“At the age of 28, all of my
descendants will get a certain
percentage of the money in my trust
fund to turn their business ideas into
fruition,” Clinton shares.
and let me tell you, the feeling is
amazing. I dare say that I have never
smiled and laughed and felt this
warmth in my heart as I have had in
the past year,” Clinton says.
Why 28?
He pauses before asking me, “Do you
have children? Are you married?”
“My reasoning is quite simple
actually. At that age, you have already
worked for several years and will
have a few ideas in your head that you
want to try out. You might be thinking,
‘I wish I had a million dollars to try
it out’. Well, if a million dollars is
what you need, then you will get it
from my trust fund. There is only one
condition: it is a one-off deal.”
His time management secret:
meticulous, almost to a fault,
prioritisation. Everyone has 24 hours
a day and Clinton devotes all of
them to the pursuit of two values –
happiness and health. Surprisingly,
or unsurprisingly, money is not one
of them. If anything, money is a
fortunate by-product of his relentless
chase for the two aforementioned
qualities. “I don’t need to be a
billionaire. Instead, I believe in
delivering value. If I have lived my life
in delivering value to the community
and the people around me, then it is
a life well-lived.” It also helps that
Clinton is incredibly competitive,
a remnant of his days playing
badminton in the national youth team.
And now that he has a young child,
Clinton has also begun making
different life choices at the behest
of his wife Tina Cheng. For example,
Tina has expressively forbade Clinton
from playing badminton again.
She explains, partly in jest: “I saw
him play once and I said, ‘Okay, that
is it! No more!’ You see, badminton
can actually be a rather strenuous
sport and he is a winner at heart,
so he goes for every shot. But, he
isn’t 18 anymore!” So, now, Clinton
exclusively plays golf and swims.
He has also limited his intake of
refined carbohydrates such as
rice, opting for either chicken or
fish soup for lunch when he is not
entertaining clients. “The first thing
Tina told me when we got married
was, ‘You must be healthy and live
long because you are 11 years older
than me and your child will have to
rely on you’,” he says.
This issue of reliance, specifically
financial dependence, has become
the centrepiece of the conversations
that Clinton and Tina have almost
every night after they put Cora to
sleep. Clinton holds the responsibility
of managing the family’s enviable
wealth and while he acknowledges
his good fortune, literally and
figuratively, he also understands the
heavy burden that comes with this
task. Most importantly, he does not
want to become another example of
the timeless Chinese adage 富不过
三代 (fu bu guo san dai), or “Wealth
never survives three generations”.
His aim is to give every descendant
of the family a stake in the company
and while he has set aside a certain
amount for Tina and Cora to lead
relatively comfortable lives now and
in the future, a large portion of his
wealth is going into his trust fund.
Ultimately, Clinton wants to stretch
as far as possible the wealth that he
and his forefathers have worked so
hard for, and give every generation
of the family the tools and the
opportunity to make a name of
themselves and succeed. He also
wants Cora to understand the pitfalls
that come with such wealth and how
it should not be left to chance but
managed properly, so that the family
is able to ride out the peaks and
the troughs in the decades to
come. That is one of the
reasons he prefers to
manage his money
rather than leaving it
to fund managers.
No, I’m not.
He gives me an empathising look,
as though I’m missing out on a
wonderful secret, perhaps even the
key to happiness. And as Clinton
excitedly shows me a video depicting
Cora kissing a picture of him that
was published in a magazine and
how he turns into a giggling, excited
teenager basking in the throes of
a first crush, I begin to think that,
yes, perhaps I am missing out on
something amazing.
As for Clinton, he cannot wait to
add to his brood and experience
fatherhood all over again, but maybe
without a giant party during his future
second child’s first birthday.
Right now though,
at this point in
his life, Clinton is
just cherishing the
memories he creates
every day with his two
loves, Tina and Cora.
“It might sound cliché but,
really, to love and be loved is
the greatest emotion
you will experience
in life. I see this
every day in
Cora’s eyes
I don’t need to
be a billionaire.
Instead, I believe
in delivering
value. If I have
lived my life in
delivering value
to the
community and
the people
around me,
then it is a life
well-lived.
Mar 2014 • Family & Life
13