By Lorna Tan

MR THOMAS Mathew made his first million in 1994 - when he was just 34.

But just six years later, he was on the verge of bankruptcy. He had lost a training business that he had founded, was divorced and saddled with a $400,000 debt.

During the good times, Mr Mathew, now 48, lived the high life.

In 1994, in his third year as a life agent with British insurer Prudential, his sales commissions and bonuses totalled a hefty $800,000.

He was also paid $5,000 a day for speaking engagements at training seminars.

In 1996, with savings of $200,000, Mr Mathew and two partners started a training business - Activity Based Consultancy, in Malaysia - while he was still employed at Prudential.

He admits he spent freely then.

'I lived lavishly, bought one luxury car after another - a BMW 7 series followed by a Mercedes Benz - and owned houses in Singapore and Malaysia. My training business was making $1.2 million a year in 1996 and 1997.

'My dream was to be a millionaire from the time I was young. But I wasn't mature enough to handle such a huge amount of money coming in,' he said.

Things started going downhill when his training business in Malaysia was hit by the Asian financial crisis in 1998. At the same time, the Indonesian subsidiary of his training business was forced to shut down when the rupiah dived dramatically.

During that period, his first marriage fell apart. His assets were divided in the divorce and despite disposing of whatever assets he had left, he was weighed down by a $400,000 debt, on top of $4,000 monthly alimony payments.

Not one to admit defeat, Mr Mathew clawed his way back into the black and by last year he had rejoined the ranks of millionaires.

His comeback involved leaving Prudential in 2000 to work at insurance broker DC Williams as a training director, and then joining IPP Financial Advisers in 2002 as a senior partner and financial adviser.

Now he attracts 25 new customers a year and focuses only on the well-heeled with a net worth of $2 million each. He has 40 advisers under his direct management.

Mr Mathew has come a long way since his impoverished childhood. Growing up in a family of nine, he tried to escape the tough times by running away from home to join the SAF Boys' School when he was 14. He spent 12 years in the army.

In 2000, as he got his life back on track, he remarried, this time to Kumon teacher Ongmula Dolkar, 31. They have a daughter, Isabella Namgyal Mathew, seven. He has two other children, Denise Mathew, 16, and Asaph Mathew, 18, from his first marriage.

Mr Mathew has written 14 books and expects to launch his next book, Breaking The Millionaire Code, by year-end.