20k/month@26 years old(Sunday life today)
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Anyone read the article too?
of the 26 banking and finance graduate who earns 20k a month? and more than 8k a month while he was still schooling at ntu.
Anyone from the industry can tell me whether ALL the banking and finance graduates earn such sick pay?
Or is the average and median pay much lower?Not that I'm terribly interested in banking and finance because I'm a born engineer, but definitely super curious!
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He saves $16k out of his $20k pay each month
Financial adviser Eugene Soo makes regular investments and his unit trust portfolio reaps annual returns of 20%
Sunday Times, The (Singapore)
Invest
March 16, 2008
Author: Lorna Tan, Finance Correspondent
MR EUGENE Soo, 26, has barely worked for two years since graduating from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) with a degree in business administration in 2006. But he is already earning an income that is surely the envy of both young as well as old graduates.
A licensed financial adviser representative with Professional Investment Advisory Services, his gross monthly income exceeds $20,000 a month. This includes his own sales commissions and overriding commissions of his team of 40 advisory representatives.
His interest in the field of personal finance was ignited when he signed up for a banking and finance diploma at Nanyang Polytechnic and found himself topping his cohort in the first year.
'I found out that I was inclined towards finance and numbers...and that spurred my interest in investing,' he recalled.
At NTU, he was the president of its Investment Interactive Club where he had a hand in organising talks and competitions to improve the financial literacy of students.
Before long, he was itching to join the real world of investing and eventually took the plunge in his final year at the university by joining a financial advisory firm as an advisory representative.
That year, he qualified for the Million Dollar Round Table - an international, independent association of the world's most successful life insurance and financial services professionals - and was earning $8,000 to $10,000 a month. This was on top of his other income from giving tuition and running a mobile motorbike washing business which he had set up in his polytechnic days. He joined his current firm in September last year.
'I enjoy what I do. Helping people to grow their finances and giving them advice gives me satisfaction and drives me to want to excel,' he said.
His advice to young people is that they should start planning early as the most important factor in growing one's wealth is not how much you have, but how long you have to grow your money.
'Make it a habit to save and the desire to own something, be it an asset, material stuff, or your dreams. Aim for something in life. Never wait for an emergency before realising the importance of planning early,' he said.
Q What are your money habits?
A I used to be a spender when I was in school and when I first started work. I spent almost all that I earned. I would save for something and one big purchase would wipe out my savings.
But I am now a saver and I save close to 80 per cent of my income for long-term goals. I pay cash most of the time and use credit cards only if there is an interest-free payment tied with the purchase.
Q What financial planning have you done for yourself?
A About 15 per cent of my investments are in investment-linked insurance products (ILPs), while 75 per cent are in a unit trust portfolio which I started in my polytechnic days. The balance is in stocks.
My unit trust portfolio comprises 100 per cent equities, mainly in commodities and Asia-Pacific funds. It is also mainly in high-risk sectors because I am building it on a long-term basis.
I monitor it on a weekly basis and it has generated an annual return of 20 per cent.
Q What about insurance planning?
A I have mainly term plans, a whole life plan and ILPs. I am covered for $500,000 on my life. Annual premiums come up to around $5,500.
Get a foundation plan like a whole life and enhance it with a term cover in your prime years. The advantage of a basic whole life plan is that it locks in the premiums at an early age and still gives a cash value when you surrender it in your later years.
Q What's your investment philosophy?
A I believe in dollar-cost averaging over a long period of time. I have been in the market since my polytechnic days and have been pumping in regular investment amounts using my salary from part-time work.
Over the past few years, there were many uncertainties and events that adversely impacted the returns of my portfolio. But by constantly investing into the market, I was able to average out my cost as I am able to buy equities more cheaply when the markets are down.
Overall, this helped me to achieve decent positive returns that outdo the returns of savings accounts.
Q What businesses have you gone into?
A I have a passion for motorbikes, which was how I got the idea for a mobile motorbike washing business. This was set up during my polytechnic days and it generated close to $6,000 a month, excluding exam periods.
I went to condominiums and offered washing, waxing and polishing services to motorbike owners. Now, I still get assignments from clients, which I pass on to my friends. I intend to expand the business once I find time off from my busy schedule.
I have also bought and sold motorbikes. It started out quite by accident when I was surfing the Internet and saw a cheap buy. I spotted the opportunity and made the transaction. It is possible to make up to 40 per cent profit, which amounts to about $2,500 a bike from such transactions.
When at NTU, I ventured into event planning, such as organising company dinners, which was very lucrative. The business involved securing deals and coordinating with different suppliers.
Q Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like?
A I live in a four-room flat in Aljunied with my parents and sister. My father is a stockbroker, and when I was young, I witnessed how exciting watching the daily teletext could be. My mum is a housewife.
I was taught from a young age to earn money to get the things that I wanted. I did not have many toys or video games and most of the items were hand-me-downs from an older cousin.
