Accountancy student Joey Ong may have taken a longer path to get to university, but the journey has left him better prepared to take advantage of financial opportunities ahead.
Mr Ong had a rosy childhood, living in a landed property with his parents and elder and younger sisters, but in 2002, his father's business took a hit. When his father went bankrupt, the family had to downgrade to a four-room Housing Board flat.
Mr Ong entered the Normal (Academic) stream in secondary school and studied hard to become one of the top students in his class.
"I saw how education was really important. If you do well and work hard, there will be doors opening for you," says the 24-year-old.
He took up accounting in polytechnic and applied a few times to local universities, facing rejection before he eventually scored a place at the Singapore Management University (SMU).
He says: "I think I took quite a long route to university, and by the time I start working, I'll be 27 or 28. If not for my situation, maybe I wouldn't even have gotten to this point, so I still appreciate what I have."
Mr Ong is active in school, serving as a fundamental analysis research director at SMU's student-run EYE investment club.
Apart from managing his relatives' portfolio, he also takes the chance to educate them about investing.
"There's pressure but I'm really glad that they trust me. Not everyone in my family is financially savvy. Other than the usual insurance, they don't invest... but now, they are more proactive."
Mr Ong says he caters to their risk profiles. If his relatives are willing to take more risk, he looks at small and mid-cap stocks.
If they are feeling more risk averse, he looks at real estate investment trusts, blue chips or companies with a higher dividend yield.
His top picks were three property counters that he bought for his relatives' portfolios - CapitaLand, Ho Bee Land and CapitaMalls Asia (CMA). CMA gave him his fastest gain.
"I bought it at $1.70 and it got delisted at $2.30, within a month. It was supposed to be a long-term investment," he says, adding that he chose these companies because "they were trading at a discount to their asset value".
Mr Ong prefers fundamental analysis and value investing, unlike many of his peers, who opt for technical analysis, where the gains can come quicker. Being exposed to financial statements while studying accounting as a teenager influenced his style of investing, and he is not swayed by market sentiment.
Citing the example of S-chip stocks, Mr Ong says: "Retail investors may be more cautious in investing in S-chips after so many corporate scandals over the years, but I feel it's about picking the right company.
"I've seen some S-chips doing very well, and I've missed some opportunities there."
Q: Are you a spender or saver?
Saver. The allowance I get is very limited, so I just spend on necessities and I save the rest, maybe 5 per cent to 10 per cent. Most of my savings go to my insurance plan.
Some of my money comes from my investments, like the gains from managing my relatives' portfolio.
Q: How much do you charge to your credit cards every month?
As a student, I prefer using a debit card so that I always spend within my limits. I charge slightly more than $150 to my account, with my insurance premium taking up a huge portion.
Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?
I have an investment-linked insurance saving plan, which I bought more than two years ago to protect me from the unexpected, while I enjoy a decent return on my savings.
On top of that, I invest in equities across Singapore and United States markets, with the aim of seeking value stocks.
I'm looking out for opportunities in Hong Kong and Europe. For example, the protests in Hong Kong are pulling down the stock market but it's still a good place and the situation will eventually return to normal.
In Europe, there's a lot of consolidation happening, where bigger companies are acquiring their rivals, and a lot of mergers and acquisitions are going on. There are some companies that are undervalued.
I can also take advantage of the low exchange rate, which is one of the reasons I entered the US market.
Q: Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like?
I was born in a family that was quite well-to-do; we lived in a terraced house, and had another condo. Because of my comfortable background, I played a lot and didn't really do well in my studies.
My family's finances got worse because my father's business ran into difficulties.
He went bankrupt and that was a changing point for me. I went to a neighbourhood secondary school, and started studying hard.
Q: How did you get interested in investing?
I frequently helped out in my grandparents' provision shop when I was young, and this exposed me to a lot of brands at a very early age. This led me to pursue an accounting diploma in Singapore Polytechnic, where I started to study the business model of company names that I came across on a daily basis.
The deterioration of my family's financial background led to me to see the importance of financial independence. I don't want to grow old without any strategies or plans in savings.
I started with my first investment in the second year of polytechnic, and it was not a well-planned entry into the market.
After what happened to my parents and the people around them, they weren't keen on investing or didn't encourage me to invest at all.
My girlfriend knew I was interested in this and casually mentioned it to her mum, so her mum helped me with opening a trading account.
Q: What property do you own?
I'm likely to apply for my Build-To-Order flat next year.
Q: What's the most extravagant thing you have bought?
Before I started university, I paid to go on a trip to Europe with my family.
I forked out close to $3,000. It was a huge sum from my savings but I thought it was a good experience as I had always wanted to visit Europe. My uncle was asking us if we wanted to go and I saw it as a way to reward myself just before university. I thought: "I'm going to work hard for the next four years, so why not go for one last holiday?"
Because of our financial background, my mum tends not to reward us even when we do well. So I encourage myself to work harder and do better in future with a reward.
Q: What's your retirement plan?
I will continue to diversify my investments according to what I believe is ideal for me - one portion will be in equities, one in bonds and another portion will be in insurance and property.
That is an ideal kind of diversification.
I don't think I want to retire at all. Eventually, I'd want to own my own business and I'd want to continue running it for as long as possible. I enjoy being involved in financial-related matters so I don't see a need for myself to retire.
Q: Home is now...
A four-room HDB flat.
Q: I drive...
I don't see a point in having a car. It's a depreciating asset. With the limited amount of money I have now, I'd rather get property than buy a car. Taking the train now is sometimes much faster than driving.
Worst & best bets
Q: What is your worst investment to date?
Otto Marine, which is an offshore marine company. It seemed like it was doing pretty well, so I went in just based on that.
It was one of my biggest mistakes as the industry is declining. There's an oversupply in the market and it wasn't winning orders and debts were increasing. These were all the red flags for fundamental analysis.
I made a loss of 30 per cent to 40 per cent, but thanks to diversification, I didn't lose everything I had. The share price went down from 30 cents to less than 10 cents.
The company held a lot of rights issues and kept getting money from investors, which kept diluting the share price, which went down a lot. It's a lesson learnt.
Q: What is your best investment to date?
Education. I've seen how you can progress in life with an education. There are more opportunities, be it academic, external or to do with employment. I've seen how, when there is a candidate from a prestigious school and another from a lesser-known school, like me, the attention usually goes to the former.
Equity-wise, one was mushroom supplier Yamada Green Resources, an S-chip. I liked what I saw from the financial statements.
I went in at about 30 cents, and it went further down. I didn't dare to buy more, and questioned my analysis. I was almost going to give up when (billionaire investor) Sam Goi bought in, and it shot up 130 per cent in a day.
I made a 30 per cent gain. If you average that out across two years, it's a 15 per cent gain, which is still considered decent.
This article was first published on November 23, 2014.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.