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工程技术，地产投资，信仰家园，时尚生活
正文
Me & My Money Series (Sunday Times)
Wow! Another lover of luxury cars! haha...
She must really be earning tons of moolah to be able to afford both a Mercedes and a BMW Convertible!
Jul 31, 2011
Switch to insurance job pays off
High-flier joined the industry for the money but now sees her career as a worthy one
Lorna Tan
Senior Correspondent
It was the prospect of making good money that lured Ms Eunice Yuen into the insurance industry. She joined Prudential as an adviser in 2000, and it took a mere six months before her sales commissions exceeded her annual pay of $40,000 from her previous job as a sales engineer.
By then, her perception of an insurance career had changed.
'I have delivered a number of claims payouts to my clients. But this is not the only aspect that leaves a deep impact on me... It is the fact that my services can give security to the families so they know they are in safe hands if the breadwinner is no longer around one day,' said Ms Yuen, 34.
In 2004, she made the bold decision to be an agency leader at Prudential, which means that she would be responsible for recruiting and developing her own team of advisers. Back then, there were very few women agency leaders in Prudential and she hoped to see more women take on a leadership role.
In 2007, she was promoted to be a financial services director. Now she leads a team of 50 advisers, including four managers, and earns her income from the sales that they bring in. Ms Yuen has been one of Prudential's top agency leaders since 2009. That year, she won the Agency Development Award. This was followed by the Million Dollar Agency Award a year later.
She graduated with an electronic engineering diploma from Temasek Polytechnic in 1996, and obtained her credentials as a chartered financial consultant in 2005 and as a chartered life underwriter in 2007.
Before joining Prudential in 2000, she worked for two years each in a telecommunications firm in customer service and in an engineering firm as a sales engineer. She is single.
Q: Are you a spender or saver?
I consider myself an investor. I don't scrimp but rather proceed cautiously and prudently with what I choose to spend on. I save 40 per cent of my income and the bulk of it is invested. I prefer medium- to long-term investments and measure the risk they pose as opposed to my potential returns.
Q: How much do you charge to your credit cards every month?
I have two credit cards and I pay off my bills in full every month. I charge an average of $1,000 a month to my cards. For personal expenditure, I withdraw about $2,000 from the ATM a month. I keep track of what I spend on and review if the expenditure was wise.
Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?
I invest in insurance, blue chips and property. I plan my finances according to my phase in life and currently I'm in the wealth accumulation cycle. In terms of insurance, my life and critical illness cover is $1 million. I have four endowment plans and two investment-linked insurance plans (ILPs).
Through the ILPs, I invest in a managed portfolio of funds of which 70 per cent are in equities and the balance in fixed income. I have another $40,000 invested in banking stocks.
I am not a speculator and I do not seek short-term return thrills. I prefer to look for stable growth and dividends.
My other focus of wealth accumulation lies in my business/career, which is also my passion. Here, the bulk of my investment is in human resource development, that is, developing and helping my agency to grow, thereby helping my clients to grow.
Q: Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like?
I'm the eldest in the family and I have a younger sister and brother. We lived in a three-room HDB flat in Rochor Road.
My father was a civil servant in a support administration role, and my mother, a housewife. My parents instilled in me the need to be disciplined and prudent with my money. They are down-to-earth people and are very particular about family values and filial piety. We were told to save our weekly pocket money for a rainy day and not to seek instant results. That moulded my character and instilled in me strong core values which helped in my own management of finances and career.
Q: How did you get interested in investing?
I started reading about investments and actively upgrading myself as a financial consultant after I joined Prudential. Knowledge and being up to date are important when you are providing financial advice. We are talking about people's hard-earned money here.
Q: What property do you own?
A modest 1,100 sq ft, two-bedroom condo bought in 2007 in the east for about $1 million. It has appreciated since then but I don't monitor the value.
Q: What's the most extravagant thing you have bought?
It has to be my car - a white BMW Cabriolet which I bought for $180,000 in 2009. I love convertibles, and before the BMW, I was driving a silver Mercedes-Benz SLK after I got promoted to be a financial services director in 2007.
Perhaps while I discipline myself in terms of work and investment, I have another side that thrives on the fast and the furious.
Q: What's your retirement plan?
I seek to be financially independent before age 45. I can't bear to give up my career though. What retirement means to me is when I can choose to work and have the lifestyle I want and not be forced to work because of financial or other commitments. I reckon I will need $8,000 a month in today's dollar. My home will be fully paid for and I must have acquired assets that give me regular income such as through developing my insurance business and investment properties.
I plan to continue passing on the skills and experience I have acquired over the years and inspire more leaders to come forth in the industry and challenge them to constantly surpass themselves.
Q: Home is now...
My cosy two-bedroom condo.
Q: I drive...
The white BMW Cabriolet.
lorna@sph.com.sg
-----------------------------------------------------------------
WORST AND BEST BETS
Q: What has been your worst investment to date?
Speculation in shares without doing any due diligence. In 1998, I invested $10,000 in two penny stocks after a friend recommended them. I'm still holding on to them, and to date, I have lost almost half. It was not a smart move to jump straight in without doing some homework and analysis.
Q: And your best investment?
It has to be my business. The returns and satisfaction have been great. I have seen many of my advisers progress and I have groomed managers and successful leaders who have done well in the finance industry.
In turn, this has also contributed to my income. Investing in human resource is essential as people are the core foundation of my organisation without which I cannot be where I am today. While market and economic forces and natural catastrophes may affect stocks and shares, a strong-minded team stays firm and is able to withstand market fluctuations.
