Our Story
Building financial clarity, one cohort at a time
Tideknot was founded on a simple premise: that most people don't need a financial adviser — they need a solid foundation of knowledge to make their own decisions with confidence.
Back to HomeWho We Are
About Tideknot
Tideknot was established in Singapore with a clear purpose: to make financial education accessible, honest, and practically useful. The name draws from the harbour ropes that once bound Singapore's trading vessels — the idea that good knowledge, like a well-tied knot, holds things together when conditions get complicated.
We began by working with professionals in their thirties and forties who had accumulated some assets but lacked a coherent framework for managing them. What we found was that the gap wasn't intelligence or discipline — it was simply never having been taught how to think about money in an organised way.
Over time, we developed three distinct learning tracks — one for those just starting out, one for those building investment thinking, and one for those planning decades ahead. Each programme is taught by facilitators with backgrounds in finance, economics, and adult education.
Our Mission
To equip Singaporeans with durable financial knowledge they can apply across every stage of life.
Our Vision
A Singapore where financial literacy is treated as a life skill, not a specialist domain.
Our Commitment
No product sales, no commissions, no hidden agendas — just well-structured education.
Our Team
The people behind Tideknot
Marcus Koh
Founder & Lead Facilitator
Fifteen years in corporate finance across Singapore and Hong Kong. Marcus left institutional banking to build a platform where individuals could access the financial thinking usually reserved for high-net-worth clients.
Priya Lakshmi
Programme Director
A background in adult education and curriculum design. Priya ensures that each Tideknot programme is built around how people actually learn — not how textbooks are structured.
David Tan
Senior Financial Educator
A former wealth management analyst with a particular focus on CPF strategy and retirement income design. David leads the Lifetime Financial Architecture cohorts and the private advisory sessions within that programme.
How We Work
Standards we hold ourselves to
No commercial conflicts
We do not receive referral fees or commissions from any financial institution. Our facilitators are not licensed to sell products, and we do not recommend specific instruments.
Singapore-specific content
All curriculum is developed for the Singapore context — CPF mechanics, local tax considerations, and the regulatory environment participants actually live within.
Regularly reviewed material
Programme content is reviewed at least quarterly to reflect regulatory updates, market developments, and shifts in Singapore's financial planning landscape.
Participant confidentiality
Personal financial information shared during sessions is not retained, recorded, or used for any purpose beyond supporting participants within that specific programme.
Qualified facilitators only
All Tideknot facilitators hold professional backgrounds in finance or adult education, and are assessed annually against a structured competency framework.
Outcome-oriented design
Each programme is structured around what participants should be able to do after completing it — not simply what they will have been taught. Sessions are evaluated against these outcomes.
Financial education built around Singapore life
Managing personal finances in Singapore involves layers that many other contexts don't share — the CPF system, the Medisave and SRS structures, the interplay between HDB ownership and long-term capital, and a cost of living that demands deliberate planning. Generic financial literacy content, however well-intentioned, rarely accounts for any of this.
Tideknot programmes are developed from the ground up with the Singapore resident in mind. Whether a participant is a local professional, a permanent resident, or an employment pass holder navigating cross-border financial considerations, the content is calibrated to their actual environment. Facilitators draw on real scenarios encountered in Singapore's financial landscape — not theoretical constructs.
Across our three programmes, participants develop a progressively deeper grasp of personal finance — from organising their day-to-day spending through to constructing a multi-decade financial architecture that accounts for retirement, inheritance, and contingency. Each level builds on the previous, and each concludes with tangible materials participants can use independently.
The Tideknot approach is grounded in the principle that financial clarity is not a privilege. With the right structure and a willingness to engage, most people are entirely capable of managing their financial lives thoughtfully. Our work is simply to provide that structure.
Curious to know more?
We're happy to answer questions about our approach, our facilitators, or which programme might suit your situation.
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