Juxtapose the profiles of 2 rich men - 1 of whom very rich - and you get some idea of how they grow their money.

Featured in Sunday Times today are decamillionaire couple George Raymond Zage III and his wife Kathleen Zage, and a rather rich insurance veteran Stanley Jeremiah.

Here's what I gather from the information revealed about them:

- Property. The Zages own 4 properties "worth at least $16 million" and spent $20 million on their current residence, a Belmont Road bungalow. The other 3 properties are obviously used for investment purposes. I have earlier inferred that they are decamillionaires. They could possibly be hectamillionaires. Mr Jeremiah on the other hand made his best investment also in property - a terrace house which he sold for about $1 million in profit just before the 1997 financial crisis. He probably sold at the peak. He's either very shrewd, very lucky, or both.
- Career. Mr Zage was an investment banker with Goldman Sachs. His wife was a private equity banker in UBS Investment Bank. Mr Jeremiah was a general manager at NTUC Income. They all had careers dealing with money and investments.
- Cars. The Zages own a Volvo SUV and a Honda. Mr Jeremiah has a BMW 7 series. Maybe they know that cars in Singapore are a big liability and don't wish to indulge in overly expensive cars.


http://www.salary.sg/2007/of-property-career-and-cars/