Me & My Money Series (Sunday Times)

[Jared Seah]

The inspiring lessons for me are:

1) Overcoming the odds despite humble beginning.

2) Self-destruction.

3) Bouncing back

4) Giving back

"'I am committed to mastery and I don't tolerate mediocrity" - ouch!

[yeokiwi]

This guy is amazing.
He self-taught himself to learn software programming without any formal computing education.

He is highly intellectual and probably will be a whiz kid if he had gone to university.

After Uni, he'd then get a regular job where the pay is high enough to deter him from taking the risk of striking out on his own (plus being enslaved by a huge Housing Mortgage) but low enough such that he'll try to learn how to invest and finally stumble on ValueBuddies in his bid to become financially free.

He probably will end up like that if he was educated in local tertiary institutions.

But, I think it was a pity that his talents were not being properly maximized in his younger days. Under proper tutelage or environment, he probably can create intellectual properties that the world can benefit.

The companies that he had joined were basically service resellers or middlemen and at the lower end of reseller chain.

[KopiKat]

This guy is amazing.
He self-taught himself to learn software programming without any formal computing education.

He is highly intellectual and probably will be a whiz kid if he had gone to university.

After Uni, he'd then get a regular job where the pay is high enough to deter him from taking the risk of striking out on his own (plus being enslaved by a huge Housing Mortgage) but low enough such that he'll try to learn how to invest and finally stumble on ValueBuddies in his bid to become financially free.

He probably will end up like that if he was educated in local tertiary institutions.

But, I think it was a pity that his talents were not being properly maximized in his younger days. Under proper tutelage or environment, he probably can create intellectual properties that the world can benefit.

The companies that he had joined were basically service resellers or middlemen and at the lower end of reseller chain.

During my working days, I had the opportunity to either work with or interact with many WhizKids or Mavericks in Software, Hardware and even IC Designs in both MNCs and Local firms. IMO, they're the best people I'd ever worked with in my life. After a few years, most would quit in disillusion. The recognition and rewards are just not there. The smartest ones quickly joined non-related industry and switch to mainly sales or marketing kind of job where they are a lot better rewarded. Don't forget they are smart, so, even though they moved to a new industry, they were able to pick up very fast and still do very well.

Even today, if you are a WhizKid / Maverick, I'd strongly recommend you relocate to a more conducive country like US or even Taiwan... With the advent of internet, perhaps you could also consider developing Apps for Smart Phones, esp. iPhones... Hee..

[sgd]

Apps for smart phones are waste of time, there's thousands of apps out there and behind these apps are thousands and thousands of apps developers, so much competition there's no "moat" or barrier of entry. There's even courses today teach you how to use tools to quickly churn out apps for these smart devices.

If you are a programmer developing apps for mainframes and old legacy equipment stick to it why? because you look out in the market there is nobody but just a handful of old programmers who know this and there are no courses in private and university that teach people to develop apps for mainframes, if you have this know how you are worth GOLD!

A case in point, the DBS atm fiasco there was nobody in IBM singapore know how to handle these old equipment they had to call up people in philppines there who still had the tech know how to do it - Barrier of entry.

[Musicwhiz]

Admirable! He does charity and helps the less fortunate. This scores well in my books! Kudos to him! Another good interview by Sunday Times. Keep them coming, please!

The Straits Times
Apr 29, 2012
Money just a tool to help people
Doctor-volunteer is careful investor and spender who puts his earnings to good use for family, community

By Joyce Teo

As a leading medical practitioner, Dr Tan Chi Chiu knows what it is to be a high-income earner, but as a long-time community volunteer, he also knows better than most how money can be used to benefit society.

He believes money is just a tool to be used carefully to improve people's lives and not an end in itself.

Dr Tan, 52, says: 'Scrimping or living way below one's means in order to have money to invest and grow is meaningless if money is not first put to helping oneself and one's family to live better.

