huat
Lead Educator · Household Finance
Spent fifteen years in financial planning before moving into adult education. Lim leads the Household Finance sessions and wrote the printed booklets used across all three programmes.
Siti Rahimah
Programme Lead · Investments
Siti spent a decade as a portfolio analyst and now teaches the Investment Course. Her particular focus is helping participants understand costs and the long run with clarity.
Krishna Venugopal
Bespoke Track · Planning
Krishna leads the Open Verandah Track for individual households. He has a background in estate planning and CPF advisory and brings careful, unhurried attention to each family's situation.
How we work
These are the commitments that shape every session, every booklet, and every private conversation at Jelita.
No product sales, ever
We receive no commission from any financial institution. We have no product to sell. This is the foundation that makes the education credible.
Strict confidentiality
Group conversations do not leave the room. Bespoke track material is treated with full professional discretion. Participant lists are never shared.
Written, reviewed materials
Every booklet and summary is written carefully and reviewed for accuracy. We update materials when Singapore rules change, particularly around CPF, SRS, and MediShield Life.
Groups of fifteen, not more
We do not expand group sizes to fill seats. The limit of fifteen is a quality decision, not a capacity one. Every participant should have space to ask their question.
Singapore-specific content
All content is written for Singapore residents, covering CPF, SRS, the HDB lease, MediShield Life, and the instruments available here. We do not teach generic investment theory.
Educators, not salespeople
The people who lead sessions have backgrounds in financial planning, analysis, or estate planning. They are here to teach. Their measure of success is your understanding, not a sale.
Financial education for Singapore adults who are thinking ahead
The forties and fifties are a particular moment in a working life. Retirement, which once seemed abstract, is now within a calculable number of years. Parents may be ageing. Children may be approaching university or striking out on their own. The household balance sheet carries more complexity than it did ten or fifteen years ago.
Singapore's financial architecture — CPF's three accounts, the SRS, Singapore Savings Bonds, MediShield Life, the lease decay on HDB flats — is particular to this country and requires specific knowledge. Generic financial education from abroad often misses the details that matter most here.
Jelita's programmes are written entirely within the Singapore context. The Verandah Discussions on Household Finance begin with the questions that most households in Singapore are sitting with — cash flow, CPF contributions, protection gaps, and what the longer arc of working life looks like. The Verandah Investment Course covers the categories of instruments available to Singapore residents, with particular attention to costs and the long-run arithmetic of fees. The Open Verandah Track is a private programme for one household at a time, shaped by that household's particular situation.
All three programmes share the same commitment: plain language, a setting that feels private, no pressure, and no product to sell. We believe that a thinking adult, given clear information, is quite capable of making good decisions. Our job is to provide the information in a form that is genuinely useful.
Find out which programme suits your situation
Write to us with a few words about where you are, and we will suggest the programme that fits. There is no obligation and no follow-up call unless you ask for one.
Write to Us