The Comprehensive Personal Finance and Support Guide for LGBT in Malaysia

Let’s face it: Malaysia is NOT a good place for LGBT individuals to freely express themselves. But no one can choose where they’re born at, can they? Discrimination is sadly common, usually justified by religion.

If you disagree with ‘the LGBT lifestyle’, I ask for your empathy. This is not a ‘guide to be gay’ article, this is a ‘what to do when you need help’ article. Know the distinction. Don’t kick people when they’re down. No religion teaches that.

This article answers the following questions (in order):

My family
kicked me out
 after they find out I’m gay / lesbian / bisexual / trans / queer. What can I do?

I need to check my
STD / HIV / AIDS
 status and find out where to find information about medical help, treatment and support

My
colleagues at work are bullying
 me because of my sexual orientation / gender identity. I need the job. What can I do?

I need to
talk to someone
. What are my options?

My gender does not align with the sex I was born with. How can I
transition
and what kind of expenses can I expect?

I can no longer/do not want to
stay in Malaysia
. What can I do?

I am in a committed, if unrecognised relationship with my partner. If anything happens to me, how can make sure she/he can
inherit
 my money and properties?

I don’t have immediate problems but would like to
prepare myself financially
, in case anything happens. What can I do?

I’m LGBT individual / ally with financial means.
How can I help
?

1) My family kicked me out after they find out I’m gay / lesbian / bisexual / trans / queer. What can I do?

Your immediate needs are
shelter and money for daily expenses like food
. I can connect you to support groups who can help you find a place to stay and job opportunities so you can get back on your feet as soon as possible.

Please comment to reach out and I’ll link you to these support groups after verifying your identity. Your privacy is guaranteed. I won’t publish your comment unless you give explicit consent (i.e a one-liner ‘you can publish this’ works).

You may also reach out to these LGBT-friendly shelter homes:

SEED Foundation
 (elderly-friendly too)

KLASS
 (PLWHIV (Person Living with HIV)

If you know more LGBT-friendly shelters, please add in the comments section. I’ll add them.

Note: If you’re still living with your family and conditions are strained, it’s not a bad idea to prepare an emergency overnight bag that you can grab quickly. Include things like:

A few sets of clothes and underwear

Shoes

Copies of your important documents like IC (you can also snap and pic and keep it in GDrive, or keep in a thumbdrive)

Some money

Some snacks

Toiletries

Small towel and/or wet wipes

Chargers for your phone and/or a full-powered powerbank

2) I need to check my STD / HIV / AIDS status and find out where to find information about medical help, treatment and support

Many Klinik Kesihatan branches offer STD / HIV checks for just RM1. Check the following Twitter thread:

Letak sini je la senang eh.

Step by step for HIV test!

1 of 3
pic.twitter.com/g3cX2Bd8MX

— Indra (@ardnie)
June 30, 2018

What I’ve heard is some medical officers can be judgemental and hostile to LGBT individuals, especially to trans individuals. It really depends on your luck and who you get on that day.

Other places you can get yourself tested, which can assure non-discrimination to LGBT individuals:

PT Foundation –
STD / HIV Testing and Counselling
 from RM40

KLASS –
Hospital Peer Support Programme
 and
Workshops & Support Sessions

Please add more, if you know them.

3) My colleagues at work are bullying me because of my sexual orientation / gender identity. I need the job. What can I do?

Your first priority is your
safety
. If you get verbally harassed or physically attacked, and your employers are unlikely to take action, consider terminating your position and look for other jobs, preferably in urban areas where people tend to be more open-minded.
It’s okay to lose the battle so you can win the war.

Your health, mental health and sanity are worth more than what your company can pay you. Unfortunately, Malaysian laws do not and cannot give you protection if you’re discriminated because of your sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

I understand the job market can be harsh and being selective is only going to narrow your options. Here are
tips to improve your chances
. You may also want to consider earning online. Here’s
how I do it
.

4) I need to talk to someone. What are my options?

If you are not able to talk to friends or family members, p
lease reach out to any of these organisations:

PT Foundation
 – offers telephone and face-to-face counselling (HIV / AIDS)

Befrienders
– offers 24-hour hotline (suicide prevention)

SEED Foundation
 – Peer support and referral case counselling (trans)

Facebook groups – Leave a comment with an email and I’ll help you get in touch. Your privacy is guaranteed.

You can also leave comments here (please make it anonymous) for virtual love and support from all of us

If you know more options, including professional therapy, please comment.

5) My gender does not align with the sex I was born with. How can I transition and what kind of expenses can I expect?

There are medical professionals in Malaysia you can go to get transition-related advice.
The community has recommendations for doctors and clinics who may be able to help, but I will only give you the info after we vouch your identity. Leave a comment with an email – I won’t publish the comment unless you explicitly give consent and use an anonymous name. Your privacy is guaranteed.

Note: If your immediate environment is not supportive of your transition, and you rely on them for financial assistance, it’s okay to wait. I know gender dysphoria is hard, but I need you to hang in there until you have enough money to support yourself. I don’t want you to end up on the streets and have higher risk of being abused.

For Transwomen

Information received from a transwoman contributor:

M :
Transitioning is a serious decision. It is advisable to get an evaluation done prior to undergoing HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy), and prior to undergoing SRS (Sex Reassignment Surgery). Cost for evaluation varies from RM150-500, depending on the specialist you go to.

Next is to get advice from an endocrinologist. AFAIK, not many are willing to work with transgender, especially Muslim ones. Their rates are unknown at this point. Once they’ve identified your suitability for the treatment, they’ll prescribe you hormones. Do not overdose yourself; overdosing will kill you faster than giving you visible results.

Cost of the hormones varies depending on the regiment and brand. For surgery, Thailand is the place, rates vary depending on what procedure and extent of aftercare.

I can only give estimation based on the regiment I’m familiar
:

Top surgery (removal) – RM3-5k (citation needed)

Top surgery (construction) – RM4-5k

Bottom surgery (vaginoplasty) – RM5-45k

Anti-androgen – RM300-450 (lasts for at least 2 months)

Combination of estrogen & progesterone injection – RM250-300 (for at least 5 weeks)

For Transmen

Several online shops in Malaysia sells binders. Google them and you will find.
Please do not use bandages or duct tape as binders.
 Important: there are health risks to chest binding, especially for those with larger chests (source:
2017 study
).

If you have recommended brands/suppliers, please comment.

Information received from a transman contributor:

D : You must give consideration to medical insurance (post-transitioning), because trans people who have undergone medical transitioning will have a lot of issues with this. If you have insurance and don’t tell them you’re trans, they will disqualify and void your claims based on non-disclosure even if your claim has nothing to do with transitioning. They can find out from your doctor or hospital. Trans people who disclose to insurance companies are either declined coverage or offered an expensive plan with many exceptions that it’s virtually pointless to take it. The excuse is that we are a risky demographic.

Top surgery (mastectomy)

Keyhole: RM6k – RM10k

Double incision (for larger chested guys): RM9k – RM15k

Hysterectomy: RM5k – RM8k

Bottom surgery

Metoidioplasty: I only found one price listed in 2003 from a what we call “5-star” establishment, and it’s USD12k. No idea the price now or if other hospitals in the region do this. Will update if I hear from the guys.

Phalloplasty: RM30k – RM125k. Only quoting prices in the region, not the good types you can get in Europe or elsewhere. That can go up to RM500k.

Hormone replacement therapy (many methods to this):

Testosterone (usually self-administered/dosed):

– RM18/3 weeks dose

– RM800/3 months dose

Clinic helping to inject: RM15 – RM20

Endocrinologist: RM850 – RM1500 (for initial consultation, blood work and hormones)

Other resources:

Personal account of male-to-female (MTF) transitioning
 (US)

Personal account of female-to-male (FTM) transitioning
 (US)

6) I can no longer/do not want to stay in Malaysia. What can I do?

We have lots of anecdotes of LGBT individuals who choose to live in another country due to Malaysia’s unsupportive stance on it.

If you choose to leave Malaysia, here some financially sustainable options:

Apply for jobs in LGBT-friendly countries and work there.
These countries
 are friendly towards LGBT expats. You can also join
myGwork
, a global networking platform and job board for LGBT+ professionals (thanks Samuel!)

Earn online or get remote jobs. This is
what I personally did to earn online
. Here’s a
 list of high-demand, well-paying remote jobs

Study in LGBT-friendly countries. If you don’t have funding, check
Aseanop.com
 for scholarship opportunities

Save money and/or create multiple streams of passive income to support your daily expenses

Admittedly, the suggestions above work best for more privileged individuals. Please comment if you know of other options for the less-privileged.

7) I am in a committed, if unrecognised relationship with my partner. If anything happens to me, how can make sure she/he can inherit my money and properties?

As luck would have it, I’ve asked a will/trust agent about this. In a nutshell, you can give anything you want to whoever you want
before
your passing. The tricky part is inheritance after your passing. Note:
It’s easier for non-Muslims than for Muslims
.

First, a distinction.
Wills/wasiat
 is for distribution after death.
Trust
is kinda sorta similar, but you can also add clauses like ‘to allocate person x your money for medical care if you’re in a coma/have permanent disability or cannot make sound judgement’ and ‘to give person y staggered payments according to agreed schedule after your passing’.

For Muslims in Malaysia:

Wills/Wasiat
: You’re bound by Muslim inheritance laws. Muslims can only give up to ⅓ of their wealth to non-faraid (simplistically, non-family) members.

Trusts
: I’ve been told you CAN give more than ⅓ of your wealth to non-faraid members, BUT need to lock in a fairly large cash amount (I believe I heard RM50k). You may also have to do a wasiat before you can do trust.

For non-Muslims in Malaysia:

Wills
: You can give to whoever you want, regardless of religion

Trust
: Same

If you have information to improve this section, please comment.

8) I don’t have immediate problems but would like to prepare myself financially, in case anything happens. What can I do?

Please
save as much money as possible
 as
emergency savings
. A good rule of thumb is 3-6 months’ worth of living expenses. Depending on your situation, you might need the money to move out, get medical or mental health help, or support yourself if you lose your job due to discrimination.

After you have saved up your emergency savings, make
investments
to grow your money. I’d suggest avoiding non-liquid investments. Non-liquid investments are things like properties and high-value art – you can’t cash the money immediately if you need it urgently; selling might take ages.

Investments that are more liquid in nature include:

Stocks

Foreign currencies (USD, etc)

Gold

Mutual funds (if you’re Bumi, get ASB)

Here’s my what to
invest with RM1000
 guide. If you’ve never invested your money before, check my guide on
what to know when investing for the first time
.

