I don't really like what he said about "living it up". I guess it's another phrase for being "ostentatious". $330,000 for a BMW - he seems to feel it's "over the top". I do, too. 
Not too sure about Walton and Land Banking in general. I'd rather stick to equities and bonds!
May 15, 2011
me & my money
Rich pickings from hot plots
Walton International Asia's chairman believes in putting his money into property
By Lorna Tan, Senior Correspondent
Mr Gerald Foo, chairman of land-based investments firm Walton International Asia, puts his money where his mouth is.
Since he joined Walton in 2003, the 57-year-old has invested a total of US$150,000 (S$186,000) in his portfolio of 15 units of land in Canada and the United States, through the firm.
The firm identifies plots of pre-developed land and acquires them with the aim of generating potential returns when these plots become due for development. At that stage, the land value would have risen, which is also when Walton and its customers usually 'exit' from their land investments.
Based on the 38 'exits' that the firm has chalked up in its 31 years since it was set up in 1979, its clients have enjoyed an average annualised return of 28.2 per cent.
The shortest 'exit', or period that the clients had stayed invested before the land was sold and returns realised, was 2.3 years, while the longest was 19 years. This works out to an average investment period of 6.8 years, said Mr Foo.
In his case, he is still waiting to realise his returns as his 15 units of land have not been sold yet.
He joined Walton as a regional trainer in 2003 and after holding various positions in the firm, he was appointed Walton Asia's chairman at the beginning of last year.
Mr Foo obtained his A levels at St Joseph's Institution. He started working in the corporate sector after a six-year stint in the army. He held various jobs, including the position of managing director at the wines and spirits distribution arm of Inchcape.
He left in 1995 to be a corporate trainer and in 1997 he was an account director at Monsoon Advertising. Before joining Walton, he was an editor at Pan Pacific Media.
In 2009, he married businesswoman Heather Seow, who is now 54. It is the second marriage for both of them. They have five sons from their respective previous marriages and they are Alexander, 34, Alan, 32, Nigel, 25, Gareth, 22, and Alvin, 20. They also have two grandchildren, Eva and Ethan, both two years old.
Q Are you a spender or a saver?
I am generally a spender. However, I do set aside at least 10 per cent of my income each month as savings. This is after all my monthly expenses which include household expenses, insurance, car and mortgage payments.
Q How much do you charge to your credit cards every month?
I hold two credit cards: a Visa and an American Express. One is used for personal expenses and the other for company-related expenses.
I charge as much as $10,000 each month and pay off all outstanding balances at the end of the month. I withdraw up to $1,000 every fortnight from the ATM.
Q What financial planning have you done for yourself?
I have a total of nine life insurance policies with a basic sum assured of $1.9 million. The plans include three endowment plans which are paid from my Central Provident Fund savings. Apart from that, my wife and I have a portfolio of land investments with Walton International.
I have also maintained a unit trust portfolio worth about $100,000 with a financial advisory firm since 2009. This helps to provide a modicum of diversity to my overall investment strategy. The unit trusts are mainly invested in global equities with a target return of 8 to 10 per cent per annum.
I also invested in private properties here and in Malaysia. I consider myself a long-term investor. I don't invest in stocks currently as I'm too busy at work to follow the market. I also park my cash in fixed deposits.
Q Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like?
I grew up in a big family with four brothers and four sisters. I am the third child. My father was an internal auditor in a petroleum firm. My mother worked as a stenographer in the British Army and became a housewife when I was 12.
We lived in a two-storey semi-detached house in Thomson but it caught fire in 1967 when the heater exploded. After that, we lived in rented apartments in the Novena area.
Money was certainly hard to come by. To save money, my brothers and I sported crew cuts. We shopped for shoes only once a year during Christmas and by then, the old shoes would have looked like open sandals. School books were hand-me-downs from friends or bought second-hand.
Q How did you get interested in investing?
I started to invest in the stock market back in the 1980s. I was quite successful but it was nothing to rave about. I read countless books on investing in the stock market but somehow, this form of investment just did not appeal to me. Eventually, I decided to put most of my investible funds into residential property and into pre-developed land via Walton International.
