By the ripe old age of 40, Evan Koh had a PhD in Bioinformatics and already achieved financial independence. His journey to being financially free, though, was anything but a straightforward one.
Ever since he was a child, Evan was always good at Maths and Physics. However, he was far from the typical straight-A student that one would expect of an academic high achiever. During our conversation, Evan recounted how he barely passed his English, Chinese and Science in primary and secondary school.
It was his diploma course at Nanyang Polytechnic that changed his life. For the first time, Evan had unlimited access to computers. In his own words, “coding was like love at first sight”. During his internship, Evan was posted to a Bioinformatics research lab in NUS, where he met the late Professor Bajic, who challenged him to come up with innovative solutions to interesting problems they discussed. By the end of his internship, Evan had “co-authored a research paper – although, all I did was just coding the software required for the research”.
This led him to pursue Bioinformatics at NUS and eventually obtain a PhD. Venturing off the beaten path once again, Evan applied to Tokyo University for his exchange programme, while everyone else was going to Harvard or MIT. He confessed this decision was influenced by his then-girlfriend (and now wife), who dreamed of living in Japan.
He ended up staying in Japan for over a decade, after landing a tech role with an MNC. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he returned to Singapore. His transfer back home was facilitated by his company’s transition to full remote working, while also having an office in Singapore. One of the unplanned benefits was earning in Singapore Dollars rather than Japanese Yen – which has fallen nearly 40% since the start of 2020.
Unknown to Evan, retrenchment was on the horizon. Late one night, Evan got a layoff email letting him know he had until 5pm the next day to pack up his belongings in the office. Evan shared that “it was one of the saddest events in my life, but I was glad that I was also laid off”, as he had been calming his team by sharing how their company was still very profitable just weeks before the retrenchment.
For Evan, he was able to rely on an investment portfolio he had been accumulating since he started working. On the side, Evan started coding StocksCafe, a portfolio tracker since 2015, after finding it very difficult to keep track of his profits and losses, and especially the dividends he collected.
When I asked him when he achieved financial independence, Evan shared that he never really thought about it but “the real test of being financially independent came after getting retrenched. Even after more than a year of not having a full-time job and no guaranteed income, my net worth still grew slightly despite spending about 5 months travelling in Japan and Korea”.
In this edition of #TheEverydayInvestor, a DollarsAndSense content series featuring everyday investors, we talk to Evan Koh, to learn about his journey to achieving financial freedom – from settling down in Japan to retrenchment and starting portfolio tracker, StocksCafe, and more recently, data-driven investment tool, QuantsCafe.
Dinesh: When we first met a few years ago, and I learned of your tech role in an MNC, my impression was that it was retrenchment-proof! So, I was genuinely surprised to learn that you got retrenched in the past year.
While retrenchments happen all the time, it can be painful and bring lots of uncertainty to your life. How did you manage the ordeal?
Evan: It was emotionally painful because I thought I had found this perfect company which I have been happily with for nearly a decade and would be with till I retired.
Beyond the emotional pain of suddenly being ruthlessly cut off, it was actually fine financially because I have always been spending well below my means.
It also taught me a valuable lesson: life is definitely more than a job.
Dinesh: You had already started StocksCafe while you were working in Japan. It could not have been easy to hold a full-time job and build an investment platform at the same time.
What was the motivation to start coding StocksCafe in the first place?
Evan: My work-life balance was very good, and I do not have many hobbies beyond exercising and coding. Therefore, had I not been coding StocksCafe, I would certainly be coding something else.
Today, I really love it when users tell me how much they love StocksCafe and how it is important in their investment journey. I feel like at least I did something useful.
Dinesh: Running StocksCafe as a business now, what has been the most difficult thing you find as an entrepreneur?
Evan: While I love coding, I hate spending time on sales and marketing. I was lucky at first where users were spreading about StocksCafe initially and that led it to grow to profitability. However, it has been growing slowly since then.
So, like everyone else, I need to start focusing on things I dislike so that I can continue to do things I like.
Dinesh: Similar to entrepreneurship, investing also has its ups and downs. How did you start your investment journey?
Evan: My motivation to start investing was very simple: it just seems cool to know about investing and be investing back then.
Dinesh: What were some of the best and poorest investment decisions you’ve made?
Evan: I don’t have a best, as I always try to invest in a very diversified way, so no single investment would really make or break my portfolio.
But, I remember my poorest. I had FOMO and was unable to resist investing in crypto, specifically, Terra Luna. Although I did not lose much as I always limit my position size, the fact that it went to 0 almost overnight gave me a memorable lesson: trying to grow rich overnight will only make you poor overnight.
Dinesh: Investing does not have to be restricted to the financial markets.
What non-financial investments have you made that have the greatest impact on your life?
Evan: While cliché, it is definitely investing in education and knowledge.
My financial education of studying CFA Level 1 and reading “Rich Dad Poor Dad” and many other financial/investment books enabled me to often make logical financial decisions. For example, I chose to buy a “cheaper” resale HDB and freed up money to invest in a diversified way vs buying an “investment” condo that one lives in and concentrating most of my money in a single asset/property.
My education in coding/computer science also enabled me to be in a high-paying job for many years and start StocksCafe and QuantsCafe.
Trying To Become Rich Overnight Will Only Make You Poor Overnight
During our conversation, one of the most memorable quotes for me was when Evan said that trying to become rich overnight would only lead you to become poor overnight.
This has led the way he invests in a diversified portfolio, ensuring no single investment will make or break his portfolio. This was tested in the real world when he was tempted to invest in Terra Luna – which went to zero overnight. While a painful lesson, his investment portfolio continued to pay for his lifestyle despite being in retrenchment.
Evan describes his road to financial independence down to his investment in education and patiently building his investment portfolio. Despite starting with a networth of 0 after spending what little savings he had on a wedding, he has become a self-made multi-millionaire by 40.
His formula was a straightforward one: 1) invest in education to earn a good income; 2) spend less than what you earn so you can invest the bulk of your salary; and 3) put your hobbies to good use: invest in your health with exercise and start a side-hustle (as he did with StocksCafe).
Our conversation ended with Evan retelling the age-old, but still important to hear again, lesson: “the best time to start investing in both your portfolio and your education is yesterday, but the second best time is today.
Read the other articles in our #everydayinvestor series:
Why Jeraldine Phneah Believes That Every Millennial Needs To Care About Their Investment Journey
How This Full-Time University Student Finds Time To Study, Work, Invest & Go To The Gym Regularly
The post Evan Koh Shares His Path To Financial Independence By 40 – A PhD In Japan, A Tech Role At An MNC, Getting Retrenched And Coding StocksCafe, A Portfolio Tracker appeared first on DollarsAndSense.sg.