'Spending excessive time away from family in order to become rich is also meaningless to me.'

A man wearing many hats, Dr Tan is a consultant gastroenterologist, a volunteer and a coach who is deeply involved in the medical and community service scene in Singapore.

He serves in a voluntary capacity in many non-profit organisations and is chairman of the Lien Centre for Social Innovation at the Singapore Management University. Dr Tan is also the former chairman of the Singapore Adventure Leader Council and executive director of the Singapore International Foundation, among many other positions.

He has led many medical relief missions to disaster-hit areas and has been involved in numerous humanitarian, scientific and community aid expeditions to countries such as Indonesia, Laos, India, Mongolia and Chile.

'I value diversity in my own personal development, way above milking as much money as I can out of one job,' says Dr Tan.

'I want to enhance my ability to help develop the organisations which I am involved with and help other people realise their ambitions and to be able to face challenges and changes in their lives.'

He is married to Dr Li-Ann Wee, who works in a medical management role. Their daughter Christiane is two.

Q: Are you a spender or saver?

Generally, I am a saver. But I would spend on people who are important to me, such as family and friends, and I would spend on things I am passionate about, such as charitable causes, scuba diving, travel and photography.

Living expenses and education, plus enrichment programmes for my daughter, probably account for the largest proportion of my consumption.

I do not spend on luxuries such as watches or fancy cars. And I find food very expensive in Singapore, even raw ingredients from the supermarkets. Restaurants are also very expensive and if I make conversions at the current rates of exchange, and include an assessment of service quality, I always get better value in many parts of Britain, Europe, the United States and Australia.

I believe that money and the means to make it are gifts from God and ultimately belong to God. The Bible instructs Christians to tithe 10 per cent of their pre-tax income to the Church for the good works of the Church on God's behalf. I am a tither.

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

I use my cards as charge cards, and every month all the charges are paid up in full by Giro. I do not believe in debt for consumption, only debt for investment.

Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?

I started with insurance endowment plans, some with investment components, and have kept these. But while I believe in insurance, I no longer believe that I should couple insurance with investment.

I have dabbled in equities but never had the time nor inclination to study the companies and markets with any diligence.

I have also tried private portfolios with discretionary trading by investment firms.

I started investing in properties when I moved to Britain in 1993 to gain medical experience. I bought a small semi-detached house in the Midlands for £57,000 to live in. I sold it for nearly twice the amount three years later and parlayed the money into a property in London.

I also bought my clinic, which has been worthwhile, and I am free of the insecurity of being a forever-tenant. I now have a few residential property investments here and around the world.

I have learnt that property is the best investment, although I have to make sure that I understand the market.

My aim is never to be impoverished by the consequences of ill health. As a doctor, I have seen far too many people put off buying health insurance believing that they were too young to need it, or that their employers' coverage was adequate. Then they discover that serious illnesses can happen any time, and that an employer's coverage is generally not portable, thus risking un-insurability if they leave employment with an already diagnosed illness.

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

I have a younger brother and a younger sister. My father was a senior engineer in the Public Works Department and my mother was a career teacher. Both are now retired.

My parents valued what they had and taught us to value what we had, to not be cavalier and too stingy. They did not believe in acquiring much debt and tried hard to live within their means. I, therefore, grew up in a safe environment which did not foster a mindset of risk-taking in finances.

I absolved my parents from paying for my university education as I won a Public Service Commission scholarship to read medicine. I always tried to respect money and not spend recklessly.

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

My first investment was a unit trust. I learnt that putting your trust in other people's wisdom and decision-making is not always a good idea, and even if the unit trust does well, it seldom does spectacularly well with the fees that you have to pay. I put in about $10,000. When I extracted it, it appreciated but it wasn't an eye-popping amount.

I then tried fixed deposits of international currencies, but was burnt when some currencies became devalued in the early 1990s.

Q: What property do you own?

