After losing $95k life savings, man driving taxi to keep roof over family's heads: 'It's make or break'

It felt as though life was finally on the upswing for Travis Wong when he sold his flat in 2025. The sales proceeds brought much-needed financial relief for his family and gave him room to focus on growing his businesses.

Then, the former project manager lost $95,000 of his life savings investing in an acquaintance's company. He says an agreement for monthly disbursements was not honoured.

Still, the 46-year-old Singaporean had bills to pay — the most pressing of all a monthly rental of $3,500 for the HDB flat he, his wife, and their two sons now live in. 

He declined to provide further details about his family, citing privacy concerns.

Becoming a cabby was Wong's way of rebuilding life.

He explained to AsiaOne: "The only way I can get out of this situation is to make sure that I have money coming in every day.

"The idea is to drive: to pay off the rent, and also in the hope of trying to have some savings so I can rebuild everything back again."

When AsiaOne met Wong last month, he was on an involuntary break. The taxi driver had collided with a Traffic Police vehicle along the PIE on Aug 4, sending him and his passenger to hospital.

Wong sprained his neck in the accident, which also reaggravated his herniated discs.

While dealing with the resulting pain and headaches, he had to wait for a replacement rental taxi to be issued.

It has also been a year since the man and his wife, who currently works on an ad-hoc basis, lost most of their life savings.

Out of a job to seek medical treatment

Wong recounted how in January 2023, he was told by his company to either resign or accept a demotion when he requested a break to seek mental health treatment.

He has anxiety and depression, as well as other physical ailments including sleep apnea and several herniated discs in his neck and back.

Wong decided to resign and prioritise his treatments. He later set up his own businesses offering consultancy services.

"In a sense, we were struggling a little bit," Wong said of their financial situation.

Income, he pointed out, was also unstable as he had to "pace himself" because of his health conditions.

"What my wife and I thought was that we're going to sell our house, we're going to have money coming in, so I could finally focus on doing business. We don't have to push ourselves; I could seek treatment."

So they sold their first house — a HDB Executive Apartment in the Jurong West area purchased in 2007.

Wong said this brought in a cash sum of slightly over $100,000. They planned to grow the amount by investing, with the goal of purchasing a new home in 2027.

"We were really getting better. A lot of the things that we said that we were going to do were going to happen because we had that money," Wong told AsiaOne.

Approached to invest in acquaintance's company

It was at this very moment that Wong heard about an investment opportunity from an online acquaintance, who claimed they were expanding their company.

Promised that they could collect monthly payments of the principal together with interest, which ranged between 10 to 15 per cent, over a period of two years, the man and his wife agreed to invest in the company.

But two months went by without any payments, with Wong describing their attempts to retrieve the funds as "going in circles".

Things came to a head in November, when he confronted the acquaintance over a call.

He recounted: "I did tell them when I gave the money that this is literally life and death for us because we needed this money. The only reason why we put in the sum is that we are promised monthly payments."

In a moment of distress, Wong told his acquaintance that he felt like he had "no way out". 

"I think they genuinely feared that I'll do something drastic, like take my own life. Which was of course, never the case. I was actually trying to convey the dire financial situation that we are in," the man said.

That was also when he accepted there was "no chance" of recovering his investment.

Wong showed AsiaOne a copy of a police report he filed over the "fraud" in mid-November.

The police confirmed to AsiaOne that a report was lodged, and investigations are ongoing.

Spending long hours on the road

Now, Wong needs to keep a roof over his family's heads. What was left of their sale proceeds had been used to pay two months of rent and other living expenses.

The fastest and surest way of earning an income for Wong was to become a cabby. He began pursuing a Taxi Driver's Vocational Licence and was cleared to drive full-time in March.

Meanwhile, a fundraising campaign he created in November concluded with over $12,000 in contributions, allowing his family to tide over the year.

"I can't tell you exactly how we survived January and February, but we managed to," he said.

Wong told AsiaOne he aspires to clock 15 hours on the road daily.

According to his calculation, 13 hours of driving will allow him to cover his housing rent, taxi rental fee and petrol. An additional two hours would let him accumulate savings.

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"I have the blessing of not having nasty customers, except for one or two occasions," he shared, adding that he also enjoyed driving families.

"I don't really stop for meals. I only stop for washroom break, so just really go out there and hustle."

The long hours are physically draining and on days where his herniated discs flares up, he cannot work.

Then, the accident with the traffic police vehicle put him out of commission for nearly a month.

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In a 'bad' rent situation 

Wong told AsiaOne in September that he is still experiencing the aftereffects of the crash, and struggling to drive consistently due to flare ups in his back and neck.

When we ask about his rent situation for the past month, he described it as "bad", without elaborating further.

Wong has set up another fundraising campaign with a goal of $6,800. He said the money will go to paying off the rental for his house and taxi, as well as medical treatment for his herniated discs.

It was a decision he struggled with. The man told AsiaOne earlier in August that he believes there is a "limit" to the help he can receive.

"If you keep asking for financial help all the time, there's going to be a point in time where people will be wondering: How come this person driving taxi and all that still can't make ends meet?," he reflected.

"There's only so much favour you can get."

Pressing on

Wong is determined to take accountability for his investment decision, and keep his family afloat.

"It's about survival. This is literally make or break," he told AsiaOne.

"I'm just very sorry that my family got involved. I think that's the biggest regret because the money that we lost includes my entire family savings. Having my wife in the equation is my biggest regret because I got her into this, and she has to feel that struggle."

Still, he holds out hope that his situation will begin turning around.

"Despite the accident, I still drive, pay off the bills, and I hope to God next year our HDB Flat Eligibility (HFE) letter will be approved and we qualify for a loan.

"If I could make this miracle happen, then we'll be able to get a house with a mortgage that is a lot more manageable. Reduce the monthly cash expenses, therefore driving less and then get my time back for other things."

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com

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