What Participants
Have Found Useful
The following observations are drawn from post-programme feedback. Names and contexts are included with participants' permission.
Return HomeFrom Those Who Have Read With Us
Susan Lim
Retired civil servant, Bishan
"I'd been putting off dealing with my will for nearly three years because I didn't really understand what I was supposed to be deciding. The Estate Planning programme didn't make the decisions for me — but it did mean I arrived at my solicitor's appointment with an actual vocabulary. That made an enormous practical difference."
Estate Planning Programme · May 2025
Rajan Kumar
Senior engineer, Tampines
"The Pre-Retirement Workshop covered the CPF Life options in a way that finally made sense. I'd read the CPF Board website several times and still wasn't sure what I was looking at. Having a facilitator walk through it with a group of people who shared my confusion was genuinely clarifying. I left with a reference card I still consult."
Pre-Retirement Workshop · April 2025
Catherine Tan
Accountant, Orchard
"I attended the Household Money Reading Circle with some hesitation — I'm an accountant by profession, and I assumed I knew most of this. I was wrong, specifically about the household conversation side. The session on partner conversations gave me a structure for discussions I'd been having haphazardly for years."
Household Money Circle · May 2025
Winston Heng
Business owner, Novena
"The LPA chapter was the part I found most useful. I'd seen the forms before but hadn't understood why some decisions needed to be made before incapacity rather than during. The glossary card for that session is still on my desk. I enrolled my wife in the next cohort shortly after finishing."
Estate Planning Programme · March 2025
Priya Menon
HR director, Queenstown
"I came to the Pre-Retirement Workshop expecting a seminar. It's not that. It's more like a book club with a very specific and useful book. I appreciated that nobody was trying to sell anything and that the facilitator was clearly there to make the discussion work, not to provide answers. The SRS chapter alone made the Saturday worthwhile."
Pre-Retirement Workshop · April 2025
Gerald Ong
Doctor, Buona Vista
"My wife and I attended the Household Money Reading Circle together. The conversation cards were the part neither of us expected to find useful, and we were wrong. We used them at home between sessions three and four and had a longer, more structured conversation than we'd managed in years. Good programme — quietly excellent."
Household Money Circle · May 2025
Before and After the Programme
These accounts are drawn from extended post-programme feedback forms, reproduced with participants' permission and with identifying details adjusted.
Estate Planning Programme — Participant in Her Mid-Fifties
10-week programme · Completed April 2025
The Situation
A participant in her mid-fifties had a will drafted in 2009 that she knew was outdated but had not updated, partly because she felt uncertain about the decisions involved — CPF nomination, executor selection, and the interaction between will provisions and CPF payout rules.
The Programme
Over ten evenings, she worked through the estate planning binder with her cohort of eleven. The CPF nomination chapter and the probate vocabulary session were the two she found most clarifying. She took detailed notes in her discussion notebook throughout.
After Completion
Within six weeks of completing the programme, she had updated her will with a solicitor, revised her CPF nominations, and began the LPA application process — all matters she had been deferring for years. She described the programme as providing the vocabulary to have productive conversations with professionals.
"I'd tried reading about this on the internet and always came away more confused than when I started. Having a group to read with, and a facilitator who kept things focused, made a real difference."
Pre-Retirement Workshop — Couple in Their Late Fifties
Weekend workshop · Completed March 2025
The Situation
A couple, both in their late fifties, were approaching a transition out of full-time employment within two to three years but had not resolved several significant vocabulary gaps — particularly around CPF Life payout deferral decisions and SRS drawdown sequencing.
The Programme
They attended the Pre-Retirement Reading Workshop in separate cohorts — she attended the March weekend, he the April one. Both found the household reference card useful independently; the SRS framework chapter prompted a specific conversation at home that they described as overdue.
After Completion
They subsequently attended a licensed financial adviser together, with a shared vocabulary that made the session substantially more productive than previous ones. They noted that having the household reference card as a shared reference point before the adviser meeting was practically useful.
"We'd had the same conversation with an IFA twice before and felt like we were starting from scratch each time. After the workshops, we at least had the same words for the same things."
Karendel at a Glance
6
Years in Operation
340+
Participants to Date
4.7
Average Rating (of 5)
3
Programmes Running
Professional Affiliations
- Member, Association of Continuing and Adult Education (ACAE)
- Registered continuing education provider, Ministry of Education SG
- PDPA-compliant data handling, reviewed annually
Contact Karendel
Telephone
+65 9527 4862Correspondence
[email protected]Address
24 Raffles Place, #29-05
Clifford Centre, Singapore 048621
Office Hours
Monday – Friday, 9:00 am – 6:00 pm
Join the Next Cohort
Places in each programme are limited and allocated in the order enquiries are received. Write to us to ask about current availability.
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