17 Things to Include in Your Money Journal

Those who know me in person know that I never go anywhere without my notebook, which also acts as my de facto money journal.

My notebook is my primary organisational tool, my productivity hack. It’s how I keep track of my life, including my financial life. I jot down everything* in there. The way I see it, what doesn’t get written, gets forgotten.

(*Except for my passwords. I use a password manager for that. Security first kids)

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Anyone else get really happy when it’s time to break open a new #notebook?? . I got a bunch of these Scripta Notes #journals during #bigbadwolfbooksale for RM12 each. They hold up really well for 7 months of heavy use, such a good buy 😍 . In the last notebook, I stuck stickers received from events. You can see #peatix, #wordpress, #projectgutenberg and #centrair there. I think I’ll continue this tradition 😊

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Here’s a list of financial-related information that you can include in your money journal.

#1 – Your monthly income

How much do you earn per month? Combine whichever applies from below:

Monthly salary (for those employed)

Own business income (if it fluctuates, as it often does, a guesstimate or average will do)

Rental income, if any

Freelance income and side hustles with regular customers and clients

Any other regular income

#2 – Extra income

Before you ask, yes extra income is different and separate from monthly income (#1). It’s more like additional income as opposed to your main income.

Extra income might come from

Freelance income and side hustles (irregular or just starting out)

Selling pre-loved items

Sudden windfalls – tax refunds, winning competitions, etc

Any other irregular form of income

#3 – Expenses

I *love* tracking my expenses and highly recommend this habit. You get to discover parts of your personality that’s hidden to even yourself! I love it so much that I write and publish my monthly expenses breakdown, and my
 annual income and expenses report
.

Personally, I use notebook + app combo. For example, this was my spending breakdown in
May 2019
. Then I’d write reminders in my notebook on areas where I can do better.

Read
this article
 if you’re interested to start or restart expense-tracking. I’ve included tools and tips that you can try.

#4 – A list of all monthly financial commitments

The general rule of thumb is fixed expenses shouldn’t take more than 50% of your income (see #1). The actual definition of fixed expenses varies, but usually includes:

Mortgage/rent

Car instalments

Utilities

Overheads (if own business)

Insurance

Credit card instalments

Loans

In my experience, the figures tend to change every 6 months or so. For example, I was paying braces instalments until I finally paid it off. Likewise for my laptop instalment.

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Every so often, I would check my monthly ‘must-pay’ commitments. Currently the amount stands at RM2916.33 😱 . Saving grace: #braces will be paid off soon, #asbloan is #gooddebt, and I’m #carfree (if I kept my car, this amount would be higher!) . How much are your monthly commitments? . #monthlybudget #budgeting #personalfinanceblogger #personalfinancemalaysia

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So yea, do this self-check every so often just to be on track of your finances.

#5 – All your subscriptions

Specifically, you should definitely, definitely know how much money leaves your account every month without your notice. Auto-payments are great for some investments and payments (avoids late fees etc), but not for products and services you don’t use (media subscriptions etc).

Related:
What Subscriptions I Pay For And Why

#6 – Annual payments

This one is a bit tricky, and sometimes require a lot of guesstimating. You also don’t know what life will throw at you.

For example, in my own list, I’ve included things like:

Birthday gifts for loved ones

Membership and license renewals

Services I use and pay for annually

Your actual figure will probably differ wildly from your estimated figure. But at least you have a figure.

Related:
All The Annual Expenses I Have to Make Every Year

#7 – A financial to-do list

Financial-related things that you want to do but haven’t had the time or energy to sort out yet. For example, I know I should do a will but been dragging my ass in that department.

This is my
personal financial to-do list
, if you’re curious.

#8 – All the financial products and services that you use

A while back I came across an article about how there is
over RM5 billion in unclaimed money
. Billions you know! Not loose change you know!

But the fact is some people really do forget where they placed their money. Or just unaware of financial transactions which took place, like insurance payout in a forgotten bank account or something.

So it’s in your best interest to keep track of your accounts, correct or not?

I did this myself. Here are all the
 financial products and services that I personally use
. Everything – from banking accounts to credit cards to insurance products to investments accounts and more.

#9 – List of your investments

If you do #8, might as well do #9 too. It’s not a bad idea to list out:

Where you keep your investments

It’s risk profile (low, medium, risky)

How much money you have there

How much and regularly you contribute to that account

What are your plans (do nothing, buy more when price dips, reduce risk exposure etc)

Their fees and charges

Who you named as beneficiaries for each investment

#10 – List of people/companies owing you money

Because *some* people only pay when you ‘gently remind’ them. If you forgot, they’ll happily ‘forgot’.

#11 – Next month’s projected income and expenses

It’s always a good idea to plan ahead. That way, if you have higher-than-usual expenses next month, you still have time to pick up an extra gig or sell some preloved items instead of taking a loan or getting into credit card debt.

#12 – Money-making ideas

This could be anything you want it to be, as long as they have some sort of earning potential. It could be random business ideas, or list of clients to pitch to, or contact list of businesspeople you want to grab coffee with, anything.

#13 – Your goals

I follow Ramit Sethi’s goal-planning checklist as a personal reminder. Copy and follow this template:

I want to make RM____ in __ months’ time

I will spend ___ hours per week, or __ per day on __ days to work on this goal

My long-term goal is to _______*

(Mine is (1) To give RM3k per month to my parents, and (2) get financially independent by accumulating RM2 million in interest-generating investments.)

Use those hours to:

Get clients

Perform freelance work

Learn negotiation skills to increase salary or rates

Upskilling

Learning in-demand, high-paying skills like coding

Update and improve CV and use it to apply for better-paying jobs

Operate a new business

And more

#14 – A wishlist

I also call this my ‘what I want but won’t get’ list lol. The effect may differ, but personally this list helps to reduce mental clutter. It’s like I acknowledge the desire, instead of suppressing it.

An unexpected benefit – an easy list to refer to when someone asks you what present you want for your birthday or some other special occasion.

Currently, my wishlist includes things like:

Air fryer

Popcorn maker

DIY dollhouse

New handbag

Bedsheets

Cushions

More plants

Dyson vacuum cleaner

Pretty shoes

Ah, I can’t wait to trade my Maybank TreatPoints into AEON or Lazada vouchers so I can get some of these things guilt-free.

#15 – Travel plans

Whenever I travel, I would make a Google Docs sheet or dedicate a couple of pages in my notebook to list out:

Flight times and dates

Flight and accommodation booking numbers

Rough itinerary

Important phone numbers and addresses

The current exchange rate

Running tally of all travel-related expenses

Packing list

What I need to buy or borrow

All I’m saying is, I’ve never missed a flight yet, or ran out of money during a trip. (TOUCHWOOD TOUCHWOOD TOUCHWOOD)

The detailed notes is also the secret behind
my travel articles
 🙂

#16 – Grocery list

Because it’s just too practical a list to not include here. Regularly making and updating a grocery list will:

Reduce the number of trips to the store. This reduces petrol and impulse purchases too

In the same boat, reduces the annoying emergency trips to the store because you ran out of something

Helps you to plan and make meal preps. Cheaper and healthier

Gives you focus at the grocery store. You know what to get, instead of wandering aimlessly there

Hmm that reminds me I’m almost out of eggs.

#17 – Journaling

Sometimes, when I’m stressed or just need to vent about a career or money-related frustration, I’ll just do some free-flow writing. I just write whatever comes to mind. It usually works. I’ll feel much better afterwards.

This is also called
writing therapy
. I learned about it in a writing workshop, and you can use pen+paper or notebook (I recommend the latter – more ‘feel’).

Try out writing therapy the next time you are stressed about money. It’s worth a go, plus it’s a free form of therapy, too. Suitable for even the brokest of y’all.

What else to include in a Money Journal?

Any of you are avid note-takers, too? What other things would you suggest to include in a money journal? Which of the above are you most keen to start including in your notebooks?

As always, share your thoughts in the comments section! If you’re comfortable sharing pics from your money journal’s pages, please leave the link in the comments too!


Comparing My Average Monthly Expenses Before & After Covid-19

Did Covid-19 change the way you spend money?

Common sense said it did. Almost everyone has been affected by the pandemic, in one way or another (notably, following MCO rules to the best of our ability, correct not). Most people are spending more on groceries and online shopping, and less on everything else and offline purchases.

This is my guess based on what the media reported, but how true is that statement in my personal life?

So I thought, hey why not make a direct comparison of my spending pattern, before and after Covid-19 hit? In what way did my personal spending change, in each expense category? I can do this. I track my expenses. I have the data.

For the purpose of this article, I’ll be using,

Before Covid-19: My average monthly spending per category (as recorded in
My Total Income and Expenses in 2019
)

During Covid-19: Data collected since MCO started on 18 March 2020 until time of writing, (almost exactly 3 months worth of data)

Expenses Comparison: Before & After Covid-19

Category
Before Covid-19 (from 2019 Expenses Data)
During Covid-19 (from 3 Months' Data)
Comments

Utilities & Rent
RM1,292.96
RM972.34
Average reduced as landlady (bless her) waived one month's rent

Business
RM1,271.90
RM2103.79
Coincided with #MYMoneyStories book printing & distribution

Dates & Travel
RM1,240.16
RM15.83
What travel?

Donations & Gifts
RM634.05
RM2,957.35
Biggest increase. Happy to do it

Groceries
RM495.32
RM513.17
Surprisingly more or less the same

Insurance & Medical
RM454.39
RM166.33
Maintained medical card and PA insurance. Reduced as no longer seeing chiropractor

Public Transportation
RM377.44
RM43.38
Significantly reduced travel. Also used up SOCAR credit

Misc Needs
RM354.44
RM340.37
This seems to be my average, MCO or no

Misc Wants
RM345.74
RM36.66
Didn't buy much non-necessaries

Social
RM354.44
RM6.57
Friends, I miss you!

Food
RM116.48
RM141.63
Increased non-groceries food expenses. Ok la, was puasa also

Mobile
RM80
RM66.70
Lucky enough to be able to generate enough referrals to offset mobile cost

Total average expenses per month
RM6,864.73
RM7,364.12
Roughly RM500 increase, but mostly due to Donations & Gifts category

Conclusion

As you can see:

Biggest increases are in categories: Donations & Gifts and Business

Biggest decreases are in categories: Dates & Travel, Insurance & Medical, Public Transportation, Misc Wants & Social

No or minimal changes in categories: Groceries, Misc Needs, Food (Non-Groceries) & Mobile

Overall, my expenses actually increased by almost RM500, if compared before and after Covid-19. Mostly due to Donations

Old me would be worried about appearing to be humblebragging, but new me embraces and – dare I say it – is proud of my own actions. I didn’t just encourage people to donate, I also put my money where my mouth is. Almost RM3k per month in donations is really stretching my budget but if there’s a worthy YOLO occasion, this is it.

