Financial Education

I understand that a lot of people r lazy to read. Therefore, in this post, I invite the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad to give a talk on financial education. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIT2JDHRV44&feature=related

Thanks.

Financial Planning

The term financial planning is getting more and more popular in the world today. More and more people start to realize the importance financial planning. Our life has to always deal with finance. Without finance, can we afford to have a better life?

I just come across an article on financial planning which I find it quite useful. According to the author, there are 3 keys of financial planning for everyone.

Earn more money. As what I say just now, we cannot live without finance or in another word, we cannot live without money. Therefore, we should earn more money in order to have a better life. However, I do not think earning more money is so important. Personally, I think save more money is more important. If we can earn more money and spend more money, what is the point? We are still at the same spot. Yet, if we earn the same amount of money and spend less money, then we are one step ahead.

Insurance. Insurance is important as it will help us when we are in financial trouble. Imagine if we fall sick and need a sum of money, how much money can we afford to take out? Why not we pay small amount every month to let the insurance company to bear the risk for us?

Investment. We cannot just expect ourselves to work for our whole life. We should use external factor to help us to roll the money. Investment is one of the ways to get the money roll for us. Imagine 10% return annually, we can actually save up a lot of effort and time to get that amount of money. Therefore, why shouldn’t we do some investment in order to reduce our effort and time to have a better life?

Feel free to voice your opinion if you have any. Thanks. J

医药卡Medical Card

医院最大的悲哀是什么？钱没花完，病治好了！

病人最大的悲哀是什么？钱花完了，病还没好！

在今天的报章读到这句话，觉得很有意思。在如今的社会，只要你提早发现，就似乎没有不治之症，但前提是你必须要有钱。

有钱，就没有不治之症，

没钱，就只能求神拜佛。

乍看之下，这句话很无情，但却是事实。如今的医药费令人乍舌，如何解决呢？其中一个解决办法就是拥有一张医药卡。当然医药卡不是上全之策，但您能提供些什么更好的办法呢？就一起分享吧！J

Allianz医药卡整张卡的限制是每年限制的10倍。此外，如果Allianz医药卡的持有人如果住少于食宿的话，医药费是完全由Allanz负责的。想知道Allianz的医药卡详情，不妨联络我，谢谢。J

The saddest thing for a hospital is the sickness is cured before the money is finished.

The saddest thing for a patient is the money is finished before the sickness is cured.

I read this in the today’s newspaper and I find it very interesting. In the world today, if you find out you diagnose the illness early, it seems like there is no incurable disease. Yet, you have to have the amount of money to cure the illness.

If you have the money, there is no incurable illness. If you do not have the money, then you have to wait for your luck to see if there is any donation or kind soul willing to help you.

This seems like very cruel but it is a fact. The medical fee is terrifying. Thus, how you can overcome it? One of the solutions is to have the medical card. Although no doubt the medical card cannot solve your problem, but it can help you to solve your problem partially. If you have any better solution, why not share with us? J

Allianz medical card is one of the medical cards which the life time limit is 10 times of its annual limit. Besides that, it does not have sharing if the card holder stays below the room and board. If you wish to know more about Allianz medical card, please contact me ya. Thanks. J

Tax relief

March will be the time for all tax payers to start declare their income. We work so hard yet we still have to pay some amount of money to the government. If you think that paying tax is an action of patriotism, then I think you should not continue reading because what I am going to share is about tax relief, is about how you can reduce the amount you pay to the government. :)

Please refer to the table below for your tax relief. Those amount in bold is applicable for most my readers. Please take note. Hopefully you can get as much tax relief as you can.

Source: http://www.hasil.org.my/goindex.php?kump=5&skum=1&posi=3&unit=1&sequ=1

Happy declaring tax :)

Happy Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is around the corner and I believe most of the Chinese will be busy preparing and buying things for Chinese New Year. If you are aware, the price of essential goods for Chinese New Year such as mandarin oranges, snacks and others are hiked up. I have read in the newspaper that the prices of some goods increase almost 30% compare to previous years.

