Ex-pastor turns evangelist of wealth

Desire to do more than pray for poor drives him to create wealth foundation.

Mon, May 24, 2010
The Straits Times

By Lorna Tan

Pray, what could he do to help the poor? Mr Petrus Carstens wanted to make a difference to the lives of ordinary Africans.

For 15 years until 2002, he worked as a pastor in South Africa but could do nothing more than pray for them.

It was only in 2002 that MrCarstens, now 48, realised he could do more if he became a successful investor and created a wealth foundation.

He started reading feverishly on finance. He did well with property investments when South Africa had a real estate boom between 2002 and 2006.

His financial knowledge was boosted when he signed up for wealth coach Robert Kiyosaki's year-long Rich Dad coaching programme in 2006.

'My aim is to accumulate US$100 million (S$137.9 million) in cash and US$350 million in property and other investments, with a passive and portfolio income of US$2 million to US$3 million per month. I want to use this money for economic empowerment programmes in the developing world,' said Mr Carstens.

He aims to set up his wealth foundation in the next five years.

Among his many businesses are a hotel, an upcoming shopping centre and a licence for an organic waste-water purification system.

He also conducts wealth management programmes, under his firm Ample Wealth, for individuals in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and Malaysia.

Mr Carstens studied economics for three years before switching to theology. He obtained a theology degree from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, in 1989.

He became a pastor in 1987 and, while ministering, obtained a masters in theology from the same university in 1994.

He is married to world champion cyclist Cathy Fair, 47, who runs a physiotherapy practice in South Africa. They have a son, Deon, 18, and a daughter, Margi, 16.

Q: Are you a spender or saver?

I am a saver. My income is from wealth coaching, property development, portfolio investments and passive income. I save about 65 per cent of my income, which is almost always immediately re-invested.

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

I charge about US$5,000. But if I am not travelling, I spend less than US$1,000 a month. I settle my credit card payments monthly. I have 10 cards - one for each company. This makes it easy to track what I spend for each company and for me to qualify for tax benefits as well.

I carry very little cash, nothing more than S$500 to S$1,000.

Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?

I have three trusts, three property companies and 10 other companies. Each firm handles one type of business.

The reason is to ring-fence each business, protect my personal safety net and optimise my tax structure.

To obtain financial leverage (bank borrowings), you need to first have a solid asset base, which also serves as an income stream (rental or yield) as well as capital gains.

Every five years, I write out a five-year personal wealth plan. I assess where I am at in terms of assets, liabilities, cash reserves and cashflow.

I believe you can create wealth only from three foundations - assets, cash and cashflow.

I determine where I am at every five years and work out a plan to get to the next five-year target via any one or all three income streams - active, portfolio and passive.

I have exceeded each of my five-year goals even though at times it did not appear to be heading that way.

I have five investment categories, each with different target returns.

• First is retirement assets - lifelong investments for which I expect 15 per cent to 20 per cent returns per year.
• Second is property - my asset base for which I expect capital gains of 15 per cent to 35 per cent per year.
• Third is speculative assets - investments I buy with a plan to sell in one to six years such as land banking, prime property, stocks, bonds and businesses.
• Fourth is cash-generating assets, such as network-marketing franchises and mines.
• Fifth is my 'play money' which I look to double returns between one and six months.

About 10 per cent of my cash is channelled to venture capital, bridging finance and commodity trading.

Q: What properties do you own?

Back in 2002 to 2006, I was riding the biggest property bubble in the world. South Africa had the fastest- growing middle class. I could get 110 per cent housing loans from banks as they expected property to appreciate. I could refinance twice a year.

Currently, I own two seafront double-storey houses in Hermanus, South Africa, each about 2,200sqft. They were bought in 2007 for 14 million rand (S$2.75 million) each and are rented out. I do not know their current values.

I own part of eight game farms in the Krueger National Park. They are valued at 50 million rand and I have a 50 per cent share.

Together with seven friends, we bought a 3,000 sq ft vacation house on the border of the Krueger National Park. It was bought for less than 3 million rand in 2004. It is currently valued at 8 million rand.

I own 15 apartments in Johannesburg and they are rented out.

I own 30 per cent of a hotel in Hermanus, bought for 12 million rand in 2008.

My partner and I invested 19 million rand in a shopping centre in 2008. The development cost is 100 million rand. It will be operational next year.

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

I come from a family of five and I have two younger sisters. My mother was a housewife while my father was a diplomat for the South African government. He never spoke about money or taught us about money. It was a comfortable life and I never had to think about money.

We lived in Nelspruit, close to Krueger Park, in a single-storey brick house with a land area of 19,400 sq ft.

When I started working, I never valued money and never saved. Even as a minister, I could create extra revenue but I either gave it away or lost it. I was trapped in a middle-class mentality. I learnt to respect money only when I realised my life purpose and understood that I could not fulfil that purpose without respecting money.

At that time, I was a minister of 4,500 people but I had a vision of changing the lives of 450,000 people who lived in a culture of poverty.

Q: What is the most extravagant thing you have bought?

Someone owed me US$400,000 and could not pay me. He handed me his brand-new red Ferrari in 2008 as payment. I never drove it. Instead, I sold it for 4 million rand.

Q: What is your retirement plan?

I don't intend to retire. If I only lived for myself I could consider myself financially free. But my work is not done and I want to build a foundation to make a global impact in terms of economic empowerment of the poorest people.

My current fixed expenses are 200,000 rand a month. We donate to charity regularly.

Q: Home is now...

My house in Cape Town. It has a swimming pool and three garages. Its land size is about 10,760 sq ft.

Q: I drive...

A silver Mercedes Diesel. I also own a white Toyota Prado and a yellow BMW motorbike.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.