Gaining Peace Of Mind Through Estate Planning: Fill & Download for Free

What was Singapore like during the 1960s?I lived and grew up in Singapore in the 1960s and thereafter lived in many other countries for more than twenty years. I hope my past experiences living overseas will help me give you a more worldly-wise and balanced account of life in the 1960s. This post is told from ground up, from the perspective of the common man, and not a top down statistician or politician’s macro view of the country’s independence, racial riots, economic struggles, politics,…etc.It is much based on my life in Redhill Close in the 1960s which we had both a surburban and rural lifestyle rolled into one - one that probably represented 85% of the people in 1960s.This article is adapted from a blog post Bon Voyage.If you like this post, please share it so that more people, especially youngsters, will know how life was like in the same space, but in a different time in the 1960s.IntroductionI grew up in Redhill Close and so this estate is very close to my heart. It was built in 1955 under the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT), a housing scheme under the pre-independence Lim Yew Hock Government. It was commonly known as "chit lau chu" or 'seven story houses' in Hokkien or Teochew.When the flats were built, there were shanty attap hut dwellings scattered in its surroundings.The estate was accessible by a closed-loop ring road from Tiong Bahru Road and was only served by the Hock Lee Bus Company's Number 8 Service for a while. That went on until a new road Jalan Bukit Merah was constructed and appropriately called 'Xin Lor' (新路/'new road') in Hokkien, by the locals. Bus Service number 8 plied from Redhill Close to North Canal Road, near Raffles Place.LivelihoodMost of the dwellers of the attap hut kampong were pig farmers and other forms of subsistence farmers. Those who couldn't live off the ground, or get a job, sold cooked food in public places, which was illegal without a food catering licence.Among the hawkers that stood out was the fish ball noodle stall because they had errand boys going around the estate hitting at a longitudinally cut bamboo stick making a rhythmic "kok-kik-kok" sound to solicit for more business.They would take orders and deliver the noodles to their customers without delivery charges. Some customers living in the upper floors of the apartment blocks would lower their rattan basket tied to a rope to receive their bowls of noodles to save the boys climbing up several floors.Each bowl of noodles cost about 20 cents and the boy's wages was probably one Straits Settlement Dollar a day, about ten Singapore Dollars today.—-There are many such hawkers selling a varied number of services. Some of them would do more than just selling food and will perform to attract attention. One of them is the muah-chee hawker. He sells a dessert that is a cooked rice dough that is mixed with sugar, peanut powder and sesame seeds. While mixing the dough with the condiments, he would be bouncing himself up and down by flexing his knees as if he was dancing an A-Go-Go dance. Hence we called him the A-Go-Go man and he is often the highlight of the day when he stopped near my home. Kids would run to him to buy the muah-chee like he was the Pied Piper.For those who is not well versed with Chinese food. this is how muah chee looks like:Then there was the Iceball man. He will grind a block of ice into snow and colour it will sugar syrup and condensed milk. This was how it looked like:When the Ice-ball man was not around, we would buy ice-bags (‘sng bao’ 冰包), which were literally sugared and coloured drink frozen in plastic bags from one of the ground floor apartments that sold them. We would bite the corner of the sng bao and start sucking the melted juice that came out from it, in the process freezing our lips to a swollen red. Even with my swollen red lips I would lie to my mum that I did not spend my money foolishly on sng baos, thinking that I could fool her.There were also hawkers that were not selling food, but other services. There was one that sold glass. He would cut glass to measure for homes that happened to have broken a piece of table top glass or a cupboard glass. You wouldn’t think that he would be selling much, but there was demand those days.Yet another one was a tinsmith. He went around mending pots and pans. Aluminium pots and pans were used so intensively that they wear off and leak. Or it could be an old thermos flask that had started to leak. That was when the local friend tinsmith who carried his stall as two wooden boxes balanced over each side of a bamboo pole over his shoulders came to the rescue.Such repair services were needed because people could not afford to buy new replacements. It was a culture of keeping and repairing the old to make it work. Perhaps those trying times were also a training for mending human ties and making them work. Divorces were rarely heard of. People stayed married through thick and thin. Couples understood the need to tolerate, compromise and adjust. Divorces were taboos. It was a culture where people lived for keeps.Old things were used over and over again, until they were beyond repair and no more functional. People even used a kind of blue dye on old white shirts to make them look fluorescent and new looking again, instead of buying new ones.Prices for these hawker services were very competitive. Customers would bargain and try to save every cent they can get away with. We would even bring our own egg to the char kway teow (fried rice noodles with cockles) stall so that it will save us five cents.—-These illegal hawkers, as they were called, were constantly on the run from the Ministry of Environment enforcement officers.These officers were called 'teh gu' (地牛) in Hokkien, roughly meaning 'territorial bulls' when translated. When they caught the illegal hawkers, they would literally smash their stalls up into bits. Those were heartbreaking moments to bear, as we witnessed the hawkers' back breaking hard work for days or even months demolished right before their eyes.Yet the next day, they would be out selling their wares again. People got to eat and families needed to be fed. Life had to go on. People those days were tough and persistent. Only the fittest survived.However from the Government's point of view, they felt they had to be cruel to be kind, for the greater good of preserving public health and food safety. Most of these hawkers were eventually offered licence to sell their stuff in centralised food centres, now called 'hawker centres'.Animal FarmThe farmers would let their pigs roam around freely in the estate, where they (the pigs) would eat whatever scraps of food they could find and also conveniently crapped anywhere they liked.The farmers would also send their kids house-to-house to collect swill every morning - that is, the left over food, bones,…etc from households. The kid will collect the tin full of yesterday’s swill and give us an empty tin for the next day’s swill. The swill tin is usually a used cooking oil tin can with the top cut open with two holes for the improvised wire handle. Swill are filthy stuff of rotting food. With the uncovered top, it attracted houseflies and spread diseases. Therefore, sometime towards the late 1960s, the government provided plastic pails with covers for the swill and mandated that all swill be collected using them, putting an end to those rusty improvised swill cans.The swill would be collected and boiled en-mass to sterilise and then used to feed the pigs. Smelly stuff. Then every once a year, they will give every household a crate of 24 eggs to thank them for the swill. Nothing goes to waste those days.As kids, we had to watch out for those random heaps of shit in the playground and grass patches. When we played badminton, we had to be careful not to land the shuttlecock on any of those nasty heaps. With practice, we got more precise with where we wanted our shuttlecocks to land.The pigs and humans mostly co-existed in the same space peacefully. That is, until the retarded game of some boys daring each other to land a quick punch on any roaming pig and run. They chose the pig at random and did not victimise any of them. All pigs were considered on equal grounds. No pig was more equal than the others. The pig would scream out loud and run, and so would the boys. It was the boys' idea of having fun. Kids could be cruel with animals. Fortunately, they did that only very occasionally, when they felt that they needed some extra excitement in their already overstimulated minds.Stray dogs had it easier. They were all loved by the kids, especially the puppies. The dogs would learn commands and tricks like sitting down, rolling down and shaking hands very quickly. They also got fed little treats, like biscuits or pieces of bone. But the good times didn't last very long, as the authorities would send men with rifles to shoot them and cull their population. A very cruel practice that continued till a few years ago.Cats somehow got away. Cats always do.There were also goats herded by ethnic Indians in the neighbourhood. They would bring their goats out in the morning to graze on some grassland and then bring them back at sunset. In between, they would sell goat milk to the residents.FamiliesMy family moved from a squalid single shop house room at Clarke Quay, along the Singapore River (now a hip clubbing arena), to a two-bedroom apartment in Redhill. We were a first occupant of the then brand new flat. Then, the lifts frequently broke down as the kids from the neighbouring attap houses would come over to take joy rides. High rise dwellings and lifts were curiosities.When the sixteen storey apartment block (Block 55) was completed at Lengkok Bahru, up the hill from Redhill School, we kids from the seven storey houses went there and up to the top storey corridor. Sixteen storeys was a big deal then, when the highest you have been was only seven storeys. I remember when I first look down from the sixteenth storey, my first thought was that the cars looked like Matchbox cars and the people looked like ants.There are 21 blocks of two-bedroom flats in Redhill Close, numbered from 1 to 22, Block 4, is a row of single-storey shops. I remember that there were two provision shops, one photo studio, one laundry shop, one traditional Chinese medicine shop and a corner coffeeshop where fights happen frequently.The rent for each apartment was $52 a month for many years, until they were sold to the tenants in 1982.Most of the flats were lived in by ten or more people. Usually father, mother, eight kids and a grandma, all squeezed into about 600 square feet of floor. At night, every square foot of the floor was slept on and there were double deck or triple deck bunk beds to pack more in. Family members that had to use the toilet in the middle of the night had to be careful not to trample on their siblings.As if those conditions were not uncomfortable enough, it was common for families to take in additional member(s), usually a Malaysian relative working in Singapore to stay with them. Kinship was very strong. Together they would endure and tolerate physical discomfort, to help a kinsman to get ahead economically.Besides them, cousins also come to stay with us during their school holidays. We didn’t seem to mind and instead were delighted that there were more kids to play with.Money IssuesMany kids were undernourished and underweight and so they were fed free milk in school. It was compulsory for skinny kids.Most families had only one breadwinner. The mum would have to be a housewife to take care of the kids and the household.The fathers, those that were not illegal hawkers or professional gangsters mostly held blue-collar jobs like taxi drivers, carpenters, construction workers, vegetable sellers, fishmongers...etc.A very small number of them had a few years of formal education and those that spoke English were held in high regard and had comfortable desk jobs like bookkeepers, calligraphers, bank clerks,...etc. Those who completed their Senior Cambridge School Certificate (equivalent of 10 years in school) were prized possessions and were hired by British companies. These were the privileged ones, with the exception of those who had the untimely misfortune of working for the British Army, as they were retrenched in 1968 when the British troops withdrew