How has Covid-19 affected your monthly expenses? Which expense categories significantly increased and decreased for you? Let me know in the comments section 🙂


My Money Routine: How I Organise My Personal Finance Life

In its essense, personal finance is boring: Earn more than you spend, spend less than you earn, invest the difference. The fun part is in the details – how one saves, invests, spends, and generally optimises their money routine and finances
in a way that works for them
.

That last part is important, because there are many, many paths to
financial freedom
, not just ‘one’ way. You can tweak it, and as long as you avoid huge mistakes, you’ll get there in the end. As they say, all roads lead to Rome.

What’s part of one’s money routine

Take money routines and personal finance organisation, for example. It’s just how you plan your finances, but everyone have slightly different ways of doing it.

If this is a new concept to you, then I’m happy to show how mine looks like so you can see how one person’s personal finance organisation looks like 🙂 Below, I’ll share:

what tools I use, and

what I do every day, week, month, quarterly, and year

what I do on ad-hoc and one-off basis

Take note that I am a self-employed writer with multiple sources but unpredictable income, so my money routine is designed around this. Definitely tweak if you are salaried employee with regular, predictable income.

Tools I use for my money routine

I use:

My notebook

My phone – installed apps from financial companies, and expense-tracking app

Google Sheets – for tracking incomes, net worth etc (templates below)

GDrive – for keeping everything related to my financial life nice and tidy in one place. I keep my insurance policies, receipts, etc here

What I do 1x a day

Here are some things I do once a day:

Read The Coffee Break market summary, numbers at a glance and news roundup. I get the newsletter delivered to my email, it’s a great way to quickly know the important things that are happening locally and globally.
Subscribe here for free

What I do 1x a week

Here are some things I do once a week:

Check bank accounts
 – review balance and transactions (in case there are unauthorised tx)

Pay off all
credit card outstanding balances
. Big fan of
cashback credit cards
!

Check
 IPO opportunities and crypto prices
 – for the latter, I used to check daily (and even multiple times at that), so 1x a week is an improvement lol

Check prices
 for things I need to get or pay for anyway – if it’s a good price or there’s a sale or discount, I’ll get it

What I do 1x a month

Here are some things I do once a month:

Review
monthly expenses
 – this is the basis of my
monthly budget updates

Review
incoming incomes
 – send follow-up emails to clients reminding them to pay me, if needed

Plan for upcoming purchases/expenses
 – If there’s a holiday, or travel, or big purchase coming up, then I NEED to plan for it. I refer to my own
Listing All the Annual Expenses I Have to Make Every Year
 article fairly often

What I do 1x every 3 months

Here are some things I do once every 3 months:

Review
monthly commitments
 – check what I’m currently paying on a monthly basis, for both fixed and variable expenses. I use my notebook for this, but you can use my free
50/30/20 budget template

Chat with my partner
 about his commitments. We’re pretty
transparent about our finances
 and tell each other what we plan to buy, spend on etc

Update net worth
 – I use my own template for this:
How to Calculate Your Net Worth (Free Editable Template)

Plan for the
next quarter
 – I keep roughly 2-3 months’ worth of savings in bank account for daily expenses. If there is excess money, I transfer to investment accounts. If there is shortfall, I’ll withdraw some money from investment account.

What I do 1x a year

Here are some things I do once a year:

Review my
 insurance coverage

Tabulate
annual income
 by year-end – essential so I can
pay zakat
 and
income tax

Check
credit score

Put money in EPF and PRS
. I do
these investments
 to maximise tax relief. If I have a kid I’d do SSPN as well

What I do on ad-hoc (as it happens) basis

Here are some things I do whenever it happens:

Record expenses
 as soon as I make them in my expense-tracking app

Record incomes and keep invoices
 in Google Sheets and Drive

Upload and
keep receipts in GDrive
 if the expense is eligible for tax relief – info in the
income tax
 article

Pay bills

and commitments
 as it comes up

Update ingredients
 bought and used up in my notebook – because waste food = waste money. See the
system
 I use to reduce food waste

Write down
pending tasks in notebook
, which also doubles as my
money journal
 – things like going to the bank, etc

What I do on one-off basis

Here are some things I do on a one-off basis:

Set up
hibah amanah
 for ASNB

Nominate beneficiaries
 for all insurance/takaful policies

Set up
password manager.
 This is for digital security reasons – it keeps my passwords safe and strong. I use Bitwarden (see from 6:04 onwards in the video below)

How does your money routine looks like?

Like I said in the beginning, everyone have slightly different money routines. For example, I use apps to track my expenses – others may prefer writing it manually, use excel or even use the cash envelope method (Shopee sells really nice
cash envelope sets
!)

Some of you may also do some of the above tasks more frequently or less frequently than I do. For example, I hate carrying credit card balances so I do it once a week, but others may decide to do it once a month. As long as you’re not carrying a balance, you’re good.

What I do want to know though, is
what else do you do that I’m not doing yet
? Do share in the comments, would love to learn what else may be important 🙂


My ‘I Want This, But I Won’t Buy It’ List

Everyone has a wishlist of things they want. Here are some things that I’ve always wanted, but probably won’t buy during the #MyCyberSale this year. My delay gratification game is strong, y’all.

1.
All the game consoles.
 I used to be a casual gamer. I’ve played Playstation, Playstation 2, Wii, Nintendo DS and PSP consoles and loved them all. At one point, I had 3 PSPs at once. I miss those times, and I do want to start playing games again, but not now, not yet. I think if I get one, I’ll stop updating Ringgit Oh Ringgit lol.

2.
A Roomba
. Robot vacuum cleaners! The idea of this thing makes me really happy. If someone give this to me as a gift, I would love them very much (I love practical gifts). But nah, I can still sweep floors manually.

3.
Macbook/High-powered laptop.
 I always get laptops on the RM1-2k range, and always wonder how RM4-6k laptops perform. Maybe when my current laptop foes kaput, I’ll consider buying the higher-spec ones.

4.
An actual Rayban.
 I like how they look on me, but I can’t justify the pricetag. Why would I splurge on this when I can get the style for RM10 at night market?

benarudo
 / Pixabay

5.
Digital drum
. When I was younger, I used to take drum classes. It would be fun to play this again. I don’t want the big drumset – those are clunky as hell and will take too much space.

6. Actually, I want
game console+drum playset.
 So. Cool. Much. Fun.

Image credit to ionaudio.com

7.
Muji furniture
. My ideal home will be fully decked out with Muji furniture. It’s minimalist and practical and space-efficient and has neutral colours- everything I want in furniture. I actually think they are worth the high prices, because the style and the quality is great.

Image credit: muji.de

8.
Fancy headphones
. I don’t even know which one, I just want a better one than I have now (given free with my phone). This ‘want’ is weird because I don’t even listen to music much. My favourite music is whatever’s on the radio.

9.
Weight scale
. Been postponing this purchase. I used to weigh myself at the gym, but now it’s apparently broken. Yes, I know it’s the inches not the kilos that is important. But there’s a deep satisfaction is seeing the number –  I’m 20kgs less than my highest weight, so it’s pretty exciting.

10.
 A watch.
 I haven’t been a watch person for the longest time, but I like the idea of being more aware of time in general. When I was in my teens, I owned the perfect watch – it was like a bangle that I can easily put on/take off. No meddling with clasps, no need to buckle – the hinge keeps the watch in place. It died after a couple of years. I still look for a similar type, but can’t find it anywhere.

11.
A tablet/ebook.
 I have no idea why I want this. I own digital books, and I read them fine on laptop and smartphone. I like physical books too. It’s a complete want, yet I still find myself window shopping for tablets sometimes.

janeb13
 / Pixabay

12.
A green carpet that looks like grass, on dark brown wooden floor.
 Rofl my date always laugh at me for this. I’ve always wanted the outdoors look, indoors!

13.
All the Micro Bricks/ Blocks collections
. I bought one of the Ninja Turtles one, and really enjoyed it. But I can’t bring myself to spend hundreds of ringgit to get the collections one (I want the landmarks and the McDonalds – they’re so cute omg)

14.
A drone
. It’d be fun to take pictures of the mountain range here in Ipoh.

15.
Vape.
 I really miss smoking. I didn’t quit because of money or health reasons, I quit because it made my teeth yellow and I’m too vain to let that continue. But vape equipment is expensive and I don’t need it, so.

16.
The Xiaomi MiBand
. I had one, then I went to Krabi and lost it wtf. I may get a replacement one later, but not now.

17.
Expensive skincare products.
 Twice already when I jumped in Uber, the driver straightaway called me Puan wtf. I know it’s not an insult, but I terasa. I think I have to step up my anti-aging routine, because dammit my ego is fragile.

(this list might be updated later because I’m not immune to consumerist culture)

Why talk about #MyCyberSales?

Ok, so the inspiration for this post came from #MyCyberSale that is currently going on right now. I have nothing against deals, I love them. But at the same time, if you go on twitter, you’ll see people almost… bragging.. of their brokeness. The tone is like, ‘whoops look at me so naughty cannot control my spending I’m so doomed haha’.

Aiyo, don’t la spend money if you don’t have them. Yes, it’s nice to have makeup and new clothes and what have you. But have you deducted necessary expenses like:

Rent

Groceries

Bills (including previous credit card bills)

The obligatory 15% of every paycheck to add to your savings

Insurance/medical card

Petrol/Toll/Car repairs

and others

So if you think you’d have to depend on credit card or Mom/Dad to help you with the above after you finish your shopping spree, I’m asking –
please don’t buy anything
. Malaysia have a lot of sales. Even #MyCyberSale is an annual event, it’ll come again, you’re not missing much tbh.

If you have enough to cover for the above and saved up 3-6 months’ worth of living expenses already and have leftover money, yay, good for you, go ahead and contribute to the economy.

So far, I have personally bought these during #MyCyberSales:

RM100 prepaid topup (12% cashback via
Shopback
 (note: referral) + 5% cashback via my credit card. Related: how to maximise
cashback credit card
)

 3 x my favourite jeans on Uniqlo (I bought 1 at RM149.90, it’s now RM99.90) (I’m covered, pants-wise, for at least the next 5 years) (I should add here that I was looking for pants anyway. I have precisely 1 pair now.)(Now I will have four: 2 basic black, 1 white, and 1 dark blue yay) (I have never owned white pants. I will worry about not making them dirty ugh)

 Image credit: Uniqlo

That’s it. I’m open to buying other practical stuff that I actually need 🙂

What is YOUR ‘Want but Won’t Buy’ List?

