Singlife's Helen Shen believes in the joy of missing out

Losing her first-ever investment at the age of 16 crystallised one of her core beliefs, which is to avoid "instant gratification" when it comes to investing.

- Meredith Woo

Living on her own since she was just 14 years old, Helen Shen, group head of Health at Singlife, had to quickly learn how to be independent as an only child, especially when it came to managing money. Her parents had divorced early on, and her mother was setting up an oil and gas business in Guangzhou – only flying back on weekends to check on her.

“I think that really gave me the ability to manage my funds. This was many, many years ago, before Paylah! She’d put a few hundred bucks in a drawer. If I ran out of money, I really had to deal with that. I had to eat less McDonald’s, and eat more cai fan (mixed rice). I gained the ability to budget, and to understand how money works,” she recalls.

A graduate of Questrom School of Business, Boston University, Helen first spent over 10 years at DBS Bank focusing on ecosystem partnerships and digital transformation, and was part of the bank’s China integration team of ANZ Bank’s wealth business into DBS.

She then served as country manager for Alipay Malaysia and Singapore at Ant Group. In 2022, she joined Singlife, where she oversees the development and implementation of end-to-end integrated solutions for the company’s life and health products.

“I believe in the growth of Asian corporations, and have dedicated most of my career working for and contributing to Asia-based firms, helping them expand locally and regionally, and making an impact on the global stage,” notes the 38-year-old.

Despite her atypical childhood, Helen had a very “middle-class” life. Even though they could not splurge on luxuries, she always had a roof over her head, had enough clothes, and good food on her plate. Even with surplus cash, she noticed her mother was careful with her spending, which instilled in her a very healthy relationship with money.