from Singapore. Then, finding another desk job was hard.There was an exceptional one in my block, an interesting man who folded beautiful paper flowers and would finish his huge bouquet at 5pm every day. He would then take Bus Number 8 to deliver them to his client at North Canal Road.Wages were meagre and families lived from hand to mouth and paycheck to paycheck. Err… that is if you were one of the lucky ones to have a regular paycheck to start off with. Kids hardened by physical pains of corporal punishment, were petrified whenever they were threatened to have dinner taken away from them. These kids had experienced hunger and knew that having dinner forfeited would deal them the ultimate pain, worse than being beaten by the cane.Then, if you were a kid with three square meals a day, you were considered rich; and if you had less, you were considered poor. There were a visible number of families who just scraped through with three meals of very diluted rice porridge (with more liquid than grains) and black soy sauce. There were many who were poor. I have seen some going over to their neighbours to borrow rice.When money ran out, they borrowed.One of my neighbour’s daughter borrowed a few dollars from my sister and never returned it. Subsequently, she borrowed a dress and never returned it. Each time my sister asked her, she said the dress was in the wash, hanging out to dry, but we saw her wearing the dress later that day to work.I once played the game of Police-and-Thief with her younger brother. In this game, one group will play Thief while the other group, the Police, will go chasing them and bring them down physically. Being kids, it was a rough game. I caught up with her brother, made a dive and got hold of him by his shirt. In the process, I inadvertently tore his shirt. After that, he sat there quietly feeling very upset. Then, he told me that that was the only school shirt he had. I didn’t believe him, but the next day, I saw him going to school with his torn white shirt mended, quite obvious that it was badly torn.You see, his family lost their sole bread winner very early and they survived on his mother doing odd jobs that she could bring home here and there, until the oldest daughter finished school and started work as a secretary. Then, her salary supported the entire family, though secretaries didn’t earn a lot in the 1960s, probably drawing a salary of 100 Singapore dollars a month.One relative came over to borrow one thousand dollars (about SG$10,000 in today’s money) from us, as the husband and sole breadwinner was retrenched. It was a significant sum, but my father obliged. We were not rich and that sum was probably a bank overdraft. They eventually paid back.Forty years later, I met the son in a restaurant by chance and out of small talk courtesy suggested that we ought to meet for lunch someday. Instead of enthusiasm, I was shocked as he was evasive and suggested that I call his secretary to arrange. You see, this son had risen very high and wealthy, and was holding a comfortable senior position in the Establishment. He was probably afraid that I was asking for favours or help. But I had no such agenda and only meant to have lunch with a cousin whom I played with as a child. I was not in dire straits to need to borrow money, or ask for any help. That said, I am not sure if he would lend me money if I really needed it. Naturally, I didn’t contact his secretary and the lunch didn’t happen.The more entrepreneurial Redhill residents converted their living room into Chinese temple shrines to collect donations from worshippers; others converted their flat into gambling dens; and yet others sublet one of their bed rooms, packing the kids further into whatever space they could find. There was a married man and father of eight kids, who married a rich older woman and had a baby with her. There seemed to be an 'understanding' between the man and his two wives. In return, the second wife contributed financially to his family coffers.Some became tontine leaders that managed pools of subscriber contributed cash, but ran away with the money when the going got tough. Such cash was meant to serve as micro-loans to deserving members in times of need.Yet some others became illegal lottery bookies. They operated within a trusted network and sometimes communicated to their members via coded language scribbled like random graffiti on common walls. They made good money until the day when luck stacked against them and they had not enough money to pay the winners, as there were too many of them. And so they had to vanish. This was a blessing in disguise, as those that continued soon got arrested and thrown in jail. It was expected, as the police, too, learned the coded language enough to write the bookies’ fate on the walls.Some women worked as washerwomen, manually washing other people's laundry, as there were no domestic washing machines. Some worked as amahs (domestic servants) for expatriate Caucasian families. Yet others worked as seamstresses at home, so that they can continue to run the household and look after their children.The more desperate ones became bar girls, dance hostesses or prostitutes. These women of easy virtue would often end up having their daughters follow their footsteps when they got too old and their daughters got old enough.When all else failed, the desperate ones stole. When caught, they were first beaten up before being jailed, thus throwing their family into deeper jeopardy. Others became gangsters and ran prostitution dens and illegal casinos, extorted protection money, intimidated the weak and fought or killed their enemies.And that is why all parents wanted their children to study hard and do well in school, and not have to go through the physical hardship and financial uncertainties like those sea of nameless faces toiling in factories."Study hard and get a job that holds the pen, not one of rough (hard) labour," was the maxim.The New DawnIt was only a few years later in the late 1960s that there were more jobs, as Singapore's industrialisation plan began to trickle down to the masses. Then it was possible to get a job as a menial factory worker installing transistors for US$1 a day, which translated to SG$3 a day. A bowl of noodles costs 30 cents, so adjusted for inflation, it would be about SG$30 a day in today's money. It was still not much money, but it paid the bills.These factory workers would negotiate for free uniforms, so that they could save some money. Every cent counted. To make themselves a little different from others while donning the uniform, they would modify it a little bit here and there for some identity.Some female factory workers, particularly the Malay ones, would cut their uniforms very short and tight to exhibit their well endowed body and attract men. After a hard day's work of repetitive tedium, getting attention from the opposite sex helped to lighten their day and make the heart flutter a little. Canteen, common corridors and bus stops were their staging grounds.These sexy girls were so game into having a good time that they would respond to wolf whistles from construction workers in passing Datsun pickup trucks - much to the whistlers' delight.As people lived in cramped conditions, it was hard to find privacy in places for romance and physical intimacy. So when Tiong Bahru Park nearby was ready, many young couples went to the darker reaches of the park at night for some hanky panky and sex. They would lay their mats on the grass along the darker reaches of the park along the perimeters of Tiong Bahru Secondary School for their moments of ecstasy.However that didn’t always work, as sometimes, they would be watched by cheeky undercover National Environment officers on the pretext of catching litter bugs. These officers would confront the couple and issue a fine for littering, at the awkward moment when the man disposed his used condom on the grass. Thus giving a new meaning to being “caught with your pants down”. This cheeky voyeurism was called ‘liak kow’ in Hokkien (‘Catching Monkeys’). It begs the question as to who had a sadder sex life and who really had the last laugh.Left alone, it is human nature that men and women will find ways of dancing the mating game. This manifested as a bit of titillation here and a bit of flirtation there. Somehow, they would find gaps and opportunities amid their hard lives for some relief.The Original Old HillYes, there was indeed a little hill that was literally red in colour at the fringes of the estate, we called 'Au Buay Sua' in Hokkien, that translates to 'the hill behind' in English.Most people spoke Hokkien, Teochew or Cantonese; including some Malays and Indians who could speak them fluently. Conversely, many of the older Chinese folks could speak Malay fluently. Malay was an important common language those days. It is still the National Language of Singapore today, though many people can't speak it.The surrounding of Redhill Close was a random sprawl of shanty attap huts, separated by narrow winding mud tracks. At night, much of the kampong was not lighted. Some of the huts didn't even have electricity and fresh running water, and so relied on kerosene lamps and wells. Sanitation was simply served by huts with a hole in the ground. Some units did not even have land or dwelling registration.ReligionsThere were also two Chinese Folk Religion temples at the top, where many Chinese people worshipped at. Besides prayers, the mediums would occasionally go into trance to find answers to the worshippers' problems. During festivals, there were Hokkien or Teochew wayangs staged along the slope of the little red hill, attracting large crowds of audiences, along with hawkers, mini gambling den operators and other peddlers grabbing the chance to earn a few extra bucks.Most Chinese people worshipped Chinese Folk Religion deities, which is, contrary to popular belief, not the same as Taoism, although officially they are ignorantly and conveniently lumped into one. Taoism is a philosophy and arguably not a religion, though anything can be made into a religion if we try hard enough to do so.There was also a visible number of them that were Buddhists, some in their purest form practising Buddha’s teachings, whilst others were only into the exoteric rituals of prayers and joss sticks.Then there were a growing number of Chinese who converted to Christianity.The Malays were mostly Muslims and the Indians mostly Hindus.There was a time when a particular religion was systematically trying to convert everyone else. They claimed that their religion was the only Truth and that the rest of them were just superstitions.The irony is that a superstitious person will always be another person practising another religion, other than your own. You are never superstitious practising your own rituals in your own religion.That was not acceptable by some sections of the community and it took some 30 years later that a Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act was instituted in 1992.Really, all religions are man-made without exception, though most of them claim they are not a religion but a faith or a fellowship. I think that is mostly to wash away the bad memories of religious wars and malpractices in history. I think people should be free to believe what they want to believe and there should be respect all round not to coerce others into their religion.As Lee Kuan Yew once said to the effect that these religions (those accused to be mere superstitions) have given their believers a peace of mind for thousands of years, so who are we to say that they are false.However, there were situations when science could account for the superstitions. For instance whenever there was an eclipse of the moon in the 1960s, thousands of Redhill residents would come out to scare away the purported heavenly dog eating away the moon, by banging on their pots and pans to make a collective deafening ensemble. As a kid, I tried explaining to them the science of eclipses, but to no avail. They countered the argument by saying that the caretaker of the temple and their devotees were also banging on their pots and pans. Monkey see, monkey do.Sometimes I wonder if believers will eat shit if their religious leaders, too, ate shit.The TriadsThese shanty kampongs were breeding grounds and hideouts for the triads and they would have their initiation ceremonies almost uninhibited in