I’ve received information about this option: have International Bank Accounts. Options include Citibank (SG) and Barclays (UK). The amount needed is quite high; be prepared to shell out six-figures for them. Another option is to buy properties (UK, etc) – that makes it easier to have banking accounts there. You need to inform BNM because they monitor large financial transactions.

Finally,
 upskill yourself
. Get more knowledge, and back it up with certifications. If you ever face workplace discrimination, touch wood, it’s easier to find another job.

Welcoming all advice.

9) I’m LGBT individual / ally with financial means. How can I help?

Things you can help with:

Offering jobs/employment

Offering donations to help LGBT individuals in need

Volunteering

The easiest way to help is to make donations.
Lots of places need funds to continue their work, so please be generous
.
These NGOs and community groups are LGBT-friendly:

PT Foundation

KLASS

SEED Foundation

Justice for Sisters

QueerLapis

If you have money to spare, do take 5 minutes to click the links and transfer some donations to them.

Last words

Thank you to all the LGBT individuals and allies who contributed to this article. It is by no means complete – inviting you to help share whatever knowledge you know, so we can all help. If you would like to republish or translate this content, do reach out to me.

Please share this article with your friends who may need the information. Thanks for being a caring human being.


[Under-RM1k Phone Review] Xiaomi MiA2

Disclaimer: I received a test unit for the purpose of this review. The unit will be returned. All the opinion below is mine. EDIT: 1.5 months after this article was published, they offered me the phone. I accepted and currently using it.

I love Xiaomi products – I own two of their phones (using the Redmi Note 4 now), the powerbank and the earphones. I’ve written and promoted them before this,
here
 and
here
.

In July, I got the opportunity to test out the Xiaomi MiA2 phone. I was particularly excited about it, because I’ve always wanted a phone with good camera, but those don’t come cheap does it? The Twitter crowd confirmed this.

https://twitter.com/BawangByte/status/958970120780460032

https://twitter.com/kzamri/status/958970722155610112

https://twitter.com/kesh1018/status/959269503308673025

Having played around with the test unit, here’s an honest review of the phone. Before we start, price, because that part is the first thing I take into consideration. The Xiaomi MiA2 phone is only
RM999

for the 4GB + 64GB
 one and
RM1199 for the 6GB + 128GB
 one! (Note: price quoted is retail price)

Xiaomi MiA2 Review

Now, I’m not even going to pretend I know and understand the tech stuff, because I don’t. I don’t know how good/bad the Snapdragon 660 processor is (I heard it’s good?). This review is more from the user experience side – what I like and don’t like about it.

The full specs is at the end of this article.

What I like about the Xiaomi MiA2 phone

Daylight pics look BOMBZ

The 12MP+20MP dual camera does not disappoint. Pictures taken with the phone look super crisp!

The portrait shots are absolutely gorgeous

The front camera is also 20MP, which is great for selfies and wefies. Doing selfies on portrait mode was awesome – I don’t care if the pictures are AI-enhanced. I’m just happy I look awesome here hahahah

Low-light shots are pretty good too

To be fair, Xiaomi MiA2 does not give perfect, DSLR-quality shots, but good enough. (I’d be asking for too much if I expect DSLR-quality night shots at this price range).

Huge and awesome display

The screen is 5.99 inches and in full HD. Visuals look great!

10-seconds video option as one of the picture settings

Handy for social media posts. No need to waste time trimming videos. #timeismoney

Free phone case

Comes in gold, blue and black. I appreciate it when phone companies give free phone cases, I really do. Can save money.

Google Photos instead of Gallery

No wonder they didn’t add in a micro-SD slot for the Xiaomi MiA2 phone – it’s all Google-integrated. If you didn’t know, Google users can store
unlimited high-quality photos
 with their Gmail accounts.

Again, FREE. UNLIMITED. PHOTO. STORAGE.

I’ve been using this Google feature for years and absolutely love it. You can opt to make wifi-only photo uploads too, so it doesn’t affect your precious data.

Finally get to try AndroidOne!

I’ve heard a lot about the
AndroidOne
, Google’s built-in AI software. So far it’s only available for
selected phones
 – Xiaomi MiA2 being one of it. And guys, I have to say – it’s pretty awesome. Super intuitive. A+ on user experience. No joke.

Dual SIM

Dual SIMs are very handy during travels – I can just buy and insert a local SIM card without removing (and potentially losing) my Malaysian SIM card.

No Bloatware!!!

These are all the apps that came with the phone! That’s it! No pre-installed MIUI apps that I can’t delete, unlike in the other Xiaomi phones I tried! Super appreciate this!

Feels
expensive

It’s super thin. Comes in metal body. Awfully clean design. I’m into it.

Now that we’re done with the positives, let’s go to the negatives.

What I don’t like about the Xiaomi MiA2 phone

No headphone jack

>:(

BUT to their credit they did include a Type-C to audio adaptor, so you can still use your (non-wireless) headphones. I’m glad they do this, because phones without headphone jacks are kind of a dealbreaker for me. I don’t really want to splurge on new accessories if I don’t have to.

Panorama shots are kinda meh

I don’t know if that particular day was too glare-y for it, but all the panorama shots I took looks overexposed.

They also sell Xiaomi MiA2 Lite, which is kind of confusing

Xiaomi MiA2 is NOT Xiaomi MiA2 Lite. MiA2 Lite is cheaper (RM600 plus), and although they market it as a dual camera phone, the camera specs are much lower –  12MP+5MP, with 5MP front camera (instead of 12MP+20MP, with 20MP front camera). It does come with higher battery capacity though at 4000mAh.

To make matters more confusing,  MiA2 Lite is also called Redmi 6 Pro :/

So yeah if you plan to buy the MiA2, don’t accidentally but MiA2 Lite one or anything. They’re almost like two different phones.

Type-C USB port instead of mini-USB

I’m going to have to buy new sets of backup cables in Type-C now, sigh. If it’s any consolation, this port is supposed to result in faster charging.

Don’t mind me, I’m just sulking. It’s just that I have lots of spare mini-USB cables and it kind of sucks they will be made redundant when I switch to this phone in the future.

Verdict

Despite the downsides, the Xiaomi MiA2 phone gets a thumbs up from me! It has so many features and still priced under RM1k kot (for the 4GB + 64GB one) – very hard to find fault at that price! Other camera phones will cost at least triple!

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I can’t wait for my current phone to die so I can switch to the MiA2 ASAP :p At the time of writing, my Redmi Note 4 is still going strong after about 1.5 years of use. It’s not even slowing down*. Admittedly, this is a good problem to have.

*The only time the Redmi Note 4 phone slows down is if the weather is really hot and it overheats.

Full Specs of Xiaomi MiA2

Camera

Rear 12MP + 20MP dual camera

Sony IMX486 sensor: 12MP, 1.25μm, f/1.75

Sony IMX376 sensor: 20MP, 2μm Super Pixel, f/1.75

Front Sony IMX376 sensor: 20MP, f/2.2

4500K selfie-light

2μm Super Pixel, low-light enhancement

AI portrait selfies, semantic segmentation

Front HDR

Performance

Qualcomm(R) Snapdragon(TM) 660 processor

2.2GHz max

Qualcomm(R) Adreno(TM) 512 GPU

4GB+32GB, 4GB+64GB (RM999), 6GB+128GB (RM1199) (Note: at time of writing, 4GB+32GB is not available in Malaysia)

Android One

Display

5.99″ 18:9 display (2160×1080) FHD+

403 PPI, 85% NTSC

Colour contrast ratio: 1500:1

2.5D glass

Software buttons

Design

Metal unibody

Rear fingerprint sensor

Dimensions: 158.7×75.4×7.3mm

Weight: 166g

Available in: Black, Gold, Blue, Red, Rose Gold (Note: at time of writing, the last two is not available in Malaysia)

Battery

3010mAh(typ) battery

5V/2A charging

USB Type-C, USB 2.0

Connectivity

Dual Nano SIM

Bluetooth 5.0

GSM: B2/3/4/8

WCDMA: B1/2/4/5/8

TDD-LTE: B38/40

FDD-LTE: B1/B2/B3/B4/B5/B7/B8/B20

Where to Buy (Official)

Lazada

Shopee

DirectD

ProTip: Buy from Lazada via
Shopback
 (note: referral link) for some cashback. Layer it with cashback credit cards and/or collect points with it.

What do you think of the Xiaomi MiA2? Do you own Xiaomi products? How is it? Let me know in the comments section 😀


10 Ways to Retire, From Awesome to Depressing

I have been thinking about my own retirement planning in Malaysia since my 20s, when I first started working. As they say – it’s never too early to start (nor too late! If you are 40 years old and above, you can benefit a lot from being assisted professionally via a
financial planner
.)

Tbh I still don’t know how I feel about retirement. Sometimes I think that retirement is an entitlement for productive members of society, while other times I think it’s incredibly wasteful, even discriminative, to suddenly force someone out of a trade, profession or career due to her or his age.

The many ways to do retirement planning in Malaysia

Retirement planning in Malaysia depends on
how
 you want to retire.
When
you want to retire is secondary – the usual retirement age in Malaysia is 60 years old, and some want to retire earlier, while others don’t want to retire at all.

Thanks to both real-life people I’ve met and online accounts, I’ve realised that most people have one thing in common – personal agency matters more than desire for early or late retirement. What most people really want is to be self-sufficient and not being a ‘burden’ in old age.

Therefore, it’s a good idea for you to know the options out there so you can think ahead for your own retirement planning in Malaysia. Here are 10 ways I can think of. Some of them may overlap.

#1 – The ‘Traditional Asian’

What it is:
 Multi-generational family living under one roof

What this retiree does:
 Help with house chores, take care of grandkids

Income needed for this type of retirement:
 If it all goes well, zero. Your children are expected to financially support you with the help of your own retirement savings.

This type of retirement should be intimately familiar to many of us, even expected. I experienced this too: my late grandfather lived with us and drove me to school before he got too sick to continue.

#2 – The Visitor

What it is:
 The retiree may have own home (or an RV) but spends a lot of time travelling. They visit families and friends for a few days/weeks/months then move on to the next one, rotating between them. Their children may live across the country or the world.

What this retiree does:
 Spends time with family and friends.

Income needed for this type of retirement:
 Varies, according to the method of travelling and living accommodation.

I’ve met a few Visitors before, in my travels. One in particular stuck in memory: this lady who decided to take up an invitation from her friend who has a house in rural France. She lived with her for a couple of weeks. I remember this because I recall the friend casually mentioning that she was surprised when she took up the offer, considering they were not that close to begin with.

