Redefine Your Path
Embrace the Switch

What happens if you became a casualty to corporate restructuring or retrenchment? How do you get back up after a fall?

I am no stranger to employment crisis. Over twenty-two years ago, I lost a stable senior management job to the Asian Financial Crisis in 2001 and found myself jobless and aimless.

By some strange stroke of fate, I became recruited into the insurance sector, unlearned from the corporate career to become a risky business owner. In addition to income uncertainty, there was a social stigma around insurance sales which made the initial cold calling or sales effort very challenging.

Over time, my positive mindset and perseverance in the face of adversity started to turn a corner when I gained new clients and referrals. My wife was supportive of my career change and inspired me to keep the hopes high. Giving yourself a chance to do new things is important, because some things just become more difficult when you become an older person.

Today, in my late 50s, I specialize in personal financial planning, business insurance for corporations and health insurance. I am glad I made the mid-career change when I was younger and could have the time and opportunity to re-market myself. The financial industry will continue to be a beneficiary to technology and new AI tools, hence I consider it very important for all practitioners to receive continuing education and upskilling for successful adoption of these new tools.

I can now cook a meal at home for my family, relish a blissful quality of life, and have a renewed perspective in personal enjoyment which this financial services career offers me. This is a deeper sense of self-worth which gratifies me.

Persistency and consistency are the key attributes that helped me settle into a very successful financial planning profession.

Even while studying, I was curious and keen to learn new skills for small salary. And it is this positive attitude that helped me honed my skills at different industries with opportunities to widen my perception and adaptability. My enthusiasm eventually led me to a promising financial planning career till today.

I recalled that with only a small network of friends at the start of my working life meant I had to polish my pitching skills with every customer—braving through cold calls and participating in roadshows. With persistency, I secured new clients who in turn referred other clients.

For more than a decade, in addition to life insurance and retirement planning, I feel a sense of purpose whenever I am consulted on family estate planning and investment solutions. As an extension of my expertise, I also give advice on Will-Making and Lasting Power of Attorney—matters that are increasingly gaining more importance these days. I also hope to become CFA certified in the not too distant future.

I am consistent in setting daily routines which includes fervor exercising to keep my body fit, so that I am in the best shape of health to stand as a role model of leadership. I keep myself abreast of international news especially the Tariffs’ conundrum on lawmakers and its impact on the world’s economy so that I am attuned to customers’ investment and business spending priorities. By focussing on my self discipline and business strategies, I hope to surpass myself and hang up my gloves around 45 years old; and use my testimony to inspire others.

Two decades ago, as a former CPA with a strong accounting background, I was always wired with formulas and probabilities. While I had a stable income, I was keenly interested in an alternate career that could elevate my earnings.

With a good head in numbers, I went on to complete the insurance exams that enabled me to sign on as an insurance agent, what is now known as a financial planner. While the initial career change was challenging when cold calls and prospecting did not bring in enough conversions, I was determined to persevere. Twenty years later and now a father of two school-going children, I am seasoned and able to identify the segments for growth opportunity in portable medical products, corporate solutions and general insurance. I am greatly satisfied with what I could bring home today and am glad I made the move.

In the next five years, I am sure Singapore will continue to thrive as a regional economic hub while the unrest in the Middle East may ring in more trading and political uncertainty. What I can control today is to continue to upgrade myself and start other useful hobbies such as learning Chinese tea art. I believe this will help me slow down and calm myself during social and business engagements.

When I made up my mind to enter the life insurance industry since 2004, I knew it would be a bold move and I was not going to look back.

Backed by self discipline and a personal goal-getting spirit, I was determined to craft out a positive career milestone for myself. By turning the initial doubts into success dreams, I stayed on in the financial services industry and focused on advancing my career.

Today, I have become a seasoned consultant with drive and courage, knowing what is good for personal goals and work towards it; knowing what is good for my customers and help them achieve their financial planning objectives and wealth creation plans.

Confident and never looking back, I continue to lead a growing team of financial services consultants today along with my husband, who—like me, are also enjoying the fruits of our midcareer change.

The stars were strangely aligning when I graduated and joined the life insurance industry back in 2009.

