About

– A scenic background of paddy field, Gunung Jerai,  Kedah. My playground when I was young.

I remember vividly, I was only a 10-year old boy from a paddy farmer family. One day, my father passed away unexpectedly due to stroke. My siblings and I were all still studying, and my mother was a stay-at-home mom. Imagine the anguish and struggles that we had to endure in that situation. The sole breadwinner gone, bills were piling up, family had to depend on a small paddy land rental income, mom couldn’t work because she had to take care of three young children…the list goes on.

When we grew up and all that was behind us, again, life reminded me of the path I should take. This time, my relatives were squabbling over my grandfather’s estate. Seemingly strong family bonds cultivated over the years break and shatter overnight.

Life is a great teacher. Amidst the financial and emotional turmoil, I saw how crucial it was to plan for the unexpected.

Both were awful experiences, but going through these unfortunate events, I have become a valiant person, able to face any challenge. I didn’t know it back then, but these events had served as my induction to financial planning.

The interest to become a financial planner sparked when I visited Malaysia Insurance Institute (MII) during my university days. Instead of being attracted to traditional financial sales practice, I viewed the financial services industry from a different angle after learning of international professional courses for the financial planner. I was convinced – there were bright prospects for this emerging profession!

Even before I graduated, in a naive stage without knowing much about the outside world, I set my life goal to own a business after three years of employment in science or engineering field.

I got a job after graduation with the advantage of my dissertation in Artificial Intelligence (AI) project at its seed stage, as most people do, but soon, I realised that employers were quick to match the job to paper qualifications instead of our passion and interest. It didn’t take me long to lose interest in employment… and embark on my first step towards my own business and in this financial planning practice.

” Every struggle in your life has shaped you into the person you are today. So be thankful for the hard times, they can only make you stronger.” ~Richard Gere

On 15th February 1998, I bravely embarked into financial planning practice. The industry was in its infancy stage. Incidentally, I was also an “infant” in the Klang Valley, having only settled here four months before.

At the beginning, I joined the Financial Planning Programme (FPP) set up by AIA with its training partner Arthur Anderson. I gained a good foundation for my financial planning practice there. Insurance and estate planning became my starters to this practice, while my life experience and belief were the impetus to push me through the ebb and flow in this journey.

As I tread the journey of financial planning, I soon realised that financial planning would not be complete without investment and retirement planning. It was in year 2005 that I found the profound method of investment planning through association with CIMB Wealth Advisor Financial Care Centre (FCC). From there, I began to adopt holistic financial planning as my core service to my clients.

With the passion to become a true financial planner to serve my clients, I pursued the professional qualification Certified Financial Planner, CFP, in 2003. I was amongst the earliest batch of certificants in Malaysia. Subsequently, with the introduction of Islamic financial planning, I pursued further to become an Islamic Financial Planner (IFP) in 2010.

” Financial Planning is the process of meeting your life goals through the proper management of your finances. Financial Planning provides direction and meaning to your financial decisions. It allows you to understand how each financial decision you make affects other areas of your finances. ” ~Financial Planning Standard Board

However, to truly run my practice as a financial planner is not easy when the environment does not permit. The traditional tied agency model and exclusive association to principal was still very much the game of the financial service industry.

I was frustrated with the constraints that I faced when giving independent financial advice to my clients within this model. I realised that my ability to help my clients was limited to the financial solutions I could provide within this tied agency model and constant sales push from principals.

Then, came the spark of lightning which illuminated the dark forest.

Regulators in Malaysia began to introduce licensing for independent financial planning firm practice. Without a second thought, I grabbed the opportunity to break away from traditional practice to become truly independent.

On 1 January 2010, I became of the Practice Director of Standard Financial Planner Sdn Bhd (before it revolutionised itself to become Standard Financial Adviser Sdn. Bhd. and subsequently to today’s UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors Sdn. Bhd.) This was a model that could provide me with the infrastructure that would support my independence as a Licensed Financial Planner with Securities Commission, Financial Adviser Representative with Bank Negara Malaysia, Corporate Unit Trust Adviser (CUTA) Representative and Corporate Private Retirement Scheme Adviser Representative registered with the Federation of Investment Managers Malaysia (FIMM).

” Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm. ” ~ anonymous

After many years of practice experience, I noticed that some clients cannot manage their finances according to their plans. “Why do they become irrational in their financial decisions and management even though they have charted their financial strategies in their financial plan with much deep research done?”

I took years to realise that it requires more than just analysis and the right financial solutions to fill the gap in achieving our life goals. Instead, it requires the ability to understand the client’s behaviour and attitude toward financial matters. In other words, financial planning involves more than just analytical research and product suitability.

This has motivated me to research on psychology and behavioural economics to help clients to achieve their life goals with the optimal wealth management strategy. Since then, I have written several articles related to behavioural economics and financial planning in Bursa Marketplace  and various media.

With this maturity in the financial planning practice, I realise that clients are pursuing towards psychological security in attaining their life goals rather than merely relying on financial strategies in pursuit of financial freedom. Financial Serenity , a direction that I am upholding, will offer more meaningful strategies toward our life goals in times of life and economic challenges in this era.