Gambling

Recently, I watched a video clip in YouTube featuring one of Singapore best known local celebrities, Lee Nanxing, who related his journey of conversion to Christianity after struggling with gambling problem. He recounted that when he reached his career pinnacle in the nineties, he unwittingly offended the Mediacorp top management and was being “frozen” by the media company for almost two years.

During that low period, Lee Nanxing was still paid his salary but he was constantly worried about his future as an artiste. As a result, he decided to venture into business and opened a pub with a few partners. Business suffered due to mismanagement and also because Lee Nanxing was too busy with a few projects in China. When he returned to Singapore, he was shocked to find the company in a financial mess. As he was the major shareholder, all the creditors pestered him for settlement.

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Saddled with huge debts, Lee Nanxing tried to salvage his company unsuccessfully. Eventually, he decided to try his luck at gambling but that turned out to be one of the most fatal mistakes that he made in his life. He thought that with his few tricks that he picked up in the popular drama “The Unbeatables”, he could make quick money and paid off the company debts.

However, he was proven wrong. He ended up losing away all his savings and even had to borrow from the illegal moneylenders. Lee couldn’t believe his bad luck and felt that he was victimized by fate. At one point, he was persuaded by his friends to buy Feng Shui items, costing him up to thousands of dollars. But it doesn’t help him at all and he was still heavily in debt. He was convinced that he was finished because all his close friends and colleagues avoided him after knowing that he became a gambling addict.

At the lowest point of his life, one of Lee’s friends introduced him to Christianity. He was skeptical at first, but after a freak encounter in Bangkok, his views changed. Amazingly, three months later, all his business partners agreed to return him the amount of money missing from the company’s account. Subsequently, he worked hard and took on many projects and managed to settle all his gambling debts.

Through all these, he was convinced that Christianity had helped him tide through this life-changing ordeal. He became a staunch Christian since then.

The objective of this article is not to promote the spirit of Christianity, but rather to illustrate how a misstep in personal finance management can potentially ruin a person’s life.Throughout the clip, Lee Nanxing kept lamenting that he harmed no one and did no wrong, so why did he had to go through such a hardship? After watching his “confession”, I try to sum up the following mistakes that he made:

1) In life, no matter what you do, it is important to know what you are not good at. For Lee Nanxing, he should know that acting is his forte and not business management. Not everyone, including myself, is cut out to be an entrepreneur. Lack of self awareness and overestimation of one’s abilities can lead to personal downfall. Sometimes, it can even be financially fatal.

2) Second mistake that he made was to gamble. This is a common mistake made by many people who are in debts. Driven to desperation, they thought that they could make quick money through gambling and pay off their debts. But they don’t realize that chances of beating the casino consistently is low and many eventually sink deeper in debts. Some even became gambling addicts.

3) Third mistake that he made was to turn to borrowing money from the loan sharks. This is usually the point of no return for most gambling addicts.

In my opinion, we can always control our financial destiny. For sure, there will always be ups and downs in our lives. But the important thing is to take responsibility for one’s actions, learn from mistakes and bite the bullet. Don’t be naive and try to take shortcuts, thinking that money problems can be resolved through buying Feng Shui items and gambling.

God only help those who help themselves.

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Magically yours,

SG Wealth Builder

2 thoughts on “Gambling

  • October 22, 2013 at 1:18 am
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    Hi Gerald,

    Very interesting story.

    While I agreed that one should know what he is good at and not good at, I feel that Lee’s decision to venture into business was not wrong. After all, without trying it out, how would one know what he is good at or not good at. Lee’s mistake was not doing enough home work, and not devoting enough time and effort into that business.

    Just my 2 cent worth.

    Sanye

  • June 12, 2017 at 4:02 pm
    Permalink

    Hi Sanye,

    Interesting view. I do agree with you to a certain extent that sometimes we need to take calculated risks to achieve great things in life. Hope Lee Nanxing will become successful in his business and career.

    Don’t forget to subscribe for free email notification of new blog articles!

    Regards,
    Gerald
    https://www.sgwealthbuilder.com

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