term. bringing financial education to the community if people can manage their finances well, it will help to minimise many other social problems. community organisations like sinda and the media have been playing an important role in bringing financial education to the community and encouraging prudent financial habits among the community. individual members of the community have also contributed to making financial education more accessible to the public. ponnaana ethirkaalam ( “ golden future ” ), written by mp sellvem and jaafar ghany, is a shining example of such an initiative. the book explains key concepts in personal financial management in easy - tounderstand tamil. bis central bankers ’ speeches but more interestingly, it provides useful financial advice relating to each of the key milestones in our lives : buying a home, starting a family, funding children ’ s education, looking after aged parents, planning for retirement. in fact, the book starts with the premise of life as a journey that requires careful financial planning. and such planning is based on the values of patience and prudence. [UNK], நமது [UNK] [UNK] நிதித திடடமிடுதல [UNK]. [UNK] [UNK], [UNK] முனமதியும [UNK] [UNK]. the practical insights in ponnaana ethirkaalam are relevant not only for the tamil or indian community but for all singaporeans. i understand the authors have plans to translate their book into english to reach out to more people. i congratulate mp sellvem and jaafar ghany on their achievement and wish them every success in the launch of ponnaana ethirkaalam. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches

ravi menon : budget carefully, borrow responsibly, invest wisely remarks by mr ravi menon, managing director of the monetary authority of singapore, at the launch of the tamil financial literacy guide, singapore, 16 november 2014. * * * mr kumaran barathan, ceo of sinda ladies and gentlemen, good morning. value of patience and prudence in the 1960s and 1970s, a psychology professor at stanford university in the us conducted a study on children ’ s behaviour. he offered each child a choice : get a marshmallow immediately or, if they waited a little longer, get two marshmallows. some children did not want to wait, or perhaps they had doubts about the professor keeping his word. so, they chose to have their sweet there and then. others were more patient and received two marshmallows, as promised. fast forward 20 years. follow - up studies were done on the same group of children. those children who had chosen to delay getting their marshmallow generally performed better in their lives. they achieved better test results in school, for example. and yes, they kept themselves in better shape too! the results have intrigued psychologists, social scientists, and educators ever since. many more studies are being conducted and more elaborate theories are being proposed to explain them. but maybe our forefathers knew the answer all along : the value of patience and prudence ; in other words, delay rewards today so that we can reap greater rewards tomorrow. does that not offer a recipe for success in so many areas of our lives? we tell our children to play less and study more, so that they can acquire the education necessary to lead productive and comfortable lives in future. we tell ourselves to eat less and exercise more, so that we can keep in good health for a longer time and continue to enjoy good food. should it be any different in matters financial? what does it mean to be patient and prudent in finance? three things. budget carefully borrow responsibly invest wisely these are the three areas that moneysense – our national financial education programme – will focus on increasingly. moneysense – spearheaded by mas and involving a number of government agencies – has been working in partnership with the financial industry, education institutes, and professional and consumer associations to help empower singaporeans to manage their finances well. bis central bankers ’ speeches budget carefully let me start with budgeting – the first area of focus. the financial questions we face in