Of course you have one.
Can you share your list in the comments?
 It was really fun to list it out, try it!


6 Affordable Medical Insurance You Can Buy Online in 15 Minutes

Confession: Medical insurance is the first ever protection product I bought. I don’t know about you, but my irrational fear is being randomly admitted to the hospital and unable to pay my hospital bills, so I prioritised that. Later, I added more coverage.

This was around 10+ years ago. Back then, the only option for medical insurance was getting from an agent.

Nowadays, you can get medical insurance from online, and they’re pretty affordable.
If you are in your 20s-mid 30s, your online medical insurance shouldn’t cost more than RM100 per month
.

(As a reminder, medical card ONLY pays for the hospital bill, no lump sum cash given. For that, you can get life,
critical illness
 and personal accident insurance/takaful fairly affordably or even
free
 subsidised. Refer to my
Best Insurance and Takaful in Malaysia for B40 and M40 On A Budget
 article.)

In this article, I’ve listed 6 online medical providers. They are:

PRO-Health Medical by Tune Protect
Medical plans by Fi.Life
eMedic Plus by AXA
i-Great Medi Care by Great Eastern Takaful
MedicNOW by Berjaya Sompo
Takaful
my
Click MediCare

In each section, I will show you the quotation I got, the plan at a glance as well as their pros and cons.
At the end of the article, I’ll also share which online medical provider you may want to go with.

My details for the quotation are:

35 years in next birthday
Female
Non-smoker
Note: Some providers might ask for additional information, like type of occupation and weight/height.

Remember that my quotation =/= your quotation
. As a general rule, your quotation will differ based on your gender, age and smoking status. Older and smoking males will be quoted the highest premium.

Note: It is quite possible I have missed a few online medical providers, and a few details. If so, please let me know in the comments.

Ok, that’s enough introduction for now. Let’s get on with the medical insurance you can get online in Malaysia.

#1 – PRO-Health by Tune Protect

Here’s the quotation I got for
PRO-Health Medical by Tune Protect
:

At a glance:

No of plans to choose from: 4
Annual limit: RM30,000-RM150,000
Daily room and board: RM150-RM250 per day
My quotation for RM100,000 annual limit plan: RM54.38 monthly / RM642.60 yearly

Pros:

Very good UI/UX, very clear
No lifetime limit

Cons:

Can only buy for one person at a time

Get your quotation and purchase online here:
PRO-Health Medical by Tune Protect

#2 – Medical plans by Fi.Life

Here’s the quotation I got for
Medical plans by Fi.Life
:

At a glance:

No of plans to choose from: 6
Annual limit: RM100,000-RM2.1 million
Daily room and board: RM190-RM500 per day
My quotation for RM100,000 annual limit plan: RM72.08 monthly / RM865 yearly

Pros:

Can buy for Self, Spouse, Child and Employee
Max annual limit is RM2.4 million – the highest annual limit in this list!
Many options available
Very good UI/UX, very clear

Cons:

6 options may be too many options and overwhelming for some. There is a handy compare feature though

Get your quotation and purchase online here:
Medical plans by Fi.Life

#3 – eMedic Plus by AXA

Here’s the quotation I got for
eMedic Plus by AXA
:

At a glance:

No of plans to choose from: 4
Annual limit: RM20,000-RM150,000
Daily room and board: up to RM250 per day
My quotation for RM100,000 annual limit plan: RM58.94 monthly / RM707.28 yearly

Pros:

Can do for yourself and for family
No-claim reward (cheaper the next time you renew)

Cons:

May not be eligible if you’re overweight or your work involves ‘heavy manual work with heavy machinery’
Max annual limit is RM150k only

Get your quotation and purchase online here:
eMedic Plus by AXA

#4 – i-Great Medi Care by Great Eastern Takaful

Here’s the quotation I got for
i-Great Medi Care by Great Eastern Takaful
:

At a glance:

No of plans to choose from: 1
Annual limit: RM100,000
Daily room and board: RM200 per day
My quotation for RM100,000 annual limit plan: RM79.33 monthly / RM952 yearly

Pros:

Syariah-compliant
No lifetime limit!

Cons:

A lot of info hidden in product disclosure sheet, so you must know how to read and understand yourself. For example, the annual and lifetime limit are both in there

Get your quotation and purchase online here:
i-Great Medi Care by Great Eastern Takaful

#5 – MedicNOW by Berjaya Sompo

Here’s the quotation I got for
MedicNOW by Berjaya Sompo
:

At a glance:

No of plans to choose from: 3
Annual limit: RM30,000-RM100,000
Daily room and board: RM150-RM250 per day
My quotation for RM100,000 annual limit plan: RM45.30 monthly / RM543.80 yearly (with deductible)

Pros:

There’s a deductible* option for 15% off
I noticed there’s a RM40 cashback via
Shopback
, nice additional discount there
Very good UI/UX, very clear

*deductible = the amount you pay out of pocket before the rest of the hospital bill cost is covered by insurer (up to annual/lifetime limit).

Cons:

Only for BMI (Body Mass Index ) range between 18 to 30
Can only get for self

Get your quotation and purchase online here:
MedicNOW by Berjaya Sompo

#6 –
Takaful
my
Click MediCare
 by Takaful Malaysia

Here’s the quotation I got for
Takaful
my
Click MediCare
:

At a glance:

No of plans to choose from: 3
Annual limit: RM50,000-RM100,000
Daily room and board: RM100-RM200 per day
My quotation for RM100,000 annual limit plan: RM57.41 monthly / RM624 yearly (with deductible)

Pros:

Syariah-compliant
There’s a deductible* option for up to 30% off
No lifetime limit!
Can subscribe for yourself and Child

*deductible = the amount you pay out of pocket before the rest of the hospital bill cost is covered by insurer (up to annual/lifetime limit).

Cons:

The only one that asks for your IC number for a quotation. Why.

Get your quotation and purchase online here:
Takaful
my
Click MediCare

Which online medical insurance should you pick?

So, you have many options to get your medical insurance online in Malaysia. Too many, even. Which one do you pick?

Like many things in life, the answer is ‘it depends’:

Do you want
Syariah-compliant
? That’ll reduce your options
Do you have
good/bad experience with any providers
? May want to select based on that
How much
annual limit
do you want (my take is minimum 6 figures aka RM100k per annum, ‘safe’ is RM1 million per annum)
Do you want
no lifetime limit
? (It’s more expensive, but very handy to have)
Are you actually
eligible
 to subscribe to the plan? (Your BMI, occupation etc)

How about the other benefits, like room and board and deductible and no-claim discount and others? Some may find it important, but for me personally they don’t matter as much as the 5 things above. It’s more ‘nice to have’ rather than ‘needs’. Focus on ‘needs’.

Unless you’re on an extreme budget, I also wouldn’t advise you to pick your online medical insurance based on price alone. Get what you need rather than the cheapest possible option.

To help you with the selection, here’s the Medical insurance to check out if you require:

Syariah-compliant
:
i-Great Medi Care by Great Eastern Takaful
;
Takaful
my
Click MediCare
Highest annual limit:

Medical plans by Fi.Life
Cheapest for RM100,000 annual limit
(note: yours might be different):
MedicNOW by Berjaya Sompo
,
PRO-Health Medical by Tune Protect
,
Takaful
my
Click MediCare
No lifetime limit
:
PRO-Health Medical by Tune Protect
,
i-Great Medi Care by Great Eastern Takaful
,
Takaful
my
Click MediCare
,
Medical plans by Fi.Life
 (plus plan only)

Important #1: Get a medical card while you’re healthy

I can’t emphasise enough how some protection products like medical card and
critical illness
 insurance are ONLY available for purchase when you’re still healthy. In most cases, you can’t use the benefits if you’re already sick.

(Or rather, you can, but for a totally different illness. Let’s say you manage to subscribe and already have – touch wood – cancer. You can’t use it to pay for your cancer treatments. But if later you develop heart attack or something, then you *may* be able to use it. This is all on a case-by-case basis, subject to circumstance).

Important #2: Online medical insurance will get progressively more expensive

Online medical insurance in this article are all what you call
term
 insurance, which means there is no cash value, what you paid will be ‘burned’ and not returned. And for term insurance, the older you get, the higher your premiums will cost.

I won’t go into term insurance vs investment-linked insurance, both have their pros and cons. One need to meet agent, another is fast, can just do online. One is self-service, another got agent to help with claims. Learn about
investment-linked insurance in this article
, and
other things you should know about insurance here
.

Purely my opinion:
It is not a bad idea to get yourself covered first with one of the medical insurance products in this list while you search for a possibly ‘better’ one, via agent or
financial planner
.

Online enrolment takes 15 minutes, maybe shorter. Your search for the right agent and product comparison etc might take weeks if not months.

Alright, that’s all I have for you today. Let me know your experience with medical insurance, additional info, inaccuracies (I’ve done my best but not immune to mistakes) and more in the comments section!


What You Need to Know About Payment Relief Assistance [SPONSORED]

Payment Relief Assistance is a type of financial assistance offered to individuals and SMEs with existing loans/financing who are facing financial difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In line with the PEMULIH aid package announced by the government, one can opt to get either a
 6-month loan/financing moratorium
, OR
50% reduction of instalments for six months
 on home loan (mortgage), hire purchase (car loan), personal loan/financing and/or other business loans.

Apart from the standard payment relief packages (of 6-month moratorium or 50% reduction of instalments), Alliance Bank has taken this one step further by offering customers the opportunity to
customise their payment relief packages.

Opting for the Bank’s Payment Relief Assistance package will NOT affect your CCRIS record – the report or statement of all your credit/loans with the bank.

Note: The contact number/details in this article points to
Alliance Bank
, the sponsor of this message. If you are using other banks, please reach out to them on their respective portals/platforms.

What You Need to Know about Payment Relief Assistance

The first thing you need to know about Payment Relief Assistance is it helps
those who really, really need breathing room and help with their daily cash flow situation.

Of course it goes without saying that you will take
a longer time to pay off your loan
 and
there will be additional interest on the loan or financing extension
, but
you don’t have to worry about messing up your credit report in the meantime
.

How to Know If You Should Take Up Payment Relief Assistance

As mentioned, opting in for Payment Relief Assistance is not a decision to be taken lightly. You should think about it carefully and weigh the pros and cons.