Q What property do you own?
In 2007, I bought a three-storey semi-detached house in the East Coast area for $1.4 million. The land size is 2,750 sq ft and the built-up area is about 4,000 sq ft. It is a 99-year leasehold property. I spent close to $250,000 renovating it and it is worth about $2 million today.
A year later, I bought a freehold semi-detached house in the Iskandar Development region in Johor for about RM900,000 (S$371,000). It is a two-storey, four-bedroom house with a built-up area of 4,200 sq ft on a land size of 4,000 sq ft. I spent close to RM200,000 renovating it. It is now worth about RM1.2 million. It is our family weekend home.
My wife owns a 1,700 sq ft three-bedroom condo unit in East Coast which she bought for $650,000 in 1994. The rental yield is 5.9 per cent and the property is worth about $1.2 million.
Q What is the most extravagant thing you have bought?
A grey BMW 7 series that I bought for $330,000 in January. A little over the top, but you only live once. I just don't want to regret in my old age for not having lived it up.
Q What's your retirement plan?
I believe 62 is a good age to retire. By then, there should be no more big-ticket items to manage and life would be a lot simpler.
I reckon I could get by on much less, but I am targeting a monthly retirement figure of about $15,000 for my wife and me to be able to do what we want, including travel and spending time with the grandkids. We have two grandchildren and we're hoping that there'll be more.
Q Home is now....
The three-storey semi-detached house in East Coast.
Q I drive....
The BMW.
lorna@sph.com.
-----------------------------------------------------
WORST AND BEST BETS
Q My worst investment to date...
More than 10 years ago, I bought 100,000 shares of a penny stock at 45 cents apiece, with my Central Provident Fund savings. The investment cost me $45,000 but the shares are now worth only $6,500. I still own the stock but I have written off this investment. This is partly why I have an aversion to investing in the stock market. I got out of the stock market completely in 2008 except for this batch of shares.
Q My best investment to date...
My landed property in Iskandar, Malaysia, which is now worth about RM$1.2 million (S$496,000). I bought it for RM898,000.
My other best investment is Walton land projects where I'm looking at potentially doubling my initial investment.
Not too sure about Walton and Land Banking in general. I'd rather stick to equities and bonds!
May 15, 2011
me & my money
Rich pickings from hot plots
Walton International Asia's chairman believes in putting his money into property
By Lorna Tan, Senior Correspondent
Mr Gerald Foo, chairman of land-based investments firm Walton International Asia, puts his money where his mouth is.
Since he joined Walton in 2003, the 57-year-old has invested a total of US$150,000 (S$186,000) in his portfolio of 15 units of land in Canada and the United States, through the firm.
The firm identifies plots of pre-developed land and acquires them with the aim of generating potential returns when these plots become due for development. At that stage, the land value would have risen, which is also when Walton and its customers usually 'exit' from their land investments.
Based on the 38 'exits' that the firm has chalked up in its 31 years since it was set up in 1979, its clients have enjoyed an average annualised return of 28.2 per cent.
The shortest 'exit', or period that the clients had stayed invested before the land was sold and returns realised, was 2.3 years, while the longest was 19 years. This works out to an average investment period of 6.8 years, said Mr Foo.
In his case, he is still waiting to realise his returns as his 15 units of land have not been sold yet.
He joined Walton as a regional trainer in 2003 and after holding various positions in the firm, he was appointed Walton Asia's chairman at the beginning of last year.
Mr Foo obtained his A levels at St Joseph's Institution. He started working in the corporate sector after a six-year stint in the army. He held various jobs, including the position of managing director at the wines and spirits distribution arm of Inchcape.
He left in 1995 to be a corporate trainer and in 1997 he was an account director at Monsoon Advertising. Before joining Walton, he was an editor at Pan Pacific Media.
In 2009, he married businesswoman Heather Seow, who is now 54. It is the second marriage for both of them. They have five sons from their respective previous marriages and they are Alexander, 34, Alan, 32, Nigel, 25, Gareth, 22, and Alvin, 20. They also have two grandchildren, Eva and Ethan, both two years old.
Q Are you a spender or a saver?
