Me & My Money Series (Sunday Times)

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Interestingly, NextInsight had interviewed this couple a while back and there are quite a few articles on them on their website. This is just one of them.

http://www.nextinsight.biz/index.php/sto...-for-keeps

They also went for Berkshire Hathaway's AGM two years in a row, and NextInsight has a write-up on this written by them as well. Smile
My Value Investing Blog: http://sgmusicwhiz.blogspot.com/
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The Straits Times
Jun 10, 2012
ME AND MY MONEY
Not all 'play, play' with this Dim Sum Dolly

Behind Selena Tan's fun and frolic on stage as a performer is a businesswoman with sober-minded prudence

By Joyce Teo

The giddy fun and frolic actress Selena Tan unleashes on stage as part of the cabaret act Dim Sum Dollies doesn't extend to her financial life, which can be quite a model of sober-minded prudence.

Tan even keeps a savings account without an ATM card, known as her non-touchable account.

She acquired that habit when she began scoring acting jobs after starting work as a lawyer.

And it has served her well. She has used her savings to pay off her share of an investment warehouse unit and to pay down a loan that she and her husband took to rebuild the house that they share with his parents.

Tan, 41, is also the boss of Dream Academy Productions, a theatre company she started in 2000. Husband John Pok, 44, also a former lawyer, now helps her run the business. They have no kids.

Being a businesswoman and a performer at the same time can be 'quite stressful sometimes', and that's when Tan tells herself to stop focusing on the money issues so that she can get into a creative frame of mind.

She is now busy rehearsing for a stand-up comedy show Happy Ever Laughter, which she is also directing. It will be staged at the Esplanade theatre from June 28 to July 8.

Tan is also busy with the Emma Yong Fund, a new fund that will give aid to theatre practitioners suffering from cancer or other critical illnesses, and next Friday's We 'Heart' Emma fund-raising concert at the Esplanade. Actress Emma Yong, who was part of Dim Sum Dollies, died recently from cancer.

Q: Are you a spender or saver?

A spender. I am quite a spendthrift and it happens in spurts.

I know that I can spend a lot of money so whenever I can get a bonus or anything like that, I will immediately buy something that will have value or lock it away in a fixed deposit.

I try to keep an account which I don't touch at all, until I need to. I will then squirrel away some money as and when I feel I can.

I spend most on travelling and eating. Sometimes, I get caught up in the organic wave and then the grocery bills will go up.

I will fly off after a production. I find that there are a few places I feel like I need to visit on a regular basis, like London and New York, where I can breathe and watch plays, operas, dance or ballet.

Sometimes, I meet performers and producers there to share ideas. It's fun and I get very inspired. I am also quite a groupie and will wait backstage for the performers to come out and sign autographs. For me, work and play are intertwined.

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

I do charge quite a lot of my payments to my credit card so it can be very high, like $4,000 to $5,000.

Q: What financial planning have you done?

I tried dabbling in currencies and got burnt because it was all so fast moving and I did not have the time or aptitude to monitor the market.

I've also invested in some shares on the advice of a friend but had no luck. One company completely went bust and the other lost a lot of its value so I've since got rid of the shares.

I learnt very quickly that I am the sort who needs to just work for my money.

The only kind of investment that has been stable for me is property, and everything I learnt about property, I learnt from my mother. She loves looking out for good deals.

She and I own a warehouse unit in Henderson Road. We paid off the loan quite quickly. I just don't like to have the loan hanging over my head.

I may still take a loan to buy a small residential unit if there is something reasonable out there or I may just pay up the loan for our house.

I have a couple of life policies and very comprehensive medical, accident and travel insurance.

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

My parents had five kids so when we were growing up, we were quite tight for money. We had to budget but still my parents managed to spoil us.

We wanted for nothing as they would sacrifice everything for us. They would say, 'What are we all doing this weekend on X dollars?', and we all thought it was all very fun.

My dad was an army officer while my mum held many different jobs to supplement the family income. She was a boutique owner, a gold trader, an insurance agent. My parents now run a Peranakan restaurant called Daisy's Dream Kitchen with my brother.

My father always had a saying that you have to spend money to make money. What I got from that is that... if you don't take a risk, you will never gain something.

If you are so protective of your money and all your energy is spent doing that, then you won't be taking risks with it and you won't grow it. You can't take the money with you when you leave this world.