Here’s a simple checklist to help you make your decision:

You’ve used up most of your
savings
You’ve tried to
reduce unnecessary purchases
 to the best of your ability
You’ve tried
downsizing
your lifestyle to bare basics
You’re working on
earning extra income
 and/or
find higher-paying job
 but your efforts have not been fruitful yet
You’re seriously considering
terminating your insurance
 to save money, even if you’re worried about possible medical issues in the future

If at least one of the above describes you, then do consider taking the Payment Relief Assistance. At the very least, it’ll free up your cash flow and help you cope better with the financial anxieties you’re feeling right now.

Now,
when your financial situation improves, you should IMMEDIATELY contact your bank and discuss new payment terms so that you can pay your outstanding loan/financing quickly
. This will reduce your overall loan/financing cost.

How to Opt In for Payment Relief Assistance (And What to Expect)

Note: The contact number/details in this article points to Alliance Bank, the sponsor of this message. If you are using other banks, please reach out to them on their respective portals/platforms.

ALL banks in Malaysia offer Payment Relief Assistance (Note: They may be named differently). To select your payment relief package, you need to reach out to the bank you have a loan/financing with. This means visiting your bank’s website and social media platforms.

To make things convenient for their customers,
Alliance Bank
 has introduced innovative ways for individuals and businesses to take up the payment relief assistance.

You can reach out easily by:

Visiting
https://www.alliancebank.com.my/
 and filling up the webform
Calling the bank’s Contact Centre at 03-5516 9988, or
Starting a WhatsApp chat with the bank by scanning the QR code below

If you’re an Alliance Bank customer and you’re worried about paying your monthly instalment, give them a call or drop them a line even if you’re still unsure whether Payment Relief Assistance is the right decision for you. The can:

Explain in further detail the
types of instalments
 available,
Help you
calculate your new loan/financing

amount
, and
Suggest the
best option possible
 for you given your situation.

You can also read up these two helpful FAQs:

FAQs on Payment Relief Assistance for Individuals
FAQs on Payment Relief Assistance for Businesses

All the best, and I really hope you will catch your lucky break soon. Thank you to Alliance Bank for sponsoring this important message to the RoR audience.

Ultimately, take up on the offer of help if you need it, and if (when!) your financial situation improves, simply contact them and they will be happy to assist you with loan/financing repayment.


24 People Share The Last Thing They Bought Online

I can’t be the only one curious about other people’s online purchasing habits, right? 😛

Recently, I asked the
RoR community on Facebook
 about the last thing they bought online. There were some really great answers, and I thought I’d take the opportunity to share those here, because they’re fun to read! Plus, lots of money-saving tips too! You guys make me proud!

Bought Cheaper Items/Services Online

1.
Gina Ee
 – “A
face guasa board
 from Lazada for only RM8 per piece, instead of about RM20 sold offline. It’s a resin board made for traditional Chinese method facial and body massage.”

2.
Chee Siang Wong
 – “A
shower head
. There’s a funny story behind this. I was in Ace Hardware and was about to pay for it. They were selling it at a discount (RM70+ reduced to RM36 I think?). When I was queuing up to pay, I checked the price in Lazada. It only costs RM19.71 with free shipping. Put the item back on the shelf and ordered online. LOL”

3.
Fizz Cruise
 – “
Petronas gift card
 at Lazada. It’s even cheaper than last time. Too bad cannot charge it to Maybank Amex or would have 5x treat points. So instead, I topped up my Bigpay card and used to pay to earn Airasia bigpoints. For this transaction alone, I got: 5% discount for petrol; Treatpoints for topping up Bigpay; Bigpoints for topping up; Bigpoints for purchasing from Lazada; and cashback!”

4.
Hasyimi Bahrudin
 – “
Auto insurance
. You can get 10% discount, and another 5% cash back if you use the correct credit card. I used Maybank2Card AMEX, and purchased the insurance on a weekend. Only possible if the insurance provider accepts AMEX though. Mine does (Etiqa Takaful).”

5.
Chinita Linda
 – “
Eczema cream
 from US. Free shipping. (The same thing sells) at the dermatologist for RM110 for 100ml. Online is rm57 for 500ml, from 11Street. Online wins. It’s for my daughter who has light breakouts of eczema on her face and neck from time to time. I use it too even though my skin is normal. I think it works better than anything else.

I also buy
US. supplements, essential oils and skincare
 from IHerbs, they are way cheaper online and shipping is just RM8. And I ordered
spare parts
 for car from overseas.”

6.
Adelynne Ong Dinesh
 – “I bought two sets of
packing cubes
 for RM16.90 each from a vendor on Lazada because I couldn’t find them in brick-and-mortar stores. Each set consists of three packing cubes and three laundry bags (but they can be used for other things if needed). The cubes aren’t very high in quality but they served me well when I used them during my backpacking trip to Europe for two weeks.

They make packing and unpacking so easy because I used the cubes (one large, one medium and one small) for categories of clothes such as “going out clothes” and “sleeping clothes”, etc. I don’t think these cubes would last forever as they’re not high in quality, but that’s ok. Also, I’m not complaining about the quality as I did pay a low price for it! Another thing to note is that it took 11 days for the package to be received by me. I’m guessing it’s because I had purchased it just before the General Election, but it’s still not good service. All in all, though, I’m happy with my purchase.”

7.
Shanie Lim
 – “
Xiaomi phone case and nose ring
 from AliExpress. The total was less than RM10 including shipping. I have yet to receive my items bought on AliExpress as shipping from China takes within 2-4 weeks. To me, the photo reviews and total orders stated of that particular item are both important factors I consider before purchasing on AliExpress.”

8.
Dzurihan Yusoff
 – “I bought
castor oil
 from Lazada. As it’s meant for skin condition, browsed through a few sellers and found one with reasonable pricing and more than 100 positive reviews. The seller is also proactive in answering questions from potential buyers.

For RM20+ with free shipping, definitely worth it. It was my first time trying castor oil and I don’t wanna splurge in case it’s not suitable for my skin. Local pharmacies are selling it ranging between RM30 to RM100. So, lots of saving there.”

9.
ShiNa LW
 – “
Diapers
!! From Shoppee. I use Huggies.. Sometimes can get at least rm15 cheaper per pack compared to supermarkets. Plus, free shipping. Quality of service.. Very fast.. Sometimes Receive within 2 or 3 days. Nicely packaged in a box. Price.. Usually have to buy 3 packs at once. For Huggies xxl Rm111..ie rm37 per pack.. Huggies without promotion if about Rm40++per pack.”

10.
Zul’Afif
 – “
Hypergear Dry bag 2L
. Because it is free. Paid RM15 for postage. Info: googled and found 2L dry bag from Hypergear priced RM20+ not include postage. The bag quiet small. But meet my need to put my stuff (handphone, wallet) as I ride to work. Well the quality of Hypergear is good as it already an international brand for the dry bag. As per postage, fast delivery in good condition by Ninja Van.”

Bought Books

1. Charles Phua
– “
Way of the Wolf by Jordan Belfort
 (the real-life character of The Wolf of Wall Street). I bought it because he’s an inspiration to men. I bought it on BookDepository which has cheaper price compared to some physical bookstores. It also provides
free shipping
 internationally and it also offers cash back up to 6% when using Shopback!”

2.
Diyana Zulasmin
 – “I bought a
graphic novel titled “Nimona”
 and a
watercolour instruction book
 from BookDepository because it was cheaper and had free delivery.”

3.
Wei Yeh Sor
 – “I bought three
Mandarin books
 (two of them written by Malaysian) at local Mandarin online bookstore
got1shop.com
. Recommend to those who wants to buy books that can be found in Taiwan but not in Malaysia. The price is usually lower than the chained bookstore. For English book, BookDepository is quite ok and it is free shipping! In my experience, you might need to wait for a month.”

Bought Electronics

1.
Melia Leong
 – “I bought a
mobile phone
 online, Huawei brand. Got a RM100 discount coupon from Qoo10.”

2.
Suhaimi Amir
 – “A
replacement battery
 for my Galaxy Note 5. I buy it online, because I can do it in 5 minutes, rather than wasting my time to go out.”

3.
Sven Haake
 – “I purchased a
Kingston 120 SSD
 from Lazada, because a ”Sale” is going on whereby I’ve got a +36% discount and a targeted made it clear that this offer was available, in the first place. Buying electronics from Lazada, makes sense since you got both local and Chinese suppliers, and it’s rewarding since they offer AirAsia BigPoints and BPoints.”

4.
Carmen Chan
 – “Bought
TicPods
 (wireless earphones) from Indiegogo! Bought it because I wouldn’t be able to find it here and it felt quite innovative. The price was definitely higher than my original budget. But for high-end wireless earphones, the features look pretty good! I also wanted to try something different, other than the mainstream wireless earphones in the market. I like the idea of investing in a crowdfunded product!”

Bought Learning Services

1.
Jakz Aizzat

– “I subscribed to
Audible
. Listening to audiobooks is a great way to learn while doing other stuff. It costs $14.95/month for 1 book every month, which is a great deal for me. At least I’m able to read one book every month. By the way, Audible offers 1-month free trial if you guys want to try it.”

2.
Muhammad Amar Hasshim
 – “I bought a couple of online classes on Udemy during a sale. I bought them at Udemy because although YouTube is free, they do not have a structured syllabus for an effective learning. I bought
Chinese Language class
 so I can understand them as it is the ever-growing language in the modern world. I also bought a
web design and an app developer class
 because they are the necessary skill needed in the current job market and a
dropshipping course
 so I could expand my source of income. I want to learn something new and useful in my free time.”

3.
Madivaanan Ganesh
 – “I bought two courses on Udemy. Now enrolled to 50+ courses using coupons. The latest course I bought was
Designing using Photoshop
.”

Bought Clothes

1.
Ahsille Alidawsa
 – “I bought all my
baju raya
 online, from Zalora. Reason: malas berebut (at shops), so many promo codes and fast delivery too!”

2.
Manggai Chandra
 – “Have bought from YUVA by Bombay Beauty before and the quality was superb. Although I have to further alter the suits I buy as sometimes they are bigger than what I can fit, their prices for the unique and contemporary
Indian suits
 are really affordable (it is really difficult to meet online Indian suit stores that deliver you what they display on their page, from the colours to its fabric as well as sequins). They make me feel that, I too, can afford suits of such quality!”

