Me & My Money Series (Sunday Times)

[Temperament]

Seems very alike compared to last week's interviewee - he also bought an extravagant car (costing more than his HDB wow), also plans to buy a condominiun (investment property) and hardly invests anything in shares/equities. And wow does he have a lot of luxury watches - these things aren't cheap! Basically another property-centric investor; but he and his wife have a thriving business which I applaud!

The Straits Times
www.straitstimes.com
Published on Nov 25, 2012
me & my money
Husband and wife make a good fit
Ex-Air Force man's engineering expertise and wife's interior design skills win deals

By Magdalen Ng

When Mr Kelvin Teo completed his seven-year contract with the Air Force in 2005, his wife, Jerlyn, had just started her interior design firm, JP Concept.

Business was picking up, so Mr Teo thought it was logical to help out in the business, even though he had no experience in the interior design trade.

The 37-year-old said: "I started picking up the skills and experience from my wife who has been working in this trade for about 10 years."

His background was in engineering, so the holder of an electrical and electronics engineering diploma took charge of the firm's mechanical and electrical departments.

JP Concept specialises in hospitality and commercial projects, and has completed restaurant and cafe projects in China, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Clients include the Imperial Treasure Restaurant group, Marina Mandarin Singapore, iL Lido - an Italian restaurant in Sentosa, and Food Junction Holdings.

Q: Are you a spender or saver?

When I was young, I was more of a saver, mostly because of my family's situation.

But when I started working, the odds were split fifty-fifty because I have a weakness for computer gad-gets and watches.

Altogether, my wife and I have three iPads at home, even though there're only two of us.

For watches, I own an IWC, a Panarei and a Ball. Every two years, I will be itching for a new watch. I go for more recognised brands, and I see them as a form of investment too.

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

It would be about $2,000 to $3,000, for both personal and office use. If I travel overseas for projects, then the sum would be more.

I pay off my bills each month.

I spend mostly on food, since my company mainly deals with projects related to the food and beverage industry.

We need to understand and keep ourselves up to date with the latest trends in the market. Visiting the latest restaurants and cafes is part of my job.

Although I have more than five cards, I mainly use two cards for everyday expenses. Each week, I also draw about $400 from the ATM.

Q: What financial planning have you done?

I save about 10 per cent of my monthly income and invest 20 per cent. The rest is used for monthly expenses and whatever I have left after that is kept in cash for emergency use.

Both my wife and I have life, medical and travel insurance policies.

We are working towards a total payout of $1 million each, in the event of death or total permanent disability.

I am a very conservative person, so my investments are mainly in local blue-chip stocks.

So far, I have been managing my portfolio myself, so that I can save on the cost of commission or administrative charges by the financial institutions.

I am trying to achieve the target of about 10 to 20 per cent annual returns.

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

I grew up in a low- to middle-income family.

My father was a shipyard foreman while my mum is a housewife. I have a younger sister.

We were living in a rented one-room flat in Queenstown during that time. My father's income was just enough to support the family's basic expenses.

I started doing part-time work during the school holidays when I was 14 years old to earn extra pocket money for myself.

The money was saved to last me through from when school reopened till the next holiday.

I have always been taught to be independent and to work hard for money.

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

Since young, I have seen my aunt and uncle talking about shares and how much they have been making in the stock market.

When I turned 21, I opened a Central Depository (CDP) account to trade shares.

My first investment was an IPO, and I invested $10,000. But after about three years,the company was delisted, and I lost about $3,000.

Q: What property do you own?

A four-room flat in Jurong West, which I bought in 2000 for $120,000. It is 95 sq m. It is worth about $450,000 now.

My wife and I also recently purchased a commercial property in Paya Lebar. It is 1,000 sq ft and cost $650,000.

It will be ready by the third quarter of next year and we intend to keep it for our own use.

My property agent friend notified me that there was a special promotion price for this particular commercial space that I have been eyeing for about a year.

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

That would probably be my car, a black Volvo S60. I bought it for $160,000 in 2010, and sometimes I still ask myself why I spent more on my car than on my flat.

At that time, I had been driving my previous car for about four years.

The certificate of entitlement (COE) price was about $40,000 and at that point in time it was expected to rise further, so we either had to buy it then, or put on hold our plans of buying a new car for a while.

My wife just left the decision to me, so long as she feels comfortable sitting in the new car.

The latest version of the S60 had just been launched then, and I really liked the performance and the safety aspects of the car, so I must admit it was a slightly impulsive decision.

Q: What's your retirement plan?

I don't intend to retire so soon, maybe when I'm 60?

I will have another 20 years to build up the assets that I require.

To maintain our current lifestyle comfortably, we would probably need $6,000 to $8,000 each month.

I'm saving to buy a condominium in the next two years, so hopefully when the market adjusts we can buy.

It will be an investment property, and a safeguard for our retirement.

Together with our savings and the money in our Central Provident Fund accounts, we should be able to meet our target.

Q: Home is now...

A four-room Housing Board flat in Jurong West.

Q: I drive...

