My Trading Adventure
It never too late to start ...
CP TEH
Publish date: Tue, 25 Jun 2013, 11:29 PM
CP TEH
0 2,918
All the writings in this weblog are mainly for PLEASURE reading purposes. I am in NO position to recommend a call(BUY/SELL). Please check with those know-hows before you make a decision. Yes, I am just a learner, with only five years experiences in KLSE. So, please BEAR with me.
http://www.asiaone.com/Business/My+Money/Opinion/Story/A1Story20100405-208511.html
Late starter making up for lost time By Lorna Tan
For years, Mr John Goh's idea of financial planning was to squirrel his teacher's salary into a low-interest bank account. A science graduate from the National University of Singapore, he has been a secondary school chemistry teacher for the past 17 years.
But he has since become a savvy investor too. He said he regretted not knowing how to make his money grow till he was in his mid-30s.
'No one taught me to manage my finances and to invest. My earnings went into my savings account which was paying a miserable interest,' said Mr Goh, 41.
Then his friends showed him how to open a trading account to trade in stocks about six years ago. Since then, he has voraciously read many books on the subject. Author Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad had a particular impact on him.
Inspired, he decided not to depend solely on his job to provide an income, but to achieve different streams of passive income by making his money work harder for him.
His current investment portfolio comprises properties, stocks and land banking.
Taking a leaf from the book of Mr Kiyosaki, who made his millions from real estate, Mr Goh sold his landed property last year and bought three properties, two of which are investment properties for renting out.
He says his is a 'disciplined approach' when property hunting. He looks for homes near public transport like the MRT stations and bus stops that will offer a positive cash flow and that will provide healthy rentals. He will view about 30 units in a chosen area before making an offer.
His wife Jennifer Tan, 39, is also a teacher and they have a son, Joshua, 12.
Q: Are you a spender or saver?
A : I am more of a saver than a spender. I save 30 per cent to 40 per cent of my salary.
TEH : I am not a spender ... but somehow, I do find it difficult to safe up to 30% of my income. If I am talking merely from my salary(main income), I do save more than 30% of my salary ... and I hope I could save up to 80% of my income by next year. My salary is part of my income.
Q: How much do you charge to your credit cards every month?
A: I usually do not charge more than $2,000 a month. A credit card is a double-edged sword. If you do not pay your credit on time, the penalty fee is going to hurt you badly. I have three cards but use only one actively for easy monitoring of expenses. Almost all my bills are on Giro so I do not waste time on the chore of bill payment, and the bills are paid promptly too. I withdraw $1,000 from the ATM twice a month.
TEH : I do not charge more than RM2000 in a month either. I have cleared my credit-card balances and my wife is helping me to monitor the transactions, payment due-dates and such. Yes, I do use credit-card for monitoring expenses purposes ... example, buying items in supermarkets, dinners at some restaurants, petrol ... I need to monitor my expenses in greater details!! I seldom withdraw from ATM and most of the transactions(bills) are on Giro too.
Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?
Almost half of my money is invested in properties which I believe is the best way to grow my money. Singapore is, after all, a small island with limited land. I also diversify so as to spread out my risks. It is not good to put all my eggs in one basket. About 30 per cent of my money is in unit trusts and insurance. I like unit trusts that have achieved a consistently good performance for the last three years with more than 10 per cent annual returns. I have four whole life policies, three investment-linked insurance plans and one endowment policy. I'm covered by about $1 million on my life and I have a $200,000 critical illness cover. I pay about $12,000 in annual premiums. About 10 per cent of my money is in stocks. I prefer blue chips that give high dividends; some stocks I have are StarHub, Singapore Press Holdings, SingPost and OCBC preference shares. I select stocks with low valuations and high dividends. About 5 per cent is in land banking and the rest is in cash. My target rate of return for my portfolio is 7 per cent.
TEH : I will be hoping to get a good bargain to buy another property in a year or two. Location is everything ... I have a beach-apartment, abandoned ... and not in good conditions!! It is empty, so a liabilities to me monthly ... so, I hope to clear off the loan by year end. It is just a small apartment, for ... I wish to go back to Sabah, living by the beach after retirement. It is not possible to sell the place as the prices have dropped 50%. Yeah ... not all property appreciate in values ... so, I am learning to pick a good one in future. The current one I am staying has appreciated about 40% in past two years.
I will never buy unit-trust, tho I do have investment-linked insurance policy. Well, I m only paying about RM5k annually for my annual insurance premium. Perhaps, I should consider to increase that when I am not so financially tight? Yes ... as most of my money is in stock-market, I think I need to shift into longer time frame investment(like buying Maybank) with good dividend yield and growth, while put some funds for riskier instruments. I m re-balancing my funds again ... as July is coming, time to re-structure my portfolios. Cash is placed in ASB, which giving up to 7% per annum, compounding it for past 7 years now, and recently opened a second-line(took a loan from Maybank at less 5%, and to placed in ASB ... earning 2% 'free')
Q: Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like?
