Me & My Money Series (Sunday Times)

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I met Mr Wong before, he was co-ordinator for Yeoman for the Tsit Wing Privatisation Move some years back, he's quite down to earth and a bit nerdy... quite surprised that he left Yeoman Capital though.

Smile

Anyhow, have to see what is his positioning for his funds! Big Grin

"RE: Me & My Money Series (Sunday Times)
Well, there are other funds which also started at (1) and then grew it to (2). And yes, usually these remain accessible only to accredited investors due to business and regulatory costs.

Have met these guys before, and also sort of understand their investment approach. Based on what they have publicly disclosed, their ideal portfolio would have at least 50 stocks (very diversified), and they screen more by quantitative measures."

50 stocks.. pengx... how to track them?!! all 50 biz at 1 go?!
1) Try NOT to LOSE money!
2) Do NOT SELL in BEAR, BUY-BUY-BUY! invest in managements/companies that does the same!
3) CASH in hand is KING in BEAR! 
4) In BULL, SELL-SELL-SELL! 
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(28-04-2013, 08:20 PM)d.o.g. Wrote:
(28-04-2013, 11:34 AM)yeokiwi Wrote: S$3 million is a tad too little isn't it? Does many small boutique fund start at this figure??
I suppose many sophisticated investors will avoid big funds in the regions of $billion but I suppose S$3 million sounds too little to have any confidence in the manager? With four years of investment experience in Yeoman, I thought he should have gotten some big fishes to pump money for the initial launch.

Generally speaking, boutique fund launches fall into 2 categories:

1. $10m or less

Typically these are funded by friends and family. The bulk usually comes from the principals or their families. The managers are usually people with some experience but are not famous.

2. $100m or more

Typically these are launched by people leaving famous shops and where they can claim credit for some of their previous company's track record. They get support from prime brokers who market the new fund aggressively. There have been a few funds that launched with $1bn but this is considered unusually large.

yeokiwi Wrote:The result since Dec 12 does not seem fantastic. But well, it is just a short period and may not be indicative.

Their track record is only for 3.5 months, and we do not know how much of the money was invested. If they were only 10% invested for example then relatively speaking they have done a good job and the fund should eventually do well when most of the money is invested.

yeokiwi Wrote:It is ironic that these fund managers are likely to give a better return and higher probability of return of capital than those alternative investment companies out there but they are not available to retail investors.

All those "alternative investment" products are available to retail investors because the promoters are careful to keep the investment product offshore. MAS insists on not regulating offshore investments, so this creates a loophole for unscrupulous promoters to target retail investors e.g. Profitable Plots etc.

In contrast, boutique fund managers are generally trying to do the right thing (and have their net worth at risk) but MAS makes the licensing requirement so onerous that the boutiques have no choice but to serve only accredited investors. Basically, either you stick to accredited investors or you don't have a business at all. It's better than nothing, so we make do and try to get by.

Totally agree, except I thought MAS does not regulate offers of physical assets, viz, offers of land, gold etc, are exempt from regulation. That is how we have all those strange gold companies around. I didn't think MAS based regulation around on/off-shoring.

On MAS, and the whole investment regime, I think it's a joke ... on retail (i.e. most normal people). Because of the compensation structure in the industry, the best managers tend to enter boutiques (their own)/hedge/PE funds, all of which tend to be accessible only to AIs. Just my own observation.
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So now they are interviewing a luxury sports car collector? Huh Wonder how much he spent on all those toys.

The Straits Times
www.straitstimes.com
Published on May 05, 2013
Me & my money
Serial entrepreneur aims to 'retire' at 35

31 year-old believes in investing in his own business, plans to continue work at slower pace

By Cheryl Lim

The clock is ticking for entrepreneur Lawrence Kim - he aims to retire from the marine business in four years, which would be no big deal, except that he is only 31 years old.

As Mr Kim puts it, he is "a man on a very tight life schedule".

The managing director of marine services firm Ebenezer NDT Services says he has spent the past seven years working either on his personal or business investments.

His last holiday was a trip to South Korea in 2009 after graduating from university.

But he is looking forward to a slower pace of life.

"Retirement for me means being financially stable enough to do the things you want to do and not worry about monthly bills," he says.

"Now I am operating in a business that gives me high stress levels on a daily basis. But at 35, I want to 'retire'. Definitely, I still want to work to keep my mental and physical levels at their peak, but I also want to do things like travel and go into a business to pursue my passion."

The serial entrepreneur has been on life's fast track since he turned 17 and started a printing company.

"I remember when I started out, it was a low-risk venture because I could design the materials at home and then outsource the printing to someone else.