the forested areas. Gangsters pursued by the police would run into the kampongs and the police would not dare to venture into those slums in the dead of the night in pitch darkness. So there, the triads festered.Once at a pasar malam (night market) along Jalan Bukit Merah, a young man snatched my mother's gold chain and jade pendant from her neck and ran, when she was bent down to examine something she wanted to buy. My mother gave chase and my sister barely 11 years old, grabbed me on a piggy back and ran with my mother. But we were not fast enough. It was quite a trauma for me as a five year old. The snatch thief ran and disappeared into the attap house cluster in the dead of the night. There was little we could do. A family friend suggested that we search the nearby grass patch, and that on the off chance, he might had the more valuable jade pendant carelessly slipped off the chain. We did that search and by sheer luck and to our delight, found the pendant.This incident was reported in the evening newspapers and my mother’s first time in the newspapers. The second time was later in 1964, when she was about to deliver my younger brother when there was a curfew outside in the aftermath of a racial riot. Luckily, she was picked up by a passing police patrol car that took her to the hospital.Ironically, my younger brother is the only one among the eight of us that was delivered in a hospital. The rest of us were delivered at home by midwives. These midwives learned their trade from their mothers and were not trained in medical schools, but were used by most mothers. Sometimes, there were mishaps and the weaker babies died. Only the fittest survived.By the early 1970s, pasar malams were banned, not for the incidents of snatch thievery, but for the bigger danger that they had become staging grounds for gang clashes. The night market crowd was used as a cover for gang members to form up before the battle without being noticed. Then on their leader's calls, they would charge their opponents with parangs (machetes), mangrove scaffold poles and metal pipes. Light bulbs filled with sulphuric acid became acid bombs and were hurled into the air at their opponents. It was a theatre of horror.Those fighters were fearless. They were fiercely loyal and were avowed to the code of silence to protect their brothers. They were motivated by a combination of sense of belonging, the security of a family, their boosted ego and the lure of money.It would be interesting to see how these fighters measure up against today’s MMA fighters in a free-for-all, where there are no rules, no referees and no time-out. Triad fighters fought to kill. In street battle, the one most fearless and motivated to kill will win. The order of importance is fearlessness, strength and martial art. It rhymes better in Hokkien as “it ta, zi laat, sa kanghu” (一胆，二力，三功夫).These gangs from Chap Pueh Sio Kun Tong (18 小坤堂), Dee Si Ang Koon (24 红根) and their spinoffs, often fought to settle territorial disputes.There were gang chants and songs to identify and set themselves apart. As all gang names were prefixed with numbers, gang members would challenge their opponent in coded language in Hokkien, such as, “What number are you playing?” or “Where are you playing?”. Such challenge and response protocols percolated down to the lower rungs of the gangs and then seeped out to copycats and kids.The last two groups mimic the ways of gangsters hoping to spread fear and gain respect. It didn’t always work, as they might meet a one-hell of a loner one day who will beat them into a pulp and they would be unable to mobilise their fictitious gang to protect them.Many petty fights among the junior gang members arose from a gang member being beaten up by an opposing gang in another territory. When the beaten up gang member reported that to their brothers, they would mobilise a section of them to counterattack. There was no investigation and no questions asked. They were mostly short-fused and psychologically hardwired to protect their brothers. Sometimes, the fight could have started out of a petty ‘staring incident’, where gangster A stared at gangster B, and vice versa, that eventually escalated to their smashing each other’s heads up with beer bottles and chairs. People had died out of such ‘staring incidents’.Eventually, the elders of each gang would get together to ‘talk reason’ to resolve the dispute. When they were resolved, the offending party will pay damages in the form of a feast for the offended gang. So there was a code of ethics in the triad world.Besides the island-wide famous gangsters of Lim Ban Lim and Fei Chai (fatty), there were other legendary names we hear in Redhill. One of them, let’s call him ‘Parrot’, a gangster who was later rumoured to have been an undercover detective. My gut feeling is that he might have been just an informer.Another, was nicknamed Sam Mah Chai , after the famous Hong Kong opera actor Sun Ma Sze Tsang of that era. He was a fierce fighter during his younger days. I didn’t meet him in the 1960s, but some fifty years later, I met him on a film set where I acted with him.In the scene on set, he played the role of my screen father who is visiting me (my character) in prison. Such irony.He looks like a regular old man in his 70s. He is lean and tanned and mostly polite and quiet. When I asked him, he recounted his younger days as a fighter in gang clashes, his time spent in the Pulau Senang (island) penal colony and the mutiny/riot in 1963. He also showed me the scars on this arms and said that he got them while blocking himself from parangs (machetes) swinging at him. He said that it was a miracle that his arms were not chopped off. He said that he was young and stupid, came from a broken family and found himself in bad company and influence, and all that eventually led him to join the triads.The government eventually clamped down hard on them with the infamous Section 55 of the Penal Code, that gives the police arbitrary powers to arrest and detain secret society members indefinitely without trial.New public places that were built were to be gangster proof - hawker centre tables and chairs were to be fixed to the ground, so that they could not be used as weapons during a fight; and more places were brightly lit up.As a kid, I have seen quite a few fights, gang clashes and riot squads in action. If you were a kid that used to roam around a lot, chances were that you would have gotten into some petty fights just to protect yourself or your friend. Kids toughened up and became streetwise very quickly those days.Photo courtesy of SPH ArchivesChildhoodIn the day, the kampongs were the natural playground for kids. Boys would go there to catch spiders and fish.The boys would catch a certain species of spider that would fight whenever they saw another one of them. This species was found in the bushes near the railway tracks.The trains run from Tanjong Pagar to Malaysia twice a day. Once in the morning and once in the afternoon. The ownership of the railway land was a legacy from the days when Singapore was part of the Malaysian Federation and it was still sovereign land belonging to the Malaysian Government. That means that the Singapore Government had no jurisdiction over it and the Singapore police had no right to enter it for law enforcement. It was a long stretch of Malaysian sovereign land, which Singapore only got back in the year 2011. As a result, a squatter colony flourished on this ‘no-man’s land’ next to the tracks with the nearest squatter roof eave overhang literally a few inches from the side of the train as they whooshed past every day.When there were no trains, the kids would be playing around the tracks. It was a closely knit community where the adults would check that the railway tracks were free from kids loitering around when it was time for the train to pass. I dread to think what would have happened if the railway company had decided to change their time table suddenly. Hundreds of children would be had been overrun and killed. Thankfully that never happened. They probably knew that they could not change the time table.The railway track area was a remote area, so the smaller boys from outside the squatter colony must be vigilant and vanish into the bushes whenever they saw bigger boys approaching from a distance. Often these bigger boys will rob the smaller boys or beat them up. It was the law of the jungle. Singapore was far from the safety levels we have today. Those were the days when everybody would turn into a bully given half a chance. This was extended to politicians, policemen, teachers, nurses, bus conductors,.... etc.To get to the water stream, the boys would need to skirt around a shanty hut built at the edge of the stream. They would have to squeeze through a very narrow path between the house and the water, wide enough only for tiny feet to cross. Inside, there lived a mad woman who would rush out with her long messy hair and full grin whenever she noticed kids passing by. Rumours had it that she used to have a baby, but she died soon after. Thereafter, she lost her sanity.The boys would fish at the upstream of the water where it was clean and clear. They would catch those beautiful guppies with rainbow coloured tails.As it flowed downstream, the water got murky very quickly by the toilet hut discharge that went directly into the water. This water would flow to the drains along Redhill, down to the Alexandra Canal and finally discharging into the Singapore River. It was no wonder why the River was black and stinking like an open sewer, and was nauseating to go near after a hearty meal.However, it was at the downstream that the bigger fishes were found, particularly the big black catfish. As they say, you can't catch many fish in clear waters. Catfish were considered a longkang fish (fish from the drains) in those days. These days, it is an expensive delicacy.And of course there were fighting fish, where bets were made as to which fish would win in a fight. Put together in the same jar, these beautiful fish would waste no time tearing each other apart and both of them will end up with tattered fins.We also flew layangs (kites) with strings laced with powdered glass. The goal was to fly high and cut the strings of other kites off.There was the factor of how much glass you have laced on your strings with and there was the technique of ulo-tarek (release and pull) at the right time. Basically, when the opponent’s kite tightened to cut your string, you slacken your string so that it was hard for them to cut yours. Then, you would surprise the opponent by tightening up quickly, coming down hard and fast on them, and cutting them off.When the string was cut, the kite flew away loose from the owner and eventually came down. On the ground, there would be lots of kids running after the kite, as it will belong to anyone that catches it. Of course fights occur frequently over the argument of who got to the kite first. There, we saw a lot of bullying around with the bigger boys pushing and shoving the smaller boys down to the ground to get the kites.We laced our strings by winding them around two trees that were spaced apart, and then coating them with glue boiled from cow hide, before running finely pound glass over the glue coated strings. Finally, we left them to dry under the hot sun.We made the kites with thin strips of bamboo and tracing paper.There was also this local cherry tree that the boys loved. The cherries are edible and the tree was colloquially called the ba-cherry tree. I just found out from the Internet that its scientific name is Muntingia Calabura, aka Jamaica Cherry or Singapore Cherry.But the boys didn't love it because the cherries tasted good, but more so because they could use them as ammunition for their guns made from pieces of waste wood and rubber bands. They would target at passing school boys and have their white shirts splattered spectacularly cherry red, driving the victims into a rage and the shooters running for their life.Sometimes we would wander further away to places like Pasir Panjang to see the beach, and in one instance, cut long green bamboo poles and drag them home to make pencil stands or piggy banks. Pasir Panjang Road was once a narrow road with villages along either side. The villagers would send their ducks crossing over to the beach to eat the abundant seaweed during low tide, and after the