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Singapore's Acting Minister for Manpower shared her candid advice on juggling different roles and managing time, in a chat with Lim Him Chuan, Country Head, DBS Singapore.
"Funnily, I was telling someone that the number of lunch invitations I’m receiving have gone up significantly, but the amount of time I have for lunch has dropped significantly," Jasmin Lau, Singapore's Acting Minister for Manpower & Senior Minister of State for Digital Development & Information (seated above, left), shared on a lighter note, when asked about her new role helming two ministries in the Government (seated above, left).
The conversation was part of a fireside chat that was hosted by Lim Him Chuan, Country Head of DBS Singapore (seated above, right), who asked her a range of questions, from financial readiness of citizens to the impact of people's attitudes on their motivations in life.
To answer the question more fully, Acting Minister Lau added: "On a more serious note, I think it's also been slightly stressful for me because you go into a new role and people assume that the first day you step into work, you are fully ready to make decisions.
"We switched over and on the very same day, are expected to be fully up to date with information and able to make a sensible decision.
"And I think many of you here in the room probably feel the same pressures. You could be in a new role, you may not feel fully ready to decide – but a lot of what we do is judgment work, making the best out of an anxious situation, putting together as much information as you can in a very short time, and then just going for it based on your gut feel."
"And I think many of you here in the room probably feel the same pressures. You could be in a new role, you may not feel fully ready to decide – but a lot of what we do is judgment work, making the best out of an anxious situation, putting together as much information as you can in a very short time, and then just going for it based on your gut feel."
The fireside chat covered a range of topics, and we've picked out a couple of interesting questions below and summarised the conversation for your benefit.
DBS' Lim raised a query to Acting Minister Lau around financial readiness and resilience, given that Singapore is now considered a "superaged" society, with one in every five citizens above 65 years old.
To this, she responded that even among seniors, they are not a homogenous group, since the 65-75 generation is significantly different from those in their 80s and above, and they have each had quite different pathways throughout their lives, and different job opportunities.
Breaking it down based on this, Acting Minister Lau said: "For those in their 80s or 90s today, there's not enough wealth accumulation. That concept didn't quite exist when they were younger. So, for this group, a lot of our work is focused on providing them with the floor – the basic national insurance schemes, pioneer generation schemes; putting cash out to them as they may need it for their expenses."
She went on to say: "When you look at the not-so-senior seniors, those aged 65 to about 80, many of them have had some chance to accumulate wealth, be it through property or some form of investment. For this group, I think the stress point is about longevity uncertainty.
"For many of them, when they were younger they thought they would live till 75 because that's the age that their parents passed. They didn't think that at 75 they would still be sprightly, healthy, and have another maybe 15, 20 years to go. For this group, it's therefore about stretching their accumulated wealth over a longer period of time. So quite different stresses and pressures, even for our elderly."
Another interesting perspective the speakers discussed was on the "sandwiched group", which mainly comprises those who are in a position where they have to take care of their kids, their parents, and themselves.
To this, Acting Minister Lau clarified that while most Singaporeans categorise themselves as sandwiched, but just because this group has people who depend on them, it doesn't mean necessarily that they are sandwiched in terms of finances, perhaps only in terms of age.
She made a point that a lot more that can be done in terms of public awareness, in terms of how much it would cost to both raise children and to care for the elderly. And while some of the matter can be tackled by public education, some of it is for all of us to understand our own risk appetites.
"What are the risks we are willing to take in order to plan for ourselves as well as our dependents?", she asked. "My personal opinion is that we don't plan enough for our parents."
She explained her viewpoint: "We sometimes may lament about why our parents didn't plan for themselves. But if you stop and think about it, even if they didn't plan for themselves, it's too late to lament. We have to now take on the responsibility to plan for them. It's a different perspective."
So, what does it mean to plan for our parents' ageing? Acting Minister Lau said that we need to be able to understand their mortality risk, their longevity uncertainty, and their disability probabilities. We also need to take time to understand the aged care landscape, and the different options and the prices that come with these.
Urging those with aging parents to take more interest in this topic, she said: "I think many of us are skewed towards planning for our children, but less so for our parents. And when that shock hits us that our parents do need care, we find ourselves unprepared, and perhaps emotionally also a bit unwilling."
This conversation took place on the sidelines of a DBS event on 22 August, where DBS Treasures' data found that longer lifespans, evolving careers, growing financial commitments, and more dynamic markets are changing the way Singaporeans plan for their financial future.
“More Singaporeans are recognising that building wealth cannot wait until later in life. Starting earlier and staying invested over the long run gives them more time and more options,” noted Andrew Bok, Head of DBS Treasures Singapore.
ALSO READ: DBS & IBF sign MOU to build AI skills across the bank and Singapore’s financial workforce
Photo / DBS
Photo caption: Acting Minister for Manpower and Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Digital Development and Information Jasmin Lau (left) shares her perspectives at the DBS Treasures Wealth Symposium 2026 fireside chat with DBS Singapore Country Head Lim Him Chuan (right)
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