Who Is Ka Hoe?
Hi, my name is Ka Hoe. And I am the founder of J Advisory
I am so excited to meet you and I hope to share the ups and downs of my investment, coaching and entrepreneurial journey for the past 14 years with you.
From the highs of all my achievements from secondary school into the working world, I never failed before until the ripe age of 25.
From then I survived 3 crises and live to tell the story. Hopefully to shed light to you and prevent you from making the same mistakes I made in the past.
It wasn’t easy, for sure. It surely was a humbling experience.
If you ask me “If you had the chance to do it all over again, what will you do differently?”
I would say “I wouldn’t do it any other way. For all the experiences I got, it moulded me to be a better man”
Why Am I Sharing This Story?
You see, no one likes to hang their dirty linens publicly for people to see. Similarly, no one likes to tell you their vulnerable and shameful stories
But I truly believe there are too many “gurus” and “experts” that only tell you 1 side of the story. To make you believe how easy it was. You would be a fool if you didn’t do it too. How good they were. How much they have achieved. Bla bla bla
I wanted to tell you the real truth. No filter. Authentic stories. So that you could decide for yourself. Free will.
And most importantly, I wanted to share my stories so that you could learn from my mistakes. Because I believe it is much easier to learn from other’s mistakes than to make your own.
Crisis #1
It all started back in 2005. I was an IT professional working in a bank, a pretty stable job, but I was caught in this whirlwind of office politics. I was made the Project Manager of a RM 2 Mil project. I was proud. I was scared as well. It was the 1st time I was managing a 10-person team. I felt like I was stuck in a rut, not moving forward.
Why? I was staring at a project failing and nothing I could do could overcome it. I was managing a team of 10 but I was leading Vice Presidents and colleagues who were ranked higher than me (I was then an Assistant Manager)
I started out in the property investment game early in 2001. I was young, ambitious, and eager to make my mark. I bought 2 properties early on, 1 at age 21 and another at age 22 with my current wife (my then gf). So came time in 2005, I was on the brink of losing my job, my wife was pregnant with our 1st son and I was staring at the possibility of serving 2 property loans without any job.
But all this was just playing in my head. I was so depressed and I didn’t know how to reach out for help. I contemplated suicide as I couldn’t sleep. When I was at work, I resorted to “spending” time in the toilet so much as I couldn’t face anyone.
In fact, I didn’t realize I had a problem communicating. I didn’t know how to communicate with my bosses, my team and my peers. Nothing I said came out right. Even with the best intention. I had always led by authority but not led by influence. Compounded with a negative environment, I had no clue it was drowning me.
Of course, at that time I attributed it to my financial problems. Thankfully my dad help me out and gave me the courage to resign.
That’s when I stumbled upon a book, “Cash Flow Quadrant” by Robert Kiyosaki. That book was a game-changer for me. It gave me hope and direction. It made me realize that I can learn about money. I can be empowered and lead a life of happiness and fulfilment.
So, that was how I made the decision that would change the course of my life – I decided to venture into entrepreneurship.
Crisis #2
But I never thought of being an entrepreneur. They say “Nice guys don’t last in the business world”. Oh my, what business do I have to be in? I only knew I am good at 2 things, “I’m good with numbers and I like helping people”. That was how I was
“Recruited” to be an insurance agent with P********* company.
It was a rollercoaster ride as I am not a natural salesperson. The last thing I wanted to do is to sell insurance. But I pursued on because I wanted to practise financial planning. I wanted to help my clients plan financially and elevate their lives (while elevating mine)
The first year was tough, really tough. My monthly income dropped from a comfortable RM 5,000/month to a mere RM 2,000/mth. But I kept at it, and within three years, I managed to increase my income to five figures. Things were looking up, I was even able to buy one property a year from 2010 to 2012 (My 3rd,4th and 5th property). I was proud of my achievements.
That was when I noticed there was a huge gap in financial education in our community. I mean, we don’t learn money in school, right? So, I decided to do something about it. I started learning everything about money in the U.S. context and experimented with what I learned in the Malaysian environment.
I continued learning. I was happy until I found out about another ex-colleague who manage to buy 4 properties in 2 months. I was like…..”What the hell? What is his secret?” That was how I enrolled on a property investment course to learn their secret. This was the start of greed playing on my emotions & blinding me.
And it happened. I bought 16 properties in three months. My claim to fame. Wow!
How?