#3 – The Retirement Community

What it is:
 A location especially created and targeted for retired individuals, OR a location that garnered a reputation for being elderly-friendly. For example, easy access to healthcare is a must. Some communities are also faith-based.

What this retiree does:
 Spends time with other retirees doing leisurely and/or religious activities. Families come to visit.

Income needed for this type of retirement:
  I heard they are expensive in the US, so many people also consider settling down in other countries where the living cost is cheaper. This is the one from the movie The Notebook (as well as some other movies, can’t recall).

I remember bumping into a lady in Hadyai, Thailand who decided to simply rent out a modest hotel room and retire there. After she helped me with directions, she excitedly showed me where she got her supply of fresh bread. She seems happy.

In Malaysia, I don’t know any formal retirement communities aside from faith-based ones.

#4 – The Subculture Community

What it is:
 Some subcultures have their own ‘wise sages’ – people who stuck to that subculture since the early days and act as mentors in the community. They are valued for their wisdom.

What this retiree does:
 From what I know, they kind of hang around and enjoy being consulted in the community.

Income needed for this type of retirement:
 Depends on the subculture, but they are fairly self-sufficient and tend to live minimally.

When I was in Koh Phangan, I recall this kind gentleman who taught people how to poi.

I met a contact juggler in Langkawi who busk for a living. He was saving money to meet up some community members in KL, if I recall correctly.

I know of a retired art critic who lives in an Orang Asli settlement. He gets regular visits from friends in the industry.

I’m sure there are many other examples, but my personal knowledge is limited.

#5 – The HelpXers and WWOOFers

What it is:
 People who stay in one location (usually not in urban areas) and open their homes to volunteers and other travellers.

What this retiree does:
 They tend to have pets, farms and livestock, so daily activities usually revolve around that.

Income needed for this type of retirement:
 Need to be fairly self-sufficient but if you have a farm this greatly help in reducing cost of living.

I’ve done HelpX a few times and loved it (
my writeup on the experience
). I do think this is a win-win arrangement all around – volunteers and travellers get to experience the farm life in exchange for food and accommodation, while retirees benefit from the labour.

It doesn’t have to be farm life. There are also hostels and Bed-and-Breakfasts that do this too. I saw some postings specifically asking for people with specialised skills like website designing and photography and stuff.

#6 – The Big Adventure

What it is:
 People who are like, I’m done working, I WANNA LIVE. Then they book a one-way ticket to a country they’ve never been to.

What this retiree does:
 Sky diving, swimming with sharks and all kinds of new and exciting experiences.

Income needed for this type of retirement:
 Depends on the type of adventure, method of transportation and living accommodation.

I LOVE this kind of people. Every time I bump into them, I hear the best stories. It’s obvious that they re-fell in love with life and everything it has to offer, and that zest for life is honestly contagious.

Being attracted to the DINK lifestyle (Dual Income No Kids), this retirement option appeals to me the most. However, I understand that this lifestyle is only fun when one is healthy. When one is not, the money goes to hospital and medical bills instead. If money runs out, I’m also more prone to the worst possible option – being poor and abandoned (#10).

#7 – The Cruise

What it is:
 People who book themselves on long, long cruises.

What this retiree does:
 Whatever entertainment the cruise offers.

Income needed for this type of retirement:
 I have no idea how much they cost, but it can’t be cheap.

Came across this living arrangement in a Reddit thread. Apparently some retirees just get on cruises until they can’t or pass on. Some cruises also target this niche group and have amenities on board for them.

The sea can scare the crap out of me, so I think this is not for me, but I imagine it would be fun for some people. Some cruises are pretty damn big and contain everything from movies to bowling alleys to casinos to live shows. Plus, the food is all-you-can-eat buffet.

#8 – The Ones Who Keep Working as a Hobby

What it is:
 People who retired, but only by name. They enjoy their work and continue it out of passion, and may or may not be of traditional retirement age – some simply retire early because they have sufficient funds for the rest of their lives.

What this retiree does:
 Their usual work. They may choose several routes: provide consultancy, collaborate on a project, set up a new business – as long as they get to keep doing what they do. They may or may not get paid for their work/hobby.

Income needed for this type of retirement:
 People who do what they love as their work tend to enjoy good financial stability, so cash is not generally an issue. But it’s great that they have an option to select projects they can get paid for.

#9 – The Ones Who Keep Working Because They Need To

What it is:
 People who have to work past retirement age because they can’t afford to retire. They may live alone or with families, but they’re cash-strapped.

What this retiree does:
 Whatever work that pays their living costs.

Income needed for this type of retirement:
 It’s not considered retirement. I don’t think anyone would choose this lifestyle.

This subset scares and saddens me. These are the people who suffer from age discrimination and tend to accept lower-paying jobs, usually demanding physical labour or demeaning (by societal standards). You’ve seen them. They’re the people who collect recyclables from garbage bins and sells them. The ones who care for other people’s children and left their own grandkids. The ones who go table to table, asking you to buy their kerepek, despite their aching feet.

Yet they’re still considered the lucky ones.

#10 – The Poor and Abandoned

What it is:
 Can’t work due to health or other reasons. No or minimal support from society. May or may not have families or relatives.

What this retiree does:
 Being in pain, all day every day. Very little social and intellectual stimulation.

Once in a while, some poor and abandoned soul is highlighted in the media. We’ve seen the pictures. The luckier ones get into a donation-based, run-down, understaffed old folks home. The unlucky ones live in bare shacks with minimal amenities, getting by with donations. The unluckiest are homeless.

The sense of hopelessness is soul-crunching. My primary emotion is pity, as condescending as that sounds. I want to help, but often my own priorities get in the way and I conveniently forget about their existence, until the media highlights them again.

I take a small comfort over zakat contributions, which is supposed to help them. Still, it’s not enough. I know how expensive healthcare is.

Dear readers, I hope you’ll never end up poor and abandoned. I don’t know most of you, but I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.

Conclusion

Growing up, I simply assumed there was just one type of retirement. You serve your company for decades, then receive pension/retirement savings to retire at 55-60+ years old to make room for younger folks. I think many of us have this impression as well. This is the traditional formula in life, isn’t it? Birth, Play, School, Work, Family, Work, Kids, Work, Retire, Die.

But the world has changed, and it’s best to accept that most people do not have enough money to retire. Most companies do not provide pension nowadays. And even if you get one from being a civil servant, it may not be enough. I hope I’m wrong, but most people will either be #9 – have to keep working because they have to.

In any case, prediction remain prediction until it happens. Personally, I’m going to use the time I have to improve my own odds, because I can’t solely rely on the government to turn things around.

Back to you – I’m very interested to know if you know of any other types of retirement planning in Malaysia, if there’s anything I missed. Which retirement options do you want for yourself, and what do you plan to do to get it?


[SPONSORED] What Rich Malaysians Do With Their Money (That You Don’t)

According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia, the T20 in this country received 46.2% of overall income share in 2016, while the M40 and B40 received 37.4% and 16.4% respectively.

Image credit to DOSM

Looking at the statistics, you can’t deny that rich Malaysians
must
know something that the rest of us don’t. I mean, the top 20% can’t have gotten almost
half
 of all the income in Malaysia by accident.

I am greatly fascinated by the money mindset that the rich have. Not their lifestyle, mind you –
looking
 rich is not the same as
being
rich – but their mindset: what they learned from their parents (if they were born rich) or from life experiences (if they worked hard to get there).

Here are some things that I’ve learned about rich Malaysians.

#1 – They buy time

Whoever said that money can’t buy time is wrong. You can.

Rich Malaysians know this. Instead of doing everything themselves to save money, they would instead
pay for products and services that can save them time
. Here are some examples:

Housekeeping services
 – they employ staff who clean their houses, tend their lawns and send their clothes to the laundry.

Childcare and ageing care facilities
 – they employ professionals who can look after their children and ageing parents.

Quality products
– they last longer and are more efficient compared to lower-quality products. Note that quality doesn’t necessarily mean luxury.

I started my personal finance journey with a frugal mindset – I’d spend hours looking for “free and cheap”. It served me well up until now (I’m financially stable), but it’s easy to forget that the cost of looking for free and cheap is time – time that I can use to earn more money.

At this point, I’m starting with slowly replacing all my low-quality items that wore out or broke down with higher-quality items. I’m still coming to terms with the upfront costs that I have to make – it’s mentally hard to accept higher prices when you’re so used to the cheap stuff!

#2 – They pay to mingle with the ‘right’ crowd

At a recent conference I attended, the speaker said something that made me think. He said, “You meet a different set of people at paid events as compared to free events.”

Obviously there are exceptions to the rule (e.g. receiving a free invitation to a paid event, fully-sponsored VIP events, etc.), but as someone who has always preferred going to free events over paid ones, this realisation came as a shock. I mean, I knew, but I didn’t
digest
 the statement until now.

But it’s true. The people who shell out money to attend paid conferences and seminars tend to be
people who invest in their professional development
.

Reflecting back, I can personally attest to this. The buzz at paid events is different. The questions they ask moderators are different. The conversations during tea breaks are different.

This is not to say that free events aren’t good – no, not at all. But the
chances
 of meeting people with a growth mindset are much higher at paid events.

Now I kind of know why some people pay to access premium places, like country clubs which impose ridiculously high annual fees. They get to network with people with similar economic backgrounds, and some of those networking can potentially turn into high-level business deals.

If I’m honest, I’m a bit troubled by the elitism here. It’s a form of economic exclusion, isn’t it? Some of us – especially those who are just starting out – can’t afford to shell out the expense. But there’s a way around it – join online communities where the ‘right’ crowd hangs out. Be an active contributor and get yourself noticed there. Of course, this is no substitute for face-to-face meets but who knows what opportunities will be present themselves to you.

#3 – They protect their money obsessively

There’s no point in being rich if you can’t
stay
rich. When you’re rich (especially if others know it), your money protection game must be strong. Many parties – from scammers to long-lost relatives to opportunists – will want a slice of that money pie.

There are many money protection strategies. I’m compiling the ones I know of here:

Place your money at bank or any authorised financial institutions and buying insurance policy/takaful certificate –
for savings and for protection against unfortunate events.

Ensuring high level of digital security
 – to protect online banking and investment accounts.

Optimising bank deposit and insurance policy/takaful certificate protection
 – eligible bank deposits and takaful/insurance benefits are protected up to RM250,000 and RM500,000 respectively via PIDM (or Perbadanan Insurans Deposit Malaysia in full) in the event of a PIDM member fails. Rich folks who have more than the coverage amount may diversify their monies across different PIDM member banks or insurance companies to get the most out of PIDM’s protection.

