3 June – Cotton On Parkway – $15

6 June – Heatwave JurongPt – $33.90

15 June – Crystal Jade Kitchen J8 – $26.50

15 June – The Body Shop – $16.90

15 June – Cotton On – $10

16 June – Cotton On – $15

Campus Visa R Classic

24 May – This Fashion Orchard Road – $22

24 May – CHC – $20

31 May – CHC – $20

31 May – CHC – $300

15 June – CHC – $85

15 June – CHC – $50

At 13, he noticed poor fathers watched TV after work, while rich ones read The Wall Street Journal.

Thu, Feb 18, 2010
The Straits Times

By Lorna Tan

In 1995, when he was 18 and still in school, Mr James Sun set up his first investment firm Sun & Associates and invested US$5,000 (S$7,000 at today’s rate) of his savings in popular auction portal eBay.

Six months later, he was looking at a profit of US$150,000.

He then diversified into four technology stocks including AOL, Google and Yahoo, besides eBay.

By the time he was 23, the Korean-American was looking at a portfolio worth US$2.2 million.

‘It was boom time and I rode a good market. I chose some good technology stocks and got really lucky,’ said the entrepreneur and TV host.

He was shrewd too. ‘I took my money off the table before the tech bust in 2001 because the tech stock market was over inflated then.’

It was hard work though. Besides pursuing his full-time degree in computer science and business at the University of Washington, he was putting in 60 hours a week researching his stocks so that he would know them intimately.

‘I treated it like a job. There was no partying. In 1997, people started giving me money to manage. From 1998 to 2000, I was managing US$10 million.’

Mr Sun, 32, graduated in 1999 and joined Deloitte Consulting as a strategy consultant from 2000 to 2002. With a sum of US$2 million, he then set up wireless software firm 3P Networks, which he sold for a profit three years later.

He took a break for 18 months during which time he backpacked around the world, before starting a location search engine GeoPage in 2007 with US$1.5 million. Next on his cards is a hedge fund which will be launched here soon.

Mr Sun, who was the first Asian finalist and runner-up in the hit reality show The Apprentice in 2007, currently appears as a host who provides makeovers to businesses in a BBC TV programme Sun Tzu – War On Business, which Channel News Asia airs every Tuesday at 9.30 pm. He signed up as an artiste with home-grown firm Fly Entertainment last June.

He shuttles between South Korea and the United States. He is married to a Korean-American, 32, who is a community volunteer, and they have two daughters aged five and three.

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Q: Are you a spender or saver?

I’m both a spender and a saver. I don’t like to buy big-ticket items that depreciate quickly, like cars. Obviously, it’s a necessity but I don’t like to trade cars every year. However, I am definitely a spender when it comes to experience and lifestyle. I enjoy travelling, eating out and experiencing a great time with friends. I usually re-invest 80 per cent of what I earn into my stock portfolio or start companies.

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

I charge about US$20,000 every month. I always pay off the bills in full. I don’t withdraw much cash. I go to the ATM weekly and I carry at least a few hundred dollars at any one time.

Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?

I’m very diversified. I own companies, invest in stocks and have multiple real estate holdings. Broadly, I’m 80 per cent in stocks and 20 per cent in real estate. I own US stocks like Apple, Intel and WatchGuard (an online enterprise security firm) and Korean stock LG. I like stocks with good value, year-on-year growth and healthy gross margins. I hold them for at least a year.

I own four companies. After Sun & Associates, I set up New York- and Seattle-based investment bank Sun & Rosencrantz, with a partner, in 2006. The initial investment for this firm, which deals with mergers and acquisitions, was US$100,000. We are looking at a pipeline of US$50 million in deals with a profit of US$5 million this year.

In 2007, I set up online city guide Geo-Page with US$1.5 million. The fourth is an online education firm Living Learning which was set up six months ago in Korea. I set it up with a venture capital firm which invested US$9 million.

I’m the chairman of these firms.

I’m now putting the legal structure in place for a hedge fund here and I plan to raise US$500 million in six months. I’m setting it up with a partner and the set-up cost is US$500,000. When it is set up, I will channel my stock holdings into the fund. My target annual return for the fund is 35 per cent.

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

My family did not have much money when I was growing up. When I was three, my parents, older sister and I emigrated to Texas, US. My father had only US$35. He was an accountant in Korea but he could not speak English. So he worked in various jobs including as a car mechanic before starting a few businesses dealing with auto repairs and homemade pizzas, as well as a beauty salon which my mother managed. We really lived the American Dream through hard work and determination. We lived in a single-storey, three-bedroom house. We didn’t have much money and were thrifty.

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

When I was 13, I noticed a big difference between rich fathers and poor fathers. The poor ones watched a lot of TV after work and the rich fathers read the Wall Street Journal. So, I started reading the Wall Street Journal and tracked stocks. I would watch the stock prices and see the correlation to the news. This was where I truly learnt both the macro and micro effects of events on stock prices.