My family and I live in a modest but comfortable condominium in the Adam Road area. I bought the property in 2005 and the value has gone up three times by now.

I picked it because it was an old development in a good location with an old-style design, well-proportioned rooms and unblocked suburban views.

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

'Extravagant' by definition means: 1. Given to lavish or imprudent expenditure; 2. Exceeding reasonable bounds; 3. Extremely abundant, profuse; 4. Unreasonably high.

I am not inclined to buy anything 'extravagant' by these definitions. What might qualify is a car which, although a utility, fulfils these definitions in Singapore.

Q: What's your retirement plan?

What I hope to do is to be able to wind down my medical practice gradually in my 60s and incrementally increase the amount and type of other 'work' that I like to do. I want to gradually increase my work as a personal, executive and organisational coach, as this is something I can do at any age until I can literally no longer think straight.

I also want to increase the non-profit work that I do, whether it is as a volunteer or working in committees or boards of organisations.

In these ways, I want to continue to be relevant, of value and helpful to individuals, organisations and society in general. And it will stave off senility.

I also want to go back to doing more scuba diving and I want to get back to travelling to places I have not yet been, such as Tibet, Iguazu Falls, parts of South Africa and South America and Antarctica.

One could specify a certain quality of life and standard of living and retire only when there is the financial ability to do so. One could also retire at any time and adjust expectations according to what resources are available at the time of retirement.

Q: Home is now...

Singapore. But whether I will reside here all the time after I wind down full-time work is not yet clear.

I may want to spend parts of each year in a less crowded and fast-paced place with much more of the great outdoors, cooler and less humid weather and a quality of life at a lower cost.

Q: I drive....

A silver Subaru Forester SUV. It is zippy, fuel-efficient, has an excellent safety profile and fulfils all my needs to get around and transport my family and dogs.

joyceteo@sph.com.sg

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

WORST AND BEST BETS

Q: What is your best investment?

A property I bought in London in 1997. I sold it in 2002 at quite a good capital gain. I should have kept it for a longer period, though this is just seller's regret.

My best investment, which has not been 'realised', is probably my Gleneagles clinic. I bought it for $3,000 per sq ft and the value has since appreciated substantially.

Q: And your worst...

Some stock I bought of a start-up company of a business based overseas, which was hoping to list on the New York Stock Exchange. That was in 2007. I invested enough to feel the pinch when the 2009 recession hit and the company, instead of listing, went belly up. Attempts at resuscitation are still under way.

I made the investment because I temporarily took leave of my good senses, did not follow my own advice and rashly bought into what sounded like a promising business before I did due diligence on it. I was very busy at the time and followed a small herd of lemmings into doing this.

[Musicwhiz]

Wow this guy owns 4 properties! And two of them were bought at relatively high prices - methinks his gearing must be significant but he doesn't dwell on that. And it's also a "lifestyle" choice to have two cars (Volvo and Mercedes)? This is the part where I feel he sounds rather arrogant.

He is yet another interviewee who feels that property investing is the way to go, rather than equities (he got badly burnt by it a long time back). But he also neglects to mention the leverage required.

Just my views.

The Straits Times
May 6, 2012
Save for the future, but enjoy life along the way
Software firm MD believes in living and enjoying each phase of life rather than just saving for old age

By Joyce Teo

Saving for retirement is all very well but senior executive Kowshik Sriman prefers a balanced approach, one that provides for some fun along the way.

The managing director of software company SAP Singapore believes people should enjoy living every phase of their lives as much as possible rather than scrimp and save while young just to accumulate wealth for old age.

'You cannot be miserly and save all that money when you are young, and spend it only when you are 60,' said Mr Sriman, 43.

'My general philosophy is that we need to balance saving for the future with living a quality life today... No point in oversaving for old age and missing out on enjoying life at a young age.

'The important thing is don't be cheap.'

