From his childhood to his teen years, ML lived the good life. From designer sportswear, to his own car at the age of 21, it seemed like his family fortune could only grow. But his father kept a secret from the family: for several years, a portion of their wealth had come from loan shark activities; and it eventually landed his father in jail. Here’s ML’s story, along with how he rebuilt his family’s finances:
An innocuous single-digit millionaire, with an exciting background
At first glance ML, who prefers not to disclose his name due to the nature of this story, doesn’t appear well-off. If you ever run into him, he’s probably in Bermudas and sandals, and sipping the-kosong in a coffee shop.
But behind his relaxed appearance, ML is a talented investor who can talk for days about bond yields, zero-coupon bonds, perps, and the various fixed income instruments that consumes his interest. It’s a complete U-turn from his youth, when ML says that:
“I used to be very sheltered and didn’t think about money. I was the typical RMS, rich man’s son, who had everything given to me. I had a lot of pipe dreams; I wanted to be a tennis pro, so my parents spent thousands on dollars on trainers, tennis camps in the US, where I would go every long holiday,
After that I wanted to be a musician, so again, thousands of dollars spent on vocal coaches, equipment, and clothes for performances. Then I got into racing and cars, and so forth. But the thought of how I was getting the money to do it never once crossed my mind.”
This was because ML’s father was more than able to provide, having started off as a successful car salesman, and then expanded into owning workshops:
“My dad was a very successful car salesman; in fact he was a very talented sales guy overall, I realise that now. He made enough to start a workshop with three or four friends, and he used his contacts in dealerships and past clients to grow their business very quickly.
He was a very hard worker, 12 or 13 hours a day, seven days a week. He really did earn his money, and he managed to do it in a very short time.
Because around the 1980’s, Singapore was modernising, and the economy was booming. I think if your readers are older, they will know auto-sales was a real jackpot business at that time. Some car salesmen made more money than bankers.”
Wealth without financial literacy
ML says that, in hindsight, he realises his father had a fatal flaw:
“My dad knew how to sell. He knew how to work and earn money. But he didn’t have financial literacy, or grasp the proper ways to conduct business. In his mind, avoiding lawyers, insurers, accountants, were all ways of being ‘smart’ and saving money.”
This led to a terrible and unnecessary decision. At some point in his business, ML’s father was approached by a relative, who came up with an idea: they would start up a moneylending service, particularly targeting people who wanted to buy cars, but couldn’t afford to do so.
“It started as a sort of ‘in-house’ financing,” ML says, “For people who needed money to buy cars, or who needed to borrow money for car servicing and other such things. Of course it was illegal, but I believe my dad is honest when he says he didn’t know.
Like I said, he is a guy with street smarts but not book smarts. He never even signed any paperwork, talked to any lawyers, nothing.”
ML says the worst part of all this was “how stupid and unnecessary” it was, as his father’s business would have done better without this element.
In fact, the moneylending turned out to be extremely unprofitable, and a source of constant stress to his father. As you might imagine, anyone unable to secure a bank loan was a bad risk, and many borrowers defaulted.
The cracks began to show
At this point in his life, ML says he began to sense something was wrong.
He had previously wanted for nothing: ML had his own car by the age of 21 (eight months before he even got his license, during which he drove it secretly in the parking lot, under supervision).
He had a collection of watches, a small private apartment (originally meant for rental but he ended up living in it), and in his own words, “ridiculous amounts of designer wear.”
But at the age of 26, ML’s father began to nag at him to get a job. (ML had worked before, but these were sporadic jobs that never lasted).
He also noticed his father cutting back on his allowance, and in quiet discussions with his mother, would ask about selling the private apartment.
“Eventually I found out the problem was too many debtors running away. And to make it worse, our relative who started the lending side of the business also absconded with the money. My dad was answerable to his former partners was the losses.”
ML believes this was when his father turned to debt-collectors of the unlicensed variety. He would give them a percentage of whatever moneys they were able to recover.