A: My mother was a housewife and my father was an odd-job labourer. I am an only child because my parents were very poor and could not afford to raise another child. They paid $40 a month to rent a room in an old shophouse next to the current Bugis MRT station. But my teenage years saw things improving. My parents bought a three-room HDB flat at Rochor Centre, and they are still living there. Since childhood, I have learnt that money is not easy to earn and I must cherish what I have.
TEH : My parents are hawkers ... earning not enough to support us kids(6 of us). We were very poor ... and luckily my aunts 'adopted' us since we were young. Yeah ... since young, money is hard to come by ... and I always feel I m the unlucky ones. Never really learn to earn, save, invest ... till I was married and total broke(in debts too). I changed my whole financial mindset ... to see me through difficult times, and to make lives better for my kids. They are my motivators!!
Q: How did you get interested in investing?
A: I was in my mid-30s. My friends showed me how to open a trading account to buy stocks. I then started to educate myself on investing, and read many books on it. The books that had a great impact on me included Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki; The ABCs Of Real Estate Investing by Ken McElroy; Automatic Millionaire and Start Late, Finish Rich by David Bach; and Managing Your Personal Finance by Dennis Ng.
TEH : I started to open a trading account when I was 41. I was totally blind and with zero-knowledge. Today, I am still a novice(advance level?) and learning to trade-invest better. Yes, I read many books and also attended many many talks. Knowing the 'right' circle of people could help a lot too.
Q: What property do you own?
I got married in 1996 and bought my first home, a three-room HDB flat at Rochor Centre for $250,000. It made sense as it was very near my parents' flat and they helped to take care of my son. I 'lost' $50,000 when I sold my flat in 2002 for $200,000. But I took the opportunity to upgrade and bought a one-storey, 2,000 sq ft freehold terrace house in Sembawang Hills estate at a low price of $820,000. In April last year, I applied what I learnt about property investments and leveraging and sold my terrace house for $965,000 to free up cash. I then bought three houses. One was a 21/2-storey, 2,900 sq ft corner terrace in Sembawang Hills estate, bought in April for $1.43 million. The current market value is about $2.2 million. I bought, also last year, in September, a 2,662 sq ft penthouse unit at Nuovo in Yio Chu Kang for $1.18 million. It is being rented out at $4,600 monthly. Finally, in January this year, I bought a three-storey, 3,200 sq ft terrace house at Century Woods in Marsiling for $1.14 million. It is next to the Singapore American School and should fetch a rental of at least $5,500 when construction is completed. I made sure that my home loans are on fixed rates and my investment properties must be able to attract tenants easily, to generate a positive cash flow. This simply means that the rental income that I get is more than enough to pay the bank loan so there is sufficient buffer.
Q: What's the most extravagant thing you have bought?
A: It was the 10-day family vacation trip to Canada two years ago that cost me $10,000.
TEH : I have not earn enough to give my family a RM10k trip, but I do make local-trips such as to Penang. I have not bought anything much at all ... perhaps the most 'expensive' thing I spent on is this pc I am using now, my work-station. It costed me about RM5k.
Q: What's your retirement plan?
A: I will not retire fully. Having too much free time is not a good idea. When I have a monthly cash flow of $5,000 from my rental income, dividends and interest from my investments, I will consider semi-retirement in my 50s. I will become a financial literacy educator or property agent. I'll also be more active in church ministry. Hopefully, I will have grandchildren to look after as I like to spend time with children.
TEH : I will like to give market-talks ... giving trading-educations(for free!!). i will continue to blog(I know I will) .. read more non-financial books ... and perhaps, do some charity work(forming groups etc etc). I know I will not sit-down still waiting for days passing me by ...
Q: Home is now...
A: The corner terrace in Sembawang Hills estate.
TEH : A 930sq feet apartment.
Q: I drive...
A: A silver Nissan Latio.
TEH : A 1.3 Proton Saga(3 years old)
This article was first published in The Straits Times.
This article motivates me to look into my own personal financial situation.
TEH
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Discussions
1 person likes this. Showing 46 of 46 comments
money is not everything but without money .. u are no anyperson in this earth . try live without money . with property price skyrocketing ... without money see how u buy a home ?
