Saving up for the unexpected

PEOPLE often forget how a traumatic experience can have a lifelong impact.

I remember how the economic crisis in 1998 shaped my entire path in life. My father used to drive a Mercedes Benz E-Class. We were upper middle-class Malaysians, but in a matter of a few months, my happy world came tumbling down. The Mercedes was gone. My parents, especially my mother, was in agony, worrying that the banks would take away everything we had come to cherish. They were forced to borrow from loan sharks to stay afloat.