My mum, who is a saver, used to take me to different banks every week just to deposit $10 or $20 into my accounts. 'Without $10, you think you will have $100?' she always said.
Q What's your retirement plan?
A I intend to retire before 50 and achieve a passive income of $20,000 a month. I hope to own properties in Australia and travel there often to relax.
My nest egg will be a lump sum of money invested into different asset classes such as properties for rental income, shares, unit trusts and a high guaranteed single premium plan.
Q And your car is...?
A A white Honda Integra. I bought it just before I graduated from NTU with my own money.
[email protected]
Copyright, 2008, Singapore Press Holdings Limited -
banks make money from people's money.....
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wahhh
my saliva dripping ...
sad.. i am 26 but i am earning em 10percent oni
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money money money
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omg
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gf one very happy woman.
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Banking and finance! Dammit.
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He already started a successful business since poly time. So his high earning power already decided many years ago.
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These are the successful ones... I recall there's one dude who posted in sgForums about this and only earning a measly sum of money...
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in econs, dat is called superscale pay right? (sorry ar, correct me if i am wrong)
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Originally posted by wonderamazement:
These are the successful ones... I recall there's one dude who posted in sgForums about this and only earning a measly sum of money...
A dude who made it into the million dollar round table and earns measly amts?? -
Currently, there are some jobs which easily earn more money than say doctors and lawyers. Some of these are property agents, bankers and chief engineers.
In fact, some property agent earn the most. Their commission from the units they sold can easily earn them 30-40k per month on a good month. That's why there are a lot of first class honours grads who simply give up on their major and just go into property.
Chief engineers are paid a lot but they probably will be quite old before they can become old.
Bankers have the benefits of working with top investors. I have a friend who is a banker and grad from NTU 24 yo. His salary is of course basic + commission based. He probably can earn 8k easily on a good month. With all the money he earned, he invested a lot on unit trusts. Unit trusts are godly stocks for layman investors...to be continued
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not everyone who go thru the same thing as him can be like him....
eerr.... geddit? -
Originally posted by FireIce:
not everyone who go thru the same thing as him can be like him....
eerr.... geddit?
X2.The banking industry is not as rosy as some paint it out to be. There are sum grads out there who cant even find a banking job, having to cross over to some other sectors.
If u wanna earn a keep like him, u gotta haf the talent, perserverance and skills. From what i see, that guy himself is quite a capable one, starting a biz since he was in his poly days and having a decent portfolio since then.
Not all who grad with a biz degree earns 5 figure sum a month pluuuueezzzee. Just like not all harvard drop outs own a MNC like Gates.
U haf to be the cream of the crop to get to that level. a fren of mine was offered 13k a month as a fresh grad becoz he is one of a kind in terms of his capability, intelligence and passion for finance.
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Originally posted by FirePig:
Bankers have the benefits of working with top investors. I have a friend who is a banker and grad from NTU 24 yo. His salary is of course basic + commission based. He probably can earn 8k easily on a good month. With all the money he earned, he invested a lot on unit trusts. Unit trusts are godly stocks for layman investors...to be continued
Wad a term. if there are such godly stocks and sure win situation, no one will work already. They will all just invest in these godly stocks.
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The problem with capitalist societies is that there are too few capitalists.... How many grads at his age are flipping burgers or drive a taxi? Why ST never report that group which of course is ever larger and growing?
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This guy is the govt's nightmare......saves 80%!
Here comes the Paradox of Thrift!
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It's rare to be earning more than 10k in that age group, it's even more rare to save more than 50% if you have that earning capacity in our consumer society.. Let's have a heart and not boast about the young high income earners when most people old enough to be his parents cannot even make ends meet
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Hahaha...he's just practising what Rich dad, poor dad and The Richest Man in Babylon taught.
He's building his asset column and reducing liabilities column.
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This guy is a salesman.
If you are good at selling anything, you'll make tons of money.
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Originally posted by onlooker123:
This guy is a salesman.
If you are good at selling anything, you'll make tons of money.
Yes, you are right. He's a financial advisor who sells finance related products. He can be selling underwear or luxury goods and he will still make it in life due to his skills, etc. He has that special ability among the thousands of ordinary salesmen do not have.
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Read the article this morning.
Its not even the finance industry that pays him the bulk of the 20k a month. He started up his own motorbike washing business and branched out into events planning when he was studying at NTU. On top of that, any spare time he had was spent teaching tuition. Kudos to this young hardworking fella!
By the time he graduated and started working, he had most probably accumulated a sizeable amout of money to build a portfolio which he constantly invested upon with his savings through dollar-costs averaging, thus contributing to his monthly income through these passive sources of income.
Leave it to the media to hype up the finance industry as usual through such attention-grabbing headlines.
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its not howmuch u got. its how u get more . heh
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hes my ou xiang...
hw i wish i can be his friend last time, den prob i can be as ambitious as him
coz u noe, when u got hardworking friends, u tend to be hardworking urself