feeding, the ducks would wander back across the road home safely.We also walked through the Redhill attap houses, cross the railway tracks and went upslope to Mount Faber, which was a tourist destination. Once, after a tourist bus came, we were asked to pose with several of them for photos. We were just scrawny little kids in singlets, shorts and slippers, but felt like stars at that moment. One young couple from Canada (I think), told me that they had quit their jobs to see the world. That statement really floored me and kept me thinking about for days. How could it be that the local people in Redhill were struggling to stay alive, while these Caucasian tourists could be gallivanting around the world and even quit their ( I assumed) well paying jobs to do so? I could not fathom that thought and the question stayed etched in my psyche for years to come. Perhaps it had planted a seed in my mind so much so that 13 years later, I set off to live and work in 19 countries across 4 continents over 20 years.With no money in our pockets, we invented our own toys. We turned clothes pegs, bottle caps, abandoned wheels (probably from prams), drink straws, old copper coins, ice-cream sticks, rubber bands, cardboard boxes, wish-bone pieces of wood, rubber tree seeds, Acacia tree fruit, papaya tree stalks,...etc, into toys. We even learned a technique of shooting lallang grass blades at other people.We would slide down grass slopes with cardboard boxes, climb on staircase railings, climb scaffolding, climb trees, jump from the second storey to the ground floor, explore abandoned bunkers, crawl through drain tunnels,...etc. We survived all that!Boys will be boys. We didn't know what the girls did for fun. They were probably doing their homework and playing five-stones at home. They didn't matter to us. We probably thought they were boring. Kids look at the world as one humanity. It was only years later during puberty that we divided the world into two halves and got selfishly interested in only one-half of humanity. LOL.It is sad that all these antics are mostly lost among the kids today. Nowadays, they have virtually merged themselves into their mobile phones and computer games. They have become one with the machine, but not with nature. They do not know how much they have missed and have bypassed the chance of growing up inventing their own games, imagining their own stories and exploring new and dangerous places.SchoolsSchools weren’t so demanding as they are today in Singapore. That said, education standards were still very high and rigorous. For instance, we were taught language grammar and punished for speaking badly. That usually meant physical pain. A whip on the bum or a smack on the head. However, we were not pressured to hate or fear school. Besides, we didn’t only learn from school, we also learned from each other, by living through crises, through empty spaces of time staring into the distance (the blank), by exploring nature first hand and by making mistakes.In contrast, kids today learn by NOT making mistakes, within a strict structure and time table with a highly prescribed curriculum. A lot of spontaneous opportunities for initiative and creativity are lost. Their prime reward is only their scores, that will mark their lives. Or so this is what is expected.During recess time, mothers will bring home-cooked food to feed their kids, although the canteen offered rather inexpensive food. The philosophy was that home-cooked food was healthier and also that they could save some money. Mothers walked 15 to 20 minutes to the school lugging the food along in tinkats to feed their kids. I was always very delighted that my mum brought food for me during recess. It saved me queuing up and also the food was delicious.However, I remember once, my classmate rejected his mum’s food. He said that he was not hungry, but I think it was because he was ashamed of his mum. His mum was a tanned wrinkled woman who could only speak Hokkien. I guessed Hokkien was considered a low-class language at that time. We were even punished for speaking Hokkien in school by overzealous teachers. I bet they didn’t know the impact it had on the kids’ self esteem and the pride of their culture by banning the language in school. This incident had shaken me quite badly till today. I felt sorry for the mother.This is how a tinkat pot looks like.Most of us attended the three English medium schools in the neighbourhood, called Redhill Primary, Bukit Merah North and Bukit Merah South. We studied English as a first language and our ‘mother-tongue’ as the second language. Bukit Merah North offered Mandarin and Malay as second languages, while Bukit Merah South offered Mandarin and Tamil. The three schools shared a single big field that flooded every time there was a heavy rain. When that happened, the boys would be out there in the rain and flood playing in the muddy, murky waters. If you do it often enough, you don’t fall sick doing so.This location is now occupied by Gan Eng Seng School.Those that wanted a Chinese language education studied at Keng Seng Primary, a government-aided school formed by a cluster of attap huts in the kampong. Those who wanted a better Chinese school went to River Valley Government Primary or Tuan Mong High School.There was a wide difference between those from Chinese medium schools and those from English medium schools. Those from Chinese schools were much more disciplined, as it would be, given that Chinese ideograph characters are not phonetic and had to be committed to memory - every stroke and stroke order. And then the need to memorise huge amounts of classical text by heart. They were also prouder to be Chinese and associate themselves with the accomplishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The extreme ones even dressed like people from the PRC, the guys would wear white short sleeve shirt and blue pants with basketball shoes made in China and the girls would sport pleated long braids, white blouse, pleated blue or black skirt, white socks and black shoes.I guessed this must have scared Lee Kuan Yew, as by 1978, he closed all Chinese medium schools, so that we could be safer from the Communists. China at that time, was sponsoring the insurgent Communist Party of Malaya (CPM). Lee also started a speak Mandarin Campaign to take away dialects, and cut the clans of their following and the triads that thrived on them.Mandarin language teachers those days were mostly bullies at heart. They would intimidate the children, insult them and despise them for not being able to speak their mother-tongue, which strictly was not true because most of our parents then could not speak Mandarin. It was the language of the Northerners, get it?! We in the South spoke Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese and other languages (which they downgraded into ‘dialects’).By the time we reached secondary schools, we had Chinese dictation tests. It was from here that many of us had nightmares about such tests for many years to come, deep into adulthood. In Chinese dictation tests, the invigilator does not read the text while the candidates write. You only hear ‘start’ and ‘stop’, and in between, you are to regurgitate one or two pages of text from the book, word for word. Hundreds of hours were taken away from our play time to memorise texts for such tests. Such tests were later discontinued. Lee Kuan Yew once commented that it was insane.For those in English medium schools, we also studied Bahasa Kebangsaan (National Language), which is Malay.We spoke English in class, but Chinese dialects and Malay outside, but still, we didn’t have Singlish. It was not born yet.Besides the academics, Lee Kuan Yew also started Pesta Sukan (Sports festival) in 1964 as a series of friendly sport competitions. This is to build a rugged society, as he knew that with a population living from hand to mouth, sports and physical fitness was never a priority. Many sports amenities were built with very cheap entry fees and I started going swimming at Queenstown Swimming Pool, the third public swimming pool in Singapore, about three kilometres away.As a result, I also became an all rounder athlete. I represented my school in Athletics 100 metre and 200 metre sprint, 4 x 100 metre sprint, Long Jump, Triple Jump, High Jump, Basketball and Softball. I had a whale of a time with my extra-curricular activities.This campaign to build a rugged society was very successful and timely, especially in 1968 when we had to build our own army rapidly when the British troops withdrew from Singapore.Band on the RunThe 1960s was also the golden age for Singapore music. This bolstered by the British Army which was stationed in Singapore and they had bands playing in their Officers’ Mess during weekends. Local bands like The Quest, The Stylers and The Shadows were very popular among the expatriates and English speaking Singaporeans. These Singaporeans were mostly Eurasians, Peranakans and the more Anglicised Indians, Malays and Chinese. Many were second or third generation Singapore born citizens and a visible number of them were from Catholic schools and good government schools, where proper English was spoken.This was enough for Radio Television Singapore (RTS) to start the first Talentime (1967/68). Three teenage girls from Raffles Girls Secondary, called The Tidbits, won the first prize and went on to cut their first albums with RCA/Cosdel.Western music brought along Western Pop culture of long hair, bell bottom pants and flora motif slim fit shirts with big collars for men. Girls sported straight long hair and loose blouses with flowery designs. There was also a more decadent side of substance abuse of ganja (marijuana), cocaine and MX pills.The authorities knew they had to stop this spread of decadent Western culture and imposed an Anti-Long Hair Campaign, where long haired males would be served last at government counters. Western pop bands spotting long hair coming into Singapore would have to cut their hair, or be turned back. Urine tests were also conducted in random nightclub raids, army camps and schools.Students in schools were subjected to regular long hair checks and repeat offenders would have their hair cut on the spot by the discipline masters. Teachers would cold heartedly pull the side burns of boys that were too long and have them grimacing in pain. Some discipline masters would cut a gap in the middle of the hair, so that the offenders would be forced to cut their hair short, GI-style, making offenders looking like a fool to their friends. However, fashion comes and goes. What was silly in those days looks cool today. So, there is no meaning to anything other than the meaning we attach to it.Lee Kuan Yew was a strong man well known for his draconian methods. He knew that if he wanted to have the industrialisation plan working, he would need healthy young men to work and not run the risks of them taking on the laissez-faire hippie lifestyle of sex, drugs and Rock-and-Roll. He violated many aspects of human rights, but he did get the industrialisation plan going.Getai in the 60s. Photograph courtesy of Mr Aaron Tan, Lex(s) Entertainment Productions.However, the majority of Redhill residents were not that hip and were more into local Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew and Mandarin pop songs, with predictable kitschy cha-cha beats and electric guitar melodies. The Chinese religious leaders saw that and staged Gotai (歌台) to entertain their deities and worshippers. Some local singers got famous through this route. Such Gotai persists till this day.One of my brother’s friend, Wu Gang, won a record label contest and went on to be a local star. He had his educational certificates left in our house for safe keeping, in case his attap house home caught fire - quite common those days. He was a top singer in the local scene in the 1960s and 1970s. Thereafter, he went to the UK to further his studies in fine arts and returned to start his own graphics design business. Upon graduation, he came to our place a few times but thereafter I didn’t get to meet him.Some forty years later, I got to work for a Chapman University student film project called “Last Wish”. It is about the mending of relationship between a singer-celebrity son and his father at his death bed. I played the role of the father, Sean Goh played the role of the son and the director of the film was