How Tan was inspired to write a book

by **Cals** Sun 13 Sep 2015, 19:36

How Tan was inspired to write a book

Saturday, 12 September 2015
By: P. ARUNA

IN his book Rising Above Financial Storms, founder and chief strategist of Pheim Asset Management Sdn Bhd, Tan Chong Koay (pic) talks about his journey from “kampung boy” to award-winning fund manager.
An easy read, the book details his investment philosophies, fundamental beliefs and how he learnt from mistakes made in investing. He also shares how he handled and bounced back after a crisis, when civil action was commenced against him and his company in 2008 by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
“Through this book, I want to help people handle the challenges of investing.
“I want to inspire young people because I built this company from zero and one of our products became the world’s best,” he said, referring to the company’s award-winning Asean Emerging Companies Fund launched in 1995.
He says the book is not a guide on “how to invest” but would help any investor or potential investor add value to the way things are being done.
His secret, he says, is – a lot of research and also a “sixth sense” about when to sell or buy stocks.
Tan founded Pheim in 1994, and assumed the role of CEO and chief strategist, which he still holds today.
He says he planned to write his book over 15 years ago when the company outperformed the index by 29% in 1998 and by 36% in 1999.
“That was the first time I considered writing a book. In 2010, when Morningstar told me that my Asean fund had ranked number one for 15 years, I considered it again. I found a writer, but it did not work out,” he says.
Then in 2011, he lost the court case and was forced to step down for a year from the Asean fund.
“That year, the company saw its worst performance in the entire lifespan of the fund.”
However, the company bounced back, with the Asean fund awarded the “Best of the Best Performance Award 2013” for the Asean Equity category for the 3-year and 10-year periods ended September 2013.
“We recovered all that we lost and I was very encouraged. The book became a reality soon after,” he says.
Born in Jeniang, a small town in Kedah on Jan 3, 1950, Tan grew up in a village that did not have access to piped water or electricity.
His father was a rubber dealer, rice merchant and tobacco agent.
“My father was a meticulous and hardworking person.
“He wanted to ensure the future was secure for the family and would often remind me to save as much as I could and invest wisely,” he says.
In the book, talking about his early life, Tan attributes his discipline and frugal ways to his mother.
“She would not hesitate to tell me off if she felt I had done something wrong.
“I appreciated this forthrightness and try to be just as forthright in my dealings with my staff.
“Her frugality was premised on a simple truth that she used to repeat to me – you can’t get poorer if you spend less than you earn and you obviously can’t get richer if you spend more than you earn,” he says.
Tan would later juggle part-time jobs to work his way through Western Illinois University, graduating in 1974.
After working for a commercial bank for close to a year, Tan says he knew it was not what he wanted.
He then joined South East Asia Development Corp, an investment holding company.
“I became convinced that fund management would be with me for the rest of my life. I also believed that everyone should learn how to manage one’s funds, even if one does not intend to be a fund manager by profession,” he says in the book.