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

When I was 23 or 24, I bought a $28,000 Raffles Town Club membership. At that time, the club was offering a good deal. But it is really worthless now because I don't use it.

I had started work and my dad was trying to get me to put money into something instead of spending it all. I paid for it in instalments over many years.

Q: What property do you own?

I co-own an old warehouse unit of about 3,000 sq ft in Henderson Road with my mum. We bought it about six years ago at a very good price of below $1 million.

Q: What's your most extravagant expense?

My biggest extravagance always has something to do with travel... like splurging on a business class ticket, but I never regret that.

I have flown on business class once to New York and once to London.

Q: What's your retirement plan?

I'll still want to perform but I hope to retire in about 10 years from the business side of things.

I want to get another property either in Singapore or overseas and pay it up so that I can live on the rental. Everyone wants to be a landlord.

Maybe I don't need a lot when I retire - a two-bedroom flat with a lift landing and one that is near food places.

Q: Home is now...

A bungalow with five bedrooms in Sunset Way, where I live with my husband and my parents-in-law. It's their family home, which they purchased in the 60s.

We had it rebuilt from scratch so now it's like having two houses in one place. Our side has three bedrooms and my parents-in-law's place has one bedroom and a guest room. We share the kitchen and dining room.

Q: Our car is...

A hybrid Black Toyota Prius.

joyceteo@sph.com.sg

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WORST AND BEST BETS

Q: What's your worst investment?


My husband and I played the currency market for a bit with the money we were using to renovate the house. It was a bad, bad call.

We invested a couple of hundred thousand dollars in various currencies, including the Australian dollar and the pound, and lost about $50,000.

We were talked into it by a zealous adviser.

Q: ... and your best?

None. I think the value of my warehouse unit in Henderson Road has doubled but as we are using it, nothing can be realised at the moment.
My Value Investing Blog: http://sgmusicwhiz.blogspot.com/
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nice to hear there is such a fund to support theatre artists who got cancers.
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Eccentric fellow, eh? Tongue Not exactly a role model in terms of spending habits...

The Straits Times
Jun 17, 2012
Time is wealth for watch-collector doc

Collection's value has soared, but his belief is in having quality of life

By Joyce Teo

Regarded in high society as a respected watch collector and expert, Dr Bernard Cheong has invested in timepieces since 1982 and has profited from this activity.

Despite his success, however, the doctor still lives in the first house he bought, though he has renovated and extended the building, and he still goes to work at his Bukit Batok clinic.

Dr Cheong, 54, owns more than 100 watches, including pieces from MB&F and his favourite brand De Bethune, as well as the more well-known brands like IWC.

He is the first collector and non-watchmaking industry ambassador for the Swiss-based Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie.

Money, he says, cannot be separated from one's life.

'Money talks, but not in the way you think. The language it speaks most, and where it conveys the most intent, is how you can make each dollar relevant.

'If you are the only person to spend, say, $2,000 on a promising but very small enterprise, you will make a huge difference.

'I see people with too much money. They either buy rubbish, feel insecure and name-drop, or overcompensate with ultra expensive luxury goods that are often the laughing stock of small dinner parties.'

Dr Cheong, who runs for up to three hours every day, is a founding partner of the Lifeline Medical Group of general practitioner clinics. His wife Dolly, 51, is a financial controller with the group. They have two daughters - Patricia, 22, and Cheryl, 20.

Q: Are you a spender or saver?

I am a spender. Even when I save, I am saving with the approach of a spender.

There was once in the 1980s when I wanted to know what $100,000 would look like, and to save it for a rainy day. I earned that $100,000 and it sure looked good in a briefcase, nicely stacked and all. But, before the rainy day ever came, I had spent it on a car.

About 80 per cent of my money is invested in collectibles such as rare furniture and watches. I also buy rare comics, rare books and unknown watches with no brands.

I have a deep belief in quality of life and sharing it with as wide a base around me as possible and my family.

I also spend on education, even at my age.

Education for a person almost always, without fail, delivers success. It may be money. It may be influence. But it will be profitable, and will lead to better lives. Never underestimate what a good school will do for your child. It's also about the network.

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

I have credit cards, but I rarely use them. I carry cash with me.

Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?