When I was 18, I started my first investment fund and traded using my own money. The portfolio started with US$5,000 and grew into US$2.2 million by the time I reached 23. In five years, I had built a sizeable amount for a young person.

Q: What property do you own?

Sun & Associates is my real estate holding firm for five properties. They are landed houses in Los Angeles and Seattle – bought in 2005 – and an apartment in Korea which was bought a year later. I live in them. The firm also owns two mixed-use commercial and residential buildings in Seoul and Seattle. They were bought in 2000 and 2005, respectively. I would like to keep the purchase prices and rental yields confidential.

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

I pay for experience. When I’m on vacation, I stay at the nicest place because I’m enjoying it with my family. Last July, I took my parents, an aunt, my sister’s family and mine on a 10-day trip to Hawaii. There were 10 of us. I spent US$50,000.

Q: What’s your retirement plan?

I don’t ever plan on retiring. I told myself that I will always be working. Having said that, working to me means being 100 per cent independent. Even today, I don’t really need to work, but I completely enjoy working. When the kids are independent, my wife and I will need US$20,000 to US$30,000 a month.

I will continue to give back to society. I am already giving 10 per cent of my earnings to charity every year. I’m a board member of three non-profit organisations and I’m actively involved in two more. I plan to give 70 per cent of my wealth to charity and the balance to my kids when I grow old.

Q: My home is…

I have homes in Seoul, Los Angeles and Seattle. We move around.

Q: I drive…

A silver Mercedes C32.

Q: What has been your worst investment to date?

I had US$2 million in biotech stocks from 2000 and my holdings were down 30 per cent a year later when I got out of the sector. I liquidated my tech stocks in 2000, but not my biotech holdings. The main reason for holding on to the biotech sector was that I bought the stocks later.

Q: And your best investment?

It would be investing US$5,000 in tech stocks such as eBay and Intel in 1995 and making US$2.2 million five years later. My best move was to get out of tech stocks in 2000.

Luke 2 : 52 — he grew socially, physically, intellectually, socially, spiritually – in a holistic way

Your totality must have a relationship with God. Grow as an integrated way. Balance.

Spontaneity is also based on structure.

Values protect your thinking. Gives you habits. Values considered most important in life. What you live and die for.

Core purposes guide your activities.

Purpose – will not allow yourself to be distracted.

Need an understanding of growth – how do we grow? we arrive in stages. Also your own design – your gifts, talents, abilities. Growth is holistic. How does it happen? How do I maintain growth?

You have a responsibility to give back.

Exodus 3, Deut 4, Deut 30: 19 — God addresses Moses generationally

You got to think beyond your own expectations. — but this has to do with your self concept.

Psa 90:12 – taking a look at how God responds to people.
“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”

Bible is concentrated truth. Inexhaustible truth. Unpacking it.

Wisdom = skilful use of knowledge for successful living

Success = knowing God, doing righteously, walk humbly, love. Out of this comes material blessing.

Bible is holistic. God looks at us and develops us holistically.

Structure — by having clearly articulated biblical worldview.

You ————— Structure, Growth, Maintain, Transformational Leadership

Choose life, that you and your seed would live.

Know the Lord early so you can map out your life earlier and that God can use you so much more.

“teach us” – (Heb) Yadah = knowledge ~ Translates into authority and also to have discernment
– Show me how to discern.

“number” – maw naw – to count, to assign, to appoint
“days” – years, a period of time

- How we can give our days an assignment in every day and year
- God does not waste our experiences — He invests in our growth and development.
- Give me a view of life — produce something with it.
- map out my life so that I can be successful

Live life with intention and purpose.

Life Track
1. Learning Years (determine what you want to understand in order to move on to the next stage in life.) — Primary Education Period in life

A good student makes a good teacher.

2. Earning years -  establish financial power-base ~~ primary revenue source.
- Then you establish other things while keeping your power-base until the other establishments grow to become powerful enough to leave primary source.

3. Investing years – grow your money and life. Expand your thinking. Grow your relationships.

4. Legacy years — you give back – pour your life into the next generation. Establish your work and walk it through with other younger people.
- What will you be known for?

- “well done” means you did something. — It will be a testimony to your own life.

5. Golden years – enjoy the fruit of your life’s work
- become a consultant to the next generation.

Mal 3:10

Opening the windows of heaven is not enough.

30fold is 30times.
60fold is 60times.
100fold is less than 100, equal 100. It means optimum. The most
optimum harvest. Optimum yield under any circumstance. No matter what
happens, god guarantees the best blessing.

