12 Types of Investment Available in Malaysia and The People Who Have Them

If you were to check out personal finance and investment commentaries – from blogs, forums, websites – you’ll see that different people have their preferred investment vehicles (types) based on their personality.

It’s very interesting, because after a while you start seeing a pattern: people who prefer investment X tend to be Y. It’s super fascinating.

Look at this from a behavioural point of view. Many personal finance and investment experts like to say ‘select an investment that works for you’, but what does that mean
exactly
? How do you choose from many different types of investment available in Malaysia?

Well, one way to kind of eliminate investments that ‘does not work for you’ is by reading on below.

What I’ve done is basically compile different types of investment available in Malaysia and give you
the defining traits of each type of investor
. There might be people who don’t fit all the traits, but I think in general it’s pretty accurate.

Related:
What to invest with RM1000

Pexels
 / Pixabay

#1 Property

Defining traits of people who invest in this investment vehicle:

Likes to look at properties
 and might even do this unconsciously. Also looks at finishing, distance to amenities (schools, petrol stations, banks, grocery shops etc) and linkages to public transport and major highways.

Usually look for
 indicators like rental demand or appreciation rate
 of a location before making their purchase.

Follows
news from major developers
. Knows who are the bad developers so they can avoid buying their properties (to avoid buying properties that never get completed).

Tend to be better at
spatial intelligence
. They know the direction to KL no matter where they are. They tend to know shortcuts that even Waze don’t know.

If they don’t have capital (money) to buy property and/or don’t want to deal with tenants, they might opt for
REITs
.

Related:
5 Things I Learned About REITs in Malaysia (From a Bursa Malaysia-Sponsored Workshop)

#2 Unit trust/Mutual funds/ETFs

Defining traits of people who invest in this investment vehicle:

Prefer someone else/another company to
handle their money on their behalf
. May or may not know how the money is being invested, but ultimately don’t care as long as the average profit is alright.

Prefers
long-term, stable and safer approach to investing
. This money is earmarked for retirement, not for next year’s holiday.

Some get their unit trust investment through their investment-linked insurance products.

Usually, the particular unit trust/mutual fund investment is picked based on a
recommendation from agents
 or friends. For example, ‘I got this one because my agent said at my age I should concentrate on growth fund’.

If they are familiar with macroeconomics, they will make very specific picks. For example, ‘I want to invest in developing countries in Asia Pacific’ or ‘I want the fund to include precious metals’ or ‘I want to invest in real estate in Asia’.

Might not know how much their fund manager charge them for management fee. Go check – it usually ranges from 1% up to 5%. The lower the better. The lowest is the Amanah Saham stuff, next is ETFs offered by Stashaway at 0.2-0.8% in fees. Bonus: You get 50% off management fees for the first RM100k invested in the firs
t 6 months through this link:
https://bit.ly/2JNs4pU

#3 Stocks (Blue Chip)

Defining traits of people who invest in this investment vehicle:

Finds
high-level company drama
 interesting. Follows major announcements of big companies via Business newspapers and/or websites and/or social media.

Probably works as a white collar worker. Maybe in an MNC (multinational corporation).

Are actual
 fans of the companies.
 That’s probably why they decide to buy their stocks.

Since they own a part of the company, they tend to be very opinionated about the company’s business strategy.

e-zara
 / Pixabay

#4 Equity Crowdfunding (ECF)

(Someone who gives money to new businesses, usually early-phase startups).

Defining traits of people who invest in this investment vehicle:

Generally divided into
3 categories
: retail investor (individual), angel investor (individual) and businesses. Considered a high-risk investment, kind of all-or-nothing (may lose all investment money).

Might be philanthropic as they only invest in businesses that they believe in and reflects their values.

Probably goes to a lot of networking events – ECF investors usually hear of these startups via word-of-mouth recommendation.

Has secret daydreams about choosing startups that eventually become unicorns

#5 Fixed Deposits (FDs)

Defining traits of people who invest in this investment vehicle:

Likes surety,
prefers small profit over no profit
. Compares rates from banks and takes advantage of special offers.

May use it as a way to lock their savings somewhere they can’t touch it.

Attractive to non-Bumis (as this is the best safe alternative to ASB).

Stevebidmead
 / Pixabay

#6 Gold/Silver

Defining traits of people who invest in this investment vehicle:

A bit old school. Prefers the ‘tried and tested’ route. Knows that gold (and to a lesser extent, silver) can be used to
hedge against fiat
.

Might hold gold coins (or bars if they’re ballin’). If they’re paranoid about keeping it at home (risk of being stolen), they’ll pay for safekeeping services.

If not, they’ll buy ‘e-gold’ issued by banks or private companies. The margin is not the best but at least it’s safe.

Some consider their gold jewellery as an ‘investment they can wear’. They’re not wrong, technically speaking.

Related:
How to Buy Gold in Malaysia, as an Investment

#7 Art/Antiques/Jewellery

Defining traits of people who invest in this investment vehicle:

Tend to have
a lot of money
. Their art/antiques/jewellery investment is their ‘fun’ investment.

Surrounds themselves and their home with art. Tend to appreciate good interior decorating.

Familiar with names like
Sotheby’s and Christie’s
.

Probably a
history buff
. Might take a liking to a particular time period for a particular nation (for example, Ming Dynasty). Collects items from this era for fun.

If not a history buff, then they are probably the other extreme –
modern/contemporary art buff
.

Alexas_Fotos
 / Pixabay

#8 Fiat Currencies

(Fiat = Government-issued money, like RM or USD)

Defining traits of people who invest in this investment vehicle:

Follows world news
. Religiously. Cares about new laws, policies and regulations, especially regarding trade and finance. Knows and understands the Brexit and Venezuela situation.

May do forex trading. May dabble/took a course in technical analysis.

Probably tried a few trading platforms before sticking with one they liked.

Might have learnt the importance of stop loss the hard way (or heard horror stories about it).

Aside from fiat, might also dabble in commodities.

#9 Hedge funds

(Strategy-focused high-risk, high-reward investments)

Defining traits of people who invest in this investment vehicle:

Idolises George Soros
. If not idolise, then greatly respect him.

Very rich
. Probably a HNW or UHNW individual (high net worth or ultra high net worth). Has a fund manager. Maybe too busy for DIY investing.

Believes in and have no problem with borrowing money to make money (
leveraging
).

Hedge funds are not that common in Malaysia, so these people probably mingle more with the international folk and get advise/tips from them.

#10 Cryptocurrencies

Defining traits of people who invest in this investment vehicle:

Maybe likes the internet a bit too much.

Fascinated by the technology behind it (blockchain). Sometimes compares some cryptocurrencies to penny stocks for its ‘unlimited potential’.

Takes (or should take)
digital security
 seriously. Have heard the phrase ‘not your keys, not your coins’ way too many times.

Knows its a
high-risk investment
. (By right) They should be able to take the hit from price volatility/swings.

Related:
FAQ: Everything You Should Know about Bitcoin in Malaysia, as a Newbie
 &
FAQ: How to Invest in Cryptocurrencies in Malaysia (Aside from Bitcoin)

#11 P2P financing platforms

Defining traits of people who invest in this investment vehicle:

Not a particularly sexy type of investment. Kinda boring. There’s no real interaction beyond ‘hey this company needs to borrow money and they can pay back x% by [date]. You in or not?’

Tech-savvy and familiar with fintech landscape.

Knows what is supply chain financing and invoice financing.

Favoured by people who like short-term investments.

Related:
I Asked Hard Questions to the CEO of Funding Societies Malaysia

#12 Skim-Cepat-Kaya/ Get Rich Quick Schemes

Defining traits of people who invest in this investment vehicle:

Thinks they found a ‘hidden gem’ investment that is both (1) high profit and (2) easy.

When they were approached by friends/family/advertisement, they were attracted by these words: ‘
Guaranteed Profit!!
‘, ‘Passive Income’, ‘Easy Money’, ‘Fast Paying’, ‘Start with $xx, earn $xxxxx’.

If the investment gives profit, they tend to give positive word of mouth about it to friends and families and encourage them to join too. Why not? Can earn referral profit for them while ‘helping’ others grow rich. It’s win-win.

More prevalent in tight-knit communities, especially if it was promoted by community leaders (teachers and ustads).

If they get into the ‘programme’ fast, they might make money. If they joined an oversaturated one, they will probably lose their money.

Kind of stubborn and loyal to the cult, up until they lose all their money.

Related:
How to spot investment that are actually investment scams

Conclusion

Many, if not most investors don’t just invest in one type of investment. Taking a few is common (and the smart thing to do). The safest strategy is to put more money into the safer types of investments than the riskier types of investments.

In this list, I would say Fixed Deposit is the safest type of investment, followed by mutual funds and unit trusts (depends on which ones), then blue chip stocks (depends on which ones).

By this point in the article, I hope you found at least one type of investment that ‘fits your personality’, so to speak. Some investing vehicles work for some, but not the rest – we’re all comfortable with different things. For me, I like passive investing. Check out
my passive income guide
 (and what I personally invest in).

Liked this article? Do you identify with any of the characteristics? Let me know in the comments 🙂

Further reading:
6 Things to Know When You’re Investing for the First Time


[VIDEO](Stereo)types of Malaysian Investors: Who You Are Based on What You Invest In

What are the stereotypes of a property investor? A stock investor? Gold? Crypto? Join me as I list out the stereotypes and impressions I have about different types of Malaysian investors.

This video is inspired by an article I wrote a few years back:
12 Types of Investment Available in Malaysia and The People Who Have Them

(If you want more bitchiness, you’ll LOVE this one:
Roasting Different Types of Investments in Malaysia (Everything That Sucks About Them)

Do you agree with the way I stereotyped Malaysian investors? Disagree? Tell me in the comments section!

Also please follow the
RinggitOhRinggit Youtube channel
. I’m currently exploring YouTube as an additional income stream. So help me out by watching and subscribing, I’m trying to hit 1000 subs and 4000 watch hours so I can write about the monetisation process 🙂


All You Need to Know About Buying Unit Trust Through EPF i-Invest [SPONSORED]

According to an article published in
The Edge
 portal, ‘as of April 2020, EPF i-invest had recorded approximately 25,000 transactions worth RM219.3 million’.

That is pretty significant, for two reasons:

That means the average transaction size is RM8,772 (!! that’s bigger than I thought!), and

It also means that there’s a lot of demand for buying unit trust through EPF i-Invest platform, considering it
just
launched in Q3 2019.

 The launch of EPF i-Invest platform, taken from instagram.com/kwspmalaysia

What is EPF i-Invest

So, EPF/KWSP (Employees’ Provident Fund/ Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja) is your
retirement-earmarked fund
. The 11% deduction to your salary every month (plus your employer’s 13% contribution) goes towards this fund. This part you already know.