I have bought watches from visionary men, who thought that I must have a lot of money to spend buying the watches that they made then because no one else in the world was comfortable buying a $100,000 wristwatch in 1998.

But I sincerely believed that they were there to show how watches can give hope to people who were unable to move from one social class to another, despite education and hard work.

I wanted young people who had worked hard to have social mobility. I know how it feels to be looked down upon as a lesser person. So I drove myself to work, to pay for those watchmakers to put the watches on the market.

The rest is history. From 1999 to 2012, the same watches now cost $300,000 to $450,000.

Because watchmaking relies on artistry, artisan values and geek world's technology all at the same time, it was something I wanted to invest in.

But it is very difficult to make money from watches. I will not recommend it for the faint-hearted. It would, however, bring you into a world of culture and you will begin to understand envy and how destructive it is.

Anyway, I plan to not have any money left in my bank account on day zero.

I want to give my children the money now, while I am alive, so there is no need to write a will.

My parents have paid for two properties for my daughters, which are just walking distance from my place.

If you have wealth, you have to have assets of some form, even if it's just a good collection of small toys. There's no point just holding on to a lot of cash. Otherwise, you can't enrich yourself.

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

I have a younger sister. My father was a school teacher and my mother was a nurse.

As a child, my parents told me that I had ridiculously expensive tastes in things meant for old people.

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

When I realised that I was the poorest kid in primary school, I invested in a film camera. I then made a darkroom under the staircase of my house and went to the library and learnt how to develop photos.

I was from Anglo-Chinese School and learnt in 1965 that my classmates used Rolleis, Leicas and Canons.

It occurred to me that I could develop their films and make really good pictures for them, because it was hard to take pictures of yourself.

I must have made tons of money from that. It lasted all the way to med school, when colour photos became the norm and I could not keep up with it.

I learnt then that items that depend on technology for investment are bad. Watches, houses, art do not.

I stuck to my belief even when the quartz watches came because they were highly tech-dependent, and soon, each would become outdated. I kept buying mechanical, and I was just a kid.

History will show that watches came back, with a vengeance. People became highly nomadic as they became successful and the wristwatch became the item they could easily bring along from one country to another.

Q: What property do you own?

My one and only house in Hillview, which I bought 23 years ago. It cost me $800,000 then, plus maybe $90,000 more in interest. I have plans to expand it again. It will house my collections from travels and study, as well as be a home for my extended family.

Similar homes in the neighbourhood now go for about $7 million.

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

A brand new Mercedes SL 320 in 1993 for $430,000, to impress my friends.

It was a totally silly thing to do, when I could barely afford it back then. I lost $100,000 after three years.

Q: What's your retirement plan?

The way I look at it, I am already retired. I am working as I like, when I like, which happens to be every morning.

I don't need to work but if I don't work, I start to lose my friends. I also discovered that I really enjoy sitting in my clinic and the irony of it all is that this only comes after you have made enough money.

I am already financially independent. How much money can you spend if you don't need to pay for a house and car?

Q: Home is now...

My very first home, where my kids were born, and where I brought my parents over to stay. It has a built-in area that exceeds 6,000 sq ft, with the potential to double to a built-in area of 12,000, and a pool where my kids grew up learning to swim.

Our family dog was born here, lived to an old age, and was buried next to the pool.

The house has history and incredible good fortune. Everything good comes into this house, no wealth has left it. Even the people who have visited this place, during the early days when watchmaking was not hot, they too have prospered into the big brands they have become.

No matter how much more money I make, I want to be here.

Q: I drive...

A silver grey Porsche 911 Carerra, 2011, the very last of the model made before the one just launched. I plan to keep it forever, as it is me.

I usually drive my 13-year-old two-door Toyota RAV 4 to work at the clinic because this car is also totally me. I plan to keep it forever too.

joyceteo@sph.com.sg

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WORST AND BEST BETS

Q: What is your best investment to date?


I sold a major collection, just once, and it was my Panerai collection.

The brand first came to Singapore in 1997 and I bought one for $2,800. It had been in their inventory for half a year.

I was sure it would become popular as it had all the design elements of greatness, so I went back and bought more than 100 pieces.

It was a big risk. My wife would have killed me had she known about it.

I kept the watches in a warehouse and forgot about them until 2007.

I was surfing the Internet and found that the prices had risen by a lot. So I decided to keep four pieces and sell the rest at three major auctions, for about $8,000 each.

