Power Cut Off as a Kid, Financially Free at 31 | Thomas Chua, The Lunch Break Investor

#money When Thomas Chua was a boy in Singapore, the bills would go unpaid for months until the electricity and water were cut off. His father had stopped working when he was ten, lost to gambling and drink. So Thomas spent his evenings in the library ten minutes away, and at 16 he picked up the book that taught him why you should own productive assets. By 19 he'd saved about $30,000 from odd jobs — cashier, waiter, selling ice cream door to door. When he won a scholarship to NUS, his father told him to drop it and start earning for the family. He went anyway. At 31, he was financially independent. He still works every day, because to him freedom was never about stopping. He came up to KL by train, with his wife, to launch his book The Lunch Break Investor. Chuang sat down with him to get into how he invests, and to push back where they disagree — most of all on whether the AI boom has changed the rules for good. This episode is for general information only and is not investment advice.

#money #IPO Hear directly from Ong Eu Jin, Managing Partner of Ong Eu Jin Partnership and Malaysia’s leading IPO solicitor, who plays a crucial role in guiding companies through the legal maze of going public on Bursa Malaysia. What really happens behind the scenes before a company can list, and what legal and compliance hurdles must be cleared? Eu Jin shares a solicitor’s perspective on the hidden challenges, regulatory expectations and intense due diligence that companies face on the road to IPO. For investors, this episode offers practical guidance on how to approach an IPO prospectus, Eu Jin points out which sections deserve the closest attention, what legal red flags to look for, and how the IPO process helps ensure only well-governed companies make it to the public market. For founders, career seekers and anyone curious about IPOs, this conversation uncovers the real work that ensures companies are fit to be listed, protecting investors, raising governance standards, and shaping the future of Malaysia’s public companies. A series collaboration between @DoMoreToday.Official and @AurumStory.

#money A family Chuang knows spent about RM1 million putting their son through a marketing degree in Melbourne. Covid and a split year stretched it by an extra year and a half. Two years after graduating, he's still at home in his room, still without a job. Anabelle's daughter turns 17 this year and wants to study fashion business in France. Chuang was sent to a British boarding school at 13 on money his parents didn't really have — what he now calls overreaching. He ranks where you send your children as the second-biggest financial decision of your life, after your house. So the two of us sat down to work through it properly: the pros, the cons, and how you actually pay for it. We agree the grass isn't greener. We don't agree on how to pay for it.

#money In 2026, a tech company from Klang listed on Bursa with its retail tranche oversubscribed 312 times. RM1.4 billion in applications chased 14.2 million shares. Alex Lam spent 35 months getting there. He built a full in-house marketing team, made his engineers explain their work in plain English, and posted on LinkedIn inviting suppliers, investors and his own competitors to the prospectus launch. When Bursa asked what gave them the right to put "AI" in the company name, he went back and dug out the proof. Minutes after he struck the listing gong, the footage was running on three billboards next to the number and a thank you to Malaysia. Stephanie, who spent years taking private companies public, brought his story to Chuang. Chuang's argument is simple: Malaysia is full of fantastic businesses, and it has a marketing problem. Then the harder question — what happens after the gong? This episode is for general information only and is not investment advice.

#money #IPO Every new ticker on Bursa Malaysia is the end of a long, gruelling journey most investors never see. In Episode 1 of Beyond the Prospectus, a new series of conversations about going public, staying public and growing, Aurum Story host Stephanie Ng and Do More's Khoo Hsu Chuang go behind the scenes with Gary Ting, Head of Corporate Finance at M&A Securities, one of Bursa's most active IPO houses. Gary took Inari Amertron to market at a RM138 million valuation; he says it's now worth around RM11 billion. He backed a four-year-old furniture company led by a 29-year-old MD that has since moved up to the Main Market, and his team brought Aquawalk, the operator of Aquaria KLCC, to Bursa. He's also seen the other side: deals called off over shrinking profits, and one founder so stressed by permits and paperwork that he scrapped his IPO after the Buddha appeared in his dream. Gary walks through his five pillars of IPO readiness, the red flags retail investors should watch for, and which chapters of the prospectus (or as he calls it, "the phone book") are actually worth your time. The three also dig into ACE vs. Main Market, how to spot founders who are really cashing out, why IPOs shouldn't be priced to the max, and what the real price of going public looks like long after the listing ceremony. A series collaboration between @DoMoreToday.Official and @AurumStory.