EPF i-Invest is the self-service online platform which allows
EPF i-Akaun
 users to divert
part of your EPF funds
 in unit trusts.

Its selling points are easy to see:

#1 – Sales charge capped at 0.5% maximum

I believe low sales charge is THE reason why so many EPF members bought unit trust through EPF i-Akaun.

#2 – Lots of unit trust options offered

They started with five fund management institutions (one of which is the sponsor of this post,
Principal Asset Management Berhad
) and have since, at the time of writing, increased that number to
ten
.

(But of course, more funds = more headache during the selection process. We’ll cover a bit about the selection process further down this article)

#3 – Digital everything

Have you set up your
EPF i-Akaun
 yet? This account is something you should have anyway if you’re on company payroll. Click on the ‘First Time Login Guide’ if you don’t have it yet, and EPF will guide you through the next steps.

All the unit trust-buying happens through the
EPF i-Akaun
 portal
.
 You can:

do all the researching, buying and selling of unit trust there

view your consolidated portfolio online

find out your eligible investment amount automatically without manual calculations (see #4)

Side note: Check your EPF i-Akaun at least semi-regularly, just for your own financial planning.

#4 – You’re only diversifying your surplus savings, not your whole EPF savings
.

You can only invest
up to 30% of the amount in excess of the required basic savings in Account 1 as per your age
 (see table below).

 Source: https://www.principal.com.my/en/others/faq-generalinfo

As provided in
Principal Asset Management’s General info section
, a member aged 34 with RM118,926.56 (banyaknya. Kerja apa tu) in her/his Account 1 is eligible to invest RM20,077.97 in total, following EPF’s requirement.

Total Savings in Account 1

   RM118,926.56

Basic Savings required in Account 1

RM52,000

Amount in access of Basic Savings

RM66,926.56

Eligible Amount (30% x RM61,926.56)

RM20,077.97

What people say about EPF i-Invest

Whenever the subject of EPF i-Invest or investing EPF money in unit trust comes up in discussions (as it often does), a few types of people show up:

Those who can’t use EPF i-Invest because
don’t have enough Basic Savings
 amount

Those who diversified their EPF money, and are
happy
with the returns

Those who diversified their EPF money, and are
NOT happy
with the returns (they tend to be very vocal)

Those who haven’t, and
don’t plan to diversify their EPF money
 into unit trust (don’t want to take the risk with retirement savings, completely understand)

Those who haven’t, and are
considering to diversify their EPF money
 into unit trust (got more than enough in Basic Savings and want to take advantage of incentives all)

People in
the FIFTH category.
Can we talk?

Being Realistic with Your Unit Trust Returns

As I was doing my research for this piece, a few key phrases jumped out. One of them is ‘for the informed investor’.

For. The. Informed. Investor.

Are you an informed investor? Do you have a selection process in mind, for this process of picking unit trusts? You know there are tens of unit trusts to choose from, right? Do you have the time to read each one, or have the resources to hire someone for advice?

 EPF i-Akaun will also remind you about this every time you enter the Investing section

To be a more informed investor, you have to actively learn about unit trusts investment, especially you want to do it the DIY way via EPF i-Invest (so you can enjoy 0% sales charge).

One place to start the learning process is through Principal Asset Management’s
Knowledge Centre
 page.

So. For anyone considering to buy unit trust through EPF i-Invest. Be an informed investor. Know, at the very least:

If the unit trust is Syariah-compliant or not (if it matters to you)

Which region(s) is it investing in

The risk ratings

The different types of unit trusts (keywords to learn: money market fund, equity fund, balanced fund)

And more, including the exact steps of purchasing the unit trust fund through EPF i-Akaun platform

Or you can go through the shortcut: Principal publishes monthly
Investment Outlooks
, which
recommends funds by risk profile to meet your risk tolerance and expected returns.

All the best. Share with us in the comments section your experience with EPF i-Invest, so the rest of us can learn and be better and more informed investors.

Disclaimer: This article is sponsored by Principal through a collaborative writing process.


[2023 Updated] The Ultimate Wahed Invest Review After 3+ Years In, RM11,000 Invested

As per popular request, here is my long-due in-depth Wahed Invest review. Wahed Invest is a
roboadvisor platform
 (the technical term is Digital Investment Manager (DIM)
as per the Securities Commission
) and falls under the umbrella of wealthtech services.

As of the time of writing, I have been using Wahed investment platform for 3+ years, since November 2019. Here you can see my deposit of RM1,000 on 3 November 2019 and an additional deposit of RM10,000 on 7 November 2019.

If you liked this review and want to open an account and try Wahed Invest yourself,
download the Wahed Invest app from Appstore/iOS
 and
use my referral code ‘surbin1’ to get free RM10 bonus

See my Wahed Invest review and rating for each process/category below:

#1 – Opening a Wahed Invest account – 4 out of 5

Opening an account with Wahed Invest is a simple process: all you need to do is download the app, create an account, upload your identification documents, add funds into the portfolio recommended for you (guided process), and just continue to add funds until you reach your goal(s).

You will need:

Your phone to
download the Wahed Invest app from Appstore/iOS

Initial fund to deposit into your account- it’s RM100 minimum to start

ID card/passport

Proof of address document – MYKad, driving license, utility bill, etc

1-2 working days for verification and funds transfer to complete

(Optional but recommended)
Use my referral code ‘surbin1’ to get free RM10 bonus

The only reason I gave it 4 out of 5 is because there is no web platform for Malaysians yet, only app.

#2 – The Account Registration Process – 4 out of 5

My own experience opening an account with Wahed Invest was slightly bumpy. What happened was I got stuck at proof of address document (driving licence) upload stage. I think they tried to use software to automate the registration process but it was not perfect and I was rejected FOUR times.

However, their support team was helpful and it got sorted out soon enough. Aside from this, I personally have not experienced any other problems – it’s a solid investment app in Malaysia market. In fact it might be one of the best investment apps in Malaysia.

Note: Some users were unaware that the registration process needs 1-2 working days for verification and funds transfer to complete

#3 – Is Wahed Invest legit – 5 out of 5

Yes, Wahed Invest is legit. It is one of the seven
licenced roboadvisory platforms in Malaysia
, and the only Syariah-compliant option.

Note:
legitimacy doesn’t mean profits are guaranteed
, it just means the company is unlikely to steal your funds, and *if* they do anything shady, you can
 lodge a complaint at Securities Commission Malaysia
 and they will look into it.

Ultimately, your profits with Wahed Invest (or lack thereoff) still depends on market conditions – if the market goes up, you’ll make some money. If the market goes down, you’ll lose some.

The good news is the market *tends* to go up
over the long term
, so as long as you stay invested and don’t panic sell when you get short-term losses and (even better) continue to top up your account, you *should* end up with more than you started with.

Here’s a projection of your portfolio balance if you invest RM500 per month for 20 years.

#4 – Is Wahed Invest Halal – 5 out of 5

So you might wonder, is Wahed Invest halal type of investment?

The answer is yes, Wahed Invest practices halal investing, structured in accordance to Islamic principles.

Halal investing is not just for Muslims
 – Non-Muslims reading this, you are free to practice halal investing as well if you strongly dislike the following industries:

Excess debt

Tobacco

Alcohol

Firearms

Gambling

Adult entertainment

Impure foodstock

Usurious institutions

But that’s not all. What impresses me about Wahed Invest is they go above and beyond to also
purify the <5% of revenues that may come from prohibited business activities, which is technically allowable as per halal investing guidelines
.

This is what they say in their own words (received via email newsletter):

Companies which have less than 5% of their revenues coming from prohibited business activities are said to have passed the Sector-based Shariah-compliant Screens. But the proportion of dividends attributed to revenue generated from such non-permissible business activities and interest income will have to be purified.

Wahed helps you purify all dividend income from the ETFs automatically, without any action on your side.

We do so by calculating the amount to be purified every time a dividend payout happens and we channel the purification amount directly to Malaysian Medical Relief Society (MERCY Malaysia) on your behalf.

And sure enough, they followed through. I received an update on amount purified and donated to MERCY Malaysia on my behalf.

They could have skipped this step, but they didn’t. I am honestly very happy and impressed with this level of dedication to halal investing.

That’s not all. They also help you in..

#5 – Paying Zakat with Wahed Invest – 5 out of 5

Paying zakat pelaburan (investment zakat? Idk the term in English) is easy via Wahed Invest.

 They will send you an email with the calculations AND a payment link, and all you have to do is click on the button and complete the payment yourself. There is also prompt encouraging non-Muslims to donate the money to charity, if they want to.

Note: You will only receive the email if you had an active account for
a full calendar year
, which means you have completed a full haul (time required). The zakat money will be channelled to a zakat collection body and distributed to people who are qualified to receive it.

Important: The nisab for 2020 calendar year was RM15,762 (this amount may change). If the money in your account is lower than this at any point during the year, then you don’t need to pay zakat.

#6 – Wahed Invest Returns – 5 out of 5

Your return on investment with Wahed Invest depends on which Portfolio you select. There are twelve portfolios to choose from:

*All average returns are accurate as of writing time, as shown in the Wahed Invest app

Very Aggressive
 (highest risk, potentially highest rewards) – 10.92% Average return

Aggressive
 – 9.11% Average return

Moderately Aggressive
 (this is the one I picked for myself) – 8.26% Average return

Moderate
 – 6.51% Average return

Moderately Conservative
 – 5% Average return

Very Conservative
 (lowest risk and safest) – 2.98 Average return

Gold
 (basically like investing in gold, but digitally) – 3.96% Average return

US Stocks
 (97.50% invested in the US stock market) – 12.86% Average return

Thematic Portfolio: China Stocks
 – for long term investors

Thematic Portfolio: Emerging Market Stocks
 – for long term investors

Thematic Portfolio: Local REITs portfolios
– Real Estate Investment Trusts; for long term investors

Thematic Portfolio: Money Market Fund
 – low-risk; a great fixed deposit alternative

Each Wahed Invest portfolio invests your money in
two or more
 of the below individual assets/funds:

Malaysia Stocks – MyETF MSCI Malaysia Islamic Dividend

US Stocks – Wahed FTSE USA Syariah ETF

China Stocks – VP-DJ Shariah China A-Shares 100 ETF

Sukuk – RHB Islamic Bond Fund, Malaysia Maybank Sukuk Fund

Gold

Cash

REITs

What makes each portfolio different, if they more or less contain the same thing? The allocations of the assets/funds of each portfolio,
the breakdown
.

For example, this is the breakdown of
Wahed Invest Very Aggressive portfolio
. See how the majority is allocated in Global Stocks and Emerging Market Stocks?

This is the breakdown of
Wahed Invest Moderately Aggressive
 portfolio. See how Sukuk (ie Islamic version of Bond) allocation is bigger?