"The printing business did well for the first few years but then later it ran into trouble and eventually it was acquired in 2006."

The following year he took over his father's marine inspection company and changed its direction, moving it into providing services for the marine and offshore, construction and petrochemical sectors.

Despite his devotion to his company, Mr Kim still finds time for life's small pleasures and has a soft spot for sports cars.

"What if I take too long to build my business or if I don't make it?

"I think you need to strike a balance between thinking about things like retirement and investments and actually enjoying life as it happens."

Mr Kim, who is single, has a business management degree from the Singapore Management University and lives with his parents. He has two sisters and a brother.

Q: Are you a spender or a saver?

I hardly save, so I'm definitely a spender. Out of my monthly salary, I spend probably about 85 per cent. Many people have told me I should save up for a rainy day but I'd rather spend my money on investing in my business and lifestyle. If you work hard you also have to play hard.

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

It varies from month to month, but I usually spend between $8,000 and $10,000. Mostly it's for personal things like groceries and petrol for my car, but I also use my cards when I have to do some corporate entertaining.

Most importantly, I always pay the charges off in full at the end of every month.

Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?

Most of my financial planning involves investing in my business because my company has opened doors for me to other types of investments.

I have some investments in commercial property and a couple of insurance policies. Some are savings-linked policies and one or two of them are investment-linked policies.

With these policies, I'm insured for more than $250,000 but I'm looking to get more coverage for me and my parents in the future.

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

My family wasn't well-off and we lived in a two-bedroom rental apartment in Jurong and I remember having to share a room with my three siblings.

When I was growing up, I had a more mature outlook towards managing my personal finances compared with my friends. It was probably because I was already working since I was 14, and I was studying commerce in secondary school.

These two factors plus my family background made me very aware of how I could grow my savings.

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

I remember my first brush with investing was in 1996 when I was 14. I realised I could grow my money by putting $1,000 in a fixed deposit account rather than leaving it in a savings account.

But later I realised the returns on that investment were very low, around 2 per cent to 3 per cent, only enough to buy me a fast-food meal.

But it made me think about starting a business and whether that could help me generate more money.

Q: What property do you own?

I don't own any property at the moment. I used to live alone in a 1,400 sq ft condo I bought in Hillview but I sold it half a year ago and used the $1.4 million from the sale to re-invest in industrial property for my business.

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

It's got to be my red Ferrari California that I bought when I was 29. I bought it brand-new and it cost me less than $1 million, including the certificate of entitlement.

At that age, your focus should be on personal growth and investments.

But my rationale is that if I buy this car, it would motivate me to work harder.

Q: What's your retirement plan?

I don't plan to retire from work altogether too early. My long-term goal is to build my business. I want to grow it well and grow it fast and aim to get it acquired in the next five years, hopefully before I hit 35.

Q: Home is now...

My parent's penthouse condo in Yew Tee. My younger sister and younger brother are also living with us.

Q: I drive...

I have a couple of other cars: a Maserati QP and an Audi A8 but the Ferrari is the one I drive most regularly.

cherlim@sph.com.sg
------------------

WORST AND BEST BETS

Q: What is your worst investment to date?


In 2004, I started a business venture selling ornaments and scented candles. My sister and I invested about $30,000 to $40,000 to buy stock and rent a few pushcarts in several shopping malls.

It was the Christmas festive season but even with all the seasonal shopping hype, the business didn’t manage to do well. After a few months, we cleared out the stock at dirt-cheap prices and I estimate we lost almost all of our initial investment.

Q: What is your best investment?

It’s got to be one of the properties I’ve invested in as part of the business. In 2012, we bought and moved into an industrial terrace facility on a 1,800 sq ft plot in Woodlands for $2.1 million and sold it for $2.9 million within a year.

Some businessmen may say it doesn’t make business sense having to move equipment and business operations from one place to another within such a short period of time. I think the trouble is okay so long as it makes me money.
My Value Investing Blog: http://sgmusicwhiz.blogspot.com/
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Meaningless article. The guy is obviously omitting a lot. ST guys should always ask these few questions :

1) source and size of wealth
2) current incom and spending
3) investment/finance philosophy
4) future outlook
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(05-05-2013, 09:29 AM)Musicwhiz Wrote: So now they are interviewing a luxury sports car collector? Huh Wonder how much he spent on all those toys.

A lot of people, especially the newly rich justify their luxury consumption as a form of positive motivator to drive them to create wealth.

To be honest, it reminds me of junkies getting their fixed and doing whatever it takes to maintain that high.

Anyway, I think to them, as long as inflows is greater than outflows, how much they spent is an irrelevant question.
You can count on the greed of man for the next recession to happen.
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Few things did strike me as odd:

1) Spends $8000-$10000 monthly and claims this is 85% of his income, mathematically this means his monthly pay is $9400-$11,750.

