Appears in the March-April issue of Moneysense Magazine

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Richard Poon and All That Jazz: The surprising story of the country’s most popular crooner

By Randell Tiongson, RFP

Everything about Richard Poon is a bit of a paradox. He is young but sings old standards. For the MTV and MYX generation, the music of Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett would be the last thing you would think would appeal to the market. Yet, not only did Richard dominate the big band jazz genre, he made it hip and popular in the country again.

Richard is perhaps today’s most popular crooner who has cemented his own niche in the Philippine musical scene. Undoubtedly, when you think about the big band jazz sound, his name is an instant recall.  Richard describes his music as “Fresh, Old School,” as his repertoire consists of highly-energized, inspiring takes of the standards. Just like the American singer-songwriters Harry Connick, Jr. and Michael Bublé, Richard has given the old jazz standards a fresh, contemporary sound.

Richard Poon has gone a long way in his craft. Breaking into the music industry in January 2008, he is now a certified-Platinum recording artist and the 2010 Aliw Award’s Best Male Concert Performer. His debut solo album “I’ll Take Care Of You”(MCA Music) soared to Gold and Platinum status and continues to be one of the country’s top selling records today. His sophomore album “For You” also turned Gold. He has been a mainstay in the popular Sunday variety show ASAP and has packed concert venues here and abroad.

Sometime ago, Richard wowed a huge crowd for his solo concert and he sang a couple of hauntingly melodic tunes with the international musical icon, Lea Salonga. It is not every day that a performer would fill up a huge concert hall in the Philippines with that brand of music but he did just that.

But Richard is not an overnight star.

A simple start

Here’s another paradox: Richard is Chinese and as a performer, he’s always in dapper suits, so you would think he was born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth. Born and raised in the Philippines, Richard did not exactly live a life of luxury. Certainly, his parents were relatively well off. His mother was a big star in Taiwan (which explains his musical genes) and his Cantonese father is a Hong Kong-based chef and restaurateur who owns the famous Mr. Poon restaurant.

But believe it or not, at one season in his life, Richard was actually broke and his future seemed so bleak. He shares that after graduating from De La Salle University, he began his professional career working for his father. Richard narrates, “My work was not easy as it involved being in the kitchen all the time. I would be there to open the restaurant, labor at the kitchen all day, and be the last person to leave as I needed to close the operations.”

While he loved working in the kitchen, Richard longed to do something else and working for his father created a very tense environment which he found to be more and more difficult to deal with. After six years working at Mr. Poon restaurant, Richard turned from a steady job with modest pay and all the comforts associated with working for the family business. For the first time, Richard felt how it was to fend for himself, devoid of the trappings of a middle-class Filipino-Chinese lifestyle afforded to him.

Broke and in debt

Fortunately, Richard knew early on that he needed to save for a rainy day. At that time, he has already accumulated modest savings – about P200,000 – from his income from the family restaurant, by practicing a simple yet powerful discipline – never spend more than what you earn and save as much as you can.

Richard says he admires his paternal grandfather who worked for a Chinese pharmaceutical company. He was guided by his grandfather’s simplicity in lifestyle and distaste for being flashy. The Poon patriarch was a good role model for the young Richard who consistently espoused having a very low profile despite his good income. Richard shares, “Up to his dying age, my grandfather was always financially independent and was even able to be generous to his children towards the later years of his life.”

Now on his own, Richard was ready to set out to find his place in the sun, but a medical condition drained him physically and financially, wiping out whatever savings he was able to build and even got into debt. He says, “I eventually landed a job managing a restaurant, a skill I have learned to master but the work did not pay much and could not even meet my basic needs.” With no savings, a miniscule income, Richard experienced severe financial challenges.

From growing up in a Filipino-Chinese middle-class environment and being educated in exclusive schools, Richard experienced the harsh difficulties of life – working with a low salary, taking public transportation, and the like. He also found himself in debt.