Mr Sriman, who has never rented his home before, has always believed that property is a good investment. Instead of buying a car first, he believes in buying a home as soon as possible.

He studied electrical engineering at the National University of Singapore and has a Master of Business Administration from the University of Leicester. He has spent 14 years at SAP, starting as an account executive.

His wife, Radha, 41, works part-time in business partner sales at IBM. They have two daughters, Monisha, 15, and Natasha, 12.

Q: Are you a spender or saver?

I balance saving with spending. I spend about half my income and mostly save the rest.

I see it as a lifestyle choice to have two cars instead of one. This obviously costs me money and some people might say it is wasteful. But I see it differently. I can afford this lifestyle and luxury for my family, and it is a choice I make.

To me, education is an investment. So is travel, as you are able to spend quality time with the family.

There are a lot of people with the money but not the time. If you are able to make time for yourself, then you are truly independent.

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

About $10,000 a month. We are against stretching ourselves and getting into debt and this is the culture in which I was raised. We do have some mortgage debt for the house that we're living in, but it is negligible.

Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?

The bulk of our investment is in properties. My wife and I own two apartments and two houses, all in the Bukit Timah area.

I also have some blue-chip stocks and some SAP stock. We also have several insurance policies for each member of the family.

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

I have one sister. My father was an engineer and my mother was a housewife.

My parents' philosophy is to spend well within your means and never stretch yourself financially. Being immigrants from India, they have always wanted to be independent and financially free.

They advised my sister and me to focus on our education as they saw that as a path to being independent and living a respectable life.

We were also advised from a very young age to own the roof over our head and become debt-free.

My parents live by themselves and are role models for my sister and me. They have a couple of properties and are living off the rental income.

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

You could say I fell into property investment. For sentimental reasons, we didn't sell our first and second properties and they have turned out to be good investments.

I've learnt to not let greed or fear rule my decisions. It takes a lot of courage to make big decisions in uncertain markets, but the irony is most people are comfortable taking risks in bull markets when prices are high.

If you are able to understand the herd instinct and control your own emotions, you can make sound investment decisions in uncertain times and take a back seat during the bull market.

Q: What properties do you own?

Our four properties range from 1,400 sq ft to 5,000 sq ft and the total value today is about $15 million.

We bought our first property at a high in 1996 after we got married. We moved out in 2002 and upgraded to a townhouse in Watten Estate.

We then bought another property in Newton in January 2007 for investment. The market was just on the way up then.

We were going to put our money on a Lincoln Modern unit costing $1,250 per sq ft when we heard of an urgent seller. So we went to check out the unit and sealed the deal at just below $1,000 psf in two hours.

Our current house was purchased in April 2009. The difficult decision was to buy when everyone was fleeing the stock market. If you look at the stock market, you get a good indication of what's going to happen in six months.

So, do you want to wait for prices to bottom out or do you buy now? It took quite a bit of courage to decide to not wait. We were also mentally prepared for prices to drop further. The house cost us $800 psf and the value has almost doubled by now.

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

I bought a Volvo XC90 for my wife as a Mother's Day gift in 2010. It was a decision I made on the spur of the moment. Looking back, it has been a worthwhile decision as it has served my family well.

Q: What's your retirement plan?

I believe I am already financially independent. If retirement means stopping work and being idle, then I don't think I'd ever want to retire.

Some people think that if you are financially independent, you should retire or do some charity work instead.

I have a different perspective. SAP is a great place to work and grow. I derive satisfaction from seeing many of my team members grow and be successful in their own right and become financially independent.

As a family, we volunteer at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and also for other charitable causes, so it is not necessary for someone to be economically non-productive and retire.

Q: Home is now...

A 5,000 sq ft bungalow with a pool in Bukit Timah.

Q: I drive...

I drive a silver Mercedes-Benz CLS.

joyceteo@sph.com.sg

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

Q: What is your worst investment to date?

I made speculative investment in Malaysian Clob shares after starting work in the early 1990s and having saved a sum after three years.