#money The iPhone 18 launched this week, and Anabelle — who has bought every single iPhone since 2007 — still hasn't pulled the trigger on this one. The Fold starts at RM9,499. The 1TB Pro Max is pushing RM17,500. Chuang's question is simpler: why buy the phone at all, when you could buy the stock? So the two of us sat down to argue it out. The Pro Max alone makes up 55–65% of every iPhone Apple sells. The iPhone line is over half of Apple's total revenue. Somewhere in that gap between what people buy and what actually holds value is the whole episode. In this one: — Why the Fold costs more than a flight to Europe — The consumer-vs-owner argument: iPhone, or Apple shares — What should come before a phone on your spending list — Property at 30–40x income, a C-section at RM20,000, confinement at RM8,000 — why the young are buying anyway — The FOMO trap, and why nobody remembers what phone you had — Apple raising the price of last year's phone, which is never supposed to happen

#money Anabelle came back from six weeks in France and posted a carousel about what wealth actually looks like. It hit 2 million views — and the comments split down the middle. So the two of us sat down to argue it out properly. Chuang grew up around Penang old money: families in mansions that look small from the street, patriarchs who make their son-in-law sell the sports car because being seen is dangerous. Five years ago he started selling things off. He drives a 2003 Toyota with 340,000km on it and wears RM9 Decathlon t-shirts. His stated ambition is to be the uncle at the kopitiam at 10 in the morning. Anabelle built a company from her kitchen to 350 employees. She's tried to minimise three times. She still can't get through the drawer. We don't land in the same place, and that's the episode. In this one: — Why old money hides and new money displays — The line between rich and wealthy (and why family offices draw it at USD 100 million) — The friend earning RM8 million a year who calls himself a highly paid dog — Nine bedrooms, ten car spaces, and a family that lives entirely in the kitchen — What Malaysia gives you that you've stopped noticing — Why chasing a retirement number is the wrong game

Most people who follow Malaysian equities know John Huo as the author of Malaysian Multibaggers — the book that breaks down why some stocks turn a company worth RM60 million into one worth RM13 billion, while others sit flat for a decade. But the story that opens this episode isn't from his research. It's personal: a CEO he interviewed as a young financial journalist back in 2011, when the company barely registered. He wrote it off. By 2023, that same company was worth over RM13 billion. He still hasn't forgiven himself for it. In this episode, John breaks down the actual mechanics behind Malaysia's biggest stock winners — not vague investing wisdom, but industry-specific economics: why export exposure is non-negotiable, how to read a quarterly report like a professional instead of just checking the share price, and the five competitive moats that separate a real multibagger from a company that just got lucky for one quarter. He also unpacks how he built his own AI research stack using Claude and Gemini, why some of Malaysia's best-run companies will probably never be multibaggers, and what it actually takes — in hours, not just capital — to find the next one yourself. TL/DW of the episode: → From RM60 million to RM13 billion: the company he passed on as a journalist in 2011 → The 3 non-negotiable rules of a multibagger: skin in the game, export driven, and a real catalyst → The 5 economic moats that actually protect a business — and why the glove industry lost theirs → Reading quarterly disclosures like a professional: the "watch the announcement" method → Is Google still a buy, and could it really 10x from here? → What separates a genuine value trap from a stock that's just temporarily out of favor → How he built his own AI research workflow with Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity John Huo, Investor, Business owner and author of Malaysian Multibaggers: Inside the Companies That Delivered 10–100x Returns on Bursa Follow John here: URL: https://johnhuo.com/ Linkedin:   / johnhuo  