I met a group of friends who turn property investors. We started to buy properties under our name & we learn that we can buy them in many ways. Through joint ventures, through proxy (meaning 1 person will buy it under their name, but shared it among the 5-6 of us) & through partnership via company shareholding
I got a little too confident. I was so focused on my Financial Freedom Number. All these properties were bought without doing proper due diligence. My emotions took over my decisions. I was riding high on the wave of success.
Then, in 2015, the property market started slowing down. The government implemented a new tax regime, GST. The property market started to shift from summer to autumn. I realized I had a problem, a big problem. My monthly instalments and maintenance for all the properties came up to a whopping RM 40k. I was only earning a rental income of RM 28k a month. I was under a lot of stress and I didn’t know what to do. I felt like I was drowning. It was a disaster.
I was left with a deficit of 5k a month. 4 investors were left to carry the burden from the original 8 investors. That is when reality hits. I had to do something, and fast.
Looking back at all the properties that I bought before I join the property investment course, they were the right properties. I learn to take responsibility and not to lay blame for what happened to me. In fact, I hit my Financial Freedom Number of RM 1.5 Million in 2014. But I didn’t take profit (sell the properties and secure the profits). And it led me to where I am today. I didn’t know how to cut loss. Most importantly, I was not focused on “doing the right thing” but instead I was “doing the thing right”?
Doing the right thing is buying Grade A properties, 1 at a time.
Doing the thing right is buying 16 properties but not sure whether it is Grade A
Crisis #3
To compound my problems further, I was making a career switch from being an insurance agent to a Licensed Financial Planner in 2015. This led me to being a Registered Financial Planner under the Malaysian Financial Planning Council. (I’m currently licensed with Bank Negara and the Securities Commission)
As a Licensed Financial Planner, what’s the 1st impression you have? “Do I sell insurance or unit trust, right?” you may ask. That’s the typical question I get whenever I tell people I am a Licensed Financial Planner
Although I do sell insurance and unit trust, my main job as a Licensed Financial Planner is to help people get out of financial problems. I help my clients develop their financial blueprint towards their financial goals and strategically implement the solutions. I typically charge a fee ranging from RM 10k to RM 20k depending on the complexity of their financial situation.
At the same time, I took a leap of faith and invested in a restaurant business. I thought investing in an F&B business would give me instant cash flow. Instant cash flow to solve my shortfall. But instead, it drained even more of my resources. I think all in, I had to pump in another RM 200k to salvage it from going down. I was sinking, and fast.
There’s where it led me to crash to the lowest point in my life, I was doing too much and I was not focused. There was 1 incident I vividly remembered.
I was so broke I did not have enough money to buy lunch for my kids, I had to scrape coins from my car coinbox.
I believe that was the turning point for me. In 2018, I came across a company called 4U Education. They taught me about communication, about connecting with people, and about understanding different personalities. It was a revelation to me. It made me realize that I had been communicating all wrong, that I had been misunderstood and I misinterpret what people mean.
I learned that to succeed in business, I needed to understand people, connect with them, to communicate effectively. And that’s exactly what I did. I applied what I learned, and things started to change. My business started to grow, and I started to see success.
Turning point
When Covid 19 hit there is where I started J Advisory. After what I’ve gone through I have set my intention to help people learn about money and overcome their current financial problems. I started blogging and sharing case studies once a week over the last 2 years on my website and mailing list.
I have conducted close to 200 webinars and have helped 5,000 people elevate their confidence and happiness by empowering them with financial education we didn’t learn in school. In 2022 J Advisory grew from zero to 6-figures in business revenue in 3 years and has helped close to 50+ individuals in their financial transformation journey and I have fun doing it.
Looking back now, I realize that my journey, as tough as it was, was necessary for my growth. Each crisis, and each failure, taught me valuable lessons and made me who I am today. It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it.
If you are wondering how I created all these amazing results (link to testimonial page), I want to share with you, it is through the journey, the ups and downs, the challenges I’ve faced and learning how to overcome them. And I’m here to tell you, if I can do it, so can you. It’s all about resilience, about learning, about growing. Remember, it’s not about how many times you fall, but how many times you get back up. Keep going, keep pushing, and you’ll get there.
I am fortunate for all the people that have helped me through my most difficult period (2015-2020). But it’s not all work for me. I’m a proud father to three kids. I’m a loving husband to a lovely and supportive wife. We’re big NBA fans and love watching games together. It’s these little moments that make all the hard work worth it.
And let me tell you, there’s nothing more rewarding than seeing someone take control of their finances and thank you for being part of it.
And I truly believe that with the right skill set and mindset, anyone can take control of their finances.