Most people would not be comfortable divulging their financial worth. Ee Soon Wei is no different, especially since he does not think he is affluent enough to talk about the preservation of family wealth. In fact, he absolutely insists that he does not come from a well-to-do family despite being the grandson of Ee Lay Swee, the founder of The Royal Press. 

In 2011, Ee took over the letterpress printing business his grandfather had established 73 years ago and turned it around. Today, he still runs the company while managing his other businesses, including Uppercase Sdn Bhd and Art Printing Works Sdn Bhd. 

Ee is familiar with what is known as the third generation wealth curse. He has heard stories of prominent Malaysian Chinese families whose wealth was squandered by later generations.

Why does this happen? Ee thinks the root of the problem is a lack of communication and sharing of values between family members. This is exacerbated when more than one generation is involved, making it even tougher to work things out and manage or preserve family wealth.

“Some families are asset-rich but cash-poor. They know they are worth this much, but are unable to unlock the value of their properties or generate income from them,” says Ee. This becomes a problem when one of the family members needs money and wants to unlock an asset or generate income from it, but the others do not agree. 

“So, the one who needs the money will feel slighted because he cannot enjoy his inheritance. Family conflicts start from there and can be very damaging,” he says.

“Therefore, the preservation of family wealth requires a lot of effort from each generation. Unless the earlier generation starts having real conversations about wealth, it will be very difficult for the next generation to plan for wealth preservation. Wealth can be eroded because of this.”

In the course of taking over the family business, Ee realised why the third generation often does not want to have anything to do with the family business, preferring instead to join the corporate sector. “There are just so many conflicts in the second generation. The transfer was not done well and there is no proper structure in place. It is not that the earlier generation does not trust the next one, it is the question of when they are willing to relinquish control,” he says. 

Some may only let go of the family business when they are ill or on their deathbed, while others may only relinquish half their wealth now and the other half several years later. But young people today do not tolerate such things. When they come back to the family business and do not receive what they had expected, they leave. 

“There are so many things out there for them to try. They could work in Singapore as a consultant and earn Singapore dollars or become a barista in Bali. They can go anywhere because their parents have more than enough,” says Ee.

He does not think it is fair that the parents force the children to come back and take up jobs in the family business that they do not want to do or which do not allow them to spread their wings and discover what they are capable of achieving.

Ee himself was not groomed to take over the family business. In fact, he does not think the family was looking for a successor at all. Many family members had joined the print business and left. As far as they were concerned, it was a sunset industry and they could probably make more money being a chef.

When Ee took over the business, he realised that it had become a white elephant. It had so much bad debt and there was no reinvestment. Nobody was willing to stand in the gap and it was widening. He tried to have honest conversations with his family but they did not appreciate his candour.

“I decided to take on the white elephant. I told my family that I would change the business, but keep the name. I would still honour the family and the name, but we needed to make some changes,” he says.

And he did. “I minimised the gap by cleaning up the bad debt and reinvesting in the business. I do not mind other people taking credit for what I did because ultimately, my objective was achieved.”

By reinventing the business, Ee managed to reinvent himself. “I built up my inner resources, learning how to handle pressure, bottlenecks and how to become uncomfortable with certainty. No one can take these away from me,” he says.

Ee thinks the idea of grooming a successor is a very outdated principle. There are so many possibilities but people only label one person as the successor without considering how it will affect his family life and relationships.

“What does being a successor mean? It means he becomes the next target; all the enemies of his forefathers will now be his. If I were to manage the next generation, I would really want to find out what their strengths are and push them in that direction,” says Ee.

His parents decided what he would do at school. Although he had a yen for art and philosophy, he graduated with a degree in commerce from the University of Melbourne.

One thing he remembers vividly was how a multinational company judged him because of where he lived (Bangsar). The company thought he was a rich kid and would not stay in that job for long because he would have a lot of other opportunities.

“I was very surprised at that notion and I felt it was unfair. But now that I run my own business, I sometimes apply the same filter to the candidates I interview because there are people like that,” he admits. 

Ee thanked his parents for keeping him grounded and not spoilt or overindulged. They were typical Asian parents — giving their child a bonus would be like giving him the cane.

What is the most important lesson that his father taught him? To do research, build a scenario and take calculated risks. This is something he carries with him every day.

“My parents’ approach to money was very much related to building the family unit. They wanted to make sure they had enough to send their children for higher education, buy a house and stuff like that. My siblings and I benefited from this and I would not discount any of it. In fact, these are the fundamentals I will use to manage my own family in the future,” says Ee. 

“But moving forward, my view on money is that it is really not so much about how much you have, but how much access to it you have. Do you have the ability to raise funds? This, I think, is the true currency of wealth.”

Ee admits that his perception of money has changed a lot over the years. Now that he is in his mid-thirties, in a stable relationship and ready to tie the knot, he perceives money very differently from when he was in his twenties. 

“People say you cannot take it to your grave. This did not make sense to me because I was thinking of making big money. I wanted to be flashy. But now I understand what it means. It really makes me think about the life I want to live,” he says.

For Ee, wealth has come to mean something very different. The most important thing is to be at peace with it, he says. “Some people have so much but they are prisoners of their own wealth. They cannot even travel because they need to manage their business. They may travel first class, but they only go to a place to seal a deal and then fly back almost immediately.”

On the other hand, some people have less wealth but have more access to the world. They may fly economy, but they could be anywhere in the world at any time to enjoy life.

“Values have changed. In the old days, it was always about rising to the top. Today, it is about being an associate and a collaborator on a project-focused basis,” says Ee.

“The real measure of wealth today is your integrity and credibility. These are the intangible currencies you can trade off.”

As for family wealth, Ee says people have to be very comfortable talking about money and not be imprisoned by it. As money depreciates over time, if people can put it in a safe and forget about it, why don’t they take it out and do something with it?

So, what do you do with your wealth? “Plenty! If you are a skilled entrepreneur, you can invest in a business. If you are risk-averse, you can put your money in a portfolio of assets. You can also form a collaboration with other people or fund some meaningful projects,” he says. 

Ee believes that generosity comes back in many ways. But he also believes that it is counter-productive to be overly generous as too much of anything is not good. He says when he has children, he will tell them that wealth is everywhere and there are so many ways to generate it. 

“I will tell them that they need to find out what they are really skilled at and work on that craft and generate wealth from there. They can be a project manager, tennis player or motivational speaker. They should be happy making money. Whether they will manage the family business, well, that is another story.”

Ee remains ambitious and this is what drives him to preserve the family legacy while creating his own. Whether he is successful depends on a variety of factors, including luck, opportunity and finding the right bargain.

“But I want to grow. I want to do well. I have great vision. And I believe I can do it,” he says.

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