And this is the breakdown of
Wahed Invest Very Conservative portfolio
. See how it’s mostly comprised of Sukuk?

As you can see, the allocation breakdown makes all the difference.

#7 – Which Wahed Invest Portfolio to choose

Even though there are only 12 portfolios in Wahed Invest (6 if you take out Gold portfolio, US Stocks portfolio, and the 4 thematic portfolios), one of the questions I get a lot is which portfolio to select.

The way I see it, there are two main methods:

1) Let them suggest one for you

This method is great especially for new investors. You can take a quiz to find out your risk appetite, aka the reason why so many investment advice boils down to ‘it depends’, because they have no idea what you can stomach without knowing you better.

Important: You don’t have to pick the portfolio selected, you can select another one. Initially, my quiz outcome recommended Aggressive but I chose Moderately Aggressive instead.

(The reason I reduced my risk – My risk appetite is actually pretty high. However, considering my overall portfolio is already super high risk –
cryptocurrencies
make up a big chunk of
my investment portfolio
 – I thought I’d take my risk down a notch).

2) Get multiple portfolios

The second way is to simply pick more than one portfolio, so you don’t wonder how the one you didn’t choose will perform.

Since Wahed Invest allows multiple portfolios in one account, you can get different ones at the same time and monitor their performances. This may be a good idea for those of you who feels paralysed by fear by the choices available and end up not deciding/investing at all.

Alternatively, you can also get multiple portfolios and earmark each of them for different purposes, like so:

#8 – My Wahed Invest Returns – 4.5 out of 5

As mentioned, I have one portfolio in Wahed Invest account – Moderately Aggressive.

Important:
Your Wahed Invest returns will be different from mine
. I have seen people share
negative returns all the way to 5X% returns
. The ROI % depends on:

At which
point you entered the market
. Remember, in a bull market, every investor is a genius

The portfolio(s) you selected.
As a general rule, the more aggressive the portfolio, the higher the risks and potential rewards

Personally, my Wahed Invest performance has been great, ngl. I expected low single-digit returns, but it performed better than that. I think I
got lucky
 with the timing.

(1) My Wahed Invest returns 8 months in:

(2) My Wahed Invest returns 1-year in:

Note: the huge drop is due to withdrawal – I took some money out

(3) My Wahed Invest returns 1.5 years in:

(4) My Wahed Invest returns 2 years in:

(5) My Wahed Invest returns 2.5 years in:

(6) My Wahed Invest returns 3+ years in

*Note: I added more during market downturn. They say to be greedy when others are fearful, so…

As you can see, there were some short-term dips, but over the long term, my portfolio value increased steadily.

So don’t panic too much if your Wahed Invest portfolio value is negative – continue investing consistently and at the same time
increase your salary
 and/or
side income
 to add more every month and you should be okay.

This is what you should remember if your
investment is losing money.

#9 – Wahed Invest Fees – 4.5/5

Wahed Invest has one of the lowest fee structures among the
robo advisory platforms in Malaysia
:

0.79% for RM100-RM499,999 deposited

0.39% for >RM500k deposited

For each additional account, you are charged the 0.79%/0.39% fee structure OR RM2.50 per month, whichever is higher.

There are no other fees, EXCEPT:

Fees charged by investment funds
, which you can’t escape from regardless, and

Additional charges for fund transfers
 – (manual) bank transfers are still free, but as of 10 May 2021 there is a RM1 charge for recurring deposit collections (its not their fault, but yes this is why I took 0.5 stars off. Charging for this means people are less likely to automate their investment)

1% currency exchange fee
for deposits, withdrawals and inter-fund transfers to portfolios denominated in USD. Applicable to US Stocks and Emerging Markets Stocks portfolios

Other than that, can’t complain. I think Wahed Invest fees are very reasonable. Just 0.79% is tremendous value for money, when unit trusts charge more than that just for sales charges.

#10 – Wahed Invest vs Stashaway

Wahed Invest vs Stashaway – which is better? Which one should you pick?

Both are good but Wahed Invest is Syariah-compliant and Stashaway is not. So if
halal investing
 is important to you (it is to me), then Wahed Invest is your pick.

If you don’t mind either way, you have more choices beyond Wahed Invest. See my
roboadvisors in Malaysia comparison article

#11 – Final verdict of this Wahed Invest Review

In case this Wahed Invest Review wasn’t obvious, I am a happy Wahed Invest user. I’m especially won over by:

The exposure to
US stock market
, which is usually expensive and mafan for retail investors (I can say I indirectly invest in Apple and Tesla!), and

The exposure to
China stock market
, and

The ability to
easily buy local REITs
, and

The
dedication to halal investing
, especially the voluntary purification of <5% of revenues that may come from non-halal investing (but still satisfy halal investing guidelines)

As for
withdrawals
, I’ve had no problems withdrawing money from Wahed Invest, but leave a comment if you did.

How’s your experience like with Wahed Invest? What do you like/don’t like about it? Do you have any other questions not covered here? Let me know in the comments!

Obligatory final reminder: This is not a sponsored post. If you liked this review and want to open an account and try Wahed Invest yourself,
download the Wahed Invest app from Appstore/iOS
 and
use my referral code ‘surbin1’ to get free RM10 bonus


Which Cryptocurrencies to Invest In? 3 Ways I Use to Decide

Investing in cryptocurrencies has been one of the wildest rides I’ve been on. The price swings are so volatile, I’ve experienced exhilaration, extreme anxiety, and everything in between.

But one thing I know for sure: I have no regrets about investing in cryptocurrencies. Especially because I accumulated most of my stash
for free/ in exchange for labour
.

Here’s what I take into consideration to decide which cryptocurrencies to invest in. At the end of the article, I’ll also share the safest way to invest in cryptocurrencies. All standard DYOR disclaimers apply.

#1 – Prioritise Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH)

If you die die don’t know which cryptocurrencies to invest in, then let me just say, start with Bitcoin and Ethereum. Crypto is risky, but they’re the safest of the lot.

Why did I say that? Because, I have observed
Coingecko’s
 Top 10 Ranking since 2015, and Bitcoin and Ethereum have consistently stayed in the #1 and #2 spots, while other cryptocurrencies come and go. That means they have staying power, they have reputation, they have strong community.

Screenshot taken on 12 Nov 2021

If we dissect numbers 3-10 in the current Top 10 Ranking,

2 are stablecoins – Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) (both pegged to USD1)
2 are private companies – Binance (BNB; crypto exchange) and Ripple (XRP; remittance network)
3 are Ethereum rivals – Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA) and Polkadot (DOT)
1 is memecoin – Dogecoin (DOGE) (just the week before, both DOGE and SHIB made it in the Top 10 Ranking)

Past, and probably Future Top 10 Ranking will likely follow the same format:

No #1 – Bitcoin
No #2 – Ethereum
A combination of private companies, Ethereum rivals and/or memecoins
And/or whatever is trendy or hyped up at the time (new blockchain use cases, new dApp platforms, whatever)

Does this mean I don’t get cryptocurrencies aside from BTC/ETH? Not at all. I do get them – some projects are so interesting and you need tokens to participate.

But I go in with the understanding that the project might fail and/or the value might drop and never recover.
 Any cryptocurrency can be popular now and even be in the Top 10 Ranking, and still face the chance of dying out. I’ve seen it happen again and again.

When this happens, losing money is not the only annoying part. It also sucks because no one likes to be wrong in a project they actually liked, ESPECIALLY if one is a strong believer and community member. So it’s like double pain 🙁

So keep this in mind: You can get ANY cryptocurrencies you want, as long as you accept the risk of losing it all. Sure you can do whatever you want with your money, but it’s probably wise to not go all-in in a single cryptocurrency aside from BTC and ETH.

#2 – Cryptocurrencies ‘vouched’ by licensed crypto exchanges in Malaysia

Nothing to shout about here. I own all the cryptocurrencies offered in licensed crypto exchanges in Malaysia – BTC, ETH, LTC, XRP and BCH. The way I see it, if they have passed SC’s extremely strict guidelines, they’re good enough for me.

Yes, even XRP. Not the biggest fan, but yes I have a little bit.

#3 – Cryptocurrencies that I can use to earn

Aside from Bitcoin and Ethereum, I also like to own cryptocurrencies that can be used for earning, especially for staking and yield-farming purposes. These include:

Ethereum (ETH)
 – Example DEX: UnisWap. I’ve yet to do here though as the gas fees alone is >$100++ per transaction.
Binance Coin (BNB)
 – Example DEX: PancakeSwap. Fairly straightforward to learn, low fees (10 cents or so per transaction).
Polygon (MATIC)
 – Example DEX: QuickSwap. Took me some time to understand but fees are very low (less than 1 cent per transaction!).

There are other ways to earn with cryptocurrencies aside from staking and yield-farming, such as trading, Play-to-Earn and NFT flipping (
DeFi
 world is so big; see below). My personal view is it is awesome to learn how to earn beyond hodling (although there’s nothing wrong with just hodling, you diamond hands you!).

Note: Staking and yield-farming are both terms used in
DeFi
, or Decentralised Finance. In case you don’t know what it is:

Staking is kinda sorta like fixed deposit where you earn by ‘locking’ your cryptocurrencies in exchange for profit
Yield-farming is kinda sorta like earning from being a liquidity provider (a fancy term that basically means, you supply money for borrowers)

Extra: My staking and yield-farming experience

For example, one of the things I’m doing is staking $CAKE in PancakeSwap, one of the DEX (decentralised exchange) using Binance Smart Chain. There are many tutorials online so learning it wasn’t that hard, and honestly, it is so worth knowing how to do this for freaking double-digit APY (annual percentage yield).

How can I not like crypto? This is 2 months worth – I get USD500 per month passive income with USD6000 capital from staking alone
And this is considered basic, not even advanced. Pls go learn crypto, it will free you from RM1.2k employers
pic.twitter.com/7BYdp0dR5r
— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com 🏴 (@surayaror)
October 3, 2021

Simplistically, what you need to earn money by staking at PancakeSwap is:

Some cryptocurrencies (you can get BTC, ETH, LTC, XRP and BCH from
one of the licenced exchanges in Malaysia
)
Binance
 account (so you can exchange to BNB)
Metamask wallet installed with
Smart Chain
 aka Binance Smart Chain. Here’s how to
install Smart Chain in Metamask
 (so you can interact with PancakeSwap)
And you can pretty much exchange your BNB for whatever token you want and start staking in PancakeSwap ($CAKE is a popular option, but only one of many)

(Should I do an in-depth, step by step guide on how to do staking? Let me know in the comments)

You might see some people talking about extremely high APYs, sometimes going up to EIGHT DIGITS or more (???). Of course, those gains only come with riskier pools and platforms. Plus you also have the overall crypto market to worry about.

