98: Raphael Ng, from professional dancing to a professional FX Fund Management

Raphael Ng [https://www.linkedin.com/in/wahchun/] is an ex-ballerino who had spent decades dancing before making the life-changing decision to venture into the world of hedge funds. The dancer has come a long way to become a fund manager at Salzworth Asset Management [https://salzworth.com/]. Born to professional dancers, Raphael started taking ballet lessons at the young age of four and eventually extended to various forms of dancing like Chinese Dance and Contemporary Dance till he was 27. Raphael then achieved Distinctions in his Royal Academy of Dance ballet examinations. He clinched top places in world competitions like the International Dance Competition in Bolzano, Italy, and the Barcelona Dance Grand Prix during his time in a contemporary dance group back in university. Upon spending a few years in top banking and fintech firms such as Credit Suisse and Stashaway, he observed a gap in the market for a currency-focused fund that can serve as a bedrock in one's portfolio. Believing that investors should be aware of how FX can serve as a consistent and reliable source of returns, he eventually joined Salzworth. He co-founded the Global Currency Fund [https://salzworth.com/global-currency-fund] with like-minded individuals Ashli Koe and Yap Zhi Xin in 2019. The fund has since achieved strong performance and has come out top in January and February 2022 globally, as well as the Top 10 currency fund in 2021, according to BarclayHedge, a hedge fund database. The fund has also received the Singapore Young Entrepreneurs Award 2021 (SYEA) in the Innovative Industrialisation category. Despite taking a backseat in performing, Raphael found a different way to contribute to the dance scene. His passion for dance still eventually led him to found Supertone [https://supertone.co/]. This company offers chic and comfortable dancewear and Jete Studios [https://jetestudios.com/], a ballet school for children, to nurture the next generation of ballet dancers. --- This episode is brought to you by Basecamp. You're working on a team project via email. When more than a few people or files are added, things fall apart and become a mess. Someone misses a CC update. Another person adds many people to the thread, even though most don't belong. Not to mention the coworker who starts a new thread about the same thing. Someone would call a meeting to fix the mess and start a new version. Email is great for one-on-one communication but terrible for project management. Basecamp [https://basecamp.com/] helps makes it easier to manage projects everyone can do: You start a project, post a description on the message board, and let everyone else catch up. Messages are posted on the bulletin board. Someone posts a quick question in the chat. When sharing a file, everyone can see the latest version in Basecamp. Communication works. Basecamp streamlines project collaboration. Basecamp reduces email and meetings. Start a free 30-day trial at basecamp.com/adriantan. You can cancel online without a credit card. --- This episode is brought to you by Zencastr. During the pandemic, I considered restarting my podcast after five episodes in 2016. Zoom wasn't ideal for recording the podcast. Intermittent connection issues worsened the sound quality. Complicated tools are useless. Zencastr is web-based and not downloadable. Zencastr is browser-based, so anyone can use it.Zencastr saved me. It provides crystal clear sounds recorded locally before being pushed to the cloud. You won't have to worry about connection problems affecting audio quality. I want you to have easy podcasting and content experiences like mine. Get 30% off your first three months at zen.ai/adriantan [http://zen.ai/adriantan].