1. Width of god’s love
Psa 18:35

King uziah
2 chron 26: 5
King Asa
1kings 15:9-24
2 chron 14:11

1. In the presence of god there is protection.

2. In the presence of god there is confidence n strength

2 cor 12:7-11

3. In the presence of god we are transformed
2 cor 3:18
Psa 68:8

4. In the presence of god, there is anointing from the holy spirit.
James 5:17

5. In the presence of god, there is deliverance.
Acts 16:20-23

4 things god dislikes:
1. God dislikes when we stop trying
2. god dislikes regret
3. God dislikes waste
4. God dislikes ungratefulness

Dr A R Bernard : Session 14
Luke 15: 1-3, v17

40 years – number of probation
Without vision, clearly defined cosmology, we become white washed
tombs- outside beautiful but inside full of dead bones, holding on to
old things that are no more relevant to the times.
Don’t get satisfied with ur past successes. Live in the now!

In order for the chruch tomove forward, we must have
1) clearly defined cosmology
2) core values
3) core purposes

You need to have a correct worldview.
Cosmology- how did we get to where we are today, then we challenge
ourselves to what we are doing
Conflicts and tensions arise because of different worldviews.

Christian worldview – what informs us of this is the bible.

God gave them a way of thinking – above n not beneath, lender and not
borrower…n laws that gave wisdom. God sought to give them structure
so that they can get progress.

Worldview – It provides with the nature of things- what is real and
what is not, what is life and death, what is good and evil…

Movement is not progress!
The bible conforms and shapes our thinking.out of the way of thinking,
we know who we are and who we are not.

It takes time to develop the new way of thinking, but we will be
transformed. It works on a subconscious manner.
We are informed by our worldview.

How will the church or Christ look at or interact with us ?
- publicans
- sinners ( they come to Jesus to find out how he feels and thinks
about them n how he will respond to them )
- disciples of Jesus ( the only ones they can go to to receive the
perspective of the worldview)
- religious leaders in the church ( he did not go to them, he told
them to be born again)

So Jesus gives the story of the lost sheep to tell them how much he
values them. The religious leaders condemned them. He gives them value
and honour. Whoever you want to reach in life, you honour them first.
Honour is god knows about ur life but god loves you.
Honour them in the talent. Every talent is god given.
From there, you build a relationship. He went around building
relationships.

They don’t come to our side, we go to them. We go into all the world.

Parable of the prodigal son

We often underestimate the power of the world.
Your worldview forms your self concept.
When adan sinned, these two come into conflict.

Self esteem – how you feel about yourself
More like a feeling.

Self concept -the person you think you should be and could be

God gave Adam the image of god. And in many ways, god is like me. Out
of his concept, he saw he could be authorative, dominion,
effectiveness and productivity. Out of this. He felt good about
himself and got his self esteem. After sin, his self concept was
changed. He hid from God. He was afraid. He lost the concept that was
in agreement with god he began to feel things he never felt before and
it affected his relationship with his wife and everything else. Lust,
anxiety, and etc.

People suffer because the distance between these two is great. The
greater the distance between  the self concept and self esteem, the
lower your productivity and motivation in life. And they live in this
tension. Don’t reinforce negative feelings and start to hate
themselves. People commit suicide because theystart to feel thy are
gettingjn the way.

When god comes in, he has to deal with our self esteem. He introduces
us to the self concept to build back our self esteem. He takes us back
to the image of god. N as we focus on the word, we fight those
feelings. Then later we will see our life differently.

Your perspective in life changes when your self concept changes.
2 cor 5 :17 -19
God reconciles the world to himself. Realign, come back to
compatibility. Reconciles to man’s true self – the image of god.

Eph 2:15
Col 3:10
Ministry of reconciliation – not just about getting saved, but
restoring self concept, only with this can we be fruitful and
multiply, be productive and have dominion.

Be a model citizen
God hates sickness disease poverty. When we recocile it with him, we
will hate it too and get it out of our lives.

Look at how we should be and could be!

The prodigal son feelings led him away.
Luke 15:16-17. When he came to himself — that’s the point of change!
Be reconciled to god and also to your true self! We go back to achieve
what we supposed to accomplish in our life!

Gods creative power is in his words. When he came to his true self,
the first thing he did was to speak to his environment. The first
person he said it to was himself. Moved from image of poverty to
riches and abudance perspective even when he was in the mud!

Our circumstance does not dictate us. It is our self talk. He talked
himself out of his situatin and spoke from a differrent perspective!
He talked and thought differently.

Your words have creative power!
I will arise and go to my fathers house. He din care if his father
would reject him. When we have the correct self cocneot, we are not
afraid of failure or rejection. If there is, we see it as an
opporutniyy to look for another door.

The new self can endure hardship, does not accept no. Begins to take
over the feelings and dictates to the old self.

-70 years old

Exodus 35:5, 21-22

Word of god and the spirit of god relation -

Gen 1:1 – 3 – nothing happened becUae the holy spirit was waiting. He
was waiting for the spoken word of god. Holy spirit is always hovering
over the face of the world!

Matt 3:11

Our weaknesses attracts the holy spirit.

I would like to join pastor kenneths team to do mission work, set
Up stuff… Do disaster relief work.
Check mission trip schedules.