Me & My Money Series (Sunday Times)

The Straits Times
Oct 23, 2011
me & my money
Property tycoon has myriad passions
Veteran developer counts art and conservation among his interests

By Joyce Teo

Veteran property developer and art gallery owner Daniel Teo is visibly excited about his recent venture - an arts hub at the former Catholic High School building in Waterloo Street.

He leased the dilapidated building, where he once traipsed as a schoolboy, and spent about $2 million renovating it last year.

'I would like to invite the PM to visit this place,' he says.

The building houses his own space called The Private Museum, which is used to showcase his own collection and those of other private collectors. He hopes more of them will share their art with the public.

Art and conservation are just two of his many passions. The four-time head of the Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore also wants the public to know more about his alma mater by setting up a Catholic High School, or 'CHS', museum in the building.

And Mr Teo says he is still working on getting the tombstone of his granduncle and local war hero Lim Bo Seng declared a national monument. He plans to create a bust of Lim for the site in MacRitchie Reservoir Park.

His ventures are not always grand ones. His latest, for example, is a hobby farm in Kranji.

Soon, he hopes to build four houses on the old family home site in Katong for his family.

Mr Teo, 68, is the director of Tong Eng Brothers and chairman of the Hong How Group, both family businesses. He also owns the Wetterling Teo Gallery in Kim Yam Road.

His father and uncle started Tong Eng Brothers in 1960 as a steel trading company. It is now an investment holding company cum property developer.

He did his A levels at Coburg High School in Victoria, Australia, followed by a degree in architecture at the University of Melbourne.

His wife is former Singapore Dance Theatre artistic director Goh Soo Khim. They have four children and six grandchildren.

Q: Are you a saver or a spender?

I am more of a saver, as I want to save for a rainy day. About 50 per cent of my yearly income is saved or invested.

When I spend, it is mostly on art and travelling. I would rather put my money into art than spend it on a watch or a fast car. I spend a few hundred thousand dollars on art every year.

Q: How much do you charge to your credit cards every month?

I have a few credit cards, and I charge about $1,500 to $2,000 a month to the cards. I withdraw about $500 to $1,000 from the ATM every fortnight.

Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?

I have a financial adviser and a few personal bankers to help me invest. About 60 per cent of my portfolio is in property and about 20 per cent to 30 per cent is in art and stamps.

I expect at least a 15 per cent return on my investments.

I have about a million or two invested in listed companies in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia. These include property firms and banks.

Q: Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like?

I am the eldest child. I have five sisters and one brother. My parents were thrifty, but my father would always make sure we had a nice night out on Christmas Day and a nice Chinese New Year dinner.

Some Saturdays, he would take us out shopping. He didn't spoil us. I think it's our Oriental culture to not spoil the kids, but he spoiled my children.

Life was comfortable. We were chauffeured around and had maids. I had a shock when I went to Australia to study and realised I had to do everything by myself.

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

I started investing when I was in university. I read up on it. Whenever I managed to save some of my monthly allowance, I would use it to buy Australian shares like BHP, Rio Tinto, WMC Resources. I am still holding on to most of them.

I joined the family business after I graduated. My first investment upon returning to Singapore was a two-room apartment in Pandan Valley.

I bought it in 1971 for more than $100,000 with a 90 per cent loan, and sold it for more than $200,000 a few years later. It was one of my best investments.

I invest in my interests. I invested in Wetterling Teo Gallery after the Economic Development Board introduced me to Swedish art dealer Bjorn Wetterling.

I bought over his share two years ago. The gallery doesn't bring me money, but my aim is to support the arts. We need to do more for the arts. Society has to progress and the arts are the medicine for the soul.

I used to own an aquarium business in Barcelona, together with the Haw Par Group. I still have a bird farm in Mandai and a vineyard in Cape Town.

Last year, I set up an arts hub at my old school, Catholic High. I've spent about $2 million to renovate the building. I expect a 15 per cent return on my investment. I've also just invested $500,000 in my hobby farm.

I have also been investing in local artwork by artists such as Chua Ek Kay, Jimmy Ong, Goh Beng Kwan. I started doing this 30 years ago, and now have more than 100 pieces.

A year ago, I invested in a racehorse. I own 20 per cent of it. It has won a few races.

Q: What properties do you own?

