Undergraduate Stanley Ho, 23, used to buy and sell stocks using his mother's trading account.

After doing so for several months, he decided to open a personal trading account late last year.

'Saving up diligently and risk management are my two pillars of personal finance,' said Mr Ho, who added that he is also inspired by 'get-rich' books such as Warren Buffett Wealth by Robert P. Miles.

Over the years, he has accumulated savings from hongbao, national service allowances and vacation jobs, and he wanted to put that to good use.

'I needed to make my savings work much harder than keeping them in the savings account. I knew that if I did nothing, inflation would definitely erode their value. Investing is the only option, and is also a viable source of alternative income,' he said.

His mother has decided to put some capital of her own into his account.

Now, Mr Ho manages the portfolio on behalf of his mother. It is made up mainly of stocks, with a portion in foreign currency deposits and also cash.

'We have about $20,000 invested in stocks. We have a mid-term investment horizon and are prudent in our investment decisions,' he added.

He counts his $6,000 investment in Cosco Corp as his best investment so far, having made a 20 per cent return in about two weeks in May last year. His worst investment was SingTel, in which he invested about $7,000 last year. He lost over 30 per cent when he decided to exit the counter in April this year.

Mr Ho is a third-year computer engineering undergraduate at Nanyang Technological University.

An only child, he lives in a five-room flat in Jurong West with his parents.

His father is a manager in an export firm, while his mother is an accounts executive.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.