Being young and fresh always has the advantage of looking at new things through new and clean lens. Of course, I was confronted with personal challenges with lack of family encouragement or peer support, but I chose to stay on to continue working to increase my marketability and pitching skills. I was very fortunate that I had a great mentor, Joseph, who guided my early steps.

Having become mommy three times in my life, I learnt how to deal with overcoming obstacles and crises back-to-back or all at the same time. Standing beside me the whole time is my mom and hubby who supported me at home and at work, thereby contributing to my success and happiness.

After bagging several awards in over fifteen years of financial planning career, I understood the priorities of both family planning and the A-Zs of financial protection for families. I continue to focus on insurance for couples and those with young children, from endowment to retirement planning—in the same vein as I could relate to this demographic in a real and personal way. The fact that I did not have to switch my career is the isthmus evidence that this was and still is the right profession for me even as my roles today have continued to evolve to become ever more demanding. While Science and artificial intelligence will always be one step ahead of us even in the most complex form of financial advisory work, it is the empathy, personal connection and the sensibility of a human reassurance that will forever stay relevant.

The job security which comes with a military career is often prized greatly for the respect accorded to its rank and title.

However, I made a career changing decision at the time when a chance at a permanent future in the Singapore Armed Forces showed up. With a view to expose myself to unlimited career advancement and financial satisfaction, I reconsidered and eventually gave up my epaulettes in exchange for a financial and insurance role that would become the best career transformation I ever made.

The new role offered an entirely new perspective to career progression and financial security. I was determined to learn new salesmanship and communications skills to carve out a space in the financial services sector, and within the next two decades, I become a repeat award-winning financial consultant.

Having fulfilled my ambition of achieving financial independence, I now serve as mentor and coach to new recruits, helping them value similar new opportunities like I once did.

If China can become what it is today after centuries of evolution and reformation, intriguing all of us with their breakthrough technology and innovation, I am eager to see what they will reveal to the world in the not-too-distant future. Regardless of my achievements, I still enjoy the humble wanton mee as I plan ahead to leave a legacy for my children.

I can play a game of golf whenever I feel like it. I can also pay attention to changes on foreign labour investment and IT updates to keep myself abreast of local and regional news. But twenty eight years ago, I could not even think of having such a life because my life then was consumed by the investment commodity company I worked for. The toxic working hours and work-stress was damaging my health and personal peace.

When the opportunity came along for a self-employment role in financial services, I plunged into it as I was ready to rewrite my professional life with the skills I learned. Now, in my 50s, I am responsible for growing my team of consultants and helping my clients achieve their investment goals. This gives me a great sense of accomplishment and motivate me to present myself as a one stop-solution provider for my clients’ financial agenda.

I strive to better myself with developing skills and tech savviness; setting myself as a role model for others to successfully transform as well. My advice to others seeking a mid-career change is: be open and brave to try; personal improvement can come in many ways, not only financial upgrade but also in better health, balance and overall progress.

I feel good about where I am professionally now with a comfortable income as an Agency Leader. I am excited to wake up every morning to lead a team and having come so far after close to twenty years in the financial services industry.

Having started out in exactly the same way as a young newbie since I left the army, my natural curiosity and eagerness to learn became my core reflexes as I widen my connection to grow the business. My ability to maintain calmness even during pressure attracts audience who see that as a positive attribute and helped me earn their respect as an advisor who is poised and confident. I constantly review my customers’ feedback of me to check and improve myself.

The financial industry continues to evolve year after year, especially in areas of digitalization and automation. I am constantly optimistic that I can contribute value to my customers, and my profession will continue to be rewarding to both my personal development and financial growth. If anyone is considering to embark on a midcareer switch, my advice is to have open conversations with mentors or veterans to assess your priorities and options in planning the move.

Today, I am able to spend time with my loved ones, enjoy personal self-care and appreciate new hobbies. While success is an ongoing journey for me, it is my bowl of “bak chor mee” that is my goto food for humble satisfaction and quiet happiness.

Coming from a secretarial background did not do anything to allay my fears of meeting people to pitch a sale.

However, having the discipline and habits of a 9-to-5 work culture was helpful in preparing me when I pivoted to insurance sales. I made the bold transformation 30 years ago through a blind advertisement for insurance services recruitment and never looked back since. I am now happy and satisfied with my professional status and value the ability to enjoy personal down time with my family.