“My dad became secretive, uncommunicative, and very stressed all the time. This was also around the time he suffered a heart attack, and needed heart bypass surgery.”
ML says that he and his mother knew for sure something went wrong, when she asked whether he would show ML the ropes.
“He always had an excuse for not telling us more about the business. As a young man I was quite hurt, because he wouldn’t let me work with him; I thought he felt I was very lousy and untrustworthy. My mum also couldn’t understand why he was so closed.”
ML believes that, at this point, his father’s main business had been eclipsed by illegal moneylending activities.
A temporary reprieve, then a disaster
ML says that for a period of a few years, the family business did seem to do better, although he remained unaware of the real reason.
As ML had taken on a new job as a marketing executive, he failed to notice what his father was up to. Or perhaps his father was just extremely skilled at hiding the truth:
“I was immersed in my work as I wanted to prove that I wasn’t a layabout. My family’s hard patch had sobered me up. So I didn’t notice what my dad was up to. Or maybe he was just very subtle and too smart for me to catch anyway, I don’t know.
In any case things were good for a while, so it surprised me when my dad said he was getting out of the car business.”
ML’s father had said he was “looking for new things to do” and was tired of the workshops, which his family accepted. But less than a year after selling the business, ML’s father was arrested.
ML didn’t see what happened. He says:
“I got a call from my mum. She was very calm; she wasn’t crying or anything. She said some police had come to the house, and they had arrested him. Do I know what to do?”
ML asked his work mentor, who was also a close friend and – coincidentally – from the same unit back in his army days.
“He took the day off with me, I was in a daze the whole day. I don’t’ even recall how we ended up talking about law firms, and when I was going to see my dad, I don’t know if I even ate. It was like I was lost in some other dimension; my brain couldn’t accept the reality of what was happening.”
When ML found out his father was involved in loan sharking activities, he immediately sense that it involved his thieving relative, and the whole business with the so-called “car loans”.
“I was so furious that this same thing, this same thing that nearly destroyed us, had managed come back again. It was like a ghost that wouldn’t leave the house.”
ML doesn’t want to reveal more about the case; but he does say that the amounts of money involved were shocking to both him and his mother. He also says the end result – of his father going to jail – was “ruinous” as his father had been the sole breadwinner.
Rebuilding the family wealth
ML supported himself and his mother as best he could, on his marketing job. Rather than collapse, he excelled at his work, as he realised they had no other income.
“I had jolly well not get fired, correct?” ML says.
ML also began to take on side-jobs, mostly involving copywriting. In a fortuitous moment, he responded to a job offer that changed his life.
“I got a text message saying someone needed some copywriting for some sort of financial newsletter thing, and I was about to turn it down. knew nothing about that. But for some reason, maybe divine intervention, something made me reply ‘yes’ and I scheduled a meeting.”
This led to ML meeting his next mentor, a former banker who was starting his own business. The two of them clicked immediately, and within a year ML was working for him full time. Over the next decade, ML went from knowing nothing about finance, to managing his own sizeable portfolio.
ML says that:
“I am still not on the same level as my dad, in terms of what he used to earn legally; but I am at the point where I am comfortably well-off. My dream now is that, one day, I can buy back the landed house we used to stay in; then I will consider myself as having rebuilt the family wealth.”
He says the one lesson he’s learned in life, from his father’s mistakes and his own, is:
“Don’t double down. When something has failed, it has failed. Move on. Don’t make it even worse by going to extreme lengths to try and fix it.
If you trade and you lose, don’t try and ‘take revenge’ by doubling down with bigger risks. If you try something and it doesn’t work, know when to quit and try something else. Otherwise you will turn one mistake into 20 or 30 more mistakes, and it will go from a recoverable to an irrecoverable failure.
Wise men are persistent but fools are stubborn.”
For more stories about single-digit millionaires, and their various life experiences, follow this blog. You can also reach out to us if you have questions or need help.