his actual sister, Jean Goh, a final year student of Chapman.It was only a few days ago, at the time of writing, that I found out that Sean and Jean are the children of Wu Gang. Sean and Jean sing a lot and Jean won a national Mandarin singing competition in 2016.Small world.Small IslandIn 1960, Singapore was 250 sq miles with a population of 1.6 million. The people had big families and were reproducing fast, which prompted the government to start the Family Planning Campaign in 1960. The message was “Stop At Two [kids]”. Many mocked this to mean “Stop at two o’clock at night”. Mothers that had their third kid onwards were pressured to sterilise, or have their kids’ priority for schools….etc, placed last. The Campaign was an outstanding success. The average number of babies per woman went down from 6 in 1960, to 1.2 in 2016.In the 1960s, there was no MRT, no highways and roads were narrow and single lane. Accessibility from one end of the island to the other by car might take a few hours. During Chinese New Year, my parents would hire an old Austin car to pack all of us in to go from Redhill to Upper Serangoon to visit my grandmother. The distance was merely 7 miles apart, but took us the whole morning to get there, with the traffic grinding to a snail’s pace with the festive crowd. One of my sisters would have to stop the car to come out to throw up, as she could not take the long hours confined in the heat and humidity in the car. The same journey today would take 35 minutes by MRT.So Singapore may have been a small island then, but people did not travel the same kind of distances every day. People barely wander more than 2 mile radius from their village hut. They would frequent their village regular coffeeshop to listen to dialect broadcasts on cable radio Redifussion, frequent the People’s Association’s Community Centres to watch TV, or visit their local open air cinema. They probably made yearly or bi-yearly trips to the City to replenish groceries and essentials, or visit a ‘far-away’ relative.Perhaps that was how those runaway tontine leaders, illegal bookies, unmarried mothers, shamed members of families, banished gang leaders, …etc could vanish and still remain unnoticed in Singapore for years. Those days, there were no Internet, mobile phones, computers, fax machines; and very few people had line telephones and televisions.SummaryRedhill Close for all its good, bad and ugly, warts and all, was a close-knit community where everyone knew everyone. It was where gossip and news took no time to get around. Neighbours would visit each other anytime. Often, those without TV would go over to those apartments with TVs to enjoy the evening's programme. Those that lived along common corridors and had televisions in the living room would leave their windows open, so that neighbours could stand by the corridor and enjoy the evening's programme.Mothers would often leave their kids to their neighbour's care for an hour or two, while they made their trips to the wet market; and they would return that goodwill when asked upon.Kids mature very quickly those days, as they were assigned family duties very early in their life. By the age of 16 years old, he or she would have gone through thick and thin with the family and had helped their parents bring up seven other younger siblings, taken care of a grandma and laboured through the drudgery of housework. His younger siblings say of age 14 years old or below, would in-turn be in-charged and responsible for the well-being and safety of those even younger. So there was a strict hierarchy in the family, where the older was responsible for the younger ones. The younger ones got taken care of and did not have many duties, but they had to obey their elders.Kids that grew out of communities in the 1960s learned to be self-reliant, tough and empathetic to the needs of others. And so when they were older, they would partake in protests and strikes against bus fare hikes, price rises or unfair dismissals. Though those were compounded by the fuel of anti-Imperialist and socialist movements.At 16 years old, some boys would become merchant sailors earning about $1,000 a month, a princely sum at that time, considering that an accountancy graduate in 1968 earned $400 a month. Others joined the army and got trained and toughened up to be operationally-ready very quickly by Israeli war veterans. All that so that they can contribute to the family’s coffers and pull everyone out of poverty and hardship.That was life around 50 years ago. Most residents were living under the poverty line by today's standards. Yet, we were rich in human spirit and mostly happy. I saw more smiles then, than I do now in Singapore as a progressive modern metropolis. The oldest man I knew was never lonely and the ugliest woman got married and had many kids.My mother had six kids when she was 30 years old. Nowadays, many girls 30 years old or older, have no kids, nor are they married. And yet some others in this age range are still in their cutesy narcissistic online fantasies with aspirations to be social network personalities. I am not judging what is right or wrong, but just saying the way it is. While everyone is free to make their own choices, there will always be consequences arising from those choices.Some people say that times have changed and that "policemen those days wore shorts". But I still feel that somethings will always be the same. Love has remained the great constant over centuries of history. Love never changed. With the onslaught of media influences and peer pressures, we ought to ask, "What would Love do in a given situation?"Thereafter around 1969, the attap houses were demolished to build Housing Development Board (HDB) flats to accommodate ethnic Indians resettled from the Silat Road and Kampong Bahru enclaves, due to the extension of Jalan Bukit Merah (road). Several years later, the little red hill, where the estate got its name from, was flattened to build what is now Bukit Merah Central (“bukit merah” means "red hill" in Malay).This year, the estate itself is due for urban renewal. It will be demolished and replaced by closely packed tall modern blocks, with multi-storey car parks identical to many other uniform-looking estates in Singapore. The existing residents will have the option to move to replacement flats built nearby around Henderson Road.Where do we go from here?Singapore has made huge economic strides by any standards. This is because there was a leadership that cared and a population that trusted their leaders and worked hard to achieve their dreams. They were simple, but noble dreams: Merely to earn enough money to bring up healthy and moral children that will do well in school, in an environment without war, riots or violence.Times have changed people. It is not like this today. With progress, comes comfort, risk aversion and self-centredness. Many people have forgotten how it was like to be really poor. The younger ones have never experienced it. Leaders pay lip-service to it, fall into group-think and are petrified to lose their million dollar jobs.High salaries may preempt corruption, but they also numb sensitivities to human values, reducing us to mere digits of equivalent dollars. It distorts the perception of life, since nature does not have money; and that trees and animals grow without the need for money.While a million dollar salary is a lot of money to most mortals, it is now perceived by the elites as an entitlement and that their family will suffer if there are minor adjustments made to that salary. Or that anyone earning half a million dollars and below are considered mediocre, implying that money is the prime factor for measuring a human being. Or ignorantly assuming that it is common for every family to own two cars.So it is evident that the citizens’ struggles with the very basic day-to-day issues are not in the minds of the elite. Issues that are as basic as paying for electricity and water, apartment rent, school fees, costs of text books,…etc. The elites generally leave these issues to somebody else lower down in the hierarchy to sort out, or to sweep under the carpet.Bureaucrats across the ranks, hired for their brilliant minds, second guess their political bosses and window dress numbers to look good, maintain status quo and keep their jobs.Those with alternative views choose to remain silent to keep their jobs and their above market salaries. Their biggest conflict they have now is with their true selves: The true self that is crying out to live truthfully.So this was how life was like in Singapore in the 1960s and how it contrasts with life today. The hard times of old made us strong, but by now, those values are largely eroded and relegated to the scrapbooks of history.Still, I heard that a prominent politician hails from Redhill and so I wish that this son of Redhill will bring back the spirit we once had and pull us out of this slum of moral decay.If you like this post, please share it so that more people, especially youngsters, will know how life was in the same space, but a in different time in the 1960s.If you would like to read about how life is in contemporary Singapore, including some funny and ironical bits, you may like to read:How is living in Singapore like?What do the people in Singapore do that is different than the rest of the world?Thank you for reading this far. It is a long article and I hope it is well worth your time.

Dear Vishnu, Thanks for the A2A!Jupiter is considered the bringer of good fortune and wealth since antiquity. This planet was known as the great benefic among other planets, and it was considered that if well placed, it could bring tremendous wealth and fortune into a person’s life, excellent opportunities for progress, gaining financial stability, extremely charismatic, self-confident and generous, kind and open towards the world. Jupiter is associated with one’s religiousness, faith, beliefs and philosophy. It is the planet of prosperity, growth and expansion. This planet gives on the sense of justice, morality, righteousness and ethics.The transit of Jupiter from one zodiac sign to another is a very significant event. Jupiter transit into Capricorn sign on 20 Nov 2020. Jupiter generally gives good results transiting through houses of which he is the Karaka i.e., 2nd House, 5th House, 9th House and 11th House but that is also dependent how many Ashtakavarga points you have for Jupiter in Capricorn and 4-8 will bring good results. It also gives good result during its transit through the 7th house.♈ Aries AscendantJupiter is the 9th and 12th house ruler, transiting through your 10th house. There could be uncertainties in professional matters, possible loss of professional dignity in some way either loss of face in some way in controversial situations, change in office atmosphere and behaviours, change in job. However, good news for person who are currently and looking for job, will find better job opportunities and can get new job as well.In the period between 20 November 2020 and 06 April 2021 need for more patience and careful in all your life matters. Do not resign an existing position in haste or due to egoistic impulses or irritations at the work place. The conjunction of Saturn & Jupiter in the 10th house can put you under work pressure. Change of job is also possible which you should be considered with cool mind.Jupiter between April 2021 and mid of September 2021 During this phase, Jupiter shifts temporarily into your 11th house(Aquarius sign) the situation will improve which will give you positive results in the area of finance and your profession. During this temporary positive phase of Jupiter transit, children and family members are also demanding and possibility of positive developments in personal life for many of you like marriage suddenly getting finalized, potential to make good gains in business matters, investments, etc.