Adam Khoo Yean Ann was born on 8 April 1974, to Vince Khoo and Betty L. Khoo-Kingsley. At age eight, Khoo was expelled from St Stephen’s Primary School for misbehavior, partly due to poor academic results. His parents hunted for a primary school willing to accept him and finally found Ngee Ann Primary School. Due to his poor results at the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), he did not qualify to enter any of the six secondary schools his parents had chosen. He eventually enrolled in a government school, Ping Yi Secondary School, where he passed only five out of eight academic subjects and finished 156th out of 160 Secondary 1 Express Stream students.

In 1987, when Khoo was 13, his parents enrolled their “under-achiever” son for a five-day residential program at Ladyhill Hotel called Super-Teen Camp. The man responsible for spotting Khoo’s “gifted talent” in Super-Teen was Dr. Ernest Wong, founder, principal consultant and master teacher of Ernesco, the Centre for Motivational Language Learning based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (the Super-Teen Camp is now under Learning Mastery Pte. Ltd.) Dr. Wong’s teaching tools incorporated and adapted an American-developed learning technology called neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), as well as whole-brain learning. This was the beginning of Khoo’s interest and journey in mastering motivational techniques, which formed the foundation of many of his books and seminars.

Khoo’s portfolio consists of property that he rents out. In 1998, he bought a condominium in East Coast for S$480,000 and rented it out for about S$3,000. He sold it for S$650,000 in 2004. Other properties he owns include a house in East Coast and a condominium at Robertson Quay.