I own eight properties. These include shophouses in Tiong Bahru and River Valley, and our old 14,000 sq ft family home in Katong.

The first shophouse I bought was in Kim Yam Road. It cost me just over $300,000 some 30 years ago. I renovated it for $400,000.

I haven't invested in property in recent years because prices have gone up so much. As developers, we know the cost, and rental is not that attractive now. I have better use of my funds, in art, stamps and charity work.

Q: What's the most extravagant thing you have bought?

Ten pieces of pop art from artists such as Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein and James Rosenquist that cost me about $1.8 million.

Q: What's your retirement plan?

I don't believe in total retirement. I have so many ideas. I want to build a retirement village and conserve heritage buildings.

Q: Home is now...

An 8,000 sq ft house in Bukit Timah. I bought the 12,000 sq ft land on which it sits for more than $1 million more than 10 years ago. I then spent about $2 million to rebuild it from 1996 to 1998.

Q: I am chauffeured in...

A blue BMW 523i and a blue Chrysler sedan.

joyceteo@sph.com.sg

--------------------------------------------------------

WORST AND BEST BETS

Q: What has been your worst investment to date?

I brought in the Australian cast of Jesus Christ Superstar together with a few friends 25 to 30 years ago. It was very tough as we couldn't advertise due to religious sensitivities. We relied only on word of mouth and fliers. I lost a few hundred thousand dollars.

About 10 years ago, I started a fish farm with the National Science and Technology Board (now known as A*Star). We sold sea bass. Our biggest customer was NTUC. But it was the wrong timing and I lost about a quarter of a million.

I also invested in a shipbuilding business with two friends. My father was a founder of Far East Livingstone Shipbuilding, which is now Keppel Offshore Marine. I used to go with him to the shipyard. We built barges and tug boats but had to close it after three to four years in 2003, mainly due to tough competition. I lost about $2 million.

I have at least three good lessons to learn from and maybe, more to come. I just have to laugh about them and learn from them.

Q: And some of your best?

I have made money from investing in properties in prime locations such as Tiong Bahru and Jalan Sultan.

I've made some money from art. I bought 10 limited prints of Roy Lichtenstein about 20 years ago. I sold two for around $150,000 two years ago and got back my capital.

And in 1996, I sold my classical Sarawak stamp collection for $1.6 million. I bought it for about $300,000 in the early 1990s.

I like this lady! She has the guts to sink in $150,000 and strike out on her own, plus she shares my view that cars are simply too expensive on this little red dot!

The Straits Times
Oct 30, 2011
me & my money
Healthy finances through pilates
Avid saver says the money she put away gave her confidence and courage to open her fitness studio

By Joyce Teo

Candice Chin took less than a year to decide that she wanted to start her own business. She had a marketing job at SingTel but wanted a change. She started teaching pilates, found that it could be a viable business and plunged in.

Two years ago, when she was 29, she invested more than $150,000 - mostly her own savings - to start Pilates Fitness Studio. She employs four full-time staff members and a few freelance instructors.

'I could either use that money to buy a car, put down a deposit for an apartment or build a business. The latter seems more exciting and offers immediate returns," says Ms Chin, who is single.

'As I am young and had everything I needed at that point in my life, the worst that could happen to me was for me to sell the company and find another job.'

Having her own business allows her to put her ideas to work - something she relishes. 'My biggest source of satisfaction stems from creating new revenue streams from existing products.

'But working in corporations stifled my creativity. As I climbed the corporate ladder, I felt that I was spending more time managing egos than ensuring profits for the company.'

The computing science graduate from the National University of Singapore has been taking pilates classes since she was 24. She got a whiff of running her own business during her short freelance stint when she made cold calls, wrote to corporations, tapped her contacts to get jobs as well as sourced for space to hold the classes.

'But I didn't want to be just teaching. The business side is also fun.'

Q: Are you a spender or saver?

I am a saver. The easiest way to save is to view savings as part of my expenditure - I will only spend after I have saved a minimum amount each month. I saved a lot when I was working for Optus in Sydney about five years ago.

I do indulge in designer bags and watches. I am willing to part with thousands for a leather bag that can last a lifetime, but I won't pay more than $200 for a canvas bag even if it is a brand name.

Q: What is your general approach to money and savings?

I strongly believe that one should never spend more than what one earns. It is a matter of finding contentment rather than chasing after what society thinks you should possess at a certain age.

