“Remisier King” Peter Lim’s words

‘I’m not a pessimist, but this is how I see it. That’s why at the end of a bull market, you see a new generation coming up. Because all the old ones die. Now and then, you see one of those who stays – then he becomes a legend. And if you observe those legends, most of the time, they spend their time scolding people: ‘don’t gear, don’t gamble’.’

‘A lot of people get it wrong. When the bull market is here, they build debts. Bull market is the time to build cash. Because today’s market turns very quickly. When the market turns, you cannot sell, especially for the property market. You can only sell when things are going up.

‘So I always tell my friends: ‘Make sure you stay alive. The market won’t die, so there’s always a next time.’

‘Up to a point after people tell you a story and a vision, don’t write it off. Sometimes it comes true. You just make sure that if it doesn’t come true, you don’t get hurt too much,’ he said.

The most important factor to consider when investing in a company is the person running it; you look at whether the person is honest, and whether he or she is master of their trade.

‘It works. It’s a tested method of assessing companies,’ Mr Lim said.

On growing old and mortality

 “Once you are old, every year makes a lot of difference. Your lease gets shorter, there’s no extension. You go, you go.

Some of my school mates have passed away. So once you start to see all these things, your perspective on life becomes more measured, more considered.”

Wealth

Money is a funny thing. When you don’t have it, you want it. But when you have it, you have a lot of problems. I believe that if I’d had no money, I wouldn’t have had my divorce. Things wouldn’t be good, but it wouldn’t end up in a divorce.

Those who succeed must pass it on

“I think it’s very likely (that) a big part of my wealth will be directed towards education. It will be either a straight donation towards assisting educational institutions or maybe I’ll set up a foundation.

Education must be cheap and accessible to anyone. For me, I was the son of a fishmonger, but I could still go to the best school. I had the opportunity to make money. There’s no discrimination. I think this policy of meritocracy actually works. It’s very fair and nobody can complain.”

After a point, money doesn’t translate to a better life

“It’s no different from what it was before I had the money. It makes no difference after a point. Like what they say, you can only talk louder. You can only eat so much and fly so many trips.

Money lets you enjoy a lot of things, but I don’t think I’ll die without money.

I don’t think I’m eating a lot better than when I was a lot poorer than now. I don’t really go for very special kinds of food. I’m still very local. I like my mee siam, mee rebus and lontong.”

Accept the good and bad with equanimity

“When you are holding stocks, if it goes up, don’t be too happy; when it goes down, don’t be too sad. Otherwise, how? Your life will also be fluctuating and you’ll die of a heart attack.

If you really lose sleep over it, maybe the best way is to keep the money in the bank.”

Fortune is 90% hard work, 10% providence

“This size — substantially, it’s your destiny. If today I have $10 million, I’d say over 90 per cent is due to my hard work. But getting it right is not $1 billion. Maybe it’s $100 million. How that $100 million becomes $1 billion, you know it’s because somebody likes you. You must believe it’s somehow a path that’s been drawn.”

Growing old

Once you are old, every year makes a lot of difference. Your lease gets shorter, there’s no extension. You go, you go.

Death

Some of my school mates have passed away. So once you start to see all these things, your perspective on life becomes more measured, more considered.

Making money

It’s very difficult to make money from trading. People who get rich are those who buy a company, build it, run it. Most of the traders, they come, they make money, because they have this gambling instinct. They take the money and spend it. The minute they lose money, they got no money to pay up.

The next downturn

Today’s bull run can get cut short by a number of things. Just like our recent experience with Sars, or a bomb drops on the wrong person’s head. Like anything else, the least expected thing can happen at the wrong time. I got a feeling the next downturn will be very severe.

– Peter LIM