Not bad, he's a pretty savvy businessman! But I do wonder why he bought the LIFE insurance and ILP? May as well buy term and invest the rest of the money into equities and his business! Sounds like a pretty humble guy as well, and his comment on his car was very amusing haha. This interview shows that one does not require a very high education in order to succeed in life!
Jun 5, 2011
me & my money
From acne woes to skincare business
Grace Universal founder grew from shy teenager in a poor family to owner of various businesses
By Lorna Tan, Senior Correspondent
As a teenager, Patrick Thng was painfully shy, partly because he had acne problems and suffered from scarring on the face. Back then, he did not know anything about skincare.
Now, Mr Thng, 51, the founder and chief executive of cosmetics and face- mask business Grace Universal, has a proper daily grooming regimen involving sunblock and, of course, his Grace face masks.
He set up the firm late last year with four partners and a total initial investment of $500,000, of which $300,000 came from him. He also invested $100,000 in a plant which makes the face masks in Guangzhou, China.
To ensure tight quality control, Mr Thng assigned his nephew Tony Tang, 33, to run the China plant, which makes eight mask types that claim to have properties ranging from anti-ageing to anti-acne oil control. In Singapore, Grace masks are sold at nex@Serangoon Central and in selected spas and beauty salons.
Mr Thng is not new to running businesses. Armed with just an O-level certificate, he had his first taste of running his own business when he was 21. That was in 1981 and he had just finished his national service.
With $20,000 borrowed from his mother, he set up a video library, selling it a year later for a $70,000 profit.
A chance meeting with a fish-floss peddler led to his next business BioGrace Global in 1983. Set up with an initial capital of $20,000, the company makes and markets fish floss.
Three years later, he set up Melati Fine Printing with a friend. Both shared the initial investment amount of $40,000.
Besides his businesses, he invests in shares and currencies. He also owns and rents out two shop units and a condominium unit.
Mr Thng obtained his GCE O-level qualification from Queensway Secondary School in 1976. He worked at his father's provision shop till he was enlisted for national service.
He is married to human resource manager Theresa Tan, 46, and they have two sons - Kenneth, 21, and Clarence, 19.
Q: Are you a spender or saver?
I believe strongly in saving. Of my income, 40 per cent is spent on my elder son's education. He is pursuing a law degree in England while my second son is in national service.
I spend 10 per cent on tithing, another 10 per cent on household expenditure, and 5 per cent on entertainment. The rest of my income is saved or invested back into my business.
Q: How much do you charge to your credit cards every month?
About $3,000 to $4,000 a month. I have five credit cards, but I use only three for air miles, petrol discounts and rewards. I withdraw $300 from the ATM each week.
Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?
I have seven insurance policies bought since 1982 to cover my family and myself. I pay $12,000 in annual premiums.
They comprise three whole life plans, three investment-linked plans - which invest in equities - and one critical illness plan that has a coverage of $150,000. My life cover is $1 million.
I have another $100,000 in Singapore shares which I plan to hold for the long term and they include blue chips and dividend yielding stocks. Some examples are M1, OCBC, SembMarine, SembCorp and Cosco.
In addition, I have another $100,000 invested in Maybank shares, and $200,000 in New Zealand dollars in a global currency account.
I'm excited about my face-mask business. I've obtained halal certification for the masks and I plan to export them to the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. The turnover for BioGrace is $500,000 and for Melati Printing it is nearly $1 million.
Q: Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like?
There are 11 of us in my family. I am the fifth child. My father ran a provision shop, but was forced to close it down when our kampung in Alexandra Road was developed.
I was 11 then and my family went through a period of financial difficulties. It was so bad that we had to buy rice on credit. We subsisted on porridge and green beans for quite a while. My mother had to supplement our income by selling ikan bilis illegally at Queen's Close till she obtained a licence.
Things became better when we relocated to a two-bedroom shophouse in Jalan Bukit Merah when I was 13. My mother had to borrow $10,000 to start another provision shop.
Since that time, I've realised the importance of saving to have a reserve that secures your future.
I used to work in the provision shop even while schooling and I did not get a chance to further my education. Now most of my siblings are doing business on their own. I guess our past taught us to be resilient.
Q: How did you get interested in investing?
Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka Shing once said: 'When others are afraid you must not, and when others are bold you retreat.'
These words taught me well. I invested in a 300 sq ft shop unit in Bencoolen Street during the peak of 1996 for half a million dollars on borrowed money. The Asian financial crisis that happened about a year later caused the price to drop but I still held on to it. It is now worth $1.4 million and I'm renting it out at $5,100 a month.
Q: What property do you own?
I own two shop units that I bought with a friend. One is the aforementioned Bencoolen Street shop lot. The other is a 450 sq ft shop lot in People's Park Complex for which I paid $900,000 in 2008. It is worth $1.5 million now and the rental is $5,500 a month.
In 2000, I bought a 3,008 sq ft three-storey townhouse in Sixth Avenue with a friend for $1.3 million. We kept it for seven years till 2007 and sold it for $2.5 million. We made $1.2 million. During that period, the rentals ranged from $4,000 to $8,000 a month.
In 2001, I bought a 1,313 sq ft unit at Costa Del Sol condo for $1.1 million and sold it for $1.45 million last year. Prior to the sale, I was renting it out for about $3,000 a month. In 2004, I bought a 1,888 sq ft unit at Grange Heights condo for $1.05 million. It is being rented out for $4,000. Both units were bought with a friend.
Q: What's the most extravagant thing you have bought?
To pamper myself, I traded my silver Toyota Altis for a silver Lexus 250 in 2008, paying $90,000. I regretted buying it though. In my first year, I was given two tickets and 12 demerit points for speeding. I should have stuck to my Altis.
Q: What's your retirement plan?
I plan to use my business and rental income to support my wife and myself in our retirement.
I want to live as simply as possible and donate most of my income to the needy. I reckon my wife and I would need $5,000 a month at today's value when I'm retired.
Q: Home is now...
I live in a three-storey, semi-detached house owned by my in-laws in Upper Thomson Road. It was bought in 2006 for $1.7 million and is now worth about $2.3 million.
Q: I drive...
The silver Lexus 250.
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WORST AND BEST BETS
Q: What is your worst investment to date?
Before 1996, I dabbled in speculative Malaysian shares on the advice of friends. I lost most of my savings amounting to nearly $100,000 in 1998 when Malaysia banned trading of its shares on Singapore's Clob International.
I started buying shares again in March 2009. My advice is not to dabble in something you do not understand.
Q: And your best?
My best investment is my children. The next best was the townhouse in Sixth Avenue.
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Not sure also what she means by "careful upgrades" - in the end all the money from the "profits" are recycled back to purchase higher and higher-priced property. Now she "owns" a $3 million property and I wonder what the size of the loan is......but she's happy because it has "appreciated" by $450,000. Not sure what kind of concept for property these people have - that it will forever keep rising?? 
