STI: Foodie can't stomach risks

April 5, 2009

me & my money

Foodie can't stomach risks

Moses Lim keeps most of his money in cash and invests the rest in his food business

By Lorna Tan

 

Many foodies would want to trade places with gourmet host and former TV compere and comedian Moses Lim.

 

After all, he has been leading gourmet tours to different parts of the world since 1993.

 

In addition, he runs his own gourmet club which has 400 members currently. Membership is by invitation and members are invited to attend food events regularly and go on his tours.

 

Mr Lim, 60, is also a food critic for the annual Hospitality Asia Platinum Awards organised by Malaysia-based World Asia Publishing. All this means his calendar is packed with food-tasting sessions.

 

As for his showbiz career, he is most famous for his leading role in the weekly Channel 5 sitcom Under One Roof in the 1990s. Prior to that, he co-hosted Comedy Night on Channel 8 with Jack Neo, who has become a popular film-maker.

 

Mr Lim also hosted food programmes on TV and radio and, before he knew it, was invited to comment on food and be a food taster by organisations like the Hong Kong Chefs Association. It led to him starting Moses Lim Global Gourmet Tours in 1993.

 

His entertainment career started when he won the second prize in an amateur compere contest in 1969. He was 19 then.

 

In 1970, he graduated with a commerce diploma from Ngee Ann Polytechnic. His first job was in a travel firm which lasted a few months. He then joined his father, who co-owned an auto spare parts business, for several years. In 1978, he started his firm, ML Promotions & Marketing, which initially dealt with promotions and company souvenirs.

 

He is married to Taiwan-born Monica Seow, 54, and they have two daughters, Grace, 31, and Angela, 30. Grace has a daughter, Cheryl, who is 18 months old.

 

Q: Are you a spender or saver?

 

Because of the influence of my mother, I'm definitely a saver. Furthermore, my lifestyle is very simple. I don't smoke or drink and I don't like the nightlife. I used to save as much as 60 to 80 per cent of my income. I consider myself semi-retired, so I don't have a monthly savings target.

 

Q : How much do you charge to your credit cards every month?

 

I have four credit cards from two banks. I charge below $5,000 a month to my cards and I pay in full every month. I carry about $200 to $400 cash with me. I don't go to the ATM. My wife does and I ask her for cash when I need it.

 

Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?

 

Investing must go hand in hand with one's life cycle. If I were younger, I could invest more aggressively. But at this stage, no. The last thing I want now is to worry about my investments. So I've about 90 per cent in cash with the balance invested in my business.

 

I have a portfolio of Singapore stocks that I had bought from when I was 39 to about 50. The value is now halved to $100,000 because of the economic crisis. I also believe in insurance. Some of the insurance plans have matured. Now, I'm left with one whole life policy with an assured sum of $100,000.

 

Q: Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like?

 

I'm the eldest in a family of six. My father had already started his import-export business in auto spare parts and my mother was a teacher.

 

My money habits come from observing how my mum handled the family budget. She is very thrifty. We lived in a shophouse in Opal Crescent along MacPherson Road and later moved to a terrace house in Serangoon Gardens estate.

 

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

 

When I was 39, I started dabbling in shares because of my friends' encouragement but I was doing it the wrong way. I bought shares not based on firm knowledge but on rumours and tips. I stopped trading shares actively 10 years later when I realised my mistakes and didn't have the time to learn about the stock market.

 

Q: What property do you own?

 

I don't own any property now. I owned an apartment in Bukit Timah in the 1980s but sold it after three years.

 

Q: What's the most extravagant thing you have bought?

 

It was a pearl necklace for my wife. This was almost 10 years ago when we were at a pearl factory in Japan. I bought it for almost $7,000.

 

Q: What's your retirement plan?

 

I consider myself semi-retired. I enjoy what I do. My main activities are to lead gourmet tours around the world three to five times a year, as well as to participate in food promotions at different hotels. I'm a food critic so I get to eat free almost daily.

 

I also give motivation talks at firms, schools and churches, where I share my life experiences. My business does not require me to invest money, just my time and experience. Though I'm not earning a big sum, I'm very happy with my life.

 

Q: Home is now...

 

An 8,000 sq ft double-storey bungalow in Bukit Timah. I live here with my mum, wife, daughter, my brother and his family, and my sister. My father bought it in the late 1960s for about $90,000. Back then the land area was 20,000 sq ft, but part of it was reclaimed by the Government for road widening and part of it was sold to a businessman in the mid-1980s.

 

The proceeds of several hundred thousand dollars went to my mum.

 

Q: I drive...

 

I was driving a Mercedes-Benz 200 for more than 10 years but I'm currently driving a Toyota Camry 2.4.

 

BEST AND WORST BETS

 

Q: What has been a bad investment?

 

I invested in a culinary school in the mid-1990s but it folded due to bad management in the following year. Together with a few partners, we carelessly became 'sleeping' directors. I lost a total of $200,000.

 

Q: And your best investment?

 

I bought a 1,000-plus sq ft walk-up apartment at Bukit Timah in the early 1980s and sold it after three years, making a gain of more than $100,000.