Luck played a big role here, though. Had I not forgotten about the watches, I would have been tempted to sell early, maybe two years after buying them, and I would not have made more than 200 per cent profit.

This was an exception as I have never really been tempted by making money.

Q: What is your worst investment to date?

I have bought things just so I could have 'the best' or 'the most expensive' and not because I liked them.

In 2004, I bought a $150,000 tourbillon from FP Journe, even though I wanted another model. I just had to have it for 'boasting rights' but the price did not appreciate much and those in the resale market were going for $70,000 or less.

In the end, I cut my losses and sold it in 2009 for $100,000, which was very fortunate as most others would have had to sell it at an even lower price.

The buyer was a well-known personality in Hollywood. We had a mutual friend, who was an art dealer in New York.
My Value Investing Blog: http://sgmusicwhiz.blogspot.com/
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Ask a property firm MD - and he will surely tell you property is the way to go! Note that he hardly mentions that he owns any equities at all. I am also curious as to his level of current leverage employed..... Huh

The Straits Times
Jun 24, 2012
Buying property? It's about timing too

Property firm MD believes in investing but also in being generous

By Joyce Teo

Property is all about location, location and location as the saying goes but real estate executive Dennis Yeo reckons timing has plenty to do with it as well.

The 49-year-old managing director of property consultancy Colliers International speaks as one who knows - and as one who has paid the price of buying when prices were on the high side.

Mr Yeo, who majored in estate management at the National University of Singapore, joined Colliers Jardine, as it was

then known, in 1993 to start the industrial property department after a stint with property consultancy Knight Frank. He has been in his current post for 11 years.

His wife Jessica Yap is a contracts manager with a small construction firm. They have a son, Gabriel, 17, and a daughter, Helena, 13.

Q: Are you a spender or saver?

I am a spender. I spend on artworks, electronic gadgets, business-class flights and making sure things work around me. I've also gone on a watch-buying spree recently, buying a watch a month in the past 18 months. The watches cost about $20,000 to $50,000 each.

Money, when spent or invested, gives you more satisfaction (in terms of your return) than when it is saved.

I always tell my children: 'The more you give, the more you receive.'

I give a lot back to my alma mater, Anglo-Chinese School, because I appreciate what the school has done.

I also apply this philosophy at work. To do that, you have to look at the long term, have a lot of trust in people and believe that your good deeds will be reciprocated. But you don't live your life expecting it to happen.

I also believe in the Chinese saying that you do not dismantle the bridge shortly after crossing it. Leave it for others to use.

If you have this kind of mindset, you would tend to be more generous. Those who are calculative won't have such a mentality.

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

Approximately $2,000, or more if I am travelling due to hotel accommodation expenses. I would use my credit cards to make payments of more than $1,000 and cash for my purchases and expenses that are less than $1,000.

Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?

I have speculated on a few properties in the past but I am more of a long-term investor.

There is sometimes a fine line between being an investor and a speculator because you may receive an offer that you can't refuse.

My plan is to hold some real estate and to pay off the loans as soon as I can so that I can eventually live on the passive income. Up to a point, you have to stop buying so that you don't have to service more loans. Right now, I think I can still buy more.

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

I have an elder brother, a younger sister and a younger brother. My father was a sole proprietor selling watches and electronic products while my mother was a housewife.

My father's best customers were the airline crews from Lufthansa, British Airways, Qantas and so on. The captains and chief flight attendants patronised his little shop often and he would host dinners for them.

He often took me along to these dinners and that's where I learnt how to 'deal' and speak to Caucasians from the young age of 12.

My father believes in buying properties instead of renting. In addition, property is a hedge against inflation.

It is also my belief and my advice for businessmen is that it is better to buy a property if you need the space for your business.

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

I got interested in business more than in investing. When you do business, you will forge relationships. With the combined resources of your peers and the relationships you've established over the years, you will have the ability to invest.

In the initial years of my career, it was more about making ends meet. My family did not have the ability to fund any investment then.

My first investment was in stocks. I dabbled in some during the second year of my working life. I bought a stock based on hearsay and sold it at a loss.

My second investment was a shophouse, which I bought with some friends and sold for a profit while my third investment, an industrial property, was a loss-making one.

I learnt three lessons from these early investments.