Set up wills and trusts
 – to make sure their monies (including proceeds from life insurance policies) goes to the beneficiaries they select themselves, and not to those opportunists. Eligible trust accounts held at PIDM members are also protected by PIDM!

A quick note about PIDM’s protection. It’s free and automatic (you have to know this – some people were duped into paying money for it!). You can read more about PIDM
here
.

You better click that link – rich Malaysians already know the information inside it, and if you want to be rich, you should, too.

#4 – They look for leveraging opportunities

Leveraging is the perfect example of working smart, not hard. It’s the art of allocating funds and resources creatively with the intention of creating future profits. Some examples:

Leveraging on talent
 – rich Malaysians understands the importance of recruiting good talent, so they can leverage on their expertise. Here are
20 companies that have high profit:employee ratio
. Fannie May earns USD1,759,000 in profit PER employee!

Leveraging on zero/low-interest loans
 – One example is ASB loans, where you can earn 7-8%-ish returns with 4.x-5.x% loan. Another is using zero-interest or zero-fees credit card balance transfers to invest in fixed deposits, money markets, REITs, etc. (sounds easy, but timing is critical). There are other examples but they’re high risk and I don’t want you to take it as investment ‘advice’ and potentially lose money.

Leveraging on properties
 – Buy properties and rent it out to tenants who pay higher than the mortgage amount.

Leveraging on time
 – basically what we covered in #1. Paying for products and services that will free up time will allow for not just more working time, but also rest and relaxation time so we don’t burn out!

Conclusion

I used to view ‘rich’ negatively. But I’ve since realised that money merely
amplifies
a person’s personality. When good people become rich, they’ll use the money for good. If they’re bad, likewise. Money is just a tool, after all. You can use an axe to chop down a tree, or you can use it to remove a barrier.

It’s in our collective interest to help good people become rich. Support good people – people who run social enterprises, people who pay their employees fair wages and provide good working environments, people who work ethically in their companies and organisations. The richer they are, the better the position they’re in to make a positive difference to our world.

Leave in your comments people and businesses you think we should support. As a final note, do support the sponsor of this post,
PIDM
, too. By
better understanding how PIDM’s protection works and benefits you
, you are better equipped to make informed financial choices regarding deposit, takaful and insurance products for you and your loved ones.


Actually, The Simple Life is Still Expensive AF

‘I just want a simple life’ – me, and probably a good chunk of RoR readers, thinking that it’s cheap.

No, not really. It is a misconception that the simple life is cheap.

Yes, perhaps it is much cheaper than the luxurious life (often funded by debt, but let’s not go there). I’m talking about the more basic things that people want even in the simplest of lifestyles, like…

#1 – Security and safety

This is the
crime statistics in Malaysia in 2019
, as taken from Department of Statistics Malaysia website. In 2019, there were:

16,489 violent crimes (murder, rape, robbery and causing injury), and
66,969 property crimes (home break-in and theft, vehicle theft, snatch theft and other theft)

Now, as they say, bad situation got no smell, but I sure as heck will take precautions to NOT be part of the statistics.

And part of that precaution involves spending money to be safer. There are a few ways to go about this:

#1- Live in a ‘good part of town’

Living in a ‘good part of town’ is more expensive. Property prices tend to be higher, as are rental prices. That’s the premium you pay for lower crime rates (as well as other features in the neighbourhood).

At the very least, expect RM500,000 and above for property, and RM1000 and above for monthly rental.

There’s also likely to be additional costs to cover the hiring of security guards. This is common in gated communities.

#2 – Get security enhancements

Wherever you live, you still have to pay for security enhancements: grills, gates, CCTV. At the very least, extra locks (high-quality ones).

Some of you may scoff at this. Maybe you don’t care if you’re single, but you will care once you have dependents, whether a spouse or children or heck, ageing parents. You never want them to be in a situation where they have to fight off intruders.

#3 – Move to places with lower crime rates

Well that’s Klang Valley, it should be better in other states, some of you say. It is true that KL and Selangor has higher crime rates compared to the rest of Malaysia.

Okay, great for people living in other states, or willing to move there. Statistically, Sabah and Terengganu has the lowest crime index ratio compared to other states in Malaysia.

But lower crime doesn’t mean no crime
. Plus, not everyone can nor wants to move after building their whole life in one location.

So, both good location and security enhancements still doesn’t
guarantee
 safety – there’s still a chance of becoming victim to violent and property crimes. Therefore, you need to get…

#2 – Insurance/takaful (a few types at that)

Sure, you can go without insurance/takaful and just hope nothing bad happens. If you are lucky, nothing will happen to you.

But if you’re not… it’s not uncommon to fall into debt spiral. Here’s how it happens:

Didn’t get insurance
Crime happens, bill amounts to thousands
Can’t afford to recover, repair or replace
Can’t work or focus on work due to stress
Savings (if you had any) dwindle. Can no longer pay for basic needs
Desperation kicks in, borrows money at high interest rate
Gets into debt/bankruptcy

You can avoid the worst-case scenario by having a LOT of savings, and/or by having insurance/takaful.

There are a few types of insurance/takaful that are specifically designed to help you recover financially if a crime happens to:

Your body:
Medical, personal accident
 (these help if you get hurt physically, rather than get sick by an ailment or disease. For those, you need to get
critical illness insurance, life insurance etc
)
Your car:
Car insurance
Your property: Home insurance
Misc: Smartphone insurance, laptop insurance etc

Each of them will set you back a few hundred to a few thousand ringgit per year, depending on the coverage and sum assured. Obviously, getting max level protection with the widest coverage and max sum assured will be on the more expensive side.

This is not a PSA to get insurance, although you can take it as such. This is just to highlight how expensive peace of mind is.

#3 – Clean surroundings and consumables

What else makes a simple life? To quote Jack from Titanic, “I mean, I got everything I need right here with me. I got air in my lungs, a few blank sheets of paper.”

Well, thanks to pollution caused by excessive consumption (mostly contributed by the super rich and those living in developed countries),
the air in your lungs is dirty
, and getting dirtier.
Nowadays, if you want clean air, you have to pay for it.

(Please join me to hate on the ultra-rich, who contribute the most to excessive consumption)

This is why I don't like the 'suka hati la dia beli apa, tu duit dia' argument. Excessive consumption is horrible for the planet. Last2 everyone have to buy air purifier, water filter, aircon (esp elderly w heatstroke tendency) cos not safe to live without them. More cost for us
https://t.co/ruIAbvHqPv
— Suraya | suraya.eth (@surayaror)
July 20, 2022

That’s not all. Another expense you have to shell out for cleanliness is hand sanitisers, soaps, antibacterial wipes, face masks and more. Has to be said, now that we live in
pandemic times
.

And of course we can’t forget about
clean food and ingredients
 – of course you want this for your simple life right? These affects long-term health, and tend to be more expensive.

(Although sometimes I wonder if it’s even worth it, if it’s too late for everyone. You can’t avoid harmful ingredients, I mean they already found
microplastics in your blood
.)

You can argue in the grand scheme of things, the cost of cleanliness is not that much if you plan your spending well, and adopt certain lifestyles (plant-based, grow/rear own produce, etc), but it adds up.

So, back to my original train of thought:

Simple living is expensive

You will notice that
I’m not even talking about quality products and services, or kids
,
or other life experiences you want to pursue
. Those you should already know are expensive.

But things like security and safety, and insurance/takaful, and even clean surroundings and consumables? This is the most basic of lifestyles, and will still cost serious money.

Fact is,
the simple life is still damn expensive for most people
. This is not a complaint, just a statement. I don’t know why we pretend it isn’t. You should acknowledge that it is pricey, so you can earn smarter and budget better.

That’s my commentary for the day. No advice beyond the usual – earn more (via
increasing salary
 and/or
side income
),
invest for long-term
. For good measure, compare your expenses to
Belanjawanku
 so you know which areas you can trim. All the best y’all.


23 Malaysian Statistics About Money That Will Make You Think

Let’s do something a bit different than usual. Statistics about money can offer a lot of insight about our financial situation. Here, I listed many facts and figures from reputable Malaysian media, educational institution and government agencies. Sources are in ‘x’. Let’s get talking – click to tweet to start online conversations about it. I will RT good commentaries 🙂

1.  Only half of Malaysians have life insurance, but up to 90% of Malaysians
are under-insured
. Under-insured is when the coverage is only one or two times the annual income. (2015 data;
x
 |
x
)

Only half of Malaysians have life insurance. Up to 90% of Malaysians are under-insured.
Click To Tweet

2. At 67%, Malaysians’ saving habit is one of the highest in the world. Almost 9 out of 10 changed their spending habit in order to improve savings. (
x
)

Malaysians' saving habit is one of the highest in the world
Click To Tweet

3. What do we use our savings for: Two out of five Malaysians are willing to
splurge
 on vacation/travel.  Almost one out of five are willing to upgrade gadgets/electronics, pay for out-of-home entertainment and home improvement. (
x
) Three out of four Malaysian travellers said their choice of holiday was often determined by them being able to secure a good price or a special offer. (
x
)

3 out of 4 M'sian travellers said price/offer affect their choice of holiday.
Click To Tweet

4. Top three ways to
cut back spending
, as preferred by Malaysians:  spending less on new clothes (65%), reducing out-of-home entertainment (56%) and switching to cheaper grocery brands (51%). (
x
)

3 ways M'sians use to spend less: less new clothes, reduce entertainment & cheaper grocery brands
Click To Tweet

5. Top four factors that
cause financial problems
for Malaysians: poor financial planning (22.9%),
high cost of medication (18.3%)
, business failure (15.2%) and uncontrolled credit card usage (11.1%). (
x
) (underlined emphasis is mine)

M'sians financial problems: poor financial planning, high meds cost, biz failure & credit card usage
Click To Tweet

6. Malaysians spend 31.2% of their
 disposable income
 on food and food away from home, 23.9% on petrol, housing and utilities and 14.6% on transport. (
x
)

How M'sians spend disposable income: food, petrol, housing & utilities & transport
Click To Tweet

7. How you’re
 categorised
: According to Economic Report 2015/2016, the B40 (bottom 40% household income) group comprises households with a monthly income of up to RM3,855, while those in the M40 group (middle 40% household income group) earn between RM3,860 and RM8,319. (
x
) Middle-class is subjective, but generally refer to individuals earning RM5k-10k per month. (
x
)

Malaysia's middle income: Individuals earning RM5k-10k per month.
Click To Tweet

8. How
 branding affects your purchasing habit
: About two-thirds of Malaysian consumers prefer to buy new products from brands which are familiar to them, and liked it when manufacturers offer new product options. TV is the number one source of new product information. (
x
)