A black Volvo S60.

songyuan@sph.com.sg

----------

Worst and best bets

Q: What has been your worst investment to date?

It was a unit trust fund that was recommended by a friend, and I bought the fund without doing much research. I invested about $20,000.

The initial idea was to keep it for a few years, hoping it would appreciate in value. But after a few years, I noticed that the counter had been dropping and there were administrative charges incurred every year.

Finally I decided to sell off the fund and lost about $5,000.

Q: And your best?

It would be my design company JP Concept, although we invested only about $20,000 during the initial start-up.

Through the years, we have seen the revenue increasing by about 20 per cent annually, and we are preparing to open offices in Indonesia and Malaysia soon.

The money spent on Volvo though not so practical is still bearable i think for them and their business. If not i don't think he will do it. Though it may impair or slow down the expansion of their business.

Hey! What if tomorrow never comes? Do we regret? We have to live for the present now too, don't we? You know actually we only have the present to live. That's why present is really a "Present" to us. Who can promise us the future will be exactly what we wish and come to present us? Yet i can't help worry and plan for the future too. Sometimes, i ponder whether the animals grazing freely on the plain of Africa live better lives than us. Born Free.
We are never "free".

[pianist]

hey their interior design is growing at 20% annually - that easily beats many listed firms on sgx......sgx should ask them to ipo soon...

black volvo s60 is a worthwhile buy i think

[Musicwhiz]

hey their interior design is growing at 20% annually - that easily beats many listed firms on sgx......sgx should ask them to ipo soon...

black volvo s60 is a worthwhile buy i think

Note that revenues are growing at 20% per annum, not profits!

[brattzz]

lolz!!
profit growth @ 20% pa, and revenue growth @ 20% pa. Very Very different! haha!

[Temperament]

lolz!!
profit growth @ 20% pa, and revenue growth @ 20% pa. Very Very different! haha!

Yes! For that matter not many people know a profitable company (though not common) can stop operation(bankrupted) at the end of the day due to cash-flow. Don't believe?

[Musicwhiz]

Yes! For that matter not many people know a profitable company (though not common) can stop operation(bankrupted) at the end of the day due to cash-flow. Don't believe?

This is indeed very true. Cash flow is the lifeblood of any business and profitability is simply an accounting concept. For a normal business, operations depend greatly on availability of cash to finance purchase of inventories and payment of rent/salaries. This is why observing the working capital cycle of any business is so important. If cash conversion is poor and the business is heavily reliant on external financing (i.e. debt from banks), there is a high risk of collapse should demand for products and services collapse.

[mrEngineer]

Only panerai can be somehow treated as investments IMO...

[Musicwhiz]

Interestingly, her 162 Tagore Lane property yielded 9.2% CAGR from 1989-2012, over a period of 23 years. That's roughly the same as the compounded growth in the stock market on a yearly basis.

She sounds very grounded and prudent and doesn't own a car! But she's pretty aggressive in property - can't blame her since she's made money over the last 30 years+ buying and selling property. But her two uncompleted properties sound like recent buys, so I wonder how she defines "buying property at a high", like her 164 Tagore Lane one which she bought in 1996 and barely broke even.

The Straits Times
www.straitstimes.com
Published on Dec 02, 2012
Me & my money
She doesn't drive and it's 'no' to cabs
Stationery chain chief exec has diversified her business to keep it Evergreen

By Magdalen Ng

Times were very tough when Madam Teh Siew Inn started her own stationery business way back in 1973.

With just $7,000, she set up shop in Shaw Centre, the first of what would become a ubiquitous name in the stationery world: Evergreen.

In an interview at her Tagore Lane office, the 69-year-old chief executive, who has two daughters, said: "The walk-in crowd was very small. I wanted to cater to the offices in the vicinity, but most of them also had existing arrangements with other suppliers."

But Mrs Wee, as she is known to her staff, eventually won clients over with her dedicated service.

"We didn't get the big contracts at first, but sometimes they would need refills, or some miscellaneous items. No matter what they bought, be it one ruler, two pens, or an eraser, I would deliver it to them. I was the only person manning the shop, so I had to close it for a while, rush out and (come) back," she said, in Mandarin.

Eventually, she got her first big break when an American oil company - whose name she cannot recall - started to use her company as its main office stationery supplier.

She said: "We made losses in the first three years of business. Even now I wonder why I never thought of giving up. But I guess that is me. I believe that if you put in enough effort, and keep trying, you will eventually succeed."

Evergreen Stationery now has nine retail outlets islandwide, including shops at Parkway Parade and Square 2 in Novena. Still a major office supplier, its turnover last year was about $12 million.

She believes that the stationery business will be challenging in the future, and has now diversified into selling alkaline water ionisers, filtration systems and dispensers.

"It was quite a mindset shift for me. I am used to dealing with things that cost only a dollar or two, and now one ioniser is about $2,000," she added with a laugh.

Q: Are you a spender or saver?