2) Collects cars that nobody with that sort of income can even dream of owning, i.e. big money must be coming in from somewhere else, supposedly from the marine business.

3) Keep emphasizing he reinvest into his business, so that would mean his company must have distributed millions of dollars in dividends since he took over to fund his lifestyle.

4) Impressive, but what exactly was the state of the Company when he inherited from his dad? Has it grown, stagnated or declined since then? Why did the reporter not queried anything about this supposed "inherited" company that seems to be generating almost all his wealth?

5) Supposedly sold off his company's industrial property for a $800k profit shortly claiming that all the hassles in moving was worth the profit. This strikes me as odd and completely amateurish line of business reasoning.

If you factor into account all the stamp duties, write down of renovation assets, financing, legal fees, mover's fee, renovation, business interruption, staff attrition, lost productivity etc. - how much of that $800k is left? Maybe 200-300k? So a company that seems able to generate millions in dividends and likely tens of millions in revenue will go through all that to make a miserable 200-300k??? This makes no sense to me.

Also I believe industrial property prices were sky rocketing in 2012. He would have encountered the sell high buy high problem that would have further reduced his gains from the property.
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Strikes me as someone who likes publicity.
http://ebenezer.com.sg/?page_id=123

Perhaps these are his "investments"
http://ebenezer.com.sg/?page_id=279

Eliezer – Angel Funding for Startups

Eliezer is founded by Lawrence Kim, a successful serial entrepreneur in 2009.

Eliezer Pte. Ltd. aims to be a unique private sector initiative to fund help aspiring, young entrepreneurs. Her S$100,000 Angel Fund will fund student start-ups, offer mentorship and provide incubator space to qualifying student entrepreneurs. Eliezer hopes to be the inspiration for entrepreneurs of the new generation.

Eliezer has 3 strategies to her approach and consideration when it comes to funding new start-ups:

Faith

Eliezer provides funds for and invest in students’ businesses, which fulfil the following criteria:
• A business registered under ACRA
• Sound business plan and well thought through processes
• Initial investment of up to S$15 000
• Equity: up to 15%
Priority will be given to SMU and SP students, as well as SMU BIG and SP incubatees.

Dream

Many successful businesses are the results of competitions. Hence, having sufficient support for prototyping and seed funding is necessary if the business is to be successful.

Eliezer would like to lend a helping hand to individuals who are participating in such entrepreneurship competitions.

Hope

Eliezer, led by a self-made student entrepreneur, understands the difficulties faced by young start-ups and the need for urgent funds to tide over critical periods, especially for student-owned businesses.

Products of financial institutions may be unsuitable as the amount required by student entrepreneurs is usually small and needed urgently.

Interested applicants please submit your executive summary with your management team curriculum vitae to ebgroup@ebenezer.com.sg
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Found some info about his previous printing business and his marine company. He mentioned he wantd it to be listed in 3 years in 2009.

http://www2.smu.edu.sg/news_room/smu_in_...0313_3.pdf

And some chinese article about him: http://www2.smu.edu.sg/news_room/smu_in_...0329_1.pdf

And this is the info of his company if my deduction is right: http://ebenezer.com.sg/

Note: I am not an undergraduate of SMU's School of Business Smile
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Another guy who's very heavily into real estate! Sounds like he hardly holds any equities. So, what happened to the shares he bought at the peak of the market in 2007?

On a separate note, why was his 2nd-hand Honda so expensive at $120,000 with COE? Thought that's the price for a 1st-hand car? Huh

The Straits Times
www.straitstimes.com
Published on May 12, 2013
me & my money
He puts his money where his business is

Property agent banks largely on real estate to grow his assets

By Cheryl Lim

At first glance, Mr Darryl Loh may seem like a mild-mannered type.

But the 32-year-old property agent sheepishly admits that he wasn't always so.

He was a rebellious boy who used to frustrate his parents and would not do as he was told.

"They would ask me to be good and sit down or do my homework and I wouldn't listen to them."

Nowadays, the relationship with his parents is plain sailing but Mr Loh says he is still a rebel when it comes to investing his money.

"(When it comes to investments) I don't normally do what everyone else is doing... I would also say I make decisions about what to invest in very quickly. You could say I'm a bit of an impromptu investor.

"But at the same time, I'm also quick to weigh up the risks and whether I'll be able to accept them and if the risks justify the returns."

When it comes to investments, Mr Loh's focus is heavily influenced by his work in the property sector, with real estate making up the bulk of his portfolio.

