True Blue fan of all things Peranakan

April 6, 2008

me & my money

True Blue fan of all things Peranakan

Beauty queen finds financial freedom in restaurant business, property investments

Beauty queen Irene Ong, 55, the owner of Peranakan restaurant True Blue Cuisine, counts herself lucky in her property deals.

'I made the most money on my properties. I have been quite lucky... because I invested at the right time. I sold my semi-detached house for more than double the price after 12 years,' she said.

She bought the three-storey, 4,000 sq ft house for $750,000 in 1984 and sold it for almost $2 million in 1996.

She decided to buy it after the Government liberalised the use of Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings for members who were then acquiring properties. Before that, she lived in a five-room HDB flat.

The purchase was a prudent move because property prices later headed north when more people started using their retirement monies to supplement the payments for their homes.

Her other property investments are two condominium units, which have since risen in value.

Still, her best investment is in Saint Francis Enterprise, the holding company for True Blue. The other co-owner is her cousin, well-known chef Benjamin Seck, 34.

A sixth-generation Peranakan, she sank $500,000 into Saint Francis in 2003 to set up the restaurant, which was originally in Katong. It is now at 49 Armenian Street. The restaurant showcases intricate Peranakan kebayas, jewellery and antique furniture on the second floor of the building.

Her properties and business now form the backbone of her retirement plan.

'They will help give me financial freedom in my old age. I can work and collect a salary here for as long as I like. Besides, my houses are my income for the future. I can sell or rent one of my properties if I need cash,' she said.

Last year, Mrs Ong clinched the Elite Queen Singapore title, a category for married women above 50, awarded by pageant organiser TKS & Sons. As part of winning the title, she will represent Singapore in a United Nations pageant in Las Vegas next year.

Before she started running True Blue full time two years ago, she was a personal assistant to a senior vice-president of a multinational corporation for 11 years.

Her traditional mother did not believe that she should pursue a university education, so she persevered on her own, studying part-time and obtaining a law degree from the University of London when she was 40.

She is married to human resources director Matthew Ong, 55. They have a son, Ryan, 27. Mrs Ong also acts for the The Main Wayang Company, as well as the Gunong Sayang Association, which stages Peranakan dramas annually.

Q:What are your money habits?

My money habits have been poor since I was young. As an only child, I had free and easy access to money. When I started to work, even my pay was not enough to fund my shopping. But I simply had to ask and I would get the money from my mother.

I believe we live in this world but once, so as much as we have to save for a rainy day, I do not have deep-rooted insecurities. I spend rather than hoard my money.

Having said that, I do have money stashed away for a rainy day. To prevent myself from spending all my money, I buy assets like properties and antique batiks and kebayas and jewellery.

Q:What financial planning have you done for yourself?

My investments consist of properties, stocks, funds and jewellery. I have over $200,000 in stocks like SingTel and Grand Banks Yachts, and $60,000 of my CPF savings is invested in a unit trust.

When I buy stocks, I have the habit of sitting on them rather than trading actively. I am not too bothered with details like interest rates and profits. I sell my stock when I need the money. I started investing in stocks in the 1980s, and I have seen a 30 per cent appreciation in my portfolio.

My husband and I spend about two-thirds of our income on assets like my condos, cars and jewellery.

Q:What about insurance planning?

I put aside about 10 per cent of my husband's income and mine for insurance premiums for myself, my son and my husband. It was not much because we were both working and had our employers to depend on for medical and insurance.

Only when my husband and I were turning 55 this year did we decide to cash out our insurance premiums, which amounted to $150,000. We needed the money to pump into True Blue, which shifted to larger premises at Armenian Street.

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

I grew up in the 1960s, and jobs were uncertain or difficult to get then. I lived in fear of my dad being retrenched as I saw the dreadful times my cousins experienced when their fathers lost their jobs or could not find one that paid as much. My dad was a clerk in a shipping company. Although he did not earn much, I was still relatively okay financially.

I was the only child but I grew up in a 10,000 sq ft bungalow in Siglap with my mother's family, surrounded by 16 relatives.

Q:What are your property investments?

After I sold my semi-detached home in 1996, I bought a 1,400 sq ft condo in Changi for $900,000, which is worth $1 million now. In 1998, I bought my present home, a 1,700 sq ft condo on Bayshore Road in the East Coast area, for $1.5 million. It is now worth about $2.3 million. Benjamin now lives in my Changi condo.

Q:What has been a bad investment?

In the 1980s, I put $15,000 into a country club, Pulau Bayan in Bintan, which went bust when the person developing the club was jailed because of unscrupulous business deals.

Q:Your best investment to date?

The money that Benjamin and I put into Saint Francis, which has now doubled. The restaurant broke even in its third year of operations.

Being very interested in Peranakan culture, we decided that the best way to make other Peranakans rediscover the beauty of their heritage was to set up a restaurant and showcase our Peranakan furniture, jewellery and beadwork collected through the years.

Q:And your car is... ?

My husband and I each drive a Mercedes.


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