Me & My Money Series (Sunday Times)

[hyom]

Me & my money seems to run out of exciting people to interview. I have learnt nothing from her. Perhaps we can each answer the interview questions and share our answers here?

Forumers may not be willing to disclose such personal details about themselves, or about how they made it wealthy.

This is true. Privacy has a price attached. I think several of the people interviewed by Sunday Times agreed to the interview because self-promotion is part of their daily jobs. Property agents, insurance agents and mainly middle-men roles of a sales nature will get more revenue if they appear on the newspaper.

[Stocker]

Let's face it. Those who really make it, do they need cheap publicity. Try asking the top 40 riches here to be interviewed.

[Musicwhiz]

Wow he's just 33 and is already a multi-millionaire! His gold portfolio itself is worth $30 million, and he needs about $100,000 a year (or month?) to live comfortably. I also laud his intention to donate most of his net worth to charity and help those who are less fortunate. Impressive that he inherited the business and managed to grow it so big, but I feel he is a little out of the league of ordinary Singaporeans (as he mentions everything in millions!), so there is not much useful stuff to learn.

The Straits Times
Jan 15, 2012
He plans to give millions to charity
Businessman aims to achieve net worth of $200m and give away 90% of his money

By Joyce Teo

Business owner Lee Song Teck, 33, is a goal-oriented person who cannot sit still. Just four months ago, he started a gold trading business, and is now preparing to start three more businesses.

Still, his agenda is not as daunting as it might seem at first sight. 'Over the years, I have learnt to delegate, and to create a system that allows the business to run on its own within a shorter period of three months, instead of two years,' he said.

What spurs him to work hard is his drive to contribute to society.

Eventually, he aims to give away 90 per cent of his wealth to charity. Money does allow you to enjoy life, but the happiness you gain from material possessions is short-lived, he said.

He has sponsored more than a dozen children through World Vision, an international humanitarian organisation, and at his new firm, The Gold Guarantee, he involves his staff in charity work.

Mr Lee took over the family business in animal pharmaceutical products when he was 20. Two years later, he went to Sydney for undergraduate studies, and to explore living a holistic lifestyle that involved yoga, meditation and martial arts.

Since his return to Singapore, the bachelor has tried his hands at being a property agent, and running a fitness centre and a property investment seminar business. He has also invested in property and gold.

Q: Are you a spender or saver?

I would say I've been a saver in the past 10 years, but my mother would say otherwise. Since I turned 23, I have realised the importance of becoming financially free and creating wealth for the sake of giving back. This is why I save and invest most of my money.

I would say that I spend just about 10 per cent of my earnings. I invest most of my money because I believe saving alone will not help me achieve the financial goals I set when I was 24.

I was very aggressive in spending on my personal education, in areas such as investment, wealth creation, business, marketing, sales and health. I must have spent more than $200,000 on attending seminars on these topics - more than 30 over the past 10 years.

I invest most of my money in my businesses. I do not smoke, drink or gamble, and I am not into fine dining. The only luxury items I spend on are spa packages for me and my friends. I also buy presents for my friends. It feels nice to be able to buy things for the people I love.

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

I charge around $10,000 to my credit card a month. It's a mix of work and personal expenses. I do not carry any credit card debt. In terms of cash, I withdraw a few thousand dollars a week from the bank.

Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?

I believe in only real estate and gold, which I can see and touch, and which have real value.

My gold investment portfolio is now worth $30 million.

I have achieved average returns of 200 per cent a year from my property investments and some of my businesses. I plan to achieve a net worth of $200 million; when that happens, I intend to pledge 90 per cent to charity.

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

I am an only child, and I lived on a pig farm until I was eight. Our farm seemed huge, but we were one of the few poor pig farmers at the time.

My father set up the animal pharmaceutical wholesale business while running the farm, and my mother helped him with the accounts.

However, we were quite poor until about 10 years ago because my father, who died when I was 17, was a gambler. My parents used to tell me I must never gamble.

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

It was after I attended personal development seminars. I also read many wealth creation books, which led me to decide on real estate as my investment vehicle.

Since turning 24, I have made sure that whatever path I took would lead me in the direction of becoming a real estate investor.

My first real estate investment was in a rundown basement shop at Golden Mile Complex, which I bought for $250,000 five to six years ago. I sold it three weeks later for $320,000. I put up only $2,500 in cash for the purchase - for the 1 per cent option on the property - as I had managed to negotiate an option period of one month.