Yet, despite his situation, he was very faithful to his debtors and faithful in his tithing (giving to his church). He was always in constant communication with his debtors and paid them whatever amount he can set aside. “It did not matter to me if it was only P500 every time I pay but I believe in honoring my obligations despite the difficulties I was experiencing,” he explains.

Yet he did not let his dire situation stop his aspirations. He persevered despite how ominous his foreseeable future seemed at that time. Needing to make more money, Richard was always looking for opportunities to earn better income and he was not deterred to try things he was not accustomed to. At a certain point, he got into multi-level marketing, which allowed him to increase his income, although it was not as significant as he wanted. His exposure to the network marketing industry, however brief, helped rekindle his entrepreneurial spirit.

Richard never seemed bitter about his past despite the emotional and financial pain it caused him then. He insists, “It was a very good learning experience for me and it help me build up my character. In fact, the unfortunate experiences he had to endure were necessary to prepare me and mold me into the person I am today.”

A place in the sun

All throughout his journey that has taken him to the restaurant and network marketing industries, Richard continued to have a burning passion for something that has always been part of his life – music. He became a member of the acoustic band U-Turn, which exposed him to a market unaware of how talented he really is. He narrates that his journey as a musician was just as challenging as his restaurant profession was. “We were playing in small venues and earning as low as P1,000 per night despite performing for three hours or more,” he shares. Still, Richard considers all these as blessings and training for what was to come. After a few years, the band disbanded, which left Richard in a crossroads once more. As he was trying to form a new band, his best friend (and current manager) Erickson Raymundo prevailed upon him to go solo and take a different route – a big band jazz singer. Unsure of this path and not too confident of his abilities to go solo, Richard nevertheless embarked on his biggest challenge to date – and the rest is history.

Through all of these, Richard prevailed because he understood that everything that happens in his life has a purpose even if it was difficult for him to comprehend it at times. Now a successful singer-songwriter, Richard earns income beyond what he thought he could ever earn. Did this surge in financial security change his character? Not at all. Richard still espouses the same ideals and principles he clings to in the past. He continues to be low-profile in an environment embroiled in luxury. He still saves diligently and avoids unnecessary spending even if he can well afford it.

Richard is always mindful about the changes in his lifestyle and he is happy about it. One would think that the very popular crooner would parade himself in an expensive SUV right? Not Richard – he drives a modest car that is neither old nor new but dependable. Does he want to have a nice Mercedes, for instance? Sure he does, he says. But Richard is not about to squander his hard-earned money on unnecessary luxuries. His experiences taught him too well that he must be financially responsible all the time. Will he want to have a nice big house in the future? “Yes I do, but that will come when I am really ready and have properly prepared for such,” he explains.

His advice to young people: “Be faithful in paying what you owe, in saving, in living below your means, in tithing, in giving. In anything you do, be faithful.” Undoubtedly, these are words of wisdom from a man who has prevailed upon challenges and is now experiencing unprecedented success.

Posting a column I wrote for Moneysense Magazine.

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Beyond a mission, a cause

As I write this column, 2010 is about to end. 2010 is an eventful year indeed: a new President that ushered a new hope for the country’s future; a stronger and more stable Peso; a fantastic upswing in the Stock Market , accelerating in a rate we have not seen in a long time; and many more – both good and bad.

On a personal note, I am about to end a full 2 years since I have gone independent and not be affiliated with any financial services institution in my 22 years of professional life. My affiliations today have been limited to the Registered Financial Planner Institute Philippines (RFP) – an organization dedicated to the education of financial planners; and my church – Victory. Both affiliations have been largely influential in my professional, personal, and spiritual growth.

In 2010, I found myself doing more advocacies – speaking and teaching in small and large crowds from North Luzon down to Southern Mindanao and even out of the country. Venues has likewise been diverse, from corporate offices, to convention centers, hotel function rooms, university classrooms, churches and even in tables in fast food restaurants. Programs were varied: financial planning, investing, and entrepreneurship, among others. I also found myself working with the youth teaching them personal finance through a program called Blue Chip which we organized last summer and I was invited to volunteer to handle a class on entrepreneurship for a group of hybrid home school students. This year also gave me amazing opportunities collaborating with wonderful individuals that really inspire me like Cito Beltran, Francis Kong, Chinkee Tan, Paulo Tibig, Carlo Ople, Miriam Quiambao, Donita Rose and Eric Villarama, among others.