3.
Ayu Fatarina
 – “
Kebaya Nyonya
 from Shoppee, because they have it my size and the price is RM50 cheaper than the standard price, and the postage is free! I actually love the kebaya, they only make one design per kebaya, so you can be sure you will not bump into somebody wearing the same thing on the first day of Raya! The cost is RM110 for XXL kebaya, cheapest I can find so far, others will usually cost RM160 – RM190 because its considered plus size.. Sigh! The design was delicately embroidered, hence bringing out the classy feel when you wear it. Service was tip top, the parcel arrived one day after the payment was made and the seller was really friendly.”

4.
Shanie Lim
 – “A
dress
 from Zalora for RM 30 + shipping RM 5. Returned the other two dresses so not entitled for free shipping. It’s the only online store I purchase fashion items (clothing and shoes specifically) from as they provide free returns – it’s a must for me to try on. If the item doesn’t suit you, you can request for exchange or refund. Just drop it off as Poslaju kiosks or selected locations such as Focus Point or Caring Pharmacy etc for convenience.”

5.
Siti Hawa N.
 – “I wanted to get an outfit that has some ethnic influence for Hari Raya but at the same time modern enough and functional as a workwear as well. Often, I only wear my traditional baju raya just once a year; yes, during the first day of Hari Raya Aidilfitri. I chose Ezzati Amira’s Batik Top with Tied Up Skirt because it looks pretty enough for Hari Raya and I can mix and match the top and skirt with other workwear that I have at home, thus giving me flexibility to don different styles to work. As for Zalora, I give them credit for having customer-friendly pages as well as fast processing and delivery services. I did the online shopping in the evening, at home while watching the telly.”

What Have YOU Bought Online Recently?

Let us know why you got it online. Was it the savings? Was it the convenience? Was it only available online? Share in the comments, let us have a peek into your life.

To read more about financial tools mentioned here, read my
Shopback
 and
eWallet
 (includes Bigpay) guides. To read another shopping article, read my
Lazada purchases
 since 2014 article.

If you haven’t, come join the
RoR community on Facebook
 🙂 More people = more sharing = better transfer of financial knowledge.


5 Genres of Personal Finance Videos You HAVEN’T Watched

Like many of you, I, too, enjoy a nice round of YouTube binge-watching. I mean, who doesn’t go off to YouTube when procrastinating work, amirite? AMIRITE.

The purpose of this article is two-fold:

(1) to expand your idea of what fits under the category of ‘personal finance’. Too often, ‘personal finance videos’ mean videos about saving money and investing (how-tos, advice and motivation), but I think it’s broader than that. Many of the videos I’ve listed below are not ‘classic’ personal finance videos – usually they’re lumped under the catch-all ‘lifestyle’ and/or ‘parenting’ niche – but they’re useful as personal finance references.

(If you’re looking for the stereotypical personal finance Youtube listing:
8 Malaysia-Based Personal Finance YouTube Channels to Follow
)

And, (2) make myself feel a bit better about the hours I spent watching them lol. At least I can tell myself ‘this is personal finance research’ as I click on the next suggested video.

Without further adooooo

(As much as possible I prioritised Malaysians in this list, because hell yeah support Malaysian content creators)

#1 – Grocery haul videos

What is it:
Videos of what people bought from the grocery store. And you also get ideas of what ingredients combination can work with each other, thus reducing kitchen waste? Love it.

#2 – How I pack my orders videos

What is it:
Videos of small business owners fulfilling orders they get from actual customers! I love these because they’re not theory, they’re practical, ‘how its like’ videos.

#3 – Meal-prepping videos

What is it:
Videos of people making meals ahead of time! Spending some time to prepare food in advance means easier and faster meals for the week. You’re also less tempted to get food delivery because lazy to cook*

*I said less tempted, but you’re not immune to them food delivery apps.

Also combining it with big-batch cooking videos and freezer meals videos because they’re kinda under the same category.

#4 – How much I earn as a Youtuber videos

What is it:
 People being transparent with how much they earn via Youtube.

Talking about salaries and income used to be taboo, but not among YouTubers it seems. There are so many videos of this genre

Specific to Malaysia,

#5 – Room Makeover and organisation

What is it:
 Room decoration and organisation on a budget!!!

Come on, who else looked forward to decorating your own place UNTIL you found out a damn throw pillow cost like RM30? Each!

Do you know of any other alternative personal finance video genres?

Well there you have it folks. Five genres of personal finance videos that you may or may not have known before. Did any of them surprise you? I know I was surprised when I found out about the existence of grocery haul videos!

What other types of Youtube videos would you add in this list, that can fall under the category of personal finance as well as lifestyle? I’m sure there is more 🙂 What do YOU like to binge-watch on Youtube? Let me know!


Guide: Getting Personal with Personal Loan in Malaysia

I don’t know about you guys, but lately I notice that I get way more loan advertisements than before.

They:

Called me via
phone
. This was CIMB mostly. I said no (related:
Telemarketer sales tactics you should know
), and the poor guy sounded really desperate. He even suggested a few ways for me to use the loan money (Is there a business you want to finance? Is there anything you want?), which I thought was really unprofessional.

Texted me via
SMS
. I always blacklist the numbers afterwards, so this isn’t so bad.

Mailed stuff/gave
flyers
 to me.

Included in
email newsletters
, including from Malaysian personal finance websites.

Are on
Facebook
. I’ve never clicked on them, but some looked suspiciously ah-long-y

Are on
Twitter
. Same.

Are on
Flipboard
. Same.

Financial apps
. Some of them analyse data from your finances then ‘advice’ you to get loans, which to me is a bit too much

Aside from these, I also get quite a few advertisements for trading platforms, (especially Forex. Related: My
No-Bullshit Forex guide
),  credit card offers, MLMs, and some others.

To be fair, I do search for a lot of finance-related content, so maybe my Google history algorithm reflected this.

Do you get these ads, too? Share in comments where else you see them.

(I’m interested in this data as the number of exposure has a direct effect on your likelihood using these services.
80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact
.)

Loans in Malaysia

There are a few types of loans in Malaysia. Some of the most popular are:

Car loans

Education loans

Housing loans

Business loans

Investment-specific loans (ie ASB)

These tend to be ‘strategic’ loans, so I’m not mad about them if the T&Cs are within reason.

I mean, car loans help people commute to work. Education loans make people more employable. Housing loans help people get a property for own stay or investment. Business loans can help a company scale bigger and get more profit. ASB loans are supposed to help Malays bridge the economic gap.

But let’s talk about the sixth type of loan.
Personal loans.

Personal Loan in Malaysia

Personal loans can be turned into any of the above loans. You can use it for anything you want- good or bad purchases. It’s very flexible.

The range of available personal loans in Malaysia is rather interesting. We have options for Syariah-compliant loans, civil servants’ loans, and even blacklisted loans (often illegal).

In general, personal loans in Malaysia have:

Higher interest rates
 than the ‘strategic’ loans. The rates are highly dependent on your credit score. If you are blacklisted, you’ll probably never get good rates

No collateral
 (ie: No need to promise the bank your car or your house if you can’t make payments)

Relatively
short repayment term
. Between 6 months to 5 years only, usually

Like other financial tools, you can use personal loans to your advantage. In equal measure, it can also be turned into a nasty disadvantage.

Here are some good and bad reasons to get a personal loan in Malaysia

Good Reasons to get a Personal Loan in Malaysia

You want to pay off a high-interest debt

Getting a loan to pay off a loan is a thing. Say you have credit card debt at 18% per annum (higher interest), and qualify for a personal loan at 10% per annum (lower interest). Do it, it’s smart. You’ll still have to make payments, but now at least you get to save some money in interest payments.

Borrow just enough to pay the credit card debt (or any other high-interest debt), and no more than that. Pay off the credit card balance in full. Make solid plans to pay off the personal loan on agreed schedule. Auto-deduct it from your bank to avoid any late penalties.

You want to scale your business

Notice I didn’t say ‘You want to START a business’. No no. This is only for businesses that are already ongoing, that just need a bit of capital to expand and grow. If you want to start your own business, I think the capital should come from yourself first.

Calculate how much you need. Make plans to ensure positive cashflow so you can make the loan payments.  A timeline with a plan – ie: if I can’t turn this into profit in x months/years, I have to cut off losses – is necessary.

You want to pay medical expenses for loved ones

Rather than a good reason, this is an ethical reason. In my faith, we believe that we have to try to improve our health in whatever way we can. I’m sure it’s the same in yours as well.

Unfortunately, this is one of those ‘win/lose-lose’ situation. If your loved ones heal, you still have to pay. If they don’t, you still have to pay.
14.3%
 of debt defaulters in Malaysia (ie people who cannot pay back) go bankrupt due to medical expenses.

I… am ok with going bankrupt if it means the smallest chance to save my mom’s life. Hope it does not come to that, but I’m prepared to.

You want to leave an abusive household

Well, it’s better if you can save up/borrow money from friends for this, but if you have no choice, go ahead and get a personal loan to help you move out.

This is especially true if you are physically and emotionally abused, and have children under your care. Get out of there, and find a secure location as a new base.

You need about 4 months worth of rental deposit, then living expenses for about 3-6 months. Factor in your moving costs, if you’re moving states/countries.

Get a support system as soon as you can. Get a job as soon as you can. Get whatever help available – from public or private agencies – immediately.

If you know someone in an abusive household, one of the best ways to help is to provide access to internet, so s/he can search for information and make a decision him/herself. Help them to record incidences of abuse (a simple notebook works), which can be used as evidence in court.

Never pressure them. Never ask ‘why didn’t you’ questions. Never make household problems a taboo subject. I notice that many Malay people like to say ‘leave their relationship problems for them (the couple) to solve and don’t get involved’, which is bullshit in the highest order.

You have unexpected repairs to pay for

A sudden burst pipe in your home? Yeah, that’s a situational emergency. Car suddenly breaks down and its the only way to get to work? Same. Get a loan if you can’t afford to finance these repairs yourself.

This is why I’m such a big fan of emergency funds, aka ‘if shit happens’ money. Once, when I was driving, a brick came out of nowhere and smashed my windshield. RM600+ to replace, if I recall correctly. Bad luck is bad luck. Shit happens.

Bad Reasons to get a Personal Loan in Malaysia

You want to keep up the illusion of wealth

This means adding on a personal loan
on top of
 your current debts, for
non-necessities
. Borrowing money to appear wealthy is common. This is hard, we have the ‘saving face’ culture. This includes borrowing money for:

Weddings

Holidays

Cosmetic house renovations

Expensive clothes and accessories

Your relatives’/friends’ ‘investment opportunity’ that you’re peer-pressured to join (Related:
how to spot investment scams
)

Expensive, non-practical cars (I actually think that flashy cars are tacky AF. But I’m also not a car person, so)

Studying overseas instead of locally

And more

If you want to use the personal loan for the above, and generally things that are ‘wants’ instead of needs… I’m so scared about your future. I honestly don’t know how to go about this. If you have suggestions (that’s beyond ‘don’t do it’), please add on in the comments section.