I also want to mention that earning is not guaranteed, especially during volatile crypto market seasons. I should know, I’ve lost some money along the way 🙂

DeFi is wild because I'm earning $30 a day from staking and yield farming but also lost $4k since last week cos the crypto market went down
Anyway. Current strategy is to prioritise stablecoins 🙂
— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com 🏴 (@surayaror)
June 11, 2021

I can’t stress enough that you need to learn bitcoin first before you do this DeFi stuff.
 Bitcoin knowledge is the primary level info and DeFi is like degree level, so don’t skip steps.

If you’re new, check out my
The ULTIMATE Cryptocurrency in Malaysia Guide [2021]
 article
Then, check out my
I Am Self-Learning DeFi (Decentralised Finance). Here’s Why.
 article
Then, check out the section on non-custodial wallet in my
Binance Ban in Malaysia: 4 Options You Can Take
 article

IMPORTANT: You NEED to be super clear about networks, because transferring your cryptocurrencies to different networks (for example, from Ethereum to Smart Chain) may cause you to lose your crypto!

For example, you can only send ETH on the ETH network – some people have tried to ‘save money on fees’ by using another network. It won’t work – if you’re lucky the platform will stop you, but if not you will be responsible for your own loss. Imagine it like train tracks, and only the ones with the right wheels are compatible.

Which cryptocurrencies do you invest in? Why?

To recap, here are cryptocurrencies I currently own, divided into Hodl, Earn and Fun:

Hodl
: BTC, ETH (biggest chunk) plus LTC, XRP, BCH
Earn
: BNB, MATIC, and whatever is needed to stake/pool, including but not limited to CAKE, TUSD, USDC, QUICK, WEX and more
Fun
(combined, max 1% of crypto portfolio): Whatever I feel like speculating/experimenting with at the time. I’ve had DASH, STEEM, AAVE, GHST and more. If I’m into memecoins, I’d include them here as well

So those are my guidelines in deciding which cryptocurrencies to invest in. How about you? What guidelines do you follow? I would love to hear your strategies and tips!

Of course I can’t end this article without the obligatory disclaimer and again, a reminder to practice safe investing. Speaking of which,

The safe way to invest in cryptocurrencies

If you want to be really safe about it, sort out your
EPF, PRS and SSPN
 first, then your
ASB
/ unit trust/mutual funds/ ETFs (easy via
robo advisors
), BEFORE doing a fun investment of your choice, including cryptocurrencies.

(Yes, I do consider cryptocurrencies as ‘fun’ investment – it’s exciting because it includes an element of risk, speculation and some level of geekiness (aka people who do it and are good at it are obsessed with learning, including the technical side).  Other investments I grouped as ‘fun investment’ also includes stocks (
trading
,
warrants
 etc), gold and property.)

It’s not a bad idea to use this DIY investor scenario as a guideline. Do #1-5 first before you do #6.

Alternative way to safely invest in cryptocurrencies

Otherwise, you can also use the ‘
not more than 5%
‘ rule. If you have RM10000 to invest, then only start crypto with RM500.

(Hack – get 10% ROI immediately. Buy RM500, get RM50 in BTC with my code ‘
LNSURAYA50′
(valid for new users only). Steps: Open a new account at
Luno.com
 > Go to REWARDS > Choose ENTER CODE > Enter the given promo code > Click Apply Code > Deposit the minimum amount required > Buy the minimum transaction amount > Get rewarded with the additional Bitcoin.])

Okay, this is where I’ll end it. Remember to like, comment and share this article if you like it, and let me know what you want to read next!


Why is My Investment Losing Money? 5 Things to Remember [SPONSORED]

Don’t just save money, you have to invest, they said. Invest as early as you can, they said. Inflation is the silent killer, they said.

So you did, and things are alright for a while, until one day you check your investment account and… wait why is my investment losing money? Isn’t the point of investing is for my money to grow? Why has the amount shrunk instead? This isn’t what I signed up for! I want my money back!

Wait, hold up. Don’t do anything yet. You need to remember these 5 things.

#1 – Welcome to your first bear market (this will be your first of many)

If this is your first bear market, welcome. Loosely defined as
prolonged market declines
, bear market is the opposite of bull market –
prolonged market upside
. It is normal for bull and bear markets to alternate every few years.

It is normal for your investment portfolio to lose some value during bear markets, but the good news is historically speaking, your portfolio will recover (and then some) when bull market comes.

Note: bear market is not the same as market correction, which is more short-term in nature. Read more about
bear market vs market correction
.

When did you start investing? During bull or bear market?

Chances are, you started your investment journey during the bull market.

For many people, the hype around bull market encourages them to start investing in the first place. Everyone around you, including (especially?) the media keeps talking about how the stock market or gold (or whatever hot investment at the moment) keeps reaching new record highs.

But it didn’t last. The ‘record highs’ announcements stopped, and replaced with ‘lowest since x’ announcements instead.

At first, you thought the price drop was temporary. Then, as time goes on, you start to panic and second-guess your decisions. You start to question yourself:

Was investing
really
 the right idea?
Maybe I should have stuck to just saving instead?
What should I do – should I sell or buy or do nothing? But if I sell, I will make a loss. Oh no, the price keeps falling, I have to make a decision now or I may end up with nothing!

I don’t know about you, but that was me. Almost everyone goes through their first bear market with a lot of fear.

It might sound unthinkable now, but
the longer you invest, the more you will get used to bear markets
. You may even start to expect it, when the market is going too well for too long.

#2 – Trying to time the market isn’t worth the effort.

Some of you might be looking at the bull vs bear market chart above and go, oh that’s easy! Just buy the investment when it’s at the lowest, and sell at its highest! If I study hard enough, I can make a lot of money from investing!

This, my friends, is what’s called trying to
 time the market
. Some people do it professionally, most people do it amateurishly.

Noted investor Peter Lynch, who averaged an impressive 29.2% annual return between 1977 until 1990, argues that the effort to time the market is
 more trouble than it’s worth
. As elaborated in his book, and shared in the
Far More Money Has Been Lost By Investors Trying To Time Corrections Than In All Corrections Combined
 article,

“Starting in 1965 if you invested at the peak of the market in each year, your annual return was 10.6%. If you timed the market perfectly, invested at the low point of each year, your return was 11.7%.
The difference between great timing and lousy timing was only 1.1%
.”

Yes, just 1.1%. So which would you rather?

Spend a few hours a day learning about stocks fundamentals and technicals in addition to working your day job, or
Learn high-paying skills and find a job you love, while investing consistently in diversified funds.

It is absolutely fine to choose the first option if you love everything about the stock market. Some people do.

However, if you don’t,
you’re better off with the second option
. You will save so much time – time that you can use to spend on people and things you do care about.

So how does one invest while not actively learning about the stock market on a daily basis?

Simple. Just DCA in diversified funds.

#3 – Just DCA in diversified funds

DCA is short for
Dollar Cost Averaging
, which basically means
investing consistently
.

‘Consistently’ can mean daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, or biannually, but in most cases usually refers to weekly or monthly. If you are setting aside even RM100 per month to invest, you are DCA-ing.

DCA can also be applied to many types of investments, from gold to individual stocks, but it is best applied to diversified funds, aka funds with different asset allocations. An example of diversified funds is Wahed Invest’s portfolios, which contain two or more of the below individual assets/funds:

US Stocks – Wahed FTSE USA Shariah ETF
China Stocks – VP-DJ Shariah China A-Shares 100 ETF
Sukuk – RHB Islamic Bond Fund, Malaysia Maybank Sukuk Fund
Gold
Cash
REITs

For example, the image below shows Wahed Invest’s Moderately Aggressive portfolio. As you can see, it is diversified in geographical presence, risk level and even includes gold investment (so you don’t need to buy extra gold for investment, unless you want to).

You can also automate your DCA with Wahed Invest. Simply setup Recurring Deposit via the app – you can choose to schedule a minimum of RM100 every week or month.

Doing DCA will save you so much time. After the initial Recurring Deposit setup, you don’t have to do anything else, just enjoy your life and let the auto-deduct do its thing. You can ignore the market news as well (if you can – they tend to be given a lot of airtime/ column space).

Use the time you saved to learn in-demand skills, find higher salaries and grow your income, so you can invest more. All you need is regularly meet up with your financial planner to review your overall financial life, just to make sure you are on track to reach your financial goals.

#4 – How about other investments? What if I lose money there?

So far, I have elaborated the DCA strategy for diversified funds, and how it is considered the most low-effort way to grow wealth over the long term.

However, some of you might be holding onto other types of investments that are currently down, maybe by a lot. Maybe you hold individual stocks. Maybe you hold cryptocurrencies. Maybe properties.

Here, cutting loss and rebalancing may be a good idea, or it may not –  there are lots of other factors to consider. For such a big decision, you are advised to
get professional advice from a licensed financial planner.

I know it’s tempting to DIY it, but do yourself a favour – skip the forums, just go straight to a professional. This is a no-brainer decision – the few hundred ringgit investment might potentially save you thousands, plus you save so much time as well.

#5 – Remember the fundamentals

Investment is an exciting topic. With the emergence of new technologies and options, plus easy access to financial influencers online who’re giving away ‘hot tips’, it’s easy to get caught up with it.

That’s all fine, whatever rocks your boat. Learning and experimenting with different investments isn’t wrong. In fact, it can be the best part of your investment learning journey.

However, make sure your foundation is right BEFORE you invest. Make sure you have:

3-6 months’ worth of living expenses as emergency funds if you are a salaried employee,
6-12 months’ worth of living expenses as emergency funds if you are self-employed,
No high-interest consumer debt (credit card, personal loan etc)
Increase your income (if you can)
Never go 100% ‘all-in’ with one particular type of investment or asset

This way, you can ride out the bear market when it comes with minimal impact on your day-to-day life. Thanks to your savings and your ability to earn, you won’t be forced to liquidate long-term investments at a loss, nor have to take on debt to cover commitments.

My Investment with Wahed Invest

As of the time of writing, I have been investing with Wahed Invest for around 2.5 years, since November 2019. The ROI on my portfolio (Moderately Aggressive) hovered between 1x% to 2x%.

Y
our

returns will be different from mine
. I have seen people share negative returns all the way to 5X% returns. The ROI % depends on:

At which
point you entered the market
. Remember, in a bull market, every investor is a genius
The portfolio(s) you selected.
As a general rule, the more aggressive the portfolio, the higher the risks and potential rewards

It is counter-intuitive, but the best time to invest is during the bear market, where you essentially get to scoop up assets at a discounted price. Personally, I am continuing my investments, including with Wahed Invest. My portfolio may be down but I won’t stop DCA-ing (while trying my best to ignore doomsday-type market news).

