Read to Broaden your vision on the Path to Wealth Creation

AUTHOR_Yan Lam / Yvonne Yu

PHOTOS_Casli Lau / COURTESY OF THE INTERVIEWEES

“Golden mansions are to be found in books” — that is to say, as long as one studies hard, wealth will come one’s way. This phrase originates from the “Poem to Encourage Learning” written by Emperor Zhenzong of the Song dynasty, who had a personal name Zhao Heng, and is still true today even after a thousand years. For sure, we no longer need to create wealth through passing examinations and thus getting an official rank like the ancients; instead, we can do so by absorbing experience and knowledge from the sharing and writing of different professionals. Speaking of investment, reading is the best investment that can benefit one’s whole life. Although books may not directly teach you how to make money, the accumulation of knowledge is your personal intangible wealth and also the most solid support for starting a business and/or creating wealth.

Shuai Jianxiang, whom people like to call “Mr. Shuai”, is a popular financial writer of the new generation in the Chinese book market. The young man, who speaks with fervor and assurance at various talks gathering all kinds of distinguished people, is mature beyond his years. Mr. Shuai, humorous and sincere, breaks the stereotypical image of a financial writer who is thought to be “serious and solemn”. At the age of 26, with both a high IQ and EQ, he has already achieved the goal of financial freedom for which others need to struggle for decades.

In 2021, once Mr. Shuai’s new book Financial Independence, Retire Early, to which he gave his whole mind writing for more than a year, was published, it topped the lists of best-selling books of its kind. He worked at New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. as a prestigious teacher, so his eloquence is not in question. Mr. Shuai turns from a mentor of growth, who is good at giving guidance in a patient and gradual manner in his previous book Advantage Growth, to a financial management expert, who demonstrates his remarkable ability in investment and financial management. Acclaimed for his incisive words that hit the nail on the head, Mr. Shuai has quite a number of witty sayings: “Follow the bees, and you will find flowers; but follow the flies, toilets.” His straightforward and funny words are not only popular among young people, but also allow his books to be successfully listed as some of the best-selling books in a short time through various new media platforms.

Mr. Shuai mentioned that in order to develop a correct notion of “financial freedom”, it is necessary to get rid of the systematic education of one’s family of origin. One can reshape his or her value only after breaking it. This can be said to be a topic that will influence one’s whole life. Mr. Shuai believes that we can use the 4% rule proposed by American scholar William Bengen to calculate how much money needs to be saved in the future before we can retire: in other words, with the current monthly expenditure multiplied by 12 and divided by 0.042, we will know the target amount for retirement and hence “have a rough idea”.

In the era when most people encourage consumption, Mr. Shuai born in the 1990s already has a clearer picture than his peers. Even though he has obtained enough wealth for retirement via different ways of financial management and wealth creation, he still insists that the best way to create wealth is not only to increase income but also to reduce unnecessary expenses.

As a local craft beer brand in Macao, Funny Eye Brewing was founded by three youngsters, Lucas Lio, Crystal Kuok and Alison Tam, while they were in college. With more than three years of practices and attempts, their beer business has started to take off, and this year they have even invested MOP3 million to establish a brewery in Macao.

Dr. Tang Yu Ming (second from right) heads to the brewery of Funny Eye Brewing to share the latest developments with Alison, Crystal and Lucas (from left to right).

Lucas, Crystal, and Alison met a slew of problems from the birth of entrepreneurial ideas to practice in college, such as production location, packaging, and route to market. The trio recalled that when they first created the brand, they crafted a wooden cart for carrying beer on campus and pushed it to the Hong Kung Night Market to sell it, so that they could talk directly to consumers and observe the market reaction to their craft beer. Crystal, now the marketing director, noted that at that time the trio only made craft beer according to foreign formulations, and the finished products were bitter and thus not well-received among locals. So, they had a turnover of only a few dozen patacas throughout the night. Though they felt dejected, the market reaction made them rethink and brew craft beer with a Chinese tea flavor.

Crystal crafts a wooden beer cart on campus

Dr. Tang Yu Ming asks Prof. Tam Kin Yip for advice on using instruments to analyze the composition of beer

Aside from courage, starting a business needs luck. The trio was grateful to meet Dr. Tang Yu Ming, resident fellow of the University of Macau’s Cheng Yu Tung College, because he led the trio as a team in the entrepreneurial competition, instructing them on how to write plans, deliver speeches and conduct market analysis from scratch, and accompanying them all the way along. For college startups, Dr. Tang Yu Ming voiced encouragement, as regardless of success or failure, the experience in the process is extremely precious and will influence the future development of students. When knowing Lucas was interested in brewing beer, he contacted a HK-based brewery he knew to give Lucas a chance to learn. In addition, when the trio ran into product development problems, Dr. Tang also gave his great help. He invited Prof. Tam Kin Yip of the University of Macau’s Faculty of Health Sciences to analyze the composition of the trio’s beer, and offer advice to the three brewers in a scientific way. Dr. Tang believes that compared with startup funds, it is more important to offer young people resources and opportunities to get in touch with different sources of information, broaden their horizons and find their own direction.

Tong Iec Pak Fa Fui (hereinafter referred to as “Pak Fa Fui”) is a Macao brand with a history of over a century. Its flat peach fruit was a must-buy for visitors to Macao decades ago and was part of the first generation of Macao souvenirs. Yet with social changes, people enjoy more and more choices, and Pak Fa Fui is no longer a must-buy souvenir. Meanwhile, there is a shortage of customers: most are senior customers, and the growth of the youth market is nearly zero. In such a scenario, Pak Fa Fui’s fourth-generation operator Lu Weiwen upgraded the brand image and tapped the market for young people.

After upgrading, the Tong Iec Pak Fa Fui store looks more vibrant

Pak Fa Fui's new product packaging caters to the market trend

After upgrading, the Tong Iec Pak Fa Fui store looks more vibrant Pak Fa Fui’s new product packaging caters to the market trend Pak Fa Fui boasts a wide range of products, but the packaging is so plain that it cannot highlight products. “Despite a 100-year history, Pak Fa Fui has never had a complete and unified corporate image, and the overall visual image cannot keep up with modern tastes. Therefore, we participated in the ‘Macao Classic Brand Support Program’ supported by the Economic and Technological Development Bureau in 2019 to redesign the brand,” said Lu Weiwen. As a time-honored store, its work of brand reshaping is more complicated than shaping a new brand, as its inherent image has crept into the heart of the people. So after many discussions, Lu Weiwen and the designer retained the elements that could best represent the spirit of Pak Fa Fui, forming the current new Chinese style. The newly refurbished store reopened in mid-April. Lu Weiwen found that many old customers were surprised by the new store and new packaging, with more young customers frequenting the store to learn about it. “Only by following the social trend can a business go further,” said Lu Weiwen. “It is very important to think from customers’ points of view. The integration of traditional products with modern health concepts is more in line with the expectations of modern people, and the new packaging design and flavor blending of products can also cater to the preferences of youngsters.””

It is hard to start a business, but it is even harder to keep a business on track, let alone a brand with a hundred years of history. The development of the industry, in addition to ensuring product quality, requires practitioners to constantly change their market strategy. Lu Weiwen mentioned that since last year he has been exploring the online market step by step, and has partnered with a mainland e-commerce platform to sell Pak Fa Fui’s products, which is also meant to keep up with the changes in the market. He hopes to adopt different ways to enable more youngsters to rediscover Pak Fa Fui, a century-old brand of Macao.

We have selected eight books on wealth creation for you to learn from the successful experience of others and get prepared for the future path to wealth creation.