I am definitely a saver. Even when I go shopping with free vouchers that I receive, I find it difficult to spend. Often, I end up coming back empty-handed and passing the vouchers to my children instead.

I also cannot bring myself to take taxis, I don't feel good about it at all. I just feel like I am spending unnecessarily.

Most of my monthly income goes into repaying my mortgages, and the rest I save. My next biggest expenses would be going for tuina massages. That is one thing I really enjoy, and I do it twice a month.

As for eating, I am a simple eater too; hawker centres are fine by me. Young people these days prefer restaurants, but that is okay too.

My children always nag at me to spend more money. They say that if I don't spend, I cannot help the economy.

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

I almost don't charge anything for my personal use to my credit cards, except for my spa or massage packages.

However, I do use them for my company's bills, such as utility bills and all that, to accumulate reward points. These points can add up, and sometimes can be worth a few hundred dollars worth of cash or vouchers.

Q: What financial planning have you done?

The range of insurance options when I was younger was very limited, nothing like the variety that you see today.

I had some term life insurance, which can no longer be renewed, but there is still one policy left, which will stop when I am 80.

Insurance is a very good product, and I have always encouraged my children to buy while they still can.

As for my investment portfolio, I invest only in property. I own four residential properties at the moment. I do not have time to research stock and bonds, which is why I do not own any of them. My business keeps me busy, and I will not invest in anything that I do not understand.

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

My family was actually quite well off when I was a young girl, and my parents owned a coffee shop.

But my father had a gambling addiction, and squandered away a large part of the wealth, so I learnt to be thrifty from a very young age.

I remember my father would give me 30 cents as pocket money when I was in school, and the bus fare each way was 10 cents.

To save 20 cents a day, I walked... from my home near Bugis to my school, which is near the Istana. I only spent 10 cents a day on food.

There is also an incident that I will never forget, which was the one time I actually wanted to take a bus but had only five cents on me. I never forgot the feeling of being only five cents short, and being unable to take the bus.

This is why I believe so much in saving for a rainy day.

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

It was the idea that Singapore is land-scarce, and that if you buy at a low price and sell at a high price, you will make money.

My first landed property was a small terraced house in Jalan Pemimpin. Then, when my children were studying at the National University of Singapore, we moved to a bigger property in Sixth Avenue so that it would be more convenient for them.

But the public transport network in that area wasn't too good.

We moved back to another bungalow in Jalan Pemimpin, before moving to my current house in Highland Road.

Every time I shifted, I made money from my property transactions.

Q: What property do you own?

Just recently, I bought a penthouse in Clover By The Park in Bishan. It cost about $1,100 per sq ft, and the apartment is more than 2,000 sq ft with five bedrooms.

I will be moving there next year, and I will be living with one of my daughters and grandchildren.

I also own a seven-bedroom semi-detached house in Telok Kurau, which I rent out for more than $7,000 each month.

There are also two condominiums that I bought for about $600,000 each, that are yet to be completed. One is The Tannery near Bukit Panjang, and the other is Rangoon 88. These two units are slightly smaller, but my children and I thought that the smaller units would be easier to rent out.

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

I don't think I am very extravagant, but the most expensive thing that I have bought would be my properties. My parents always taught me not to attract attention. If you wear too much jewellery on you, then people know that you are rich, which may make you a target for crime.

Q: What's your retirement plan?

I don't plan to retire actually. I am worried that I will be like my mother, who started to become senile after she stopped working.

Working prevents dementia, I think, because there is a structured schedule that you work around every day.

My day starts at 5am and ends at 11pm, so I may take it a little slower in a few years, especially since I am truly financially free now.

Even though I still have mortgages, I actually have enough to pay off my loans at one go if necessary.

I enjoy singing and dancing, so when my work is less busy, I will start to look for my old friends again.

Q: Home is now...

My three-storey house in Highland Road, but I recently sold it.

I will move into my condominium apartment next year.

Q: I drive...

I do not drive.

songyuan@sph.com.sg
--------------

WORST AND BEST BETS

Q: What has been your worst investment to date?

It would be one part of the office space that my company bought at 164 Tagore Lane.

We owned the adjacent property, so we bought it when we wanted to expand.

I bought it for about $4 million in 1996, and recently sold it for over $4 million also.

Even though there was not much of a capital appreciation, I guess it is okay because we used the space ourselves, saving on rental for the company.

But it taught me never to enter the property market when it is at a high.

Q: And your best?

Funnily, my best property investment would be the one next to 164 Tagore Lane, at 162 Tagore Lane.

In 1989, I bought it as an office space for $800,000.

Recently, I sold it for more than $6 million.

[Temperament]

It seems to me because she is very thrifty , persistent , resilient and gutsy too, not to mention "service oriented", that's why she succeeds in life. i just wonder did she ever have a cash-flow situation? And what a place to choose to start her 1st shop?

[pianist]

there was an article recently saying the least happy singaporeans are those in the age group 22-34 years old because of poor job prospects and unaffordibility in big ticket inflated necessities..while those in the elderly generation are the happier lots.

this article in a way sums it up well.