No matter how, the Chinese still have to buy them in order to celebrate Chinese New Year. The parents will still buy new clothes for the kids. The teenagers will still buy new clothes for themselves as their friends are wearing new clothes. They do not want to be humiliated by the friends. The working adults will still buy new clothes as the sales are too tempting. Everyone is spending money for this Chinese New Year. For those who are still traditional, they will buy biscuits, snacks and even drinks so that the guests can enjoy themselves when they visit them.

Well, spending money is not an evil deed. However, we have to be cautious when spending money. It’s better for us to do a budget before we spend. Even though we use credit card to buy things, at the end of the month, who will pay for it? Ourselves!! Therefore, be smart when spending money.

Since Chinese New Year is around the corner, I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone happy Chinese New Year and have a prosperous year ahead. J

Challenges in 2011

Before I forget, I would like to wish all my blog readers Merry Christmas and a happy new year. 2010 has almost reached the end. How do you feel in 2010 and what do you look forward in 2011?

Although it is going to be a new year for us in one week’s time, the old challenges are still there.Hike price is still our main concern. Early this month, our government has announced the so called 4 in 1 price hike (Ron 95, diesel, LPG, sugar). On 20^th this month, it is announced that the evaporated milk will cost 30 cents more than from Jan 1. When the evaporated milk has increased, those foods and drinks which use evaporated milk will surely increase right? The cost will be bear by the consumers.

I always read about the price of this thing increases, the price for that thing increase in newspapers. However, I never read in anywhere that our salaries are going to increase or the company is going to give us bonus despite the market and the company is performing badly. If the cost of living is increasing parallel with the increase of the income or bonus, nothing much we should complain. But then, reality is cruel. Our salary does not go proportional with the cost of living. That is why nowadays many employees have to do part time and to do investment.

I am writing this not to scare you off but am to increase your awareness of the challenges that you are going to face in the future. Does not have any saving for yourself is not a wise choice for you. Keeping the money in the bank is good but the interest is low. Stock market is a good place to invest but we have to have the expertise to trade. Why not invest in mutual fund which the professional fund managers invest the money for you and the rate of return will be higher than keeping in the bank (if you follow certain rules of investment)? Start investing before it is too late.

Reference:

1. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?sec=nation&file=/2010/12/3/nation/20101203200309

2. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/12/20/nation/7655076&sec=nation

Magic card -- do u have it?

According to a survey done by Synovate, rich people in KL are willing to spend their money buying phone and TV. From this survey, the people can conclude that the buying habit is instilled deep inside their mind where the performance of the economic will not affect their buying habit. Besides phone and TV, we have YES (Year End Sales) annually. We can see that the people are buying the products as if the products are free of charge. When you can afford to buy the products without worrying your financial, I would like to congratulate you. . However, some of us are not in this situation. Yet, we can spend like rich people. This is because we just spend with our magic card – credit card.

Credit card has become an essential item to most of the people nowadays. Most of the people have a lot of credit cards. Even though each credit card is charged RM 50 annually, yet many of us still have more than one card. Why are we going for credit card? Credit card provides the advantage that we do not have to bring a lot of cash with us. We can hear of robbery cases everyday. It does frighten us when we have a lot of cash with us.

Although credit card does provide us a lot of benefits, it still brings harm to us. When we spend without seeing the cash, we do not feel the pain. Therefore, we just use the card to buy or to pay. Somehow, it triggers our impulsive buying. Wanted things has become necessary. At the end, when we receive credit card statement, then only we start to feel worry and regret. That is the reason why a lot of people turn to AKPK nowadays. In my last post, I have shared with you guys the statistic from Insolvency Department. It has reviewed that 50% of the credit card holders who had been declared bankruptcy were those below 30 years old. This has shown how evil the credit card is.

Credit card offers pros and cons to us. It depends on us how to utilize it. Therefore, as a smart consumer, we should use our magic card smartly. J

Budget 2011

Our Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak just tabled Budget 2011 on 15^th October 2010 and it has become a hot topic for Malaysians. Thus, is this budget good or bad for Malaysians?

