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

My family did not have much money when I was growing up. When I was three, my parents, older sister and I emigrated to Texas, US. My father had only US$35. He was an accountant in Korea but he could not speak English. So he worked in various jobs including as a car mechanic before starting a few businesses dealing with auto repairs and homemade pizzas, as well as a beauty salon which my mother managed. We really lived the American Dream through hard work and determination. We lived in a single-storey, three-bedroom house. We didn't have much money and were thrifty.

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

When I was 13, I noticed a big difference between rich fathers and poor fathers. The poor ones watched a lot of TV after work and the rich fathers read the Wall Street Journal. So, I started reading the Wall Street Journal and tracked stocks. I would watch the stock prices and see the correlation to the news. This was where I truly learnt both the macro and micro effects of events on stock prices.

When I was 18, I started my first investment fund and traded using my own money. The portfolio started with US$5,000 and grew into US$2.2 million by the time I reached 23. In five years, I had built a sizeable amount for a young person.

Q: What property do you own?

Sun & Associates is my real estate holding firm for five properties. They are landed houses in Los Angeles and Seattle - bought in 2005 - and an apartment in Korea which was bought a year later. I live in them. The firm also owns two mixed-use commercial and residential buildings in Seoul and Seattle. They were bought in 2000 and 2005, respectively. I would like to keep the purchase prices and rental yields confidential.

Q: What's the most extravagant thing you have bought?

I pay for experience. When I'm on vacation, I stay at the nicest place because I'm enjoying it with my family. Last July, I took my parents, an aunt, my sister's family and mine on a 10-day trip to Hawaii. There were 10 of us. I spent US$50,000.

Q: What's your retirement plan?

I don't ever plan on retiring. I told myself that I will always be working. Having said that, working to me means being 100 per cent independent. Even today, I don't really need to work, but I completely enjoy working. When the kids are independent, my wife and I will need US$20,000 to US$30,000 a month.

I will continue to give back to society. I am already giving 10 per cent of my earnings to charity every year. I'm a board member of three non-profit organisations and I'm actively involved in two more. I plan to give 70 per cent of my wealth to charity and the balance to my kids when I grow old.

Q: My home is...

I have homes in Seoul, Los Angeles and Seattle. We move around.

Q: I drive...

A silver Mercedes C32.

Q: What has been your worst investment to date?

I had US$2 million in biotech stocks from 2000 and my holdings were down 30 per cent a year later when I got out of the sector. I liquidated my tech stocks in 2000, but not my biotech holdings. The main reason for holding on to the biotech sector was that I bought the stocks later.

Q: And your best investment?

It would be investing US$5,000 in tech stocks such as eBay and Intel in 1995 and making US$2.2 million five years later. My best move was to get out of tech stocks in 2000.

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