If you haven’t started with Wahed Invest, do check out my
Wahed Invest revie
w
 article, covering the account registration process, portfolio selection process, return on investment and more.

Some reasons why I chose Wahed Invest includes:

Shariah Compliant
 – Halal investing is important to me
Exposure to global market
 – I wanted to invest in US & China company stocks, as historical data shows KLSE (ie Malaysia market) has been underperforming in the last 10 years.
Low capital requirement
– Just RM100 to start
Low fees
 – the fees range from 0.39% to 0.79%, more attractive than unit trust fees
No lock in period
 – you can withdraw anytime

Kickstart your investing journey now – #LaburCaraWahed by downloading the Wahed Invest app:
https://app.wahedinvest.com/go
.

Note: When it comes to investments, there is #CapitalAtRisk and investors are advised to read Wahed Invest’s disclaimer before investing:
https://ethical.wahedinvest.com/generaldisclaimers

Well, hopefully this article helped to ease your anxiety somewhat. Hope the points made in #1-5 is useful for you, not just in this bear cycle, but in future bear cycles you’ll go through in the future. All the best!


Link Roundup #10: 10 Things to Know This Week

Accelerate your personal finance knowledge with this regular feature on Ringgit Oh Ringgit – the Link Roundup! I promise you’ll find these 10 links informational 🙂

1. Share your suggestions for #belanjawan2019 – Ministry of Finance Malaysia

Wanted: your suggestions! Saw this tweet from the Ministry of Finance – decided to share here for wider reach!

Kementerian Kewangan mempelawa rakyat Malaysia untuk memberikan cadangan dalam penyediaan Belanjawan 2019 bagi 12 kategori yang terdapat di
https://t.co/fkcjAjZSz0
. Jangan lupa gunakan hashtag
#belanjawan2019

pic.twitter.com/FTMieis3A8

— Ministry of Finance (@MOFmalaysia)
August 29, 2018

The 12 categories are:

Cost of Living

Education and Training

Public Sector Reform

Technology and Innovation

Entrepreneurship and Business

Access to Financing

Income and Employment Opportunities

Rakyat Welfare and Well-Being

Healthcare and Healthy Lifestyle

Housing, Infrastructure and Public Safety

Social Justice and Equitable Development

Environment and Sustainable Development

For more information,
view the Belanjawan 2019 page
 (English version).

You can submit your suggestions on Twitter (click
here
 to see the current #belanjawan2019 discussion on Twitter), but I suggest you submit directly at the Belanjawan 2019 main website at
this page
.

If you have suggestions on how the nation should spend its money, remember to give them by 30 September 2018, because YB Lim Guan Eng will present it on 2 November 2018!

2.
Ten Things I Never Knew About Las Vegas Until I Ran a High-Roller Suite
 – Bloomberg

Wacky stories about crazy-rich gamblers, as told by someone who did a stint there (and probably blacklisted after the article is out). All I can say is, man, rich people are
weird
.

3.
Nine out of 10 Malaysian students work while studying: HSBC survey
 – The Star

Lots of interesting findings from the HSBC survey…

9 out of 10 Malaysian students work while they are still studying. Two-thirds of them do it to earn money

Malaysian parents say they contribute an average of RM24,100 towards children’s university education (not per year. In total.)

But students estimate they spend RM67,600 in total to cover tuition fees, accommodation, bills and lifestyle costs.
Which means they need an additional  RM43,500 from other sources

“Malaysian students spend a large proportion of their time in paid employment – an average of 3.4 hours a day, more than they spend in the library (2.1 hours) or studying at home (2.3 hours)”

“Separate research on the topic suggests that when the number of hours worked per week by a student exceeds 20 hours,
it has a negative impact on grades
”

BUT: “the same piece of research also concludes that
the academic performance of students who work 10-19 hours per week was superior to their peers
.”

I can’t help feeling like we as a nation are failing our students…

4.
47% of youths have high credit card debts
 – The Star

I’m sharing another The Star article. Not for the headline, although that’s important too, but because it’s such a hot mess.

Paragraph 1
 said 47% of Malaysian youths have high credit card debt (did not elaborate on what constitutes ‘high’), and 38% have personal loans

Paragraph 2
 said more than 3,400 people between 20-30 years old sought counselling and help from AKPK in 2017

Paragraph 3
 quotes BNM Assistant Governor Nazrul Hisyam Mohd Noh: “I challenge all of you to break the myth that the young generation are not financially savvy and do not contribute to these statistics.” A little bit patronising, but okay.

Paragraph 4
 elaborates the #IDAREYOUChallenge (?????) held by the Malaysia Life Insurance Association (LIAM) and Education Ministry. Apparently it’s a competition to select the best marketing presentation and video on the importance of life insurance among 10 finalists from four universities

(I have to point out that nothing much appeared online when I tried to look for that #IDAREYOUChallenge thing)

Paragraph 5-8
 mentions insurance statistics, insurance products for the B40, and a quote (not very important – awareness of insurance is important, la di da)

Paragraph 9
 congratulates Lee Ming Chin from UM for winning the #IDAREYOUChallenge took home a combined RM17,000 in cash (nice! Good for you girl!)

Like I said. A hot mess of an article. Who wrote this?? Why suddenly debt topic become insurance topic one??

Plus can we address something more important? If #3 said that the majority of Malaysian students work to earn extra money, and #4 said young people get into debt anyway, doesn’t that mean the REASON why almost half of us are in debt is because – drumroll –
we’re not paying them enough for their work?

Stop bloody blaming us for our debt. Sure, some of us have a spending problem. But most of us try our best to juggle work and studies and STILL find it
hard
 impossible to cope with the cost of living and cost of education.

5. How I Built My Edible Garden Under RM1000 (
Part 1
 |
Part 2
 ) – JewelPie

I am absolutely floored by Sara’s passion for healthy cooking, to the extent of
growing her own organic farm
. You hear this kind of stuff overseas, but not in Malaysia!

Plus, she wanted to show
how the garden could be done on a budget just to prove it’s possible
. How can you not respect that!

Hats off to you, Sara. Check out
NewMalaysianKitchen
 to get her recipes (I convinced her to have a halal section lol)

View this post on Instagram

@sarakhong showing me the chili and basil section in her organic garden, which has over 50 varieties of edible plants 🌿 What an awesome thing for a chef to have at her disposal! #urbangardening #malaysianfarmer #malaysiancook

A post shared by
 Suraya
 (@surayaror) on
Sep 2, 2018 at 5:39pm PDT

6.
BirthdayBeep Service

You already know you can get specific promos and freebies on your birthday (or week or month), right? I always want to take advantage of these, and always wish there’s a way to just find them conveniently. I want them nicely compiled for me, so malas to search around!

Well someone took the idea and went wild with it.
BirthdayBeep
 is a new, FREE email subscription service that does exactly that! On your birthday month, you’ll get an email with all the offers and freebies you can only redeem for your birthday!

(Note: Have not tried. My birthday is in May – long time to wait. If you’ve received the email, can you give a review in the comments section?)

7.
WhatsApp Has a New Feature That’s Going to Make It a lot of Money
 – Inc

Soon, you’ll be able to
text
 businesses on Facebook via Whatsapp for Business’s new API (reminder: Facebook owns Whatsapp).

And businesses can respond for free, but ONLY if they do so within the next 24 hours. If they reply after that time frame, they will be charged a fee.

Hell yeah faster replies to customer inquiries. Hell yeah less phone calls to businesses.

8.
A mom transforms old clothes into trendy outfits — and the before-and-after photos are incredible
 – Business Insider

Mama’s got sewing skillz! You MUST see the before/after pics – if it wasn’t mentioned, I would have believed they are two different garments, not the same one!

Honestly, I’d love to pick up sewing as a skill, but I know I just don’t have the passion for it. Do you even know how much you can earn if you offer sewing services, especially around festive seasons and to upscale clients?

(Actually, I also don’t know how much, but I assume a lot. It’s uncommon for tailors to be fully booked months before Hari Raya. Higher demand means you can command higher rates!)

9.
Google, Apple and 13 other companies that no longer require a college degree
 – CNBC

Trends from big companies do tend to spill over, so expect this to become a norm soon! Eh wait this is Malaysia. Okay maybe give it at least 5 more years (is that too soon also?)

Haha, dark humour aside, isn’t this a cool trend? Don’t get too excited though – this doesn’t mean no skill also can apply. Employers still will want to see what you can bring to the table, either from coding bootcamp or vocational classes.

10.
Why Concert Tickets Are Way Too Expensive, According To The People Who Really Know
 – The Fader

TL;DR – Staging costs are higher (they’re getting more and more elaborate now), scalpers, and booking fees.

The content is US-specific, but we can see concert ticket costs rising here in Malaysia too. Wonder if there are other factors pushing up the prices locally? Anyone from the industry can chip in?

That’s it for this round, catch you next time! Want to submit a link you thought was great? Reach out to me on
FB
 or
Twitter
.

To read past link roundups, please click
here
.


Link Roundup #11: 10 Things to Know This Week

Accelerate your personal finance knowledge with this regular feature on Ringgit Oh Ringgit – the Link Roundup! I promise you’ll find these 10 links informational 🙂

1.
Here’s how some of the wealthiest people are investing their cash
 – CNBC

This is interesting. Apparently, there is a high-net worth group called TIGER 21. They have about 630 members, and each of them has at least
$10 million
 in investable assets.

Check out what they’re investing (and not investing) in, according to their Q2 2018 report. Interesting read.

That accompanying image in the article though. I feel like slapping all of them. Look so atas like that.

2.
Chinese Entrepreneur Tries to Bring Shenzhen Miracle to Africa
 – Bloomberg

This is an article about economic development in Africa, but that’s not why I included it in this list.

Instead, I want you to know about Helen Hai, the ‘Chinese Entrepreneur’ in the title. I’ve noticed that fewer women are directly named in the business sections as opposed to men. This is my small part to give her more star power – I think she deserves it. In the future, I hope articles will refer her by name in the title.

According to the article, Helen Hai:

Was the youngest female partner at U.K. insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson. Later, she returned to China as chief actuary for Zurich Financial Services.

Left Zurich to set up a shoe factory in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Exported shoes to the US within three months, and has over 4000 employees within 2 years.

Impressed the former Ethiopia Prime Minister so much that she became the first Chinese adviser to the Ethiopian government. They want her help to set up more manufacturing factories in Africa.

Within months, she set up the Made in Africa initiative, which is backed by UNDP. It aims to help Africa create manufacturing hubs. When the going got tough and she couldn’t find foreign investors, she co-founded a factory in Rwanda with fellow Chinese investor Candy Ma (another woman!)
as a demonstration model
. The company now employs 2000 people. They also set up the factories in Senegal and Ethiopia which helped the manufacturing industry investments in Africa increase almost 9 percent in 2017, to $21 billion.