One of the highlights in the Budget 2011 is Government-Linked Investment Companies (GLIC) will be allowed to increase investment in overseas market to explore opportunities for better returns. For example, the Employees Provident Fund’s (EPF) investment overseas is currently at 7% and will be raised up to 20% of the total assets managed. I think all the employees will be happy about this news. However, the budget has also introduced another provident fund which is known as Private Pension Fund (PPF) that caused dismay among the employees. This is because according to the ministry’s economic and international division under secretary, Datuk Dr. Mohd. Irwan Siregar Abdullah, the EPF dividends would be gradually scaled down to encourage contributors to bring their money to the PPF. I would not mind if the return of PPF is high. The problem with PPF is the return is not guaranteed. EPF is used for our retirement purpose and there is research done saying that EPF is just enough for the retirees to use up to 5 years. With the implementation of Budget 2011, can most of the Malaysians afford to retire at the age of 55?

The other highlight is the government proposes the import duty on approximately 300 goods preferred by tourists and locals at 5% to 30% be abolished to promote Malaysia as a shopping haven in Asia by providing branded goods at competitive prices. Not only tourists, even the citizens are encouraged to spend. Besides that, Budget 2011 proposes that the sales tax will be exempted on all types of mobile phones. Again, this is to encourage the local to spend the money. The economy will be stimulated as there is money flow in the market. I can see that the government has been trying to stimulate the economy by encouraging money spending. However, I feel that some Malaysians might misuse. The lower price of branded goods and mobile phone will encourage impulsive buying especially those consumers below 30 years old. Although they are lower price, I believe many will still use credit card to buy them. Insolvency Department has reviewed that 50% of the credit card holders who had been declared bankruptcy were those below 30. Once declared bankruptcy, their lives will be tough. If the prices are lower, is the percentage of those credit card holders, who are 30 years old, been declared bankruptcy going to increase?

Skim Rumah Pertamaku has also been introduced in Budget 2011. This program is introduced as the government is aware of the difficulties faced by the Malaysians particularly young adults who have just joined the workforce with income less than RM3, 000 to own a house. The house must be below RM220, 000. Under this program, those house buyers who fulfill the criteria will obtain a 100% loan without having to pay the 10% down payment. I think that this is only beneficial to those who do not intend to buy a house in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Penang, Johor Bahru. We can hardly find houses below RM220, 000 in the places mentioned above. For those who wish to locate property at these places, this would not do them any help. But then maybe it will help the property market at the other areas as they might wish to enjoy the benefit offered by the government. Moreover, most of the developers have marked up the price of the property and house buyers usually can borrow 90% of the house loan. They are only required to pay a few percent (normally less than 5%) of the house price as the down payment.

This is my personal view on the Budget 2011. I only focus on those related to finance field as this is the Window to Financial World. I hope you can share with me if you have different view on the budget. Thanks. J

Reference:

[1]http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/10/15/budget/20101015174503&sec=budget

[2]http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/10/20/nation/20101020145928&sec=nation

[3]http://skorcareer.com.my/blog/is-your-epf-money-enough-for-retirement/2009/08/04/

[4]http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?sec=nation&file=/2010/7/19/nation/6690491

Save for your future 为未来而储蓄

It has been some time I have updated my blog. How are you guys?? I am back from National Service and my mind is still not function properly. Therefore I would like to share something light. I read one joke in newspaper last few days. Just follow the joke below.

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There were 2 housewives chatting in the café.

Housewife A: My husband is so superb. He won lottery. With just a few Ringgit, he won a few thousands back. We are planning for a trip overseas.

Housewife B: Congratulation. However, my husband is more wonderful. After paying one month of insurance premium, he gave me RM100, 000. I can do whatever I want with the money.

