Life is not just making money, busy with work or investment, there is a higher level meaning for life.
Today, I have decided to take a break before the busy 6-day Ein55 investment class in April, trekking for 4km along the coast-to-coast trail from Punggol, passing by Kampung Lorong Buangkok, the last kampung or village in Singapore. I visited here with family about 10 years ago when children were still small, deciding to visit there again. I notice some changes around the Kampung (new constructions) but the 26 houses in the Kampung are frozen by time, little changes in my memory, as if going back to kampung time when I was small.
I saw a group of young children with teachers (see photo), listened to sharing by Head of Kampung (co-owner of land), Madam Sng. For younger generation born in city forest, many may not understand what is kampung, the slow pace of living at low cost of living which is rarely found.
I have a chance to chit chat with Madam Sng for about 1 hour to understand the changes in Kampung so far. There are 26 household and 1 mosque in the kampung, some have been staying 3-4 generations there, only paying rental of about $5 to $10 per month (not a typo, if you compare with a few thousands per month of rental for 1 house outside the kampung in Singapore).
I knew about the story of Madam Sng family many years ago, her father bought the land in 1956, after passed away about 20 years ago, leaving the kampung to 4 children (the youngest child, Madam Sng still stays there to manage the kampung). No matter how much is the offer by property developers (last reported “valuation” in 2007 was $33 millions, now could be higher), Sng family refuses to sell, main reason is they want to preserve the spirit of kampung, a valuable heritage for family or even entire nation, something could not be exchanged with money.
The Sng family has kind hearts, helping many other poor families for the past 60 years. Some people may think they are fool for not selling the golden asset of land as sometimes we even see cases of some families in Singapore, children going to court to fight for houses left by parents. Heaven loves “fool” with kind heart (remember the story of Forrest Gump?), rewarding higher return through tremendous hidden capital gains of land prices in Singapore. Assuming a moderate return of 10% CAGR (compounding return) for land price in Singapore, over the past 60 years, it has gone up by 300 times in prices naturally. Even the passive incomes from rental is minimal (artificially suppressed 1000 times lower by the Sng family to help the 26 families in Kampung), Sng family is protected by the natural growth rate of land, which is a default giant for investment.
Some may be envy of the tremendous “investment return” of Sng family, do not know that money is considered secondary for them, generations of families links in the kampung with memory of their parents are more important. I am hoping the Kampung Lorong Buangkok could be there as long as possible (not giving way to future development in Singapore), this is an important life lesson for everyone that money is not everything but when one does the right thing, money would come naturally.
The story of Kampung Lorong Buangkok may not be repeated in future as it is almost impossible for an ordinary investors to buy a land at sky high price in Singapore, holding for generations to preserve the value. However, it is still possible to have similar success through stock investment, one could buy stocks with strong fundamental business or undervalue land, best at low market price if mastering the clock to buy during global financial crisis, then possible to hold for generations, long term return could be comparable with Kampung Lorong Buangkok.
You may learn how to do long term investing through stocks with low capital from Dr Tee free 4 hours investment course. A few examples of long term investing stocks with over 10 times potential in future share prices will be shared.
Remember, money is not almighty but one may not live without it outside Kampung Lorong Buangkok. We do not need to work so hard in active jobs to earn from fixed salary which may be uncertain, better to couple with smart investment through stocks to generate passive incomes and capital gains. We just need more than enough money for life, when financial-freedom is achieved, we can find back the genuine love for life, not for money.