Q: What property do you own?

I co-own a highway and a commercial building in Tianjin, China, with my father's best friend, who is a billionaire in Malaysia.

I also have a 12-unit apartment block in Central London and 16 commercial units in Kuala Lumpur. My aim is to spread my property portfolio over five countries to reduce the risks.

In the past two years, I have sold my properties here, including a shophouse in Chai Chee and a Belmont Green condo unit, as I was anticipating a price correction.

The market fell in 2008 after I bought the Belmont Green unit, so I had to hold it for three years. I made half-a-million dollars in profit.

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

I recently bought a new Bentley Supersports for $1 million. It's my dream car.

Q: What's your retirement plan?

I have no retirement plan. I feel very fulfilled because I wake up every morning knowing I'm serving thousands of people.

A year ago, I went to five fortune-tellers, and they all said I was meant to be a teacher. It was the first time I had had my fortune read, and I didn't understand then.

I thought my calling was to make $200 million and leave it to charity. Now, after having set up my gold trading business, I finally understand what they meant.

As I make my money, I am also inspiring people around me. Anything is possible as long as you believe you can do it. But if you don't believe you can do it, you have already succeeded in failing.

I think I would need a passive income of $100,000 to be able to spend fairly freely. I became financially free a year after I went into the budget hotel business.

When I reach 35, I will spend less time on my businesses and focus more on my spiritual side. I want to set up a non-profit martial arts studio.

Q: Home is now...

A corner terraced house in Hougang, where I live with my mother. It is opposite our animal pharmaceutical business shop, so we store some of the products in our living room.

The house sits on 4,000 sq ft of land and has built-in space of 6,000 sq ft. My mother bought it for $1.2 million eight years ago and spent $1 million rebuilding it. It is now worth about $4.5 million.

Q: I drive...

A white Bentley Supersports and a white BMW 5 series model.

joyceteo@sph.com.sg

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

WORST AND BEST BETS

Q: What is your worst investment to date?

I would say it would be the money and time I invested in my real estate agent career as I hated the job.

The first year was fine but by the second year, I just didn't want to go to work when I woke up every morning. My perception of the business is such that you have to invent some truths, but I wasn't comfortable with that, so I took longer to close deals.

I persevered for 21/2 years as I didn't want to find excuses to be lazy. I invested a total of $240,000 during that time, mostly on marketing, and I made $400,000. I went into it thinking it was the best way to learn about property investments, but it wasn't.

Q: What is your best investment to date?

About four years ago, my partner and I bought 32 shophouse units in Kuala Lumpur at an above-market-value price of RM$6 million (S$2.5 million). We renovated it for half a million ringgit, put in a budget hotel business and sold it nine months ago for RM$13 million.

Before we sold it, we had profited from the budget hotel business.

I did the due diligence for 18 months, travelling to KL frequently to look at deals and understand the market

[KopiKat]

I do a timeline using data from the article (he's 33) and added some comments,

we were quite poor until about 10 years ago because my father, who died when I was 17, was a gambler.

16 Years Ago : Father died
10 Years Ago : Family still Quite Poor

Mr Lee took over the family business in animal pharmaceutical products when he was 20. Two years later, he went to Sydney for undergraduate studies, and to explore living a holistic lifestyle that involved yoga, meditation and martial arts.

13 Years Ago : Took over family biz
11 Years Ago : Went to Sydney for undergraduate studies plus exploring holistic lifestyle

Comment : From the above, the family was still quite poor after he'd run the biz for 2 years and then left for his studies. They continued to be quite poor 1 year after he left for studies and my guess is his mother must be running the biz in his absence since he must be busy studying and "exploring holistic lifestyle".

The house sits on 4,000 sq ft of land and has built-in space of 6,000 sq ft. My mother bought it for $1.2 million eight years ago and spent $1 million rebuilding it.

8 Years Ago : Family must be quite rich now as mother was able to do the above.

Comment : Not sure if he'd returned from his studies cum holistic lifestyle exploration after 3 years. Most likely, confirm my suspicion that mother's ability must be very under-rated in this interview.

Q: What is your worst investment to date?

I would say it would be the money and time I invested in my real estate agent career as I hated the job.

