Have you ever wanted to quit your job because you felt underappreciated?

That was what Joanne Lai, 36, experienced during her first year as a financial advisor.

She was just starting out when a client wanted to back out of an insurance plan the latter had initially agreed to. In the process, the client spewed a lot of nasty comments.

While angry at the injustice she faced, that wasn’t the only push factor for Joanne, who began seriously considering giving up.

“My parents were very against being in this industry,” said Joanne, who recounted how her mum would scold her every day and urge her to apply for a government job instead since she had the grades to do so. 

Since young, the Mathematical Olympiad silver medallist has had a flair for numbers, having represented her school in many mathematical competitions. She excelled in her studies and was in the top classes.

“I’m still young; I can do something else,” she reasoned.

Joanne also felt social pressure. Coming from prestigious schools meant that her peers were doing very well. There were always comparisons of how much one was earning.

Ready to throw in the towel, Joanne arranged for a meeting with her manager. But that morning, her manager was late and Joanne had to wait, which added fuel to the fire.

That was when she took out her Bible and randomly flipped to a page. It landed on the last chapter of Jonah.

Back then, Joanne was only starting to explore the faith, but she was bewildered at how the word of God spoke straight to her heart.

When you’re fuming mad

“It said, ‘I’m so angry, take my life from me’. Wah, how does God know ah? How can God exactly describe what I’m feeling?” exclaimed Joanne.

“​​I didn’t know what Jonah was talking about. I didn’t know the context, but I knew Jonah was angry with God,” she continued.

“​​And then God asked him, ‘Do you have any right to be angry?’ Immediately my anger subsided by half.”

Reading how God questioned Jonah two more times, each was like a bucket of cold water dousing the fire in Joanne’s heart.

Referring to how the people of Nineveh could not discern between right and wrong, God’s final response to Jonah was that He would have mercy on them since they could not “tell their right hand from their left”.

Recalled Joanne: “At that moment, it was like God speaking to me, that there are so many people who can’t tell a good financial advisor from a bad one. Am I going to just give up because of one negative person?” 

It’s crucial to know your why

Some 15 years later, Joanne is now Senior Advisory Group Partner at the same company she first joined, keeping to her desire to assist others with financial planning.

In 2017, she also published an illustrated book titled Money Lessons from the Wild: 7 Crucial Keys to Financial Freedom at a Young Age.

Through tales of animals, she teaches financial principles to kids, a nod to her own background as a child when she was inspired by a book that taught her the basic principles of saving up.

In fact, so ingrained were her values from a tender age that she managed to save up to $100,000 from all her allowance as well as money she received from her educational awards and part-time jobs.

Recollecting how her resolve to join the industry came about, Joanne said she had two criteria when she was planning for her career: to help people and to provide for her family. 

“Initially I thought about research. I went for an internship, but I realised there was no interaction.”

It was basically a routine task of spending hours in the laboratory and presenting the findings. However, Joanne wanted a job that could impact people’s lives in a more direct manner.

Her next option was finance.

“A lot of problems within families stem from finances,” she observed, having witnessed first-hand how the lack of financial planning can be detrimental.

Joanne herself had a personal encounter when she was nearly $35,000 in debt because of a surgery she had to undergo. Thankfully, an insurance plan her mum bought for her when she was a child was able to pay off the medical bills.

These experiences convinced Joanne that she wanted to be in a role where she could support others with financial advice.

You might have heard this saying: “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

But when the going gets tough, our passion may fizzle out. Sometimes we may even get distracted by temptations that come our way.

That is when knowing our purpose keeps us grounded and gives us the motivation to push through.

As we navigate our career path, it is also normal to encounter challenges that will make us second-guess our choices. But we have to remember the reason behind why we do what we do.

“I’m not doing this because I want to be the richest person,” concluded Joanne. “I’m doing it because I want to be a blessing.”

What about you?