Working very hard to learn business knowledge, and bracing myself to confront many aspects of the life insurance business was probably one of the most challenging moment in my career switch path. While my social network was quite small then, I was determined to overcome the shortcomings by getting involved in business network and improving her prospecting methods.

My lifetime MDRT award in the financial planning career is a clear testament that discipline, attitude and best efforts always work together for good, and the starting points do not really matter. I aim to continue to upgrade myself in order to remain competent when standing beside the younger new consultants who are joining the industry.

Formerly an accountant, I consider myself to have a good head in numbers. The job I had helped me earn a decent income for more than a decade.

But there came a point when I was unwilling to settle for just being “good”. Finally, I plunged at an opportunity to make a career switch, putting an end to my accounting life to take on the role of a financial planner as the next professional leap.

That move marked a major shift of having to learn new financial skills and using wealth planning tools to advise a very challenging target audience, each with his or her own sets of financial priorities and agenda to tackle. My hard work and resilience paid off, as I eventually built a strong base of customers and earned multiple awards—becoming a top leader in private wealth creation and corporate risk management.

With the ongoing rampant growth in technology and innovation, and customers now having greater accessibility to financial planning information and greater online choices, I see an essential need to maintain top form as a financial services consultant. Through my continuous skills upgrading and greater adoption of social media outreach, I am confident to thrive, and would encourage anyone to also take this great leap into the financial services industry.

I was quite content with my previous hotel front desk job to have had stayed on for ten solid years. But in retrospect, it was just the general routine that I was comfortable with. By the time my twins came along it became evidently clear that I needed to make changes to my professional life to adapt to a new family life.

Having contemplated over a need for balancing work, home and general well-being, and better income potential, I took up an opportunity to switch career to financial planning. Amidst initial dread of having to make direct face-to-face interactions with new people, I eventually overcame the fear with a resilient mentality. It was not an easy feat, but I succeeded in marking my space in the financial planning industry progressively and consistently since 2016. My current plan is aiming to retire in another ten years and then travel around the world.

I am always filled with gratification when my customers receive insurance claim payments. Through specialization in using financial planning tools for families, wealth preservation and distribution tools in the high net worth segment, I bagged several awards and continue to upgrade other personal skills like learning a third language.

Be determined when considering mid-career change—be intuitive, decisive, and importantly, believe in yourself.

After fifteen years as a financial planner since graduation, I have now grown a portfolio of companies on corporate planning for employee benefits solutions in addition to general insurance and family financial protections.

As a fresh graduate back then, I started in the industry with energy and curious enthusiasm to push personal boundaries around my work. I do admit that I did have the usual fear and doubts about the ability to stay within the range of my salary goal in a volatile industry.

What contributed to my success was diligence and a keen sense of adaptability. I was able to harness opportunities to use various resources such as partnership platforms, general insurance and employee benefits leads to advance my network. Even friends who once shunned me have eventually sought my expertise and became customers.

I strongly feel that having the right attitude, motivation and personal agility is key to thriving in the financial industry. My advice to others seeking to pivot is to be brave to come out of your comfort zone and seek advice from good mentors. And during this time, I wish for greater world peace.

I consider myself to be a successful mid-career professional, having transformed from a stereotyped employee in a manufacturing sector into an established Financial Services Manager. This role filled me for the past twenty-two years and gave life to my professional development while rewarding me with a solid client network and performance level results.

I was not satisfied with a predictable salary-paying job during my earlier working days. I was keen to look out for a growth opportunity to bring my leadership and strategy-planning skills to good use. Had I not taken a leap of faith when the chance to uproot myself into a financial role came along, I would still be in the same salt mines.

I think the next four to five years will see progressive changes in the financial services industry, especially with unrelenting tech transformation and greater AI use. Which makes it all the more important for me to stay resilient, pursue continuous learning and maintain true to my heart as I give advice to my clients for their protection and investment needs.

Like many others before me, I find inspiration in those who commit to lifelong learning, no matter how far they have come. I feel that true personal development is more than just growth and advancement, it is also about staying authentic and making a positive impact to others.

To those who are contemplating on a career change, my advice is: use your experience to groom your next step. A mid-career switch is not about abandoning your past, it is about realigning and repurposing your skills and intangible attributes toward a more fulfilling future.