2013-06-26 00:40
pls dont bullshit .... money is not everything . try to go ask famous guru like robert kiyosaki ... or any gurus
2013-06-26 00:41
ok :) but no good to the extend too much passion in money.. everyday talk bout money, anything talk money, dream oso money, slow slow go tanjung rambutan
2013-06-26 00:50
Shirley, pls leave yahoo80 alone...he is famous making trouble everywhere. The way he express his feeling totally disrespect others . Pls forgive him and may god bless him
2013-06-26 01:36
money is not everything...but it changes u into something...it can't make u to be a polite person, it can't buy love...but u can get body or bodies first and the love will come...money can buy power, names, friends, best life partners, money can calm u, when u're being insulted by poor people like shirley...jgn marah2 ...just an example. with money there's no need for a work, or worries about bills, if shirley has ugly face...money can help nip and tuck it...even with that ugly face...like shit...people will still look up at u, money can make intelligent people to be idiot, money makes people come to bursa and i3investor ...money makes people hypocrite..and makes others straightforward...if u know what i mean
2013-06-26 01:43
Earning more money is good as long as we give a percentage for charity to the poor and orphans
2013-06-26 03:08
that old jerk can write something probably saying you don't look like human.. and then expect ppl to treat him like human .. hahaha
2013-06-26 07:46
the best and worst I like ... he is a real teacher in Taylor college, teaching all this stupid things.
2013-06-26 07:49
If I'm the principal of Taylor college, I will take discipline action vs him..
2013-06-26 07:56
stupid blogger read some books and pretend know all the corporate tricks.. disgrace to the education industry and spoilt your college name old jerk !!
2013-06-26 14:58
sifat you, financial planing isn't bout how small is ur apartment, how old is ur car, doesn't mean you must open trading account and doesn't mean you must trade shares.. old jerk don't mislead ppl..
2013-06-26 18:52
jus my view huh, passion in money has made the old jerk out of his mind, he think he has good heart, but did so much harm to the newbie or the younger generation unintentionally, while he stil novice dont pretend like an expert and lead ppl to holland. this is call blind leading the blind and of course both go holland
am i ugly ?
2013-06-26 20:04
Shirley, chepet teh is a genius, once after he finish reading a book. ie. cooking book, he immediately transform into a celebrity cook. likewise for stock market, financial planning and whatsoever.
2013-06-26 20:12
first cheeped teh privatised his galfren, now he is going after his stuuudent. privatise their pocket n hard earned salary in the name of teaching them how to trade stock, when he himself is still learning....
waakakakakakaakakkakakaa. bolehland.
2013-06-26 20:48
Dear mr Teh, money is everything for you... you are one stingy old man... you even get your students to pay for your lunch & dinner... I know this for sure..
all your tratles are born idiot for trusting you so much... as you take them for a ride...
2013-06-26 23:31
The best part is he never follow the ah chi ah chor anymore in the forum but stil keep ah chi ah chor responding the ah chi ah chor hahaha what an old jerk
2013-06-26 23:37
He never train his turtles what is call strictly business.. but pls believe him he is honest..
2013-06-26 23:41
Shirley1 is one hell of a funny person and I meant it in a nice way :)though I dun agree with your bashing of teacher but your comments are witty and humorous :)
2013-06-26 23:48
oh I see but probably poor choice of words on his part :( u definitely no dog but doggone it :)
2013-06-26 23:55
not sure about his teaching but he seems to be a very busy person with all the juggling and no wonder he is stressed out ( well according to him haha )one thing for sure this forum is definitely a good place for him to have his potential clients and he is definitely not going anywhere or leaving :)
2013-06-27 00:10
yeah, if he wants to privatise it, why should he announce it here? He thing here is Bursa and he is listed? whatever thing he want to do need to annoucenced? Propose pula tu, need shareholders approval and resolution later on. But got dividend bo?
2013-06-27 07:32
Now we talk strictly business huh haha. That teacher is not a professional trainer or motivator or mentor ! he think he is sharing.. but what I see is he is trying to pass down his own personal emotional knowledge to you turtles.. if you unlucky pickup likely you go holland in real corporate world !
careful hor turtles, sharing not necessary good thing one hor.. am I ah chi ah chor ?
2013-06-27 07:37
he's only a small time player, few small lots
& yet want to advertise/boast about his trade to everone
2013-06-27 07:50
believe me.. be objective don't be emotional, then you will see things differently, right or wrong make ur own judgement.. okok turtles now you can go tell your sifu.. I ah chi ah chor here..
2013-06-27 08:03
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This book is the result of the author's many years of experience and observation throughout his 26 years in the stockbroking industry. It was written for general public to learn to invest based on facts and not on fantasies or hearsay....
shirley1
serious teacher you need a doctor, it is not money that is evil. it is your passion in money that make you evil. you will do whatever it take to make ppl believe in money. i think this has cause you out of ur mind.. suggest you ask ur family bring you see a doctor, dont worry about other ppl financial, worry about the health of ur mind, if you continue you will go crazy in one day, believe me money is not everything..
2013-06-26 00:33