The Tale of 2 Singapore Boys
Picture this.
A typical HDB neighbourhood. Children running, screaming and having fun at the neighbourhood playground. And among those children are two friends, Ben and Simon.
As boys, they’re as ordinary as most kids their age. They go to school, they get into their fair share of trouble, and they spend their afternoons playing before heading home for dinner with their families.
But while most would think of them as best friends, they were as different as night and day. At least in their mindset and in their behaviour.
Simon was the down-to-earth boy who grew up with a simple belief – that hard work will pay off someday. So, as he matured in age, he continued to strive hard in his career, saving almost every penny, and after a while, he got married and had his own children and family in his humble yet decent 3-room apartment. You could say it is a rather modest lifestyle for a modest man.
Ben on the other hand, wasn’t your typical boy. From an early age, he was always looking out for crazy deals. He too believe in putting in effort to get what he wants, but he didn’t believe in just relying on hard work. He understood the power of leveraging on his investments to shortcut his journey. And it showed in his asset accumulation strategy. From a 3-room HDB flat, he quickly moved up to a 4-room, and then again to a 5-room apartment. But he didn’t stop there, pretty soon he ventured into the world many of us believe belongs to the Singapore upper class.
By the age of 40, he was already a proud owner of not 1 private condominium, but 7 luxury apartments all around Singapore. While his childhood friend was still staying in the same 3-room HDB flat in Stirling road.
And I thought to myself…
What made them so different?
Let's Crack this Mould Together
As a young boy, I’ve always wondered why “fortune” seemed to favour certain people more than others.
You see, those two boys I described earlier are very real people. Simon, the believer of hard work and grit, is my beloved father. I truly am grateful for the life he has given me and my mother, ensuring that our basic needs were taken care of, and that we had a roof over our heads and I had proper education growing up.
But there were many times that we heard him voice his “regrets” as he would mention rather bitterly about how Uncle Ben had told him to invest in The Sail @ Marina Bay many years ago but he refused. He thought investment was too “risky” and just wouldn’t budge.
“If I had listened to him back then, I would probably be a millionaire now” he would tell us time and again.
The irony is…
Despite me having a front row seat watching how their lives unfold, I followed my father’s footstep and joined the workforce as an engineer where I slugged it out for almost a decade. Reporting to the office, Mondays to Fridays, 9 to 6, fixed salary, and only allowing myself some rest time during the weekend. Then it’s rinse and repeat. Like I was cast in a mould and couldn’t “escape my destiny”.
It wasn’t until I had the opportunity for a long heart-to-heart chat with Uncle Ben, after being fed up with where I was going, that I finally made the decision to get my act together and take the leap.
That was the year 2010!
Today, I’m in the real estate industry because I believe in giving back> To give back to others, just as I was given this wake-up call I desperately needed. And there’s no better way to do so then being in the exact industry that has made it all possible for me.
It’s one of the reasons why I provide a free consultation to help young couples and seasoned investors analyse your existing portfolio and strategise the best ways to multiply your assets comfortably. There’s no better feeling than seeing your clients prosper because of your strategy and advice.
And I look forward to working on your portfolio and bringing this transformation in yours too.