Most people know Dato' Sri Francis Lee for his work in the food and beverage industry, but his second act as an automotive titan is where the real high-stakes drama unfolded. Transitioning into the car business in the late 90s, he partnered with industry veterans to build Hyundai into the #1 non-national car brand in Malaysia, only to orchestrate a strategic exit to Sime Darby in 2004. From securing the iconic Mazda franchise on the first day of Chinese New Year to experiencing a literal misaligned disaster with early Chinese imports in 2005, Dato' Francis has seen every cycle of the automotive industry. Under his leadership, Bermaz Auto grew into a dividend-darling powerhouse, mastering the delicate balance of brand prestige, residual value, and exceptional after-sales service. In Part 2 of this exclusive interview, Dato' Sri Francis Lee tackles the most pressing issue in the auto industry today: the Chinese EV invasion. He breaks down the brutal realities of market dumping, why the Malaysian government instituted the RM200,000 CIF floor price policy, and how legacy brands are fighting back. Plus, he reveals why Bermaz chose to partner with tech-forward Xpeng and shares his vision for a future filled with autonomous and flying cars. TL/DW of the episode: → The Hyundai Hustle: How Berjaya made Hyundai the #1 non-national car in Malaysia by 2004 and the strategic sale to Sime Darby → Early China Car Disasters: The hilarious (and costly) story of importing Chinese cars in 2005 that only swerved left → The Mazda Miracle: Securing the franchise in Bangkok and ordering the first batch of cars during a Chinese New Year dinner → Surviving the EV Price War: Why Chinese EV dumping is destroying resale values and how legacy brands are responding → The RM200,000 CIF Policy Explained: Why the government stepped in to regulate imported EVs and protect local investments → The Xpeng Partnership: Why Bermaz chose AI, autonomous driving, and flying cars for its EV strategy → Business Philosophy: Prioritizing sustainable volumes, consistent shareholder dividends, and employee welfare over aggressive market share

Most people know Dato' Francis Lee as the man who helped build Berjaya Food into a massive retail behemoth, steering iconic brands like Starbucks and Kenny Rogers Roasters across Malaysia. But his journey didn't start in the boardroom of a food empire—it started with writing audit reports. Plucked from his role as an internal auditor during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Dato' Francis learned the gritty realities of retail survival the hard way. From choosing a literal hole-in-the-ground at Mid Valley over a premium spot at KLCC to save on rent, to revolutionizing Kenny Rogers' service model from a cold-food queue to hot table service, his practical, common-sense approach turned struggling operations into a publicly listed powerhouse. Under his watch, Starbucks Malaysia grew from a single store at KL Plaza to 250 locations by the time he stepped down as CEO in 2017. In this episode, Dato' Francis unpacks the demanding realities of building food and beverage empires. He breaks down exactly why running a restaurant is vastly more complex than scaling a coffee chain, how he navigated intense social and political brand backlash, and shares a surprising perspective on today's economy: why he wouldn't start a business today and actually prefers the path of an employee. TL/DW of the episode: → From internal auditor to CEO: How the 1997 financial crisis sparked an unexpected career pivot → The Mid Valley vs. KLCC dilemma: The strategic real estate decision that saved Kenny Rogers Roasters' capital → Coffee vs. Food: The real economics, high margins, and operational nightmares of both industries → Navigating social media crises and political backlash in a highly sensitive B2C market → Why Dato' Francis advises aspiring entrepreneurs to strongly consider the stability of being an employee first → The truth about listing a company: Why you shouldn't go public unless you're making at least RM10-15 million → Behind the scenes of balancing a high-powered career with family sacrifices Dato' Francis Lee, Former CEO of Berjaya Food Berhad & CEO of Bermaz Auto Group Follow Dato' Francis here: URL: https://www.bauto.com.my/about.php