The Adrian Tan Show

Singapore's retirement age goes to 65 and re-employment age to 70 from 1 January 2029. That's the sixth change since 1993. But the number I'd actually watch is when your CPF payouts start. In this video I break it down as two dials. The job dial keeps turning. The money dial has been parked at 65. I go through the one time someone tried to touch CPF head-on (1984), why France strikes over retireme...

In 2005, a client gave me a job brief with three lines on it: Chinese. Male. Below 35. I filled it without asking a single question. I ran a recruitment firm for about ten years. In this video, I go through why hiring managers in Singapore still filter out 50-somethings (habit, money and fear), the traps retrenched workers fall into, and the one rule that shows what the system thinks a 52-year-old...

The haze is back, and Singapore is once again reaching for N95s, shelter rooms and PSI updates. But after nearly three decades of the same headlines, why does it keep happening? I look at the fires, peatland, palm oil, the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act. And publicly, no company has paid a fine under it. This is not about blaming Indonesia. It is about why a problem everyone understands still pr...

GovTech just launched FirstDate, a dating app only for public officers aged 21 to 35. I joked about it on LinkedIn. Then I found out it's basically been done before, in 1984. In this video, I look at FirstDate the way a recruiter would: every scheme, every agency, every campaign the Singapore government has tried to get us married. What it did, how it ended, and whether this one is any different....

Job search isn't just a full-time job. It's a SALES job, and you only have one product to sell: you. Singapore just saw 4,000+ workers retrenched in a single quarter, the highest since end-2020, and about 8 in 10 were PMETs. Fewer people are back in a job within six months, and many come back at a big pay cut. In sales terms, you closed the deal… but sold at a huge discount. I spent a decade on th...

When the government announced that every Singaporean child gets almost $70,000 from birth to 17, my first reaction was simple: I have four kids, so that’s $280,000 for my family. Hosay liao. Then I actually sat down and did the maths properly. I was completely off the mark. My oldest just missed the new baby gift and child credits by age cutoffs. My two middle kids get a partial run of child credi...

My face is all over the news right now. Here’s why I’m okay with that. Eight years ago I flew to Nanning , sat through five days of the world’s most elaborate sales pitch, and walked away from what turned out to be a pyramid scheme. I wrote about it once and filed a police report but nobody really followed up. Then 52 Singaporeans got detained in China over a suspected pyramid scheme, my old artic...

Is AI really replacing jobs? Or is something even more dangerous happening? Everyone is asking whether AI will take our jobs. I think we’re asking the wrong question. The real disruption isn’t that experienced professionals are being replaced. It’s that the first step of the career ladder is quietly disappearing. In this video, I explore: * Why AI helps junior employees more than senior ones * Why...

Someone is going to get retrenched today — and they have no idea. After 11 years inside recruitment and hundreds of conversations with blindsided professionals, I can tell you retrenchment is almost never actually a surprise. The signals show up weeks or months early. Most people just don't know what they're looking for. This video names all 9 — and the 4 quiet moves to make before you ever need t...

I'm an introvert. Small talk drains me, and walking into a room of strangers is the last thing I want to do — so for years my "networking strategy" was finding the food table and looking busy with my coffee. And yet people still walk up to me at events (and once, at a night market) already knowing who I am. That's not luck. It's reputation infrastructure — 8 specific moves that put your name into...

My former CEO stood in front of the whole team and said: no side hustles. Too distracting. The company needs your full commitment. He had three board directorships, two committee seats, and multiple rental properties. He wasn’t lying to be cruel. He was protecting what he’d built — and hoping you wouldn’t notice the gap between what he said and what he did. I noticed too late. I went all-in on one...

After my CNA article on fractional work went live, I received many LinkedIn DMs, so I’m answering the most common questions in this video. 00:00 Intro 00:37 What is Fractional Work? 01:58 Can It Work Financially? 03:14 Handling Dry Spells 05:24 Do You Need a Big Network? 05:59 Set Up a Company or Operate Individually? 06:29 How to Land Your First Client 07:35 What If a Client Wants You Full-Time?...

