When Ms Valencia Low, 37, and her husband bought their first home in 2002, they aimed to pay up the mortgage fully in five years - and they did.

They bought the house - a double-storey, 3,000 sq ft terrace house in Serangoon Gardens - for about $900,000. Now, its value is up 50 per cent.

'I was very happy to receive the title deed to our home. When you work and 30 per cent of your income goes to a loan, the thought of not having your job is not nice,' said the vice-president of core banking and collection/investments, group operations & technology at OCBC Bank.

Calling herself a conservative investor, Ms Low said she may now be more aggressive in her investments as more of her income can now be channelled into them.

Without the burden of the loan, a huge part of her income goes into savings and investments. Up to now, her investments have been mostly in blue chips and capital-guaranteed structured products.

She is married to Mr Wee Seow Heng, 40, a manufacturing coordinator at ExxonMobil, and they have two children - Glenda, nine, and Garren, six.

A saver, Ms Low tries to inculcate the habit in her children by encouraging them to save via the OCBC Mighty Savers programme.

Q: What are your money habits?

About 50 per cent of my income is in savings, 40 per cent in investments and the balance is spent. I don't splurge and neither do I stint. I just live comfortably. One thing, though, I make sure I spend within my means.

Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?

I don't believe in subscribing to a financial planner. My husband and I invest on our own. I track my lifestyle, plus my spending habits and necessary expenses. Once I establish these, I target my savings and how much I am going to invest.

For every investment, I target the expected returns depending on the potential growth. I'm mostly invested in unit trusts and principal guaranteed structured deposits and, of course, my OCBC shares.

I have three portfolios and they are mainly in blue-chip stocks, unit trusts and structured deposits.

My unit trust portfolio consists of commodities, emerging markets and global equities. The annual target is 15 per cent for my investment portfolios.

Q: What about insurance planning?

I have both whole life and endowment insurance policies. My life cover is about $500,000. I also buy insurance for my kids' education. The target amount is $200,000 when they turn 20 years old.

Q: What's your investment philosophy?

I must feel comfortable with what I'm investing in. I must be able to stomach the risk. The type of investment must also suit my busy lifestyle. The last thing I want is to have to worry about any loss.

You have to do your homework to find out which product to go into, instead of hopping onto the flavour of the month. It's important to understand your own financial status and habits. For instance, I'm not one who monitors the prices of unit trusts and stocks daily, so I choose relatively risk-free and stable investments.

Q: Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like?

I came from a middle-class family of four. My dad is an electrical engineer and my mum is a retired teacher. I was taught that money is hard-earned as well as the importance of savings.

My mum had instilled the habit of saving since my primary school days when I was first given an allowance. The regular trips to the bank, seeing the passbook balance growing, excited me.

Now, I do the same for both my kids. I give them a dollar or two a day and the OCBC Mighty Savers is a perfect product that excites them, as they look forward to the rewards given for every $20 saved. Then comes Sunday banking, which makes a perfect family outing. I can source for investment products while my kids do their banking.

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

I got interested in 1993, when the stock market was simply idiot-

proof. Any cheap stock would rise and any initial public offering would make money. And having just started serious work, it made me realise that the source of money is not only through regular income.

Q: What has been a bad investment?

My investments in technology and telecommunication during the dot.com period in 1999. Initially, the unit trusts rose a good 70 to 80 per cent, but by 2001, I had lost $30,000. Holding on to the stock and unit trusts during the period when the bubble burst was the worse decision I made!

Q: Your best investment to date?

Investing in two emerging markets funds, including China and India, since 2004. The growth of both funds was about 70 per cent during the period.

Q: What's your retirement plan?

There are so many things I want to do and plan to do. Early retirement is not in my plans.

I don't have a plan to retire. I'm more interested in staying relevant to society, contributing.

Q: And your car is...?

A white Honda Civic.