ME & MY MONEY
11 YEARS AGO: Nearly bankrupt
NOW: Owns 53 properties
Co-founder of training firm is an astute investor in real estate, gold and shares
Ms Wendy Kwek, 40, managing director of Executive Directions, with husband Joey Poh, 39, the firm's business development director, and their two pet dogs. The firm has 10 staff and a current yearly turnover of about $7 million. -- ST PHOTO: LENNE CHAI
By Lorna Tan
As part of her work, Ms Wendy Kwek, managing director of training firm Executive Directions, conducts public seminars advising investors on all aspects of property investments.
Ms Kwek, 40, walks the talk by investing in 53 properties in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States. Some are co-owned with friends.
Out of these, 23 are generating a monthly rental income flow of $45,000. The rest are undergoing construction. Ten of the properties are fully paid up. She also invests in gold and shares.
It is hard to imagine that about 11 years ago, Ms Kwek was close to bankruptcy when she was unable to meet the monthly payments for her total outstanding loans of $600,000.
Back then, she had left Federal Express (FedEx) and was a freelance sales consultant with a training and consultancy firm. She was making good commissions of $250,000 within six months, but was not yet fully paid by the firm when she over-committed herself to a BMW and a condo.
Her financial trouble started when the firm refused to honour half of the commissions, she claimed.
To clear her debts, she sold the car and condo and cut down on her spending.
That was when she decided to be her own boss so as to have full control. In 2000, she set up Executive Directions with business partner Jerome Tan with just $52. That was enough to buy 20 files and a three-line newspaper advertisement to recruit sales people to market seminar events.
The firm made a profit of $50,000 within two months of operation. Now, it has 10 staff, and current yearly turnover is about $7 million.
Besides giving pointers on property investing, the firm offers programmes on stock investing, entrepreneurship and public speaking.
Ms Kwek graduated from the National University of Singapore with a business administration degree in 1992 and worked as a purchaser at Safe Superstore till 1994.
She left to become an executive search consultant at a recruitment firm for a year, before joining FedEx as a regional sales trainer from 1995 to 1999.
She is married to Mr Joey Poh, 39, who is Executive Directions' business development director.
Q Are you a spender or saver?
I used to be a spender when I was in the corporate world, spending more than I earned.
But after starting my own business, I learnt to become more resourceful and financially more disciplined as cash-flow management is crucial in business.
Within two years of starting my business, I began investing 10 per cent of my income, and slowly moved it up to half of my income.
As my business and property portfolios grow, they generate more positive cash flow monthly to take care of my living expenses. I now invest almost 80 per cent of my monthly income.
Q How much do you charge to your credit cards every month?
I charge about $3,000 a month for my personal expenses.
I also charge a lot to my credit cards for business expenses such as the cost of renting seminar venues and hotel function rooms.
I always pay my bills in full as I do not believe in paying 24 per cent interest per annum. I also always get my credit card membership fees waived.
Q What financial planning have you done for yourself?
Besides my investment properties, I have a six-figure sum invested in stocks. They are mainly blue chips such as SPH, SGX, SMRT and Genting. I select stocks based on the firm's fundamentals and track record. Some of the stocks are strictly for dividends and some for capital gains, so I look at the potential projected income that can be paid as dividends or capital gains.
In January this year, I invested in gold bars when gold was trading at US$1,120 per ounce. I am also covered with life insurance and mortgage insurance.
When investing in properties, it is important to know how to leverage. As a personal rule, I maintain a certain level of liquidity by having cash reserves that are more than a year's expenses. This acts as a buffer even if my properties go untenanted.
Q Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like?
I come from an average family and I have a younger sister. My mother was a housewife. My father was a police officer and his take- home income was on average $850 a month.
We lived in a three-room HDB flat in Ang Mo Kio for the first 30 years of my life. My dad was a gambler and we had to struggle when we were young. Sometimes, we had loan sharks visiting our flat.
I told myself that I must learn to be wise with money.
I paid my way through university by taking a study loan and giving tuition. My parents now live with me. My sister is married and in Ohio, in the United States.
Q How did you get interested in investing?
When I was 21, I realised that I really loved investing. So I cultivated it by studying technical and fundamental analyses of stocks from books and later by attending many courses.
I have spent about $200,000 on my personal development, learning about business and investments. This includes a 'Money and You' programme conducted by the Excellerated Business School in Malaysia, and leadership programmes by success coaches Anthony Robbins, John C. Maxwell and Robert Kiyosaki in Singapore. These programmes have paid me huge dividends.
For real estate, I invest across the different property classes. The reason I invested quite substantially in industrial properties recently is that it is a less understood and undervalued asset class with good growth potential.
The rental yield is easily twice that of the residential sector and I tend to be able to secure leases that are more long-term.
Q What properties do you own?
I realised from attending the personal development courses that property is one of the best ways for an average person to accumulate great wealth.
I own a terrace house at Jalan Kayu; an HDB flat near Jurong Point; five units of TradeHub 21 light industrial property in Boon Lay Way; two light industrial units of Northpoint Bizhub; a 1,600 sq ft HDB shophouse in Yishun; and two units of Midview City light industrial property at Sin Ming.
My overseas property investments include two office units at Bangsar in Kuala Lumpur; six condos in KL; a condo in Penang; 19 properties (including freehold carparks and student accommodation) in the Philippines; one property in Melbourne; and seven properties in Britain. I also have five pieces of land in Hong Kong, the US and Britain.
Q What's the most extravagant thing you have bought?
My hubby and I bought a white Porsche Boxster for more than $250,000 in August to celebrate my 40th birthday and my achievements so far.
Q What's your retirement plan?
I don't intend to fully retire, I think it will be very boring.
I want to continue doing what I'm currently doing for the rest of my life as it is more meaningful to be able to add value to people's lives.
I believe Joey and I will need about $10,000 a month in our golden years. By then, everything would have been paid off.
Currently, just the rental from four properties is more than enough to pay for the monthly instalments for my landed property, Porsche and BMW.
Q Home is now...
A 3,300 sq ft, 31/2-storey terrace house at Jalan Kayu. The land area is 1,630 sq ft. We bought the property brand new in March last year for $1.5 million and it is now valued at more than $2 million.
Q I drive...
A white Porsche Boxster and a silver BMW 318.
lorna@sph.com.sg
Liquidity crucial
'When investing in properties, it is important to know how to leverage. As a personal rule, I maintain a certain level of liquidity by having cash reserves that are more than a year's expenses. This acts as a buffer even if my properties go untenanted.'
MS WENDY KWEK, managing director of training firm Executive Directions
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BEST AND WORST BETS
Q My worst investment to date...
In 2004, I placed a RM5,000 deposit in a residential project Nas Pavilion, next to Sungei Wang and Lot 10 in Kuala Lumpur.
The developer abandoned the project a year later and I lost my deposit. It was a good lesson. I learnt the importance of evaluating the developers' reputations before entering into any deal.
Q My best investment to date...
In 2006, I invested in two industrial property units, each 1,500 sq ft, at TradeHub 21.
I bought them for $300,000 each and the rental income per unit was $3,000 a month, which worked out to a rental yield of 12 per cent.
I sold them for $520,000 each in 2008 and last year.
This year, I bought another five units at an average price of $450,000 each.
The current rental yield is 8 per cent to 10 per cent.
The current value of each unit is about $525,000.
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