2 out of 3 Malaysians prefer buying new products from familiar brands
Click To Tweet

9. Malaysians are
willing to spend
 an average of RM198.63 on their spouse, RM173.71 on their fiancé or fiancée, RM 159.03 on their girlfriend or boyfriend, and RM156.09 on themselves. (Rakuten data taken from Valentine’s Day and CNY;
x
)

M'sians spend RM198.63 on spouse, RM173.71 on fiancé/e, RM159.03 on gf/bf & RM156.09 on self
Click To Tweet

10. Biggest factors affecting
Malaysians’ purchasing decisions
: Bought on promotion/discount (30%), Self-purchases (23%), Urgent needs (21%). (
x
)

How M'sians' decide on purchases: Promo/discount, Self & Urgent needs
Click To Tweet

11. Top factors affecting
 consumer behaviour
 (among university students): Economic crisis, lifestyle choices and to reflect personality. (
x
)

Uni students' consumer behaviour: Economic crisis, lifestyle choices and to reflect personality.
Click To Tweet

12.
Gen Y/Millennials’ saving and spending habit:
 They save about a quarter and spend three-fifths of their monthly income (Gen X saves about a third of their income). Top spending: apparel (34%), entertainment (22%) and food (16%). Top reasons why we save:  for emergency (25.6%),  for future investment (24.1%), for vacation (10.9%) and for wedding (10.4%). (
x
)

Top spending for Malaysian Millennials: apparel (34%), entertainment (22%) and food (16%)
Click To Tweet

Top reasons why M'sian Millennials save money: emergencies, future investment, vacation & wedding
Click To Tweet

13.
Gen Y/Millennials and investment
: About a third of Millennials have an investment portfolio. Four out of five Millennials think the stock market is risky. Millennials invest in: Unit Trust (15.6%), Gold (13.1%) and Shares (8.9%). (
x
)

Investments Malaysian Millennials make: Unit Trust (15.6%), Gold (13.1%) and Shares (8.9%)
Click To Tweet

14.
Gen Y/Millennials and credit cards and debt:
70% pay minimum monthly payments and 45% have not paid on time (!!!) Most debt is for car loan and education loan. (
x
) Nearly 25,000 Millennials have been declared bankrupt within five years (as of June 2015;
x
). You can be declared bankrupt if fail to settle minimum debt amount of RM30k.

Malaysian Millennials carry debt, but most debt is for car loan and education loan.
Click To Tweet

15.
The difference in incomes in different states
: Kelantan and Perak are 84.8% and 81.1% below national average, while KL and Putrajaya are 64.4% and 62.9% above average income. (
x
)

Income vs states: Kelantan is 84.8% below national average, while KL is 64.4% above average income
Click To Tweet

16. How Malaysians
absorb financial shocks
 (or don’t!): Half of households in the country do not have savings. Only one in five households could survive up to three months if income was cut off. (
x
)

1/2 of M'sian households don't have savings. Only 1 in 5 can survive up to 3 months if no income
Click To Tweet

17. The poorest households spend a
larger percentage of income on food
 (30.4%), while the richest households only spend 9.9%.  (
x
)

Poorest households in M'sia spend 30.4% of income on food. The richest households only spend 9.9%
Click To Tweet

18.
Stay in school,
 if you can. The median monthly salary for employees with tertiary education (RM3100) is two times higher than employees with high school education (RM1500). (
x
)

Median monthly salary with tertiary education is 2x higher than with high school education
Click To Tweet

19. The average household
throws away a lot of food
. RM2700 worth of food, annually. Shame on us 🙁 (
x
)

The average M'sian household throws away a lot of food. RM2700 worth of food, annually!
Click To Tweet

20.
 Very rich Malaysians invest in residential properties
 overseas (technically, they are UHNWI – ultra high net worth individuals). They like this so much, they rank higher than the world average. (
x
)

Very rich Malaysians invest in residential properties overseas, esp Aus and UK
Click To Tweet

21. Something to be angry about:
 wage and GDP ratio
. According to an economic think-tank, Malaysian companies keep most of the profits for themselves instead of the other around. The ratio now is 33% for employee wages, 67% as company profit. In advanced countries, companies only keep 40-50% as profit while the rest is distributed as employee wages. (
x
)

M'sian companies keep 67% of profits for themselves. Advanced countries: 40-50%
Click To Tweet

22. Scary facts about
Malaysians and scams
: near half of Malaysians surveyed have been a scam victim. The funny thing is three-quarters of the surveyed are actually aware of ‘internet scam’. The average loss is a whopping RM7040. Top scams are: work from home (30%), internet auction (22%) and online dating scams (20%). (
x
)

Top internet scams in M'sia: work from home, internet auction and online dating scams
Click To Tweet

23. Nearly four out of five people who contribute to EPF
can’t afford to retire
. (
x
)

Nearly 4 out of 5 people who contribute to EPF can't afford to retire
Click To Tweet

Which statistic about money made you think? Any other statistics aside from the above that made you go ‘hmm’?

Look forward to your awesome commentaries.

xox,

Suraya


Telemarketer sales tactics you should know (by an ex-telemarketer)

When I was 17-18, I worked as a telemarketer for about 3 months. For an outsourcing company, on behalf of a major insurance provider. I can’t remember the name of the insurance company, or even the product name now. That’s weird, because day-in, day-out, I repeated the same script in hundreds of cold calls.

I earned at least RM3000 per month in those 3 months. This was the point in my life when I knew I could do sales.

Here are some telemarketer sales tactics

Telemarketer sales tactic #1: I followed a damn awesome script

You guys should have seen the script they gave me – it was a work of art.

It starts off jovial, friendly. Then it addresses the problem (don’t waste money by paying for non-investment linked insurance, because you’ll never get it back), and POW, the solution (25-years investment-linked insurance that promised some returns back on your money).

Whatever excuse the customer might have, there’s an answer to it.

No time to talk?
 No problem, when’s a good time for me to call you back?

Already have insurance?
 There’s no such thing as being over-insured, and you’ll get to claim more if anything happens.

That’s expensive!
 But you’ll get your money back after 25 years, do you really want to opt for insurance without money back?

I don’t need it.
 Ah, but does anyone else in your family need it?

Where did you get my number?
 The numbers were special customers selected from [bank name].

I repeat.
All excuses you can give, we have an answer for it
.

In fact, the only reasons we were allowed to cross off a customer’s name is (1)  when the number is out of service, or (2) when the customer explicitly refused to purchase the product and request to never call you back.

Anything else gets re-scheduled through an automatic software.

Tips for you
:

If you receive cold calls,
the first 10 seconds is important
. They will ask if it’s OK to take 5 minutes of your time.
It’s never 5 minutes.

The products aren’t necessarily bad
. It’s just another way to sell a product to the public. So if you are shopping for that product (insurance, membership, whatever), you can still hear them out.

If you are not interested, then say no
clearly
.
 This is important. You might want to be all polite and say stuff like, ‘not right now’, or ‘I already have it’, or ‘I don’t need it’, hoping they might get the hint and go away. No dice. This might sound rude, but ‘No, I am not interested to buy, thank you for your time, please don’t call me again’ works best.

Telemarketer sales tactic #2: I was instructed to close the sales right then

The thing about telemarketing is that you only have your voice to convince people. No facial expressions, no other social cues.

So when you manage to hook people in through your voice, you want them to stay enchanted. You don’t want anything to break the spell.

I was told to complete the sales right on the phone, no interruptions. Everything. From filling up the forms (I asked, and was provided, so many credit card numbers and their CVCs!), to asking the customer to fax the signed forms back to us.

We tried, as much as possible, to avoid ‘let me talk to my spouse, contact me again tomorrow’ and its variations. When that happens, we asked for the spouses’ phone numbers and
talked to them
. We don’t like delays. If a potential sale takes more than a few days, it’s probably a gone case.

We used the fake ‘limited time offer’ tactic, the ‘only selected customers get this chance’ tactic, and everything in between. Basically, we don’t want you to have time to do your own research.

Advice for you
:

Current telemarketing agencies will hate me for this, gosh, but here goes: do your product research. The product might be good, but compare first. For this reason, I get telemarketers to email me the product brochures. If they give some excuse like its not ready (probably doesn’t exist), or it’s not available for the public eye, the product is a major no for me.

Buying a product simply because ‘the nice lady spent 30 minutes explaining it to me’
is a thing
. You wouldn’t believe how many people get guilted into paying hundreds of ringgit every month for
25 years
 this way. No! Never feel guilty for this. It’s a huge financial commitment!

The telemarketer is the friendliest person you know.
Do not laugh along with him/her
. Do not even like them. It builds rapport, and once rapport is built, selling insurance is like asking a friend to make you a personal favour.

Telemarketer sales tactic #3: I smiled a lot

For some reason – and I didn’t know this until it worked – smiles travel across the phone. Even fake smiles.

…there’s no advice for you on this point. Most of the time, when I can ‘hear’ a smile back, I know I can get a potential sale out of it.

Just be aware of it.

—-

I just want to be clear on something. I have the highest respect for sales agents. You guys should too.

For every sale I closed, I was rejected anywhere between 20-100 times. It takes a thick skin and pure survival mode to make it in this industry.

Every encounter you have with a sales agent, you should treat them with respect. Some people were so rude, they reduced me to tears (this happened twice in 3 months, I believe).

Some people shouted expletives at me. Some people made sexual, suggestive remarks. One of my colleagues had the bad fortune to talk to a man who masturbated during the conversation. Every sales agent has a ‘worst day ever’ story.

So, coming from a former telemarketer, here’s how I would like to be treated if the customer wasn’t interested in the product.

Within first 5 minutes of listening to the sales pitch
 – say sorry, and thank you for calling, but you are not interested in the product and/or will not buy over the phone – this would save me time

After full-blown explanation
 – say sorry, thank you for calling, but the product is not what you’re looking for and you are not interested in buying – allows me to take your name off the list instead of having to call you again.

Don’t lead me on
 – sometimes customers would just ask me to call them back many times, because they were too ‘polite’ to say no. Some of them would just ignore subsequent phone calls. I still have to make those calls. Just tell me to stop calling (nicely), and I will.

Don’t get angry at me
 because I called you. This is impersonal. I had nothing against you. I was not trying to ruin your life. Your number popped up and the system made the call. That’s it.

Protip
: If you are interested in a product, please buy from the sales agent who worked the hardest to serve you. It’s frustrating for sales agents when you end up buying the same product from someone else, because they don’t get the commission.

Lastly, if you were a former customer, know this: there was a (brief) moment where my heart was full of love for you. You were the one who broke the chain of rejections. Thank you.