When I quit my stable, well-paying job to start out on my own, I cut more than half of my expenses as I was not sure if my venture would make it. Strangely, I got by pretty well.

I learnt two important lessons during that period - first, everyone should save for a rainy day because you never know when you will need the money. Second, cutting down on your expenses does not mean that you will not be able to enjoy life. I am glad I had saved throughout my career as the money gave me the confidence and courage to pursue my dreams and make it a reality.

As a rule of thumb, I save 30 per cent of my monthly income, invest 10 per cent and spend the rest. If I overspend in a certain month, I would save more the following month to make up for it. I pay off all my bills as I dislike the idea of having a loan.

I charge about $3,000 to $4,000 to my credit cards every month. It's a mix of business and personal expenses.

Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?

I have term policies that cover hospitalisation, critical illness and permanent disability amounting to $1 million.

When I worked in Sydney, I left my Aussie dollars in the bank because of the high interest rate. The Aussie dollar has since appreciated against the Singapore dollar.

I co-own my five-room HDB flat with my parents and have been looking to buy another property.

I have invested mainly in blue chips such as SingTel and StarHub and funds via dollar cost averaging since 2006. I am a risk-averse long-term investor and find that this is a safer way to invest as the highs and the lows will even out to give me a stable profit margin over time.

I leave it to my planner to recommend the funds but I check on them regularly to ensure that I am making money.

I aim for annual returns of 6 to 10 per cent.

Q: Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like?

My dad used to run a video rental and stationery shop and we lived in a three-room HDB flat. I have a younger sister. Life was comfortable.

I spent a lot of time in the shop helping my parents and learnt about the sacrifices one has to make to earn a living. There, I also developed my business intuition and negotiating skills. I watched how others bargained and how my parents turned a negative situation into a business opportunity - it's a key survival skill in today's business environment.

My parents retired about 10 years ago. Although I had an unlimited supply of stationery when I was young, they always made me exchange a used item for a new one.

I dislike the idea of owing anyone anything. I started working one month after graduation and aimed to finish paying off my university loan as soon as I could. I took up three tuition jobs on top of my regular job and paid up 80 per cent of the loan in 18 months. I went on a trip to Europe after the loan was cleared. It was one of the best trips I ever had.

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

I believe investing is a smarter way to make money. You just can't leave it in the banks here. My first stock was given to me by SingTel as part of my top performer bonus. On my own, I first bought some funds through my best friend's sister.

Q: What property do you own?

I co-own a five-room HDB flat with my parents. We bought it for $260,000 10 years ago and it is now valued at about $480,000.

Q: What's the most extravagant thing you have bought?

A Bulgari watch that cost about $5,000. I have no regrets as I wear it every day. I set aside $10,000 for holidays every year but since starting Pilates Fitness, I have travelled less.

Q: What's your retirement plan?

I'm contented with a comfortable lifestyle that allows me to enjoy life's little pleasures - eating good but not necessarily expensive food and travelling frequently. I think I will need at least $5,000 a month to continue with my current lifestyle.

Q: Home is now...

The flat in Sengkang.

Q: I drive...

Owning a car is at the bottom of my to-buy-list. I think we are paying ridiculous sums of money for cars here.

joyceteo@sph.com.sg

----------------------------------------------

WORST AND BEST BETS

Q: What's your worst investment to date?

One of the European trust funds that I bought dipped almost 30 per cent. I held it for two years and sold it at a loss of $1,500.

Q: And your best?

Pilates Fitness. I earned back my previous salary in the third month after I left my stable job as covering marketing director at SingTel.

It feels good that my ideas work and I can pay myself, provide employment and at the same time, help others to achieve a healthy lifestyle.

>>I have invested mainly in blue chips such as SingTel and StarHub and funds via dollar cost averaging since 2006. I am a risk-averse long-term investor and find that this is a safer way to invest as the highs and the lows will even out to give me a stable profit margin over time.

I leave it to my planner to recommend the funds but I check on them regularly to ensure that I am making money.

I aim for annual returns of 6 to 10 per cent.

leaving it to a planner and aiming for 6% minimum, possible after deducting all the mgmt fees?

Hope she can intro such a gd planner...

I think quite impossible for a planner to do it. From what i have learned, to consistently do above 6% pa in recent years in a risk-effective manner, it is either through leverage off the low interest rates in the last 5 years or all equity with good stock picking skills.