♉ Taurus AscendantJupiter is the 8th and 11th house lord, and transit through your 9th house "he's coming home". Jupiter transit is very powerful and very beneficial for you. 9th house is Dharma or the righteous path. The karaka for 9th house is Jupiter himself and the best place for Jupiter transit among all the houses (bhavas).Things which are stuck for long, get resolved. The person gets divine blessings (promising success, good health, promotion, wealth and growth in all areas) more than any other time. The obstacles in career will be moved and you would get the promotion or salary hike which you deserve.Luck will favor you in your 3rd house area which is the house of improving skills and siblings. And it will also favor your 5th house of children and personal creativity.With blessing of Jupiter in Capricorn, this year Taurus people will find enhanced fame and recognition in the society as well as in your family and work place.During April 2021 to mid September 2021 period is challenging on professional front take your decision very wisely in this time you may not get desired results in spite of hard work.Overall, this is an auspicious transit for Taurus ascendant, and it reduces the impact of transit of Saturn over the 9th house.♊ Gemini AscendantJupiter is 7th and 10th house lord and Jupiter transits the sensitive 8th house from your ascendant. It governs health longevity, hidden wealth, transformation, occult and research; on the other it governs debts, obstacles, calamities and accidents.Jupiter in 8th house may help you accumulate wealth, if you manage your resources well. Jupiter is giving you money from other people, through inheritance, and with legacies. Your spouse will be cooperative, particularly in financial matters. If your Jupiter is in good condition in your birth chart or horoscope then this transit may give you some benefits around winning some court cases.Much care is needed while interacting with members of opposite gender as unnecessary issues may crop up due to that.If you are under bad nakshatra Mahadasha and Antardasha as well, then during this period then your health condition may worsen. You should take care of your health, spouse and elderly member of the family.Spiritually inclined natives of this ascendant may benefit by advanced spiritual sadhanas or yogic practices that are usually beyond the radar of normal believers and good time to invest time in the pranayama and regular physical exercises etc.During April 2021 to mid September you may have some favourable time due to retrograde position of Jupiter. Your relation with close one start improving and Educational opportunities or travel will broaden your horizons increasing your contentment.♋ Cancer AscendantJupiter transits through the 7th House (of marriage, partnership, and relationships) will make relationships and partnerships easier, and enhancing your chances of getting married. If you are married, Jupiter helps you understand your partner's needs & desires and a chance to fulfill them.Attempting to sort out problems in your relationship, you will come up with amazing solutions leading to absolute matrimonial bliss.There is tendency to become obese, so control your urge for food (especially the sweet tooth). Problems related to the digestive system may pop up. Avoid the intake of fry, oily and heavy food. Eat healthy food. Take more water and fruit. It will save your digestive system from suffering.Jupiter's aspect will bestow you with wealth, great social relations, vehicles and the pleasures of married life. Jupiter also brings better prospects for the businessmen. New contracts and frequent travelling will keep you occupied. Business trips will be successful as they will enhance the chances of expansion of your business. Jupiter will improve your image considerably and you are all set to become the blue eyed boy in your office.Overall, this is an auspicious transit for Cancer ascendant, and reduces the impact of transit of Saturn over the 7th house.♌ Leo AscendantJupiter is your 5th and 8th house lord and transiting through in your 6th house of health, sickness, work place or routine job, enemies, debts and disease.This Jupiter transit is very much challenging for leo natives, first priority is your health and needs to be handled carefully. Do not indulge in any kind of unnecessary arguments and fights with anyone. If you are under any legal issues then handled it with negotiation.Those who are salaried employee or service try to be calm at work place and work hard this transit is very challenging try to maintain good relation with your superiors and managers it will help you at your work place.6th house is the house of enemies and the karaka is Saturn. So the native may face many challenges from enemies and situations which does not work in favour.Avoid lending/ borrowing huge sums based on over-optimistic projections and play it safe in money matters. Be extra-careful regarding investment matters.Some positive changes are expected between the month of April 2021 to Sep 2021, professional life will get some support, many of you may actually excel in competitive situations and some of you may even get sudden pay-raises/ promotions, or manage some significant professional achievement if your dasha is supported and favourable as per your Birth chart or horoscope.♍ Virgo AscendantJupiter is your 4th and 7th house lord and transiting through in your 5th house of children, love, romance, personal creativity, stock market and gambling. This is a highly favourable transit, and Jupiter will shower you with his choicest blessings. You will bless with huge wealth in this year. There will new opportunities for wealth. You may find a new job or secure a lucrative promotion.Those of you who have been waiting desperately for conception or progeny it's a good time to expand family. if you already have children your relationship with them will improve. Your children will do good in studies or get some recognition in school during this transit.If your natal Jupiter is good in your chart then its good time for investing in stocks. Jupiter in 5th house giving you luck and grace in love matters and relationship.Remember... Jupiter rules luck, but it does not favour gambling.During April 6, 2021 to Sep 14, 2021, Jupiter shifts temporarily into the 6th house from your ascendant. This is a time when there could be sudden onset of some challenges in your life. Health should be carefully watched during this phase. Do not raise major loans, or lend large sums during this phase. Remember that this is only a temporary phase of challenging patterns instead of over-reacting to situations, wait for these tough influences to pass-over.♎ Libra AscendantJupiter is the 3rd and 6th house lord, transiting through your 4th house, the house related with mother, home, peace of mind, real estate and property. This Jupiter transit will be adding more responsibilities at home and work. There are chances of relocation and due to saturn transit is also in Capricorn you may face some nagging problems in your workplace, and your home may at the same time become somewhat like a bed of thorns. It will be advisable for you to lie low and go slow, and let the dark cloud pass over.You are likely to have differences and misunderstandings with your close relations, for which you may feel very dejected and unhappy. If other planets are also not in favour, then you may face humiliations from close acquaintancesYour relations with your mother will improve. You will start to feel more secure emotionally. Jupiter aspect your 12th house of spirituality so you will be interested in some kind of spiritual activities and It can be a period of serious soul-searching and a try to find true meaning in life.Month of February and March 2021 are not good for health, take extra care of your health during this period.♏ Scorpio AscendantJupiter is the 2nd and 5th house lord, transiting through your 3rd house. This is the one of the adverse transit of Jupiter. 3rd house is the marana karaka sthana (Death Signifying House) of Jupiter. This is the time when you worried about your professional life and if Jupiter placement & strength are not good in your birth chart or horoscope then some of you even lose their job and may face unwanted transfer in this period for which you might not only lose satisfaction, but also may lack peace of mind altogether.You will suffer with stress and anxiety frequently during this transit, try to do meditation it will calm you in this difficult time.3rd house is the house of learning, activities and travelling. However, this is good period for writers intellectuals. You'll have increased enthusiasm, Short-term business travel and creative writing will reap in profits. Writing, teaching, and making speeches are favoured, submit your writing to a publisher, or convey your point of view to others and success will be yours, publicise your product, or yourself.Jupiter is going to your 3rd house, where you can connect to your siblings and neighbors. It will improve your relations with them.3rd house is the house of efforts so try to give your best effort with determination in all area of Life and work hard then only good results can be expected.♐ Sagittarius AscendantJupiter is the 1st and 4th house lord, Jupiter will be transiting through 2nd house in horoscope the house of wealth, family, income source, speach etc. which is welcomed. Jupiter is the karka of 2nd and Jupiter is the planet of prosperity. Problems and obstructions which you might be facing from past month will start reducing and will bring new hope progress and happiness. Jupiter giving you growth in all areas including wealth. This transit will enhance wealth, deposited money, new source of income can be developed especially for the businessmen, peace and prosperity prevailing in family and improved relations with your family members.You are likely to do well in your profession. You will get along well with your seniors and colleagues. Your opinion will be taken seriously by the people around you. The time is good for consolidating your position.Auspicious events in the family that have been delayed may finally happen this year. You will be pleased with the cooperation and happiness from your spouse.Remember in this transit you have to control on your diet, food habits as well as on your speach. Jupiter in 2nd house giving you the opportunity to speak truth, Try to speak positive and try to learn some mantra, studying religious books or write some religious articles and blogs. You may also have some interest in occult science or astrology during this transit.This is a good time to enjoy music, romance remembering, Jupiter will remain in this house for up a year so don't expect all of what you read to happen immediately. You'll have some happy times if you go with your instincts, rather than worry about what might happen.Transit of Jupiter between April 2021 to mid September 2021, During this phase, Jupiter shifts into the 3rd house from your ascendant. This could be a slightly anxiety phase, some professional problems may keep you worried.♑ Capricorn AscendantJupiter is the 12th and 3rd house lord. Jupiter transit in your Lagna the 1st house.Jupiter's transit over the ascendant or 1st house means you will have strong spirit of reform with a hopeful, sociable and visionary outlook. It brings new opportunities. In an attempt to finish off tasks, you will prefer the easy way of doing things. And due to this behaviour, you may gain weight eventually leading to health issues.It is observed that many people do relocate to distant lands or experience some sort of adverse transfers or challenging situations under this transit influence.On the positive side, its the time for soul-searching, introspection and undoing of much of negative karma of the past. During this period, materialism represented by Rahu and the Rajas Grahas Mercury, Venus stay away from the native, as the focus shifts to spiritual activities.Jupiter also puts strict mandate rules and regulations and the native has to follow the path of honesty.Jupiter is going to change you and elevate your vision of yourself and bring a great sense of dedication towards your partner or you may get new relationships. If you are unmarried, you may meet your soul-mate during this transit. This is a favourable time for creative matters, romance, love, travel, and higher education.This transit is going to change your life by giving you more opportunities. This is a good time to meet influential people and take advantage of them. This is powerful transit and you will feel better and you are ready to work hard and sacrifice instead of being in your comfort zone.