Mr Richard Tan, 52, is a shining example of how one can overcome life's adversities and be a winner. His list of personal challenges has included losing his job, numerous lawsuits resulting from a failed business, and battling colon cancer. But he never gave up.
A holder of a diploma in electrical engineering from the Singapore Polytechnic, Mr Tan lost his marine engineering job during the economic downturn in the late 1980s.
In 1990, he started a business selling a non-slip chemical for floor surfaces that he and a friend had sourced from Australia. The chemical ruined floor surfaces instead and the debacle resulted in many angry customers, close to 20 lawsuits and a loss of about $90,000 from the sales of the product and the initial investment sum.
While settling compensation claims, Mr Tan offered to help organise conferences in a non-profit organisation for six months as a volunteer without pay. To survive, his then girlfriend (now wife) sold her Mazda 323 for $13,000 and loaned him the cash.
He did such a good job that he decided to organise conferences full- time. He started Success Resources in 1993 with an initial sum of $2,000, split equally between him and a partner.
Since then, the firm has been instrumental in bringing in internationally acclaimed gurus and motivational speakers such as Robert Kiyosaki, Anthony Robbins and even former United States president Bill Clinton. The seminars often drew full houses.
Just when things looked rosy, Mr Tan was hit by colon cancer in 1996. Undeterred, he continued to work while undergoing chemotherapy. His illness went into remission in 1998.
When it comes to his personal finances, he leaves the day-to-day money management to his wife Veronica Tan, 53, who is managing director at Success Resources.
In 2002, Mr Tan set up an online, real-time seminar firm SkyQuest.com which came up tops in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific, a ranking of the 500 fastest- growing technology companies in the region.
For the year ended Dec 31, 2008, Success Resources Group achieved a turnover of $120 million. It now runs seminars in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Australia, India, the Middle East and Britain. Mr Tan is its chief executive.
He has two children, Grace, 28, and Aaron, 26, from his first marriage.
Q: What are your money habits?
My wife checks my wallet regularly and makes sure that I have some cash, at least $50. I'm a very simple person. Everything that I need, my wife buys. I'm happy with the arrangement because I have other things to handle.
Though I take pleasure in fine dining, I also like Teochew porridge and nasi lemak. I read a lot of books and I spend a few hundred dollars a week on books, mainly on business and personal development. I subscribe to five business magazines.
Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?
I believe there are three types of investments - property, shares and business. I invest my time and money in my business rather than the other two. However, since the mid-1990s, I've been investing in properties with up to four friends. We've bought and sold at least 20 such properties in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia.
I do it with friends as I don't have the time to monitor such investments personally. I let them do it. I spend the majority of my time in my business.
Last year, my bank manager encouraged me to buy some unit trusts, including a global property fund. I sold them two months later and lost a few thousand dollars. I don't own shares or unit trusts now. Most of my surplus funds are parked in fixed deposits.
Q: What about insurance planning?
I'm not interested in making money out of insurance because their returns are low. Still, insurance like term and health plans can come in handy. During my illness, I collected a critical illness claim of $120,000. Currently, I have a term life cover of about $1.5 million.
Q: What's your investment philosophy?
Don't take risks. That means if I want to invest in anything, I do so with money that I can afford to lose. Still, it is better to be blessed than smart because many 'smart' investors are in trouble today.
Q: Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like?
I come from a family of four where I'm the eldest child. My dad was a trishaw rider and my mum a housewife. We lived in Little India where my dad bought a three- storey shophouse for $6,000 in 1963. He sub-divided the shophouse into 13 rooms and rented out all but one, which the four of us occupied.
We were very comfortable and did not lack for anything. I observed that my parents worked very hard and saved all their money. Despite being a landlord, my father rode the trishaw from morning to night.
Q: How did you get interested in investing?
I met wealth mentor and author Robert Kiyosaki in 1996 when he was one of the conference speakers I had brought to Singapore. Through him, I learnt that I have to grow my money. If my money sits around and remains idle, it depreciates. I learnt that the laziest way is to put money in the bank.
I invest in my business, which has the highest rate of return than any other return if you know how to run it. For example, when I run a seminar, I can make 100 per cent returns. This means making up to a few million dollars from running just one seminar.
Q: What has been a bad investment?
My friends and I got involved in a 248-room hotel project in Perth, Australia, in the mid-1990s. We lost a total of $10 million. My loss was $4 million. That wiped out my profits in my other property deals. Looking back, we had no experience in hotels and didn't spend a lot of time on the project. We ended up building the hotel halfway and sold it at a loss of $10 million after four years.
Q: Your best investment to date?
I started my current business with only $2,000, split equally between a partner and me. Today, it is valued at US$100 million (S$149 million).
Success Resources has been profitable since the day it started operations. The annual turnover was $1.5 million to $2 million back then. Today, it generates more than $100 million annually. It has been a lot of fun. We are in the education business and it's very fulfilling when you know what you do can help someone to be more positive, enthusiastic and more productive.
But my best investment is the time I spend with my children and family. The return is priceless.
Q
: What's your retirement plan?
I would need about $5,000 monthly for my wife and myself when I retire. I plan to contribute to Success Resources for as long as I can because to me, that's not work. Success Resources Group also supports a few charities here and an orphanage in India. In 2004, we spent $200,000 to build a school in Sichuan, China. I will continue to be active in charity-related activities when I retire.
Q: And your home now is...?
A three-storey semi-detached house in Newton. I bought it in 1998 for $1.8 million. It's fully paid up.
Q: And your car is...?
A dark blue Mercedes-Benz S320.
Better to be blessed than smart
'Don't take risks. That means if I want to invest in anything, I do so with money that I can afford to lose. Still, it is better to be blessed than smart because many 'smart' investors are in trouble today.'
MR RICHARD TAN on his investment philosophy
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