3 days ago, I was talking to my brother about properties – business, tenancy, investments and all, in particular we talked about the first industrial property purchase which we had just collected the keys to.
And suddenly he shot me a question – Would you have done it without papa? His meaning, would I have achieved what I have achieved today (being able to purchase this property) without my father?
For the benefit of those who didn’t know, since young, my family operates a small F&B business and over time, my father managed to buy his own shop to operate his business.
At that point of time, I didn’t quite know how to answer. But now that I’m relaxing in a hotel room and have some time to spare, I thought maybe I should share and clarify some “myths” that is apparently in my brother’s mind.
So to my dear brother, I lay no claim nor credit over what papa has achieved in his prime years with our mother. I also give my thanks that I’m fortunate enough to be exposed to a business environment since young, learning the F&B trade especially. You really won’t be able to see the impact this environment has on a person (which in our case, is us) until you take the time, sit down and talk to people. This is when you’ll realise, how many people out there in the market is still ‘ignorant’. Let me clarify ‘ignorant’ as in some are happy employees without being aware of their choices they have or are making. Some know their choices and want to start their own business, but didn’t know what to do. Some want to be in the F&B line in particular but the lack of knowledge halts them.
Having said the above, my answer to your question ‘whether without papa, would I have been able to achieve what I have achieved today’ is – Without papa, I would have achieved more. Much more.
Maybe you had it easier – having the existing shop to start off your business from. But the shop that we have now was the results of my fights over the years. One that I fought hard to protect.
You may never understand how much I have been through to get the family to where we are today nor remember the efforts I’ve put in nor understand the impact of all my actions. And how much he had drained me. And how he left me bled dry. Or maybe one day you will. Just like how you couldn’t agree with some things that kor kor and me has done in the past but today, I see you doing the same.
..Papa has already lost what he had built up over the years back then, not long after our mother passed away. I was the one who fought hard to preserve what was left. I was the one who helped to slow down the financial damage first. And I was the one who supported the whole family financially plugging all those holes all those years.
In short, I think I earned the right to proudly say this – I was the one who saved and rebuilt his empire today and achieved what we have today.
And how did I do all this? With nothing except a belief, my expertise in money management, a salary from a job and most importantly, a learning attitude.
Papa’s empire was the efforts between him and our mother if you haven’t realise, not just his alone. And maybe somewhere deep in my unconsciousness, my belief that mama would only want her efforts to be passed down and shared equally among the three of us that kept my fighting spirits up all those times to protect what rightfully belongs to our family and not to anybody else.
It’s really irony that having came from such a family background and having such entrepreneur brothers, I remain a salaried employee today.
But the point I want to share from having said so much is, it is possible to start building your dream even if your only source of income is from a salaried job. The crux lies in combining it with proper money management.
Proper money management is one of the things close to my heart and that I manage very well on. And this is the main motivation behind this blog because it hurts me to see many people out there, including our father, getting into trouble simply because they didn’t manage their money well. Not forgetting the issues it gives the closest family members. We experienced the frustrations for ourselves firsthand.
Looking back, I don’t know how I achieved all these. I probably wouldn’t have believed I achieved all these if I hadn’t really done them myself.
If there’s something I have to give our father thanks for, is for putting us through such difficult times that I learnt to grow up and learnt how to grow wealth more quickly. Maybe, you are right, without our father, maybe I wouldn’t have learnt to achieve what I have achieved today.
You didn’t believe in going for seminars.
Neither did I..until I was exposed to it. So I do understand your point.
I’m not saying seminar style is suitable for everybody. And yes, I agree I can always learn the information myself without having to pay someone else for it. But looking back again, what I’ve learnt and done over the last 4 years is something I’d not have been able to complete in only 4 years or ever thought to learn if I were to only learn it on my own. And this is your favourite – I’m exchanging my money for my time.
But no matter how it is, remember, never stop learning. Education is important. The right education. Be open and always generate ideas. And while we are at this, also don’t forget that I love you, brother. ^o^
Putting aside what the family has given me or what I have achieved for the family. Let me share how I progressed with only a salary.
The achievements come with sacrifices. The million dollar question therefore is, how much are you willing to give in order to receive? Personally, I gave up a lot of comforts in life.
Probably like many other people, I started with deposits. While I still remained very much risk averse, I grew hungry. And started looking for more and learnt new stuff.
My first investment took me a few thousand dollars, maybe $3000? That’s not hard to achieve, isn’t it?
From one investment of a few thousand, I went on to a few investments of a few thousand. Simple?
Some of my investments were riskier alternative investments. In some investments, I was lucky with my returns and in a few unfortunately, I fell for scams and lost my hard-earned money. Don’t forget I lost money in failed business as well as dragged down by the family debts.
In case you do not know, there are telltale signs to scam investments. I also hope to be able to share these in my blog as well.
And then I started spending on learning and developing myself personally. I couldn’t really see the benefit as I move along but I do enjoy learning a lot. But after 4 years and I look back, I realised I’ve actually moved a whole lot!
And that’s how from a few investments of a few thousands, I went on to one investment of many thousands or property investments.
(I subsequently used my knowledge to something bigger and enable the family to own 2 properties but that’s a separate matter from my personal one.)
Anyway, I guess you should get the idea by now.
Time is a precious commodity.
In today’s context, if you are an average income white collar worker, it shouldn’t be that hard to save $10,000 in a year to start building up your portfolio. By the time you work and reach my age, it’s not impossible to see a 6-digit in your bank account. Most people would have that as a benchmark average. Some people will reach there faster, some slower. If you are able to save more, good. If less, just save it!