♒ Aquarius AscendantJupiter is the 2nd and 11th house lord, transiting through your 12th house. Your dreams, imagination and your spiritual life are expanded now. Jupiter is the karaka of spiritual growth and connecting to the divine. You will have a strong desire to learn the spiritual and religious sides of life. Jupiter in 12th gives your sense of letting go and to understand the meaning of your philosophies, principles around your preconceptions about spirituality.12th house is also the house of expenses, losses, ending and moksha. This Jupiter transit may increase expenses, wastage, losses, and possible loss of position. However, such setbacks will manifest only if you insist on egoistic persistence with your plans. But Jupiter will definitely protect you in whatever circumstances you may be placed. Material benefits may reduce.Do not resign from a current position in hurry or due to ego problem at work place regarding finding an alternative placement under this tough transit influence.During April 6, 2021 to September 14, 2021 Jupiter shifts temporarily into your ascendant which is tough and challenging period, Some of you may get transferred to distant places all of a sudden, while others may need to encounter unnecessary obstacles.♓ Pisces AscendantJupiter is the 1st and 10th house lord, transiting through your 11th house. 11th house is a major wealth giving house and gains through your work. The house of friends, social network, hopes, dreams, gains and aspirations. This is a good transit for you to fulfill your desires, goals and ambitions.This is a good period for you as far as your career is conserned. This will raise prospects for profitability in your work through confident operations. You are likely to develop new ideas to bring in profits. Income from your profession is likely to increase. There will be an overall improvement in your lifestyle.Jupiter aspecting your 7th house of relationships. You may experience a positive attitude and have a cheerful married life and you will be fortunate to have good partners and high chances for getting married.Those who have been trying to conceive a baby without much luck may find luck opening up on this count, while those with children born already will find that their good luck influences will power the achievements/ recognition potential for their kids.The Jupiter transit effects are more prominent when a person is passing through Jupiter (guru) Dasha or Antardasha and how many Ashtakavarga points you have for Jupiter in Capricorn and 4-8 will bring good results.Thank You

NO. Not now. Not ever.I. Human & Computers/RobotsAs we consider artificial intelligence, we would be wise to remember the lessons of earlier technology revolutions—to focus on the technology’s effects rather than chase broad-based fears about the technology itself. Technology has put us on a path to a cleaner, greener planet. We don’t need to veer off in a new direction. If we do, we risk retarding progress.However, I see so many people being afraid of the Artificial Intelligence “revolution”. Most people are scared that it takes jobs and ruins careers.* Technology is neither good nor bad. It is a tool that we must use wisely to benefit us all.On the subject of humanity's future alongside technological advancements, history has shown that such developments have the power to change the world but are "never deterministic" on their own.Technology in itself is neutral, neither good or bad, and it is up to us to make sure we use it for something positive in the workforce. How you see AI depends on which side of the hustle spectrum you’re on. While it may seem like a rat race when it comes to adopting new technologies, it is crucial to not neglect the humans who will ultimately be driving that change.While the last big revolution brought discoveries such as trains, cars, electricity and television, it didn't tell us what to do with it.As emerging technologies such artificial intelligence and biotechnology gain increasing prominence, humanity still has a choice on how they will be used. We are still in control.Technology can be used mindlessly or mindfully. The key is to put it to work for you rather than getting pushed around by it.This is the job of governments. The problem lies with many administrations around the world focusing on "old problems" and placing insufficient focus on the potential of emerging technologies.Exacerbating matters, is the fact the public remains "quite ignorant about these issues" and the subject matter experts in private business or academia don't have the political mandate to regulate such new inventions.So we should spend less time worrying about the AI going out of control and more time worrying about the people controlling the AI.* While it might be true to some extent, the one thing that AI cannot replicate is creativity. Logic is replaceable. Anyone can count 1+1.Computers are fast, accurate, and stupid.Humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate, and brilliant.Machines follow rules.Humans use judgement and reason.As computing speed doubles about every eight months, humans soon will no longer be the fastest computer. The human brain, though, is in no danger of being replaced. Computers can mimic how we process information. But how we feel, and how it affects what we do with the information, that can never be coded in. Humans possess the always-in-demand skill of creativity, which computers cannot master. With our creativity and soft skills, we can change and adapt to an environment. Computer aren’t capable of thinking out of the box in ways they weren’t programmed for.Computers, though, can facilitate that change and adaptation to advance human intelligence. Computers are very fast idiots that are very good at doing the easy (but tedious) grunt work. And by taking over those tasks free up human workers to do the more challenging jobs (i.e financial advisors, etc.) that require intelligence (beyond what automation is capable of today). So, activities that are easily automatable just include physical activities in highly predictable and structured environments, as well as data collection and data processing. Especially for many workers in routine, repetitive jobs, the risk of being replaced by robots is very high. They will no doubt see their job requirements transformed by technology. So while automation will take over more and more of tasks it just means that you’ll have to do less grunt work and more brain work.* It was inevitable that AI may take over logical jobs one day. But the answer to technology disruption lies in our ability to apply humanity to the challenge.The question is not whether automation going to eliminate jobs. There is no finite number of jobs that we’ve been sitting around dividing up since the Stone Age. New jobs are being created and they’re usually better and more creative jobs. So the question is — how quickly is this transition going to happen, what kinds of jobs will be eliminated, and what kinds of jobs will be created?I do believe that automation, over a long enough period of time, will replace every non-creative job. This isn’t a new problem — throughout history, automation has replaced jobs. But it’s always freed people up for new creative work.Society will always create new jobs, but it’s impossible to predict what those jobs will be. Would you have been able to predict, 10 years ago, that people would be able to create huge amounts of wealth through podcasting? — NO.The Internet has massively broadened the possible space of careers. Most people haven’t figured this out yet. Technology obsoletes jobs, but there is no upper bound on number of technology jobs themselves. Temporal displacement, not permanent.If you look at the technologies that have been introduced over the years and how they have impacted what people do, new jobs have always emerged. If you think of the amount of email and the amount of documents you write yourself. In the past a large company would have had a bunch of people in a room somewhere typing up those documents. Now they don’t do that. What I see is not so much jobs disappearing [but] shifting — for the most part from a productivity point of view into something higher, something more productive, something greater in that mix. Jobs will remain, but they will require a whole new set of skills to do them. New technologies will make some jobs obsolete; however, they will also reduce costs and drive expansions that will lead to employment growth in new areas. Across all job roles, individuals would be required to take on new or expanded tasks that have a higher element of judgement and creativity, while tasks of a more repetitive and rules-based nature are automated. While machines will be increasingly powerful, humans will actually be more essential.The challenge of the next decade is not Artificial Intelligence, but Human Intelligence. Can we retrain the workforce as knowledge workers?One of the myths that we have today is that adults can’t be re-educated. We view education as this thing where you go to school, you go to college, you come out and you’re done… no more education. Well that’s wrong.Career isn’t a destination we stay in for the rest of our lives; it is an ever changing journey that provides opportunity to learn, grow and be recognized for our efforts. This is especially relevant, as the half-life for any learned skills has been shrinking, with some suggesting that we may be down to five years at this point. In other words, half of the knowledge you’ve acquired five years ago is now obsolete.So, the problem in finance is not about technology replacing jobs. It’s about old skills not matching new jobs. As many professionals in finance fear that their jobs are being replaced by machines, we actually see banks struggling to find the right talents, i.e. people who understand both finance and technology. The issue that we’re starting to see today is therefore not technology replacing jobs, but a mismatch between new jobs and old skills. The question is how we automate without leaving low-skilled people behind. Figuring that out will require employers, labor and public officials to work together to train and retrain people for the jobs of the future.The best way to solve that issue is by upskilling professionals. Over the next decade, our world will be tasked with solving some of the most pressing issues it has ever faced, including climate change, wealth gaps and health costs in rapidly ageing societies. It is only through building a strong foundation for the new skills economy — investing in our youth and supporting lifelong learning programmes for our existing talented workforces — that we can ensure our nations and people are ready to take on a turbulent tomorrow. In this era of technology-driven transformation, helping our people become tech-enabled is essential. It is not just for people to achieve career mobility throughout life, but also a smart business move to get ahead.The people least likely to get replaced by machine learning are learning machines. The key is to ensure that workforces are properly retrained, and that the old educational norms we take for granted need to be shaken up. You need to be reskilled three or four times over the course of your career. You go to high school, you go to college, you learn a career, you do that for 30 years — that is over because you are going to need to be retrained three or four times in the course of your lifespan. This is a very different educational model.Be perfectly imperfect and start exploring now before it’s too late. Focus on creative skills and sharpen your ability to think. This is how you take advantage of living in the post-internet world and make a good living doing so. If you’re constantly on the move, trying to increase value add to yourself, and finding new ways to challenge and improve yourself, then AI helps you reach your goals faster. History shows that technological innovation, from the combine harvester to the computer, can make work safer, more productive and ultimately strengthen the economy. It’s clear that technology will not be a replacement for many of the skills needed for the jobs of the future. It will simply act as a supporter and integrator — making digital fluency just as important as literacy and numeracy in the future. Together, the “brain on a bicycle” partnership can lead to “Human Version 2.0” — accelerating breakthroughs and advancing discoveries.If you’re unwilling to change and adapt, and you just want to rot in the same job for 25 years, then forget AI, anyone can replace you. Yet innovation can also produce losers — namely, the