(There are more info in the article and I’m summarising the best bits)

Aside from that, Helen Hai:

Is the UN Industrial Development Organization’s
goodwill ambassador
 in Africa

Heads the $100 million Binance Blockchain Charity Foundation

Isn’t she amazing? Role model material.

3.
How to Stick to A Budget – While Still Being a Social Human Being
 – Refinery29

Recently, Aaron from
Mr-Stingy.com
 and I delivered personal finance talks to the young lawyers crowd. We received a fair amount of ‘how do we budget with social commitments’-type questions. Many young people find it hard to save money when friends and family organise meetups, gatherings and parties. For example, one person shared how she’s expected to shell out some money to celebrate a friend’s bridal shower at a fancy restaurant. She thought the price tag was steep, but she couldn’t exactly suggest ‘let’s do it at a cheaper place’ either.

Aaron had his views – I’ll let him share those at his platform. And the link above has some great suggestions too. I particularly liked #1 – Create a ‘fun money’ account and #4 – Learn when to put yourself first.

If you find it hard to say no to social invitations, here’s MY tip: find work to do in your free time. Not only it gives a great socially-acceptable excuse (“thanks for inviting me, but I can’t, I have work”), you’ll also be able to earn money. Which you can then spend to meet people who ARE important to you, in your precious remaining free time.

Personally, I lost some friends during this whole adulting journey. Related: ‘Money affects my social interactions’ under
[Personal] How it feels like to constantly obsess over money
 article

4.
44 Ways To Find Yourself In Your 20s, Without Quitting Your Job Or Buying A One-Way Ticket To India
 – The Financial Diet

Love this article.

Like many of you, I like to travel as a way to ‘find myself’ – what I like, what I don’t like, what are my limits, etc.

While I’ve never regretted any of my travels, I’ve also wondered if this habit has turned me into someone who is only able to ‘search’
while
 travelling, you know what I mean? Optimally, I want to be able to find meaning in everyday activities, not just when I’m in another country.

The article shared lots of free/cheap ways to make life more meaningful. Meditating, journaling and exercising are all great. But here’s some deeper questions I’m asking myself: Why do I place less importance on free/cheap activities, when they’re just as meaningful as travelling? Do I favour travelling more because it’s considered a status symbol among my generation?

5.
Procedures and Guidelines for Assessment for Mutilated Notes and Defaced Notes
 – Bank Negara Malaysia

Did you see the viral pictures of RM50 notes eaten by termites? Ouch, right?

Apparently, yes you can return the money to BNM and get back some or all of the value. The document linked above and also shown below is the guideline and procedures. From the comments section, some people have done it successfully, so now you know what to do in case your money was accidentally (partially) destroyed!

Depends on the severity of damage.
pic.twitter.com/yGlIvzhChB

— Mano-o (@BeardiePrime)
September 15, 2018

6.
A brilliant way to save money: Treat your favourite anime character like a stripper
 – SoraNews24

I’m just going to leave this here, lol. If it helps to motivate you to save more money, then my job is done.

Note: If you’re not into anime, substitute to whoever/whatever you like. Movie stars, singers, bands, they all will work.

友達が考えた貯金方法が天才すぎて早速私もやった。推しにお金がねじ込めるぞ😊
pic.twitter.com/TDWRQ1OKru

— こまつ (@kuronosu90246)
August 23, 2018

7.
A Silicon Valley engineer who moved to the US from India 7 years ago reveals the most surprising things about class in America
 – Business Insider

Love how fresh eyes dissect cultural differences. Love these money-related insights:

“
Anybody can buy anything, thanks to credit
. Obtaining credit in this country is extremely easy. Anybody can buy anything, for the most part, except for something like a Maserati, obviously. As a result, most monetary possessions aren’t really status symbols. I believe that the only status symbol in America is your job, and possibly your educational qualifications.”

In America, ‘
it’s very difficult to tell who’s wealthy and who’s not
‘. The wealthy people usually don’t have many material possessions. Every millionaire I know drives old cars, wears Levi’s jeans, etc. They tend to spend more on experiences.
A lot of people I know who have fancy stuff usually go into credit card debt in order to fund their lavish lifestyle
. It’s strange! Perhaps expensive material possessions are simply a form of validation that rich people usually derive from their work, their family, friends, etc, which may not necessarily be the case for the average consumer. I’m almost certain that the 1% isn’t the main clientele for any luxury brand in the US.”

I’m very sure these observations apply here, too.

8.
 9 mistakes you’re making on LinkedIn that are putting off recruiters and making it harder to find a job
 – Business Insider

I had the pleasure of having a long chat with a Grab driver who used to be in the headhunting business. He earned a living by finding compatible candidates for companies. His main tool to find those candidates? LinkedIn.

There might be companies looking for someone exactly like you and are prepared to offer a higher salary. Go and polish your LinkedIn profile now, so headhunters and recruiters can find you easier.

9. Deep Thought App –
Keyword ‘Money’

Deep Thought App is a project by Malaysian Aizat Faiz, which compiles thought-provoking questions under many, many categories. You can ask yourself these questions (great for self-reflection) and also submit your answers.

Of course, I’m sharing the page with keyword ‘money’ for personal finance-related questions. Some popular questions include:

Are you proud of spending your parent’s money?

Do you count your pennies?

Do you know the value of money?

Do you want money?

How do you budget your money?

How do you waste your money?

How has money made you unhappier?

How much money should you have such that you do not have to worry about money and can live off your interest?

How would you use money to accelerate your business idea?

Why do you want to make money?

Go add your answers, then share your profile link here!

10.
What you do is not why you do it – Finding your purpose at work
 – The Ladders

If you’re reading this, chances are you do some sort of work for a living. Can I ask what is your ‘why’? Your personal purpose?

That’s the topic of the article, or rather a transcription of a
conversation
 between
Simon Sinek
 (the bestselling author and leadership expert, famous TED Talk speaker) and
Jordan Harbinger
 on The Jordan Harbinger Show.

It’s only fair if I share mine, I guess. I write for a living – that’s what I do. I guess my ‘why’ is the fulfilment that comes from helping people figure out this money thing? Demystifying finances, making it less scary, more approachable? I guess this is my fulfilment, my ‘why’ 🙂

That’s it for this round, catch you next time! Want to submit a link you thought was great? Reach out to me on
FB
 or
Twitter
.

To read past link roundups, please click
here
.


Link Roundup #12: 10 Things to Know This Week

Accelerate your personal finance knowledge with this regular feature on Ringgit Oh Ringgit – the Link Roundup! I promise you’ll find these 10 links informational 🙂

1.
That 1% Fee Impact – Mutual Funds vs Investing on your own
 – DividendMagic

When it comes to mutual funds and unit trusts, always follow this golden rule – the less fees, the better.

Those of you with mutual funds/unit trusts with 3% fees or more. You might want to check out this article. You’re losing way too much. A ridiculous amount.

I just checked my own portfolio. I have ASB (0.35% per annum management fee) and a
PRS
 fund (1.5% per annum management fee). Both should be okay, since for the latter I got RM500 free from gomen (it’s RM1000 free now for under 30 years old) and up to RM3000 in tax rebate too.

(Out of curiosity. Those of you who took mutual funds and unit trusts by popular fund managements companies like Kenanga and Public Mutual. How much do they charge as management fee?)

EDIT: I’ve heard anecdotes that you can call them up to nego and reduce your management fees down to 2%. Worth a try if your fee now damn high and you don’t want to stop contributing there.

2.
Can A No Spend Month Actually Help You?
 – Making Sense of Cents

I’ve deliberated about going on a no-spend month forever. But you know what? I don’t think I will, because my ‘unnecessary purchases’ is just a mere 5% of my total spending. I know this because I checked my spending data and dissected everything I technically ‘didn’t need’ in
this article
.

BUT. For those of you struggling with impulse spending, consider taking this money challenge for yourself. Making Sense of Cents is one of the top personal finance blogs in the world and her advice to get started with no spend month in the article is really, really good.

3.
Your Idea of Being Rich Is Probably Wrong
 – Mr-Stingy

Love all the points Mr Stingy made in this article. #4 is my favourite – ‘living “rich” ironically makes you poorer’. Yep, it sure does.

Personally, I am salty towards:

‘Rich’-looking celebrities and influencers who posts bundles of money, expensive cars, branded luxury items etc in their social media

Articles glorifying the ‘the most expensive ever ‘, which most of the time is simply product + tons of precious stones/metals/expensive ingredients

People and media who preach about the importance of having ‘this season’s must-have items’ and make you feel less for not keeping up with the trends

Anything that promotes excessive consumption, generally speaking

But hey. Your money. Not my place to tell you what to do and how to spend it. I judge only.

4.
These Are the 27 Coolest Products of 2018
 – Inc

Finding this article with list of products cool because they’re ranked by (company) growth.

Taking the top spot, PopSockets’ growth was
71,423.8%.
Holy cow. The rest don’t even come close. The No 2 product (Brooklinen)’s growth was an amazing 9,154.2% but still that looks minuscule in comparison!

(I can’t recall PopSockets taking off in Malaysia though. Can you? Does that mean a wave is coming soon?)

(Btw this is how they look like)

5.
Swearing on social media really could cost you your job
 – World Economic Forum

To be fair, not just swearing. Here’s everything else you post on social media that affects your employability.

So… yeah. Express yourself, sure. But know that others are watching (and judging).

6.
I’ve saved nearly $270,000 at age 28, and I’m convinced the key to growing your net worth is spending less on 3 things
 – Business Insider / The Money Wizard

The three biggest expenses are housing, transportation and food.

I wrote a whole article about spending less on these categories for PropertyGuru. The article is for saving money for a downpayment, but it works for saving money in general I think. Read it
here
.

7.
I Paid Off $202,000 in Debt in Seven Years Using These 4 Behavioral Psychology Tricks
 – Time

The four behavioural psychology tricks Joshua Holt used to pay off his debts are:

Visualising debt by hanging paper chain in his house, with each chain representing $1000. Each time he made payments, he tore off a portion

Adjusting his tax withholding to receive one large refund during tax season instead of more money in his paycheck each month (not applicable to us?)

Paying himself a salary first and putting the rest into a Vanguard account (US-based investing platform)

Timing his last loan payment to Christmas Day (article doesn’t explain how this trick helped)

I like the idea of implementing behavioural psychology tricks for myself and testing it out. One of it is ‘paying yourself first’, which I’ve never managed to do myself. I think I’ll add this as a financial goal to accomplish before 2019.

Do you psycho yourself in any way to make your financial life better? How?

8.
20 Useful WooCommerce Wordpress Plugins for Your Online Business
 – HongKiat

30% of ALL websites in the world are powered by Wordpress
. (Ringgit Oh Ringgit also uses the Wordpress platform. Big fan.)