4 Things You Should Know About The Financial Ecosystem We Live In

First off, I want to say that most players in the financial ecosystem are important*. Not even going to deny it. Like banks for example – they provide tons of job opportunities, safekeeping of funds, access to financial services and overall contribution to the country’s financial health.

*most are important except the Ponzi people and other scammers. I pray they will miss all the connection flights in their lifetime

But let’s go beyond the friendly, approachable image the financial industry like to portray to the world.  Here are 4 things you should know about the financial ecosystem we live in.

#1 – Banks use the money you deposit to make more money

Did you know that for every RM1 you keep in the bank, they can loan
10 times that amount
 to others and charge interest on it?

Ie – if someone deposited RM10,000, they can loan out RM100,000 to others. This is called
fractional-reserve banking
.

That’s why banks (1) always want to attract you to deposit money with them and (2) market personal loans and credit cards at the same time. The more money people deposit with them, the more they earn when they lend it out to people and businesses (at double-digit interest, too – super lucrative!)

Of course, they also take risks in the process. What if the people who borrowed defaulted on their loan, or can’t pay it back? So they’re selective with WHO they loan money to. This is where DSR scores come in – how they check whether the person has the ability to pay back or not.

Here’s how you can know if you have a healthy DSR score without even checking – an increase in marketing calls/emails/sms inviting you to take up more personal loans and credit cards. They know you are ‘low-risk’, therefore they know you’re more likely to pay back the amount plus
their profit
 the interest.

I’m neither angry or felt betrayed by this fact. I used to be. Now I accept it’s just the way it is.

#2 – The poorer you are, the more you pay relative to your income

This. This is my whole gripe with the financial ecosystem. It basically promotes the culture where
the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer
.

The banks rewards ‘good’ customers by offering them the best products which have more perks, benefits, better prices and lower interest rates. For example, you’ve seen the difference in return rates between RM1000 vs RM10,000 fixed deposits? Yeah go have a look.

The banks penalise ‘bad’ customers by imposing fees and penalties, limiting financial options, and sometimes closing it altogether. Why do you think some people are pushed to get money from ahlongs? Because they are deemed high-risk and can’t borrow money from banks!

I UNDERSTAND why banks do this. They’re trying to limit their risks. Why lend money to people who have history of not paying back? At the end of the day, they are a business. Their aim is to make a profit and keep shareholders happy.

Perhaps I’m idealistic to a fault, but I feel like banks should serve a higher purpose than that. I mean, it is so
expensive
 to be poor. They pay fees for late payments because food and rent come first. They pay higher cost-per-unit for their groceries because they can’t afford to buy in bulk. If banks really do want to help (like they say in their marketing campaigns), they would have.

But again, I UNDERSTAND why banks do this. Business.

Sigh.

#3 – It’s not possible to play the game fairly

We are part of the financial system. Like it or not, we are in this game. Except for complete withdrawal from society (or using crypto exclusively), we are in this game.

You’d expect the rules would be the same for everyone.
Yes, but some people get an extra page of instructions
.

I’m referring to
legal loopholes
 within the financial system – something that only the rich have access too. They get advice from accountants and fund managers and lawyers and together device ways to pay as little as they can get away with, like keeping their money tax-free in some other country. Instead of, you know, paying the full share of their taxes so it can fund development of the country and contribute to welfare programmes run by the government.

I don’t think banks and the financial services industry are immoral or unethical for providing this service. Rather, I think they are amoral, neutral. Everything is game as long as it’s technically legal and brings revenue to the company. And I guess it’s just business-savvy to cater to the rich because just one of them can bring thousands and even potentially millions in revenue.

Selfishly, I know that if I’m super duper rich, I’d do it too. Who doesn’t want to keep as much of their money to themselves? Plus as much I like the new government as compared to the previous one, there are so many leaks in the system still.

But you know, instead of being salty towards the rich, why not think of it the other way around – why not make tax-optimisation advice and services and other legal loopholes easily accessible for
everyone
 instead?

Yo fintech and legaltech industry what are you doing
it’s time to disrupt this shit
.

#4 – The next financial crisis is coming

It’s not a matter of IF it will happen. It’s a matter of WHEN. They’re like dormant volcanoes like that. Apparently the average number of years between financial crashes are 28 years or so, but sped up in this globalisation age.

I’m not even going to pretend I completely understand all the nuances behind a financial crisis. All I know is when the system fails in a big way like that, millions of people around the world are going to lose their savings, jobs and homes. I was 20 years old when 2008 financial crisis happened – so still blur blur during that time – but I have a feeling I’ll experience the next one head on from beginning to end.

What will cause it? Who knows. Experts make predictions, but I feel like they’re all out of my control anyway, so it’s just better for me to be prepared. None of us can prevent it, so the why and how doesn’t matter.

Personally, I’m keeping at least some of my money in gold and crypto in anticipation of this upcoming crash. As hedge (the fancy way of saying ‘to protect my money’ I guess). Note: This is not financial advice, go ask other smarter people, I’m just sharing what I’m doing.

Oh. Another thing that I’m planning of doing – saving as much money as possible now then go on a spending spree during the financial crash. I want to pick up cheap stocks and properties then. That’s what the rich will be doing anyway.

Last thoughts

When I first wrote this article, it was damn negative towards the financial services industry. I blamed and complained before I edited and re-edited.

Then I realise – we fear what we don’t know. I don’t know the financial industry. The financial ecosystem we live in is a mystery for me still. What I know about it – listed and explained above – is probably on the surface level.

I’d love to hear what YOU know about it. What bad practices are rife behind closed doors? What ethical discussions are happening, and do they have traction? What does the banking industry actively lobby for to the politicians?
How does this all affect mine and your personal finances?

What do you think? Looking forward to hear your thoughts, especially if you work or used to work in the financial industry.


[Commentary] The Negativity Around Financial Advice

[Before we proceed, let me just preface this article with this statement: I’ve never been poor, and I’m certainly privileged. I can educate myself about systemic inequality, but I can’t pretend to know the lived realities of systemic barriers faced by different poor communities all over Malaysia, especially those who face multiple discrimination.]

Being poor in this country is no fun.

Banks reject their loans and credit card applications. Society judges them for getting married and having children (“cannot afford, don’t la!”). They’re priced out of accommodation near public transportation and have to spend more on transportation (the irony!!).

Systemic inequality is such a frustrating problem because the solutions are simple (but not easy). For example, the most vulnerable urban poor families
can benefit a lot from just RM900 per month
. Minimum wage should be higher, but the negotiations take so long that by the time it is implemented, the cost of living is already higher.

While all these happen, we are told to improve our financial literacy.

We don’t need financial literacy?

October 2020 was
Financial Literacy Month
, and along with all the initiatives organised by FEN or Financial Education Network, came this discussion: do we need financial literacy?
As one joyful writer from Malay Mail
 puts it, financial education initiatives are so tone-deaf, when what the people truly need is more income and stronger support networks.

Firstly
, I acknowledge the anger. No question about it, it *is* frustrating to be told to save money despite high cost of living.

Secondly
, why are we being binary? It’s not either-or, it’s both, we need both financial education AND higher wages + fix the systemic issues.

Thirdly
,  sure I admit a lot of financial advice out there is not relevant. There’s no secret here –
the world doesn’t revolve around one person exclusively, so just pick the ones that do work for your situation and move on.

But at the same time, and this pains me to say it, as someone who has been in the personal finance space for a while:
 society actually hates realistic financial advice for the poor.

Why do you hate financial advice catered to the poor?

In the same way that women sometimes undermine and hinder the success of other women (hello Christy Ng, I still remember when you said
long maternity leave will deter employers from hiring women in top positions
), there is a lot of mutual ill-will among the B40 (and struggling M40) group.

Perfect example: when Azizul Azli Ahmad shared a sample budget breakdown for RM1500 salary, I saw SO MANY PEOPLE rudely commenting how he’s an enabler for low wages, and WHY DON’T EMPLOYERS PAY MORE INSTEAD.

View this post on Instagram

#TabungBajet BILA GAJI KECIL 1. Bajet ini untuk gaji kita yang kecil, kita masih ada pilihan untuk merancang hidup. 2. Bajet ini untuk keluarga kecil yang hanya ada satu anak paling maksimum dan tinggal diluar bandar. 3. Bajet setiap keluarga adalah berbeza bergantung keperluan keluarga kita, ia tak akan sama dengan mana mana keluarga lain. 4. Sebaiknya jangan ada hutang kerana jika ada hutang akan menekan bajet kita. Bahaya jika anda belum mampu menabung dan mula ada hutang. 5. Bagi gaji bawah RM3000 ushakan jangan beli kereta baru dulu jika ada impian beli rumah. Dapat kereta terpakai pun jadilah, jika tidak kita makin susah nak beli rumah. 6. Susah macam manapun tetaplah ada simpanan setiap bulan. Kita tak tahu bila kita akan susah lagi. Jangan merungut sebab bila kita susah orang belum tentu akan bantu kita. 7. Jika belum mampu mengirim yang ke orang tua, bincang baik baik dengan mereka. jangan diamkan sahaja. Tetapi jika kita percayakan keberkatan dan doa ibubapa. Ia tak akan putuskan rezeki kita. Jangan juga tak beri sumbangan buat ibubapa tetapi kereta luar negara. Sumbangan sihat buat ibubapa adalah lebih dari 5% gaji kita. (Kadar zakat adalah 2.5%, jangan bagi sumbangan kurang dari itu nanti ibubapa kita hanya dapat setaraf penerima zakat sahaja) 8. Jangan juga taksub dengan matematik dalam perancangan kewangan. Percayalah dengan KEBERKATAN . Semakin kita banyak memberi buat keluarga kita dengan baik dan ikhlas, akan ada rezeki luar biasa menanti kita nantinya. Tiada bajet yang sempurna buat sebuah keluarga, yang ada adalah keberkatan bagi setiap rezeki yang kita dapat dan kongsikan dengan keluarga. Salam hujung minggu semua, Kita jaga keluarga kita bukannya ahli politik yang sedang gilakan kuasa. Azizul Azli Ahmad #Kongsikan agar sekecil manapun gaji kita, hidup biarlah merancang dengan baik. jika kita kekal merungut, kita akan susah hidupnyanya nanti. #Belajar cipta pendapatan tambahan jangan bergantung pada gaji kecil sahaja.

A post shared by
 Azizul Azli Ahmad
 (@azizulazliahmad) on
Oct 3, 2020 at 7:35pm PDT

You’re all correct in pointing those out, but you know that RM1500 monthly salary (and sometimes even less) is the reality for MANY people, right? They have NEVER seen budget breakdown tailored for them –
much of the reference materials out there are for people who earn a minimum of RM2k and above salaries.