often low-skilled workers displaced by technology and the communities that rely on those workers. In the 21st century, the really big struggle will be against irrelevance. It’s much worse to be irrelevant than to be exploited.The demand for tech skills will grow much faster than supply. All industries should plan for workforce transformation and build talents. All industries should tackle the challenges of adapting tech head on by addressing the talent gap that will eventually form in today’s workforce.Unions have a responsibility to defend the interests of more than just their current members, just as industry has a responsibility to help the next generation of workers prepare for a new type of work.Government has to get communities ready for the changes to come, while also doing a better job of ensuring that the benefits of increased efficiency and productivity aren’t captured just by the employers hiring fewer workers. One thing we can do to protect against automation. We need a culture of adult education (gearing them towards creative professions). What might it look like? Every 5–10 years, the government would pay for you to go back to school/re-educate yourself towards different profession.II. Human Advisors & InvestorsFinancial advisor and financial analyst are two extremely different jobs. Here I talk about financial advisors including stock brokers, insurance agents, tax preparers, broker-dealers, money managers or portfolio managers or fund managers, estate planners, bankers, financial planners and more.We basically can't and shouldn't compare humans to robots, or human advisors to robo advisors. Robo services don’t provide the qualities that people want in an adviser. Digitized advisers may work as a complement to humans, but can never replace the expertise of a flesh-and-blood counselor. Creating and coaching households through the realization of an optimal comprehensive financial plan still relies on the responsiveness and rapport only a traditional adviser can provide.Robo advisers do a great job of maintaining client portfolios. But that’s only one part of the job of financial management. Many investors out there want to grow (1) their wealth fast and need the kind of personalized and professional service (2) (3)—and that’s why human advisers cannot be replaced.1. The returnsComputers are better at public-market investing than humans are.Returns in public markets won't be that good, for whatever reason. (Maybe because efficient robot-and-index investing have raised valuations and lowered future expected returns?)Humans are better at weird-market investing than computers are.Returns in weird markets will be better, for whatever reason. (Because robots haven't gotten involved yet, or because they're getting paid more for taking liquidity risk?).Financial firms are always coming up with new complex instruments to trade and invest in.Human advisors are the ones who can look beyond public markets (which include the multitrillion-dollar stock exchanges, bond-trading platforms, and big deals backed by private equity and venture capital etc.), and put their clients' money into weird illiquid stuff where the computers can't compete. The point about these investments is that they require “high human capital” to manage, even if they’re plentiful. It's like “dark-matter". They dwarf the visible stuff lit up by markets.As such, the clients won't be able to compare their performance with the computers'. It's sure that money managers underperformed the S&P 500, but you can't compare them to the S&P 500. They were investing in refugee camps, where of course the risk/return profile is entirely different.Therefore human money managers should flee into assets where computers can't follow them, because the weird stuff will be better for the clients. But maybe what money managers should do is quit. It depends on whether the weird assets are a good idea.2. Personalized serviceHigh net worth investors need—and want—the human touch. Human advisors will be needed for the foreseeable future to advise wealthy clients with complicated financial planning needs.For the machine, it’s about using data and machine learning to make market predictions and identify trade opportunities.While artificial intelligence holds great promise (63% of fintech professionals cited it as the key technology most worth watching), its application is too unpredictable to fully entrust with a family’s financial nest egg and peace of mind. In finance, a machine may excel at making accurate market predictions, but it does so in a “black box” -- a very dark and unknowable pool for high net worth investors, in particular. These individuals are used to the high-trust relationships such as in private equity, in which there is a premium for explaining how an investment strategy is structured and is expected to perform. Even the most accurate black box is not likely win the trust of a high-touch client who relies on a human relationship. While robo-advisors are embraced by retail investors, high net worth clients who are used to high touch service will still need the human part of the mind-and-machine collaboration. For this clientele, it’s a matter of trust.Major issues you would have with robo advisors would be quality of data input. Ever did a personality questionnaire online? When doing it, have you ever been self aware that the answers may be tailored to what you want the results to be, knowing you're under a test? Until there is a true way to bridge mosiac theory of an individual, and their needs, either through IOT or other methods, the tricky part to robo financial advisory will always be the true quality of data input and relevancy. Simple risk-tolerance questionnaires, which serve as the core of robo advisers’ client-discovery process, do not get to the heart of understanding the entirety of an investor’s financial needs and goals and how their investment portfolio works in the context of their complete financial situations.For the human, it’s about relationships and building trust, an area of expertise in which people still have considerable edge over computers.For the bulk of wealthy investors, turning over one’s life savings to an adviser of any kind requires a level of trust that a purely electronic interface cannot replace. Traditional human advisers can deliver the kind of personal, hands-on service that investors consistently say that they want. Investors have consistently cited an adviser’s willingness to take the time to understand their needs and goals, look at their entire financial picture and explain analysis clearly as the most important qualities they are looking for in an advice provider. By working with an adviser, clients are able to create customized plans that address everything from the evolving insurance needs of a growing family to balancing multiple savings goals and, finally, to creating an effective estate plan.Just as important, advisers are also able to offer the continuing coaching to address the challenges clients face along the way—from market volatility to cash-flow needs—to ensure that transitory issues don’t devastate their long-term strategy. The critics say that human advisers are prone to unscrupulous moves, like pushing investments that are suboptimal for the client but profitable for the adviser. There are bad actors in any profession, of course, but the vast majority of advisers are doing their best to serve their clients. Additionally, it’s important to note that the use of robo advisers does not eliminate this type of conflict. The people who set up these services might design their portfolios or algorithms in ways that systematically maximize their own revenue, potentially at the expense of their clients’ best interests.3. Professional ManagementWhy are there still teachers when we are capable of reading books on our own?Why are there mailmen when we can deliver mails on our own?Why are there waiters when we can just get our orders on our own?There are a lot of people who give their service for things we can do alone, but prefer not to. While there're plenty of computers/robots that allow you to choose shares for yourself and buy and sell them yourself out there, human advisors are the ones who are LICENSED to do it. They exist to guide and offer help in many cases or while you are using a computer.A professional investment manager takes care of your investment using careful research and skillful trading. Mutual fund managers are professionals - which means that they are going to help avoid some of the risk that you'd take on if you were buying your own stocks personally. Not to mention, active mutual funds can represent a great way to get diversified exposure to just about any asset class (discipline diversification). Since it pools money from many smaller investors, it can invest in certain assets or take larger positions than a smaller investor could. For example, the fund may have access to IPO placements or certain structured products only available to institutional investors.This means that robots cannot replace human advisors.Big-box legacy financial advisors introduced automated investing services while robo-advisors added a human touch after conceding their algorithms alone were insufficient. Neither has struck the perfect balance. I stand firm in my belief that nothing in the marketplace can match the benefits of an experienced, un-conflicted, technology-enabled bionic financial advisor.Human advisors will work alongside rapidly evolving machines to address client needs, which will require human skills also evolve. By bringing together expertise in each field -- those who know algorithms and those who finance can offer a high-powered collaboration. A human-and-computer collaboration makes an unbeatable combination. Together, the “brain on a bicycle” partnership can lead to “Human Version 2.0” -- accelerating breakthroughs and advancing discoveries.Those of people in technology need to guide it to augment humans, not replace them. And companies and society as a whole need to invest in education to ensure we and our children are ready for jobs we can’t even imagine yet. If we do that, as our ancestors did at the beginning of the 20th century, we can help ensure that AI will usher in an era of opportunity and wealth for all. Individuals should position themselves for a lifetime of learning since the skills demanded by the workplace are changing more rapidly than ever. Traditional college degrees no longer lead to stable long-term employment opportunities—fresh training on new skills is much more impactful.4. Investment strategyAfter all, you get what you pay for:High cost = High risk/return + Personalized serviceLow cost = Low risk/return + Public serviceSome say that a passive, robo-managed portfolio will outperform a portfolio actively managed by a human. While money has flowed from more expensive actively managed funds to less expensive passively (robo) managed funds, and more generally from mutual funds to Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), which for the most part are passively managed, that’s just a matter of investment strategy, not an argument for going exclusively with digital advisers.Many human advisers might recommend passive investment strategies, depending on the needs of the client.Clients whose financial goals are fully met by achieving the market return, less a minimal expense fee, are advised to stick with robo-managed index funds, while those who need (or wish) to generate more might be advised to select more active funds.* Here's the route I recommend for beginners:Index Funds => Mutual Funds => Index Funds or ETFsThe starting point should be an index fund, with due diligence performed on any active fund options available. For beginners, one easy way to invest is to get exposure to the market as a whole, like the S&P 500. Building your own portfolio of stocks, bonds, and other securities provides the ultimate level of control. You got to understand how to put your money to work for you by yourself before taking any further step.After that, consult an accountant, lawyer, and financial adviser so these professionals can explain tax fallout and the other ramifications for you, your family, and your heirs.The ending point should be Index funds or ETFs. After you master all the investing techniques, you can go passive if you want in order to avoid unnecessary fees (Index funds or ETFs).