Within the Wordpress ecosystem, WooCommerce is the undisputed plugin-of-choice for ecommerce platforms.

WooCommerce is so popular there are other plugins that are designed to specifically work with that plugin.

This article lists 20 of those plugins and what they do to make running your online business easier. Handy to know and bookmark if you ever plan to open a Wordpress-based online shop.

9.

Bulk of salary goes to repaying debts
 – The Star

Note: the headline would be more accurate if it reads ‘Bulk of salary of Malaysia’s civil servants goes to repaying debts’, because the article is about them specifically.

Based on the article, which drew conclusions from BNM’s Financial Stability Review titled “Civil Servants’ Debt: Risks and Policy Considerations”, it doesn’t seem like civil servants in Malaysia have good financial habits. Consider these findings:

97%
 of civil servants had some form of borrowings. The study, which covered 1.26 million out of 1.6 million civil servants, comprising permanent federal government employees and police

They spend
more than half
 of their monthly salaries repaying debts, and this is ‘more apparent in those earning less than RM5,000 monthly (about two-thirds of the civil servants)

Almost half of the borrowings or 47% are for
consumption purposes
 such as personal financing, motor vehicles, credit cards and others. This is higher than the national average of 35%. Housing debts account for 49% of civil servants’ debts.

Personal financing
 has been one of the major contributors to debt accumulation by civil servants, amounting to 34% of their total debt compared to the national level of 15%

The
debt repayment capacity of civil servants remained lower
 than the average borrowers at the national level. As at end-February this year, the total outstanding civil servants debt stood at RM236bil, equivalent to 20% of total household debt or 17% of the GDP. This is higher than levels observed in 2012 at 18% of total household debt or 15% of the GDP.

Here’s what I understand.

Almost all Malaysian civil servants borrow money. About half of that is for housing debt (understandable; no issues here), but another half is for consumption? As in, for cars, credit cards, and other personal financing? What?

And even with the
lower interest rates that they get from the banks
, their repayment capacity is LOWER than average borrowers??

What is going on with Malaysian civil servants? Is there a widespread ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ culture in the system itself? Is being part of Malaysian civil servant changing their financial management habits for the worse?

Or am I looking at it the other way around, and people who are not great with financial management are attracted to civil servant posts in the first place? If yes, why?

I care about this issue. On an individual level, debt brings stress. Stress affects productivity.
Reduced levels of productivity affect the nation
.

10.
You’ll Never Get Rich Playing Defense With Your Money
 – Entrepreneur

Like the author, I was also ‘raised on the “defence of finances” strategy’. When money is tight, my first instinct is to cut down on expenses.

Nothing wrong with that, of course. But I would be so preoccupied with trying out different saving money strategies that I completely abandon my offence – strategies to
earn more

money
.

Playing offence doesn’t come naturally to me. To be completely honest, I still struggle with the idea that there is money out there for me, and all I have to do is find ways to get it. I find the author’s three-step plan refreshingly simple and easy to understand.

That’s it for this round, catch you next time! Want to submit a link you thought was great? Reach out to me on
FB
 or
Twitter
.

To read past link roundups, please click
here
.


Link Roundup #13: 10 Things to Know This Week

Accelerate your personal finance knowledge with this regular feature on Ringgit Oh Ringgit – the Link Roundup! I promise you’ll find these 10 links informational 🙂

1.
Report: Rising household expenditure driven by food inflation
 – MalaysiaKini
and
Research: Malaysian households earning RM2,000 may have only RM76 left after expenses
 – The Malay Mail

Different headlines by different news publications reporting from the same source – ‘
The State of Households 2018: Different Realities
‘ report by Khazanah Research Institute.

There are lots of data inside both articles, but here’s what you need to know: the poor spend a much bigger portion of their income on expenses, leaving them without much safety buffer (if any) for emergencies.

With Budget 2019 coming up, I expect lots of financial support given to this income group (as it should).

2.
Renovation Log – How I Saved in Curtain Purchase
 –
RinggitVelvet

Sharing an article from a new Malaysian personal finance blogger! Really enjoyed the writeup on how she researched and saved money on getting custom curtain sewing and installation done for her rental home. Bookmark
this link
 the whole website if you’re into doing rental property as passive income strategy.

3.
Cheap is Great but Free Will Cost You
 – Bloomberg

Subheading: Whenever a company offers something at no charge, that means the price is hidden and out of sight.

I agree. When it comes to finance, there *is* no such thing as free lunch. I know this.

But why am I still so attracted to that word? How do I resist ‘free’ in marketing and sales copies? Any ideas?

4.
Costs of Mental Health Treatment in Malaysia
 – I’m Funemployed

Great article listing:

mental health treatment options available in Malaysia

their respective costs

and their pros/cons

There are options for face-to-face therapy (individual and group), phone hotline, online support groups and tech-assisted methodologies.

You know yourself better than anyone. If you need help – what’s stopping you?

5.
9 Questions To Always Ask Before You Accept A New Job, According To HR Managers
 – Bustle

The questions are:

“How Long Do I Have To Accept The Offer?”

“What Are The Core Working Hours?”

“Does The Salary Package Include Any Benefits?”

“Is The Salary Negotiable?”

“How Can I Make An Impact In This Job?”

“Are There Opportunities For Growth?”

“What Are The Company’s Values/Mission?”

“How Will My Success As An Employee Be Evaluated?”

Click the link to read
why
 the questions are important.

6.
6 Routine Mistakes People Make When Setting Up a Dropshipping Online Store
 – Entrepreneur

Like everyone and their grandmothers, I kind of considered setting up a dropshipping online store. Making money without keeping inventory or dealing with packaging and delivery *does* sound appealing. It seems like an easy way to make money.

That’s why I enjoyed reading this article so much. I didn’t even know those are considered mistakes! If I did dabble in the dropshipping business, I’d have made them too!

7.
Only 55% of Malaysians pay their bills on time, says AKPK
 – The Edge Market

…which is 25% below world average..

We are so bad at this that AKPK (Agensi Kaunseling dan Pengurusan Kredit) literally just launched the ‘Pay-On-Time’ Campaign..

 I not kidding ley

According to this
Focus Malaysia article
, the campaign:

Will ‘share a series of informative but fun content throughout a period of 8 weeks ending 12 December 2018… that highlight the adverse consequences of late payments and even non-payments of credit card bills, personal loans, hire purchases, home loans plus how one’s CCRIS is affected by all this’

Will ‘organise three (3) live quiz games via Malaysia’s first locally developed live streaming quiz app, LitLive…
Money prizes of up to RM15,000 are up for grabs’

Will use the hashtag #PayONTIME

They made two videos for the Pay-On-Time campaign (
watch them here
). Both of them feature husbands who didn’t pay bills on time, despite having wives who reminded them.

Honestly men are you not angry over being stereotyped as irresponsible husbands who need to be nagged all the time to be semi-competent in life?

8.
A leaked email reveals why you can’t always trust Sephora product reviews
 – Vox

If you’re surprised by this, can I just say this is pretty tame in comparison to what other companies do to earn your trust online?

Personally, I’ve:

Worked with a digital marketer who posed as a ‘real user’ and made a comparison chart reviewing the same type of product by various companies. Naturally, the best product is the company he represented

Been approached by brands who want me to write sponsored posts but ‘please don’t tell the audience it was sponsored’

Came across a popular aesthetic clinic which promised me beauty sessions if I signed an agreement agreeing to ‘no negative reviews’ (even reader reviews!) and that I’ll ‘automatically be their sales agent’ and will be bringing in clients in for them (I did not sign)

Read fake product reviews in Lazada

Those of you in the PR/marketing/sales line. Can you share some shady practices you’ve witnessed in the industry? What did those companies do to manipulate customers into buy from them?

9.
The Surprising Statistics Of Stock Market Corrections
 – Seeking Alpha

At the time of writing, I’m quite semangat to get into stocks, and reading all I can about the subject (which admittedly I know very little about). One thing I learned soon enough is that I should be prepared for stock market corrections.

So you can imagine how much I love this data-oriented article! For example:

“On any given day, stocks have roughly a
53 percent chance of rising
 and a 47 percent chance of falling. Over any given 3-month period, stocks rise 68 percent of the time, dropping the other 32 percent of the time. Over a typical 12-month period, the
odds of making money in stocks rise to roughly 75 percent
. However, if you are in the market for a long enough period of time, there is a 100 percent chance that you will experience temporary price declines at times.”

I also love that it covered whether or not you should wait to buy into pullbacks (dips in price). Spoiler: no. Buy and hold and diversify is the best strategy there is.

10. My appearance in Bbazaar Malaysia’s Let’s Talk About It!

Disclaimer: I was paid for this appearance #fulltransparency

Btw, the dress in the video? I got it in Japan for 972 yen, or roughly RM35. Found it on a sales rack, tried it on and damn son it was perfect.

There are two parts. Linking you part 2 because I look cuter in this thumbnail.

That’s it for this round, catch you next time! Want to submit a link you thought was great? Reach out to me on
FB
 or
Twitter
.

To read past link roundups, please click
here
.


Link Roundup #14: 10 Things to Know This Week

Accelerate your personal finance knowledge with this regular feature on Ringgit Oh Ringgit – the Link Roundup! I promise you’ll find these 10 links informational 🙂

1.
#Budget2019: 25 Highlights From Pakatan Harapan’s First Budget In Power
– Says.com

A good summary of what you need to know about Pakatan Harapan’s
#
Budget2019
 /
#
Belanjawan2019
announcement.

I like most things from Budget 2019, except:

 P2P lending as a way to finance housing
. From what I’ve observed so far, P2P lending’s interest rates are pretty high, from 12-18%. Why would anyone want to finance their home ownership via P2P lending, when normal housing loans are just around 4%? Also, apparently investors make their money on the
 appreciation value
 of the property. That makes the borrower a ‘custodian’ of the property, instead of for their long-term housing solution? It just doesn’t make sense, but to be fair we haven’t seen the full guidelines of the implementation method yet. So let’s see, but until then I’m highly sceptical.

Higher budget allocation for JAKIM
. They got an additional RM100 million, from RM1.1 billion to RM1.2 billion. Sigh, expect more moral policing next year too I guess. Note: I’m not attacking Islam, I’m attacking Jakim. You can’t deny their actions give the religion a bad reputation, not only nationally but internationally as well.

A lot of people didn’t like the
digital services tax
. As a Spotify premium subscriber, this affects me too. But you know what? I’ll take the hit. First of all, I’m already paying lower because I’m in a family plan (related:
3 Ways to Get Cheaper Spotify Premium in Malaysia
). Secondly, I’m just happy they didn’t increase the personal income tax, after it was lowered last year! This is pretty much the only ‘sacrifice’ I have to make, so OK la, no complaints!