(01-11-2011, 05:20 PM)greypiggi Wrote: I think quite impossible for a planner to do it. From what i have learned, to consistently do above 6% pa in recent years in a risk-effective manner, it is either through leverage off the low interest rates in the last 5 years or all equity with good stock picking skills.

I do agree it's almost impossible to achieve 6% consistent returns with a planner choosing funds. Firstly, not many funds can consistently out-perform or even equal the market return. Secondly, one has to pay fees to this planner as well! These will all erode the true returns compared with investing in equities directly on your own.

Leverage can help to magnify returns in the current low interest rate environment but the element of risk is there, therefore I will still advocate using money you own (perhaps I am too conservative haha).

As for stock-picking, unless you have the time, effort and inclination to be an enterprising value investor, it's probably better to stick with a low-expense ratio index fund.

The Straits Times
Nov 6, 2011
Developer builds business on sound values
Saving and spending prudently are his guiding principles

By Joyce Teo

When you fly budget next time, you may be sitting next to Mr Lim Yew Soon, 36, who is currently developing an 888-unit Design, Build and Sell Scheme project in Clementi called Trivelis.

Mr Lim, who has been the managing director of family-owned EL Development since 2006, will soon be taking his wife and parents to Hong Kong on Tiger Airways. They will not be staying in a five-star hotel either.

'To me, it's just a short flight. The money can be put to better use,' he says.

In 2005, Mr Lim joined Evan Lim & Co, the construction business started by his father in the 1960s. He helped the family business branch into property development a year later when he realised that being a main contractor in the construction sector was harder than he had thought. 'I believed that we can and should move up the value chain,' he says. That was when EL Development was formed.

His first project, Rhapsody on Mount Elizabeth, which was launched in late 2006, was sold out in six weeks, though a later one, Parc Centennial, had a rough start when it was launched in 2008, selling just six units that year.

Mr Lim, a National University of Singapore graduate, comes from a big extended family and has relatives in the property development business. His wife Audrey Foong, 35, is a financial analysis manager. They have two sons, Yu-Zhe, three, and Yu-Kai, one.

Q: Are you a spender or saver?

I'm more of a saver. I believe in saving for a rainy day as well as building up sufficient savings for investment opportunities, as making money is tough without your first pot of gold.

I save at least 50 per cent of my fixed monthly income. The dividends I get and the profits from my family business are ploughed back into my savings. Most of my expenses goes towards my children's childcare. Both of them are in full-day childcare and this costs me $2,500 a month.

Q: How much do you charge to your credit cards every month?

I charge about $2,000 a month to my credit cards. I have several cards but prefer to stick to one particular credit card to accumulate rewards. I withdraw about $200 from the ATM each time.

Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?

I have some insurance for myself and my family and I have a rental property.

I invest in mid-term safe-haven instruments that offer modest returns with principal protection. This is because I view my family's property development business as one that has considerable risks, though it can also offer attractive returns.

I do not see the need to invest in many properties. It could be a double whammy for me if the economy is not doing well.

If I am not running my family business, I would take bigger risks with my investments.

About 30 per cent of my investments is hard cash in the bank, another 30 per cent is in bonds and the rest is in stocks and property.

I prefer to manage my own investments and aim for returns of 10 to 15 per cent.

The crisis in Europe has put my stock portfolio in the red. But I'm not unduly worried as I tend to take a more long-term view and my stocks are mainly in blue chips and large, reputable companies such as DBS Bank, Singapore Airlines and City Developments.

Q: Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like?

I am the youngest of six children in an upper-middle income family and life was comfortable during my growing-up years. My father Evan Lim retired in the late 1990s.

My parents were, however, always careful to inculcate the virtues of frugality and spending within one's means.

Great importance was also placed on our education.

As with most other Asian families, my parents were strict with us. But amusingly, they dote on their grandchildren.

I must say what helped to shape my perception of money management was the invaluable experience I gained while helping my father liquidate an IT firm, which he had invested in.

The bursting of the dot.com bubble followed by the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States resulted in the firm, which had about 200 people, running into cash-flow problems and it had to be liquidated.

My father paid his share of the losses but also covered some of the losses of his partners. This taught me that while one should be prudent with money, he should also exercise some form of generosity when required.

