Me & My Money Series (Sunday Times)

[memphisb]

MOMO:

Actually the most likely investor/traders are engineers as noted by Doc Elder if i recalled correctly.

Quite a few people i knew were from engineers and were traders at night :X

[hyom]

I vaguely remember you mentioning your day job as an engineer. I am confident you create more value to society as an engineer than as an exploiter of the inefficiencies of the financial markets. Indulging in indirect self-praise because I am also an engineer myself.

I relooked at my own comments and thought how ironic it is in my present circumstance. I have just received notice from my company that I will be retrenched as an engineer. Is the labour market undervaluing people of my kind or are we overestimating ourselves (which I am biased to believe so)?

Pre-2008, i had dreams to join the financial industry 1 day until i witnessed the immense greed and little value it brings to society at large.
Of course one could do philanthropy after he becomes rich to contribute back to mankind, but i reckon there's a lower probability for financial folks with oversized egos with self indulgent lifestyles, to do so.

So, if the choice lies before me now, i would choose an engineer. Pre-2008, it was the other way around.

Include me as an engineer too! Smile

However, I'm planning to contribute back to society via teaching tuition to kids, writing educational study materials to document my knowledge before I forget, some of which (self praising here) I believe are rather unique ideas and methods of solutions.

Getting rich from this economically useful activity? Hopefully, but I'm not so sure yet, that's why at the end of the day, I'm still an engineer

SO many Engineers ah....
Count me in leh..

Me still a LOWLY PAID ENGINEER after 5 yrs...

To fellow engineers on this forum, I think engineering can still be financially rewarding if you are in the right industry (not Electronics in Singapore). Electronics has been in a steady decline in Singapore since the Asian Financial crisis. During my days as an engineering student, the best students studied electronics engineering because of the hype generated from the tech bubble in telecoms and dot.com IPOs. The industry in Singapore went into decline after the tech bubble burst and never really recovered. For young graduates like me then, it was terrible -> Smart competition in a shrinking pie. It was a terrible industry to work and compete in.

My point is that if you are at the right place at the right time, you can be less smart and less hardworking and earn more $$$ than someone who is very smart and very hardworking but happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. In my case, even though I got along very well with my boss and my boss's boss commented that I am an honest and diligent worker in my appraisal this year (and I got retrenched), I was not promoted all this while despite being well-liked by my superiors. I worked in a business unit in an industry which either did not grow in a "good" year or was shrinking badly in a bad year. How can my boss be promoted if the company does not grow? And how can I be promoted if my boss was not? The whole business unit shut down this round. All my colleagues and me will be retrenched.

Moral of the story: Doesn't matter how hardworking or how smart you are. If you are at the wrong place at the wrong time, failure is very likely.

[BlackCat]

Sorry to hear this, it can happen to anyone...well, the economy is good, take heart and look for another job now while the job market is still hot.

Working in IT since 96, I've twice seen my capable colleagues retrenched (both time overseas). And in S'pore, seen the industry become more and more cut throat - to the point of any project you work on you expect it to be losing money. I've had a lot of lucky things in my life, but career choice is not one of them

[wsreader]

Sad to hear that even when someone want to create more value to society as an engineer, opportunity was taken away.

[Musicwhiz]

Cool sports car!

The Straits Times
Nov 27, 2011
Homes: It's where the money is
Investment firm chief says real estate is the way to grow assets

By Joyce Teo

Property investment firm chief executive officer Tim Murphy is not one who looks back as he is busy moving forward.

'I have stuck by my decisions, never looked back and always looked forward,' said the 41-year-old who founded IP Global - headquartered in Hong Kong, with offices in Singapore and Dubai - six years ago.

He was previously the CEO of Dah Sing Life Assurance in Hong Kong.

'I always think about the next investment, the next way to grow my life and my company as well as provide for my family,' he said.

Singapore is just one of the many places where he has invested in property. But property prices here are now too high and it looks like there is no good value to be found in the next few years, he said. 'I'll wait out the market to see what happens. There may be some deals next year or after.'

He has a degree in sports studies from Southampton University in Britain as well as a Master of Business Administration from City University London.

His wife Caroline, 37, is a housewife. Their twins, Max and Amber, are 19 months old.

Q: Are you a spender or saver?

Generally, I am a saver. I invest 80 per cent of all the money I earn in a year.

In terms of personal expenditure, I spend the most on my family and children.

My family is very important to me and I take pride in them having a good quality of life. But I am not materialistic and neither is my family - there is a fine balance.

I do spend a fair bit on travelling. There were holidays around the region and trips back to Britain and to the Maldives this year.

I have various credit cards to accumulate air miles. I never pay credit card interest and very rarely go to the ATM. My personal assistant usually draws money from the ATM for me. She manages my bank accounts.