He graduated from the Singapore Institute of Management with a degree in information systems and management in 2007. He lives with his fiancee Samantha Zhuang, 24.

Q: Are you a spender or a saver?

I would consider myself more of a saver. Whenever I close a sale and get a commission, I always think about how I can invest that money. About 80 per cent of what I earn will go towards my investments.

I consider my property investments as my savings plan and I make sure every dollar I save works hard for me.

The mortgage I pay can be considered my monthly savings and the rental profit and eventual capital gains are the growth on these savings.

I've estimated that I get around 8 to 10 per cent return on the money I've put into the properties, far more than what I would get from a simple savings account.

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

I spend about $2,000 to $3,000 on my credit card now, mostly on personal expenses and for my properties.

Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?

Mainly, my investments have been in real estate. They make up about 95 per cent of my investment portfolio but I also have some medical insurance and savings plans.

As an agent, property investments are what I'm good at, and I also feel that I can see my money invested in property grow the fastest within the same period of time as compared with other types of investments.

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

I come from a middle-income family; we're reasonably well-off but not wealthy. My parents were thrifty but their first priority was to make sure their children had everything they needed growing up.

The only financial advice my parents gave me when I was younger was not to spend frivolously but I would still spend all the allowance they gave.

I didn't have the concept of saving until I entered national service.

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

After working in my first job for a year, I realised I really wanted to be financially independent and that it wasn't going to happen if I was working in a normal desk-bound job.

So I began finding out more about how to invest through books, friends and online discussions.

I started my investment journey by buying technology stocks. I made some money when I bought $15,000 worth of Apple's stock at US$56 per share in 2006 and sold it a year later at US$160.

At the peak of the market in about 2007, I had about US$100,000 (S$124,000) invested in several technology stocks and I estimate I've made around US$50,000 to US$70,000 from my trades.

Q: What property do you own?

The One North Residences apartment that I live in now was bought in 2011 for $878,000.

I also co-invested with some friends and my mother to buy two other apartments in Zion Road and Tiong Bahru.

My most recent property purchase was a 1,152 sq ft condo unit in Ang Mo Kio which I purchased for $900,000 with my fiancee earlier this year.

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

It would have to be a full suspension bicycle I bought for $1,800 when I was 18.

My father had given me $2,000 while he was based overseas for work and I spent most of it on the bicycle because I liked how it looked.

I used it a few times but I regret buying it because I realised I could have put the money to better use.

Q: What's your retirement plan?

I'm not sure exactly what my plan for retirement will be but I believe that it will involve working or setting up a business based on my passion. I might even become a diving instructor or a dive photographer.

Q: Home is now...

A 614 sq ft studio at One North Residences that I share with my fiancee.

Q: I drive...

A yellow Honda S2000. I bought it second-hand last year for $120,000 including certificate of entitlement.
---------------------------------
WORST AND BEST BETS

Q: What was your worst investment to date?


With my work experience at Dell, I was confident of Apple's market potential and bought the company's stock in 2007 for US$180 a share.

I sold them during the Lehman Brothers crisis for US$100 per share out of fear, but now the stock is valued at US$405 per share.

It taught me that I shouldn't allow fear to cloud my investment decisions and instead base my investments on thorough analysis and understanding of the economic environment.

Q: What is your best investment to date?

My best investment has been my investment in myself. My first job out of university was with Dell but I quit after about five years to pursue personal development from a life coach. I paid $8,000 for his sessions and he has helped me gain self-confidence, drive and skills in public speaking, leadership and management.

Training with him has enabled me to make the switch to a career in real estate without having the security of having leads and has helped me grow as a person and manage my wealth effectively.

cherlim@sph.com.sg
-----------------------
My Value Investing Blog: http://sgmusicwhiz.blogspot.com/
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(1) The HONDA S2000 looks like a babe-magnet, could possibly be 1 of his best investments to snag his 24-year old fiance. Big Grin Looks how he believes the 1.8k bike is a more extravagant spending than his 120k babe magnet.
http://www.sgcarmart.com/used_cars/listi...onda+S2000

(2) Mr Loh believes he is a contrarian ("I don't normally do what everyone is doing"). He seems to have made the switch to a property agent in 2008/9 period, pretty gutsy IMO.

(3) Bought Apple at 56usd in 2006, sold at 160usd in 2007 to close his account with a positive gain. Got greedy and bought back at higher price at 180usd, only to sell it off at 100usd in 2008 to close his final emotional account at a net loss....CLASSIC. Mr Loh is indeed wise to keep 95% of his investments now in property. With 4 properties bought in the last 4years, worthed 95% of his investments, i hope he is ready for the eventual property downturn, after successful timing his entry during the downturn.
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