I am generally a spender. However, I do set aside at least 10 per cent of my income each month as savings. This is after all my monthly expenses which include household expenses, insurance, car and mortgage payments.
Q How much do you charge to your credit cards every month?
I hold two credit cards: a Visa and an American Express. One is used for personal expenses and the other for company-related expenses.
I charge as much as $10,000 each month and pay off all outstanding balances at the end of the month. I withdraw up to $1,000 every fortnight from the ATM.
Q What financial planning have you done for yourself?
I have a total of nine life insurance policies with a basic sum assured of $1.9 million. The plans include three endowment plans which are paid from my Central Provident Fund savings. Apart from that, my wife and I have a portfolio of land investments with Walton International.
I have also maintained a unit trust portfolio worth about $100,000 with a financial advisory firm since 2009. This helps to provide a modicum of diversity to my overall investment strategy. The unit trusts are mainly invested in global equities with a target return of 8 to 10 per cent per annum.
I also invested in private properties here and in Malaysia. I consider myself a long-term investor. I don't invest in stocks currently as I'm too busy at work to follow the market. I also park my cash in fixed deposits.
Q Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like?
I grew up in a big family with four brothers and four sisters. I am the third child. My father was an internal auditor in a petroleum firm. My mother worked as a stenographer in the British Army and became a housewife when I was 12.
We lived in a two-storey semi-detached house in Thomson but it caught fire in 1967 when the heater exploded. After that, we lived in rented apartments in the Novena area.
Money was certainly hard to come by. To save money, my brothers and I sported crew cuts. We shopped for shoes only once a year during Christmas and by then, the old shoes would have looked like open sandals. School books were hand-me-downs from friends or bought second-hand.
Q How did you get interested in investing?
I started to invest in the stock market back in the 1980s. I was quite successful but it was nothing to rave about. I read countless books on investing in the stock market but somehow, this form of investment just did not appeal to me. Eventually, I decided to put most of my investible funds into residential property and into pre-developed land via Walton International.
Q What property do you own?
In 2007, I bought a three-storey semi-detached house in the East Coast area for $1.4 million. The land size is 2,750 sq ft and the built-up area is about 4,000 sq ft. It is a 99-year leasehold property. I spent close to $250,000 renovating it and it is worth about $2 million today.
A year later, I bought a freehold semi-detached house in the Iskandar Development region in Johor for about RM900,000 (S$371,000). It is a two-storey, four-bedroom house with a built-up area of 4,200 sq ft on a land size of 4,000 sq ft. I spent close to RM200,000 renovating it. It is now worth about RM1.2 million. It is our family weekend home.
My wife owns a 1,700 sq ft three-bedroom condo unit in East Coast which she bought for $650,000 in 1994. The rental yield is 5.9 per cent and the property is worth about $1.2 million.
Q What is the most extravagant thing you have bought?
A grey BMW 7 series that I bought for $330,000 in January. A little over the top, but you only live once. I just don't want to regret in my old age for not having lived it up.
Q What's your retirement plan?
I believe 62 is a good age to retire. By then, there should be no more big-ticket items to manage and life would be a lot simpler.
I reckon I could get by on much less, but I am targeting a monthly retirement figure of about $15,000 for my wife and me to be able to do what we want, including travel and spending time with the grandkids. We have two grandchildren and we're hoping that there'll be more.
Q Home is now....
The three-storey semi-detached house in East Coast.
Q I drive....
The BMW.
lorna@sph.com.
-----------------------------------------------------
WORST AND BEST BETS
Q My worst investment to date...
More than 10 years ago, I bought 100,000 shares of a penny stock at 45 cents apiece, with my Central Provident Fund savings. The investment cost me $45,000 but the shares are now worth only $6,500. I still own the stock but I have written off this investment. This is partly why I have an aversion to investing in the stock market. I got out of the stock market completely in 2008 except for this batch of shares.
Q My best investment to date...
My landed property in Iskandar, Malaysia, which is now worth about RM$1.2 million (S$496,000). I bought it for RM898,000.
My other best investment is Walton land projects where I'm looking at potentially doubling my initial investment.