I reflect on Charlie Munger’s wish for more time and share three ideas from Bill Perkins’ Die With Zero that changed how I think about money and life. First, you don’t retire with money—you retire with memories, and some experiences have real physical expiry dates, so postponing them can mean missing them forever. Second, I reframe retirement planning by treating net worth peak as a date, not a nu...

I'm back after a six-month hiatus to discuss the origin of his podcast, his experiences with imposter syndrome, and his journey in content creation. I reflect on the evolution of content creation from blogging to contemporary practices involving AI, and emphasise the importance of maintaining authenticity in one's tone of voice. Also, a shout-out to ⁨ Typeless :⁩ to help you align spoken a...

In this revealing episode, Florence Foo shares her incredible journey of quitting her corporate job while pregnant with her second child to launching four successful businesses. From starting a boutique digital marketing agency to organising large-scale events, introducing sunscreen dispensers on demand, and exploring groundbreaking LED technology, Florence navigates the rollercoaster ride of entr...

In this eye-opening episode, Eric Tan , a seasoned entrepreneur and chartered accountant, reveals the staggering realities and misconceptions of starting your own business. From the relentless grind and overwhelming stress to the illusion of having more control over your time, Eric shares his journey from working for Pricewaterhouse to running his own successful accounting and consulting firms. Tu...

Join Shawn Lim as he opens up about his transformative journey from being arrested as a teenager to becoming a successful content creator and podcaster. Discover why he prefers the term 'content creator' over 'influencer' and learn about his platform, Human Algorithm, which aims to promote authenticity in the age of AI. In this eye-opening podcast, Shawn shares deeply personal stor...

In this captivating episode, Adrian and Amanda Cua discuss her unexpected decision to skip college and embark on an entrepreneurial journey during the pandemic. Amanda shares how she utilised a gap year to create a successful newsletter company, BackScoop, in Southeast Asia. She delves into the challenges she faced, the strategies she used to grow her subscriber base, her thoughts on the media lan...

In this special in-studio episode of The Adrian Tan Show, I sit down with Sarah Wong , a former Silicon Valley professional, now a podcast host, a consultant, and a mom of two. Sarah shares her personal journey from experiencing career burnout, transitioning to motherhood, and shifting to a portfolio career. She also talks about her podcast ⁨@makeitwork.podcast⁩ which focuses on inspiring stories...

In this episode, Adrian brings you an unmissable conversation with Jason Ong , a Singaporean who has been living and working in China for the past 18 years. Tune in as Jason shares his captivating journey from studying in the United States to navigating the corporate world in China. Hear about the jaw-dropping tale of firing a Deputy GM while dealing with the local mafia, and the rigorous challeng...

In this episode of The Adrian Tan Show, we dive deep into the world of creativity and imposter syndrome with acclaimed creative director turned conversation director, Jorge Thauby . Jorge has worked with global brands and won prestigious awards like the Lion Award, yet he still struggles with feeling 'not good enough.' Watch as Jorge shares his journey from Chile to Dubai and finally Singapore, di...

In this special episode of The Adrian Tan Show, I sit down with Michael Chua ⁩ - a seasoned technologist and award-winning actor. Michael shares his unique journey from studying civil engineering in Australia, working as a programmer in London, to becoming a consultant in cybersecurity across 19 countries. Along the way, he discovered a passion for acting which led him to win multiple awards and c...

Join us as we dive into the fascinating journey of Gareth Llyod , a former global DJ turned entrepreneurial powerhouse. Discover how he transitioned from spinning records in 17 countries to revolutionising the garlic and Brazil nut industries in Peru. Gareth shares insights into overcoming major setbacks, like losing a container down a 500-meter ravine, and the importance of innovation and disrupt...

In this episode, we welcome Jaslyin Qiyu , a spiritually driven entrepreneur empowering others, especially women, by exploring fractional work opportunities. Jaslyin shares her journey from climbing the corporate ladder, working at major companies like Citibank and JLL, to navigating the challenges of a remote work environment during the pandemic. She outlines her definition of fractional work and...

In this episode, we delve into the incredible journey of Julie Lee , a former corporate HR director who faced three retrenchments over her 30-year career. Julie shares her challenging yet inspiring story of how she transitioned from a software engineering career to HR, only to be retrenched multiple times. Despite these setbacks, she launched her own business offering fractional CHRO services and...