All these because I believe in a cause: the financial education of the Pinoys.  We all know that the biggest problem of the country is poverty. I used to think that the reason poverty is such a problem in the country was economic in nature; we lacked capital, poor distribution of wealth, undesirable macroeconomic foundations and the like. Then as I got a little older, I thought that our problems were political in nature; poor governance, dynasties, poor delivery of basic services and hostile environment for business. While the two factors I mentioned contribute substantially to the mess we are in, I began to see and accept that our problems are also social in nature. When I saw the way many handle their finances (myself included) and the way the nation saves (one of the lowest in Asia) one will see the root cause of our poverty issue. To make things worse, so many Filipinos are stricken by a poverty mindset that keeps them in bondage.

Such a herculean task should be made a cause by many. While there have been more and more advocates of financial education, we are drowned by the sheer numbers coupled by our limited exposure. The solution? We need to look at this as more than a vision and beyond a mission. We should embrace this as a cause. The Bible is full of encouragement and holds many answers to our questions, and yes – even our financial questions. We must be encouraged that even if this cause is a near impossible one, we just need to build on it, one advocate at a time.

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. – Matthew 9:37, NIV.

Sometime ago, while attending our church service at Victory Green Hills, my Pastor (Dennis Sy) said something that made a lot of people pause and think. He said “direction, not intention, determines destination”.  I believe my pastor picked up those words from Andy Stanley’s book The Principle of the Path. Andy Stanley is one of my favorite authors and I do recommend you pick up his books.

Although my pastor was talking about our spiritual plight, the words got me to think about personal finance also.

I have yet to find anyone who will tell me that he does not like to experience financial prosperity. I am pretty sure there are very few people who relish the idea of being deeply in debt or terribly broke. Financial security remains to be a top goal of almost everyone. During my public talks, I would often ask the question “who likes to be rich?” and I’d see about 90 to 95% of the hands being raised (the other 5 to 10% are probably not listening to me).

People are often looking for a grand magic formula to achieve financial success and many of them are also looking for the quickest way to do it. After 20+ years in the financial services industry and observing hundreds of successful people, I know that there is no such thing and quick-rich ideas, though can work, is hardly ever sustainable. Achieving financial freedom is a long and deliberate process, and most of the time a painful process at that. Fortunately, it is not a complicated process but rather a very simple one. My good friend and best-selling author (Pwede Na! Books) Efren Ll. Cruz shared to me 3 ways to get rich:

1) Inherit it (for those born fortunate);

2) Marry it (again, for those born fortunate – physically, haha!); or

3) Spend less than what you make and invest the difference.

The 3^rd option is actually the only viable option. Inheriting money doesn’t always guarantee you can keep your wealth. Marrying for money is actually a guarantee of a miserable married life. The 3^rd option is the sure-fire way to achieving financial prosperity.

The formula is too simple right? But how come majority of us find ourselves lost in the quest for prosperity? Our intention is to be financially disciplined, learn to save, budget properly, etc. Until we see our favorite store on sale, dine at a hotel buffet at a whim, upgrade your car spontaneously, buy furniture unplanned… get the drift? Often times, we lose focus of our goal and we get sidetracked. The intention is still there, we just got detoured momentarily. But hey, “direction, not intention, determines destination”  right? It’s like having a terrible fight with your spouse — it is never really our intention to quarrel with our loved ones, but when we lost our control, we get lost and we eventually suffer. One can always make a course correction and redirect towards the original path that will bring us to our destination but there’s time lost and a lot of opportunities may be lost as well. In money management, like anything in life, time is really important. We can never make up for lost time.

Next time you are faced with a detour, focus on your destination and remember that the fastest and most efficient way to get there is through a straight line.

“Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.” Proverbs 4:25, NIV.

— taken from the May-June issue of Moneysense Magazine.