Incidentally, my team comprises young people in their mid-20s to early 30s, and 70 per cent of them are women.
She must really be earning tons of moolah to be able to afford both a Mercedes and a BMW Convertible!Jul 31, 2011
Switch to insurance job pays off
High-flier joined the industry for the money but now sees her career as a worthy one
Lorna Tan
Senior Correspondent
It was the prospect of making good money that lured Ms Eunice Yuen into the insurance industry. She joined Prudential as an adviser in 2000, and it took a mere six months before her sales commissions exceeded her annual pay of $40,000 from her previous job as a sales engineer.
By then, her perception of an insurance career had changed.
'I have delivered a number of claims payouts to my clients. But this is not the only aspect that leaves a deep impact on me... It is the fact that my services can give security to the families so they know they are in safe hands if the breadwinner is no longer around one day,' said Ms Yuen, 34.
In 2004, she made the bold decision to be an agency leader at Prudential, which means that she would be responsible for recruiting and developing her own team of advisers. Back then, there were very few women agency leaders in Prudential and she hoped to see more women take on a leadership role.
In 2007, she was promoted to be a financial services director. Now she leads a team of 50 advisers, including four managers, and earns her income from the sales that they bring in. Ms Yuen has been one of Prudential's top agency leaders since 2009. That year, she won the Agency Development Award. This was followed by the Million Dollar Agency Award a year later.
She graduated with an electronic engineering diploma from Temasek Polytechnic in 1996, and obtained her credentials as a chartered financial consultant in 2005 and as a chartered life underwriter in 2007.
Before joining Prudential in 2000, she worked for two years each in a telecommunications firm in customer service and in an engineering firm as a sales engineer. She is single.
Q: Are you a spender or saver?
I consider myself an investor. I don't scrimp but rather proceed cautiously and prudently with what I choose to spend on. I save 40 per cent of my income and the bulk of it is invested. I prefer medium- to long-term investments and measure the risk they pose as opposed to my potential returns.
Q: How much do you charge to your credit cards every month?
I have two credit cards and I pay off my bills in full every month. I charge an average of $1,000 a month to my cards. For personal expenditure, I withdraw about $2,000 from the ATM a month. I keep track of what I spend on and review if the expenditure was wise.
Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?
I invest in insurance, blue chips and property. I plan my finances according to my phase in life and currently I'm in the wealth accumulation cycle. In terms of insurance, my life and critical illness cover is $1 million. I have four endowment plans and two investment-linked insurance plans (ILPs).
Through the ILPs, I invest in a managed portfolio of funds of which 70 per cent are in equities and the balance in fixed income. I have another $40,000 invested in banking stocks.
I am not a speculator and I do not seek short-term return thrills. I prefer to look for stable growth and dividends.
My other focus of wealth accumulation lies in my business/career, which is also my passion. Here, the bulk of my investment is in human resource development, that is, developing and helping my agency to grow, thereby helping my clients to grow.
Q: Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like?
I'm the eldest in the family and I have a younger sister and brother. We lived in a three-room HDB flat in Rochor Road.
My father was a civil servant in a support administration role, and my mother, a housewife. My parents instilled in me the need to be disciplined and prudent with my money. They are down-to-earth people and are very particular about family values and filial piety. We were told to save our weekly pocket money for a rainy day and not to seek instant results. That moulded my character and instilled in me strong core values which helped in my own management of finances and career.
Q: How did you get interested in investing?
I started reading about investments and actively upgrading myself as a financial consultant after I joined Prudential. Knowledge and being up to date are important when you are providing financial advice. We are talking about people's hard-earned money here.
Q: What property do you own?
A modest 1,100 sq ft, two-bedroom condo bought in 2007 in the east for about $1 million. It has appreciated since then but I don't monitor the value.
Q: What's the most extravagant thing you have bought?
It has to be my car - a white BMW Cabriolet which I bought for $180,000 in 2009. I love convertibles, and before the BMW, I was driving a silver Mercedes-Benz SLK after I got promoted to be a financial services director in 2007.
Perhaps while I discipline myself in terms of work and investment, I have another side that thrives on the fast and the furious.
Q: What's your retirement plan?
I seek to be financially independent before age 45. I can't bear to give up my career though. What retirement means to me is when I can choose to work and have the lifestyle I want and not be forced to work because of financial or other commitments. I reckon I will need $8,000 a month in today's dollar. My home will be fully paid for and I must have acquired assets that give me regular income such as through developing my insurance business and investment properties.
I plan to continue passing on the skills and experience I have acquired over the years and inspire more leaders to come forth in the industry and challenge them to constantly surpass themselves.
Q: Home is now...
My cosy two-bedroom condo.
Q: I drive...
The white BMW Cabriolet.
lorna@sph.com.sg
-----------------------------------------------------------------
WORST AND BEST BETS
Q: What has been your worst investment to date?
Speculation in shares without doing any due diligence. In 1998, I invested $10,000 in two penny stocks after a friend recommended them. I'm still holding on to them, and to date, I have lost almost half. It was not a smart move to jump straight in without doing some homework and analysis.
Q: And your best investment?
It has to be my business. The returns and satisfaction have been great. I have seen many of my advisers progress and I have groomed managers and successful leaders who have done well in the finance industry.
In turn, this has also contributed to my income. Investing in human resource is essential as people are the core foundation of my organisation without which I cannot be where I am today. While market and economic forces and natural catastrophes may affect stocks and shares, a strong-minded team stays firm and is able to withstand market fluctuations.
Incidentally, my team comprises young people in their mid-20s to early 30s, and 70 per cent of them are women.
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