OK, this is what I did, all in the spirit of sharing only. (1) I tried my best to spend within my means and have some spare cash left over each month. (2) I accumulated the spare cash and invested it instead of spending it off. I didn't make money on all my investments, but on the whole, I did well enough to grow this a little. (3) I re-invested most of the profits instead of rewarding myself by spending it all away. I did reward myself though, but sparingly.

I made the bulk of my money investing in properties and some of my equity investments multiplied e.g. Capitaland & Keppel Land. To provide some details: bought DBS Land (before it became Capitaland) at $2.95 on 19 July 99, Keppel Land at $2.31 on 22 Sep 99, ST Engineering at $1.93 on 23 Aug 99, Natsteel Electronics at $3.12 on 18 Oct 00 (was taken over at US$4.53), etc, etc. I held these for many years. I began pulling most of my money out of equity in May 07, after the 1st time China stocks corrected in Jan/Feb 07 as I felt that a bubble was forming (I heard stories of Chinese workers demanding to take time off during lunch to trade the markets, young executives and housewives borrowing to trade stocks, people quitting their jobs to trade full time in the market, etc - sounds familiar like 93-94 in Singapore, yeah?) and the markets were getting very dangerous due to the extremely high PEs in China and extreme volatility in the regional markets when the Shanghai Index corrected - but it recovered and continued marching northwards until sub-prime hit for the 1st time in July 07. I got out for the wrong reason but I was out and this accounted for my current cash holdings.

Of course there were some bad equity investments over the years which I realised losses. I do invest in what some may call speculative stocks (I'd rather term them as situational plays which I aim for 30% to 50% returns within a short time frame of 2-3 mths. For longer term equity investments, I look for blue chips and put in smaller amounts per counter but for shorter term situational plays, I do put in substantially more per counter. No prices for guessing which I lost money in.

I have held onto my globally diversified unit trust portfolio for the past 8 years, seeing it yo-yo up and down and am regretfully still holding onto it now. Very bad returns - up 5% based on today's market valuation - but who knows what tomorrow (1 year, 3 years, 5 years) may hold?

My 1st foray into the property market was from 1994 onwards, where I bought and sold a couple of condos. Made a few hundred thousand on those, funded by my wife and my savings and some bank loans. The house which I am staying in was bought in 1996 with those profits, a bank loan and CPF which was subsequently paid off over quite some years. I paid $2.4 mil for all 3 current investment properties which I bought direct from developers in 2002, 2004 and 2005, each time paying the progress payments with my savings from salary, bonus and rental income. I wouldn't want to reveal details of those properties here as I prefer to remain anonymous.

And yes, I had a good opportunity with my career which propelled my annual pay-out to btwn $300k to $750k pa since the last 5 years (depending on whether I had good or leaner years). There are others in my age-group who earn more, I am sure of that.

In short, I could have developed a lavish lifestyle (spent my investment profit/bonus to finance a Porsche, Maserati or even a Ferrari - you get the drift - spend all the easy money) and raised my "core expenses" but I chose to exercise restrain and invested substantially my profits, my salary and bonuses into properties, paying off the bank loan and meeting the progress payments. And I did say that luck and timing do play a role too. Touch wood, I have been lucky on properties thus far.

I also have some friends who have done much better financially and are worth much more, if they did not spend it all away. I pale in comparison but once you start comparing, there's no turning back. So to me, life is a journey. I chose to live carefully in my initial years and now I can take it easier (I think).

The take-away at least for me, is to spend within your means at all times and try to have some leftovers for investing. No matter how small, they can grow into something. All you need is 1 good cycle and not get shaken out during any downturn (and that is why capital is key - I could have invested by leveraging up highly but I may get shaken out during any downturn). Lastly, as long as you spend within your cashflow and don't drawdown on your accumulated capital, you will be OK for the rest of your life. For most, cashflow = salary. I have tried very hard over all these years to change that equation to cashflow = non-salaried income and I think I have finally reached there. Of course, salary is important but the comfort of knowing that you don't need to rely on it is very assuring, trust me on that.

The point I am trying to make is not about how to accumulate $1 mil or $5 mil or $10 mil but to get the formula right from day one and how far you go from there depends on your hardwork, perseverance, discipline, risk appetite, luck and timing. Firstly, spend within your means - if not, no spare cash. No spare cash, no investment. With spare cash, invest it and not spend it. With profit from investment, re-invest. If you made a wrong investment, you start again. If you don't build up the means to invest, you will never generate any returns. The only way to build up the ability to invest is to spend within your means. Otherwise, salary is the only cashflow and that would mean running the rat race for a long time. I don't have a shortcut though I wished I had one. Read the recent article on the guy who blew all his toto winnings away? If he had paid off his bank loan (which he did, wisely) and put the rest in his bank, he would have the means to invest - instead, he blew it all away on dinners, holidays, relatives, friends, etc. If the credit card promoter had saved up her earnings instead of splurging on expensive handbags, she would also have the means to invest. They "lost out" their new found wealth because they did not live within their means.

Equity valuations have gotten very cheap recently. Property prices have also been moderating. Imagine having spare cash around - you can start planning how to enter the markets.