I lost all $50k of my investment, which was painful for someone who had just started working.

It taught me a valuable lesson - never follow the herd instinct. The majority may not be right when it comes to investment choices.

Because of that, I shied away from equity investments. Until now, I don't want to hold too many equities.

Q: And your best?

It's my townhouse in Watten Estate as its value has gone up three times.

We bought it in 2002 for $1.2 million and now it is worth about $3.5 million. At $1.2 million, I would be getting a 7 per cent rental yield.

[WolfT]

I also want to enjoy life and save as i age IF I EARN AS MUCH AS A MD of SAP...
Hmm..usually if u say u earn 7 percent yield, u are using purchase price or valuation?

[kichialo]

I also want to enjoy life and save as i age IF I EARN AS MUCH AS A MD of SAP...
Hmm..usually if u say u earn 7 percent yield, u are using purchase price or valuation?

Yield based on current valuation of $3.5 million is just 2.4%. He is using purchase price.

[WolfT]

I also want to enjoy life and save as i age IF I EARN AS MUCH AS A MD of SAP...
Hmm..usually if u say u earn 7 percent yield, u are using purchase price or valuation?

Yield based on current valuation of $3.5 million is just 2.4%. He is using purchase price.

hmm... So what is e standard norm? using purchase price or current price?

[Musicwhiz]

I feel monthly planning is sufficient, unless you have looming big ticket items. Also wondering about the $250,000 they sunk into Perkies - did that come from the purchase/sale of their investment property or through investment in shares and other businesses? They seemed to have got the timing exactly right and made a very good profit from it! But sad to learn of their substantial loss investing in US shares before the sub-prime crisis hit. They seem to be more motivated by share price movements rather than business fundamentals.

The Straits Times
May 13, 2012
me & my money
All perked up to forge ahead
Couple sat down one day to save and plan for their future; they're now proud owners of a snack kiosk

By Joyce Teo

Eight years ago, at an age when their peers were out partying hard, Ms Jessie Tan, 31, and her then-boyfriend Erick Yap had already sat down to plan their future. They decided to cut down on clubbing as it was a waste of money.

'You drink so much and you get a hangover. It's bad for health and the lifestyle is crazy,' said Ms Tan.

They read up on investment and self-improvement books and agreed to conserve money to start a food and beverage business, develop multiple streams of income and set up a family eventually.

Ms Tan recently realised her dream when she founded a snack kiosk Perkies selling fried foods such as onion rings, fried chicken bites as well as drinks at Changi City Point together with Mr Yap, 32, an army regular turned freelance sports coach. He is now her husband.

The couple, who have no children, pumped in $250,000 of their own money to start the business, which they named Perkies as it is about having a cheerful personality and fun attitude towards life as well as food.

Prior to starting Perkies, Ms Tan worked as a motivational coach for kids.

Q: Are you a spender or saver?

I am definitely a saver. I always look forward to saving a portion of my pay in the bank.

I have the habit of saving for a rainy day since young. I started saving my spare coins when I was in primary school.

I don't see the need to spend the money to buy things, so I just saved the money. By the time I finished my secondary school, I had already accumulated $5,000.

What I do is to plan for a budget for everything. This way, we can ensure that we do not overspend, and yet be able to enjoy life and not be too hard on ourselves.

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

We love to use credit cards actually. We try to charge all our expenditures to our cards.

Apart from enjoying the great discounts and promotions, we can track and consolidate our expenditures like a report card. We never incur any interest on them and it is a great way to earn points for gift redemption.

Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?

At the start of every year, I will work out a yearly plan and allocate funds for different expenditures like taxes, bills and overseas vacations or well as funds for investments and businesses.

This way, we manage to balance the necessities and some of our pleasures without going out of budget. This is also how we managed to fund our stock investments as well as our business.

