Like most Singaporean families, my mom is firmly in the camp of “work hard, upgrade yourself constantly, get promoted, get higher pay, rinse and repeat”.

Which is why when I mentioned that I was going to be investing in the stock markets for much of the foreseeable future, my mother almost immediately went nuclear.

Before I could even start to try and calm things down (or explain myself), she launched into how I was gambling with my salary, throwing away my future, and dooming the entire family to repay my soon to be, stock market incurred debts.

Like most family arguments that start with illogical, pre-formed and ultimately ignorant but well-intended points of views, this one.

Once the argument started, it wouldn’t stop until at one point, fed up and wanting to punch a hole into the nearest wall, I stood up and walked away from the table halfway through