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

I am always moving forward in life, always investing and trying to grow my assets.

At the same time, I do enjoy my life, going on holidays, having a nice car, looking after my family and buying property. I bought my mum's house and my own houses in Hong Kong and Britain as well as a lot of investment property.

Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?

I hold equities, commodities, bonds, hard cash and property, but 90 per cent of my investment portfolio is in real estate and that is where I have made my money.

I seldom buy off-plan but among my recent best investments are the five apartments in Butlers Wharf, Britain, that I bought around 2003, off-plan, for about £170,000 on average. I leased them all out and sold them 21/2 years later for £300,000 on average.

I also usually hold a property till completion so I can lease it out, though I have flipped a few properties in Singapore. One was a 1,163 sq ft 8@Mount Sophia unit that I bought for $728,000 in April 2005 and sold for about $1.7 million in November 2007.

IP Global manages my personal property portfolio, such as my rentals, leasing and mortgages. A broker manages my equities which include mining stocks listed on the Mongolian Stock Exchange, commodities and bonds. I hold equities for a psychological reason so I think I am diversifying my portfolio.

My real estate investments have given me double-digit returns. I ideally look at an internal rate of return of 10 per cent to 20 per cent a year on all of my investments.

I have US$2 million (S$2.6 million) worth of term insurance for myself and my wife. I am like a cash machine to my family.

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

My father died when I was 18 months old so I grew up in a small household with my mother and brother.

We did not have much money as my mother was unemployed. Most of the money came from state benefits.

My upbringing has made me very focused and serious about planning and investing for the future as well as taking insurance and making sure that if anything happens to me, my family is protected.

My mother taught me the value of money and even now, with any spare cash I have, I always think of her and how she would manage her money. I can put her on a business-class flight today and it will be like the most amazing thing ever for her. I want to pass these values to my children.

I am very conscious of teaching my children the value of money and not spoiling them and being overly materialistic. For example, I do not want to buy them big toys all the time. What is the point of Christmas if they get a toy in October?

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

I bought my first property in Britain when I was 21. I realised I was wasting money renting so I borrowed a small amount of money and bought a house.

My friends moved in and rented rooms from me.

I then refinanced the property and used the savings to buy another house, which I also rented out to students. I kept re-mortgaging and had three properties before 23.

That very early experience taught me the huge value of financial planning and what a fantastic investment real estate can be. To this day, I stand by my belief that the best way to invest your money is in property.

Q: What property do you own?

In Singapore, I own an office unit in International Plaza and two rental apartments.

I bought a 1,238 sq ft loft unit at Icon condominium in Tanjong Pagar in late 2004 for some $905,000. The rental yield is nearly 7.5 per cent and its value is at least $2.2 million. I have already refinanced it twice.

Late last year, I bought a 1,119 sq ft unit at Ten@Suffolk in Newton for about $1.4 million. The rental yield is 3.2 per cent and its current value is about $1.6 million.

I also own many real estate investments around the world. They are mostly prime city apartments in places such as Australia, Brazil, Japan, Spain, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. I own holiday homes in Niseko, Japan, because of the potential capital growth. Also, the quality of the tenants there is good.

Today, I rent all my properties out to professionals. My first portfolio consisted of 30 student houses. I made a lot of money but it was a nightmare to manage. It is the thing to do when you are in your 30s, not your 40s. Students will just wreck the place.

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

My Maserati, which cost me HK$2 million (S$336,000). I have no regrets buying it. In fact, I do not have any regrets about anything - every investment I have made, good or bad.

Q: What's your retirement plan?

Real estate has been the most trustworthy investment for me since I started my own portfolio 20 years ago.

I plan for semi-retirement. I will manage my portfolio of 30 to 40 properties, read books and play with my children.

Q: Home is now...

A 3,000 sq ft, four-bedroom house with a pool in Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, which I bought in 2008 for HK$19 million. The value has since doubled.

Q: I drive...

A black Maserati Quattroporte.

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

WORST AND BEST BETS

Q: What is your worst investment to date?

I made a dreadful property investment of 400,000 euros in a tourist area in Spain around 2001 and have probably lost about 150,000 euros (S$260,000) to date.

It costs me 1,000 euros every year just to maintain the pool.

No one has lived in it for three years because it is not worth putting a tenant in. The holidaymakers are not professionals and they are going to ruin the place.

It was more of a lifestyle investment, which was a disaster. Lifestyle investments are not always hugely profitable.

You are far better off investing in city centres, where you get high yields, good rentals and easy liquidity.