I will save up for my friends and family's birthday celebrations and ang pows, and have also created a birthday fund, an anniversary fund, a weekday fund and a weekend fund so that we don't overspend.

I like to plan so I do the budgeting. I do it like I am ruling a country. I will allocate budgets to the different 'states' and make sure they have the money to function properly, not too much for the outflows but as much as I can for the reserves.

My husband and I used to set aside about $7,000 to $10,000 a quarter for our investments but have cut it to $1,000 to $2,000 a quarter since a year ago to prepare for our business.

I am risk-adverse while he is open to risks, so he does the stock picking. He picks the stocks after studying their business models, annual reports and so on to see if it is a business that can do well in the long term. We now hold US stocks like Exxon Mobil and Procter & Gamble.

Now, we don't really bother much about stock fluctuations unless the stock dips below the alert point that we have set.

New investors should do their homework by planning their finances for the whole year. It is not the tedious process that many imagine but an exciting one.

If you do not plan, how will you know how much you can invest to grow your money? It's ultimately your future, so be happy to plan it.

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

I have two younger siblings. My father is an operations supervisor and has been with PSA for the past 40 years while my mother is a housewife.

I have a lot of self discipline since young and would have something for my piggy bank every day.

My husband, on the other hand, had a tough childhood.

He worked very hard when he was young but was ignorant about managing his own money and had the delusion that spending equates wealth. He's a changed man now.

If you used to be ignorant about money, it does not mean that you will always be that way.

As long as you are willing to take the step to make a change to your own financial habits, everything will have a spiral effect in a positive way.

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

We had been interested in investing for a while but did not know how to do it.

We read some books and chanced upon one by local self-made millionaire Adam Khoo. We went on to attend one of his seminars in 2006. We paid $2,800 each and were one of the pioneer batches to learn about his investing strategies and business building models.

After the course, my husband, who is the one handling our investments, first started doing virtual trading once a week for about a year to gain experience. Then, in early 2008, we decided to enter the United States market for real.

Q: What property do you own?

None at the moment. We have applied for a new three-room HDB flat in Punggol and have been given a queue number. Depending on which unit we pick, the flat can cost up to $250,000.

Q: What are the extravagant things you have bought?

A $2,000 Gucci bag that I bought some years back. And half a year ago, I signed up for a $2,500 facial package. I thought it was a good deal but at the end of the day, I only went there twice. I have no time to go.

Q: What's your retirement plan?

We do not have a grand retirement goal as we are very simple people. I really have a thing for animals and hope to be able to have enough money to fund some animal shelter when we grow old.

Q: Home is now...

My parent's five-room HDB flat.

Q: I drive...

I don't drive but my husband drives a Kia Picanto.

joyceteo@sph.com.sg

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WORST AND BEST BETS

Q: What is your worst investment to date?

We purchased US stocks before the recent US crunch and sold them off a little too late to minimise our losses.

There was news on the sub-prime crisis but we didn't know how serious it would be. We lost US$21,000 (S$26,000) in all. We should have let them go when they fell below the safety point that my husband had set.

Q: And your best investment to date?

My 16th-floor, 103 sq m resale four-room HDB flat in Pasir Ris.

We bought it for $258,000 about five years ago and sold it for $490,000 last September, including a cash-over-valuation sum of $85,000.

It was not near the MRT station but it set a record price for the Pasir Ris area.

We were not sincere sellers but the buyers were really keen. My husband was reading a book that said that if you don't ask, you never know, so he asked the agent to ask for at least $520,000.

We told him we wanted to break the record in Pasir Ris. If the agent could not get the price for us, we would not sell.

We told him that we would pay him only a 1 per cent commission if he could break the record.

We also got a good deal when we first bought the flat after looking around for a year. My husband brought $5,000 in cash for the down payment during the second meeting with the owner's family to show how keen we were. He was the one who spoke to the wife and persuaded her to sell, so we paid the agent only a 0.5 per cent commission.