Me & My Money: Former govt scholar invests in healthcare business to provide better patient service

SINGAPORE - Mr Andrew Chim is a co-owner and director of four general practitioner clinics, but he is not a doctor.

He started the I-Health clinics with a friend, who is a doctor, and the friend’s wife, who is a nurse, because he was looking for a high level of healthcare that focuses on service quality and good communication.

A bout of sickness when he was in his 20s led him to a string of clinics that did their jobs, but with a level of patient care and communication that was lower than he preferred.

“Many doctors are trained to be clinical in their diagnosis but not trained to be communicative – I want clinics where doctors are emotionally intelligent and able to win the patients’ trust,” he said, adding that I-Health provides training to clinic staff and doctors on patient-centred service.

I-Health’s first clinic opened in Boon Keng in 2019. It has two more clinics – in Yishun and Serangoon North – and, come July, a fourth I-Health clinic will open in Tampines.

Mr Chim, 38, is driven by his experiences when he was growing up. His family was almost kicked out of their home when he was a teenager because his father faced bankruptcy after a failed business.

Their situation worsened some years later, when Mr Chim’s father was diagnosed with cancer and died. Mr Chim was just 25 then and doing his national service.

However, he never felt the full impact of these challenges as his housewife mother worked hard to support the family –which includes his two older siblings – and they were able to tide themselves over the tough times with money from his late father’s Central Provident Fund account.

The ordeal ignited a fire in him – he was determined to never find himself in such a situation again. “I’m very afraid of being broke, because I know what that feels like – that’s the feeling that drives me,” said Mr Chim.

His grit landed him a Public Service Commission scholarship.

After graduating from the University of Oxford with a bachelor of arts in politics, philosophy and economics, he worked at the Ministry of Finance and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, each of which was a two-year stint. Then he left the public sector to join McKinsey and Company as a junior associate.

He also obtained a master of arts at Yale University in international and development economics.

Mr Chim, who has picked up the sport of boxing, said: “I believe I got the warrior mentality from my mother – no matter how difficult life got, we had to wake up every day and continue to work for a better future.”

He is single and lives with his mother in a freehold condominium in Poh Huat Road.

Q: What do you invest in and why?

I am investing in businesses, mostly. I’m starting a separate medical business in Thailand and am also looking to raise investor capital to buy hospitals and clinics in Vietnam, to improve their operations and sell on to funds.

My portfolio breakdown is 70 per cent in I-Health, 15 per cent in cryptocurrency and 15 per cent in stocks and stock options in sectors like US energy and financials.

Q: How did you first become interested in investing? What was your first investment? 

I became interested in investing after I saw the potential of stock trading during the global financial crisis in 2008, which was about the time I graduated. Las Vegas Sands, a blue-chip company, fell from $80 to $2 and back to $80 in four years. If you bought it at the bottom, you would have made more than 40 times from price appreciation and dividends.

My first investment was in Thai Beverage on the Singapore stock exchange. I bought it just before it bought Fraser and Neave Limited (F&N) and sold it for a 60 per cent gain two months later, after the takeover of F&N.

Over time, I realised that the Singapore market has too-low volume and low volatility. So I switched my attention to US markets, where stocks like Tesla are highly liquid and can move between 50 per cent and 100 per cent in two months.

As a trader, I like nothing more than volatility and liquidity flow, because that creates opportunity to make outsized returns.

I see my portfolio as a barbell strategy. Healthcare and medical small and medium-sized enterprises investments create a stream of high-quality, sustained dividends that is not affected much by the economic cycle or inflation.

This creates the cash needed for me to make riskier, higher volatility trades in the options and crypto market, allowing me to take advantage of market crashes.

Controlling my monthly spending also means that I have available cash to invest at times of market distress.

Q: What has been your biggest financial mistake?

I fell victim to the fear of missing out in 2022. I sold a lot of my stocks because inflation was going up, and I knew the US Federal Reserve was increasing interest rates. I was also affected by friends around me saying I should sell my stocks.

My problem was listening to people who don’t know anything about stocks. 

As a result, I lost about 80 per cent of what I had initially put in, which was about US$700,000 (S$937,000).

My takeaway from this incident is not to fear missing out, and don’t take others’ advice about investments so easily.

Q: What has been your best financial decision to date?

My best financial decision definitely has been I-Health. We invested $250,000 at the start using our own money; now we’ve raised funds from investors at a valuation of $7 million.

We had also borrowed money from the bank to expand our business, and have made probably at least 20 times the amount we borrowed.

We’re now making a monthly revenue of more than $300,000.

Q: What car do you drive?

I don’t drive, I prefer using Grab.

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

I was initially from an upper middle-class background.

After my father got diagnosed with cancer and passed away at just 59, we had no money, and I felt angry with him for putting us in that situation.

My mother, who used to work as an air stewardess, became the one who had to support her three children alone.

One thing about me was, I always never spent everything I had. It was the same after I entered the working world – I don’t spend money even when I have it. So I never spend more than 40 per cent of my salary each month.

Q: What was your childhood dream? 

I wanted to be the president of Singapore because he had nine cars escorting him at the National Day Parade.

Q: What was your first job? 

I was a part-time tutor during my university days.

Money Matters:

Q: What would you do if you suddenly had a windfall of millions?

I would spend up to 20 per cent of the windfall on cars and houses.

I believe in this – spend 20 per cent of your money as if you will die and invest 80 per cent of your money as if you will live for another 50 years.

Q: If you suddenly had only $100 to your name, what would you do with it?

I would sell my experience and services and make $100 million again. I have knowledge on how to make money, so I would just start a new business.