The first year was fine but by the second year, I just didn't want to go to work when I woke up every morning. My perception of the business is such that you have to invent some truths, but I wasn't comfortable with that, so I took longer to close deals.

I persevered for 21/2 years as I didn't want to find excuses to be lazy. I invested a total of $240,000 during that time, mostly on marketing, and I made $400,000. I went into it thinking it was the best way to learn about property investments, but it wasn't.

Comment : Not sure when that was but he spent 2.5 years as an real estate agent. No mention that he was also running family biz, so his contribution there may not be very significant except in name only (as biz owner) while his mother runs it.

I co-own a highway and a commercial building in Tianjin, China, with my father's best friend, who is a billionaire in Malaysia.

Comment : I wonder if this partner is also the same one for the various other successful investments eg. Budget Hotel in Malaysia. Mother got influence here??

Ok, ok.. I'm not belittling his achievements. Just wondering if they should interview the mother also as I think her contributions and influence is under-rated.

[Sampling]

Perhaps his "still poor" or "not so rich" comment meant that they are probably getting reasonable amount monthly but the dad gambles off all the away... also perhaps the father's best friend the billionaire had a hand in making things turn out fine for him?

[pianist]

is he still single and available?

[KopiKat]

is he still single and available?

The power of internet! You can try to contact him here.
But, quite funny he completed his GCE 'O' Level in 1994 1st before he did his PSLE in 1998.

[koh_52]

haha, this agent ST Lee from HSR I remembered ever dealed with him in 2009 when i was looking for a shop hse at Chai Chee Blk 42 in Apr'09 and later again in Apr'10....now i know why he so proud, not friendly...He put a big banner behind the back door with his name and contact...Hp no.xxxx5543

just for info, the single storey of 720 sq ft , LH balance 75 yrs , tenanted at $2k/mth in 4/09 he advertised at $380k and a year later in 4/10 he re-advertised at $580k....

Another, Wendy Kwek, i think.....there some hidden details..maybe he shd revealed his liabilitiesss or JV in speculating ppty............

[KopiKat]

is he still single and available?

The power of internet! You can try to contact him here.
But, quite funny he completed his GCE 'O' Level in 1994 1st before he did his PSLE in 1998.

More internet search results,

His company - Prestijustlee Pte Ltd
The Family Biz - Lee Guan Chuan Pte Ltd

The interesting thing is although there's mention of his Property Investment portfolio (not mentioned in Sunday Times article) of $10Mil in Singapore and RM15Mil in Malaysia (could be the Budget Hotel that they sold 9mths back @ RM13Mil, but he was only one of the partners), there were no mention of his Gold Investments. Perhaps he liquidated all those and invested in Gold and managed to double his Net Worth in 2011! The only lead I found that might lead to his Gold Investment were 'The Gold Guarantee' and 'Imperial Gold Jar Pte Ltd' (was wondering if it could be one of those pyramiding schemes since he was able to grow his Gold Investment so fast) but the trail turned cold here as I didn't manage to find any other links. Perhaps a company search will provide some clues, but then again, I think I'll stop my 'fun' here.

Some interesting observations from his LinkedIn account,

2002 - 2006 : Undergraduate studies in Australia. (Normal to spend 4 years on undergraduate studies? Most of my friends try to complete in 2.5 - 3 years max for a basic degree in Australia, especially those who come from 'poorer' background. He must have been busy spending time on his 'research' on holistic lifestyle.)
2006 : Fitness Club Manager
2006 - 2010 : HSR (Senior Property Consultant) -> 4 years, not 2.5 years he mentioned in Sunday Times interview
1998 - 2009 : Director of Lee Guan Chuan Pte Ltd (ie. Family biz, but looks like ceased to be director)

[Jared Seah]

"I was very aggressive in spending on my personal education, in areas such as investment, wealth creation, business, marketing, sales and health. I must have spent more than $200,000 on attending seminars on these topics - more than 30 over the past 10 years."

Sell flower say flower fragrant. But of course!

$200,000 spread over 10 years is $20,000 per year on average.

I thought the purpose of these seminars is to empower? Be financially literate so can do it yourself?

Hmm. Must be a slow learner (I believe in continuous learning but 10 years!?) or keep changing masters. I wonder who is his up-line?

I assume he is getting publicity to get more people to invest in his firm? Attend seminar so that we can "outsource" and give our money to others to invest for us?

What a business model!