And now, finally, there is budget breakdown which the sub-RM2k income earners can use as reference. With this and a lot of
temporary
 sacrifices, they can save up RM1000 in as fast as 10 months.

With that money they can use to start a small home-based business or upgrade skills to get better-paying jobs. With that money they can break from the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle and strengthen their financial net. This is exactly the solution, and the first step towards achieving
financial freedom in Malaysia

IS THAT NOT WHAT YOU WANT FOR THE POOR? Tell me, because I’m perplexed by the hate received on this post,
among B40 and M40 people themselves
. That’s stupid!, some said, how is it possible to live like that! Impossible!

But;

We KNOW how resistant Malaysian Employers’ Federation is to increase the minimum wage.

We KNOW how good-paying jobs (or heck, jobs) are hard to come by.

We KNOW how Malaysians are underpaid. Malaysian companies keep 65% of the profits to themselves and distribute only 35% back to employees in wages. In advanced nations, the
wage-to-GDP ratio
 is nearer to 50:50.

We KNOW how members of the current government aren’t exactly championing to reduce wealth inequality.

Yet netizens still give that big of a backlash to this person who correctly pointed out that personal short-term sacrifice is needed, for the sake of their future? Then what’s the alternative? To give up?

Direct the hate elsewhere, this isn’t helping. At least Azizul Azli Ahmad recognises the low-income earners – the most overlooked and invisible category – and offers a way to break free from the cycle.

Enable and celebrate progress, even small ones

In an ideal world, we don’t have this problem. It’s unfair, because no one chooses to be poor. But it is what it is.

So, can we
please
 create spaces where financially-struggling people can see that their efforts and money journeys – no matter how small – aren’t hopeless? Can we offer some encouragement so they don’t lose hope to continue on?

Instead of saying, ‘Eleh can save RM10 only per month, for what’, say ‘Congratulations, you made progress this month!’

Instead of saying, ‘How can find RM350 house for rent anymore, impossible’, say ‘how wonderful for landlady/lords who provide that rate, let’s pray for them’.

Instead of saying, ‘Ew I don’t want to marry poor man, life so hard’ (I see what you write ladies), say ‘I am not afraid of the hard work needed to help my loving, supportive spouse in hard times’.

I do believe that the more welcoming this space is, both online and offline, the more people will feel that the effort they put into conscious money management is more tolerable.
It’s hard, yes, but it doesn’t mean it should be all-out miserable.

And of course, if you are in decision-making positions, then you can enable people in other ways:

Fix the policies and improve the system.
Be the employer who provides living wage, not just to employees but also cleaners and janitors.
Organise personal finance talks and money management lessons.
Buy from small and home-based businesses where possible.

Systemic issues are not something that one person can solve, but collectively we can do a lot.

Thank you for reading this far, and for being supportive of upwards mobility. Let’s be open to creating positive spaces for financial wins, even small ones. It matters more than you know.


Book Review: The Rules of Wealth by Richard Templar

Oh man.
Oh man
. What a book.

I’m getting ahead of myself. Ok, let’s start again. This post is dedicated to a book I read recently, entitled ‘
The Rules of Wealth’ by Richard Templar
. It’s an international bestseller for a reason – it’s SO good. I loved that:

It’s divided into short, 2-page articles each explaining one ‘rule’

The ‘rules’ are comprehensive yet digestible

It’s conversational and easy to read

It includes moral and ethical values that I believe in (including a reminder that you can’t take money to the grave, so don’t hold money
too
 tightly)

It challenges my personal finance approach – more on this below

There are 107 rules plus 10 more in the edition I bought (2015 edition), divided into the following sections:

Thinking wealthy

Getting wealthy

Getting even wealthier

Staying wealthy

Sharing your wealth

The rules of other people’s wealth (+10 rules here)

Here are some of the rules that made me think. Think of it as a sneak peek into the book before you buy it yourself 🙂

Rule 7 – Understand your money beliefs and where they come from

Many of us have negative connotations about money, including myself. Sometimes I don’t think I ‘deserve’ to be rich if compared to hardworking Pakcik Leman the security officer who needs the money to feed/clothe/school his 10 children.

I also struggle with having money and remaining ‘spiritually pure’ (his words, not mine). There’s an unspoken understanding among the human rights circle (where I used to belong) and society in general that to be wealthy, one must be evil. The wealthy got wealthy by profiting off many people and not giving a shit about them, full stop. Therefore, by wanting to be wealthy, I am evil by extension too.

There are also people who are like, ‘I don’t care about money, I just want to do what I love!’ as if monetary rewards will somehow downgrade their love for their craft/hobby/lifestyle. It’s not… mutually exclusive… you know…

This book made me realise that I just want ‘just enough’ kind of wealth. I want my life to be comfortable and I want to have enough to support people I love and donate to whomever I want. Beyond that, money has no use for me, it’s not like I want a private yacht collection or whatever. I refuse to be shamed for wanting money to get this life. I covered this feeling in full in my
[Personal] How it feels like to constantly obsess over money
 article.

ElisaRiva
 / Pixabay

Rule 14 – Don’t make money by being bad

Richard Templar stressed that all the money in the world couldn’t buy a restful, conscience-free life. I love this point, it’s hard not to.
One can be wealthy without taking advantage of other people or ruining the environment
.

Rule 24 – Only by looking wealthy you can become wealthy

Note: he said looking wealthy not looking flashy. This means well-cut, good-quality clothes.

I used to be okay with my ‘don’t care’ style, but he has a point. Looking wealthy changes how people treat you, whether we like it or not. It’s a subtle – but important – shift in perception that will invite wealth into your life. You will feel more at ease with the rich crowd (and pick their brains), get treated better by the service industry, and overall exude more confidence.

This is a major reason why I’ve been
focusing on fashion
 lately. I still tend to under-dress, but progress is there. Some of you might disagree with this rule, that’s fine too. I’m still experimenting with this rule myself.

Rule 32 – You have to work hard to get rich enough not to have to work hard

Why rich people have so much free time one? – Me, until 2016.

The rich’s leisure time was paid for well in advance when they worked hard in the beginning. It’s not that they don’t work hard. It’s because they
did
. Gamechanger. Boom. Mental explosion.

sheadquarters
 / Pixabay

Rule 58 – By all means, use the investment professionals (but don’t be used by them)

This part is more relevant for stocks/shares/unit trust/mutual funds. Everyone knows they should invest but overwhelmed by the options. I’m just going to quote and paraphrase him on this because it’s damn good advice: ‘If you want help to put your money in the markets without putting too much in someone else’s pockets, keep it simple’.

How to be simple:

Diversified funds with low fees

That’s it. The sad thing is, in Malaysia,
most investment professionals will use you
. Many unit trust/mutual funds in Malaysia offered by private financial institutions have high fees, it’s revolting.
When it comes to unit trusts alone, there are way too many options and way too many fees
. The average entry fee in Malaysia is 5-6% (this is NOT including management fee, a few more %!).

If you’re intimidated by investing but don’t know what to invest in, use these two options:

Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad – 0% sales and management fees;
please correct if wrong
 Edit: was wrong.
Fixed price
 has no sales fee, but the
variable price one
 imposes up to 5% sales fee. (credit to reader py for pointing it out)

FundSupermart (I have a
Private Retirement Scheme fund
 there) – 1-2% management fee + 1.75% sales charge (+ extra fees for specific funds)

I know there are a shit ton of funds to choose from. If you can’t get ASNB for whatever reason, there’s a
 fund selector tool
from Fundsupermart that I quite like (note: not sponsored to say this).

Insert your preferences, if there are still too many options to choose from then just eenie meenie minie more from the final list. Seriously, economists and fund managers make wrong calls all the time too, it’s not worth worrying too much about which fund is the best for you because no one knows, no one has a crystal ball. Pick the one with the least fees for your risk appetite.

Rule 62 – Have a set time of day to work on your wealth strategy

Richard Templar said that happy, wealthy individuals follow these four principles:

Set targets and get on with it (they don’t procrastinate too much)

Don’t tinker too much (if the investment plan is in action, don’t disturb it)

Work on financial planning every day

Able to take breaks and have a life (and be interesting)

I’m not perfect, and sometimes I itch to break principle #2, but I’m on the right track 🙂

P/s- Still have to keep Rule 80 in mind – Know when to let go of investments.

PublicDomainPictures
 / Pixabay

Rule 79 – Make your money work for you

This includes things like:

Not letting money sitting idly in bank account if it can generate income somewhere else

Actively search for better rates, always

Continuously make money passively in any way you can with what you have, whether through your assets (cars, houses) or plain cash

By setting money to work, it will keep growing instead of losing value via inflation. This rule made me happy – most of my money is generating more money as we speak, I have very little in my bank account. I talked about this in my
passive income guide
.

Rule 90 – Put something aside for your old age – no, more than that!

I think of my old age an awful lot and it always gives me a bit of anxiety. I can’t help it.

Will money help then? I have no idea, maybe yes, maybe not. I’d like to keep the yes option open anyway in case I need it.

I wrote about the type of retirement I want to have in
ways to retire article
.

cherylholt
 / Pixabay

Rule 97 – Never lend money to friends or family unless you are prepared to write it off

Agree. 100%. A good relationship is worth more than any amount of money in the world. I never want to lose someone over something as boring as money. When I was younger, I didn’t follow this rule and it just made me resentful. I hated the feeling.

This goes well with Rule 101 – Find ways to give people money without them feeling they are in your debt.

P/s – obviously don’t let people take advantage of your generosity either.

tazzanderson
 / Pixabay

Rule 99 – You really, really can’t take it with you

So spend it for life experiences. As long as you’re still generating profits from investments AND have multiple sources of incomes, you’ll be good.

Pair this with Rule 104 – Spend your own money because no one can spend it as wisely as you. Another mental explosion. Of course I deserve to spend my own money, duh Suraya.

New Rule 3 under The Rules of other people’s wealth (available in 2015 edition) – Other people’s money belongs to them

This was a hard one to swallow. Sometimes I make judgments on how others spend their money and think ‘I can spend it better/more effectively’. My new motto now is:

It’s. Not. My. Money. I. Have. No. Say.

They want to spend it on clothes? Go ahead. On ponies? Sure. On $100-per-spoon caviar? Enjoy.

Do what you want with your money. Give it all away. Burn it. Whatever. I’m going to try and be Switzerland about this and be super neutral.

Conclusion

Please buy the book 🙂

What do you think of the rules in the sneak peak above? Agree or disagree? Do you have any other personal finance books to recommend? Comment below!


