What Participants Say
Words from people who have been to the verandah
These are notes from past participants. They are not polished endorsements — they are accounts of what the sessions were actually like.
Back to Home6+
Years running
480+
Adults attended
4.7
Average rating (out of 5)
94%
Would recommend to a friend
What people have said
Lena Huang
Senior Manager · Queenstown
I attended the Household Finance programme in April. The first evening — just the balance sheet and cash flow — was enough to change how I look at our monthly numbers. I had never actually sat down and drawn a proper picture of where we stood. The booklet helped me continue the work at home.
April 2025 · Household Finance
Rajan Krishnan
Engineer · Bishan
The Investment Course was more demanding than I expected — seven weeks is a real commitment for someone with a full working life — but I found the session on fees and costs over thirty years particularly worthwhile. I had not understood, in a concrete way, how much a 0.5% difference in annual fees adds up to. I have changed how I look at the unit trusts in my CPF-IS portfolio since.
March 2025 · Investment Course
Christine Wong
Business Owner · Toa Payoh
I did the Open Verandah Track because my situation is a bit complicated — a small business, elderly parents, two adult children still in education. The sessions were genuinely useful because Krishna worked through each part of our picture in order, without making it feel overwhelming. The written summaries afterwards were something I returned to several times.
February–April 2025 · Open Verandah Track
Tan Mei Ling
Teacher · Tampines
What I valued most was that no one was trying to sell anything. I have been to events run by banks and insurance companies, and there is always something on the table. At Jelita there was just the content. The group was small enough that I felt comfortable asking a question about my own SRS account in session two, and Lim answered it directly.
April 2025 · Household Finance
Arjun Selvakumar
IT Director · Clementi
Seven weeks is a commitment, but the Investment Course is worth it if you can manage the evenings. I have a decent income but I had never really understood what was happening in my CPFIS portfolio. The session on index funds and low-cost ETFs answered a question I had been carrying for years. I wish this kind of thing had been available ten years ago.
March 2025 · Investment Course
Patricia Lim
Accountant · Bukit Timah
I am an accountant, so I came with a certain level of financial literacy — but the CPF and estate planning conversation in the bespoke track was genuinely new territory for me. Krishna was patient with the complexity of our situation and did not try to simplify things that were not simple. The will and LPA discussion alone was worth the fee.
January–March 2025 · Open Verandah Track
Three household journeys, in brief
Household Finance · Three Evenings
Starting point
A couple in their late forties with two children approaching university. They had a combined income, a mortgage on an HDB flat, and a general sense that they were not quite managing their money as well as they could. Neither had a clear picture of their CPF balances or how the OA, SA, and MA actually worked together.
What happened
They attended the Household Finance programme together. By the end of the second session, they had a clear balance sheet for the first time, a better understanding of the SA and its interest rate, and a firmer sense of what their MediShield Life coverage actually covered. The third session gave them an outline of the investment conversation they needed to have.
Outcome
They enrolled in the Investment Course the following month. By the time their eldest entered university, they had restructured their CPFIS investments, reduced their management fees, and had a clear plan for the OA drawdown in retirement. They said the three evenings were the most useful financial time they had spent in twenty years of working life.
Open Verandah Track · Six Sessions
Starting point
A woman in her early fifties, sole director of a small professional services firm, divorced, with two adult children and an elderly mother in a nursing facility. Her financial picture was spread across several accounts, a small investment portfolio, the business, and a private property that she was not sure whether to keep. She had never drawn it all together.
What happened
The six sessions of the Open Verandah Track moved through the household balance sheet, the business valuation question, the nursing costs and how they would be met, the portfolio and its costs, the property, and finally the estate planning question — will, LPA, and what she wanted to leave to her children and what to her mother's care. Each session produced a written summary.
Outcome
She came away with a clear, single document that pulled the picture together, a revised portfolio with lower costs, a plan for the nursing costs over the next five years, and a will and LPA that she felt properly reflected her wishes. She said the most useful thing was simply having someone patient enough to look at all of it at once, without rushing.
Investment Course · Seven Weeks
Starting point
A man in his mid-forties who had been investing through a private bank for eight years. He felt that the conversations with his relationship manager were not quite equal — he did not have enough of the language, and he felt uneasy asking certain questions. His portfolio had delivered modest returns, and he was not sure whether this was reasonable or not.
What happened
He attended the Investment Course. The sessions on cost structures, on how to read a factsheet, and on the long-run arithmetic of fees gave him, in his words, enough vocabulary to have a real conversation. By session five, he had a list of specific questions about his existing portfolio that he had never thought to ask before.
Outcome
He restructured roughly 40% of his portfolio into lower-cost instruments, including a position in Singapore Savings Bonds as a stable floor. He estimated his annual fee reduction at approximately SGD 3,000. More than the financial change, he described the shift as finally feeling that he understood what he owned and why.
If you would like to attend
Telephone
+65 6783 6029Address
102 Neil Road, #03-18
Singapore 088861
Office Hours
Monday – Friday: 10 am – 6 pm
Saturday: 10 am – 1 pm
Places are small
Each cohort is capped at fifteen. If a programme interests you, it is worth writing early. We will let you know what is coming up and whether there is space.
If you are not sure which programme fits your situation, write to us with a short description of where you are. We will suggest the right starting point.
Write to UsAdd your own account to this page
Reserve a seat in the next cohort and find out for yourself whether the verandah is a useful place to spend a few evenings.
Reserve a Place