•Don't invest in something that you do not understand and have no interest in. There is no such thing as a 'convenient investment'.

•Timing is key. Always consider the potential/latent demand and supply. Know the market environment and understand the product and its potential.

•Don't get carried away. Again, timing is key. What goes up must come down.

Q: What properties do you own?

•A terraced house off Upper Thomson Road, with a built-in area of 4,500 sq ft. I bought it in 2010 for $2.8 million.

•A 1,100 sq ft apartment in the Orchard Road vicinity, which I bought in 1993 for $460,000. It is now worth about $2 million.

•Three apartments in central London ranging in size from 470 sq ft to 600 sq ft.

These were purchased between 2010 and now. I paid about $3 million in total, which makes them cheaper than the shoebox apartments here.

The first one I bought, in Canary Wharf, cost less than $1 million and is being rented out, while the other two are being built. Central London properties have a good track record of being rented out at a 5 per cent to 6 per cent yield.

•A couple of strata-titled industrial properties, which I co-owned with some relatives. We bought them more than 10 years ago and they are being rented out at a decent net yield of 3 per cent to 4 per cent.

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

A $50,000 two-carat solitaire diamond for my wife.

Q: What's your retirement plan?

I hope to retire by the age of 55.

Q: Home is now....

The terraced house off Upper Thomson Road.

Q: I drive ....

An imperial blue BMW 730Li.

joyceteo@sph.com.sg

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WORST AND BEST BETS

Q: What is your worst investment to date?


I bought two industrial units for more than $2 million with a few friends in 1996.

We sold them off in 2010 and the loss as well as the interest payments amounted to more than $1.2 million.

The purchases were made on impulse and the timing was wrong. I did not take time to study the market at that time. If I had bought residential properties, I would have made money.

It was at a very high price and the purchase was made just before the Asian financial crisis came and hit industrial property prices. Because I was in the property line, I saw a lot of deals and I got carried away.

Even if we had held on to it till now, we are unlikely to profit from it because the property is old, in a small industrial estate that is not near an MRT station, and not in a prime location.

Q: What is your best investment to date?

I bought an 800 sq ft apartment in London off the plan in November 2010.

I paid only a 10 per cent deposit then and I managed to sell the property in April 2011 at a profit of $150,000.

I had planned to keep it but was offered a price I could not refuse.
My Value Investing Blog: http://sgmusicwhiz.blogspot.com/
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strange, i didn't know can buy london properties using a loan quantum of 90% against the property value? is there such a deal?
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He said he had gone on a watch-buying spree recently, buying a watch a month in the past 18 months. The watches cost about $20,000 to $50,000 each.

He also said he charged approximately $2,000 to his credit card every month. He would use his credit cards to make payments of more than $1,000 and cash for his purchases and expenses that are less than $1,000.

Contradicting isn't it?
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Some people treat watches as asset.
Anyway his dad is in watch business so maybe he has some lobang or something...
The thing about karma, It always comes around and bite you when you least expected.
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(25-06-2012, 09:11 AM)Ben Wrote: He said he had gone on a watch-buying spree recently, buying a watch a month in the past 18 months. The watches cost about $20,000 to $50,000 each.

He also said he charged approximately $2,000 to his credit card every month. He would use his credit cards to make payments of more than $1,000 and cash for his purchases and expenses that are less than $1,000.

Contradicting isn't it?

Interest-free installment plans lasting 36 months? It's possible.

Also, he may mean he charges $2,000 to EACH credit card. But he may have multiple credit cards.

So I won't read too much into what they say. There's probably a lot more they won't tell the reporter..... Tongue
My Value Investing Blog: http://sgmusicwhiz.blogspot.com/
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(25-06-2012, 10:32 AM)WolfT Wrote: Some people treat watches as asset.
Anyway his dad is in watch business so maybe he has some lobang or something...

Ya lol! Lucky fellow who knows something we don't have a chance to know.
WB:-

1) Rule # 1, do not lose money.
2) Rule # 2, refer to # 1.
3) Not until you can manage your emotions, you can manage your money.

Truism of Investments.
A) Buying a security is buying RISK not Return
B) You can control RISK (to a certain level, hopefully only.) But definitely not the outcome of the Return.

NB:-
My signature is meant for psychoing myself. No offence to anyone. i am trying not to lose money unnecessary anymore.
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