If you buy an apartment in the city, you get a tenant for two years. If you buy a holiday home, you get 30 tenants in a year and at least one of them will turn out to be an idiot. Unfortunately, I had a few idiots.

Q: What is your best investment to date?

It is the first property I bought in Britain, a house which cost £50,000.

I got a 95 per cent loan and only needed to come up with £2,500.

I rented out the rooms to my student friends for £800 a month, refinanced it to fund another property purchase and later sold it for £300,000.

[touzi]

I relooked at my own comments and thought how ironic it is in my present circumstance. I have just received notice from my company that I will be retrenched as an engineer. Is the labour market undervaluing people of my kind or are we overestimating ourselves (which I am biased to believe so)?

To fellow engineers on this forum, I think engineering can still be financially rewarding if you are in the right industry (not Electronics in Singapore). Electronics has been in a steady decline in Singapore since the Asian Financial crisis. During my days as an engineering student, the best students studied electronics engineering because of the hype generated from the tech bubble in telecoms and dot.com IPOs. The industry in Singapore went into decline after the tech bubble burst and never really recovered. For young graduates like me then, it was terrible -> Smart competition in a shrinking pie. It was a terrible industry to work and compete in.

My point is that if you are at the right place at the right time, you can be less smart and less hardworking and earn more $$$ than someone who is very smart and very hardworking but happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. In my case, even though I got along very well with my boss and my boss's boss commented that I am an honest and diligent worker in my appraisal this year (and I got retrenched), I was not promoted all this while despite being well-liked by my superiors. I worked in a business unit in an industry which either did not grow in a "good" year or was shrinking badly in a bad year. How can my boss be promoted if the company does not grow? And how can I be promoted if my boss was not? The whole business unit shut down this round. All my colleagues and me will be retrenched.

Moral of the story: Doesn't matter how hardworking or how smart you are. If you are at the wrong place at the wrong time, failure is very likely.

Sorry to hear that you have been retrenched. I have lost my job twice in the IT industry since the dotcom bubble burst. The first time was under circumstances quite similar to yours -- whole department had to clear our desks. The second time was when the company went belly up and even owed me salary. Quite an experience to see the bailiff notice being put up. The 2 incidents were less than 2 years apart. While it hurts financially, due to my zero gearing I was never in a desperate situation where money is concerned. However emotionally it was difficult as weeks became months. You know you still has much to contribute, the lack of opportunity was frustrating and demoralizing.

My personal opinion is that we should not take corporate hierarchy too seriously. Frankly corporate world is full of sh*t.

It is true that if you are at the wrong place at the wrong time, the outcome could be unpleasant. However being retrenched should not be seen as a failure, especially in your case. Hope you find resume your career soon ( be it another job or starting something on your own ).

[yeokiwi]

Moral of the story: Doesn't matter how hardworking or how smart you are. If you are at the wrong place at the wrong time, failure is very likely.

Yes. The time and place is wrong for you now. But, for a diligent and hardworking person like you, it is just a matter of time to find yourself a new niche. Don't be dishearten.

Keep up your fighting spirit!

[piggo]

Moral of the story: Doesn't matter how hardworking or how smart you are. If you are at the wrong place at the wrong time, failure is very likely.

Completely agree with that. Can only stand up, and continue the race... it's experiences like these that makes you a tougher man

Quite a few people i knew were from engineers and were traders at night :X

That's probably because engineers in SG are so disgustingly underpaid. They have no power over their salary because every other major economy out there has millions of engineers willing and able to work for a lower wage here. So to make up for the gap, we work at nights, into the wee hours... do all sorts of unrelated work, clock additional hours for additional income.

[Musicwhiz]

First of all, I would like to say I completely agree that Engineers are way under-paid. I've dealt with many engineers in my line of work and feel they are very technically competent and know so much! Compared to me lah - I only know numbers, accounting, addition, subtraction.... I really respect engineers for knowing everything from civil stuff, structural works, M&E and IT-related. Kudos to all engineers!

On a related note, hyom, sorry to hear of your situation. But perservere and apply for jobs and wish you all the best for your career!

[Big Toe]

Hyom, you are exactly right. You cant fight a rising tide.
Many years back, I realized that what I was doing is not sustainable(Contract manufacturing/Mechanical/electronic engineering related).
That's when I figured I needed extra passive income/build an alternative active income.
The goal was quite daunting, to survive w/o a job, it's quite unthinkable at that point in time.

Looking back. I did survive. Business grew and life is better now not working for someone else.

To the folks who are really unhappy where they are now;
Quit. Do something else.

I'll be blunt(not meant to offend anyone) to say that it is a complete waste of time complaining about
bosses and colleagues and how unfair work is, and we hear it all the time. If someone really thinks he/she is worth
more, prove it, talk is cheap.