Please don’t mock people in this category. It contributes to the problem.

You want to start a business

First-time venturing into own business? I wouldn’t recommend you to risk putting all of the capital/personal loan money into it. Sorry, but I do have to remind you that
96% of all businesses fail in the first 10 years
. Believe in yourself, sure, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Gambling

Getting personal loans just to gamble it away is a serious issue affecting a lot of people. Seek help and find support for gambling addicts, friend. These are not Malaysia-specific but may help:
Gamblers Anonymous UK
 and
Gambling Help Online
.
r/problemgambling
 has some resources for people who struggle to quit.

Conclusion

Over the years of reading financial advice, I’m convinced that having no debt (including ‘good debt’ like mortgages) is the way to go.

When the time comes, I’d like to buy a car in cash. Heck, I’d like to buy a house in cash – it’ll save me so much money in interest payments. In most cases, you end up paying almost as much interest than the actual house price.

Example so you know I’m not bullshitting: Let’s say you want to buy a house worth RM300k. You put down 10% as down payment and decided on 30 years repayment period. You took a home loan for the remaining RM270k.

After calculating
here
, you’ll see that in the end, you’re paying
 more than RM200k
 just for the interest. Almost half of your monthly payments (in this case, RM1368.05) goes towards interest!

I’m not saying don’t get loans.

Instead, be hyper aware of your interest payments. This example is is 4.5% interest, which is fairly low. You’ll find that a typical credit card has 1x% interest. Personal loans usually vary on your risk profile, ranging between about 7% all the way up to about 30% (more than that is not uncommon, too) per annum.

My experience with personal loans

I don’t know if this counts, but I’ve made several personal loans via credit card cash advance feature. Once for RM2k, another RM2k, then a RM4k loan. The first was to help finance a laptop,  the second was for… something (can’t remember), and the third was for a risky investment to diversify my portfolio (which thankfully, halleluyah, paid off).

Each of them was paid over 6 months’ period. Any longer than that, my bank will add on some more fees, and I didn’t particularly want to pay more fees.

I don’t know why, but I hated myself every time I decided to take those loans. I felt like I succumbed too easily to financial products and banks’ marketing efforts. It was too easy to apply for. All I had to do was log in my online banking account, apply, and minutes later the money was… there. It’s frustratingly efficient and annoyingly easy.

Think about it.
It’s easy to get access to more money, anytime I want
. That’s exactly why this is so scary.
It’s too easy to be in debt.

They say that this is a good thing. It’s there if I want it. So don’t get it if you don’t want it.

But I’m human. I get tempted too.

My friends and I have tentative plans for an all-girls trip to Iceland. I have savings but why touch that. Tempted.

Every so often, bitcoin’s price rises and I get greedy and feel like getting more. Tempted.

My parents talking about financial setbacks and I want to be their hero to save them. Tempted.

Gosh my teeth can use straightening. It’s not too late for braces right? Tempted. (Edit:
I got braces
)

And I get reminded about all loan offers received via all the channels I mentioned. I get reminded daily that I get to be better versions of myself, if only I get those loans.

It’s quite the sucker punch to the gut. I hate it.

But I’m still proud of resisting, because some days,
it’s a lot of resisting
. I want to be the kind of person who is constantly grateful for what she already has, not someone who is bitter over what she doesn’t have.

So I made a pact with myself to not get anymore loans, unless for good reasons. So far, it works. I’m about 1 year personal-loan-free!

So to close this, I have some questions for you.

(1) Have you made personal loans? Why? Interest rate?

(2) Do you get the ads for loans, too? Where?

Talk to me 🙂 I’m here on RoR website, on Facebook, and on Twitter too.


Your Money Protected or Not? A Quiz [SPONSORED]

If you’re like me, you probably have your money all over the place:

In bank accounts (plural, because I have a few accounts with a few banks)

In various e-wallets and prepaid cards,

‘Borrowed’ from legal entities (ie credit cards and loans) or illegal entities (ah long money lenders),

In ‘future money’ like insurance/takaful payouts,

In various investment accounts,

In physical forms like gold or property or high-value collectables,

With your friend who promised to pay you back soon,

In actual wallets (almost forgot about this one. Cashless trend is still going strong)

And more.

So my question to you today is… do you know what kind of protection is available for each of those listed? How sure are you that you get to access your money when you need to use it?

Wait huh, you might think, of course your money should be accessible, the financial ecosystem in Malaysia is good, right? (it is), I don’t need to worry, right? (mostly you don’t… but you should still know because this concerns YOUR money).

Take this quiz to test your understanding of your money’s protection – which is protected by PIDM and which isn’t. Have a look at the three scenarios, including one of Future You (surprise! You’ve reached financial freedom and are a multi-millionaire!)

Quiz #1 – How Protected is Kay’s Money?

Scenario 1
: Kay, 24, Single, Executive

Kay’s money situation:

Can you guess the ones protected by PIDM?

Click the arrow to see the answer:

PIDM protects:

RM500 in
Savings Account in Bank A
 (PIDM Member bank)

RM1,000 in
Current Account in Bank A
 (PIDM Member bank)

Why?

PIDM protects eligible deposits
up to RM250,000 per depositor per member bank
, and Kay’s deposits are protected in full as the total amount kept in Bank A (a PIDM member Bank), RM1,500, is less than RM250,000.

PIDM’s protection DOES NOT extend to:

Money in e-wallets

Gold savings accounts

ASB

Bitcoin

Loan to friend (good luck getting that money back)

Quiz #2 – How Protected is Ell and Bee’s Money?

Scenario 2:
 Ell and Bee, both 30, Married Couple, Own Business

Ell and Bee’s money situation:

Can you guess the ones protected by PIDM?

Click the arrow to see the answer:

PIDM protects:

RM8,000 in
 Savings Account in Bank A
 (PIDM member bank) (Ell)

RM12,000 in
Savings Account in Bank A
 (PIDM member bank) (Bee)

RM15,000 in
Current Account in Bank B
 (PIDM member bank) (joint business account) (Ell & Bee Sdn Bhd)

RM50,000 in
 fixed deposit in Bank A
 (PIDM member bank) (Ell)

RM200,000 in
insurance/takaful benefits in Insurance Company A
 (PIDM insurer member)

Why?

PIDM protects eligible deposits up to RM250,000 per depositor per member bank
, and
up to RM500,000 for

takaful and insurance benefits
(for death, permanent disability, critical illness, loss or damage of property).

Therefore,
Ell and Bee’s deposits and insurance/takaful benefits are protected
as they have RM58,000 and RM12,000 respectively in Bank A, RM15,000 in Bank B, and RM200,000 in insurance/takaful benefits.

PIDM’s protection DOES NOT extend to:

Investment banks

Overseas branches of member banks

Money in the stock market

Money in prepaid cards

Scams or fraudulent transfers (ie go to police not to PIDM)

Quiz #3 – How Protected is Future You’s Money?

Scenario 3:
 Future You, 40, Hit Financial Freedom!

Future You’s money situation:

Can you guess the ones protected by PIDM?

Click the arrow to see the answer:

PIDM protects:

RM250,000 in
Conventional Account in Bank A
 (PIDM member bank) – the additional RM250,000 is NOT protected

RM200,000 in
Islamic Account in Bank A
 (PIDM member bank)

RM1,000,000 in
insurance benefits
 in Insurance Company A
 (PIDM insurer member)

RM8,000 in
annuity income per month in Insurance Company A
 (PIDM insurer member)

PIDM protects eligible deposits up to RM250,000 per depositor per member bank.
The limit also applies separately to Islamic and conventional deposits.

PIDM also protects
 up to RM500,000 for

takaful and insurance benefits
 (for death, permanent disability, critical illness, loss or damage of property),
up to RM10,000 for disability and annuity income per month
, and
100% of expenses incurred for medical expenses.

The amount of protected benefits will be aggregated only if they relate to the same insurer member, same risk event, same life insured or insured property, and same takaful certificate or insurance policy owner.

Therefore, Future You can optimise PIDM’s protection by simply:

transferring the unprotected monies,
including the RM250,000 deposit in Conventional Account in Bank A
to another PIDM member bank
, and

Getting
two life insurance policies
with the sum assured of
RM500,000 from two PIDM insurer members
 instead of one life insurance policy with the sum assured of RM1,000,000 from one insurer member

PIDM’s protection DOES NOT extend to:

International Islamic banks,

Labuan offshore banks,

SSPN, and

cash on hand

Does that mean… not PIDM member = no protection for my money?

I didn’t say that. Usually (but not always), legally-established financial companies that are not PIDM members do put in some measures in place to ensure safety, because hey, good reputation helps with business and they want your business correct not. They are also governed by strict laws and regulations by BNM and Securities Commission.

However, if anything happens, the returning-of-funds-back-to-you may not be as automatic as PIDM, in which they already have a system in place should a member bank or insurer member be going bankrupt. PIDM-insured funds will be given back to you even before the (long) winding up process is completed.

For non-PIDM-insured funds? There are other protective measures – for example, savings in ASB, BSN and Tabung Haji are guaranteed by the government. Know your rights as a financial consumer when placing funds with a non-PIDM member institution, and only do so if you’re comfortable with the risks.

Therefore, as someone who is responsible for your own money management, it’s not a bad idea to plan your deposits and insurance/takaful around maximising PIDM’s protection. Best case scenario, nothing happens, life goes on as usual.

Worse case situation, you’ll get your deposits and benefits faster and automatically. Currently, 97% of depositors in Malaysia – the remaining 3% includes people in Scenario #3 – are fully protected by PIDM (
which is a fully FREE service btw
).

Let me know in the comments section how you did in the quiz. Did you get the scope of PIDM’s protection right? This concerns your money, and Future You should know this!


6 Things You Should Know Before You Renew Car Insurance in Malaysia [SPONSORED]

Are you looking to renew car insurance in the near future? If so, here are 5 things you should know before you do so. This article will cover:

if you really need car insurance,
the types of car insurance,
which one you should get,
how to get cheaper car insurance
and more

#1 – First of all – Do you need car insurance in Malaysia?

Car owners probably know this, but it’s worth mentioning – as stated in the Road Transport Act 1987, car insurance is
compulsory
. You cannot use motorised vehicles without it.

In fact, you need to get your car insurance sorted out
before
 you can even pay road tax, another compulsory requirement for car owners.