I also learnt that in business, you must avoid over-expansion and always maintain sound business fundamentals. Save most of your income and spend only on necessities. Indulge in luxury items using only profits from your investments.

You must make your money work for you and not work to pay for luxury items using money that you have not earned.

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

I started investing in initial public offerings during my university days. It was very common among my peers.

It was a golden era for IPOs. Being allocated an IPO lot meant instant profits as most IPO shares rose above the issue price on the first day of trading. Like most of my peers, I had my share of 'killings' of between a few hundred to a couple of thousands.

Q: What property do you own?

An apartment in Illuminaire on Devonshire, which was developed by my company. It is currently rented out and fetching reasonably good yields of about 4 per cent.

Q: What's the most extravagant thing you have bought?

Two Franck Muller watches which cost slightly under $20,000 each. I bought them to mark the achievement of certain milestones in the property development business. I intend to pass them to my boys when they come of age.

Q: What's your retirement plan?

I have not thought of retiring as my job is my passion. I am consistently exploring opportunities to take it to new heights.

The sense of achievement I have from overcoming the design constraints of a piece of land, transforming it into a marketable piece of property and finally seeing the project to completion is difficult to describe.

Q: Home is now...

My family and I live with my parents in a family- owned bungalow in the Bukit Timah area.

I am developing a pair of semi-detached houses with my brother. They sit on a piece of land that my father had bought many years ago. My family will move to one of the houses soon.

Q: I drive...

A black 730Li BMW.

joyceteo@sph.com.sg

-------------------------------------------
WORST AND BEST BETS

Q: What is your worst investment to date?

My worst investments to date were the shares that I bought blindly during my varsity days.

I had made some money from some of the initial public offerings and became greedy for more. I then ploughed the profits and my savings into other shares such as Natsteel Electronics.

During the Asian financial crisis, the drastic correction in share prices wiped out about $20,000 of my savings, which was a lot to me in those days.

Looking back, however, the lesson learnt was a valuable, albeit painful, one.

Q: And your best?

This would be my 635 sq ft apartment at Illuminaire On Devonshire. I bought it for about $1 million in 2009 and it is worth about $1.5 million now.

Hi Musicwhiz,
I don't quite understand what is the purpose for Strait Time to publish such articles.
To glamorize the rich or to encourage lower class to strike to become rich?

I can only say some of the interviewees interviewed might not be running their company too well.
They are rich, but their listed companies are not doing well at all....

My 2 cents

because we thought that there would be some quality shares from straits times. but we appreciate the effort.

(06-11-2011, 05:56 PM)VIChris Wrote: Hi Musicwhiz,
I don't quite understand what is the purpose for Strait Time to publish such articles.
To glamorize the rich or to encourage lower class to strike to become rich?

I can only say some of the interviewees interviewed might not be running their company too well.
They are rich, but their listed companies are not doing well at all....

My 2 cents

Hi there,

I'm not quite sure either! But I guess the aim is probably to educate the public about good financial practices and to show how "savvy" they are.

The point may have been lost along the way.....Lorna used to be the financial correspondent in charge of interviewing these people, but this has since changed.

I do agree some of the interviews are quite bad - and they seem to glamorize a hedonistic lifestyle and showcase the people to be rather arrogant and self-indulgent.

Then again, we don't have to take such interviews too seriously. Just casual Sunday reading.

(06-11-2011, 09:55 PM)Musicwhiz Wrote:

(06-11-2011, 05:56 PM)VIChris Wrote: Hi Musicwhiz,
I don't quite understand what is the purpose for Strait Time to publish such articles.
To glamorize the rich or to encourage lower class to strike to become rich?

I can only say some of the interviewees interviewed might not be running their company too well.
They are rich, but their listed companies are not doing well at all....

My 2 cents

Hi there,

I'm not quite sure either! But I guess the aim is probably to educate the public about good financial practices and to show how "savvy" they are.

The point may have been lost along the way.....Lorna used to be the financial correspondent in charge of interviewing these people, but this has since changed.

I do agree some of the interviews are quite bad - and they seem to glamorize a hedonistic lifestyle and showcase the people to be rather arrogant and self-indulgent.

Then again, we don't have to take such interviews too seriously. Just casual Sunday reading.

Yup! lets treat it as a casual reading as the interviews itself has no meaning at all.

Cheers!