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From the not so interesting joke, we can see the importance of having insurance to your loved one. Isn’t it better to leave something for your loved one if anything occurs instead of trouble and sadness only? This is the real world. Everyone and everything need to deal with money nowadays. Although insurance is important, we have to still be careful when choosing our insurance company. For more information, you can always contact me. Thanks. J

已经有段时间没有更新我的部落格了，还是感谢大家没遗忘我的部落格。大家最近还好吗？最近才刚从国民服务回来，脑袋还有点不灵光，所以就来点随性的分享。前几天在报章上看到一则笑话，觉得有点意思，就决定在此分享。

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有两个家庭主妇在家餐厅谈天。

家庭主妇甲：我丈夫真厉害，最近刚中了万字票。才用区区几块钱，就赢得了几千块。我们还打算用这笔钱去外国度假呢。

家庭主妇乙：恭喜恭喜，但我丈夫才厉害呢。只是还了一个月的保费，就给我了RM100,000. 现在我能随心所欲地用这笔钱。

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从这个不是很好笑的笑话中，我们能看到拥有一份保险对您的至亲爱人的重要性。与其只留下烦恼和悲伤给他们，倒不如留笔钱给他们。这是个现实的社会，无论什么东西都需要钱，没有钱的确是万万不能的。虽然保险非常重要，但是我们也要小心地选择保险公司哦。如果想了解更多保险详情，不妨联络我。谢谢。J

Mutual Fund

Many people have asked me regarding unit trust and therefore, I would like to share unit trust in this post. If talking about unit trust, this financial product seems less famous than insurance in Malaysia. However, the comments that people give on unit trust is far better than insurance.

What is unit trust? Unit trust is a financial vehicle which the investors will invest the money into a fund and the fund (pool of money) will be managed by the professional. For example, Mr A, Mr. B and Mr. C invest RM1,000 each into a fund and the fund (RM3000) will be invested by the professional appointed by the unit trust company. The fund will be invested according to the objective of the fund set by the company. For example, the objective of the Public Ittikal Fund is to achieve steady capital growth over the medium to long term period by investing in a portfolio of investments that complies with Shariah Principles. Thus, the fund manager will invest the fund into those companies that can comply to the objectives.

Given detailed description of unit trust, what are the benefits of investing in unit trust? One of the benefits is the fund is managed by the professional. As mentioned in my previous posts, the investors are always advised to do research or their homework before investment. The investors have to study the background and the financial statements of the companies. If you have the time and expertise in doing the research, I would strongly recommend you to invest in stock market rather than unit trust. However, if you are not sure on how to do the research, why not invest in unit trust and let the professional team to invest the fund for you. You will not face any problem also if you are interested in investing in foreign countries. The professional will invest for you and you can just sit back and relax. Besides that, it offers diversification to the investors. Unit trust is a financial product to invest in different companies from different sectors which suits the objective of the fund. For example, Public Islamic Sector Select Fund invests in those Shariah compliant index linked, blue chip and growth stocks. A blue chip stock is the stock of a well-established company which has stable earnings and no extensive liabilities. For example, the blue chip companies in Malaysia are Maybank from Finance sector, Tenaga from Trading/Services Sector, IOI Corporation from Plantation sector. Recently most of the companies in Finance sector suffer huge loss compare to others. Therefore, if you only invest in those companies in Finance sector, I think you will know your fate. The loss will be reduced if you diverse your investment and unit trust offers this benefit.

With only RM1,000, you can start your initial investment with unit trust. After the initial investment, you can just invest RM100 for the same fund. It is only as simple as that. Does it means we can always obtain return from our investment? Actually it depends on the fund performance and the market performance. If both the market and the fund are perform badly, the investor will suffer loss as well. However, if the market and the fund are perform well, then the investor will earn the return. You can always check the annual fund performance. I have seen some fund actually generate return to the investors while some of the funds are causing loss to the investors. However, the risk of investing in unit trust is lower comparing to investing in stock market.

There is risks in doing any type of investment. No doubt there is risk in unit trust investment as well. However, if you judge from the benefits that I have shared, you can see that the risk is minimized. Besides that, if the market performance is bad, most of the investment tools will suffer loss as well. We should not ignore this factor. Thus, make your wise choice in deciding the investment vehicle. :)