MalaysiaKini has a handy tool to check how #Budget2019 will affect you personally. I can recommend it. Take it
here
, or click the picture below. Good job creators
Lee Long Hui
 and Sean Ho!

What are YOUR thoughts on Budget 2019?

2.
5 Financial Personality Types That Affect Your Money Habits
 –
I’m Funemployed

LOVE this article! She explained the different financial personality types pretty well, including the investing, spending and saving money styles. There are five main types: The Spender, The Hoarder, The No-Eye-See, The Lalang and The Calculative Bugger.

I can see that I have elements of the Calculative Bugger, the Hoarder and little bit of the Spender. Which type are you?

3.
5 Malaysians Earning More than US$100 on Patreon and What They are Doing to Make Money

– Entrepreneur Campfire

I didn’t know there are Malaysians making money from Patreon! What a cool compilation!

In the article, there are 5 Malaysian content creators making more than $100 per month on Patreon, plus 6 more who make less than that (at the moment).

You know, ever since I’ve become a content creator myself, I’ve become a lot more open to paying for online content, which is something I always expected for free last time. I’m still stingy, so it’s a learning process, but I do contribute a (small) monthly amount to the Try Guys on Patreon.

Which content creator do you support and contribute money to? I’m not referring to media portals (although they count too), but more to individual or group content creators.

4.
These 15 Behaviors Will Make You Almost Irreplaceable At Your Workplace
 – Forbes

Agree with everything on the list, especially #9 – they are problem solvers, not complainers!

Look out for people at your workplace who show these behaviours. They’ll go far, mark my words.

5.
These Tiny House Kits on Amazon Start at Only $4,690

– Apartment Therapy

Isn’t it amazing that you can now buy HOUSES on e-commerce platforms?? And some can be installed within a day!

If one day I get tired of living in the city, I’d do this: buy cheap land somewhere, install a house, and live/work from there.

It’s not an unattainable dream. We don’t have companies selling house kits yet in Malaysia (not that I know of), but Atiqah is currently in the process of building her
Epic Home
 tiny house. You can check her updates
here
.

6.
3 Steps to Living Below Your Means
 – The Motley Fool

I’ve been overspending a lot recently and appreciate the reminders in this article. I HAVE to get around to automating my savings, dammit.

Any of you set up a ‘transfer and forget’ system? Where does it go to, and how much?

7.
Korean Women Are Destroying Their Makeup to Protest The Unpaid Labour of Beauty
 – Quartz

This is an interesting article – I’ve never thought of beauty as a form of unpaid labour. In this particular case, I see this movement as more of a reaction to South Korea’s extreme standards of beauty. I mean, over there they normalise plastic surgery what. Women spend a lot to be considered ‘attractive’, which they hoped will help them to get ahead in life. I understand why they’re angry when their money and efforts didn’t show the ROI they want.

After I read the article, I thought of beauty in relation to income. There’s evidence to believe that wearing makeup – or at least grooming – will
help you earn more money
. For that reason I do spend some amount of money on beauty products.

On the other hand, I read this article with the headline ‘
very unattractive people earn significantly more money
‘, and I’m confused again, back to square one.

In any case, I have no plans to expand my 5-10 minutes makeup routine. Am suddenly very thankful to Mom for passing me nice genes.

8.
How You Duit: Blogger Edition
 – CompareHero

It’s so nice to be included in the list, thanks again CompareHero! I enjoyed answering the questions, and reading replies from other financial bloggers 🙂 Click the link to read the article.

9.
From Jan 1, solar power users to enjoy cheaper electricity bills
 – The Star

This is super cool! I think financial incentives are great to promote sustainable energy projects! These will be implemented through two policies:

Supply Agreement for Renewable Energy (SARE) programme
. You can install solar panels in your homes with zero upfront cost, and monthly payments are done every month to TNB

Net Energy Metering (NEM) mechanism
. You can produce solar power to get better rebates from TNB .

At writing time, I can’t see much information about both policies yet, but those of you who are interested to lower your energy costs and be more environmentally conscious at the same time, look out for them!

10.
Four Strategies to Help Small Business Increase Customer Retention
 –
Entrepreneur

“According to the

Harvard Business School
, a minimum of 5% increment in customer retention rate increases profit by 95%. Meanwhile, acquiring a new customer is 25 times more expensive than retaining existing ones.”

That’s a damn good reason for you small business owners out there to focus on customer retention rather than pure customer acquisition only!

That’s it for this round, catch you next time! Want to submit a link you thought was great? Reach out to me on
FB
 or
Twitter
.

To read past link roundups, please click
here
.


Link Roundup #15: 10 Things to Know This Week

Accelerate your personal finance knowledge with this regular feature on Ringgit Oh Ringgit – the Link Roundup! I promise you’ll find these 10 links informational 🙂

1.
101 Ways to Make More Money
 – Forbes

A great list of money-making ideas. Some of them are not applicable to us Malaysians (do we even have mock jury duty jobs?), but most of them are possible.

I have personally done at least 11 of the ideas in the list, and in the process of doing one more – publish an (e-)book (
the update
). How many have you done, and what are you planning to do next to get more money?

2.
Malaysians Could Each Be Paying One PS4 Pro, for 1MDB’s Debts. Here’s How

–

Cilisos.my

Scientifically speaking
, it’s hard for the human brain to grasp big numbers, like RM49.5 billion. So I really appreciate the Cilisos.my team in taking the time and effort to explain the repercussions of 1MDB’s debts in a way that we can understand.

So. RM1537.27. Each. That’s how much
each
 Malaysian must pay to fix this whole 1MDB mess, if we accept Cilisos.my’s calculations. They invite readers to check the numbers btw, so go ahead and reach out to them if you’re good at this sort of thing.

3.
Goldman Sachs bankers ‘cheated’ Malaysia over 1MDB – PM Mahathir

– Reuters

Another 1MDB-related article. Did you know that Goldman Sachs – one of the biggest multinational investment bank firms in the world – earned USD600 million in fees from 1MDB? Those fees come from taxpayers’ money. THOSE FEES ARE OUR MONEY.

And the thing is, they
knew
 how shady the deal was. According to
this Washington Post article
,

…(Goldman Sachs)
exceeded what banks typically make from government deals
. The bank’s revenue from the 1MDB deals amounted to about
7.7 percent
 of the face value of the securities. Underwriters collected
average fees of 1.32 percent in 2013 on comparable deals
, according to Bloomberg data.

Goldman’s lead banker for the bond sales, Tim Leissner, has confessed to U.S. law enforcement that he
bribed officials to get Goldman hired for the bonds deals
, and that he and others
 arranged the fundraising as debt offerings because that would generate higher fees for the bank
.

Prosecutors assert … a number of employees at Goldman knew about a bribery scheme but
worked to hide it from the firm’s compliance and legal departments
.

You know what seriously sucks about all this? It’s the fact that the greed of a few people is the cause of it. It’s not that they can’t earn money, they just wanted MORE money. To these people, to hell with all Malaysians, what do they care?

I’m very sure there are other examples of Wall Street greed going on right now. We just don’t know about them.

4.
The most ‘disciplined’ people don’t have more self-control than you — they just make a different daily choice

– Business Insider

TL;DR – you can have better self-control by
avoiding temptations in the first place
 rather than resisting them.

What an illuminating observation. Putting this in the context of personal finance, here are some things I’m going to do to improve my self-control with money:

Avoid going to shopping malls when I don’t actually need to buy anything

Uninstall and unsubscribe apps and emails from shopping platforms (very hard; I mute notifications but some still slip through via texts)

Limit exposure to people who like to show off what they own (doing well with this)

Install adblockers in computers/phones

Pay for the ad-free versions of services I like to use, where available

Limit my social media use (very hard too, not gonna lie)

What else can I do? What are your suggestions? Leave them in the comments section!

5.
10 Situations When We Lose Our Common Sense and Buy Useless Stuff

– BrightSide

This brilliant article was shared by a Twitter follower (thanks Dzu!)

I am definitely weak against a bunch of these situations, in particular #7 – Sales and Promotions. I just, uh, bought 2 chokers, 6 hoop earrings and 2 drop earring from Lovisa because they had a sale…

6.
UN warns over human rights impact of a ‘digital welfare state’
 – TechCrunch

This is the first time I came across the term ‘digital welfare state’. As I understand it, from reading the article and the
Statement on Visit to the United Kingdom, by Professor Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
, ‘digital welfare state’ is when we use technologies like AI to identify and/or disperse assistance to the financially vulnerable in society.

What’s important to know is while the technology is cool and saves a lot of money, it is also binary in its results – you either get assistance or you don’t – and it can (and have) miss out people who (1) do not have the digital skills or tools to access the help they need and (2) are excluded by error, because the system is not perfect.

Presently, I don’t
think
 know if Malaysia has implemented high-level technology for welfare assistance and disbursement. But eventually – in a decade or two – we will, no? When that happens, we really have to keep this warning in mind.

7.
Most Money Advice Is Worthless When You’re Poor
 – Vice

Hell to the yes.

8.
HK$20 Miniso facial cleanser just as good as pricey SK-II version, Hong Kong Consumer Council finds

– South China Morning Post

HK$20 = ~RM10.70, according to exchange rates at writing time

A few thoughts crossed my mind after reading this article:

Woah Miniso’s products really are that good?

How did SK-II and other high-end beauty brands get away with selling products ‘that are just as good’ at a much higher price? Is it really as simple as ‘because people are willing to pay for them’? I mean, SK-II is
 20 times more expensive
 kot. Are we really that gullible with branding and advertising?

Nine out of 60 products they tested contain allergy-causing substances? That’s 15%, a pretty high rate. Why would companies knowingly include bad ingredients?

A whopping 19 out of the 60 products did not list their full ingredients on their labels? That’s one-third!

The study was done in Hong Kong, for Hong Kong consumers. If we do a similar study in Malaysia, what would we find? Are we better with the price/value ratio and ingredients-labelling, or worse?

(Most important) I am never buying super-expensive beauty products ever again

9.
6 work-life balance asks to request instead of a raise
 – The Ladders

The requests are:

Professional development opportunities

Remote work

Start-up fund

More paid time off

Wellness at work

Yep, there are only five suggestions instead of six. But they’re good suggestions, no? Sometimes it’s not just about the money. It’s about the quality of life.

10.
Watch This Woman Curl Her Hair With Just A Plastic Bottle And Hair Dryer In 10 Seconds

–
Says.com

And finally, a genius and much cheaper way to achieve the same result from a $500 Dyson hair-curling tool (which apparently took over 200 engineers and six years to develop):

That’s it for this round, catch you next time! Want to submit a link you thought was great? Reach out to me on
FB
 or
Twitter
.

To read past link roundups, please click
here
.