Aside from that legal requirement, you also need car insurance in Malaysia for a more practical reason – it will
help you financially
 in cases of unwanted circumstances.

In fact, you may even decide to renew car insurance just to add on
coverage for flood
 (the technical term is special perils), after witnessing your fellow Malaysians struggle without it.

#2 – Which type of insurance is best for a car?

The best type of car insurance is
Comprehensive cover, plus additional covers and benefits that fit your lifestyle and usage
. This is the one you should get, if you can afford it, so you get coverage for others AND yourself.

Comprehensive cover is one of the 3 main types of car insurance in Malaysia. The next section covers each type, sorted from least to most comprehensive.

#3 – Types of car insurance in Malaysia

There are 3 main types of car insurance in Malaysia, namely
(1)

Third party cover; (2) Third party, fire and theft cover;
and
(3) Comprehensive cover
.

If you want to renew car insurance, you should know the differences between each of them so you make the best choice possible. The wording can get a bit technical, so I included the oversimplified version for easier understanding.

(1) Third party cover

Price: $

Third party cover
 includes Act only cover PLUS indemnity* for liability in respect of damage to the third-party property if due to insured’s negligence or fault. This is the cheapest type of car insurance that you can purchase.

What
Third party cover
 means, oversimplified version:

If you knock into someone and caused injury or death, your insurer will compensate
them
If you knock into another vehicle and/or property and caused damage to
their
vehicle and/or property, your insurer will compensate
them
Important note: With Third party cover, your insurer will NOT compensate
you

*Note: Indemnity is a technical word, but it more or less means
giving you security or protection against a loss.
 Remember that the purpose of car insurance is not to make you rich, but to reduce your financial burden upon unexpected events. It’s meant to restore your assets to the previously agreed upon state, not give you the exact same car in brand new condition.

(
2) Third party, fire and theft cover

Price: $$

Third party, fire and theft cover
 includes Third party cover PLUS indemnifies the policy owner against theft or damage due to fire of the insured car.

What
Third party, fire and theft cover
 means, oversimplified version:

If you knock into someone and caused injury or death, your insurer will compensate
them
If you hit another vehicle and/or property and caused damage to
their
vehicle and/or property, your insurer will compensate
them
If your car is stolen or damaged due to fire, your insurer will compensate
you

(
3) Comprehensive cover

Price: $$$ to $$$$$ depending on additional coverage and benefits you add on. Obviously, the more coverage you have, the better.

Comprehensive cover
 includes Third party, fire and theft cover PLUS compensation for physical damage to the insured vehicle as a result of accidental collisions.

What
Comprehensive cover
 means, oversimplified version:

If you knock into someone and caused injury or death, your insurer will compensate
them
If you knock into another vehicle and/or property and caused damage to
their
vehicle and/or property, your insurer will compensate
them
If your car is stolen or damaged due to fire, your insurer will compensate
you
If you are driving and get into an accident and your car is damaged, your insurer will compensate
you

You can make your Comprehensive cover even more comprehensive by purchasing add-on for additional coverage, such as:

Windscreen coverage
Passenger liability
Medical expenses (as part of Personal Accident cover) due to road accident
Coverage against damage to your car due to strikes, riot and civil commotion
Coverage for damage to your car due to occurrence of natural calamities ← you want coverage for flood? You will want this one
And more, depending on the insurer

#4 – You can get car insurance packages

However, which coverage should you take, and which ones can you do without? This is one of the most confusing parts when one renew car insurance.

Similar to health and medical insurance, the process of deciding which coverage you need and which you can do without is a hard process. Your may want ALL of the coverage, but your wallet disagrees.

In this case, you might want to (1) compare quotations and/or (2) look for other car insurance products that are designed specifically for their target audience in mind.

One great example is
MSIG’s Lady Motor Plus Insurance
, which is
designed for women
. Women don’t have to ‘guess’ which covers or benefits you need more than others, it’s already included. Here are the benefits:

How MSIG Lady Motor Plus works in real life

Listing the benefits alone doesn’t do the benefits justice, so let me show the situation in which this product is useful: You are driving your car. Perhaps to the office, perhaps to do your normal chores. It’s just like any other day.

Except it is NOT like any other day.
Unexpected flash flood hits your area. You had to leave your car behind and find alternative method to go home. Your car is damaged
.

In this case, you may be able to claim:

The Full Special Perils, which covers loss or damage to your car due to nature-caused calamities, and
The Inconvenience Relief Allowance*, which pays RM1,000 if your car was stolen, declared total loss or damaged due to flood

Here’s another situational example.
You are driving your car, and unlucky enough to get into a serious car accident. You have hurt yourself in the accident and may be left with permanent disability. Your car as well some valuable items in the car are damaged.

In this case, you may be able to claim:

The Standard Comprehensive Motor Cover, which gives coverage against others (‘Third Party’) AND for yourself in cases of accidents, accidental fire and theft, and
The Policyholder’s Personal Accident, which pays compensation upon death or permanent disability due to road accident, and
The Loss or Damage to Personal Belongings*, which pays RM1,000 if your or your authorised driver’s belongings are lost or damaged due to snatch theft or accident, and
The Transportation Allowance*, which pays RM100 for transportation expenses if your car is involved in an accident and need to be towed for repairs

Note: Special benefit marked as * are only included under
MSIG’s Lady Motor Plus Insurance
, and not available for sale individually as optional add-on cover

You can also add on additional coverage if you wish: View the
Motor Add-on
 page for more information.

You can find more information on the
MSIG’s Lady Motor Plus Insurance
, and download the brochure
here
. A sample cost comparison for this product is on page 10.

(To the men, you can go to
MSIG’s Motor Plus page
 to take a look at another great insurance packaged product
.

#5 – Being strategic about your claims

Having car insurance means you should make claims anytime possible, right?

This is counter-intuitive, but
you may choose not to submit a car insurance claim if the accident is minor and the claim involves a small sum.

The reason for this is something called
No Claim Discount
, otherwise known as NCD. Sometimes the term No Claim Bonus or NCB is also used – they mean the same thing.

Basically, NCD rewards you with discounts if you did NOT make a claim. The longer you go without a claim, the bigger the discount.

Pay close attention to the discount scale and how it progressively increases. That means, if you paid RM1600 initially, then you only pay RM720 by the 5th year! You will save 55% or RM880*!

*Simplified calculation. The final amount depends on other variables – See #6

So do you see how making small claims (say in the low hundreds) may not be worth it? It’s not a bad idea to pay for those out of pocket so you get to enjoy bigger NCD discounts in the future.

Of course, do not hesitate to make a claim if the damage or repairs go into thousands or tens of thousands. After all, that’s what car insurance is for. It is for your own financial protection.

(And it goes without saying – you can avoid the claim/don’t-claim dilemma altogether by driving safely and doing your best to avoid getting into accidents. That’s the original intent of the discount – to reward good drivers)

Tip: You CAN claim your insurance without losing your NCD if the accident was caused by another party and you are claiming against
their
 insurance. In this case, your NCD streak is not affected.

#6 – How to get cheaper car insurance in Malaysia

I’m sure you want to learn how to get cheaper car insurance in Malaysia. Yes, it is possible. First, you must learn the factors that affect the price of car insurance.

They are:

Type of cover
– Third party cover is usually the cheapest, and Comprehensive Cover is the most expensive
Additional benefits and covers
 – no frills mean no additional costs
Value of your car
 – The higher the value, the more expensive the cover
The type of your car
 – the higher the theft ratings of your car, or the higher its general accident statistics, the higher the premium will be
Your risk behaviour
 – depends on the driver’s age, gender, occupation, residence, claim history, and the frequency of car use
Taking advantage of No Claim Discount

Depending on all these factors,
expect your car insurance to cost from a few hundred to a few thousand ringgit per year
. You can also get a guesstimate how much your car insurance will cost – simply look for car insurance calculators online.

Unless you really can’t afford it, you don’t really want to cheap out on the first two variables. Instead, you can:

Choose a car with smaller value (usually means a cheaper car, but not necessarily)
Choose a car with lower theft and accident rate
Maintain a good driving record
Be strategic about your claims – as covered in #4
Consider a car insurance package

On the last point. Similar to how it’ll cost less if you get the set meal rather than buying each food item individually,
you’ll spend less for more benefits with car insurance packages
. Lady Motor Plus Insurance and MSIG’s Motor Plus are both examples of car insurance packages.

What did you wish you knew before you renew car insurance?

What did you wish you had known before you renew car insurance? What other tips did you learn through experience, and what advice would you give others who are looking for the best car insurance in Malaysia? Leave them in the comments section so all of us can learn!

As an ending note, I’d like to thank
MSIG
 for the chance to write about car insurance. It was great to learn about the
Lady Motor Plus Insurance
, which takes out much of the guessing game in terms of deciding what coverage and benefits are important for women. It’s also great that some of the benefits are exclusive to this plan and not available elsewhere.

Note: With all insurance products, terms and conditions apply. Speak to an MSIG Insurance Adviser or contact MSIG for more information.


How to Get RM10000 per Month in Passive Income (In 3 Steps)

What is your definition of Rich?

Aaron Tang of
Mr Stingy
 asked this question on social media the other day and many submitted their answers.

I’ll leave it to him to compile in an article (hehe) but my answer was: the ability to make RM10000 per month through active or passive income (adjusted to inflation), plus free time to invest in health, family, relationship and passion projects.

I would like to thank @_AfzalKhan95 for asking this follow-up question, which became the prompt and inspiration behind this article: How does one get RM10000 per month in passive income,
without
 being (outright or borderline) unethical and/or lucky?

Hey Suraya, if I may propose an article: "How to get RM 10k/mth of passive income?-No money games/MLM/lucky overnight capital gains/inheritance/windfall"
That article would be da bomb😍
— AfzalKhan (@_AfzalKhan95)
August 14, 2021

In theory, the steps and maths behind it are straightforward. So here goes:

How to get RM10,000 per Month in Passive Income in Just 3 Steps

Simplistically, there are only 3 steps to it.

Step 1:
 Work until you earn RM2.4 million

Step 2:
Put it somewhere that gives you 5% annually

Step 3:
Collect RM10,000 per month in passive income

Let’s expand those steps:

 Step 1: Work until you earn RM2.4 million

Alas, unless you are lucky (generational wealth, windfall money, lucky capital gains etc), Step 1 is the hardest. You need to accumulate RM2.4 million in assets, after eliminating/deducting debt.

There is no way around it – you have to work to earn the amount. You can invest and use leveraging strategies, sure, but that only speeds up the wealth accumulation process,
not start it
.