20 Topics Related to Personal Finance, According to Millions of People

People ask me all the time why I created RinggitOhRinggit.com, a personal finance blog. And the genuine answer is… I find it fun. Money experiments, budgeting, savings hacks, all that. I love them all.

Aside from that, personal finance is exciting for me because not only do I get to do money experiments on myself, I also get to learn how
other
people do
their
 personal finance. It’s fascinating.

Imagining how people live through their money decisions

Happily, personal finance is an abundant topic on the web. Every day I have so much fun browsing online financial portals, websites, blogs and social media. As I read the posts, I mentally wander and imagine myself in other people’s shoes. It helps me connect to humanity, all 7.7 billion of us.

I know I’m not the only one with this interest, because as of writing time, the
r/personalfinance
 subreddit boasts 14.9 MILLION members all over the world.

So, what are the situations and circumstances that make one’s personal finance,
personal
? It could be country – different countries have different financial systems. It could be gender. It could be occupation. There could be millions of variables.

What if we have a macro-level view?

What topics are related to personal finance?

Recently, I found this fascinating tool called
Anvaka
, which does exactly that. It renders a graph of related subreddits for any given one. So I present to you: here is the graph that comes out when I type in the subreddit
r/personalfinance
.

Isn’t that cool? You can download that image and zoom in (or do yourself at
Anvaka
), but let me list all the subreddits that are most
closely
 related to the r/personalfinance subreddit (going clockwise from the top):

Insurance
Legaladvice
Relationships
WhatcarshouldIbuy
Almosthomeless
PFTools
EatCheapAndHealthy
MealPrepSunday
Frugal
MilitaryFinance
Churning
PFJerk
Financialindependence
StudentLoans
Investing
Entrepreneur
RealEstate
Tax
Jobs
Careerguidance

What the graph tells us about personal finance

Here are just some thoughts that came to mind, in no particular order:

1) While Relationships are not directly personal finance, it will HUGELY affect personal

finance

For better or for worse, the people around you will affect your finances. For example,

Divorces cause financial ruin for a lot of people
Fighting with family members over certain financial decisions (inheritance, wedding planning etc)
A supportive partner will enable you to improve yourself, including financially
An entitled partner will manipulate and leech onto you to finance their lifestyle
Narcissistic parents will guilt you into buying everything they want, as a way to ‘repay’ them
Workplace drama will cause people to quit even a high-paying job

And more.

2) Many communities are VERY US-centric

Some of these subreddits are not particularly useful for us Malaysians, as the conversations are very US-centric. For example:

MilitaryFinance – Advice for people joining the US army
StudentLoans – Advice for people paying off (huge) student debts
Insurance – Advice for people looking for insurance in the US
Tax – Tax advice
Churning – ‘Gaming’ credit cards to get free points for travel etc
Legaladvice – self-explanatory
Realestate – mostly about US real estate

You might be able to find good advice, but I’d skip it because the products, laws and practices are simply different for us.

3) Saving money on food

EatCheapAndHealthy and MealPrepSunday are two huge subreddits filled with amazing tips for cooking on a budget. If you need to save money and can’t reduce any more expenses from both Accommodation and Transportation categories, then check these out!

4) Almosthomeless subreddit is an eye-opener

The posts on Almosthomeless (and homeless) subreddit are gut-wrenching – raw and honest posts from people looking for help, so they can avoid and escape homelessness. Everyone who’ve ever wanted to help the homeless should read – it’ll give some insight on what kind of help they actually need, instead of what you *think* they need.

5) Financialindependence, Entrepreneur, RealEstate and Investing subreddits strongly link to each other

That’s not surprising, considering running a business, investing money and property ownership give the strongest chance to financial independence.

Reddit =/= the whole internet

Those of you who are new to Reddit, I’m going to warn you – it’s hella addictive. It’s great for finding communities; no matter what you are into, chances are you’ll find your people there. If you’re into personal finance and exploring alternative lifestyles and specific tips, here are
25 Personal Finance Subreddits For You To Find ‘Your People’
.

As mentioned, many Reddit posters represent the US or Western experience, so it would be naive of me to suggest these macro-level view is an accurate representation of the topics most closely related to personal finance. However, it’s a good overview to start with.

I have shared my 2 sens on what I thought about the macro-level view. What are your thoughts? Which part of it do you find fascinating, or surprising? As always, I’d love to hear from you – comment below 🙂


4 TOUGHEST Financial Situations to be in (Who Helps Them?)

I LOVE the concept of self-determination. I believe in it, 100%.

Heck, I even collect self-determination quotes, such as:

Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right
You are the master of your own destiny
If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door
Refuse to be refused

The quotes are useful – whenever I feel demotivated, I’d look for them so I would ‘snap out of it’ and get back to working on whatever problem I was facing.

But I have to admit that often, due to reasons beyond my control, even my best personal efforts won’t be enough, and I will have to cut my losses and move on to the next venture.

On these occasions, I have likely spent money and time (which costs money AND opportunity cost) which I’ll never get back. Thanks to my savings and/or other support systems, I can absorb these losses.

But not everyone can.

And that’s the subject of today’s article – everyone will face tough financial situations, but which ones are tougher to overcome than others? I thought of 4 situations:

#1 – When you can’t get ahead because you face SYSTEMIC discrimination

You already know this. Some members of society face more challenges than the rest as they don’t have access to certain services and privileges. According to the
Social Protection & Human Rights Organisation
, people who face the most SYSTEMIC discrimination include:

Children

Indigenous people
Informal and precarious workers
LGBTQI+
Migrants
Minorities
Older persons
Persons living with HIV/AIDS or other chronic illnesses
Persons with disabilities
Refugees and asylum seekers
Rural workers and rural populations
Youth

You don’t need me to tell you how belonging in one in those categories can make it hard for you to work and earn a living wage. Not impossible, of course, but tough? YES.

Identities can also overlap and compounds the barriers
. For example, can you even imagine how hard life is or an older person with disability who works in the informal sector???

The University of San Francisco has one of the best campaigns to highlight systemic discrimination. Think of your life now and what you are enjoying.
If you don’t have to think about it, it’s a privilege.

There are a million and one examples of systemic discrimination in Malaysia, but I want to use this space to highlight an issue I learned most recently: the unfair contract system, which keeps our frontliners the hospital cleaners earning extremely low wages (thanks Lee Jun for the info).

Comment posted with permission

#2 – When you depend on Narcissists, Psychopaths and Machiavellians

The second tough situation is extremely important for you to be aware of, so you can identify and take action to have a better financial life. You might assume that most people are good (and they are), but you have to remember that
 people with dark personalities exist
.

People who are Narcissists, Psychopaths and Machiavellians –
the Dark Triad
 – live among us and wouldn’t think twice before cheating, manipulating and generally taking advantage of people around them. It’s not even their fault, they are simply ‘wired’ that way.

Source: https://www.scielo.br/j/rcf/a/THWtzMH8GC8Dw6ChqzDL4pz/?lang=en#

It would really SUCK to have them as your boss. This is a more common scenario than you think – after all, people with Dark Triad personalities are
over-represented in business and leadership positions
…

Even having them as your colleagues suck. See below:
15 Signs You Work with Narcissists, Psychopaths and Machiavellians
)

It doesn’t just apply in working life. In personal life, it’s also hard to make good financial decisions when you have familial ties to Narcissists, Psychopaths and Machiavellians.

I used to be ‘oh it can’t be THAT bad’, but I fell into the
Raised by Narcissists Reddit wormhole
 and… yes, it is that bad. Children have shared how their parents emotionally guilt them into making bad financial decisions (like taking a loan or buying them expensive things), to ‘repay them back for raising them’.

Based on my (very little) research and reading on the subject, the best advice on dealing with Narcissists, Psychopaths and Machiavellians is to simply avoid them.

If you can’t avoid them, then PLEASE learn how to set boundaries. If you haven’t, quickly learn how to say no.

Related:
How to Say No to ‘Can I Borrow Your Money?’ & Other Financial Requests

#3 – When you have low media literacy

If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. But why do people keep getting scammed anyway? According to Prof Dato Salleh Buang in a letter
published in NST
, ‘there were 4,764 Macau scam cases involving losses of over RM232 million, and 2,433 arrests’ between Jan and Sept 2020.

THAT IS AROUND RM48.7k IN LOSSES PER CASE!!!

Why does this happen? There are many contributing factors, and many will be quick to just give the one-liner ‘lack of education’ answer, but nope that’s not it, even highly educated people have fallen to these scams…

I think it boils down to media illiteracy – the inability to identify and defend ourselves against messaging with ill or misleading intent.

And because it is impossible to review millions of messages out there, it really is up to us to learn media literacy ourselves.

Through media-literacy, we can deconstruct what we see by figuring out who created the message and why. We can identify the techniques of persuasion being used and recognise how media makers are trying to influence us. We notice what parts of the story are not being told, and how we can be better informed.
As quoted in
The Star
 by Datuk Dr Paul Selva Raj, Secretary-General of the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association

Some of it is obvious (‘Get 100% profit in 3 days!!’), some of it is not;
dark patterns
 are not only used by scammers but also by companies, including by the financial industry.

Media literacy is immensely useful – for example,  I want you to see the ‘buy now pay later’ services for the bull that it is; a way to take advantage of people who struggle with delayed gratification.

I mean, seriously. Do they really think it’s awesome of them to offer people who don’t qualify for credit cards a way to get that expensive item they can’t afford but want? I’d understand if it’s offered for things like groceries or rent, but clothes and travel?

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#4 – When you are part of the Sandwich Generation

And last but not least are the people who just can’t save up because they are financially supporting both their parents AND children/younger siblings. It’s tough.

https://www.facebook.com/journey2FI/posts/680973499143784?__cft__[0]=AZVyCOfWtYdmMlVEWLTU_1DcoNYolCcsfv2R9-1TjADb9a4q5VvD-xM12t_cH2uee1opg9vBML4mr0JDtYv2wo9C1j2DZybigMAyw3TTI46LUj9lY_5rUWDqkPbRiNhCZcIyebODniKb5Z-5LFZJwL3E&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R

Who helps them?

Like I said in the introduction, yes to self-determination yada yada yada, but who helps people who need it the most – the ones who are stuck in these 4 tough financial situations? Is the help received enough?

And a question to myself –
how can I support – in my own personal capacity since I can’t solve it all – my fellow Malaysians as I improve my own financial health?  Is donating money the best I can do, because I lack the courage to do the activism?

I don’t have answers, and I’m still thinking and figuring it out, but I’m very interested to hear how you personally approach this subject. Please give inspiration as well – how do you help people in financially tough situations? Share in the comments, I want to celebrate you.