(I had to say that because many people ask me how to be rich with just investing, without earning. Cannot, you need the initial capital. ‘Just’ 5% return on investment with RM5000 capital is RM250, much higher than RM20 you’ll get from 20% return on investment on RM100 capital.)

The good news is there are many ways to accomplish Step 1, as nicely illustrated by
iMoney.my
 below:

Some of you might be intimidated by the RM2.4 million number. It’s big, yes. So what are you going to do about it? No, really, think of
how
 to get there, fight the ‘I’ll never reach there’ thoughts, if you have them.

If you don’t know what to do, I suggest starting from these two resources on earning money in Malaysia:

Increase your salary through day job
 (Saver+Investor; Climb the corporate ladder)–
http://ringgitohringgit.com/earning-money/high-salary-in-malaysia/

Increase your income through side hustles
(Be the expert/star in your field; Be the entrepreneur) –
http://ringgitohringgit.com/earning-money/side-income-malaysia/

Breaking it down into numbers and timeline, just to give you a rough idea of what Step 1 entails:

It’ll take 30 years to reach ~RM2.38 mil if you set aside RM1600 per month in an investment giving 8% annual interest rate, compounded monthly (play around with this
Compound Interest Calculator Malaysia
)

It’ll take selling 2,400 items/services and average profit margin of RM1000 each to earn RM2.4 million

Before we move to the next step, I just want to highlight something –
I know you want to accumulate money as fast

as possible
.  It’s not impossible of course, but I just want you to be very realistic – most people take years, decades even, and that’s okay. What’s more important is for you to enjoy the journey.

Overrated metric: how fast you're able to reach financial independence
Underrated metric: how enjoyable your journey is on the way to financial independence
— Four Pillar Freedom (@4PillarFreedom)
August 14, 2021

Step 2: Put it somewhere that gives you 5% annually

If you reached here, congrats! It’s not easy, especially for those from less-privileged backgrounds. Proud of you, good job 🙂

After you have completed Step 1, you now have the option of shifting into wealth preservation mode. (Or if you decide you want more than RM10000 per month, you can continue to accumulate more than RM2.4 million, up to you.)

What is the best investment for monthly income in Malaysia? Truthfully, finding an investment that gives you 5% profit per annum which allows monthly/yearly payout is not a hard task. You could:

Do your own research – there are ~
15 investment options you choose from as an individual investor in Malaysia
 (
ASNB funds
 and/or
roboadvisors
 are great for DIY investors)

Talk to your Relationship Officers and/or Wealth Managers at banks and investment companies. They will be ecstatic to help you

Talk to
financial planners
 – highly recommended – more on this further below.

There might be some among you who are like, eleh 5% je per annum? I can do better hoho hehe.

Go learn the difference between
growing
 wealth and
preserving
wealth. They are different strategies, but of course you clever already, what do I know kan.

Step 3: Collect RM10,000 per month in passive income

This is the easiest and most fun part of all – collecting the RM10000 per month. The RM10000 collected monthly is
pure profit from interest
, without touching the RM2.4 million capital.

Calculation-wise, to make it clear:

RM2,400,000 x 5% per year =
RM120,000 in profit from interest per year

Therefore, RM120,000 per year allows you to withdraw
RM10000 per month in passive income
 without reducing your initial  RM2.4 million capital

Note: This is a highly simplified calculation, not factoring in inflation etc. If you want exact exact number,
use these formulas and calculate yourself
 (or see optional step, below)

In financial planning-speak, this is one type of retirement planning method, called the
Capital Intact Method
. Basically, you plan it so that even with the withdrawals, the amount of your initial capital won’t reduce, forever.

Capital Intact Method is the safest retirement planning method, and save for truly unexpected situations that insurance/preventative methods can’t cover, will significantly reduce the likelihood of you running out of money in old age (a huge fear for many!).

Optional but Recommended Step: Talk to a Financial Planner

You can DIY your money management all the way, but I highly recommend
talking to a financial planner
 at some point, even as early as Step 1.

The thing is, personal finance *is* simple, BUT there are simply too many things to know. Even if you’re doing it ‘right’, the assurance that you’re doing it right itself is valuable.

It is rare though for someone to do EVERYthing right – something will slip through, so that’s where the financial planner comes in. For example, your financial planner could help you with:

Estate planning – what happens to that RM2.4 million when your time is up? (Muslims please sort out your
Wasiat/Hibah/Trust
 documents; the rest do Will Planning)

Retirement planning (is the RM10000 per month actually enough for you to live your ideal life? What if there is shortfall?)

Insurance
 and risk transfer (do you have enough insurance? Paying for too much? Are there exclusions you were not aware of?)

Investment recommendations

Education planning if you have children

Inflation calculation

Lifestyle adjustment

Your options if you *can’t* ever reach Step 2 (not everyone can, but you can still
live a happy and dignified life with smaller amounts of money
)

And more

Suraya, isn’t this FI/RE?

By this point, some of you might be like, hey this is familiar, isn’t this the whole FI/RE thing, the Financial Independence, Retire Early thing?

To be fair, it is, kind of. But what happened here is I put a number on it (RM10000 per month), rather than the goal of ‘I want a lot of money’. Also, I am meh about the ‘Retire Early’ philosophy of FI/RE community. I don’t.. hate my job..

However, if you are into the early retirement part, then I recommend reading this evergreen Mr Money Moustache article:
The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement

Remember you are free to adjust the numbers – if you have a big family or desire a luxury lifestyle, then adjust it to RM20000 per month or RM100000 per month or whatever. If you need less than that, perhaps RM3000 per month or RM5000 per month, adjust it. The same principles apply.

That’s all there is to it. Simple? Yes. Easy? No, but a worthy goal, if you want it to be.

Hope this article helps to break down the steps to the dream of ‘goyang kaki duit masuk’ fantasy that you may have. If you have tips or experience, would love to hear from you, please leave a comment below.

All the best and again, prioritise enjoying the journey, rather than fixated on the goal 🙂


Explaining Snowball Method, The Best Way to Pay Off Debt

Dave Ramsey is a popular author and radio host in the United States. He’s problematic in many ways, but his advice on debt repayment method, dubbed the Debt Snowball Method is solid. It’s a loan repayment plan for people who owe money and overwhelmed by it.

What I’m going to try to do is to explain the Snowball Method in a way that is relatable to us Malaysians. So you can use it to pay off your debt, adviseice someone about it.

(Note: Find the original explanation on his website
here
, written for the U.S. audience.)

Meet Puteri*

*Fictional character; no real-life resemblance intended.

Puteri is a university graduate who works in KL. She owes money to a few financial institutions and her family.

From left to right, Puteri has:

Car loan – borrowed RM36k with 3% interest; balance RM20k

Credit card – borrowed RM1000 with 9% interest; balance RM1000

FAMA Bank (Bank of Father and Mother) – borrowed RM1500 with 0% interest, balance RM1500

PTPTN education loan – borrowed RM50k with 1% interest; balance RM40k

Personal loan – borrowed RM10,000 with 12% interest; balance RM8000

(interest rates taken from various comparison websites)

The
logical approach
 when paying off debt is to prioritise repayment of the highest interest loan first before paying off next one. If that’s the case, Puteri’s order is:

Personal loan – 12% interest

Credit card – 9% interest

Car loan – 3% interest

PTPTN – 1% interest

FAMA Bank – 0% interest

It makes sense right? This way Puteri gets to pay the least amount of overall interest. So rational the solution.

Ok, here’s the thing. Math-wise it’s rational. Humans are not as rational, though. Dave Ramsey and a bunch of
Harvard researchers
 say its better to prioritise debt in the order of their
balances
 instead.

If you re-order Puteri’s loans by their balances, it’ll look like this:

Credit card – balance RM1000

FAMA Bank – balance RM1500

Personal loan – balance RM8000

Car loan – balance RM20k

PTPTN education loan – balance RM40k

Why should Puteri pay off credit card balance first if personal loan have a higher interest rate? Because ticking off debt one by one gives you more motivation along the way. Say Puteri paid off her lowest amount of debt, credit card. Now it’ll look like this:

Credit card – balance RM1000
 (Paid off in full!)

FAMA Bank (minimum payment to indicate goodwill)

Personal loan – balance RM8000 (minimum payment to avoid further interest)

Car loan – balance RM20k (minimum payment to avoid further interest)

PTPTN education loan – balance RM40k (minimum payment to avoid further interest)

Idk about you but even crossing out one loan in this hypothetical example gave me a lot of satisfaction.

Then Puteri can do the same thing for the rest:

FAMA Bank – balance RM1500 (put in extra money to pay this off in the quickest timeframe)

Personal loan – balance RM8000 (minimum payment to avoid further interest)

Car loan – balance RM20k (minimum payment to avoid further interest)

PTPTN education loan – balance RM40k (minimum payment to avoid further interest)

And so on and so forth.
Whichever debt has the lowest balance, pay off that one first
.

General tips and tricks in paying off debt

Personally, I’m the type of person who is uncomfortable with borrowing money, I don’t like to be in debt. I aim to not owe anyone anything. If I can repay all my debt in 10 years instead of 25, why not? Peace of mind.

If our thinking is aligned, and you do have debt to pay off, here are more tips and tricks:

Always find out if there are opportunities to reduce your loan balance.
 For example, PTPTN offers 15% discount on one-shot repayment. There might be a balance transfer plan that gives better rates. Then re-order according to the new balance.

Check if there are penalties to paying off loans early.
 Sometimes they have penalties, those sneaky bastards. If they do, add it to the balance and re-order again.

Don’t get another (bad) loan.
 Avoid racking up more debt, especially credit card and personal loan debt.

Try to not skip minimum payments.
 Unless you’re really short in cash and can’t trim your budget any further. If you have to miss, try giving each institution a call to see if you can renegotiate terms, like asking smaller payments or asking for an extension. It’s worth a shot. If not, ask FAMA Bank. If not, it’s ok, it’s not the end of the world. Ask AKPK and see if they can intervene and help in any way.

Find ways to increase income and reduce expenses.
 Chuck all your extra money to repayments so you’ll get out of debt faster.

If the interest rate is really small (0-1%), it’s OK to split your money and use a part of it to start investing.
 Check out how to
start investing even with RM1000
.

Never take advantage of FAMA Bank.
 Pay back your parents. Don’t rob from their retirement funds.

There may be more tips, I’ll add more as I have them. If you have additional tips, do share in the comments and I’ll add them in (crediting yourself).

Related:
My Debt Management: All The Good Debt & Bad Debt I’ve Taken So Far